May 30, 2011

Head Coach Steve Smith

On being selected to the NCAA Houston Regional:
"It's expected. That wasn't too surprising. We are excited to be in. I am proud of our players, proud for Baylor. We get to extend our season and have a chance to play to go to Omaha."

On if there was a sense of relief when he heard his team's name called:
"Yeah, I think always there is. Everybody gets excited, but I really didn't have much doubt this year. You don't take it for granted. The anticipation this year was really: what is our road going to look like? Where are we going? Who's going to be there? Who are we matched up with? I felt like that based on our finish in the league and our RPI that unless something really bizarre happened with a lot of upsets around the country that we were in very good shape. "

On what he knows about California:
"They've got to be really, really excited to go from the brink of extinction to being in the NCAA tournament. I think that'll be one of the big stories of this regional and beyond. Their program was dropped and their people got behind it, raised a bunch of money, and got the program reinstated. That has obviously reinvigorated their coaches and their players. I think that is a great thing."

On his team being a No. 2 seed:
"I could have seen that one going either way, but again just based on RPI and based on conference finish that wasn't too terribly surprising. And really the difference between being a two or three-seed is which dugout you are in. So it is not huge, but if you gave me a choice that is what I would take."

On if there are advantages in having played Rice earlier this season :
"If there are, there are advantages for both teams. We played them so early in the year that I would suspect there has been a lot of change between now and then. Before we even have the opportunity to potentially play them, we have got to play a very good Cal team."

On the team's chances at the regional:
"We are fairly confident going into this regional that it is very winnable for us. If we get on the same track that we were on the past few weeks, minus the Big 12 tournament, then we can really get on a roll and win this thing. We still have to take it one game at a time. We can't be looking forward to playing Rice on Saturday. We still have to come and show up to the park and play a good Cal team."

On how the team will overcome the losses at the Big 12 Championship:
"We weren't happy with how we did up there. We caught some tough breaks and we didn't play good baseball. We didn't execute well, but the one thing that you can take out of it is we are fully rested now. We didn't have to overthrow anybody. We have about three extra days off than what other teams would have, so we are going to use that to our advantage."

On if there was a sense of relief when the team's name was called:
"You never know what is going to happen. We were fairly confident we were in, but honestly it is not in your hands. It is up to the committee to decide. Some great teams were left out. I feel bad for Texas Tech. I feel bad for LSU, but we are just glad we are in. It was a bit of a sigh of relief that our name was called."

On having played Rice earlier this season:
"We know we played a great game against them at Minute Maid and won it in the bottom of the 10th. We know that we can beat them. They are a great team, but whenever we are playing good baseball we can beat them."

Junior Pitcher Brooks Pinckard

On being selected for the Houston Regional:
"It is definitely a great opportunity. We are excited about it. It is in-state, so we will take all the help we can get with fans coming out to the game."

On the team's chances at the regional:
"I definitely feel we can win any regional, if we play our best baseball. We have played Rice before. We won on a walk-off, which was a lot of fun. I don't know much about Cal, but we will when we get there. I am just looking forward to the opportunity."

Sophomore First Baseman Max Muncy

On bouncing back from the Big 12 Championship losses:
"We had a bad week, but I think we can shake it off and go out and play again. I am kind of a superstitious guy and the last couple of years we have played good at the Big 12 tournament and we have not played so good at the regional. Maybe this year is a different year. We played bad in the Big 12 tournament and maybe that means we will play good in the regional."

On the advantages of having the regional in Houston:
"We have a lot of players from Houston, so there will be a lot of family there. Some of the players that aren't traveling with us right now live in Houston too, so they will be able to come out and watch."