May 24, 2008
MIAMI HEAD COACH JIM MORRIS
Overall thoughts on the game...
"First of all, I thought it was a well played game on both sides. I like low scoring games and I like close games, of course I like games that you win. NC State has an outstanding club that I'm sure will do well in the NCAA tournament. It's a big game for us to give us a chance to play in the ACC Championship for the first time since we've been in the Conference. It's an honor to play in that game and we need to go out and give it our best effort and win it."
On the strength of the ACC Tournament...
"The ACC Tournament is tougher than the NCAA Regional. We've got more tough teams in this tournament than we'll see in the regional without question. Every game is tough, no question about it and one through eight can play."
MIAMI'S JEMILE WEEKS (JR- 2B)
On his three-run homer to make the game 3-0...
"I was coming into the at-bat ready. I just wanted something that I could drive and the opportunity came with the first pitch he gave me and I didn't want to miss it. I put on a good swing and it led to a home run. That's a big way to get it started there."
On his confidence of the pitching staff...
"We have so much confidence in the pitching staff based on what they've done all season. We felt late in the games that we can beat just about anybody as long as these guys go out there and pitch the way we know they can pitch."
MIAMI'S ENRIQUE GARCIA (SR- RHP)
On the excitement of playing in the ACC Championship title game...
"It's exciting because now we're in the playoffs. It's a little taste of what the NCAA tournament will be like. We've been saying our ultimate goal is to get the National ring but we might as well pick up another ACC ring on the way."
NORTH CAROLINA STATE HEAD COACH ELLIOTT AVENT
On the game...
"Jake Buchanan got it off to a good start and threw outstanding today against one of the best hitting teams in the nation. That's as a good lineup from top to bottom that you can put together. I thought Jake did a heck of a job. Offensively, we didn't start the game out very well, not to take anything away from (Enrique) Garcia, but we had very good at-bats one-through-nine for the last couple weeks consistently. We've taken very few at-bats off and kept a good frame of mind offensively, but we didn't get a chance to get to Garcia. I was happy that we came back in the end and had a chance to win. We had a chance against (Carlos) Guttierez and he made a great pitch to end it. That guy's got tremendous sink on his fastball."
On Severino's throw to cut down a Woflpack runner at home plate...
"Everything is a credit to the other team. It starts out with (Adam) Severino and the throw he made to the plate. We had a lot of problems trying to get to home plate this weekend. We can't knock guys over, we kinda don't know what we need to do to get there. I think Severino made an outstanding throw and (Jason) Hagerty made an unbelievable pick. I'm not frustrated, but you gotta chip away at the lead."
On having the chance to advance...
"We want to win this thing. We came here to win this tournament. This is great achievement to win the ACC Championship. We knew we had a challenge today against an outstanding ball club. It was nice to have an opportunity after we let Georgia Tech off the hook the other day. Miami was just too much for us today. They proved why they are one of the top teams in the country. That's one of the best ball clubs that I've seen in 30-plus years in college baseball. There isn't much that they don't do."
N.C. STATE'S ALEX SOGARD (RS-So. - LHP)
On the Miami Lineup...
"They've got a really good lineup. Their four through eight hitters are as good as any team in the nation. I knew coming in that I just needed to shut them down for a couple innings and try to get outs, try to get us back in the game."
