The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
03.21.2014 | Baseball
Quotes from head coach Augie Garrido
Head coach Augie Garrido
On the offensive performance tonight: I think the offensive performance was a continuation of what they did on Tuesday. I thought they were aggressive at the plate, they were not frustrated by the outs they made in the early going, and they put together some two strike hits, some two out hits and RBI, and I thought they battled with a lot of confidence against a very good pitcher. That left-handed pitcher [Columbia's David Speer] is really good.
On Collin Shaw's performance at the plate: He is making it look easy. You don't always get a hit; the weakest ball that Ben Johnson has hit in a week, was a hit. So this business of hits, I told Ben, it is just about luck, maybe "hitting" is about being lucky. But, Shaw did a great job, Barrera did a great job, there were lots of really good at bats. I really think we kept the momentum of the game, and kept the game in check by the two plays Ben made in left field, where he came in for that dinker that would have loaded the bases with [the game] scoreless at that point. It's this battle for momentum … and so he catches that ball to keep it one out, first and second, and then he throws the guy out at home plate. That's after a bad at bat he took. That's pretty cool.
On Dillon Peters effort tonight on the mound: Dillon went out to the mound probably with about 60 to 70 percent of [his stuff]. He couldn't get his breaking ball over, and these guys can hit. They are aggressive, and when they swing the bat they square it up. They hit the ball hard and they hit it often, but, he never gave in. So, what we always talk about is you are not going to go out there with 100 percent every day feeling great every day. You are going to have to grind it out and find a way to win, and he gives up one run, that's pretty darn good. He got out of all of those situations [with runners on base]. He gave 100 percent of what he had, 60 percent, 70 percent [of his stuff], but he gave it all to make it work. That is what we are looking for, that mental toughness. Johnson showed it, [Peters] showed, the two strike his, the two strike RBIs, the two out RBIs, those are all mentally tough things are coming to the surface as they gain more confidence.
On Morgan Cooper's performance closing out the game on the mound the last three innings: He was throwing strikes, he was aggressive and he was confident. If he had been holding back, afraid they were going to hit him … he wasn't doing that. He pitched to the mitt, they hit him, some of them we caught, some of them we didn't.
