March 17, 2015
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement…
Winthrop has a nice looking team and they’re off to a great start. We knew it would be a tough game tonight and obviously that’s what we got. We just didn’t quite do enough offensively for the first ten innings. We just didn’t do enough to win the game. Their (Winthrop’s) at bats were a little bit better than ours. They have a good looking team and they had some good at bats. Some of our leadoffs Gene (Cone) and Jordan (Gore) were 0-for-10 at the top. Elliott (Caldwell) and Kyle (Martin) had three hits apiece but they didn’t have many people to drive in in front of them. As a team we have to continue to get better offensively. We have some guys doing some nice things, but there are nine hitters in there and they all have a role. We have to get some guys on base in front of the meat of our lineup. We’ve had some good fortune the last ten games or so. Sometimes the ball bounces your way. Baseball has a way of giving and a way of taking away. Tonight we played a really solid opponent. We just didn’t do enough from an offensive standpoint to win the game, so congratulations to Winthrop.
On getting back in a routine before Missouri…
We’re sitting here 17-4, 3-0 in the league. If you had asked me before the season, I had probably signed up for that. We’ll go to work tomorrow in practice and continue to get better. I like the fight my team showed in the 11th inning there to get the tie and the winning run to the plate. That’s all you can really ask for when you’re down four; get the tie and the winning run to the plate. We got the winning run to the plate but it was just too much for us to overcome. You just have to pick yourself back up.
Senior First Baseman Kyle Martin
On the team’s offensive performance tonight…
I think we swung the bats sort of well. We got shut out in the last couple of innings and (Travis Shelley) came out throwing pretty well. He was throwing a lot of off-speed and getting us off balance. We fell right into it, rolled over a few balls and couldn’t get big hits in the end.
Sophomore Right-hander Matthew Vogel
On the Winthrop batters…
They were definitely battling throughout the whole game, no matter what we threw at them. It took everybody to pitch on our squad today. They (Winthrop) were just fighting out there and we really couldn’t do anything about it. They won the battle and we just have to move onto the next one.
On how he is throwing this season…
I just feel a lot more comfortable out there on the mound this year. Last year, you can say that I had some confidence issue or whatever you want to call it. I’m coming out this year with a lot more confidence and definitely feeling more comfortable about how I throw my pitches when I throw them.
Senior Outfielder Elliott Caldwell
On the Winthrop pitchers…
They were throwing their off-speed pitches for strikes. That’s one of the main things in baseball; if you’re locating, changing speeds and throwing strikes, that’s tough to hit. They were throwing strikes, changing speeds and overall we were off-balance and just had an off night.
