University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes: vs. Wake Forest
6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Head Coach John Anderson
Opening Statement…
"Good ballgame out there, I thought (Parker) Dunshee pitched extremely well. If you look at his pitching numbers, I think he struck out 91 in 93 innings. You look at some of the games he's pitched in a very good league in the ACC, and he's able to pitch the fastball to the four corners of the strike zone. Moves in and out and mixes in just enough breaking balls and changeups to keep you honest. I thought he was the difference in the game today, no doubt about it. He pitched outstanding and we had some chances the first four innings. Dalton Sawyer just as the game went along didn't throw enough first pitch strikes. He was behind in the count a lot, the homeruns came from being behind in the count and making mistakes. Dunshee didn't make many mistakes. I thought we had a chance to get back in the game there in the eighth. I thought we did a better job as the game went along offensively. I thought (Dunshee) was the story of the day. He pitched better than our starter did and Dalton got us out of a jam there with the bases loaded. I think it probably took a lot out of him. He kept the game in balance and I thought that was a big point in the game as well."
On the tribute to Coach Todd Oakes…
"I was alerted to that this morning. It's a very classy move. This is about life and losing a great man, to see the baseball community pay tribute to him is pretty special. Rob Childress knew Coach Oakes when he was at Nebraska. I don't know whose idea it was, but Coach Childress is a class act. Always has been. I've had great respect for him since his days at Nebraska. We thank Texas A&M for paying their tribute to Coach Oakes."
Sophomore Infielder Micah Coffey
On offense in the early stages of the game…
"I guess like coach said, we did have opportunities early in the game but he's a really talented pitcher, works all four corners of the zone, ended up being able to establish his breaking ball. We just missed those opportunities."
On the rally at the end of the game…
"Gave ourselves a shot, and that's all we can really ask for. Wish we would have been in more of a competitive spot a little bit earlier in the game, being able to execute a little bit more, but that's all you can ask for, to have a chance towards the end of the game. We felt good about where we were with the top of the lineup coming up, just weren't able to string together enough quality at-bats to get the job done. Flush that, take the good from today, and move on to tomorrow."
Junior Pitcher/Outfielder Matt Fiedler
On the tribute to Coach Todd Oakes…
"I saw them laying it down when we got here before BP. I didn't know what it was at first. I went over and looked at it. It means a lot to us. It's a great tribute. A&M is very, very classy for doing that. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers we got from around the entire country. It's a baseball community and that's just another sign of how close college baseball is. Tragedy brings us all closer, so we appreciate them doing that for us."
On getting out of a bases-loaded jam…
"We were definitely hoping to draw some momentum from that. We thought that it was going to be a shifting point in the game, but (Parker) Dunshee, as he did the entire game, was able to keep us off of the board. I think the real issue for us for those first six or seven innings was a lack of being able to string together quality at-bats. I think we had good at-bats overall on the day, but not being able to string them together when we had the opportunities kind of shot us in the foot. We're a very dangerous offense. We got back in the game at the very end. The key for us will be better, consistent at-bats throughout the lineup, earlier in the game so we're not so much against the wall at the very end."
On the rest of the weekend…
"We're battle-tested. Adversity is nothing new to us, going 0-1 doesn't phase us at all. We're going to bring it and give it our all for the rest of the weekend. We're planning on being here until the very end. For us, the most important game is tomorrow. We're not worried, and expect us to get on a little roll."
