Wichita State Head Coach Gene Stephenson:

On hosting the regional:
“Well we had the best road record in college baseball this year. We won more games and had a higher winning percentage than anybody, but our home record wasn't very good so I don't know if we got rewarded or not. However, I think our players are tired of traveling and it's always better to have it at home, especially if you haven't had it in a while. Hopefully our fans will be pretty excited.”

On changing pitching rotation for Game 2:
“I've never done that because I always believe that the four seed always has a pitcher or two or always has players, like New Orleans has, that can beat you. I just don't think it's a good idea to hold somebody back unless you feel very confident that your players are going to score lots of runs.”

On New Orleans:
“They have four or five guys that can run a little bit. They have four or five guys that can hit it out. They have guys that are competitive and they play hard and we expect nothing less. We're not taking anybody for granted. We may be the weakest team in this tournament, and that's no lie.”

Pitcher Travis Banwart:

On New Orleans:
“They have a lot of good power hitters. Lots of good power hitters, that's all I've heard. I'm just going to go out there and pitch to my strengths. I'm not going to change my game plan. I'm going to make them hit me.”

On the home field advantage:
“We can sleep in our own beds and not have to go to a hotel. We've got all the local fans here. When they (the fans) get into it you can definitely here it. We should have around 7,000 pretty easy so it should be great.”

On being the Game 1 starter:
“It's great when they (the coaching staff) have confidence in you and can send you out there no matter what and feel like they're going to get a win. The coaching staff puts all their confidence in me. I'm ready for it."