April 13, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

On the team's overall performance
"I thought our effort was very good. We had a commitment to playing hard and playing as a team. I have no problem with how we went about our business. We just got out-hit. Seggy's ball is to right instead of left, it's a different ballgame. But it wasn't and Houston played very well."

On the pitching performance of Houston closer Chase Dempsay
"Their closer came in a lot earlier than normal and did a good job of getting them through the middle innings. They out-pitched us a little today. It was one of those things where you're playing a good team on the road. They banged out 16 hits and stretched things a little bit. You get 13 hits and had a real good eighth inning to put ourselves in position to tie the game with one swing of the bat. It just so happened that we hit it to left instead of right, but that happens."

On Tulane's postseason outlook after starting the C-USA season 4-4-1
"What I said to our guys is that winning last night was big for us, but we didn't win the series. We've got two series that we need to try and win: on Tuesday (vs. Southeastern Louisiana) and over the weekend in conference (vs. Southern Miss). It makes next week that much more important. I think we're one of the better teams in the league when we play at the top of our game, but we're going to have to play that way down the stretch to be in the postseason."

On losing a 5-3 lead in the fourth
"With the wind blowing out the way it was, and you can look at the flags, no lead is going to be safe. Their's wasn't safe. One swing of the bat could change things. I didn't think it was going to be an easy day to pitch, and I told our guys that we were going to score runs today. It was a question of keeping their guys down, and we weren't able to do that."

On the performance of sophomore southpaw Aaron Loup, who was tagged with the loss
"I thought Aaron Loup actually threw better than his stats showed. It's the best I've seen him look from a command and velocity standpoint, and that was a bright spot. But (Houston) did a good job."

On there being a combined 29 hits and what Tulane has to do to improve
"It was a good day to hit. We got 13 hits. We went all weekend without a position player making an error. There's no question that we've got to pitch better in a starting role than we did this weekend, but you have to give Houston credit there, too. We'll address that next weekend as far as our rotation goes, but we're not ready to say yet. We're going to look and see the best chance for us to get deep in the ballgame with our starting pitching. It's one of those things were you look and ask what we have to do to get better, and our starters have to get us deeper in the ballgame than they have in recent weeks for the most part. Those things have residual effects. There are layers to those things if they don't get you that deep."

On the bright spots he saw throughout the weekend
"Again, it was another stellar weekend for us defensively. We had 23 hits in the last two days and split, and we lost a close one with the Friday-night guys going, 4-3. It could have gone either way. I'm disappointed that we didn't win the series. It puts more of an emphasis on the next series, but I'm not disappointed in how we went about our business this weekend. I thought we really grew as a team and came together as a team. I know from a standpoint of wins and losses, that doesn't reflect because we didn't win the series. But I think if we stay with this plan, we can build on some things."