QUOTES FOLLOWING TULANE'S 9-3 LOSS AT LOUISIANA-MONROE
Feb 21, 2012 | Baseball
Feb. 21, 2012
Head Coach R. Jones
Opening Statement
"It was a disappointing loss. We swung the bats really well early, we had nine hits and they had nine hits, but we left too many ball up in the strike zone and they put good swings on them. That's what you are supposed to do is hit those mistakes and they did that. I thought we had some good at bats early, but when (Shelby Aulds) came in we didn't make an adjustment. He was throwing his slider on the outer half (of the plate) and, with the exception of a couple of guys, we just didn't handle that nearly as well I would have like to see us handle it. At the end of the day, you have to be better defensively than we were today, too. We left too many balls up in the zone, didn't make an adjustment at the plate in the middle inning and we were bad defensively. We're a better club than we showed today. There are some pieces to the puzzle that we are still working on and we are going to make some adjustments. That includes the pitching staff, also. That is what the early season (schedule) is for and I feel like we have a much better club than we showed today. It is (the coaching staffs) job to make sure we have the right people in the right spots."
Senior Pitcher D. Ponder
On the game
"We hit the ball pretty well early, they brought a righty in and we didn't make the adjustment at the plate, and we made a few errors, but that is all stuff that can get cleaned up and we're going to play better."
On how he has been able to get off to such a good start on the mound
"I feel like I have been able to prepare myself differently (this season). I have been in football the past couple of years and that is not the case as much this season, even though I am still participating over there with (football). They are allowing me to (play baseball) and I know that I appreciate it that and coach (Jones) does, too."
On the lineup swinging the bats well early in the season
"It is critical for us (to have Schaffer hitting well). Schaffer's one of our leading hitters and has been that for a long time. When he gets hot (at the plate) we are going to swing the bats well. He's not the only one (that needs to hit well), we need other guys to step up, too, and they are. We hit the ball well today."
Senior Catcher J. Schaffer
On getting started at the plate versus Louisiana-Monroe
"This weekend I noticed I was coming off of some balls and not getting my front foot into the position I wanted. I talked to coach Gautreau and coach Jurries on the bus yesterday and worked on a couple of things in the cages today and they seemed to work out for me today."
On the teams needs to do at the plate moving forward
"Moving forward we just have to be able to adjust on the fly. I though we swung the bat well early, but the guy they brought in after their starter was living on the outside. He worked his fastball away and showed in, but we weren't able to just flush the pitches in and stick with the approach of going away and we had some people pulling off the ball. We just have to be better at making in game adjustments because (starting pitchers) aren't going to throw the whole game. I thought we had a good game plan against (ULM's) starter, but then we kind of got away from that against the reliever."
On the bullpen being good early in the season
"That is huge to be able to call on those guys to come in and shut the game down. They did that all weekend and did it again today. We just didn't swing the bats well enough today to put up a big rally and come back in the game. Having a good bullpen his huge and I think so far this season they've been great and they should continue to do that all year."
