Quotes Following Baseball's 4-2 Loss To New Orleans
Mar 4, 2008 | Baseball
March 4, 2008
TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones
Overall thoughts on the game
"I thought we made a nice run in the ninth, but for eight innings we didn't make an adjustment. Their guy really pitched well to us. I was disappointed with our lack of adjustments offensively. We made a good run at the end. I thought the ball of the bat of Andrew Rodgers was going to be a home run, but the ball wasn't carrying tonight. At the end of the day, we lost the ballgame.
"The bottom line for us was UNO came out with more energy early. We just didn't make the adjustments at the plate against their right-hander that I would like to have seen us make. But you have to give him credit. He threw three pitches for strikes tonight and he had command down in the zone with his change-up and his breaking ball. Then he'd mix in his fastball just enough to keep us off balance. You can't discredit the fact that he just pitched well."
On the performance of Tulane starter Jonathan Garrett
"Garrett pitched well enough to win. With the exception of the two walks to lead off the third, he pitched well enough to win. We didn't give him any offensive support tonight the way we did last week. But I wasn't displeased at all. I was pleased with the way Jonathan pitched, I thought he fought through, and I thought Pepitone did a nice job. When you're not getting anything going offensively, it puts more pressure on your pitching staff on your defense."
On the dramatic ninth inning
"In the ninth innings, on some days both balls - Aja's and Rodgers' goes out. Certainly Rodgers. Off the bat, I didn't think there was any question that that ball was out. I thought it was going to be off the scoreboard. But the ball wasn't carrying tonight, but at the end of the day, the guy through a strike and he got an out out of it."
On if the new Greer Field at Turchin Stadium plays big or small
"It plays to the wind and the weather. When the wind blows in, it plays big. If the wind is blowing out, it doesn't play as big. Tonight was a cold night with some breeze blowing in and the ballpark played very big."
On if Tulane is a tired team after playing five games and traveling last week
"I worried about our energy. We got back to our apartments and dorms between 2 and 3 Monday morning. Monday was an off day, but still, our guys were very up to play UNO tonight. That's something we talked about on Sunday after we got done in the Metrodome. The big thing is they had some energy early. Giavotella stretched the single into the double and that really set the tone early. And thenyou've got Cryer. Every time it looked like we were going to get deep into a count, he made a great pitch. You can't have nine hitters as off balanced as we were for the majority of the game and not really pitch well."
