Texas Tech University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
March 28, 2010 | Baseball
March 28, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Texas Tech Head Coach Dan Spencer
On the eight runs his team gave up in the sixth inning:
"They had the big sixth. We were a little rough early, defensively. I told Jamodrick (McGruder) this, I thought he took an at-bat with him on the field, which I haven't seen him do before. That's part of being young and I don't think he'll do that again. Instead of getting off with one run, they get off with three in the fourth. I felt good because we were getting some swings and had some runners at those times that we would get the hit that we needed. We didn't get the big one. We scored a lot of ones. When they get three and we get one, that's a hard deal. We didn't do a great job with men in scoring position but I thought the at-bats were solid. Part of that is, we didn't get the thing done and the other part of it is, they pitched pretty good in those situations. Those guys are real guys. They run three Friday-night type guys at you then they ran their closer at you in a 13-run game to try and keep it where it was. Our kids did a good job of staying on the field and forcing another inning. You have to look at that part of it and then try and correct some of the things we didn't do right."
On the depth issue on the mound:
"I really do think that's a big part of it. We weren't going to talk about it a whole lot, but since you asked, we have less options. We have some young guys that need to pitch on Tuesday. (Brandon) Petite's just not quite ready. He's going to be a great starter for us eventually on the weekend whether it's this year later or next year. Once the game gets out of hand, you kind of have your eye on Tuesday. You have to make sure you can cover it up so (Brandon) Petite didn't become an option because we'll start him Tuesday. It really becomes an option when you are running guys that compete well but they just don't have the stuff that the boys from the `Horns are running out there at you from the bullpen. (Hoby) Milner is a good example. He's a good draft pick, and we out there and threw three innings. We recruited him but they got him. He's over there. That's part of the deal. We're going to working and getting bodies here. We'll show up Tuesday."
On not being able to finish the series with a good win on Sunday:
"It's disappointing. I thought we had ourselves in a position yesterday to make some noise again and we scored some runs early and we just got beat. Today, the game got out-of-hand on us. It's a good example of how important everything is, how important little things are, especially when you're not deep in the mound to go to another guy, another guy and another guy. You trying to get 70 pitches out of Chad (Bettis) and we did. We'd like to spread them over another inning. I thought Chad (Bettis) competed very well but you put him in a tough situation and they put (Chance) Ruffin in the same situation. They ran him back out on no rest. You try to get your guys in the game. I thought Chad (Bettis) was fine. Chad (Bettis) was not our problem at all, in fact, he did a good job and Jay (Johnson) did too. There's just a fine line. We have to make every play. We can't walk them and we have to cash in when we have chances."
On getting through the tough March schedule of ranked opponents:
"I feel good about it. Obviously, I'd like to have some more wins. We know we've played a bunch of good clubs, we have. Most of those games, we've played well. The thing is, although we've played some good clubs, we've got some good ones coming in here with good records too. You can't lower yourself to sleep and think `well A&M and Texas are out of the way and Kansas State is going to roll in here and not be very good'. Our guys won't do that. And that won't be the case; Kansas State will be loaded for bear. We played well at their place last year, so they're going to want to play well here. It's a grind. The league's a grind. You have to show up. I feel good about the makeup and character of our club going into April. We'll have a good April."
On the upcoming midweek matchup against New Mexico State University:
"I think it's a great experience to go to Midland to play. You are torn as a coach a little bit because you want to play the games and we're excited to go play but three days off would help us. But that's not the nature of our schedule. We don't have four or five fresh arms waiting in our bullpen to go Tuesday. We have one-our starter. You play the cards you're dealt. It's going to help us down the road, in the short-term in April."
On pitcher Brandon Petite:
"He needs to be solid again. He was really good Tuesday and I hope he can build on that. If he gives us another good start, we're going to be right where we need to be."
Catcher Jeremy Mayo
On the difference between Friday night's game and the last two games of the series:
"Throwing strikes. Throwing the fastball on both sides of the plate, really. Getting ahead of people and limiting walks. Walks will kill you."
On the offense shouldering a lot due to inconsistent pitching performances:
"No, not at all. Whether you are up or down in a game, losing or winning, you still have to take good at-bats and hit the ball hard. It doesn't matter what you do. Every time we step up to the plate, our offense takes that approach."
On not being able to finish the series with a good win on Sunday:
"It's disappointing. They're a good club. We just have to get the ball down and out of the air. A few different breaks go the other way and it's a different ball game."
Outfielder Scott LeJeune
On today's 17-5 loss to Texas:
"We could've made it close. In the fourth and fifth innings, we had a couple runners on. But when you give up a big run in the eighth spot, there's a lot of times you are not going to come back from that."
On the difference between Friday night's game and the last two games of the series:
"I don't know what it is. I think we had some confidence going into Friday. I really thought we were going to show up Saturday. It was a pretty tough game. But Sunday, we just let it slip away. Texas is going to separate if you don't make the plays when you need to."
On getting through the tough March schedule of ranked opponents:
"Honestly, I think we're a little bit more together. When you lose, you learn a little bit more. We got Midland on Tuesday, if we don't show up, we'll get beat again. I think we just really have to stay together. (Coach) Spencer was talking about positives like to keep on battling at the end. We just have to stay together through this trouble."
Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido
On his team's performance today:
"The three things I liked was the consistency of the offense especially as (Jordan) Etier's day started off on a negative note and then he had the ability to get it stopped and turned it all the way around and that's really important from an individual's standpoint. From the team standpoint, the consistency of the offense was very good despite the fact that we got ahead we continued to compete. We saw the ball well. Brandon Workman, from the pitching side of it, battled his way out of tough spots as a result of the quality of hitting that they have, the elements and all those kind of things. I thought he showed a lot of courage and a lot of confidence in himself for the second straight weekend in a row. I think those three things really stand out to me."
On his team's hitting throughout the game:
"We had a great inning and we had a lot of consistency throughout the game. I think the one I am probably most impressed with it is (Jordan) Etier. He started off with a terrible day. He struck out and balls all over the place. And then turned his whole day around and once you do that, then you can start doing that from a bat to a bat and then you can start doing it from a pitch to a pitch. He really did a great job turning his day around and I'm really happy from him."
On pitcher Brandon Workman's performance:
"I think that (Brandon) Workman showed his overall mental toughness by coming out and again, for the second consistent league weekend, dominate the game. It's not an easy place or an easy environment to dominate the game in from the mound. But, he really battled out from some jams and never lost his composure even after he got hit on the hand he fought it out. I thought that was something special as well."
On if Texas Tech relying on pitchers that they played on Friday for the win was the difference in today's game:
"Yeah, it's always a push on not trying to discount your point. I'm aware that they had some arm surgeries and some arm problems with some of their scholarship pitchers and that proved to be a part of the weekend series. You're not going to do it without pitching. "
On how the Texas team responded after losing Friday night's game:
"I think it's very encouraging. It's the competitiveness and the pride that they have. Once they start tasting that and doing that it gives them more and more confidence. We're in for a lot of big battles throughout the rest of the season. But, those are the things when you see your team showing their character to respond to loses like that it's an encouraging feeling."
