April 21, 2013

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement…
It was a big weekend for our team obviously that is an understatement. Wynkoop was special. He scattered nine hits, but he threw strikes, three strikeouts and no walks. It was a good day to pitch because of the wind. I felt good about him being out there because he typically throws strikes and the ball wasn’t carrying much today. With that being said he he would have been good if the wind was blowing out. He had a lot of groundballs, a lot of fly balls, and he pitched with poise. It wasn’t a typical freshman out there today. It was good to see and good for our team going forward. LB with that big swing of the bat on his homerun was symbolic of our weekend. I look up right before that pitch and the flags are limp, no wind is blowing. I thought to myself it would be good for him to get one in the air and he did. As soon as he touched home plate the wind started blowing again. It was just our weekend, and things went well for us. We beat a good team, that Littrell kid is a good pitcher. I saw some stat earlier that at some point he was 7-0 on Sunday’s in deciding games. He is an impressive pitcher. We beat an impressive guy today. Great weekend for our team, we played good defense. Max was special defensively in the game. Joey’s play in the game, you don’t see that play everyday, a 6-5 play. We practice it quite a bit, and it saved our rear today because I didn’t want Cousino coming up. Heck I didn’t want Zeller coming up. It was a big play to end the game.

On Wynkoop…
He had a good tempo going, he worked fast, he threw strikes and he worked ahead in the count. He can’t thwart the running game with his movement. Even though he doesn’t get the picks he is tough to run on. He’s tough. Like I said he used his defense. He worked ahead in the count. He is like some of our other leftys, he relies on pitch ability and pitching ahead in the count and throwing any pitch at any count. It makes it difficult on hitters when he can do that when he is ahead of the count. That is what he did today. His poise was terrific too.

On the team’s resilience after Florida…
Well I don’t mean this critically toward my team, but it is not acceptable in my shoes to get swept. Florida played their rear-ends off last week. We had our chance to win a couple of games down there last week. We had some guys out, and we just couldn’t get it done. That happens in our league. It’s not just South Carolina, you can look around the league. You just have to try to keep an even keel in this league, don’t get too high when things are going well and don’t get too low when you get your tail kicked, because you are going to get your tail kicked. It is just the nature of this league. You just have to pick yourself back up off the mat. We have, not only after the Florida series but after the Arkansas series as well. That shows me a little bit about the makeup of our team. I am proud that they haven’t let it go south. They have fought like crazy to get back in this thing and to keep us in the conversation of doing some things later in the year. That’s a trait of my teams I am proud of. I am proud of this team. It was a big weekend for us.

Max Schrock
On defensive plays today…
I felt really relaxed out there, just really focused. Balls just kept coming to me and finding my glove.

Reaction in dugout to LB Dantzler’s homerun…
Well I know what my reaction was. I was standing on deck, and when it hit the batters eye I just said ‘wow.’ I know that the wind was howling out there. I know when it hit the batters eye that it was incredible.

LB Dantzler
On the homerun…
I didn’t think it had a chance of going out. I hit it and I knew I hit it well, but watching the balls that Reed hit for them. I thought he crushed a couple and they didn’t even make it to the track, I really thought running down to first, ‘dang it, just a long fly out’ and it just kept carrying and I got lucky I guess.

On getting another SEC win…
It is an interesting stat. I realized that after the game. I was talking to Chase about that after the game. I wouldn’t say that it says anything about our team. That’s just how the ball has bounced this year for us. As far as wining this game, it was huge. We are either 10-8 or 5-7. We are either two above .500 or poor. That is big heading to LSU this weekend.

Jack Wynkoop
On pitching today…
Everything felt good. I just tried to mix my pitches well and get ahead of hitters. I did pretty well with that today. I threw all four pitches for a strike. Their hitters had great approaches at the plate, they found ways to get on base and luckily I just minimized the damage.

On the bullpen…
I would love to go as deep as possible every time I get the ball. I just told myself in between innings just get three more. I ended up getting eight, which is pretty good.

On confidence going into the heart of the SEC schedule…
It definitely gives you confidence. It feels good to get SEC hitters out. That’s why I came here. I am glad I am starting to do that.