May 24, 2007

Penn State Starting Pitcher Craig Clark

On his performance this afternoon ... "It went well I think. Our team got some offense there, went ahead and then once (closer) Drew O'Neil was in the game we knew it was over. We get a lead in the eighth and the ninth, then we bring him in and we're good to go.

"As far as my start went, I was hitting most of my spots. I made that mistake that (Iowa's Travis Sweet) hit over the wall in the first inning. I left it over the plate and, of course, he's going to hit it. They're a really good team offensively, defensively and on the mound. If you make pitching mistakes they're going to hit them."

On the change he felt after Penn State tied the game 3-3 in the fourth inning ... "It was huge. Once we got those runs it helped me a lot. I was ready to go because I knew we were back in the game -- it's a brand new game. From then on I felt more of an attitude and an excitement in the dugout. It goes from there and we did well."

On if he feels Penn State is prepared to make a run the next few days ... "I think so. We have the offensive power that we can do it. We have some guys on the mound who can go out there and give us five or six innings. Then we can use our bullpen. Our bullpen is really good. We have confidence in them and everyone is working as a team, so we're ready to go."

Penn State Head Coach Robbie Wine

On the game ... "We hit the ball pretty well. I thought we were putting the bat on the ball pretty well. It was right at them. It was a matter of staying within yourself and not trying to do too much like what happened yesterday. It was a relaxed atmosphere. The guys were themselves in the dugout. We were confident that we would at least make a run at it. Craig Clark did a good job, especially working through the fifth, sixth and seventh innings -- gutting it out. We're in good shape. If you had a script that's kind of how you would write it. I think we got our offense going a little bit. We're feeling good about that again. This is the start of hopefully a roll."

On the overall offensive performance from the lineup today ... "I like Robert Yodice in the three hole and I like Cory Wine in the five hole, he seems to be swinging the bat a little bit better now. Joe Blackburn is going to come around. You watch he's going to get a couple key clutch hits here tomorrow or the next day. Matt Cavanaro just looks determined out there. He's locked in and determined to take this season on as long as it's supposed to go."

Iowa Head Coach Jack Dahm

Opening statement ... "Both pitchers did a real good job. We jumped right out into the lead ... (Penn State pitcher) Craig Clark threw a good game. We got that 2-0 lead and we had the opportunity to add on and take a 3-0 lead. We gave them the momentum with the two walks and then that triple and all the sudden it went from us having all the momentum to them having the momentum. Bottom line, we only scored three runs today, we had an opportunity to tack on some runs and we weren't able to do it against Clark. He kept his composure and made a lot of quality pitches, got a lot of outs from us. It was a good ball game but again, we gave up three bases, we don't get an out in the bunt situation, which ended up being the second run and change the complexion of the game. I'm very disappointed we didn't come out here today and find a way with a win. It would have a nice step for the program but we didn't play good this weekend. Bottom line is we scored six runs in two games and that's not good enough to win in post-season play.

We need to get our pitching staff better, we need to get better defensively for next year with our pitchers and defending the bunt. That's something that we really stress in this program and it hurt us in a lot of close games this year."

On the graduating seniors and where the team is for next year ... "Number one guy is of course Jason White. Whitey had a tremendous four-year career - just a very well-rounded player. He has a chance to play this game a long time. Whitey came into a tough situation because we didn't recruit him ... but he handled the situation very well and developed into an outstanding player. He's got a lot better and more baseball ahead of him. If he continues to work, he can play this game for a long time. I will challenge him to continue to improve. He has definitely represented our program the right way - not only on the field but off the field. He's a class kid.

You got Scott Brune, Tom Moreland, those guys have done a great job. Chase Stephens, I feel bad Chase didn't have an opportunity. I was hoping we would play another game so Chase could get out there and pitch for us. Matt Wooldrick, just a great kid who got the most out of his ability, put together an outstanding senior year, an outstanding fifth year. These guys have done some great things for us. Brian Bermester of course - his passion is tremendous.

Bottom line, we're going to have to see what happens in these next couple of weeks with the pro draft with Travis Sweet and Dusty Napoleon. If we can get those guys back, we have a tremendous core with a very fine recruiting class coming in. There's brighter days coming for Iowa baseball. We're continuing to make progress. It's one of those where you hope Travis goes real well in the draft but at the same time, you hope to get him back because he means so much to us and the same with Dusty Napoleon.

We've got a lot of work ahead of us for the summer. We're going to talk to guys. We're going to have a lot of guys stay back and get stronger and pitch locally. Other guys need to go out and get a lot of at bats. Then we need to get back to the basic fundamentals. We weren't as fundamentally sound in tight ball games as we need to be. It's going to be a point of emphasis - pitching, defense, defending the bunt - all those little things that hurt us today, we need to be able to shore up."