April 19, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

On the team's overall performance tonight
"We just played really well tonight. We made some great plays defensively and we got tremendous pitching from Matt Petiton and Rob Segedin. Robby Broach got a huge out for us in the seventh. The play that Josh Price made on the pop up was a great play. The play that Seth made going in the hole was a great play. I thought that the catch that Sam Honeck made as a tough one. Jared Dyer blocked up some good two strikes. We just played well defensively and scored enough runs. We bunched those runs up there in the one inning and put up a crooked number."

On his team responding after last night's sloppy performance
"You're going to have a clunker every once in a while, and fortunately, we won it. Today, we played much better baseball, but it could have gone either way. We had to make some great pitches. Petiton really changed the look from Shooter last night, and then Seggy comes in after Robby going 93 with a slider at 86-87. That's Major League stuff, and it's not easy to hit that."

On being able to play for a series sweep on Sunday
"Because of what happened the first couple or three weekends, we have to look at each conference game as a conference game. We certainly understand that tomorrow is huge because it could get us back to where we should have been early and just didn't play well enough. Certainly today, we played much better baseball. Tomorrow is huge."

On the success Tulane has had overall against Southern Miss
"Some teams you just have more success against. I don't know what it is. It's tough for us to go to Houston. It's just one of those things in baseball and it's not unique to Tulane or Houston or Southern Miss or anybody. Some teams you just have more success against and I don't know how to explain any other way than that."

On the performance of Rob Segedin
"He's one of the premier freshmen in the country. We knew we had a special guy when we got him. His make-up is off the charts and tonight, he showed it."

FRESHMAN THIRD BASEMAN/PITCHER Rob Segedin

On the importance of tonight's win over Southern Miss
"Today was big, we needed to win the series and separate us from them in the conference. I had to give it my all today and even though my arm wasn't feeling too good, I wanted to get in there and get us the win.

On being able to come back and pitch today
"It was a big confidence booster. It's always good when you're making all the big plays and stuff. On that note, Seth Henry had a phenomenal day defensively. He had a lot of big plays that saved us the game."

On the team's struggles against USM reliever Wade Weathers
"That pitcher was pretty good. He had good stuff working and that we were just fighting. As (team Doc Green always says, come back with a counter-punch. They score two and we came back with three. That's what we're trying to emphasize in the dugout and it seems to be working."

On what was working for him on the mound tonight
"I was able to get the first pitch strike. The majority of the hitters bit and I was able to get up and bury them with the slider. Just throwing strikes was the key for me tonight."

On being able to throw first-pitch strikes
"Especially late in the game when you're down runs, a lot of teams go with the approach of taking the first strike. Once they get down in the hole, it's tough as a hitter to get back from that. So I was trying to get it over with the first pitch and work the count down from there."

SOUTHERN MISS HEAD COACH CORKY PALMER

On dropping the series to the Green Wave in day two of the weekend
"I haven't won one down here in so long. I don't know when it was. I don't know if it has anything to do with Tulane. We just didn't get any big hits. We can't out-hit our mistakes."

On the performance of starting pitcher Todd McInnis
"It's a shame he didn't have his command. They were not hitting. It was evident that they were swinging and missing a lot. Honestly, if he had his command, he would have sailed through the (third) inning."

On the team's frustrations so far this weekend
"It's not the easiest thing coaching this team. Everything has to go right. We have to catch the ball, get timely hitting and get to (Wade) Weathers and (Tyler) Conn. We work hard and have good players, but we're not nearly as talented, especially with all the injuries."