March 2, 2008

Recap | Final Stats

Baylor head coach Steve Smith:

On starting the season 7-0:

"There are five one-run games in there, so we could easily be 4-3. We've played pretty well defensively, and we're making a lot of plays. The one thing that needs to get better is going to be the walk number for our pitchers being too high. We give a lot of teams free bases; today we did it quite a bit, but we made pitches too. Today's a perfect example of that. Willie (Kempf) loaded the bases almost by himself in one inning, and (he) was able to make pitches to get out of it. He had pretty good defensive play behind him, and we've got a good bullpen. We've got a lot of good arms and some of them haven't been out there much yet. I still like the club, and as the time goes on we'll see better and better swings out of our offense."

On today's performance:

"A win is a win, but it's good when you see different guys contributing and you see different guys making plays in fairly tight situations when there's little margin for error. Erik Forestiere going out today and getting six outs with a one-run lead is a pretty big deal for him. It certainly will give him a lot of confidence, and the players out there behind him a lot of confidence, knowing that it doesn't always have to be Nick (Cassavechia) that goes in for those situations."

On Erik Forestiere earning the save:

"He came in throwing strikes with three pitches right away. He did that the other day when he went out there, and that's requirement number one. It always troubles me when a guy goes in a game and the catcher's diving for his first pitch. I've seen that quite a bit, and I know it's early in the year, but that kind of thing needs to get better. Erik threw strike one and strike two right off the bat."

On the Baylor offense:

"I don't know if it's a thought pattern or if it's (our) approach, but we're living on the flyball right now. We're living on home runs, and that won't work against good-quality pitching. Today we got ourselves out quite a bit with a lot of big swings and lot of weak flyballs. We're thinking long-ball too much, and that might be a carryover from the Friday night game."

On Willie Kempf's performance:

"He had a couple of really good innings when he located the fastball extremely well. When he got called for the balk, it seemed to unnerve him a little bit. The next pitch he clocked the guy around the head, then a walk, then he threw a ball away on the bunt play. He's just kind of self-destructive. He's got great stuff, but he's got to continue to harness his stuff and be more of a complete pitcher, and he knows that. In spite of all those things, the guy only gave up one run. He got out of a really big situation when he loaded those bases and got a ground ball out."

Baylor senior RHP Erik Forestiere:

On earning the first save of his career:

"It means a lot after having that surgery. I didn't really know what to expect coming out of it, but being able to contribute to wins for this team really means a lot to me."

On going right after opposing hitters:

"That's the plan. I really just want to throw strike one, get ahead and put the pressure on them to put the ball in play. I've got one of the best defenses in the country behind me."

Baylor sophomore RHP Willie Kempf:

On his performance:

"I don't know why I have to do it to myself, but it seems like I always find a way to get into jams. That fifth inning could've been a lot shorter if I just make a good throw over to first base. That would've been the third out of the inning, but then I got the balk call, hit a guy, walked a guy, and then the (strike) zone seemed to shrink on me. I was just glad to get that 3-2 pitch in for a strike and let the defense play behind me."

On winning five one-run games this season:

"We feel like if we can keep it close from a starter's perspective, our bullpen's going to be able to keep it right there for the remainder of the game. If the offense is a little slow to arrive we feel like they're going to come around at some point in the game, and that's the way it's been working for us so far this year. It's been a good situation to be a part of."

Baylor sophomore 3B Shaver Hansen:

On winning close games:

"Early in the season it builds a lot of confidence being able to come back and win. (We've had) timely hits, our pitchers never give up, and everything is kind of adding up. As long as we can get the win, that's all that matters."

On what to work on in practice:

"We've been popping it up in the air, which is something we need to shy away from. We've had the wind blowing the last couple of days, and that has benefitted us. When that doesn't happen, and when we get a guy that's going to have pretty lights-out stuff, we need to be able to square the ball up and hit it on a line or on the ground. That's what we're going to work on in practice. That and bunting. We've missed on a couple of bunts and things like that, so we need to get that done. (We need to work on) the little parts of the game and not so much the long ball."