Postgame Quotes
5/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 25, 2007
Head Coach Steve Smith
On today's performance:
"I saw a game of inches today. Our guys did a good job of putting the ball in play, and it fell. (Chase) Gerdes slaps one with two strikes that's just out of the reach of their third baseman to keep an inning going, they come off the mound on a bunt play and don't make the play at third, and that kind of opened the flood gate a little bit. Then we got some balls to fall. On the flip side, we walk them a bunch, and they scold one to our first baseman and we get out of an inning. We won the game, and we played well defensively, but I do think the game had some real randomness to it."
On Baylor's chances for a regional bid:
"I've thought we're in good shape since the day we got here. I've always felt that you don't play your way out of an NCAA tournament in a conference tournament; I think you can play your way in, but with our RPI, our finish in our league and the quality of the league that we're in, I thought we were in when we showed up. That may or may not be true, that's just what I thought."
On the team's defense:
"When our pitching has been less than spectacular, our defense has really picked them up. We turned a double play in our first game against Corey Brown, and I don't think he'd hit into one all year. Those aren't guys that hit into a lot of double plays. We really benefitted from some timely pitching to get that kind of a ground ball, but also the guys were doing a great job handling it. Even the one back to Willie (Kempf) early in the game. That's a freshman out on the mound who gets himself out of an inning. It wasn't a great feed to Beamer (Weems), but he stayed with it and was able to turn it. Those are the kinds of things that, when you're not playing well, you drop that feed or you throw it away, and that's how you lose a game. Right now we're playing a good game of catch and making some very nice plays."
On the youth of his team:
"I still think they're young. Some guys are younger than others. Having said that, there's no age on makeup and character. We've really played well for the greater part of the year. I don't see us doing anything really out of the ordinary right now. Last weekend and today we've gotten really stellar long relief outings. We had them all three games last weekend and then Randall (Linebaugh) came in and did it for us again today. He was the key. He came in and they hit him hard that first inning he was out there, but when he went back out the next inning he was ok. That is an experienced play right there."
Baylor sophomore SS Beamer Weems
On the team's performance:
"It just seems like this team is starting to jell at the right time. The younger players are really stepping up and (Matt) Czimskey keeps hitting those home runs. The pitchers are doing a great job, the defense is playing well and the hitting is just contagious. Everybody is starting to see the ball really well, so it's been fun this last half of the year."
Baylor senior C Matt Czimskey
On going 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI:
"I've been seeing the ball pretty well. (Missouri starting pitcher Aaron) Crow did a really good job; he's got a really good slider and I kind of got lucky and blooped one in. I'm just trying to put good swings on balls."
Baylor junior RHP Randall Linebaugh
On coming out of the bullpen to earn the win:
"Going into something like that, you just want to give your team the best chance to win. You want to go out there and minimize, especially with runners on base. At the time we were up, so my thought was to just go out there, fill up the zone and make them earn every run, and they did. They hit some balls that I made some mistakes on. I told myself to settle down and go on out the next inning and just locate. Fortunately I made some good pitches early in the count, got them to swing at some, and guys just played great defense behind me. Beamer (Weems) made a great play the first inning I was out there, and I got a couple of double play balls. Everybody's just playing great defense behind me and I can't ask for anything better."
