Quotables
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening Statement
“Every once in a while, baseball has that kind of poetry, I guess, that only baseball can give you. And this situation was pretty special for Kole (Klecker), for us as a team, and for me as a coach. It just came full circle, and he just did a tremendous job today. He was one of the first, if not the very first kid that I recruited and offered when I got this job. And obviously he made the decision he did, but then we got him here for his last year, and was able to come here and face his old team today and just really have a really a performance of a lifetime there. Seven shutout innings, two hits, kept TCU off balance all day, and just really special. What a great kid and a great story for today. That was outstanding. A lot of fun.”
On the pitching staff as a whole
“Bottom line, when you have a guy that is executing his pitches and locating the way that Kole was today, it makes it a lot easier on your bullpen. To get some length out of your starter is tremendous. We kind of went in today hoping he would give us five and then kind of piece it together from there. But him giving us seven made our job pretty easy. We got (Sean) Fitzpatrick and (Derek) Schaefer in there to finish it up. But it’s a tribute to a lot of things. Sam Peraza, what he's done in the recruiting world, what Jeremy (Accardo) has done on the pitching front, just the staff in general, what they've done on continuing to develop guys, not only physically but mentally, and continuing to go after the right type of guys. We’re continuing to build in that right direction. Compared to when we first got here, it's night and day, but we're not a finished product. We got to keep going.”
On the home runs from Landon Hairston and Dean Toigo
“I'm more interested in just good, solid at bats. And the home runs come as a result of that. They're doing a great job putting the ball in the seats. But they're good hitters too. Dean's had a heck of a series, and kind of came out of a little bit of a funk. I guess he was getting his home runs, but now he's starting to mix his base hits in there too, along with it. And then we can get pretty dangerous with those two bats in the lineup and mixing in around them. And hopefully we get (Nu’u) Contrades healthy here pretty soon, and we get back to rolling the way we're capable again, top to bottom, and Austin Roellig is starting to swing the bat great. It's just kind of a full top to bottom offense here, and it’s been fun to watch.”
On Brody Briggs’ defensive play
“The way Briggs has played behind the plate these last two games has just been outstanding. That heads up play for him to come out of his crouch, retrieve a swinging bunt and go back and beat the runner coming down third to the plate and get a big out there. That was pretty early in the game. That was a big momentum shift early. He had a back pick, that he picked a guy off at first on a phenomenal, electrically quick back pick on him. His leadership and his energy behind the plate is just outstanding. And guys love throwing to him. He's just done a great job back there, even on the days he's not getting his hits, like today he didn't have any hits, but he scraps. He battles at the plate, he competes every pitch, and then just again off defensively, what he does behind the plate is just on another level. So I’m happy for him."
Pitcher Kole Klecker
On the emotions after defeating his former team
“It’s hard to treat this as a normal game. It was a unique feeling for sure because I still have a lot of love for a lot of people over there but at the end of the day, I got Maroon and Gold on my chest. I made sure to compete out there, stick to my process and ended up throwing it well. I had great defense behind me, bats, and scored runs. It was a really good team win and it meant a lot. It was a great win.”
On his strategy heading into the game
“I definitely try to mix, but seeing early in the game that they were allowing me to land it for a strike and then once I started expanding down and they were swinging, me and Coach Ricardo stuck with that because if it's not broke, don't fix it. I was definitely spinning it well today and I think that led to a lot of success.”
Pitcher Sean Fitzpatrick
On his ability to strikeout batters this season
“I'd probably say the biggest thing that helped me the most is my relationship with God. The second was sitting in the weight room for two months lifting, getting stronger. The bottom line is if you execute pitches you earn the opportunity to get whips and get strikeouts, and that's the best way to get someone out. I would say it's a combination of everything, but if you execute pitches, you're gonna have success.”
On coming in relief after a strong outing from Kole Klecker
“I love that. Especially knowing how much this means to him (Kole Klecker) and to us as a team. Today's a big win. It's a swing series, the first Big 12 series win for us. Having the opportunity to go in and pitch any day is a blessing in and of itself but coming in after him (Kole Klecker) after what he did, that's pretty special and pretty fun to be a part of.”
Pitcher Derek Schaefer
On being a part of this ASU team
“It's a similar scenario for me (as Kole Klecker). I was recruited by (WIllie) Blomquist in high school and I decided to go a different route. Coming back here, it's literally a dream come true. Being close to my family, being able to play for a university that's actually close to my heart was really cool. I'm so proud of them (Klecker and Fitzpatrick), to see what they did today and I'm excited that we got to throw that game and get a series win.”
