Postgame Quotes - Kansas 4, Texas 2

April 23, 2011

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Postgame Quotes

Kansas 4 Texas 2

April 23, 2011

Kansas Head Coach Ritch Price

On the pitching of sophomore Tanner Poppe:

“With the way (Texas) has pitched in the first two games of the series, we knew we were going to need a big-time pitching performance this afternoon. I was really proud of (Tanner). He got into trouble and when he did he found a way to get out of trouble and made some big pitches with runners in scoring position and gave us an opportunity to get the lead and our bullpen was really special.”

On the performance of the KU bullpen:

“They were outstanding. Each one of those guys came in with somebody on base and found a way to get out of the inning. Once you have the lead, you have to stop the momentum from getting back into the other dugout and our bullpen did that.”

On the win saving the weekend:

“I told our club that we’ve been in this position a few times already this season where we needed to salvage a victory on the third game of the set. This puts us at 9-9 in the league and that’ll keep us in the top five of the league and that allows us to do something special in the last month of the season.”

Sophomore third baseman Jake Marasco

On the team’s hitting:

“They (Texas) gave us some opportunities; they gave us pitches to hit and then they had a couple of wild pitches and we just took advantage of it. You’ve got to do that if you’re going to beat a team like Texas. Today, we did that and it was also big to not allow them any extra at-bats through errors or walks. You’ve got to play solid baseball to beat solid teams and we did that today.”

On why the team hit so well:

“We just had good approaches today. Brandon (Macias) set the tone with his first at bat. He was sitting on a 2-0 fastball and then hits it 400 feet. After that, you could tell their pitcher (Sam Stafford) was having some trouble with his control and we took advantage of that. Fortunately, we were able to make them pay.”

On the importance of getting runs early:

“It just sets the tone. They’ve got a great pitching staff; it’s one of the best in the nation. They’re not used to guys coming out and jumping on them early. When we get a home run on the third pitch of the game, it just sets the tone.”

On the offensive struggles prior to Saturday:

“They have very smart pitchers. It’s not like they are just overpowering, they are very smart too. It has been frustrating but you can’t get wrapped up in a couple of bad days. Baseball can be like a roller coaster. We just had to come out today with a fresh slate and do everything we could to get a win.”

On Tanner Poppe’s pitching:

“Tanner did great today. He has a power arm, he’s very similar to their starting pitchers. He came out and threw 93-94 MPH and made it 5 1/3 (innings) and got us into the sixth inning. He was great.”

Starting Pitcher Tanner Poppe

On facing a team like Texas:

“I thought I did pretty well, I wish I could have lasted a little bit longer. But I thought I did well. I threw strikes and made some changes during the week so I was able to throw more strikes and keep my shoulder closed and I think it showed out there today.”

On his scouting report of Texas:

“The first two games, they were unreal. They were hitting everything. I just had to go out there and throw my games and throw strikes. I just needed to slow them down a little bit.”

On his breaking ball:

“It was a lot sharper today than it had been in the past. The change in the bullpen I made this week really helped a lot. When I got a little bit tired, it started to decline but I feel like I definitely made an improvement.”