Head Coach Mike Conte
Q. Opening statement on the game today/describe the game today:
A. We were fortunate to get a few runs early, although we were not hitting the ball the way we should have been hitting the ball early. Their starting pitcher is outstanding, and we knew it would be tough to get anything off him. We had another outstanding performance from Randy Sturgill, who basically took the team on his back and said I’m going to go the distance and give a quality outing. He couldn’t quite finish the game, so we had Nick Schreiber come in and was able to get the final two outs.
Q. Was it a hard decision to pull Randy in the final inning?
A. It was an extremely difficult decision because Randy’s strike percentage is usually very high. He had the four pitch walk. And then threw the ball right down the middle. It was more a momentum thing so I knew we needed to bring somebody fresh in.
Q. For your team with a earning another one-run victory over Kutztown how big is this for you guys?
A. Kutztown was well deserving of the number one seed. They have an outstanding program and I have all the respect in the world for their team. All it does for us, is put us in a good position for this tournament. We haven’t accomplished anything yet, but at least it puts us in a good position.
California pitcher Randy Sturgill
Q. Talk a little bit about what worked for you during the game and why you were able to keep KU off balanced?
A. Coming in, they are a heck of a team, everyone knows that. I just got ahead of the batters and then had to change speeds to keep them off-balanced. They’re a fastball hitting team so I was just trying to throw everything in there for strikes and that just helped me out a lot today.
Q. You’re used to going deep into the game, with 172 pitches, did you ever think you threw that many?
A. I threw 172 pitches so no, I mean, against WCU I threw 160 in the tournament. I’ve thrown a lot before but never really thought I would throw that many pitches in a game in my life.
Q. In the seventh inning, with Shayne Houck on third base and nobody out with your team leading 4-3, what did you do to get the next three outs?
A. I mean you got to buckle down. Situations like that show you what you’re made of as a pitcher. No matter what happens during the inning, you just have to go out there and keep battling and keep pitching. It worked out for us.
Q. How key was it for you, that your team scored four runs over the first two innings? Did that help you relax?
A. Anytime you go out there and your team scores runs in the first inning you can kind of relax and it helps you pitch better because the lead helps you relax. It works out for the best every time.
Kutztown head coach Chris Blum
Q. After the second inning, the pitching really settled down and that probably is something good to take from this is. Discuss the teamwork of getting out of jams; did you and the team feel more comfortable or more relaxed at that point?
A. I don’t know if I can answer that question, that’s really a question for the pitcher, but we still did some things that have haunted us all year in terms of walks and not scoring with men in position.
Q. It’s been a long layoff, would you say that was a little bit of the reason to be slow getting out of the gates?
A. No, at this point you come to play or you come to get beat
Q. What was the team’s approach at the plate, this was one of their A’s coming at you, were you trying to make him come aggressive or make him throw a lot of pitches, which he did and was that part of the game plan?
A. Yeah, we knew he threw a lot in the PSAC tournament, but we thought we could get to him late, which we did, we just did not capitalize on it.
Q. What are some of the improvements that need to be made for tomorrow?
A. Well we need to score with men in scoring position and with less than 2 outs. And we will. I told the team it’s all about heart and guts but we are built to come back through and win this.
Kutztown junior Mike Dugan
Q. What was your approach at the plate?
A. This guy is known to be around the plate often, so everyone wanted to be up there and be aggressive. He had a very good splitter, but you always wanted to be in fastball counts. So any time I was in a fastball count, I looked to drive the ball the other way.
Q. On the base paths, was that on your own doing to steal bases, did you see a chance, like he was throwing over a lot did you see that as the right time to go?
A. He had a very distinct move. A lot of times it was either short or it was a slide-step. If he picked his leg straight up, he was going over to first. If he pulled it back, I knew he was going home. Every single time I saw him pull it back I just went.
Q. What does the team need to do to bounce back and win tomorrow and future games?
A. We can’t stay down on each other. We have a team that can go all the way so we have to come out with the same mindset like we did today; execute when we need to, play smart baseball and we will definitely be there.
