Alabama-Southern Mississippi Postgame Quotes and Notes
3/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 2, 2011
Head Coach Mitch Gaspard
Opening statement:
"I thought the game broke down for us in the middle part, I thought we came out and played pretty well for the first three or four innings, built a lead, (Taylor) Wolfe was pretty sharp in the front part of the game. When they made a run at us offensively we really broke down from the fourth or fifth inning on, on the mound and defensively. That's a bad combination when that happens and with our offense right now we don't have the firepower to score nine, 10 runs so it comes down to pitching and right now we're not pitching real good. When the defense breaks down with it, it makes it a tough night."
On the early season growing pains:
"It's a combination of some growing pains and some poor play added in there. We've had four games where we haven't played really good baseball and it starts on the mound. We have to set the tempo on the mound, we need our starters to go deeper into the game. Right now we're having to go to our bullpen in the fifth inning every game and right now that's a bad combination. We have to get those starters to take us at least to the seventh inning so we can piece it together from there."
On the play of sophomore right fielder Andrew Miller:
"It was good to see, we've been waiting on Miller to get going and I thought he had a really good night. I want to see him take off from here and continue to do that. We need those older guys in the lineup to be really productive and have the quality at-bats each night. We haven't got that and tonight we did get it from Miller, so hopefully some other guys will follow suit with him."
On the matchup this weekend versus Northwestern State:
"It starts with pitching. We need to go out and get a good start on Friday night with Adam (Morgan) and follow that up with (Nathan) Kilcrease on Saturday. Offensively, I thought we took some better passes today, hit some balls hard but we still have to have more competitive at-bats and put more pressure on the (opposing) defense. Right now we're not pressuring the defense a whole lot."
#6 Josh Rosecrans, C
On the tough start to the season:
"We're definitely going to come back and keep playing hard. We're just going to go back on the grind, keep working hard and it will come together."
#2 Andrew Miller, RF
On his importance to the team:
"Everybody is extremely important. Coach Gaspard has been saying that everyone with experience that played last year needs to step up and help the young guys out since we have so many playing."
On the game versus Southern Mississippi:
"We battled early. That's what Coach Gaspard talked about the whole week, is we have to be a better team at battling. I felt like we all battled early in the game, then we slacked off and we had chances and we should have taken advantage of them."
#27 Taylor Wolfe, LHP
On the fourth inning of tonight's game:
"I wasn't pitching around anybody, at least that wasn't my plan. It was just one of those things as a pitcher where when you're out there you lose the zone for a second, so as a pitcher you have to do your job to make an adjustment and get back in there."
NOTES
* Junior center fielder Taylor Dugas led off the game with a double, his fourth of the season and scored his 11th run of the year later in the inning, finishing the night 1-for-3 with one run scored. In his last four games, Dugas is 8-for-17 (.471) with five runs scored, a walk and a hit by pitch for the Crimson Tide.
* Junior catcher Josh Rosecrans notched his first home run of the year and the first of his UA career with a solo shot in the third inning. He would later add a RBI double in the seventh inning, for his second double of the year and fifth run batted in. Rosecrans finished the night 2-for-5 with two RBI and one run scored.
* Sophomore right fielder Andrew Miller totaled a trio of hits on the night, including his first double of the season. Miller finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored versus Southern Mississippi, collecting his first run of the season as well as his second and third RBI.
* Sophomore lefty Taylor Wolfe finished with five strikeouts versus the Golden Eagles on Wednesday night. In his two starts at Sewell-Thomas Stadium so far this year, Wolfe has rung up 14 K's in 9.2 innings pitched.
