March 4, 2011

Recap | Box Score

LOUISIANA TECH (7-2) 12, MIDDLE TENNESSEE (1-8) 9
J.C. LOVE FIELD • RUSTON, LA.
March 4, 2011

On moving Alvis to the top of the lineup:
"He is starting to do a great job of laying off of breaking balls and getting fastballs to hit. With Terrasas out, I wanted to send our best seven hitters to the plate as many times as possible. It's a pretty tough lineup to pitch against even though their lefty (Joey McClung) came in and did a pretty good job against us."

On Alvis' grand slam:
"Both of his home runs were into the wind. If Will gets his pitch, he can hit it. He had a big night for us and he was the first one that I congratulated when we got in the huddle after the game. That two-out solo home run in the eighth inning was every bit as important as that grand slam."

On allowing Middle Tennessee back into the game:
"When you are down eight runs, a lot of people would throw in the towel but Middle Tennessee won't. They are well coached, well schooled and they swing the bat extremely well. We both threw to a tight but consistent strike zone and we had to throw our strike throwers and I think they did the same thing. It was a hard-fought win and there is nothing easy about this weekend."

On his grand slam in the second inning:
"(Hunter Adkins) just got behind and I just saw the pitch well, squared the ball up and just crushed it. I have been working a lot with (Fran Andermann) and (Brent Porche) because I had been pulling off of the ball a lot. I was expecting a lot more off-speed pitches tonight and they were just feeding me fastballs. I was just lucky enough that I was squaring the ball up tonight."

On going 4-of-5 at the plate:
"A lot of tonight was just confidence. The coaches have shown confidence in me and it helps. That is basically what it was tonight, I just had a lot of confidence and I just saw the ball and hit well."

On taking the series opener:
"Getting the first win of the series is big. We played sloppy tonight, myself included with an error. It's one of those things where we have to eliminate those to be successful. Granted Middle Tennessee is a good hitting ball club, we shouldn't have let them back into the game like we did."

On hanging on for the win:
"Today was just one of those games that we needed to win. Last year we would be in close games but we weren't able to close the game out. This year, we might have a big lead and allow them back into the game but we have been able to close out the games and get the win. Games like tonight will help the team a lot in the long run."