Feb. 22, 2008

Recap |  Final Stats

TULANE HEAD COACH Rick Jones

On if opening the new Greer Field at Turchin Stadium was a distraction to his team tonight
"It would have been hard not to when you're associated with something as unprecedented as opening a new stadium. That was understandable and expected, but to play errorless baseball, pitch the way we did and have some good timely hits early and that shows that our kids rose above that. This was a very good club and an athletic team we played tonight. It's an experienced one and it's extremely well coached. It's hard not to have some distractions when you have the hoopla that we had tonight."

On the performances of Shooter Hunt and Jared Dyer
"Those are two guys who last year were first-year players in our program and acted like veteran players tonight. They really gave us a lift both offensively and defensively, and Jared caught really well and made some really good plays around the plate."

On Josh Prince getting the first hit in stadium history
"Josh struggled in preseason, he struggled in the fall and he hit the first hit in the history of the stadium and had a two-hit night. As did Seth (Henry). Our middle put up some hits today. He ran the bases well and played well defensively. Josh Prince did tonight what we hoped he would do when we signed him."

JUNIOR PITCHER Shooter Hunt

On if he felt a bit overwhelmed by the atmosphere when he took the mound tonight
"Nothing could have prepared me for that. I was trying to calm myself down, I was taking my deep breaths out there, but once I looked up and I saw all these people out here, I was like `okay, it's really game time now. It's not intrasquad or fall ball. It's time to go.' But I was able to settle down as the game went on and I felt good."

On what was working for him on the mound
"My fastball was going well. Jared did a great job back there framing up, and my defense did a great job too when I needed them."

On the importance of starting the season off with a victory
"We've been walking around for nine months now with a loss under our belt. I think our goal is to end the season with a win. That's the goal of just about every team. To start it off with a win is good, too, but now it's time for Saturday and we have game two ahead of us."

JUNIOR CATCHER Jared Dyer

On being the first player to hit a home run in the new Greer Field at Turchin Stadium
"It's really exciting actually. I swung and hit it. I thought I hit it good, but I kind of got nervous because the wind knocked it down a little bit. It was great. I came into the dugout and Coach Sutter came up to me and said `Congratulations, we both own home run records at the school now.' Except he has about 72 more than me."

On playing in front a 5,000-plus fans tonight
"It was unbelievable. This is the reason I wanted to come here - to play in front of 5,000 fans. It couldn't have been any better. As long as we keep winning, I hope they keep coming out. When you have this many fans on your side, your adrenaline just stays going from the top of the first to the bottom of the ninth."

On his day at the plate overall
"I just really felt good. The past couple of intrasquads, I struggled a little bit and chased a couple of bad pitches. I was just trying to be smart out here and come in relaxed. That's my approach at the plate, to stay calm and don't rush anything, and it paid off."