May 27, 2007

Penn State Head Coach Robbie Wine

On losing such a close game ... "... I don't think anybody else in this tournament could have gone though what we did. We believed and believed and believed and we stretched a lot of guys thin. Drew O'Neil pitched his heart out, Matt Ogrodnik pitched his heart out, we kept believing and believing. That's the hard part is we really thought we could win this thing. It's just heart. These guys made it this far busting their butt and believing. It didn't end up like we wanted it to. There was a little chopper that barely got over (Drew) O'Neil's glove, a guy beats it out - that's just baseball. They did a good job of putting the ball in play. We didn't get the bunt down a couple of times. We missed a hit and run sign. That's how fragile things are in tournament play. We just didn't get it done and they got it done."

On the seniors and the future ... "You feel for those guys because you want them to have an opportunity to go onto post-season play and play in regionals. The future of Penn State and our team right now, we're excited about next year already. But for right now, we need to just soak it all up and enjoy the moment. We had a lot of fun this year, we had a lot of fun in this tournament, too - even getting to know the families in the pool at night, just a lot of fun memories here and that's what we're going to remember in the long haul. Right now it hurts but, this is a great experience for them."

On the year ... "The only people that really matter is the group in the dugout. That's what's great about baseball, you can second guess all the moves and who is playing, that's the great thing about baseball - there's so many moves within the game you can second guess. You just roll with the punches and do our best. I think the coaches did a great job this year as far as knowing their personnel, when to put guys in, the guys responded. It was a great year as far as development and experience. A college athlete comes to school and you want him to leave with a great taste in his mouth and lasting memories and we did it. These guys are going to remember this for a long time. It hurts right now but it will sink in and those lasting memories are the good ones people remember."