May 23, 2002

2002 ACC Baseball Tournament
Thursday, May 23, 2002-Florida State vs.Clemson

Florida State head coach Mike Martin:
"I think in all honesty you saw the real Matt Lynch today. He was not a real happy camper after that inning where we gave up four. Obviously, a couple of mistakes, but you've got to credit a very good Clemson team for putting the pressure on us and getting the ball to where we weren't. They are a beautiful baseball team. To beat someone four times in a row with the caliber of Clemson is a great accomplishment. These young men from Florida State played very poised, did everything that they needed to do to stay in the game. Matt Lynch went out there and kept his club in the ballgame. I never really thought he would end up going nine innings. The pitch count was 122. One little base runner and he is history, 130 pitches and he is fine, and now he has got eight days before he pitches again. Our hitters were outstanding at bat. Bart's homerun certainly was big, but his base hit earlier was bigger. I was just very pleased for all of them. Michael Futrell, of course, had a very good day driving in a couple of runs for us."

(On pitcher Matt Lynch) "I was very impressed with his mental toughness today."

(On taking Lynch out in the second inning) "Well, I think if they had gotten a couple of more runs, then I would have had a decision to make. I am sure I would have had trouble getting the ball away from him. He isn't going to leave the game because he is like a quarterback. You don't take battlers like him out of a ballgame and say 'go get them next time'. He knows he has eight more days before he gets to pitch again."

"Nothing would make me happier then to see them in Omaha - that would mean we both reached our goal. But I don't really want to play them, but they are just a beautiful baseball team and Khalil Greene is a beautiful, beautiful player. He is a tough out and really brings a lot to the table. We made some good pitches on him today and that is what you have to make to get him out. You've got to make quality pitches and Matt did just that."

Clemson head coach Jack Leggett:
"We were playing a really good ball early in the game. In fact, we were playing excellent defense, made big plays, we were pitching real well, we had some big hits in that second inning and I thought it was our day. In the fifth inning they got the lead-off man on base and we stopped doing the things we were doing earlier. We got behind, and to their credit, they got the five runs they needed to take the lead and then their confidence started to roll. And we were looking up out of a hole there. Their pitcher made big pitches when he had to and got his confidence going and they made three errors, but they made big plays when they had to make big plays. We struggled a little bit offensively after that point."

(on being in the loser's bracket) "It's tough. Our pitching depth has to step up and we really have to hit the ball and put some points up on the board and take some pressure off the pitching. We are capable of working our way back into this thing. If we can be tough enough to win tomorrow and get ourselves into Saturday, then I don't see why we can't find ourselves at the end if we play well."

(on the series with FSU) "We gave up the big inning. That's what we did last weekend, five-run, six-run, seven-run innings, that kind of thing. We gave up five today. I was just hoping to get through the fifth and keep on pitching and playing like we were playing. They (FSU) are playing very well right now, you have to give them credit for that. They are playing with a lot of confidence on defense, pitching-wise and offensively. It's just a matter of hitting at the right time and hopefully we can get another chance at them this weekend."