Coaching Staff Names Players of the Week
2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama coaching staff named sophomore left-hander Adam Morgan and sophomore centerfielder Taylor Dugas as the Crimson Tide's players of the week following its series with the South Alabama Jaguars, first-year head baseball coach Mitch Gaspard announced Wednesday.
"Both Adam and Taylor had great weekends," Gaspard said. "Morgan was outstanding on the mound with 11 strikeouts and command of the strike zone. Dugas always seemed to be on base and creating offense the rest of the lineup. We had a lot of great performances, but these two guys stood out last weekend."
Morgan was named the Crimson Tide's "Pitcher of the Week" after recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts in the Tide's 12-4 win over South Alabama on opening day. Morgan worked six innings and allowed three runs and three hits and did not walk a batter. He threw 66 pitches, including 54 strikes, in his first career opening day start on the mound. Morgan retired the first nine South Alabama batters, seven of them striking out. He fanned five of the first six batters he faced. He struck out the side in the first and sixth innings.
Dugas was named the "Hitter of the Week," going 5-for-8 (.625) with three runs scored and three RBI in the two-game series. He was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI in the season opener. He drew a leadoff walk in the first inning and later scored the first run of the Gaspard era on Jake Smith's two-out single. Dugas went 2-for-4 with two RBI in the series finale on Sunday, including an RBI double in the Tide's three-run eighth inning.
Alabama will host Illinois-Chicago in a three-game series this weekend in Tuscaloosa. The series opener is Friday, Feb. 26, at 6:35 p.m. The teams will play a double header, consisting of two nine-inning games on Saturday, Feb. 27, beginning 12:05 p.m. Fans attending the Alabama-Mississippi men's basketball game can receive free admission to the baseball double header by showing the basketball ticket.
Mitch Gaspard Press Conference Transcript
On reflections of opening weekend:
"We had a great weekend. Obviously, we started out with great weather and a great crowd. The team played really well. There were a lot of good things on Saturday leading into Sunday. I thought we showed a lot Sunday. (South Alabama) threw their number-one guy and our guys hung in there and really competed. We got good starting pitching both days with (Adam) Morgan and (Jimmy) Nelson. The bullpen was really good and we responded late and put some runs on the board. So, yeah, the first weekend was just what we wanted and I thought we got better."
On seeing the same things this week from the pitching staff as last week:
"We would like to. We've got a tough week coming up with three games this weekend and a total of five games next week. We've got four or five guys that did not get on the mound that we are excited about pitching as well. We want to kind of break those games up, if it falls that way. Obviously, our top priority is to win the game. We feel like we have really good pitching depth and we're excited about some of those guys that have not been on the mound yet."
On this weekend's pitching rotation:
"We are actually going to go Morgan, Nelson and (Jonathan) Smart (game 3) this weekend. (Jason) Townsend will be in the bullpen this weekend and possibly looking at him as one of the starters next week."
On freshman outfielder Andrew Miller:
"Well there are some freshmen we are excited about. Obviously Andrew is one of them, along with (Brett) Booth and some others. We expected Andrew to come in and play well. He was a really good high school player. He has what we like. He has that toughness. He has a lot of confidence about him and he can be a physical player and he plays really hard. He is a good defender and he brings something to the table offensively. We feel like he is one of our better options in the outfield right now."
