Alabama Baseball Prepares for Play in NCAA Regional
5/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Alabama baseball team held a 90-minute workout at Olsen Field Thursday in preparation for opening play in NCAA regionals against Houston on Friday.
"We are very happy to be in College Station," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "I came here in 1995 with Alabama for a tournament, and in 1989 with LSU, so this is my third visit. It is great to be in a Regional and we are playing well.
"It's a great facility here. They've done a wonderful job preparing the surface and our guys are looking forward playing tomorrow and the following two days."
Alabama (37-22) received the Southeastern Conference's automatic bid after going 4-0 in the league tournament, posting wins over No. 14 South Carolina, two over No. 13 Auburn and a 10-3 win over No. 8 LSU this past weekend to punch their ticket to the NCAAs. This marks the 16th NCAA appearance for Alabama.
Houston (32-27) is making its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance as an at-large team out of Conference USA. The Cougars went 1-2 in last weekend's C-USA Tournament in New Orleans.
"I am familiar with Houston, and their three outstanding pitchers," Wells said. "If you can pitch you can win."
"Everyone on the team is still feeling really confident after last week," Alabama pitcher Brent Carter said. "We had great support from the crowd at the SEC tournament but it wasn't just that. Our confidence level is still high."
"Before the SEC tournament Coach Wells got us together and told us that this was a new season," Alabama right fielder Beau Hearod said. "We really took that to heart and finally pulled our hitting, pitching and fielding together all at once."
First pitch for Alabama versus Houston is set for 2 p.m. CT on Friday.
Additional quotes from today's press conferences are courtesy Texas A&M media relations and aggieathletics.com. Additional teams' quotes will be posted there at the completion of each team's post-practice press conference:
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MARK JOHNSON
opening comments:
"Let me welcome those people that are outside of our community to College Station/Bryan and to Texas A&M. We are glad you are here. We are going to do everything we can to make it a very hospitable weekend for everyone. We are excited about being in the tournament; we are excited about hosting a tournament. It is always a thrill to be at Olsen Field and we have always had good attendance at NCAA Regionals."
on the current state of the team:
"We are a pretty healthy ball club. We lost our first baseman Eric Scheidt, our leading hitter in conference play. Outside of a few nicks and bruises we are a pretty healthy ball club."
on new players playing in the NCAA tourney:
"For the 18 new guys it is their first time in regional play at the Division I level. They handled themselves well at the Big 12. This group has never been intimidated. We have great leadership and chemistry on this ball club."
on Oral Roberts:
"They are a .300 hitting ball club and have hit a few more home runs than us. They have some guys with outstanding pitching stats. They have always been a running team. They can run away with a ballgame real quick."
on Alabama:
"I was impressed with their athletes. You always fear a team that won their tourney. You play some teams when they are hot and you have your hands full. They are a frightening team because they have gotten hot at the right time."
TEXAS A&M 1B/P SCOTT BEERER
"The team bonded from the first day of fall. When they picked us to finish seventh we knew that wasn't going to happen."
TEXAS A&M OF CORY PATTON
"(We're) laying it all on the line this weekend. (At this time of year) there is a possibility we won't play ball tomorrow. That pumps us up and makes us want to play more. We are trying to get to a Super Regional and on to Omaha."
