May 14, 2008

Recap | Box Score

Baylor head coach Steve Smith:

On Tim Matthews' performance:

"He had great command, he didn't walk a guy until that last inning, and he pitched to both sides of the plate with his fastball. It was one of those nights that he was very effective with his slider, and he mixed a change or two here and there. He doesn't strike out a lot of guys - he only had six, but they didn't hit a lot of balls hard off of him."

On SFA's Kai Kirby attempting to steal home in the first inning:

"It's the first time I can think of in 14 years that I've seen somebody try to do that. If the pitch had been off at all, he probably would have been safe. That's a calculated gamble right there. They've got a plus-plus runner, the guy can really go, and Tim's in the wind-up, and they've obviously timed him. They know how fast their guy (Kirby) is, they know how fast he (Matthews) is to the plate, and they do the math. If he (Matthews) throws a breaking ball or something that's not going to be a strike, he's (Kirby) probably going to be safe. It was reasonably close, but Gregg (Glime) saw it coming, and he got the ball and blocked the plate well, so it wasn't that tough of a call for the umpire."

On the state of the team heading into the final weekend of the regular season:

"Our guys are hooked-up and they're working hard at their game. I can see that pregame, and that's really all I care about."

On if this weekend is a must-win series:

"The only thing that's a must is that we must win one game. If we win one game then we're in the tournament, and if you get in the tournament then you can control your own destiny again."

On not having Kendal Volz available to start Friday night's game:

"Nobody wants to go a whole year with a certain guy on Friday night and then go to the last series of the year without him, but there's not anything we can do about that, and we've got other good arms. We've got guys that are more than capable. After watching Randall (Linebaugh) throw yesterday and Tim (Matthews) tonight, a lot of people would like to have those guys in their weekend rotation."

Baylor senior RHP Tim Matthews:

On pitching his first complete game shutout in his final game at Baylor Ballpark:

"There's no better way that you can leave this place. A complete game shutout is what you could ask for, but it is kind of weird that this was the last time that I'll throw here. Hopefully we'll have some pretty good wins coming up and we'll get in the postseason to do some special things this year. Hopefully this won't be the last sweet memory."

On what was working well for him tonight:

"I've been struggling a little bit throwing the slider in the second half of the year, but tonight it was really good. It's weird because we were in the bullpen (before the game), and it was bad in the bullpen, but I came out here and it did what I wanted it to do."

On the possibility of starting Sunday's game:

"If it comes up it's an opportunity, and every time you get an opportunity you try to do the best with it. If that comes to that because some other guys throw earlier in the weekend and it leaves me up to throwing Sunday, I'd enjoy having it."

Baylor sophomore RF Aaron Miller:

On tonight's game:

"Tim absolutely dominated out there. He threw strikes, he hit his spots, he got outs, and we were able to score some runs. That's a recipe for winning. That's what every college team tries to find, and it feels like we're starting to finally stumble upon it at just the right time. We're excited to go in this weekend feeling like our destiny is in our hands right now."

Baylor junior SS Beamer Weems:

On tonight's game:

"We just came out here ready to play. We had a great game last night, so we felt comfortable from that, and we just kept the momentum rolling trying to get a good feeling for this weekend."

On Tim Matthews' performance:

"He was spotting-up everything he threw. Everything was either down in the zone or right on a corner, so he definitely kept their team off-balance."

On traveling to Texas Tech for the final regular season series:

"We know we have to win, so we're just going to go out there with the same mentality as these last two days, and hopefully we can get a win on Friday to be set (to go to the Big 12 Championship), but just like any other series we're trying to either win or sweep."