June 3, 2012

Stanford Regional Game 6
June 3, 2012
Stanford 8, Pepperdine 7

STANFORD HEAD COACH Mark Marquess
"Obviously, in back-to-back nights, these were two fantastic college baseball games. Both teams played fantastic. For coach (Steve) Rodriguez and Pepperdine, those are two tough games to lose.

"After giving up four runs in the first inning, I thought it was going to be a long night. I thought the key for us was (Stephen) Piscotty, obviously settling down after giving up four runs in the first inning. Actually, he could have got out of that, but we kept battling back. (Brian) Ragira got a big hit and Wilson's big two-strike base hit was obviously critical. We did a good job.

"It was a great win for us. We've had some injuries and battled a lot of adversity. I'm just real proud of the effort we put forward. We earned it and deserved it."

On Pepperdine's possible game-tying foul ball homerun in the ninth inning

"I was scared because the ball started to go foul and started to come back. It was close, but it was foul."

STANFORD STARTING PITCHER/DESIGNATED HITTER Stephen Piscotty

On the game

"I was obviously not at all worried. I had to make them beat me. I just found a groove and felt good. I just had to keep putting up zeros.

"I just try to throw strikes. Pitching's just another opportunity to compete, and I like to compete and that's all I tried to do. It's probably the biggest game I've ever played in my life. I got knocked down, but I wasn't going to give up.

STANFORD THIRD BASEMAN Alex Blandino

On redemptive, go-ahead three-run homerun in the fifth inning

"Obviously dropping that foul ball (in the first inning) in the first cost Stephen (Piscotty) a couple of runs. I knew I was in a big spot. I think the key was to not get caught up in the moment and get a good pitch to hit. They were throwing fastballs throughout the whole game and I knew I was going to get something to hit there and I put a good swing on it.

STANFORD RIGHT FIELDER Brian Ragira

On offense's approach after falling behind 4-0

"We could hit. I mean, if they wanted a slugfest, we were willing to go for that. Stephen (Piscotty) was going to be resilient and battle every inning. The biggest thing is that we know we could put up runs in a hurry. We were confident we could come back."

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Pepperdine Head Coach Steve Rodriguez
"Great baseball game. I really don't have much to say."

On Forgatch's winning at-bat against Fresno State
"As a baseball player, everybody knows usually what happens. First ball goes foul, next ball either strikeout, pop-up, swing at a ball in the dirt...but there are certain people who don't let that happen. And the guy sitting next to me did a phenomenal job. As soon as he hit it, I yelled out, 'That one's not going foul.' It brought great elation to our team. It was an outstanding, outstanding win for us."

On disappointment in losing to Stanford
"Stanford's a good team. I thought we did a good job swinging the bats for the most part throughout the game. They made some good defensive plays on us. I don't have a stat sheet in front of me, but I think we gave them 12 extra bases in regards to walks and hit by pitches. So, I don't care who you are. That's pretty tough to overcome. What, they had eight or nine hits, then throw in 12 extra runners on top of that and they get a few hits. Next thing you know you got runners going everywhere. But I'll tell you what's more impressive is the way our team handled it and kept fighting back. We're five feet away from still playing right now."

After being asked if seeing Zach Vincej's foul ball in second game was painful
"Painful is kind of a rough word, especially when I'm dealing with this team. With the fight that they show, I don't think 'painful' has every crossed our mind these past couple weeks. What's funny is it wouldn't have surprised me if it was fair, just because of how things were going for this team, and the fight and the tenacity that they've shown this whole week. I looked at the home plate umpire and he nodded to me to make sure it's foul. But as soon as [Vincej] hit it I thought, we've got a chance right here. We had a similar situation back in my first regional back at Fullerton when Cory Brightwell hits one over the scoreboard to win the game in extra innings, and I thought for sure we had another one just like that."

On Alex Blandino's home run
"The guy crushes fastballs. He got one right down the middle and that's what he does with them. He's a good player and good players do that in those situations. It didn't surprise me one bit. That's why we were trying not to throw him fastballs, but we were just in a spot when we had to, unfortunately."

Pepperdine DH Matt Forgatch

On grand slam that put Pepperdine up in the first game
"I was surprised to see it went as far as it did. After that I was just trying to tie the game up. I knew that as long as I put the ball in play--even if it was a double play--we would tie the game up so I was doing everything I could to just put the ball on the bat at that point."