March 4, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

Thoughts on the game
"I thought we really got a good performance from Shooter. Zizinia gave us a good eight and Daniel was good again in the ninth. I thought we played the way we have to - play well defensively and play small ball. Simon had a good day at the plate and gave us a little cushion there with the home run."

On the performance of Nate Simon
"Simon has had a very good week and a very big impact on our success this week - both at LSU and over the weekend. That's a positive. For a club that needs offense without sacrificing defense, Simon's provided both, and that's a positive."

On the pitching performance by starter Shooter Hunt
"I don't think he had as good of stuff as he did last week against USC. The real mark of a pitcher is when he can with when he doesn't have his best stuff. (In the first) he had runners at first and second with nobody out, and he quieted that down and gave us seven innings that were really good."

TULANE SHORTSTOP Cat Everett

On the team's offensive performance against Wright State
"We were all aiming for that one hole. You had to adjust to the wind, too. With the way it was blowing, you can't pull the ball and have it go anywhere. We were just aiming over there the whole day and good things happened for us. We were just staying late and getting the ball in the air."

On the team's defensive performance
We played very good defense. It's easy with Shooter because he works quick and he's always around the zone. It's easier to keep on your toes when you're out there.

TULANE STARTING PITCHER Shooter Hunt

On how he felt during his 7.0 inning start
"To be honest, I didn't feel all that great. I knew our pen got cut into Friday and Saturday, so I knew I had to gut it out. You don't always have your best stuff, and that's what you need to do on most days."

On his eight strikeouts
"I wasn't really counting those. I was just thinking, "Let me get out of this inning. Three outs. Three outs. Three outs.' That's all I was thinking about."

TULANE CENTERFIELDER Nate Simon

On his performance Sunday against Wright State
"I'm just seeing the ball well right now. I was just looking for a pitch that I could drive and I got it up in the air. I was looking off speed and got one up in the zone."

WRIGHT STATE HEAD COACH ROB COOPER

On dropping all three games over the weekend
"Tulane had a lot to do with that. They're a great club. Friday's game was one of the most enjoyable game's I've ever been in. It was back and forth game and both teams had a chance to win it. And yesterday, we came back and had a chance to win it. If you have a chance to win it late, then you're doing something right. They made pitches when they needed to make pitches and we came up short. I'm proud of our guys. I thought we gave it a good effort. I don't really feel like we beat ourselves. I feel like the better team won."

On his team's early-season performances
"For us, there's a reason we're scheduling teams like Ole Miss and Tulane early in the season. In order for us to get better and for us to have a chance to play at the end of the year, we need to play these kinds of people. It's going to make us better for conference. If we do play in a regional, these are the kind of people we're going to play."

On returning to Tulane for the first time as a head coach
"It was great. I had a great experience coaching here, I coached some great kids and being around great coaches like Coach Jones. For me to come back and see a lot of these people was great. It's a great place to play. What Coach Jones has done here is really remarkable. It's a neat deal to come back to."