Recap |  Box Score

UCLA Head Coach John Savage
"It was Nick's night. He really came out and was very aggressive with all his pitches. He established a fastball again like we did last night. You've just got to give him a lot of credit. He's one of the hardest-working guys in our program, and he came out and established himself and set the tone this evening. I thought we swung the bats pretty good. We used the middle of the field, we had a good approach. Their guy is good; he's 8-2 for a reason. He throws the ball from all different angles; he's a tough guy to figure out. We didn't hammer it, but we used the middle of the field and we got a few of our singles, had some big hits, and eventually got a few runs. We feel fortunate to be in the position we're in. This tournament's long from being over. It's game 2; we're in a good position, but it doesn't mean a whole lot at the end of day. There's another day left."

(on not having to go much to the bullpen): "It's valuable. (Ryan) Deeter hasn't pitched. (Scott) Griggs hasn't pitched. We got David (Berg) in tonight. Whenever you have guys who go 9 and 8 in a regional, you feel good about it, certainly with one of our strengths being our bullpen. We're in good position. We have plenty healthy arms in bullpen and guys who have pitched all year, a couple of them haven't pitched yet. We feel good about that."

(on his starting pitchers): "We have a very, very talented group of guys - (Adam) Plutko and Nick (Vander Tuig). They're very capable of these kind of outings. Nick had Tommy John surgery right before his senior year in high school and didn't pitch his senior year. Still was drafted and came in last year in a really difficult role as a closer. He wasn't completely back from surgery, and I think you're starting to see him kind of get back to where he was. He was a 91-93 guy before the injury; he's kind of been an 87-90 guy this season, and he's shown flashes of lower 90's. It's been fun to see because he's THE hardest working guy in our program day to day, and good things happen to guys who work hard, and I think tonight was an example of that."

UCLA Pitcher Nick Vander Tuig
(on his approach tonight): "It was pretty much the same approach - attack with my fastball like I usually do. New Mexico is one of the better hitting teams in the country. I just wanted to establish my fastball. I knew they were going to be aggressive coming into the game. Just established all my pitches and worked from there."

(on his reaction after losing the no-hitter): "Going into the eighth, I was trying to slow everything down and trying to make sure the game didn't speed up on me at all. I give the hitter the credit - I made my pitch and he put a good swing on it." (on when the no-hitter started to creep in his head): "Around the 6th or 7th inning, I looked up on the scoreboard and noticed they didn't have a hit. I tried to go pitch to pitch, not to rush myself, and stay within myself and attack it still. It creeps in your mind every once in a while, but you've just got to keep going pitch to pitch and stay with my approach and attack the glove."

(on what was different tonight): "There are little things I've been working on mentally, physically throughout this whole year, and maybe it's starting to carry over a little bit more. I don't have a real answer for 11 strikeouts. I felt like I had really good angle to my pitches. I attacked in and out, and I think that really opened up for the hitters to be more aggressive, which is good when you're pitching. Just movement on the fastball, and then you can build off your fastball with off-speed pitches; I did a real good job with that also."

UCLA Infielder Trevor Brown
"Nick went out and threw really well. When the pitching is there and the defense is there, it definitely takes the pressure off the offense. We were trying to use the middle of the field. I think we were swinging at the right kind of pitches and weren't trying to do too much, and I think that we were just seeing the ball well and putting good swings on it."

UCLA Catcher Tyler Heineman
(on Vander Tuig's performance): "It just seemed like he was taking it slow, and everything was easy for him. Moving the fastball, throwing the ball on the inner half of the plate, on the outside half of the plate, throwing the ball off the plate when he needed it. He did a tremendous job. There's not much I can really say to him during that; I just rolled with it and let him do his thing."

New Mexico Head Coach Ray Birmingham
"Kid pitched his tail off against us tonight. You have to tip your hat off to him. He located his fastball, cut his fastball. Unfortunately for us it was a great pitching performance for that young man on the other team. UCLA being seeded the way they're seeded was obvious tonight. They've given up one run in two ball games? UCLA can pitch. But I thought our kids battled, competed and we're going to come out tomorrow and win. I promise you."

(on whether his hitters were out of character or just give the pitcher credit): "It's a little bit of both. I saw it today in cages and I kept preaching but youth is youth. I told them, the guy pitching against us tonight is very very good. If you don't see those guys on regular basis, sometimes your success can be your demise. That guy tonight didn't make a mistake. He didn't give you a cookie anytime during the at bat. That's what big-leaguers do and he pitched like a big-leaguer tonight. He didn't make any mistakes and when he did make a mistake, there were probably two balls (where he did); this man over here (Porras), he very easily could have had a couple of hits and D.J. (Peterson) had a couple of good at bats. But other than that, everybody else had gotten a little bit overconfident about their swing, no matter what the old man said the last month and a half. UCLA's guy brought them back to reality. Unfortunately, it was a lesson learned."

(on what he saw in the cages): "When you have a guy who changes speeds, you have to be able to do what UCLA did. UCLA swings the bat to their yard. I've watched U of A do it too. Inside the ball, let it travel, let's get some baserunners, get some hits, peck away a little bit, then somebody can take a big swing. They'll chop the ball in the opposite hole, matchup was good for them today, a bunch of left-handed hitters against a right handed pitcher. Guys who can run, guys who can put the ball on the ground and run and it was obvious. They were up the middle and away. They get inside the ball really well and keep their hands above the ball. Their fastball tonight when they pitched was to the yard. You don't pitch up in the zone unless you're in this kind of yard. It was obvious that they did a very good job of doing what they do offensively and defensively in this yard."

(on Nick Vander Tuig): "When he went up in the zone, most college guys go up above the calf. He went up above the hands. That was one of his locations and we were talking about in the dugout, if you can't get on top of it don't swing at it. But it was hard to lay off. He did really good job of locating in the `L'. Also he did a really good job of having late movement. Command is everything and he commanded both sides of the plate and all three pitches. He pretty much threw it where he wanted to and it was a great job by him. I don't know if that was his best performance, but I would say it was one of his best performances. It was a great job. It was just a great job. I tip my hat to him."

New Mexico Pitcher Gera Sanchez
(on how he felt tonight): "I felt pretty good today. I was concentrating on hitting my spots today and, you know, they're a great hitting team. They hit the ball where it was placed and I tip my hat to them."

New Mexico 1B Trey Porras
(on UCLA pitcher Nick Vander Tuig): "Like coach said, he pitched well. His fastball was probably, if I had to guess, 88-90 and he did a good job of mixing it up, mixing up his changeup and slider and curveball. He worked both sides of the plate very well. Like coach said you just got to tip your hat to him. He pitched very well."

(on breaking up Vander Tuig's no hitter): "It was a fastball away. My second at bat he started me off with that same pitch, same location and I fouled it off and just missed it. I was just looking for something up and out over the plate and that's kind of where he left it. It was a decent pitch."