Post Game Quotes: Texas v. TCU, Game 3

June 13, 2010

Post-Game Quotes: Game 3 of NCAA Baseball Championships
Austin Super Regional TCU 4, Texas 1 UFCU Disch-Falk Field

TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle

Opening Statement: Obviously it's a historic day for TCU. When I came to TCU seven years ago this was the day I dreamt about. I couldn't be more proud of our team, our program, our support staff, and everybody involved in our University. I'm proud of Kyle Winkler and the way he pitched. Going down the hall is incredibly hard and doing it here, against a great, great program and the greatest coach in the history of the sport is an honor. We feel privileged to have a chance to go to Rosenblatt Stadium in its last year and we're really looking forward to it.

On the atmosphere at Texas: No disrespect to all of the other Super Regional sites, but it was really hard on me to go home and watch UCLA and Fullerton play. Two good teams, but a slightly different atmosphere than here. I thought we were an Omaha team and I said to myself that I thought I was going to be sick if this team doesn't play in Omaha simply because we're playing another team that belongs in Omaha - that being Texas in a place that is really, really hard to win.

On what they can accomplish in Omaha: With our pitching and the fact that you don't have to play every day, I think we can do a lot of things. I haven't seen UCLA or Arizona State in person, but a lot of the other teams I know a lot about and I really don't think we're going to see as good as pitching in Omaha as we've seen here. There's going to be no pitcher in Omaha better than Taylor Jungmann or a closer better than Chance Ruffin. That's no disrespect to the other teams that are going to be there, but it's a shame that Texas and TCU have to play when I think Texas and TCU are two of the top eight teams.

TCU RF Aaron Schultz

On making it to Omaha: Obviously, we want to win our conference and the regional, but going to Omaha is our ultimate goal. To finally reach Omaha for the first time in school history is awesome for me, my teammates, and the TCU community. I'm just trying to soak it all in.

On his over the shoulder catch in centerfield: I was so pumped up from my homerun. I felt like a million bucks out there even though my body was so worn down from the season. During that inning I just knew that a ball was going to be hit to me and when that one was hit I just took off running. I got a good jump on it and I felt like I was flying out there.

TCU RHP Kyle Winkler

On the benefit of being third in the rotation: I noticed that when our other pitchers got behind, Texas started to get most of their hits. My biggest key for today was to try and keep the ball down and get ahead of hitters. As long as you get ahead of any good team you can get them guessing a little bit.

Texas Coach Augie Garrido

Opening Statement: It's always difficult to deal with the unexpected. First of all, I think TCU had to beat us. I thought we played with pride. I thought we played hard. I thought we played with confidence. And I didn't feel like a sense of letdown or complacency. What we saw was a game between two evenly matched teams. The separation could come to the lack of timely hits. I think we left eight runners on in scoring position. And they hit a couple homeruns that no one else has been able to do so we have to give them credit for that. These teams could play 100 games and it would be 50-50. They matched Brandon's (Workman) pitching performance with their own. They made some great defensive plays, which it took to keep the innings under control. So it's a devastating, heart-wrenching experience for the Longhorns and we certainly had our share of victories but now we have to respect the championship game for what it was. It was a game that TCU did what they had to do in a timely fashion.

On the team's attitude after the game: We're extremely disappointed. This is what I'm talking about when I say that is a cruel game. This is one of those moments where it is absolutely heart breaking and gut wrenching. The thing you want to take from it is, 'what can we do next time around so this doesn't happen to us again?' You have to learn from these kinds of bitter failures. You have to put some values to them or else all they do is destroy you.

Texas 3B Kevin Lusson

On facing TCU RHP Kyle Winkler: We saw some film on him and we knew what kind of stuff he had. He had his cutter today. I feel like we took a lot of good at-bats, we didn't swing at many bad pitches. We hit the ball right at people. Like Coach (Garrido) says, it wasn't meant to be.

On his thoughts of TCU's post-game celebration: Every team does that. Every team dog piles after they win the Super except for us. They won so they can do whatever.

Texas RHP Chance Ruffin

On giving up a two-run homerun: He (TCU CF Aaron Schultz) did a good job of battling. I had a 2-2 count and I thought I had to get one over the plate because I didn't want to walk another guy. I brought a slider down and in. It caught too much of the plate and he capitalized on it and did a good job of hitting it.

On his feelings after the game: I can't even find the words to describe it. It's like a bad dream. You really wish you could have it back and do it all over again. It's just an indescribable bad feeling.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics