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June 3, 2010

Head coach Wayne Graham
Opening statement: It's been an unusual year for us, but in a way, it's been one of the most gratifying years because we've had a lot of people grow and get better. That's always an awful lot of fun if you're a coach. We've come on fairly strong lately because Diego (Seastrunk) was hurt for 12 games and couldn't play, and he's back. Jimmy Comerota has found his bat and he's hitting well. Jeremy Rathjen became an RBI guy, and our defense consolidated some. Rickey Hague started at .260 and he went to .350 something--he's driving in runs and has 14 home runs. Because of the improved pitching, I think we have a shot, and I'm happy that we have a shot to move on. We're going to have to play extremely well, obviously. Texas may have the best pitching staff in the history of Division I. Our 2003 staff would probably stack up fairly well with them, but this is a great pitching staff at Texas this year. But like everybody else, they can be beat, and we hope we can prove that. We better beat Lafayette first, and they're very good

On the team's offensive difference: Yes, it's different. We've had great offensive teams before. If you go all the way back to, I think it's 95, we had an incredible offensive team and zero pitching. Well, I don't think we have zero pitching this year, but in the 1995 Baton Rouge Regional, we beat LSU 15-8 and 16-9--that's the kind of offense we had with Mark Quin, Jose Cruz and Lance Berkman--that's three pretty good hitters. So we have had his kind of thing before, but I think we have better pitching now.

On the progression of senior pitcher Mike Ojala: Ojala is that much away from being right on top of his game. He's pitched well, and he's pitched better as he's gone along. He's striking out people now. He's on the verge of being at the top of his game, and we hope he'll get there.

On the pitching rotation: It'll be (Jared) Rodgers. If we win, it'll definitely be Ojala and then (Taylor) Wall, but if we lose then I'll have to think about it.

On when the team came together: It's hard to point to any one point, because it was just a gradual accumulation. I think when (Rick) Hauge started playing well, and he has played extremely well for a month now, that this team began to think that it really had a chance. And Diego stated hitting really well behind Mr. Rendon here.

On Rendon's hitting: He's pretty good. You can't talk about someone being the best against Berkman until they do it over a long period of time, but certainly at this stage of his career, Anthony is equal to anybody we've ever had. He's got wrist. They used to call it wrist, now they call it flick. Hand/eye coordination is the secret. I think Berkman has great eyes. He has not only the accuracy, but also the ability to track objects through space.

Sophomore 3B Anthony Rendon
On how the season has come along: It is quite a surprise to have such a great freshman season and come back the next season and do the same thing and a little bit more. I thought the pitchers would start pitching me differently and I thought I would take longer to adjust, but once again, like last year it just started clicking and one thing led to another.

On how many good pitches he sees: Very few. Sometimes not even any.

On the rivalry with Texas: I guess for us, we all grew up together. We're all from the Houston area, and it's probably the same way here at Texas. We traveled to Austin from Houston to play all of these guys, so we knew all these guys growing up. We're not like brothers, but we have that sense of pride where you know you want to be one up and be better than them. It's a big rivalry to us--probably one of our biggest ones, although it might not look that way.

Senior C Diego Seastrunk
On this year's expectations: It was definitely different this year. I had been injured before, and I was injured for 12 games and had to sit out. It's definitely been a rollercoaster this year. We were so inconsistent earlier in the season, and the teams I've played on before have been pretty consistent. That was the kind of difference that I had to make an adjustment for, especially getting behind the plate. But once I got back there and comfortable again, I feel like I started clicking with the pitchers and we started playing ball a lot better once I was able to establish myself back in the lineup consistently. As far as the way this team has gone, it's definitely been up and down, but like when coach said earlier, when we got Ricky back and him hitting consistently and playing good defense, we kind of all rallied together. I and I think we're all ready for this postseason.

On the mindset of the team: I think it's just a culture that we've developed here at Rice. I've noticed it since my freshman year. It's kind of an understood idea that we're ready to get into the postseason and have a successful postseason, and I feel like everyone understands that. Everyone on the teams understands that's a culture and we're expected to do well. It's not necessarily added pressure, it's just something that's understood.