Quotes From Super Regional Press Conference
June 6, 2003
Miami Coach Jim Morris
Introductory remarks
First of all I’d like to congratulate NC State on their year and say welcome here to Coral Gables. If (NC State catcher Colt Morton) stood up beside me, I wouldn’t argue with him either. Anything he wants, he ought to get, as big as he is. I’d like to congratulate you on a great year. I always try to watch as many ACC games as I can. I watched a little bit of the tournament in between our games and (NC State has) had a great year. They have a lot of older guys, with some great leadership. We’re a younger club and are starting a lot of new guys.
We’re very fortunate. We feel very fortunate to be here and we look forward to playing this series. It will be a great series. I was a little surprised at the game times when I got them, because normally we would play a night game on Friday and Saturday. But it’s going to be nice and hot so it will be interesting to see how everybody plays with the weather. It ought to be a really good series. We’re excited about it. We’re starting JD Cockroft for the first game. One of the first questions I’m sure is will George Huguet be back and that’s very doubtful. He threw bullpen yesterday and I don’t expect him to be able to throw this weekend. Valdes Fauli has done a very good job since he’s gone in that role and I’m very confident after what he did at Long Beach State and here in the regionals. So I feel much better now than I did two weeks ago when the accident happened with George. I feel good about that.
Our club is playing hard. They are young and some of our guys don’t know where they’re at or what they’re doing, they’re just going out and getting it done, like a Ryan Braun. So I’m really excited about playing this weekend. It’s great to be here in the Super Regional and I appreciate all of you (the press) coming.
On the game time (playing on national television vs. playing during the day in South Florida)
It’s good news and bad news I guess. The bad news is that it may effect the fans coming out and that’s the main thing that I’m concerned about. The good news is we’re used to this weather so it shouldn’t bother us as a team. NC State may have a little more trouble with the weather than we will. We’re used to practicing in the weather when it’s 90 degrees and hot and the humidity is 95 and those types of things that we don’t think about. But we need for our fans to come out. We need for them to get out there. They’ve got to put their hats on and sit underneath the trees or wherever they can to get out there. We’ve had some great turnouts for Super Regionals with our fans starting back with Wake Forest when we had to shut the gates after the first inning. We need that kind of turnout and support because our players fuel off of our crowd. I think we have some of the greatest fans in college baseball and we need them out there to support us like they do all of the time. Our players are going be out there and they need to be out there too.The national exposure is going to be great for both programs. We recruit nationally and it will be evident tomorrow, as we start four guys from California. We recruit nationally and it helps all of us.
On the importance of getting the first win of the series
I think both of us feel the same way. You want to get that first win because it gives you a little bit of an edge and it takes some of the pressure off of you. I’d like to start the weekend off 1-0. I’d feel like my odds were pretty good if we are 1-0 and somebody’s got to beat us here twice. I’m sure he’d feel the same way with his staff. He’s got a great staff and maybe the best closer in college baseball. We need to be ahead and be ahead early.
On whether or not NC State’s power-hitting will alter the Hurricanes’ pitching strategy
I don’t think so. I think that JD has got to pitch his game the way that he pitches and he can’t change based on the team. He’s got to pitch the way that he’s pitched all year and he’s done a great job since he’s been in the starting role since we lost (Danny) Touchet for the year. (Touchet) was our No. 1 starter and JD was our closer. We flip-flopped him and he’s done a tremendous job the entire season in the starting role.
On Miami’s tradition
I think that you can use it either way. In Miami it’s something that’s always helped us. We always have our former players come in and talk to our guys. Most of them have a ring on their hand. All three of my assistant coaches played in the college world series and I think all of that experience helps us in dealing with the pressure and from the first day we talk about Omaha and then every single day in between.
n being a former ACC coach at Georgia Tech
I don’t know how that comes into play. I know that coaching at Georgia Tech I had trouble coming down here and winning so I decided to join them since I couldn’t beat them. And I’ve learned a lot since coming down here from our players and former players.
Miami player – JD Cockroft
“We definitely can’t take this team lightly. We need to play every pitch, every at bat, every out, and score as many runs as we can. This is college baseball, anything can happen.”
Miami player – Jim Burt
“We have had a lot of great freshman come in and do a great job this year. I never expected to see the season these freshman have had.”
NC State Coach Elliott Avent
Introductory remarks
It’s great to be in Coral Gables. As much as we weren’t totally pulling for you (Miami Hurricanes) in that last game against Florida (in the Coral Gables Regional) so that possibly we could bring Florida to Carolina, I think our players are excited to be here. It’s obviously a wonderful city, a wonderful facility and weather and I think our guys are extremely excited.It’s been a great year for our players. As (Miami coach Jim) Morris is obviously proud of his Hurricanes, I’m, very proud of our Wolfpack. They’ve been a group of great competitors. They’ve persevered through many, many things, which obviously you have to, in order to get to this point. I think the senior leadership, the veteran leadership has been outstanding. I think they’re mostly responsible for why we’re here today.
On the fact that NC State had to play in a number of different home stadiums due to renovations on its home field
Our stadium wasn’t quite completed when we thought it was going to happen and the people in North Carolina were very nice. There are a lot of pro parks in North Carolina, but obviously they were getting their seasons ready to play. We played at Campbell University for a home game against Princeton. We played at Clayton High School for a double-header. I think it was, like, 280 down the left-field line and I think that was where most of our home runs came from that night. We played a lot of different places, but I think what was most amazing was that we played six double headers in seven weeks for one stretch there because of all the bad weather we had this year.
On the effect of inclement weather along the eastern seaboard
It was a tough winter for most people. In your ballpark, where you can control some things, but when you’re asking someone for a favor to play in their park, you’ve got to let them make that call. But it was a tough winter with rain. It wasn’t so much cold weather, but there was a lot of rain.
On the team’s confidence going into the Super Regional
I think anytime you win…we’ve been a very successful team this year and, like I said, my thinking is no matter what would’ve happened we would have been here because of our great senior leadership. With playing so many games on the road, I think our first 33 games were on the road…I think that brought them closer together. Through success you can say that all that stuff made us tougher and all this kind of stuff. But if we’d lost, I’d say it sucked, so it depends on how you view it. We had great year, so yeah it probably worked out in our favor.
On the presence of NC State catcher Colt Morton, a native of West Palm Beach
He’s probably the most excited of anybody that we’re here. He’s given us great leadership because he’s been our catcher for three years. He also has called all of the games for three years. I don’t tinker with the calls, the pitches, we talk constantly, but Colt handles that situation. In college baseball that’s a little bit different from most programs now, so I guess Colt’s got some extra responsibility and forced leadership, but Colt’s responded well to that.
On NC State Short Stop Chad Orvella
Chad Orvella, I’ve said all-year long is our MVP. He’s just been outstanding. He had a good year last year and this year he’s been phenomenal. I don’t know how many errors he’s had, but I think last I checked it was (just) six or seven. Playing on six or seven home fields and not having a place to play ground balls every day, what he did was amazing. He also pitches some for us and as of the last two months of the season, he’s been one of the hottest hitters. But his leadership, his steady play, has just been outstanding.
On the other top players for NC State
Our leadership has come from many different players. Jeremy Dutton is a guy that’s playing like a warrior right now. Jutin Riley. Vern Sterry, a first-year guy. But our leadership has come from so many different players that I hate to single out anybody.
More on Colt Morton
We were very fortunate to get Colt. We signed him very late. He was drafted I think by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in like the 36th round. But there was a scout that was with the Devil Rays that kept bumping into me and saying “We’ve got to get that guy, we’ve got to get that guy, he’s not a 36th round pick.” I knew and he knew it, but I don’t think he could talk his organization into it. Colt’s always had to prove people wrong because you don’t see many 6-foot-6 catchers in the big leagues. But there’s no reason that there can’t be a 6-6 catcher in the big leagues three or four years from now. I’m sure that Colt feels that way. We were very fortunate to get Colt.
