Postgame Quotes
5/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 25, 2008
Baylor head coach Steve Smith:
On tonight's game:
"We would've liked to have gotten another hit or two in some pretty key situations, but it didn't happen, and that's as much a credit to their pitching as it is to anything else. We saw one of the finest defensive plays by a shortstop in the history of the league. That's for sure the finest play that's ever been made by an honorable mention all-Big 12 shortstop. I was really proud of how Kendal (Volz) threw, given the layoff that he's had. That was three weeks ago when he (last) pitched, and he was really sharp. He didn't have his best velocity, but he pitched extremely well, and Willie (Kempf) did as well. It was just a very good college baseball game."
On the Bears' chances of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament:
"There are so many other things that affect any at-large pick. I haven't really studied who has been winning the other tournaments and how the other conference champions around the country have done. Clearly we would benefit from having very few upsets. Kansas State is the one that's put itself in a position to win the automatic, and they competed really well tonight. If they win tomorrow that would further reduce our likelihood. Our league has had an exceptional year as measured by the RPI. A year ago Oklahoma did not get in with an RPI that was in the 20s, and I really felt like last year the league was not afforded the same standard that other leagues have been afforded in the past. The people on that committee do the best they can, but I think one of the things that might serve us well is that we've been so many times. They try to be objective, the RPI helps them be objective, and we've done pretty darn well when we've gotten into the NCAA tournament. I do think that we're one of the top 64 teams in the country, and I don't think there's any question about that."
Baylor sophomore RHP Kendal Volz:
On pitching for the first time in three weeks:
"Once you get going out there you kind of ignore everything and just compete. I wasn't trying to do too much - just let our defense play. We've got some great guys out there, and you saw Beamer make that great play. I was just trying to help our team get in a good position to win."
On Beamer Weems' bare-handed play in the fourth inning:
"It was great. I had no idea he was going to bare-hand it - I thought he was just going to catch it in his glove and throw him out, but it was unbelievable. You don't even see that in the big leagues, but with some of the stuff that he does in practice that no one else sees, it's not super surprising. It's awesome that he got to show that."
On being out for the past three weeks:
"(It has been) definitely frustrating. You want to be out there every game. As a starting pitcher, you're already restricted to once every five games, and so being set back even further is really tough. Our trainers did a great job giving me a chance to get back in and try to help our team win."
Baylor junior LF Ben Booker:
On finding out before the game that Baylor couldn't make the championship game:
"It's heart-breaking that you can't make the championship game, but we came up with the mentality that we had to win this game. We feel like we're still one of the 64 best teams and that winning that game is going to help us get into the regional. We just have to wait and see what happens, but our mentality was just to go out there and win, so that's what we tried to do."
On the team's mindset heading into tonight's game:
"We needed to win. It was a hard fought game, but we just didn't get some key hits. I can't say enough about this guy sitting to my left (Kendal Volz); not a hundred percent, going out there and pitching. There aren't many guys that do that for a team, so I'm glad that I get to play with this guy. He pitched a heck of a game, but we just didn't come out on top."
On Kansas State's pitching:
"They did a pretty good job keeping the hitters off-balance. It was a pitcher's duel through the first five or six innings, and when we got hits it was with two outs. When we got runners in scoring position we didn't capitalize - we popped up and didn't move the runners. They did the same thing too, but they just came out on top. Our pitching staff through just as well, but it's just baseball, and we didn't come out on top."
