The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
02.27.2014 | Baseball
Quotes from head coach Augie Garrido
Head coach Augie Garrido
On facing adversity: I think they've handled adversity pretty well. I was thinking as I headed in about last night. Good teams find a way to win. Offensively, you might grade it out to a D, something like that, low for sure; but we still won the game and that's what good football teams do, that's what good basketball teams do, that's what the Patriots do. I think a lot of that has to do with the spirit of the team and I think this team has a lot of spirit. I think the evaluation continues and I'm satisfied that we have the nine guys in the lineup that have the best chance of connecting one to nine.
On difference from last year to this year: Attitude. The attitude of this team and the will of this team is much stronger. They are mentally tougher and I think that will show up as we move on.
On sophomore pitcher John Curtiss: His being well and pitching consistently for us makes us a much better team. You're adding another pitcher at the same level as the starting four. Now [junior pitcher Lukas] Schiraldi in his opener here was a little bit overwhelmed and out of character, but he is an above average pitcher that has demonstrated the ability to pitch at an extremely high level and fits right in with Nathan [Thornhill] and Parker [French] and Dillon [Peters]. I think he'll be an important part of this whole thing. We are still looking for a closer. John has a very energetic personality and sometimes that's what it takes to be that guy. Sometimes you have to be a little bit of a gun fighter. He has a little bit of that. Ty Marlow might pitch on Sunday and that's who we were counting on to be in short relief [before the season]. With the two of them well and as they take more reps pitching, they will start to chew up some innings that will really make us a better team.
On integrating Curtiss back into pitching staff: We're looking at him, even last night, more as a rehab project. When he went out last night [Assistant Coach] Skip [Johnson] told him to throw three-quarters and just make it easy to keep your rhythm and get your timing on your release point, finish your point. Just like taking a bullpen. We have had simulated games with him pitching, so he has been against hitters a few times before he went into that game. In the second inning, he did pick it up a little and did get a little bit more velocity. I don't know what the gun numbers were but you could tell he started to get his rhythm and feel more comfortable. We are really approaching him by using the model of the major leagues as to how you start with your bullpens and move through the process to get him ready to compete. The way he pitched last night at that level, he really can give us quality innings. Will they be at the end of games? I don't know. I think one thing you will see is us being protective of starting pitchers early in the year. We don't want to run their pitch counts way up there. I think you are going to see those guys like Nathan at Cal with a low pitch count and we took him eight innings. I think Parker is capable of that.
On upcoming Houston road trip: I think it was good to start on the road at Cal and it'll be interesting to see the response of the players in a different environment on the second road trip. Now you have a major league ball park, a place where they have always dreamed about playing in and will want to play in one day in an Astros' uniform, especially the Texas players. Will that distract them? We won't know until we see them. I didn't expect the team to be flat last night but obviously it was. I think some of them are really starting to mature on defense because defense is easier. The play [infielder] Brooks Marlow made to save that run was really pretty good. The double play we made in the first inning against Stanford was at a really high level. Andy [McGuire] played really well defensively last night. I think we are seeing the improvement on the defensive side from these athletes. I think they all have hit well before and that will come too.
On format of the weekend like a regional: That's an interesting question because that's how we are treating it going into it because it'll be our first time practicing it. What you do differently is you see the pitching. You aren't facing the same team three times, so we think that we are going to start Dillon Peters in the first game because Rice has a very fine team and experience team and two of their best hitters are left-handed. Two of their loses they have are to left-handed pitchers, not that that will happen again. We aren't going to change the three names [of pitchers], but we will change the rotation because that's what you do in a regional. In championship play, you match up pitchers where ever you can.
