Quotes: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia

Quotes: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
Location: Tulsa, Okla. - L. Dale Mitchell Park
Result: Win, 6-1
Attendance: 2,960
Date: May 21, 2015

No. 3 Oklahoma

Head Coach Pete Hughes
Opening Statement: I thought it was a great team effort. You don't like these days because it might mean the last time you get to coach a bunch of kids you love being around and it may be elimination day and you're bounced out of the tournament. There's a lot going on, but the only thing we can control is our energy level and our ability to execute. We got a dugout full of veteran guys that have won this tournament before, and that's who came through today. It was a good team win today and a lot of people contributed.

On Robert Tasin's performance: We needed a quality start and he gave us that. He's done it all year long. Being a fifth-year senior, he's composed and believes in his teammates. If we want to win the [championship], and we do, to set us up to do that we need to keep having quality starts and you got to have 27 guys pitch in at some point. Like Curran and Copping, we asked them to finish the ninth. We are trying to extend innings and look at the big picture. Robert was key and then to come off the bench and hit a big RBI single as well.

On the team's defensive effort: Anytime you can minimize extra-base runners, your chances increase to win. It starts behind the plate. We have a veteran guy behind the plate for us that starts on the mound. A guy who is not afraid to pitch to contact and let his defense play. Look at all the games we played good defense this year, those have been the best stretches we've had during the season. We need to do that in the next four games. It's on pitching and defense from here on out. I think the strength of our program is the depth of out pitching staff. Hopefully we can extend this tournament to take advantage of what I think our strength is.

SS Sheldon Neuse
On his 4-RBI performance: It's been a while since I've had a big hit, but none of that happens without these guys getting on base and having big innings set up like that. That whole inning started with the inning before. A hard ball hit back to the mound and roll two, we just built momentum there and built off of it for the next inning by getting guys on and coming up with the big hit that we needed.

C Anthony Hermelyn
On hitting the ball well: I feel like if the pitch is over the plate, I have a good chance to drive those right now. I'm also catching some breaks. It feels like everything is just going right, right now. Fortunately we were able to get the win today and keep playing tomorrow.

On Robert Tasin: He was just attacking the strike zone. He doesn't have any fear out there which I think is the main thing for a pitcher. You have to have that mentality to just go out there and feel up the zone and see what happens. He trusted his defense today.

P Robert Tasin
On his performance today: It was a lot of trying to stay within myself. My defense behind me played really great. [Joshua] Ake making plays at third, Sheldon at short, Hermelyn behind the plate for me all day and putting the trust in my defense made it really easy for me.

On how big the seventh inning was: Anytime that you can work around a lead-off double without letting the run score, it's going to help build momentum. I think in the way that it happened it really escalated our momentum and filtered into the next half inning for us.

On turning the double play in the seventh: It's pure reaction. He put a good swing on the pitch and I was fortunate enough to catch it. As soon as that happened, you just have to turn around and see if you can turn two. If not, you just got to face the next batter. I was fortunate that Mendenhall was on base and we were able to turn it.