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June 5, 2011

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 

TEXAS
Head Coach Augie Garrido
Opening statement: And then there was one. It is a one game season. I think that during the course of this year several times to [the media] and a lot more times to the players that there is a champion inside of them. And I think that came out tonight. And I think that was the purpose of the first loss, to challenge the players to find more and find the inner baseball player inside of them to come up to another level. And now they have experienced it. The downside; anything can happen. It is about momentum. But, tonight was a good night. We have to take the positive things from tonight's game and feed our confidence without losing our competitive edge. We played well.

On the stolen bases and bunts: There was no change of plan, it is something we always want to do. But we got the leadoff hitter on a lot. One of the things about our bunting game and running game is we give our players a lot of freedom to act on their own decisions. When you see some of those bunts, I'm not putting all those on. There is no reason to say this other than I want to give the players credit for their awareness. I want them to be aware of what they think they do and then have the freedom to act on it. I think it makes for more confidence, more aggressiveness. There are mistakes, it is imperfect, college baseball is imperfect, but it gives them a responsibility, and they take it. Once they get a hold of that kind of thing, they feel like they can act on other things that they recognize within the framework of the game. And their decisions are much faster and done with more confidence than when I tell them to do something. It just set itself up that way.

On pitching Nathan Thornhill today: Tomorrow gets rough when you're dealing with today. We decided before the game started that if we needed Nate, we would use him today. [Sam] Stafford said before the game that he felt good. And you can see that a left-handed pitcher can be effective against these guys. So, we will see what Sam can do tomorrow. We had to win today, and [Nathan] was an important part of that.

Senior 1B Tant Shepherd
On the offensive production early in the game: It was huge. It gives our pitcher a lot of confidence starting the game like that. We had a great bunt by [Mark] Payton to get me over, [Brandon] Loy had the big hit. [Jonathan] Walsh came through. From top to bottom it was a great effort by our lineup, and I know Hoby [Milner] appreciated the runs early, it makes pitching a lot easier for him, it gets the momentum on our side, and it is huge for us.

On getting offense going early tomorrow: We 're going to have the same mental approach that we did today. It is win or go home, and no one here is ready to go home.

Freshman P Nathan Thornhill
On his approach today: Just be ready to come in throw strikes. That is what we hear every day from [our coaches]. Just come in, throw strikes and put the ball in play. And even when [pitching coach] Skip [Johnson] came out to talk to me, he just said 'throw your stuff, they're going to hit one hard at someone, and we are going to make a play.' And that is when Jordan [Etier] made the diving play.

On what pitches were working: They got two hits in a row off my curveball, and Skip started calling more changeups. I'm actually more comfortable throwing my changeup to lefties, and I was feeling it tonight. I think the majority of my pitches were changeups, and I came with a fastball every once in a while.

KENT STATE
Head Coach Scott Stricklin
Opening Statement: I thought that we got off to a rough start. Any time that you put guys on base with Texas, they are going to make you pay for it. They are the best team of producing offense. At one point we were out-hitting them 9-7, but losing 6-2. And that's what you can't do against Texas. You can't give them bases. And I think we gave them 14 bases when you count hit-by-pitches, walks, and steals. When you do that against Texas, they are going to beat you. They are a very well coached team, and you just have to play solid baseball to beat them, and we didn't do that, and we played into their hand, and when you do that they will make you pay for it.

On Monday's starting pitcher: I think we are in good shape. The back end of our bullpen is rested. Justin Gill, and Kyle McMillen got a day off, and they were ready to go today, but it's good that we didn't use them in a close loss. That's one of the worst things that can happen to you, when you burn your pitching in a close loss. We are in a good spot there, and we haven't decided who we are going to start tomorrow. We'll make that decision tonight. It will be either Ryan Mace or Kyle Hallock, who was petitioning to pitch today. He [Hallock] is a senior, and wants to compete, so he'll be ready to go, and I don't know if he'll start but he'll play. Ryan Mace is a guy that has started a lot of games for us and had a lot of success.

Junior P David Starn
On the start of the game: I didn't have my best stuff, and like Coach [Stricklin] said, I gave them too many bases, and they capitalized on my mistakes, and I just didn't have my best stuff tonight.

On struggling early on: It was a different atmosphere. I just couldn't get myself focused at the beginning of the game, and that kind of hurt us.

Senior RF Ben Klafczynski
On looking forward to tomorrow: I think you have to look at the positives. We have played well to put us in this spot. Whatever happened today is over, and you can't change it. But we still have a good opportunity to come out tomorrow and win a Regional.