Game 7-Nebraska vs. Southwest Missouri State
Post-Game Quotes
Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson
"First and foremost I want to say congratulations to Southwest Missouri State. They were outstanding today. Zimmermann was great. I’m not sure the last time we were shutout, let alone shut out at home. He pitched first-pitch strikes and got ahead of us. My hat goes out to him and to Keith Guttin. In order to win a regional, you have to go in and take it, and they did.

On NU’s game plan against Zimmermann
"The first five innings we tried to attack early. He was throwing first-pitch fastballs and doing a great job at that. Once they got a lead, we went back into our other game plan of make him throw strikes and get his pitch count up, but he was in control."

On Nebraska’s four seniors
"The four seniors in this program have done so much for us. They have done nothing but act in a classy way with integrity, and have played the game hard. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this team - their class, their integrity, their work habits, and their intensity. What this program needs every year is to put ourselves in position to go to Omaha. By winning the conference championship and getting ourselves a regional at home, we did that. But in the game of baseball, you’re not going to win every single game. But we just need to keep ourselves in that position. It’s a tough loss. It’s a tough loss at home. But these kids put this team in a position to do that."

Nebraska Outfielder Daniel Bruce
On SMS pitcher Bob Zimmermann
"He threw well and had good command of his stuff. He was in the zone a lot and got ahead of a lot of hitters. We hit some balls hard, and we didn’t get a lot of breaks. I don’t want to take anything away from his performance. Zimmermann was very deserving of the award he was given."

Nebraska First Baseman Matt Hopper
On the end of his collegiate career
"It’s very frustrating to know that it was a do or die game, and we gave great effort, but we didn’t give them much of a game. We couldn’t put runs on the board; we couldn’t put any innings together. It was just kind of frustrating that it was our last attempt, and that is what we have to go out with."

Nebraska Pitcher Jamie Rodrigue
On losing the regional final game at home
"It’s always tough to lose a regional, especially at home when you fight back through the losers bracket, which is very difficult to do. You’re one game away, and yet I want to give Zimmerman a lot of credit. He threw very well, but it’s difficult for our team, knowing that if we would have played just a little bit harder and gotten a few more breaks, that we might have won."

On his performance in game one
"My goal for today was just to go up there and compete as hard as I could. If this was going to be my last day, just go up there and give it all that I had. I gave up five runs, but I know in my heart that I gave it all that I had. I’m proud of this team and of the players and coaches on this team. It was a great experience."

On playing his last game today
"I was sitting out there in the bullpen in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and watching. It didn’t really hit me, and I don’t think it will until tomorrow when I turn in my uniform. For Daniel Bruce and the younger guys, they’ll have their day. Today was mine, and I leave knowing that I’m still a Husker."

Nebraska outfielder Jeff Leise
On the end of his collegiate career
"A loss is a loss. Our season is done. My career is done. It’s tough to take right now."

SMS Coach Keith Guttin
Opening Statement
"I think we maybe played our finest game of the year in this particular game. We had to beat a great team twice this weekend on their home field, and that was difficult to do and a great accomplishment for our players."

SMS Pitcher Bob Zimmermann
On his performance today
"I hope I get to do it again next weekend and be able to top it. It was a fun evening for me. I felt like I was hitting my spots good, but after the first inning, I didn’t think I would be able to go much longer because my arm hurt, but then it stopped hurting, and I just kept pitching.

I was just hoping to go out there and get five or six innings for us. I was just going with what he (SMS Catcher Tony Piazza) called."

SMS Catcher Tony Piazza
On Zimmermann’s pitching today
"He doesn’t have too much besides a great fastball, so we just tried to mix both sides of the plate well. I just showed him my glove, and we played catch out there. He probably only threw about 15 off-speed pitches, so he was just working both sides of the plate really well, and with his good fastball, he was very effective.