March 1, 2008

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Baylor head coach Steve Smith:

On tonight's game:

"This game was about pitching and defense. We played it really well on the defensive side. Beamer (Weems) and Shaver (Hansen) on the left side of the infield were really, really good, and Beamer showed that he is in fact a human with that error in the ninth; but he made some tremendous plays, as did Shaver. Shaver's play when he had to come get that ball (in the eighth inning) was a great play. I couldn't be more pleased with how we're playing defense in the infield. They've been really, really good."

On being 4-0 in one-run games in 2008:

"Good baseball teams are going to win with pitching and defense. You're not going to do what we did last night very often, so you need to be able to play the game well. I just think we're playing the game very well, playing it solid, and as the year goes on we'll hit the guys that we're supposed to hit."

On Illinois-Chicago's pitching:

"I was thrilled to see us get into their bullpen. That guy (UIC head coach Mike Dee) knows his team better than I do, but that kid that started for them (Derrick Miramontes) was very, very effective. It had to be an extremely difficult call to take him out of a one-hit shutout. Watching us hit last night, and watching Aaron (Miller) hit last night, probably influenced that decision a little bit to bring that left-hander in."

On Shawn Tolleson's performance:

"He was much better. You still haven't seen him as good as he is, but it was definitely better. He got us six good innings. They were able to get one ball through that scored two, but other than that he comes out of that thing only giving up that leadoff home run. He was a lot better. He didn't look any different at all. I can't tell if his heart's even beating, but his stuff was in the zone more, and he didn't have the walks that he had last week."

Baylor junior LF Ben Booker:

On his two-run triple that gave the Bears a 4-3 lead:

"That lefty (Chris Kovacevich) was throwing all kinds of off-speed. When the count got to 3-1 and he threw me another off-speed pitch I was like, `he might as well throw it again.' He left it up and I put a good swing on it, but I saw that center fielder going after it and I thought `please just let it drop one time.' It was good for us."

On falling behind 3-0:

"This team is veteran enough where once we get down one or two runs it's not a big deal because up and down the lineup everybody hits the ball pretty well. Our pitchers throw the ball well, and when you get up two or three and have Nick (Cassavechia) coming in, one of the best relievers, you feel solid once you get the lead."

On rallying late to win the game:

"Once we got settled in and got on base, they brought in that other guy (Kovacevich), and that's what we wanted. We wanted to get to that next guy because we weren't hitting well off of (Miramontes). Once the lefty (Kovacevich) came in there everybody felt more confident and started putting the ball in play."

Baylor senior CF Paul Miles:

On Baylor scoring four runs in the seventh inning:

"We just had to start being more patient and selective at the plate. We hit some balls hard right at them and we knew they'd start falling if we were a little bit patient. We ended up putting a good string of hits together at the right time."

On the Bears winning their fourth one-run game of the year:

"The day before we came out and really put a ton of hits up there, and then the next day we've got to come out and win close games. That's a good thing about this team. One day we can do it by beating guys pretty well, and then the next day we can come and pitch, play, throw the ball around and win one-run ball games. That's pretty good for our team dynamic. We can get it done a lot of ways."