March 31, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

Thoughts on the game
"After the first inning, we were very sound defensively. We left some guys on, but we also had a lot of action on the bases. We executed some good things and put some pressure on them and stretched the lead as well as we could. Playing a good club like that, to get two wins in the first two games, you have to play well to do that, and we did. I thought that we played well last weekend and I thought we had to rise our game up a little this weekend. So far, we have."

On the performance of Shooter Hunt
"Shooter was really good today. He pitched both halves of the plate and elevated his fastball when he needed to. He threw his breaking ball for a strike and it was a power breaker with a lot of depth. You watch the swings and you watch how comfortable a guy looks in the box, and that tells you a lot about how good a guy's stuff is. There's no question that Shooter created some discomfort for them.

On the team's offensive production
"Aja had a good day, but I've always felt that Emaus and McFadden are our key guys. If they're going, we're in pretty good shape offensively. Today, they were. Both of them had good swings, had good approaches at the plate and they're working hard. They're both good hitters and you know eventually they're going to hit if they just keep working, and they have. They were out early today working on their swings. Both of them are good hitters who had to put their time in and they have.

TULANE STARTER Shooter Hunt

Thoughts on the game
"We were confident going in after last night when Sean threw that great game. The offense came through big time. Aja came up clutch with those two out hits and had three hits today. I thought me and (Coach) Sutter were on the same page all day."

On what was working for him on Saturday
"I thought the entire energy the whole team was big. I was just feeding off what everyone else was giving to me. I had my fastball working real well, I was spotting up on each side and I was able to put them away."

TULANE SECOND BASEMAN Brad Emaus

On scoring three in the bottom of the first after ECU scored a run in the top of the frame
"Any time they put up a run in the first inning and you answer back, the momentum swings back to your side and we kept it there the entire game. We kept putting runs up and beat them in every inning and kept carrying that momentum into every inning."

On the team's offensive production
"I think the problem we've had early in the year is we've played to our level of competition. Our offense has been getting better, I think we're playing up and we stuck with a good approach at the plate. I thought we played as well as we could today."

On winning the fifth straight series over East Carolina in as many tries
"We don't even look at what we've done in the series so far. Every conference game means a lot so we're going to look at it as another conference game and come out and try to beat them. That would be big for us."

EAST CAROLINA HEAD COACH BILLY GODWIN

Thoughts on the game
"I was very disappointed. We gave up three runs in the first inning and made two errors after we came out and took the lead. I wasn't very pleased with that. I didn't think we played very well today. I know we've been playing well lately, but this is by far our worst performance in a while. It was very disappointing to come in and have a chance to even the series today, and we just didn't play well at all."

On the team having to put the first two games behind them and get ready for Sunday
"That's the only thing we can do. We have to come out tomorrow and put this one behind us as quickly as we can. That tells the difference in what kind of club we've got. We're on the road right here with a chance to salvage a game tomorrow. We've got no other choice."