Feb. 24, 2008

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Baylor head coach Steve Smith:

On today's game:

"It was not an incredibly well-managed game, but the thing that was impressive was the couple of times where there were some pretty interesting jams against some good hitters, and we got out."

On his pitchers escaping jams:

"That certainly didn't go like it was scripted, but this early in the year I don't know that there is a script. We're very happy to get the win, and hopefully we all realize that we're pretty fortunate to get it."

On using Aaron Miller in a relief pitching role:

"It hasn't worked against the left-handed hitters. They're 3-for-3 against him right now, but he did show a lot of poise. If I would've had to go get him (Aaron Miller) after the first two guys got on, it would've created a real situation. (Nick) Cassavechia would've had to hit in somebody's spot right in the middle of the order, and I just wasn't willing to do that right then. I gave him a chance to get out of it and he made me look good on it. That's obviously going to be a risk that we take when we're where we were in the order, and that's one reason why I was so long in making the decision."

On winning a low scoring game:

"I didn't think we had a very good day offensively. Give their guy some credit, he pitched us pretty well, but it's early in the year. The pitching on both sides controlled the offenses of both teams this weekend. The thing that happened yesterday (Saturday) was that neither side threw strikes, but the pitchers for both teams were ahead of both sides when it came to offense, which is probably why the games were as close as they were."

Baylor sophomore RHP Willie Kempf:

On the bullpen's pitching:

"It's good that we were able to hold them down today on a day when we weren't as productive offensively. It was good to see Craig (Fritsch) come in and throw a couple of good innings, and Aaron (Miller) got in a jam and got out of it."

On his strategy on the mound:

"I threw a lot of fastballs. Most of their hitters are on top of the plate, so they were hitting some balls away, and so once we started throwing in, we got a lot of jams. We just had to mix it up a little bit because they were a pretty solid hitting team, and it seemed like if we made mistakes they were hitting them pretty well."

On the defense behind him:

"(I had) great defense. That last inning (top of the fifth) when I walked the first two guys and we got that ground ball, that was huge for us to get that good feed and good turn, and we got that, so I just had to get the next guy. Luckily we did when Landis (Ware) came and got that ground ball that was weakly hit, and he made a good play to first base. It's quite a luxury pitching with that defense behind you; they pick you up."