March 9, 2008
Recap |
Final Stats
TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones
Overall thoughts on the weekend
"You have to give credit to their pitching. We knew coming into this series that it was going to be tough to score because their numbers are so good. They came in with a 1.13 ERA. We got out-scored 12-6 over the weekend. Today was similar to yesterday in that every time we had a chance to get something going, they'd make a great pitch. We just did not swing the bats well enough to offset that. I thought Robby Broach pitched well and Preston Claiborne was outstanding. We were sound defensively today, but we didn't put enough pressure on them offensively and I'm disappointed with that."
On what Tulane takes from this weekend
"The thing you have to take from this is that I know we're a more talented hitting club than we're showing right now. I think today, we didn't have a whole lot of confident at-bats. Confidence comes from doing it. Guys are feeling for the ball, and I think some guys up there today who are feeling more pressure than they need to and you see it in their at-bats. You see that when guys are chasing pitches out of the zone and taking good pitches to hit. They get the game backwards sometimes and that's because they may be thinking too much, putting too much pressure on themselves and their getting pitched to."
On the performance of UC Irvine starter Christian Bergman
"The thing that was impressive about their starter today was when you have guys with good swings and it's a handle shot, that means that ball has a lot of movement. His ball had a lot of movement late in the zone. He handled the middle of our lineup in some critical situations with a good slider and a fastball that ran in on our hands. It was a combination of us not having great at-bats, but their guy was really good with his fastball and his breaking ball. At the end of the day, we can get better and we will get better offensively but that'll only happen with confidence."
On Tulane's struggles at the plate
"Right now, we're lacking a little offensive confidence and that's understandable when you've been pitched to the way we have. When you look at the pitchers we've faced - Irvine came in with the great numbers, Pepperdine threw a sure-fire first rounder at us, we saw outstanding pitching for UIC, and what UNO calls their big-game pitcher threw against us Tuesday night - we've seen some really, really front-line pitching. It's just been tough for us to manufacture a whole lot and get a whole lot going offensively. I think now, there's a confidence question. There is a lot of season left and we'll just get back to work on Tuesday. We just need to have some things falling for us, but those things will happen if we good quality at-bats. They'll even out."
On dropping the series, 2-1
"At home, you want to win a series and we knew this was a series would be big for us if we won it. We had a chance to come out of this stretch of 13 games with 11 of them against NCAA teams last year - and this was a World Series team last year - 9-4 had we won today. That would have been a good stretch, knowing the competition, but we came out 8-5. They were pretty much as billed. Their pitching staff was outstanding. We pitched well and played well defensively with the exception of yesterday. We just never got the big hit off these guys. But this is why we always schedule West Coast teams of national stature because that's how we become the same way. We started playing them in the 90s and it started giving us a barometer by which to gauge ourselves - whether it be these guys, Pepperdine or Fullerton - and we'll continue to do that. I would be less than honest, though, if I told you I wasn't disappointed we didn't get at least two out of three this weekend."
On Preston Claiborne pitching two days after his father died
"What Preston Claiborne did today was just really special. He had to have a ton of things going on in his mind but he really pitched well. That was the bright spot today as far as I'm concerned. Preston looked like himself coming off of that arm surgery and dealing with certainly unprecedented personal situation that he's dealing with. That's why I'm such a big of a fan of his because he is a team guy through and through, and he's as hard-nosed as they come. As close as he and his father are, it was one of those things where I had to talk to him before and he said, `No coach, I want to be in there. This is what I want to do.' Seeing him out there and doing what he did, I wish we could have had a big rally for him. It didn't turn out that way. It doesn't always the way you draw it up, but I sure was proud of his effort and I'm sure his dad was, too."
JUNIOR DESIGNATED HITTER Andrew Rodgers
On the team's offensive struggles over the weekend
"We got outscored 12-6, we dug a whole and we struggled at the plate a little bit. What we need to do is continue to work hard and expect good things to happen. That's what we have to do to get through this funk. There are highs and lows of every season on every team, and we're just trying to work our way out of it right now."
On where the team goes from here
"I think sometimes we got up there, tried to do too much, over-swing or chase balls out of the zone. Their pitchers did a good job of throwing off-speed pitches in counts we were looking for fastballs and we were swinging at them. It's a confidence thing. When you hit bottom, you just have to keep going. We're really just, as a team, trying to work out of it with a lot of hard work."
SOPHOMORE PITCHER Preston Claiborne
On taking the mound for the first time since his father died
"It was hard. But being around my teammates and knowing that they are my family and that they are around me, it helped me out a lot. There was nothing better for me than to be around them. I knew they all had my back and they stuck with me.
"It's good to know that my dad now gets to watch me every game that I'm in because he only got to see me pitch one time when we were at Rice. Now he gets to see me pitch every day."
On if he ever considered taking some time off
"My dad would have wanted me to be out here with the baseball team and have my mind on baseball. Me being around all those guys and being on the field felt a hell of a lot better than not being here. He loved the game and I love the game and I know he would have wanted me to stick with it like I am now. And I will stick with it."
