March 5, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
On how the hip is doing and first HR of the year…
We have done everything we can to help it heal and it hasn’t really bothered me the last couple of games so we are getting somewhere. The HR, it was a good day to hit as a right-hander the wind was blowing out so it was good to get it in today.
On the pitchers performance tonight..
Pitchers always give up a chance to win they have been really good this year and I don’t see them slacking off. We just have score more runs than the other team and we will be alright.
How did you feel coming in to the game?
I felt good. The mindset was to go in and just through strikes and get ground balls. I thought I did a pretty good job of that tonight.
On the wait between innings…
Didn’t really affect me, I had the heat on my arm so my arm was fine just try to not let the long innings affect me and it really didn’t.
On knowing what it is like to have so many good arms around you…
I think there is some pressure knowing that you have so many good arms around you and you want to do well when you get the shot. I also have a lot of good examples to follow with Westmoreland and Belcher. I think it is good when you have so many good arms on the staff and you take pride when you have those guys.
Chad Holbrook
Opening statement
Pitching was terrific tonight and it was good to get the 9th win. It was a clean game and we had some good at bats. We had a great outing pitching and (Jack) Wynkoop pitched well again. Our strike out to walk ratio is incredible. Joey had the big swing of the night to give us a cushion there, as well as Graham swung the bat well and he has a knack for getting hits and swinging at good pitches, he is a good player. Other than that there was clean defense no walks and no errors so it was a good win for us.
On the good pitching and Defense…
I was concerned if we would have energy and if we would come ready to play. I had in my mind to play some new guys to ether play them mid way or to start them. I thought Shon (Carson) would be a little bit more prepared because his batting practice has been so much better. I know he is disappointed but he will get some more cracks at it. We are a mature group we have some old guys such as Graham (Saiko), Chase (Vergason) and LB (Dantzler) and they came ready to play today which was good to see.
On having a game to get a lot of guys in the game…
I have to be careful and to be fair to not evaluate them on such a small sample. Baseball is a hard game and I have to be fair to not evaluate them on one at bat or two at bats. I have been trying to get George (Iskenderian) in the game because he is a talented kid and I have been thinking about DH’ing him from time to time or giving him a start either at DH or 3rd. Brison Celek is 2-2, even though they were both singles, it was very encouraging because they were two breaking balls that he put in to right field, and that is something he has had trouble with. But it is comforting we are getting them some at bats and some other opportunities. We aren’t there yet we are still trying to find our everyday DH and they are all kind of bunched up and no one has separated themselves yet.
On 3 shutouts in 4 games…
When you pitch and play defense you are going to win your fair share and win a lot. That is what we have done the last several years. You can’t ask your pitching staff to throw shutouts time and time again. Anytime you throw a shutout it is a surprise but our pitchers are throwing very well. We don’t have dominant “stuff” in terms of our first and second round guys but we have guys who know how to change speeds and throw strikes and work fast and we have shown that works too. Jack throws similarly to Jordan and they all pitch by throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count and it is really fun for their coach to watch.
On English’s performance at the plate…
I think it is a result of him hitting both sides. I had a couple guys on the professional level ask me today why we chose to switch hit Tanner (English). Initially it was to cut down on his strikeouts but sometimes you get some results that weren’t necessarily intended. The result that we got and what I am surprised about is that he has a more patient approach he looks at the ball better and he doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone. I think the switch-hitting has taught him to play the game a little better as well as improving his approach right handed and his walk to strikeout ratio at this point in the season is very encouraging.
On seeing a clean performance from Joel Seddon…
Very good. He threw the ball well which was very different than his first outing. He had life on his fastball and bite on his breaking ball and it looked like he had some confidence. That is not to take anything away from Joel (Seddon) or Vince (Fiori) or Forrest (Koumas) but it is easy to pitch with that kind of lead and in such a relaxed setting. It was very encouraging to that they threw the ball the way they did and they looked like they had a point to prove. Joel (Seddon) wasn’t happy with his last outing and it was good to see him get out there ad get after it a bit. He sort of let loose and Coach (Jerry) Meyers was very pleased with that.
On Forrest’s Performance tonight…
Had life on his fastball and his slider was good. The thing with Forrest (Koumas) is his command. If he is down in the strike zone and out of the middle of the plate he is very effective. His stuff is terrific but he gets himself in trouble either by walking a guy here or there or pitching in the middle of the plate. Today he was down and his slider was good but the thing I was most excited about with his inning was the curveball he dropped in there to end the game. He needs an off speed pitch because offensively if it is all fast balls and sliders there is nothing to respect about in terms of an off speed pitch. If he can get that curve ball over it will be a really great pitch. We need Forrest (Koumas) to anchor our bullpen. We need his experience and we need what he has done in the past to help anchor our bullpen.
On shutting down Jordan Montgomery…
He will not pitch this weekend and most likely wont go on the trip to Missouri. He has been having some discomfort the past few weeks in his pitching arm and he was diagnosed today after a MRI and an X-Ray he has a lower distal stress reaction. It is not a stress fracture and there are no broken bones it’s a stress reaction at the lower part of his humorous. It is disappointing but if it had to happen this is a good a time as any for it to happen. We will reevaluate Jordan (Montgomery) in two weeks and see when we can get him back. He hopes to be back by Arkansas but I am not optimistic that it will happen that weekend. I am thinking it will be the third weekend of SEC play but we will see, kids heal fast. It is just something that had been bothering him for 2-3 weeks and we thought it was something muscular. It is funny when he pitched against Clemson he felt great and it really isn’t when he is pitching that he feels pain it is in his recovery that he has some discomfort. But we don’t know how this will effect our weekend rotation as of yet.
