June 4, 2011

NCAA Baseball - Los Angeles Regional
June 3, 2011
San Francisco 3, UCLA 0

Post-Game Quotes - Game Two

UCLA Head Coach John Savage:
"You've got to give USF credit. They came out very aggressive. Zimmer, I thought, was as good as we've seen all year. After the first inning we knew there would be a lot of strikeouts tonight - there were 23 in the game. It was one of those nights where the pitchers did their thing and got rewarded for hitting the glove. They were the more aggressive team. Zimmer pitched outstanding. This is why it's called the tournament - it's not won by one game, and it's not lost by one game. We need to come out more aggressive next time. That's pretty clear."

(on the strike zone): "It's hard to tell. When you're in the dugout, a lot of strikes were being called on both sides. We just didn't fight enough pitches off with two strikes. You've got to fight those pitches off. If it's too close to take, you can't sit there with your bat over your shoulder with two strikes, and you've got to find a pitch you can hit. Zimmer looked fantastic to me. He threw three pitches for strikes, and he threw strikes all night. He threw 80 out of 115 (pitches for strikes). He was pretty efficient."

(on playing Fresno State): "I like Fresno State - they're very offensive. They got off to a tough start today. But they're the WAC champions and they won 40 games. They're just like us - in the loser's bracket and fighting for the next day. It's going to be a challenge."

(On UCLA's offense): "When you get shut out, it's tough to win. Our best at-bats were in the ninth inning. For eight innings we didn't have a whole lot of quality at bats. You like to see that fight, no give-up, but if you see that earlier in the game you may have a couple of runs on the board. Bases loaded, two outs - we had a chance, but he dotted a pitch."

UCLA Outfielder Jeff Gelalich:
(on Zimmer): "I think he had good command of his fastball. He attacked us. We weren't as aggressive as we should've been. He had good stuff and got rewarded for it."

(on aggressiveness): "We started off the game maybe a little too timid, and then once they put up some runs I felt like we started trying to make runs and tried a little too hard. In the ninth inning, we settled down and got guys on base. We had the opportunity to get the game, but it didn't work out for us."

UCLA Pitcher Gerrit Cole:
(on the fielding play in which he appeared to injure himself in the 2nd inning): "It hurt a little. I had to take a knee, but I just needed a breather for a second."

(on his pitching performance): "It wasn't good enough to get a win; that's really all that matters."

(on his fastball): "I thought I had 3 pitches tonight. My fastball command was pretty good."

(on dropping to the loser's bracket): "I think it's more of an opportunity for us to get after it tomorrow and the rest of this weekend. That's how we have to look at it. We can't put our heads down and say poor me. We're looking forward to getting out tomorrow. Trevor (Bauer) especially is. We just have to learn from tonight."

San Francisco Coach Nino Giarratano:
"I'm just really proud of my kids and way they came in and played and were able to settle themselves against a great UCLA team. We were here earlier in the year and had a hard time scoring, and we had a hard time scoring early tonight. We knew we had to pitch and play defense, and Kyle Zimmer pitched a wonderful game. And we were able to play defense. Anytime you are able to beat a guy the caliber of Gerrit Cole - that guy is fabulous - he gives up three runs tonight and gets beat. That's a good win for our program and for our kids, and I couldn't be prouder of them."

(On how close he came to taking Zimmer out in 9th): "I thought he pitched great all night. It was his game to win or lose. How close did I come? Between yes and no. I was saying yes, our pitching coach said give it to him. I trust his decision making, and I gave it to (Zimmer), and he was able to close it out."

(on Kyle Zimmer): "Kyle was sharp from the beginning. He was able to throw three pitches at any time for strikes tonight. His composure was great, and he hung in there all night. He was able to tilt the fastball and throw a change when he needed it. He got into some trouble at the end but was able to get out of it. What a remarkable outing for him and what a time to have that outing."

(on playing UC Irvine tomorrow): "We knew coming in if we could get it done, what a great team Irvine has. We're going to have to pitch and play defense early tomorrow. Hopefully we can keep them away from the big inning. If we do that, we can stay in the game and hopefully be successful."

San Francisco Pitcher Kyle Zimmer:
"Coming in, we knew we were going up against the best pitcher in the country. We came in with the mindset to keep it simple and attack hitters. Just keep us close and give us a chance to win the game. I started out going after them with my fastball and changeup and curve. My curve felt pretty good today; I was using that well in the zone. My change was down for the most part. I was trying to pitch off those three pitches."

(on being the Friday pitcher): "When (Matt) Lujan went down, I still had to push forward and make it happen. Nothing changed - it's the same mound, the same game. I'm just going out there the night before I usually do. I just had to go out there and keep things simple as possible. Just attack like I've seen Matt do so many times and just give the team a chance to win."

(on if UCLA was timid?): "Not necessarily. They have good hitters. I was just trying to take it pitch by pitch and just keep the mentality of closing the inning. There's no breathing room. UCLA is a great team; if you give an inch, they'll take a mile on you. Just need to attack and pound the zone."

(on pitching in the 9th inning): "I wanted the ball when I was out there. I got those two outs and was just trying to keep it as simple as I could - just take it pitch by pitch, knowing every pitch could be the difference in the game. I was trying to slow down my breathing and keep my heart rate down and just attack and do what I had been doing the previous 8 innings."

San Francisco Infielder Nik Balog:
(on playing more aggressive against Cole): "That has a little to do with it. When you're going against a guy like Gerrit Cole the only option is to keep things as simple as possible. There's little to no room for error when facing a guy like that."

"Just keep it simple - that's what our coach preaches. That's what we work on. Just keep it simple and keep your mind clear. When facing him, it heightens that awareness a bit more."