May 27, 2007

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

Head Coach Steve Smith

On today's performance:

"I'm very proud of our guys; the run we've been on and the way we've been playing. Today we obviously didn't play perfect, but I'd be taking a whole lot away from (Texas) A&M if I led you to believe that I thought that they won the game because we didn't play well. That game was way more about them playing well than it was about us not playing well. We needed to have a very good, if not outstanding performance on the mound today to give ourselves a chance. It wasn't to be had, but a lot of the credit goes to them. They did a great job offensively. The handful of plays that they had to make, they made them."

On the quick turnaround from last night's game:

"It had something to do with how we played, but I don't think it had anything to do with how they played. I don't think it had anything to do with how (Wade) Mackey threw. It was a challenge for us position player-wise. That's some pretty good wear and tear, but having said that, it's not the difference in the game."

On today's pitching:

"We knew to keep that game close, we had to get deeper and try to force them to make some moves and run some more guys out there. They're very vulnerable in the (bullpen), but we just didn't do enough offensively and they kept adding to the lead. We'd try to answer and then they would answer back. I don't enough know what the score was, but I know that they scored six in the last two innings of the ballgame. Even though we were trailing for most of the game, if we can just find a way to put a couple of zeros up there (we would've had a chance). That's the reason why I brought (Jeff) Mandel into the game. You don't typically bring your Friday night, number one guy into a game that you're trailing, but I really felt like we were still very much in the game if we could put a zero up there. We just weren't able to do it."

On Texas A&M's offense:

"They're extremely fast. They do a really, really good job of creating offense. They are very difficult to defend, they do a tremendous job teaching the bunt game and they've got some really good runners up there. They've got a good blend of some veteran guys. They do what they do extremely well, and I think it's just the type of players that they have."

On the team's performance throughout the tournament:

"These guys came close to winning a championship. We came here to win it, and we came here to win today. We didn't, so we've got to deal with the disappointment of that, and we will. We're not going to do it in the next 10 minutes, but by tomorrow at 11:30 (a.m.) these guys will be bouncing around a little bit, and we'll find out where we're going. We just played the toughest tournament we'll play in between here and Omaha. I don't think we'll go to a regional that will be any more challenging than what we've been through here, so we are ready for it; we're very ready for it."

Baylor sophomore SS Beamer Weems

On the tournament:

"The whole tournament was a lot of fun and a great experience. A lot of guys stepped up at the end of the year, and a lot of young guys did really well. It just didn't come out on top for us at the end, but it was great seeing the team play the way that we did at the end of the year."

On the team's performance:

"We've been playing our best ball this last half of the season. We didn't play great today, but we're still on a roll, and we're excited about going to the postseason. We're all excited about finding out where we're going to play."

On the quick turnaround from last night's game:

"I don't think you can blame it on getting back late. When you start playing after college you're going to have to do that a lot, so you can never blame it on something like that. We should've played better. I should've played a lot better today, and it had nothing to do with me getting back late. We've got to look past this tournament. Later on in the year, if we go far, we're not going to remember that we lost this conference tournament whenever we've made a super regional and made it to Omaha. Tomorrow this tournament is kind of forgotten for us, and we're ready for the postseason. We'll be ready to go."

Baylor junior OF Paul Miles

On setting a career high with three hits:

"I was just trying to get up there and move runners over, get base hits when needed and set the big guys up. Today I just started making more solid contact and getting on base. It just felt good to finally string a few hits together."

On the quick turnaround from last night's game:

"Of course you're going to be a little bit tired getting back late to the hotel, but when you get here (today) you really don't feel it. Everybody was really loose and joking around. We came out here ready to play."

On the disappointment of losing the title game:

"I'm really disappointed. Everybody out here worked really hard to get here. At the end of the game when you see the other team dog-piling, you just take a step back and think `that could be us.' Now it just makes you want to work even harder because we've got a few more weeks left to play, and we want to get to the point where we get to do that."