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Head Coach Ed Servais<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
Opening Statement
“First of all, I am glad we had a chance to work out today. It was looking a little iffy in late morning when the weather was moving through. We are really excited about playing tomorrow night, so I hope the weather works out and we are able to get both of those games in tomorrow.”
On NC State
“They have good frontline pitching, as most teams that are playing this time of year. They have a good closer who could be in there as early as the sixth or seventh inning. They have a first baseman that has good power to all fields, and we are going to have to be smart about how we pitch to him. They are a scrappy club that plays really hard. I think that they are similar to us a little bit in that they like to bunt. Obviously a team coming out of the ACC that has 40 wins is a quality ballclub. I think that with the pitching and the defense that we have set up for tomorrow, we can keep the score down. I think that we have to keep the score down to keep with NC State tomorrow.”
On playing close to home
“We have the advantage of having played on this field before, and we are comfortable here. I think that our guys are rested and they are excited. There will be more people here than there would have been tucked away in <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Tempe, Ariz. or down in Florida or Texas. More of our fans will have an opportunity to make it up here, and it should feel like a home away from home tomorrow night. I hope that a lot of the Omaha fans have an opportunity to come down. We have been traveling a lot in the month of May, so we were pleased last night when we just got on a bus and had to travel 50 minutes to get here.”
On how good NC State will be Friday
“We know that we are going to have to roll out our best game tomorrow night to have a chance against NC State. They are that good.”
Senior Catcher Tony Daniel
On the seniors
“I think that our experience as seniors is really helpful for us. We have never been to a regional before, so it is a little different, and a little nerve racking, but I think that with the experience that we have with our seniors it will calm us down a little bit and help us to play our game a lot better.”
On attitude if they face Nebraska
“I think that the attitude we will take in if we face (Nebraska) will be that it is still a rivalry between us and the past is the past. We won those games earlier in the season, and they were important games but they are done. We always enjoy playing (Nebraska) and they are a good team, but it is a rivalry and that is how we are going to play it.”
Senior Infielder Tony Roth
On the seniors
“There are a lot of guys that have grown pretty close over the years. Brad (Dutton) is the newest member of our team that is a contributor. You have a senior center fielder (Colin Shockey), and Tony (Daniel) behind the plate who are both contributors, and you have Brandon Bird out in the bullpen. That is some pretty good leadership there, and a lot of guys see how they go about there business and get things done.”
On NC State pitcher Gib Hobson throwing Friday night
“Their coach knows their team better than we know their team. He may know something that we don’t know. Gib Hobson was a teammate of mine this summer, and he had the most starts out of anyone on their team this season. He is experienced and he had a great summer for us up in Waterloo. He has pitched against some great teams this year so he is going to come out and give us some tough pitches.”