March 21, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

Overall thoughts on the game
"We didn't give up any runs. We wanted to minimize Shooter and we wanted to stretch Preston out a little bit. If he's going to get into a role that's more substantial, he needed some lengthy time. I thought both of those guys were positives tonight. I thought we had some good at-bats early. Scott Powell set the tone early for us, as did Anthony Scelfo and Jared Dyer. The front of our lineup was very, very good, and we played errorless defense once again."

On posting a shutout for the fourth consecutive weekend contest
"That's something you can't count on every day, but if they don't score, you aren't going to lose."

On the performance of the Tulane offense
"I was pleased. We took more called third strikes than I would have liked us to, and we've talked about that. But overall, I thought it was a pretty positive night."

JUNIOR PITCHER Shooter Hunt

On his pitching performance
"I felt good out there. It was a nice night. Jared (Dyer) threw out another guy which was huge, and the bats came through when we needed them to."

On only pitching 5.0 innings
"Going into conference, we wanted to shorten it down a little bit after the last couple of weeks when I went pretty long. We went with that and it worked out. Preston did a great job when he came in for the last four innings."

On what was working for him on the mound tonight
"The fastball was really going today. I was really pitching off of that. I felt like I could spot it up where I wanted to and that is what I'm going to need when we go into a touch Conference USA schedule."

SOPHOMORE PITCHER Preston Claiborne

On his performance out of the bullpen
"I felt good in the bullpen. Tonight, I had good control of my fastball. I had to work on my change-up a little bit, but my slider and my fastball felt the best so I went with that."

On going a career-long 4.0 innings
"Normally, I don't go that long. I've always been a set-up guy or a short reliever. Whatever they want me to go in for, I'll do it. I felt good. They asked me in the eighth if I wanted to go out for the ninth, and I said `sure.' I felt great in the ninth. I was a starter back in the day, so it's not all that unusual. Whatever they want me to do, that's fine with me."

JUNIOR CATCHER Jared Dyer

On the team's offensive play of late
"We're just going up there really confident. We're able to stay loose and everything has worked for us. There's no getting tight up there like it was a little earlier in the season."

On the performance of Tulane starter Shooter Hunt
"Shooter struggled a little bit at first with his control, but he was pounding the zone and we played some good defense behind him so it all worked out well. He's a workhorse out there so it was good to see him get out early today and get some rest."

On the performance of sophomore reliever Preston Claiborne
"Preston filled the zone up really well. I just went out there and told him to fill up the zone and let us work behind him. He did and it worked."

SACRED HEART HEAD COACH NICK GIAQUINTO

On the pitching performances of Shooter Hunt and Preston Claiborne
"You have to tip your hat. Those guys came out and showed us something we probably haven't seen this season - especially Shooter. He did a heck of a job. He's got a fastball that he brings in the low to mid 90s and then he's got a nice breaking ball. He had us kind of confused a little bit."

On his team's performance on Friday night
"We played solid defense. Our pitchers, we have to be a little more aggressive. We walked to many guys. At the plate, we didn't get the money hit. We came up a little bit short when needed to. But we're a young squad and we're just going to keep plugging away."