March 10, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening statement:
We’re lucky to have won, the story of the game obviously was the way we threw the ball, all three guys. Josh (Reagan) got us off to a great start, as good as I’ve seen him pitch in the starter’s role since he’s been here obviously and he threw the ball very, very well. That’s what he’s done to us from time to time in scrimmages so that’s the Josh Reagan that we know and love. Brandon (Murray) was good, made some big pitches in there when the tying run came to the plate and got a couple big strikeouts for us and it was good to get Cody (Mincey) out there for us for his first appearance of the year and he finished the game clean. Good win for us, we’re still scuffling from an offensive standpoint but we’ll keep working and keep fighting and see if we can create a little bit of momentum in our dugout from an offensive standpoint. I think it’s going to come, it’s just not coming as quick as I want it to.
On Reagan’s performance:
What he did differently from his other Sunday starts tonight was he had better command, didn’t make any mistakes over the heart of the plate and he pitched effectively and his changeup was a little bit more efficient. When he pitches in it makes his changeup that much better, and he’s got to be able to pitch in even though he doesn’t throw hard. You’ve got to pitch in so they won’t just dive out over the plate and chase the changeup and he did that today. And he dropped some good breaking balls in there, especially against their lefties. He had all his pitches going and threw the ball well. He worked fast, and his command was a lot better than it has been in previous outings and he didn’t make a lot of mistakes over the plate.
Reasoning for experimenting with the designated hitter spot in the lineup:
There were a number of reasons, one, the DH spot was in the fifth spot so if the fifth spot would have led off the second inning, I would have hit a lead-off type guy. I would have hit (Clark) Scolamiero or I’d have hit Pat Harrington, an on-base percentage guy. I didn’t want to hit (Connor) Bright leading off the inning, or (Alex) Destino leading off the inning, or (Collin) Steagall leading off the inning if they were going to be the DH. And then kept him in the game and if the five spot comes up the next time in the lead-off role or a bunt-type situation we’d just keep them in there. The thought process is to play to the situation, I talked to all the possible candidates, they all knew to be ready to hit. Vanderbilt does that quite a bit, I just didn’t want either Bright or Destino to lead off the second inning. I’d rather have a lead-off guy come up two innings in a row. I’m searching to create a little momentum and get a lead-off guy on base and play the situation as best I can. I think I’m not going to do that too much going forward, I might do it from time to time but I just think that Alex Destino has been banged up and that’s the only reason he hasn’t been in there. He could’ve played today, but he’s swinging the bat a lot better. He’s our DH. Now that I feel a little bit better about his hand, I’ve got to be sure that big boy gets some consistent at bats and know that he’s going to be in there.
Sophomore Pitcher Josh Reagan
Mindset for the mid-week start:
Try to throw strikes and get ahead of hitters. The mindset really wasn’t any different than any other start.
Tracking the no-hitter in-game:
Obviously it was in the back of my mind that I hadn’t given up a hit, but it didn’t really affect the way I was pitching and the defense was tremendous behind me. I wasn’t really worried about it.
Is the goal to regain weekend role:
It doesn’t matter. The Sunday job, the best pitcher that we have should be there. I’m not trying to beat out a teammate, I want to go to Omaha and whatever it takes to get there is OK with me.
