June 11, 2004

University of South Carolina

Coach Ray Tanner

We are very excited to be playing at Sarge Frye Field this weekend. It is a great atmosphere for college baseball and we will host a great opponent in East Carolina. We saw them last year at the NCAA Regional in Atlanta and their team will be well prepared for this weekend. I expect this to be a good weekend for college baseball and hopefully it will be a good weekend for the Gamecocks.

(on Game 1 Starter Matt Campbell)
He has been very effective lately. Aaron Rawl would most likely start game two. We feel that Matt is our best pitcher right now and he has some success in past NCAA Tournament games.

(What others have said about ECU)
Other coaches have told me that they are a very good club. In a way they mirror us. The hit a lot of home runs and they pitch very well. What matters the most for this weekend is who plays the best baseball.

(How Important is getting 50 wins in a season)
Normally getting 50 wins isn’t important but with us having 48 wins right now it is very important to getting 50 because that means we would have won this weekend and advanced to Omaha.

(State of College Baseball)
Today there are four games with two on ESPN and two on ESPN 2. It is a tremendous atmosphere to be around. I think it is great for the sport. Coaches at this stage are second to none and resources are getting better. When I was playing we had nothing like that.

(On Coach Mazey and his comments about USC fans)
Every coach is different. He said what he felt. I have tremendous respect for him, and what he is said is in between him and our fans.

(How big is Game 1)
The winner of game one gets a little momentum for game two. The team that loses game one can still come back and win two because both of these teams are very good. Losing game one is a situation that I would like to avoid though.

Kevin Melillo

(About getting 50 wins)
I remember my freshman season when we had 49 wins and we needed that 50th win to get to Omaha so I have always seen as getting 50 wins a key to getting to Omaha.

(Difference of this weekend and last weekend)
The difference is having four teams last weekend and two this weekend. This is where rivalries are built especially with the two teams being so close to each other. This Super Regional will be huge.

Landon Powell

(About Coach Mazey’s comment on USC fans)
We are well aware of his comments but we are just going to go out and play our game.

(About this being his last weekend playing at Sarge Frye Field)
My career here has been a long one and it has at least two games left. I love my experience that I have had here. I made a great decision and I do not regret a single second of it. Last weekend we won the regional and I didn’t have a good weekend but one player doesn’t win a game, the team wins a game.

(Difference of this weekend and last weekend)
This is it. Two teams play to win two of the three games for the right to move on to Omaha. We know who we are matched with and this week is more challenging because the further you get the tougher the competition is.

East Carolina University

Coach Randy Mazey

It is good to be back. I am an old Clemson guy and have spent a lot of time at Sarge Frye Field. It is a great environment for college baseball. Coach Tanner and Coach Toman have done an amazing job here.

(on Pitcher Greg Bunn)
We will see how Greg feels today and if he feels good he will start.

Both teams are very similar. They can hit, pitch, and play defense. As of a couple of weeks ago, we were in the top 25 in all of those categories. The Gamecocks are very good so it should be a fun series.

We will have no problem getting fired up. If you can’t get fired up for this, you shouldn’t be here. I am anxious to see how the crowds have changed because as a player they disliked me because of the color of my uniform. But if they would just get to know me, I am a pretty nice guy.

(on playing at Sarge Frye Field)
Our guys do a good job avoiding distractions and will focus on what we have to do batting and pitching. I am all about our guys and regardless of where we celebrate, it will be great. Our guys are very confident and have proven time and time again that we are a good team.

(on being underdogs)
It is my opinion that we play better as underdogs. I realized at the beginning of the year that we would be good, and I told the guys that we could accomplish a lot of things if we avoid a letdown.

(on hitting the Gamecock pitching staff)
That is the key for us. We need to set the tone early . We have a good lineup from our first batter to our last and we know we can score runs. We have scored a lot of runs lately without hitting homers.

(on not being a national seed)
We have been in a fight for national respect. We have been almost flawless and have won 51 games. We finally broke into the top-25 after beating Clemson and then we were in the top-10 after winning 19 straight. The fact that we haven’t been to Omaha doesn’t help us. As a coach, I want to treat them to what it feels like to sit in the dugout at Rosenblatt Stadium.

We have had one goal all season and that was to get to Omaha. Anything less will be a disappointment to us. You don’t tell that to teams that aren’t good. I feel good about this team, and they will play with confidence.

Pitcher Greg Bunn

(on pitching on four days rest)
I only threw about 80 pitches so I should be ready to go. It usually doesn’t affect me that much to pitch on only four days rest.

(on playing USC)
In order to be the best, you have to beat the best. They have proven that they are one of the very best out there.

Outfielder Ryan Jones

It will be a fun weekend. They have a couple of guys who were drafted early. We just need to go to the plate and make adjustments after our first at-bat.

This will be a good test for us. It will be a lot of fun to play in front of this crowd. We have played good teams and been the underdog, so it is nothing new to us.

(on confidence gained at Arizona State)
That series really taught us that we could play with anyone. We didn’t come out with the wins we would have liked to get but we knew we could play with them.

(on getting to Omaha)
It has been preached to me since day one that we need to get to Omaha. We want to get there so bad and hopefully