Sunday's Notes And Quotes - Oregon State University Athletics

Michigan head coach Rich Maloney

“This was a great college baseball game. Zach was absolutely phenomenal, he pitched his best game on national television. He’s our Friday night guy and we needed a great effort from him and he gave us it to us today. It is unfortunate we came out on the losing end of it today because he deserved better than that. We couldn’t scratch a run through and you have to give a lot of credit to Oregon State for their pitching and their defense, as well.”

“I’m proud of my guys. We played with passion and there is no question we are a national team, it just wasn’t meant to be today.”

Michigan pitcher Zach Putnam

“It is hard to swallow. I felt like I gave us a chance to win today, but you have to give (OSU) a lot of credit. Not having a hit going into the ninth with two outs... a lot of focus.”

(On his pitch to Joey Wong) “It was definitely the pitch I wanted. Late in the game I was leaving the split finger up in the zone a bit – I made a mistake and he capitalized on it.

Oregon State head coach Pat Casey

“This time of year you try to win baseball games. You just try find a way to win and fortunately for us we did. For anybody that was there, they saw a tremendous pitching duel with Zach and Jorge.”

(On the roles played by OSU pitcher Jorge Reyes and second baseman Joey Wong) “One thing I tell these guys when they go home for Christmas is you are not a freshman anymore, so don’t come back as a freshman. You are going to be in the heat.”

“It is about these guys – they play the game. We coach and practice but they play the game.”

“Little things win big ballgames. We talk about this all the time... we never get a head of ourselves. We play one inning, one pitch at a time. “

Oregon State pitcher Jorge Reyes

“Coach Spence (OSU pitching coach Dan Spencer) was calling a lot of fastballs – I was just throwing it for strikes and it felt like I had some command with it.”

Oregon State second baseman Joey Wong

(On the pitch for the game-winning hit) “It was another split – he had been throwing them all day, making us look silly. I just happened to be the guy up there at the dish. I just wasn’t going to try and guess a pitch since that splitfinger pitch is so dangerous, so I was just going to go away no matter what the pitch was.”

Oregon State outfielder Braden Wells

“With Joey up at the plate and two outs, I was going on every swing just trying to get a good jump. From the crack of the bat, I just took off. I’m pretty sure Coach Lees (third base coach Marty Lees) had his arms waving before Joey hit the ball.”

Game notes

Oregon State pitcher Jorge Reyes’ 7.0 innings matched the longest appearance of his career, which had come May 6 in a victory at Washington.

Oregon State pitcher Joe Paterson earned his third win of the postseason; he had earned 2 wins and 1 save during the NCAA Charlottesville Regional. For Paterson, a member of OSU’s starting rotation throughout the season, it was his second relief win of the year, both coming in the postseason.

The attendance of 3,284 was a post-1999 renovation record for Goss Stadium at Coleman Field; the old record was 3,194 for the second game of the 2006 NCAA Corvallis Super Regional against Stanford on June 11, 2006. The all-time record for the ballpark is 5,000 for the final game of the NCAA Regional championship series against Fresno State on June 7, 1952.

After Sunday’s shutout, Oregon State’s staff has pitched 16 straight scoreless innings. The Beavers have not give up a run since allowing Virginia a three-run second inning in the final game of the NCAA Charlottesville Regional.

Sunday was the second time that OSU has been one-hit this season. Arizona State turned the trick in an 8-1 Sun Devil victory on May 20 in Corvallis. Prior to that, the Beavers hadn’t been one-hit by an opposing team since at least 1997.