Quotables
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening statement
“Nice to get the sweep obviously and stack up a third win against those guys. They're a challenging team in a lot of ways and their biggest challenge is their base running and how they play a lot of small ball, and we limited that by not getting guys on base a whole lot, not a lot of free bases, which was outstanding by our pitching staff. (Brody) Briggs, who was a gladiator all weekend, just behind the plate, throwing guys out, backpicking, keeping the ball in front, not giving up free 90s, was outstanding all weekend long behind the plate, and then offense did enough to get it done today. A lot of base hits, a lot of contributors, just an all-around quality win.”
On how it feels to bounce back with a sweep after a midweek loss
“Well, it's been said many times, we've turned the page in the midweek. It is what it is, (can't go back and redo it, but I’m proud of the way our guys came out and just handled business this weekend. It's all we can control, and they came out, threw the ball well, a couple of defensive miscues, but for the most part played pretty good defense and swung the bats well enough to get three wins against a pretty good opponent.”
On Klecker's start
“The kid has been bounced around all year long with the amount of rest that he's gotten in between starts. He started off as a midweek guy and then bounced him up to Sunday and then Saturday and then back to Sunday, and then we've got the Easter weekend and then the BYU weekend where he's back and forth on days of rest and a lesser guy folds in those moments and doesn't have that consistent routine. He's a veteran guy that understands it. He's been a champ all year long just on dealing with mixing around in different roles. He's always been a starter, but as far as different rest times in between starts, that's not easy for a guy to do. I think it's unfair to say inconsistent. I mean he's had a couple of rough outings, but the guy's just been all we could ask for really and given us the quality starts that we need him to when we need him to. He's just been really good. So, today was no different. Came out, threw the heck out of it today. Gave us a good chance to win. And again, another day where the wind's screaming out and he keeps the ball in the ballpark for the most part except for one blemish there and I just can't say enough about his performance again.”
On if he feels like the team is coming together at the perfect time
"I'm glad they're coming together. We just have to continue playing winning baseball, so it’s nice to get three this weekend, and that's a good start.”
Pitcher Kole Klecker
On how he feels about the pitching staff at this point in the season
"I think we're the best staff in the country. I think we punched like, I don't know, 44 guys this week, something crazy like that, and that's not obviously not the only thing we can do. At the end of the day it comes down to wins and losses, but yeah, I'm confident in every guy we have in the bullpen, every starter we have, so I think we're kind of hitting our stride later in the season, which I think is better than early. So yeah, (I’m) really, really confident in all of our guys.”
On how much it pressure it take off pitching when the offense is doing good
"It means the world. Obviously, if you can pitch with a lead, it's a lot different. I think it just gives you a little more confidence and a little more room to breathe if you do make a mistake, you have the run support and even if the game's tied or you're down a couple, we have the offense that can come back, and score runs for you. So it's been awesome and it's great to have at home too, especially.”
Pitcher Jaden Alba
On his confidence coming in after Klecker’s start
"Yeah, I mean, you see him, he's been able to just go right after guys and just be able to get quick outs and get out of innings, so it gives you a lot of confidence to just to be able to come into the game and do the same thing, attack the hitter, first pitch strikes, and then just after that, go win, go punch.”
On how he settles back into pitching after giving up a two-run homerun
"Just knowing the confidence I have in myself and how good I am to see the first two innings. It was like a breeze, just 1-2-3, 1-2-3. So being able to just remember, I know I could do this, just getting back in, dialing back into the zone, not trying to do too much, obviously. Like we're up, we have a big lead. All you have to do is just get three outs, no matter how you do it. So just going out there, having the confidence in myself, just going right after guys.”
Infielder Austen Roellig
On hitting his second homerun of the season
"It was awesome. I spun over on a couple of balls in my first two at-bats and I was like, OK, let's work the other way and just drive it, hit a line drive, and somehow I got under it and hit a home run.”
On if he feels like the offense has come together as a whole at this point in the season
"We work a lot with the coaches and talk about approach, timing and all that, and I think it's all coming together and I think it's coming together at the right time. So it's a good thing that we're rolling.”
