On playing Arizona in Tucson: It was a tough series. I think Arizona is a very good team and they are probably the best club we've faced so far this season. Even though we lost our first game of the year during that trip, I felt that coming out of the series with two victories was a big accomplishment for us. Arizona battled in each game and deserved the win on Saturday. The Friday and Sunday games were both championship-like, one-run games and I am just glad we were able to come out on top.
On starting Big 12 play and facing Baylor: The race for the Big 12 title is always tight. Baylor is going to be ready to go on Friday. They are one of the top teams in the Big 12 every year and are always ranked nationally. They have a great club and I think it will be a great series to start conference action with this year.
On what you have been doing over spring break: Well, we had Monday and Tuesday off, so we just hung out and relaxed because we have a long stretch coming up. I also went home briefly. I was just looking to get some rest prior to classes resuming next week and before we have to get back to work and prepare for Baylor on Friday.
On anything you received for your birthday: The best gift I received was from my dad. He gave me that new Motorola RAZR V3 cell phone, which is really cool. I still have to read the manual, though, because I haven't figured it all out yet. It's funny that he got me that because (Will) Crouch would always say that he didn't consider my cell phone a true cell phone, but rather a mobile phone because it was so old and was one of the first models ever made. Another cool gift I received was from my girlfriend. She bought me the DVDs of "King of the Hill", which is probably my favorite show on television because it is funny and is sort of like the environment I grew up in.
Funniest moment over the past two weeks: When we were at the airport in Dallas, Drew Bishop told Randy Boone that he looked like he could be a pilot. We all thought that was funny, so we started naming professions that we thought guys on the team looked like they would be a part of instead of baseball. For example, we said that Preston Clark looked like a rodeo clown, Chance Wheeless like an art dealer, Kenn Kasparek like a paleontologist, Dooley Prince like a horse jockey and Juston Street like a tennis ball boy. Still, two of the best ones were the professions we picked for a couple of our student managers, which you sort of have to know their personalities to understand. We said that Mark Franklin looked like a professional bowler and Hunter Haglund looked like a campus cop.
Chronicling the days of the Purdue series
Friday, March 11
"I went to class and then came home early because one of my classes was cancelled. I wasn't feeling very well during the day because of my allergies, so I took some medicine and took a nap. After the game, I was pretty tired, so my family and I just went to eat at Chili's. I then came home and went to bed right after that."
Saturday, March 12
"I felt better on Saturday. It was also my birthday, so after the game my family, Will (Crouch) and his family, (Taylor) Teagarden and his family and my girlfriend all went to eat at the Iron Cactus. My half step brother, who I grew up with and is two years older than me, also came along. Actually, it is pretty neat because he is going to be a preacher at a Baptist church in Boerne. My other brother wasn't there because he was celebrating my birthday skiing at Lake Tahoe, so he is having all of the fun for me. After dinner, my family and my girlfriend, Teagarden and his parents, (Drew) Stubbs and his parents and Crouch all went to Esther's Follies, which is a comedy club. It was good, but the funniest part was when they picked people from the audience to come up on stage, which they always do, and both my dad and my girlfriend were chosen. It was funny watching them on stage. Then I came home and went to bed."
Sunday, March 13
"I got up early in the morning, came and had breakfast with the team and took advantage of the optional batting practice, which was fun. From there, I think we played our best game of the weekend on Sunday, which was a good way to end the week. After the game we went to eat and I relaxed for the rest of the evening."
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