West Virginia State vs. California, Pa. (Friday May 14, 2010)
West Virginia State pitcher and designated hitter Ryne Holstine
Q. Describe today’s game and what was the difference in the contest?
A. I was out there trying to throw strikes and keep the ball down, or up and down. I trusted my defense who was behind me should Cal put the ball in play.
Q. How much pressure did you feel today being on the mound?
A. I didn’t feel any pressure on the mound. I know what our team is capable of doing. I just went out there and threw strikes and good things happened.
Q. What was the biggest difference between yesterday’s game and today’s game?
A. Basically, we put the bat on the ball. That was the biggest difference, being able to hit today compared to yesterday’s game.
West Virginia State rightfielder Bo Darby
Q. What was the key to the victory in your opinion?
A. Well, we came out and had everybody hitting today. We hadn’t been hitting very well all season, but we had everybody come together and hit alright in today’s game. We just came out and did our job.
Q. With your home run, were you anticipating or being patient?
A. I was patient. That was the most patience I ever had at the plate. I think. I was just waiting for a fastball. Usually you don’t swing at 3-0 fastballs down the middle. But when it happens, you do what you have to do.
Q. What was the biggest difference between yesterday’s game and today’s game?
A. Since we got beat, we had to come out with a lot of momentum. We just weren’t hitting the ball very well. Today, we came out and was just able to hit the ball.
West Virginia State head Coach Cal Bailey
Q. Describe today’s game in a recap in your opinion.
A. It all starts on the mound with the pitching. Ron Holstine threw a heck of a game. He threw about 100 pitches in 8 innings. We got some runs early, Darby got a home run, then got another hit and run with two men on base and got another couple RBI’s, so we just relaxed a little bit and played. This team is hard to figure out. Last night the guy pitched a heck of a game against us and we hardly battled.
Q. What was the biggest difference for you in today’s game compared to yesterday’s performance?
A. The biggest difference was pitching. The guy last night pitched a heck of a game. He had three to four pitches, he was throwing for strikes. We just couldn’t settle for anything and he made us uncomfortable. And that’s what’s pitching is all about, is making hitters uncomfortable. Our guys threw the ball well today and were able to turn around and hit today.
Q. What will the Yellow Jackets have to do tomorrow and ideally advance to the championship game?
A. We’re probably going to have to play two more games in this tournament. But as always to advance, we will have to score at least one more run than the other team, or keep the other team from scoring as many as we do.
California head Coach Mike Conte
Q. Ryne Holstein had you guys fooled all game. Were you trying to break him down to understand what he was bringing to the mound?
A. Well, the thing is; he came right at us. There wasn’t any fooling, there wasn’t any change-ups to try and get our guys to hit in the dirt. He came right at us and if you look, we had some high quality at-bat performances, but they had very good defensive plays.
Q. It seemed like no matter how hard you hit the ball, it always seemed to go straight to a person. You can’t really prepare for something like that, but Cal’s main thing is getting guys on base and running.
A. Yes, we typically like to run. But Ryne had a sidestep that was quick at the plate, but we just weren’t impressive with that. Tyler kept us in the game early, but we just couldn’t do anything offensively to get on base.
Q. This is the first time you’ve seen this team all year, how do you prepare for something like this game. Is it sometimes a good or bad thing to enter a game and never see a team’s performance before, not knowing what you’re getting into in advance?
A. Well they’re a good team. They had an outstanding pitcher today so, basically, it was just a baseball game where we will need to come back strong tomorrow.
California first baseman Adam Links
Q. This is the first time you’ve seen this team all year, how do you prepare for something like this game. Is it sometimes a good or bad thing to enter a game and never see a team’s performance before, not knowing what you’re getting into in advance?
A. Well, we knew we were coming in against a good pitcher so I would just try to hit his mistakes. Luckily in my last at-bat, I hit a change-up, and it was able to drop. We played against a good team and a good pitcher. We just didn’t play our best and essentially we just got outplayed.
Q. It’s got to be frustrating to be able to hit the ball but it always find a player, do you just put that behind you and keep playing the same baseball?
A. Yes, that’s the type of team we are. We’ll put this game behind us and come out strong tomorrow. No worries just yet.
Q. So is tomorrow a clean slate for you and trying to put this game’s outcome behind you?
A. It has to be with our season on the line. We all know it’s on the line and we don’t want this to be our last game. We got the seniors here who are a big part of our team and we don’t want it to come to an end (for them). Everybody is going to play their heart out for them, no matter who they are, starter or not. We’re all just going to go out and play.
