The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Quotes from Augie Garrido and Parker French
04.09.2015 | Baseball
Texas plays host to Oklahoma this weekend
Head coach Augie Garrido
On if the weekend rotation will be changing: We'll go with Parker as usual on Friday, and Clemens will probably go on Saturday. So, we'll see what happens between now and then. [Chad] Hollingsworth is out [of the rotation], his shoulder is bothering him … [It will be] [Connor] Mayes, [Josh] Sawyer, or [Kyle] Johnston, someone out of that pool. We'll try to win obviously the game we are playing by using whoever gives us the best chance to win the game, then decide on Sunday after the first two games are over. What will we have left?
On the excitement from the crowd on Tuesday night and how that will be used this weekend: That was really something, it was really special … I thought they were extremely positive and very supportive. The game was well attended, and we really appreciate it, it gave us a big boost. There was a 10th man on the team … [We can harness that] by playing well. When you start to lose like we did, it gets tighter and tighter and you start to try harder and harder until you finally decide to go in a different direction.
The coaches feel like our role continues to be one that points out what our opportunities are. The season's out in front of them, they do have their destiny in their own hands, they can get to where they want to go and they can learn from what happened. The players themselves need to interact and keep the competitiveness in the game without trying too hard. So, I feel strongly that if the coaches are trying to set goals for the players when they're going bad, it just causes them to think more. When they talk to each other, they respond better. So, that's the reason for taking that approach with them.
On last year's experience benefiting this team in being able to become leaders: That's what we're appealing to. That's why it's better with [Zane] Gurwitz, Collin Shaw, Ben Johnson, [Tres] Barrera. They've all been there, so they know it's true. So, that's why it is so much stronger coming from them than the coaches.
On what makes the Oklahoma rivalry so intense: The football rivalry. The game is played in Dallas, The Red River [Showdown], a lot is made of that. It attracts a lot national attention, the quality of the football teams set the standard … but, it's to a point where if you are having a low stakes tiddlywinks match against OU, there better be more burnt orange chips in the cup than red chips in the cup. It doesn't matter what it is anymore, but I think it all stems from football. And, [it stems from] the universities themselves. They are the universities of the state, so it is a state representation. So, that's why it is so important.
Senior pitcher Parker French
On playing Oklahoma this weekend: There is a little added incentive, I guess, making it a rivalry weekend. It's always fun to go up against them because there is not only school pride, but state pride on the line. So, it should be a lot of fun.
On the win on Tuesday helping the team turn it around: Well, we finally won. So I think that helps. I think we just need to taste a little bit of success again. We came really close up at Oklahoma State, but things didn't go our way. [Tuesday], it was good to be on the right side of the game again, and I think we can take that momentum on to this weekend and the rest of the season.
On controlling emotions in rivalry games: I know this is cliche, but you just treat it like any other game. We always talk about playing the game against the ball, not an opponent. For me, that's playing the game with me and the catcher's mitt. Just executing pitches and giving my team a chance to win the game, that's all I can do. It doesn't matter if the batter has a New York Yankee jersey on, or an Oklahoma [one]. You just have to throw the ball to the mitt and execute the game plan.
On building off of adversity like the team did last season: That's what is funny, people don't really think about that. Last year, we were kind of hobbling heading into the Big 12 and NCAA Tournament. We always get preached to sticking to the process. We are trying to build a championship team here, so that takes getting through the hardships, the trials, the tribulations.
You are going to get knocked down, you have to be able to come back in game. Or, in the College World Series you lose the first game [and have to bounce back]. That's what we're kind of building towards right now, and it's good that so much of our lineup and our players have been through something like this in conference. We just have to stick to the process, it's a baseball game man, we get to wake up the next day and go at it again and get better and better. We are just treating it like a new season honestly, we are 0-0 going into each day and we are trying to win each day.
On not pointing fingers when the team is struggling: We really don't [do that] honestly. If you get caught in that trap, I think you are a pretty weak-minded pitcher. The game of baseball just evens itself out so much. [The pitchers came out and we threw well [against Oklahoma State], but Sunday we gave up an eight spot. This past weekend when we did score runs, and we did take the lead, we gave it right back up. It's little stuff like that. You're a team, you win as a team, you lose as a team. If you are going to place blame, there is enough to go around. But, that doesn't really matter, blaming each other gets you nowhere, it just gets you bickering. You just have to find another solution. I'm proud of these guys, we kind of sat down and identified our problems and moved on and gotten better.
On the players stepping up as leaders: It came to this point last year with Mark [Payton] and Nathan [Thornhill] taking an extra step forward. I think we are at the same point this year, the coaches can only do so much. They can't play with us, they don't know our pulse in the locker room necessarily. So, it's a lot of us communicating not just to them, but to each other, what we feel. And, when we see things occurring over and over again, how are we going to fix those? Because, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result.
