March 7, 2015
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening statement
The story of the game was really the way Jack Wynkoop threw. He was in complete control and he got all those pitches over for strikes. His change up was working. He threw some really good change ups to left-handed hitters. It’s very difficult for left-handed hitters to face a guy who’s throwing mid to upper 80’s and can dump a breaking ball in there and he can throw a change up in there too. Very, very difficult. They (Miami) have some pretty good left-handed hitters and he was in complete control today. For the most part we played good defense. I know Wynkoop had an error but our infielders played good defense behind it. We’re still just disappointed in our team’s offense. Offensively I don’t think we were competitive enough. I know what’s coming here shortly and we’re going to have to be more competitive offensively for us to have the success we want to have. But all in all it was a good day. Any time you win 7-0 you don’t want to complain about too much, but I do know we need to get better. It’s good to see Connor Bright get off the mat a little bit and pick himself up and have a big hit there. He had two walks and home run. The grand slam kind of put the game away. All in all I hope we can come out tomorrow and play a little bit better. Clarke Schmidt will start tomorrow and we’ll see if we can put together a few more hits. Nine hits in two games is not good enough and I think our players understand that. But we also pitched and played defense, which allowed us to win the two games. Hopefully we can play a little bit better tomorrow from an offensive standpoint.
On Wynkoop
He’s had life on his breaking, he’s had life on his fastball, he’s been pitching to both sides of the plates and he’s got his curve ball over. His curve ball is a much different pitch than it was a year ago. I told you all after the first game, that wasn’t Wynkoop. I think what we’ve seen his last several starts is the Jack we saw all fall and in the January scrimmages. He’s pitched like that very consistently with the exception of opening day. He’s in a groove right now and he’s throwing very, very well. Its’ very comforting to know that you’re going to have to beat him and you’re going to have to handle three or four pitches because he’s been throwing them all in there. I thought he was as efficient and as good today as he’s been and that was good to see.
On how they’ve played against Miami (Ohio)
Two shut outs in a row, that’s solid. I know you are looking at Miami’s record and thinking we should handle them pretty well but the two pitchers they threw at us today, the speed they had in the line up, a kid in there hitting close to .500 and a kid in the lineup hit 10 home runs a year ago, they have the makings of having a really good team in the MAC. They’ve been a victim of the weather and probably a little bit behind us. We’ve been able to prepare and be outside a lot more so we’re probably a little more ahead of them in that respect. Come May and June I expect them to be a competitive team. Our pitchers have been fantastic the last two nights. I’m just a little bit disappointed because we have some good hitters on our team but we’re just not quite producing like I want them to, like they want to and like I think they can.
Player Quotes
Junior Left-Hander Jack Wynkoop
On if he’s been doing anything different
No, I don’t think so. Obviously that (the season opener against College of Charleston) wasn’t my best outing of the year and I’m trying to bounce back. I’m trying to build upon every outing and get a little bit better. But the defense did a great job today. I’m giving all the credit to them because they were killing it.
On what was working best today
I was trying to get ahead and mix my pitches up. I was trying to throw some balls inside when they looked like they were looking for something over the plate.
Senior Outfielder Connor Bright
On his grand slam
I wasn’t trying to do too much. I was just trying to get a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and I got a pitch I could handle and I put a good swing on it.
On being patient at the plate
Definitely, especially when we aren’t scoring many runs. They (Miami) are a scrappy team, they have good arms. We tried to scratch some runs early so I was trying to do the best I could to get on base. We kind of heated up there at the end and we’ll try to take it into tomorrow and do the same thing.
