May 27, 2006
KANSAS
Head Coach - Ritchie Price
"First off, I would just like to compliment my team. The road to this thing has been pretty much a home field advantage for both the teams from Oklahoma. We played an outstanding game. I would like to compliment Sean (Land). I thought he was the difference in the ball game. When we got those five runs early and then he got out of the jam when they had runners on second and third with one out, I thought that was a huge part of the game. This team came here with a purpose and they came to make sure they were going to get into the NCAA Tournament and we have been about as competitive as we can be the last two days."
Player Quotes
Sean Land, P, Jr.
"The first three quarters of the season I was pitching without a slider. I just started throwing a cutter instead of a slider. I started throwing the cutter about three weeks ago. I attribute any success I've had to me throwing a cutter. I rely on my changeup more than anything but I can use that pitch to set them up and throw the changeup."
Erik Morrison, 3b, So.
On Oklahoma State's Pitcher Matt Gardner
"We went back to our inside edge report. We faced them in Stillwater a few weeks ago and saw what he was trying to do with us, and he got us really good. We took a different approach and basically let him come after us and then hit his mistakes. One through nine, everything started to click on all cylinders so hopefully we can keep going with it."
OKLAHOMA STATE
Head Coach - Frank Anderson
"The big thing was that one team got out there and played with edge and urgency and one team didn't. We haven't had edge or urgency in these last two games. This game rewards the best effort. When you leave you want to leave with a good feeling. We need to start back at square one and compete."
Player Quotes
Shelby Ford, 2b, Jr.
"There is disappointment coming into the game (tomorrow). We came out expecting to play hard every inning and every at bat ... not that we didn't come out hard, but we came out kind of flat. Now we need to come out tomorrow and put everything behind us and go one step at a time and get back to the basics."
On playing Oklahoma...
"We can't look back and see how the end of game three might affect us. We have to go out every game and pretend like it's the first game of a series; like it's a brand-new game."
On their lack of intensity...
"There's being confident and being over-confident, and we've been coming out over-confident the last two games thinking we could just come out there and win it. We were looking at the third game instead of looking at the games that were right there on us."
Matt Gardner, P, Jr.
"It was a rough night tonight. I just really went out there and was all over the place. I didn't have the right command I usually have, so I learn from it and go back to work tomorrow, so tomorrow I'll be out there. We ran into a hot team also, and Missouri was the same way - they're playing for their lives and we didn't come out there and match their intensity. We were a little laid back I think. We started thinking we were good instead of thinking we had to go to the yard and really get after it. We started looking at the papers and thinking we didn't have to try as hard."