June 3, 2010

FORT WORTH, Texas - Baylor head coach Steve Smith was joined by senior Raynor Campbell and sophomore Logan Verrett in a Thursday afternoon press conference following the Bears' practice session in preparation for Friday's NCAA Fort Worth Regional game against Arizona.

Here are their thoughts on being part of the Fort Worth Regional and playing Arizona:

Head Coach Steve Smith

Opening Statement:
"I think our season speaks for itself. We are fairly young position-player wise, yet fairly experienced on the mound. I am very proud of our veteran pitchers. There has been a lot expected of them over the last couple of years. None of them had put up a year that they would be proud of until this year, and it was much needed. Our seniors have been the key to our success. They have all been strong performers. We haven't really had that in several years, and the leadership and performance they bring is key to the success we have had."

On TCU's weekend starters:
"They have great pitching. Their numbers speak for themselves. But with all due respect, we have seen some really great pitching this year. It's hard to top what Texas has, and it's hard to top what Texas A&M has. There are a lot of quality arms out there now. Everybody has arms. But TCU has a really good staff, and it's not just their starters. We have seen the best guy they have out of the pen (Tyler Lockwood), so there is some good quality there."

On TCU's season:
"When we started the year, our coaches thought there were a lot of unknowns. The one thing that was known was Texas' pitching, and the other thing that was agreed on was that TCU might have the best team in the state. I don't think they have done anything to make anyone feel differently about that."

On TCU serving as host for the regional:
"Congratulations to TCU for hosting the regional again this year. I know our guys are excited to be here. We have always liked coming here. They have done a great job with this program and this facility."

On how Baylor's starting pitching matchups will progress through the regional:
"All I know right now is that Logan (Verrett) will throw tomorrow. From there, we'll just see. How this last couple weeks for us has played out, mainly with regard to Shawn Tolleson, is that Tolleson is the most rested guy we have, not by his own choosing. He's been knocked out his last couple times out. His arm is fresh. Logan got up three different times in the conference tournament. That's a bit of a concern for me. Willie Kempf threw twice in the conference tournament and the last three times he's thrown for us has been on three-days rest. I'm looking to get him as much rest as we can moving forward. Honestly, Craig Fritsch has been throwing well. We got somewhat of a free game in our conference tournament where he had already clinched a bye into the championship round. It had some meaning, but I had a chance to catch Abel Baker. I think the catching in this (regional) is going to be an issue. When it's 100 to 104 (degrees), that's going to be tough. I'm really glad that we got to catch Abel recently in a pretty big arena. It also gave us a chance to give Jon Ringenberg a start, and we were able to pitch some other guys. Due to several different things, we've been able to get ourselves ready for this thing without even knowing it."

Senior Second-Baseman Raynor Campbell

On Arizona:
"I haven't really heard much about them. They are going to be a good team if they got into this regional. I know they're not a big power-hitting team. They don't have a lot of players with a bunch of home runs. They're going to play hard. They're going to run a little bit, so it's going t be a good test for us tomorrow."

Sophomore Right-Handed Pitcher Logan Verrett

On Arizona:
"From my understanding, they are a pretty young club, which isn't very different from us. They have a lot of (right-handers) in the lineup, so I think our pitching staff matches up pretty well against them. We have a lot of hard-throwing righties with good sliders, so I think on the mound we're going to be able to compete against their hitters well."