2012 ACC Baseball Championship

2012 ACC Baseball Championship May 23-27, 2012, NewBridge Bank Park, Greensboro, North Carolina

Game No. 4 - No. 6 Miami vs. No. 2 North Carolina Quotes Miami Head Coach Jim Morris Opening Statement… “It’s great to get a win. There are so many close games (in this tournament), and it’s just amazing. It seems like every game comes down to the eighth or ninth inning with the bats in low scoring games. The pitching and the defense are more important, and of course Steven Ewing threw great for us. (Dale) Carey had the great hit for us, and it’s great to have Peter O’Brien back in the lineup. It really gives an emotional lift for our team. We had some guys with good performances.” On the performance by closer AJ Salcines… AJ has gotten some important outs for us over the year, and I think it was important for him today to have enough guts to pitch and get it done right there at the end. It takes a special person to pitch in the ninth inning with the game on the line, and that happens a lot right now.” On the importance of Steven Ewing’s pitching performance… “Steven’s thrown outstanding for us all year. I really wanted to leave him in the game, but I felt like in the eighth inning he was getting tired, so it was time to get him out. I know he’s a guy that will go after you, and he’s a winner. He just pitched extremely well today against an outstanding team.” Miami Sophomore Outfielder Dale Carey On his game-winning home run… “After fouling that ball off my foot, I just knew I had to get back in the box and get a good at bat going. Fortunately I just had a good at bat and was able to put a good swing on the ball. It felt great afterwards because I didn’t have to run out anything.” Miami Senior First Baseman Peter O’Brien On finally returning to play after a six-week absence due to injury… “It felt great to finally see my name in the lineup and to be out there in a game situation. It’s different helping your team out on the bench instead of actually being in the game.” North Carolina coach Mike Fox On Atwood’s homer “It’s hard to not play for 60 games and then all of a sudden, you’re in an ACC tournament game and in a big at-bat. We try to use as many on the roster as we can. Grayson is one of the couple of right-handed hitters we have at our disposal. You never know. It may help us down the road.” North Carolina pitcher Kent Emanuel On the pitch that was hit for the decisive home run “Believe it or not, of all the hits they got, I think that was the one where I didn’t miss my spot. It was weird the way it worked out. I thought he didn’t get all of it.” North Carolina pinch-hitter Grayson Atwood On his game-tying home run “Coach told me to stay ready. My approach was to get a good swing on the first good pitch I saw.”