University of New Orleans

Head Coach Tom Walter
Opening Statement:
“First and foremost, congratulations to Arizona for a well-played ballgame. They deserved to win the ballgame, they played well. As far as us, we had a couple opportunities that we let slip by in the middle innings. We had second and third with nobody out and we went strikeout, strikeout, groundout and didn't score. Those runs came back to haunt us. Late in the game, twice, they had their best hitter up in Rhinehart. He is one of the best hitters in the country and we had an open base and we should have walked him both times. That ended up costing us the game, its my fault that we lost that ballgame. We let the guy beat us that shouldn't beat us because the next two guys on deck had been zero-for-the-day. I'm proud of our kids about the way they competed down to the last out and we'll come out tomorrow and play a good ballgame.”

On possibly walking Rhinehart:
“It was something on my mind. He had homered on an offspeed pitch earlier and we felt like if we located a pitch we would get him out. Both times he was up in the count and we got two strikes on him. The scouting report was that he is a mistake hitter. We made two big mistakes on him and being the good hitter that he is, he didn't miss either one of those mistakes.”

On the bottom of the order going 0-for-14:
“It hurt in those big situations (with runners on). We had a chance to really extend our lead. But, give credit to Arizona's pitchers, they ran four or five guys at us tonight that are really good. They made pitches when they needed to. I thought too many of our guys, especially in the bottom of the order were too anxious swinging at balls out of the strike zone.”

On coming back out tomorrow:
“We got Steven Whalen pitching tomorrow. Momentum is your next day's starter. If Steven Whalen comes out tomorrow and throws the ball well, we like our chances. If he is shaky then we are going to be in a dogfight. But, the one thing I know about our club is that we are going to come out hard and we aren't going to quit.”

On his bullpen:
“We have six available arms that haven't pitched yet. There were 100 things we could have done differently, but I just didn't get it done tonight. We have a ton of available guys that we feel good about getting outs. The deeper we go in this tournament, the better we are going to feel about things. The guys we sat tonight and the guys we sat last night are very, very good.”

Second BasemanJohnny Giavotella
On his near miss for a homer in the ninth:
“The pitcher was throwing pretty hard and I knew he had to come with a fastball sometime during the count. He came with it on a 1-0 and I put a good swing on it but it just didn't fall in my favor. I really feel like I hit it just as good as any ball in the season, it just didn't get out. It is a very frustrating loss, even with what that home run would have done for us, I would have expected us to come out with a lot of momentum after that. But, it just wasn't meant to be.”

On tomorrow's game:
“We'll clear this loss from our minds and come out tomorrow with the same enthusiasm we came with last time we played Wichita and come out with a win. I don't think any team expected a lot of us coming into this Regional. But, I think we have put a lot of fear into people's eyes when they face us. We were real close tonight and we just faced a real good team that came out and played better than us tonight.”

 University of Arizona

Head Coach Andy Lopez
Opening Statement:
“Those are the ones that fall in the category of tough ones to lose, and great ones to win. We were fortunate to be on the great-one-to-win side. Its hard to see a club not come out on top in that type of setting. Its too bad but we were fortunate.”

On his starting pitcher Brad Mills:
“He was struggling from the start. He wasn't real sharp on his breaking ball and wasn't real crisp with a lot of stuff. But, we were fortunate to be in the position we were in when we did make the change. He was out for two starts with a strain in his back. He is just getting back into a pitching mood. He looked pretty dominant for a couple innings. New Orleans is good hitting club. I went to bed last night thinking we have to make some good pitches.”

On New Orleans' offense:
“They are a good hitting team. Other than Arizona State, they are one of the better clubs we have seen offensively. They make real solid contact. We had a difficult time getting strikeouts when we really needed them and they put the ball in play tonight.”

Right Fielder Bill Rhinehart
On possibly being intentionally walked:
“I saw the base open and the catcher went out and talked to the pitcher. Maybe they had the idea not to throw to me. But its one of those situations that they threw to me and I just got a hit.”

On hitting for the cycle:
“I knew I needed a triple, but its just one of those days. I just wanted to help out the team and get a hit. I just wanted to help out the team. I just try to make good contact.”

Designated Hitter Jon Gaston
On tomorrow's game:
“We got to win, that's all there is to it. Tomorrow, they will be tired, but we can't underestimate anybody. Wichita's a good ballclub, New Orleans is a good ballclub. If they weren't they wouldn't be here. We have to come out and compete tomorrow and just do our thing.