They are probably one of the most experienced teams we will play. They have a lot of guys back and they have gotten off to a good start. |
They have gotten a lot better. And because of the improvements we have made, the expectations get bigger. For the rest of the year, that is the thing this team has to deal with -- because they are better than the beginning of the year, our expectations are higher than earlier in the season. We expect them to be competitive every single day they go to ballpark. |
This is going to be the most special dinner we have ever had. |
This is going to be the most special dinner we have ever had. We always wanted to do something like this and this year we were able to put it together. It is going to be something special for those guys to come back. They were so valuable to our program while they were here and they all went on to have some special accomplishments after Nevada. |
This team has played hard (in) every game we have played in. We have been our own worst enemy. Today, we overcome some mistakes that we made and did a good job of picking one another up. That is how you get back in a groove -- by making up for mistakes by doing good things right after it. |
This team has to do things together more than any team in the past. We have to do the little things that make a difference. We have to move runners over and lay down bunts and make plays on defense. This team is more like that than any team here ever before. |
This team's played hard all of every game this season. That's how you get back into the groove. |
Those are the two guys coming back who everybody knows had success last year. They are two of the premier guys in the conference. That is what we have going for us, those two guys, in terms of known entities. |
Those guys are slowly on the mend. |
To his credit, he came back in the seventh and stabilized things. He gave us a chance. It was a solid start. |
To his credit, he has kept working to prove himself. And he has worked hard on his game every single day since he came here. I have nothing but positive things to say about what he is all about. He hasn't second-guessed anything in the past. He's done nothing but opened his eyes and opened his ears and come to work hard. You can't ask any more out of a player than that. |
Two-out base hits that drove in runs, that is how you win games. |
Unfortunately he had no command of any pitch tonight. It made it real difficult on him to have any consistency. He had trouble throwing his fastball where he needed to and so he had no way to set up anything else. He was just was out of synch today. Every pitcher is going to have those days. |
We are heading in the right direction but we certainly haven't turned the corner. I am thinking that we are in a position to be competitive now. That is the more important thing. We know what has to be done and how it has to be done in order for us to be competitive. |
We are not only going to compete on the field in a tough environment, the student standpoint is a big factor over the next couple of weeks as well as the baseball standpoint. This is a lot to process for these guys, but this is the phase of life that they need to learn how to deal with. It is a great learning experience for them and a tremendous challenge. But it is a challenge they have to learn how to succeed through. |