April 17, 2012

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

Head Coach Ray Tanner
On the offense and the overall performance…
“I think you certainly have to give (Ryan) West a tremendous amount of credit because he just stymied us. I said to the players after the game that you have to tip your hat to West, he did a good job. We faced some pretty good arms this weekend and we battled hard but he was better than us tonight. For me, that was the difference in the game, he just didn’t give us a opportunity. I know (Nolan) Belcher got off to a bad start and I got the guys together in the dugout and told them that after they hit a couple of long balls, we now have to go out there and win 7-6 or 8-7 and our bullpen would hold them tight. They did a super job, but we didn’t get enough runs.”

On Nolan Belcher’s performance…
“I don’t think he has thrown too much, that’s one reason we gave him the start tonight because he needed to throw more. He made two or three bad pitches and sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don’t and tonight he didn’t get away with it. They took some good hacks and hit some long balls against him. He battled for us and he competed, and we only gave up four runs and I’ll take that. The offense wasn’t good enough for us tonight, but our pitchers did a good job with the exception of Belcher’s start.”

LHP Nolan Belcher
On his off speed pitches and his performance…
“I felt like I was getting them over and they just kept hitting them. I just didn’t make enough quality pitches down in the zone. Whenever I made a mistake, they made me pay for it.”

Outfielder Tanner English
On offensive struggles…
“It’s frustrating, especially when the pitchers hold them after they get a big lead. Like Nolan said, you have to have a short memory. Baseball is a really humbling game, you win some, and you lose some, and you just got to take it and keep working.”