Oral Roberts Postgame Quotes

NCAA Lincoln Regional
Oral Roberts 8, Eastern Illinois 7
Saturday, May 31, 2008

Coach Rob Walton
On the game
Wow.  Eastern Illinois had a special club in their ability to compete under any circumstance.  They deserve a lot of credit today.  I enjoyed the competition.  It was a heck of a ballgame and both teams were getting after it.  We're very fortunate to come out on top."

On Oral Roberts' 18 runners left on base and pitching struggles
"Not too much (concern with runners left on base).  I'm more concerned with how we're pitching right now.  We have some good arms, but we're struggling with focus a little bit and executing in quality pitches in the zone.  Early on, (starter) Jerry (Schmidt) was very good, but then he was leaving the ball up and couldn't make the adjustment.  It's really been our Achilles' heel all year, but when they're on, they're very good, but we just haven't been able to click yet.  Give Eastern Illinois a lot of credit, because we made mistakes and they capitalized on them.  That's what good teams will do to you.  As far as leaving runners on base, all year long, eventually we've been able to scratch some runs across the board."

On infielder David Genao
"He made some good plays today.  He stayed with some balls at third base.  He laid out for a ball.  We put our best defense on the field with the winning run (for Eastern Illinois on base).  He's a heck of a player and a heck of a kid.  I'm really proud of David and what he's been able to accomplish so far and we have a lot of baseball left.  He's our No. 2 catcher, so he's been playing out of position all year, but he's shown great athleticism and ability to compete.  His makeup, his ability to compete and his toughness was what made that play (the diving stop in the ninth) happen."

On the line drive that hit second-base umpire David Savage in the top of the fourth inning
"I haven't ever seen anything like that.  These are the best umpires in the league.  The crew chief here, I think very highly of and he had a great game at the plate in our loss, but that call wasn't right.  They missed that call.  The best of umpires miss calls.  Basically, the way I understand the rules, if the infielders have an opportunity to make a play on that ball, then you kill it and you send the runners back.  If they don't have that opportunity, they move up one base.  That ball was scalded up the middle.  I was more concerned about his health more than anything else because that ball was just scalded, but like I said, the best of guys are going to miss calls and you have to overcome it and move forward."

Infielder David Genao
On his diving stop in the bottom of the ninth
"It was special.  It kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win.  I just laid down and it just fell into the glove."

Outfielder Brendan Duffy
On his game-winning hit
"It was kind of a rollercoaster ride there.  I was watching him (Richie Derbak work) to previous batters, and I knew that he was throwing a lot of change-ups.  He threw me one the pitch before and I was out in front, so I knew he was going to come back with it, so I kept telling myself, 'sit back, see it up and drive it up the middle', and that's what I did."

On Oral Roberts leaving runners on
"We knew we were going to score.  That's baseball.  Runners are going to be left on base.  There was one Dave (Genao) hit that almost went out, so it wasn't like they were getting left on without good at-bats, so I wasn't too worried about it."

On driving in six runs with two outs
"Coach harps that, when there's two outs, there's still a third of the inning left.  There's obviously a lot of inning left and that's a hard out to get.  Just keep the innings going, and they can snowball and turn into big innings."