June 6, 2010

FULLERTON, CA -

NEW MEXICO HEAD COACH RAY BIRMINGHAM
"Minnesota pitched their tails off. I knew they would do that. I have the utmost respect for Coach Anderson and the team."

Referring to Justin Howard injury: "If the Yankees lost Derek Jeter what would they do? I hope Justin is okay. I don't think it's as serious as we thought it was. I thought we fought back and rallied around him.

"My kids can compete... they have energy in the line-up. If we had held the lead in the 8th, we'd have been good."

"Minnesota's bullpen pitched better than ours."

(Regarding playing Fullerton tomorrow): "One more time, it's going to be a classic game. The four teams are good baseball teams. All across the nation people are watching college baseball. The best college sport is college baseball. College baseball is the best on the planet."

"Fullerton has good pitching, good hitting, and plays good baseball. It's Cal State Fullerton. Enough said."

MINNESOTA HEAD COACH JOHN ANDERSON
"Great ball game... both teams competed... like a heavyweight fight. The play in the first inning was huge... (Knudson) had the wherewithal to throw down to third. It held them to one run. It had a huge impact for New Mexico... he's a key player in their lineup. You feel for him. It changes their lineup around and creates a hole. You hate to see young people get hurt.

"Oakes did a terrific job of keeping us in the game. He had great composure.

"We've pitched well all year long. We have a good staff, a competitive staff... the best in the Big 10. It kept our team together until we squared away the offense.

MINNESOTA PITCHER SCOTT MATYAS
"We all expected to be 2-0. We started out slow and played the worst baseball since I've been here. But we're playing with plenty of confidence. We felt sorry for whatever No. 1 seed was going to face us. We can't stop now we've a lot of baseball to play."