May 3, 2013
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement…
Well I am very disappointed that we lost the game. At the same time I am very proud of our players. It was a really, really good college baseball game. (Kevin) Ziomek was terrific and I think we had some really good at bats against him and squared some balls up. They made some terrific defensive plays and a couple of balls were right at them. That is baseball. Looking at the line score, we had nine hits, they had eight, they struck out seven times, we struck out four. We battled and competed and played as hard as we could possibly play. I hate it for Nolan because he has battled his rear end off for us. He battled tonight, he battled last weekend against LSU, pitched a complete game and lost at Florida and gave us everything he has got. We have got to do more for him. All in all, the only thing I sit up here disappointed in is the final score not the effort of my team and not the way our kids battled and competed.
On hits not falling….
We tell them to move up in the batters box, change the angle. That is just baseball we had some balls fall in for us last week. We tried our best. The only thing I do when something like that happens is to make sure our kids don’t get frustrated and keep a good attitude. I tell them to keep hitting them hard. There is nothing else you can do. Against a guy like Ziomek and (Brian) Miller if you square a ball up that is all you can do, its just tough luck if it goes right at them. With that being said they made some great plays too. You have to tip your cap to the other team, their shortstop made a terrific play there when we had one on first and third and the single got (Joey) Pankake over to third and Grayson (Greiner) smoked a ball right at (Tony) Kemp. Who knows that may have rolled to the wall if it got over his head. Their shortstop, Vince (Conde) made a great play on and got the first out at second. We were playing a very elite team and they are very good. To beat them you not only have to be very, very good you have to get a few breaks and we didn’t get many breaks tonight.
On the fourth inning…
We have won games in which we have hit some balls on the nose early. You certainly can’t throw in the towel just because you had some bad luck early in the game. Against Ziomek and his pitching staff your opportunities are going to be few and far between. You have to try and maximize when you get runners in scoring position. You have to try like crazy to execute. Especially when they are on third and less than two outs. And the thing is we did execute but it was hit right at them and Conde made a great play at short. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the opponent. They are an awfully good team. I thought that was a great college baseball game and we just came out on the short end of it.
LB Dantzler
On tonight’s game…
I think that is just the way baseball goes. We left a lot of guys in scoring position. I remember Grayson hit one right at the second baseman and (Chase) Vergason lined out a couple of times. That’s just baseball. It is tough but we have got to bounce back.
On the rest of the series…
I think so. Last week we did it on the road and that is what we are going to try and do this week. We didn’t lose any confidence from tonight. Like I was saying earlier. We hit the ball hard at people we could have easily been on the other side of that. We will come out tomorrow ready to go.
Nolan Belcher
On the high pitch count…
My stamina was fine, but 122 pitches, that is why I was taken out I suppose. Even though I threw a lot of pitches I felt good physically. I take pride in being in good shape. I felt good late in tbe game. That wasn’t a problem. They did a good job battling and scraping. There such a fine line in this league between winning and losing that is just an example of that tonight.
On the series…
Last week we lost Friday on the road against a really good team and tonight we lost against another really good team We just have to forget about it. I am proud of the way our guys swung the bat they hit some balls hard. Their defense was extraordinary tonight. They made three or four diving plays in some big spots, which helped Ziomek, go deep into the game. They did a really good job.
