“When you have a chance to win the series, you have to do whatever you can to do that,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said. “It makes a coach look very good, let’s be honest. When you can go to a guy as good as he is and as dominant as he is, it’s not a tough decision.”

“It might have been the most clutch hit I’ve ever had,” Pitelli said. “It’s a great moment. We weren’t having the greatest game offensively. It was a close game the whole time, I had made an error the inning before, but it felt great to come up clutch for the team.”

“These memories, not this game, but all the memories that led up to it, they’ll have it for the rest of their life. They’ll be sharing these stories with their grandchildren,” Larrañaga said. “I know that because I share a lot of stories with my grandchildren.”

“I hit the ball, I saw the shortstop dive and knew there was no way he was going to stop it,” Gonzalez said. “The guys were going crazy. This is why you come to Miami.”

“I can't be happier for my guys. They did such a fantastic job of executing the game plan,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “These guys were able to make plays, get into the open court. Auburn is a very high, up-tempo team, but we feel very, very comfortable in that environment as well. So, these guys ran for layups and made a lot of really good decisions in the open court.”

“If you didn't understand the grit and the character of our team, I think we proved that today,” Miami coach Katie Meier said. “You know, [South Carolina] didn't have a great offensive day, but I think Miami got frustrated before South Carolina did, and that was the difference.”

Palmquist struck out a career-high 11 batters and kept No. 18 Clemson to three hits and two walks in Miami’s 11-4 win at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Friday. The southpaw became the first Hurricane since former starter Chris McMahon to hold 10 strikeouts in one game.

“Heck of a game. Welcome to March Madness,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said.

“Going on the road brings us together,” freshman second baseman Dorian Gonzalez Jr. said. “When we’re on the road, it’s us, not just against the team we’re playing, but the town that we’re in. We have to stay together and pull through.”

“We played very poorly,” Miami head coach Gino DiMare said. “Poor, poor pitches with two outs and guys on base. We played poor defense, making three errors. We left seven guys on base.”