I did not get to Turchin Stadium until the 8th inning yesterday because I was covering hoops, but I went down for interviews after the game. Travis Jewett did not talk because he had been ejected earlier for arguing a foul/fair call, but Daniel Latham did.
LATHAM
I guess you can't imagine a better start to the season.
"No doubt. The most important thing for us right now is getting the wins, good or bad, mistakes, whatever, we just need to get these wins right now and learn while we're winning. Obviously a great weekend. You set out, try to win Friday and then try to worry about Saturday and then you get a chance to sweep. They are hard to come by in college baseball with how much parity there is, so it's a big weekend for us."
What does it say about the temperament of this team to grind out two wins and then close it out on Sunday?
"I think it says something about the maturity of some of our position players and some of the pitchers that we're throwing, just understanding how quickly tides turn in college baseball and just kind of playing until it's over. The guys were having a lot of fun last night. Thirteen innings is a lot of baseball early in the season, and the guys took it as a challenge and had fun with it. It was a fun environment while it was going on. Nobody was tight about it."
What is the vibe in the dugout?
"It's a really good dugout. The vibe's good. No selfishness going on. Win, lose, good outing, bad outing, the guys are pulling for each other, they are pushing each other. I've been really excited about that part of it. It's a long season, but 3-0 is a great start. We'll try to tackle Lamar on Tuesday and then move on from there."
What was your first evaluation of the arm talent they had here and what was your first step in going about the process?
"We just kind of embraced that we didn't do what we needed to do as a pitching staff last year. No hiding behind it. No sugar-coating it. I challenged the older guys that had been back, the Kaleb Ropers and the Keagan Gillies and the Chase Soleskies and the older guys that we needed to carry a heavy load for us this year. I really challenged those guys over the summer when I got hired. I said, look, man, you gotta be better, and they've all embraced it and tried to tackle it and become leaders. That's really going to pay dividends for us down the stretch because obviously you can see we've got a lot of new guys in some new spots, especially in our bullpen. We're pretty new there, so there is going to be some learning as we go on that end."
How did they do over the first weekend?
"There was good and bad obviously. Some guys had some first-outing jitters going on a little bit, which is normal. You saw (Connor) Pellerin Friday night had some jitters going on and was a little too amped up. We had to get him back on the horse again today (Pellerin pitched the ninth with a 16-6 lead). Regardless of the score, he had the ninth inning today and you saw a better result today, more in control. It didn't matter what the score was going to be. He was going to be in control today. I think you're going to start seeing that more and more. You saw Justin Campbell, a little jittery Friday, rolls back around today really good. He made some really important pitches. I think you'll start seeing a little growth on that end bullpen wise. Starter wise, they all did what I asked them to do and just competed really hard and threw strikes and gave us a chance. Nothing special."
Did you expect anything close to what you got from Krishna Raj on Saturday?
"He's been in the mix for an enhanced role. Right down to this week he's been in the mix. What he did, do I ever predict that a freshman's going to go out and throw six innings and give up one hit? No. But yeah, I thought he was going to be successful. He's a good pitcher. I'm excited about what he's going to do going forward."
He seems to have the complete package--composure, a repertoire of pitches, control and intensity.
"He's got more than one pitch for strikes. I stay on him constantly about not nibbling, competing in the zone, more strikes, more strikes, holds runners really well. He just does a lot of little things that aren't freshman like. That was something I saw early. We all did. He's got some things that a lot of young pitchers don't have. A lot of guys said yesterday he pitched like an upperclassman, and he did. Hopefully we can keep that going forward."
What do you mean by enhanced role for him?
"He was competing for a fourth, fifth starter spot going into last week. He didn't not earn it. He pitched great, but just some other guys pitched a little bit better or maybe we wanted to go a little bit more experience. He'll carve a role for himself."
Who are your starting pitchers for Tuesday and Wednesday?
"(Josh) Bates is going to go Tuesday. He was going to be available Friday. Obviously he has a ton of experience as a starter, and then (Brendan) Cellucci is going to go Wednesday. That's why we took him out yesterday. It was kind of a scheduled coming in after Keagan one inning, get you in and get you out. Obviously he's got electric stuff. He's got the best stuff on our staff. We're trying to get him going. He's been really good over the last few weeks, throwing strikes and doing that. There's some ball-throwing in there, but he's done a really good job of attacking the zone, so we're going to give him an opportunity Wednesday and obviously have some other guys fresh behind him ready to roll."
Solesky has had some injury issues. What have you seen from him from when you got here in June to the progress to this point?
"When I got here he was fine. He was out playing summer ball and doing well. I know he did a lot of work this summer strength wise, body wise, delivery wise. He changed his delivery a little bit over the summer. That wasn't anything I had any part in. He was just sending me videos and we were going, 'it looks good.' It was one of those deals. I guess he had some people he worked with, but we communicated all summer while he was out playing summer ball. His stuff started upticking a little bit. It's all to his credit what he's doing right now. Being healthy, that's going to be big for us this year, but he's felt great since I've gotten on campus. I thought he was pretty good early (today) and just OK in the middle innings. He got out of his legs a little bit, but I think he's going to be really good for us going forward."
Was a lot of it simple strike throwing?
"Yeah, it's not complicated. We didn't do a very good job this weekend throwing first-pitch strikes beyond Roper and Raj. I'll sit down and map that out tomorrow and meet with a lot of the pitchers over the next couple of day so we can make adjustments in what we're doing. I know for sure today we didn't do a very good job throwing strike and made the job harder than it needed to be."
Solesky says he just feels like he has more confidence than in the past?
"No doubt. His first career start in college was against me (at Southeastern Louisiana, when Solesky pitched five innings and gave up two unearned runs in February of 2017 as a freshman), and it was pretty good. His freshman year was pretty good. He had a big role, so I had an idea of what he is. But he carries himself so well. As strong as he is right now, and his stuff's ticked up. He's been up to 95 (mph), and he just feels good about what's he doing right now. Confidence is so important in this game, especially for these guys 21 and 22 years old, confidence is everything for those guys. He feels good about himself right now, so we are going to roll with it.
Did you notice much about him when he pitched against you?
"Absolutely. He competed really well. He worked with a really good tempo his freshman year. Other than that, he's a different pitcher. The person's the same, but the delivery's a little different, the fastball plays up a little bit more, the breaker's a little better, the changeup's a little better. He's just two years later, a stronger kid. But the competitor's still the same. I saw that early when he came in against us. You could tell who wants the ball and wants to be out there."
Didn't he kind of get by on grit his freshman year?
"Yeah, his stuff was 85, 88, whatever it was without much other than a fastball, and he won. They would bring him in big situations, start him, so you could tell early with some of those guys and then you hope that they develop going forward and he obviously has, so that's exciting for us."
LATHAM
I guess you can't imagine a better start to the season.
"No doubt. The most important thing for us right now is getting the wins, good or bad, mistakes, whatever, we just need to get these wins right now and learn while we're winning. Obviously a great weekend. You set out, try to win Friday and then try to worry about Saturday and then you get a chance to sweep. They are hard to come by in college baseball with how much parity there is, so it's a big weekend for us."
What does it say about the temperament of this team to grind out two wins and then close it out on Sunday?
"I think it says something about the maturity of some of our position players and some of the pitchers that we're throwing, just understanding how quickly tides turn in college baseball and just kind of playing until it's over. The guys were having a lot of fun last night. Thirteen innings is a lot of baseball early in the season, and the guys took it as a challenge and had fun with it. It was a fun environment while it was going on. Nobody was tight about it."
What is the vibe in the dugout?
"It's a really good dugout. The vibe's good. No selfishness going on. Win, lose, good outing, bad outing, the guys are pulling for each other, they are pushing each other. I've been really excited about that part of it. It's a long season, but 3-0 is a great start. We'll try to tackle Lamar on Tuesday and then move on from there."
What was your first evaluation of the arm talent they had here and what was your first step in going about the process?
"We just kind of embraced that we didn't do what we needed to do as a pitching staff last year. No hiding behind it. No sugar-coating it. I challenged the older guys that had been back, the Kaleb Ropers and the Keagan Gillies and the Chase Soleskies and the older guys that we needed to carry a heavy load for us this year. I really challenged those guys over the summer when I got hired. I said, look, man, you gotta be better, and they've all embraced it and tried to tackle it and become leaders. That's really going to pay dividends for us down the stretch because obviously you can see we've got a lot of new guys in some new spots, especially in our bullpen. We're pretty new there, so there is going to be some learning as we go on that end."
How did they do over the first weekend?
"There was good and bad obviously. Some guys had some first-outing jitters going on a little bit, which is normal. You saw (Connor) Pellerin Friday night had some jitters going on and was a little too amped up. We had to get him back on the horse again today (Pellerin pitched the ninth with a 16-6 lead). Regardless of the score, he had the ninth inning today and you saw a better result today, more in control. It didn't matter what the score was going to be. He was going to be in control today. I think you're going to start seeing that more and more. You saw Justin Campbell, a little jittery Friday, rolls back around today really good. He made some really important pitches. I think you'll start seeing a little growth on that end bullpen wise. Starter wise, they all did what I asked them to do and just competed really hard and threw strikes and gave us a chance. Nothing special."
Did you expect anything close to what you got from Krishna Raj on Saturday?
"He's been in the mix for an enhanced role. Right down to this week he's been in the mix. What he did, do I ever predict that a freshman's going to go out and throw six innings and give up one hit? No. But yeah, I thought he was going to be successful. He's a good pitcher. I'm excited about what he's going to do going forward."
He seems to have the complete package--composure, a repertoire of pitches, control and intensity.
"He's got more than one pitch for strikes. I stay on him constantly about not nibbling, competing in the zone, more strikes, more strikes, holds runners really well. He just does a lot of little things that aren't freshman like. That was something I saw early. We all did. He's got some things that a lot of young pitchers don't have. A lot of guys said yesterday he pitched like an upperclassman, and he did. Hopefully we can keep that going forward."
What do you mean by enhanced role for him?
"He was competing for a fourth, fifth starter spot going into last week. He didn't not earn it. He pitched great, but just some other guys pitched a little bit better or maybe we wanted to go a little bit more experience. He'll carve a role for himself."
Who are your starting pitchers for Tuesday and Wednesday?
"(Josh) Bates is going to go Tuesday. He was going to be available Friday. Obviously he has a ton of experience as a starter, and then (Brendan) Cellucci is going to go Wednesday. That's why we took him out yesterday. It was kind of a scheduled coming in after Keagan one inning, get you in and get you out. Obviously he's got electric stuff. He's got the best stuff on our staff. We're trying to get him going. He's been really good over the last few weeks, throwing strikes and doing that. There's some ball-throwing in there, but he's done a really good job of attacking the zone, so we're going to give him an opportunity Wednesday and obviously have some other guys fresh behind him ready to roll."
Solesky has had some injury issues. What have you seen from him from when you got here in June to the progress to this point?
"When I got here he was fine. He was out playing summer ball and doing well. I know he did a lot of work this summer strength wise, body wise, delivery wise. He changed his delivery a little bit over the summer. That wasn't anything I had any part in. He was just sending me videos and we were going, 'it looks good.' It was one of those deals. I guess he had some people he worked with, but we communicated all summer while he was out playing summer ball. His stuff started upticking a little bit. It's all to his credit what he's doing right now. Being healthy, that's going to be big for us this year, but he's felt great since I've gotten on campus. I thought he was pretty good early (today) and just OK in the middle innings. He got out of his legs a little bit, but I think he's going to be really good for us going forward."
Was a lot of it simple strike throwing?
"Yeah, it's not complicated. We didn't do a very good job this weekend throwing first-pitch strikes beyond Roper and Raj. I'll sit down and map that out tomorrow and meet with a lot of the pitchers over the next couple of day so we can make adjustments in what we're doing. I know for sure today we didn't do a very good job throwing strike and made the job harder than it needed to be."
Solesky says he just feels like he has more confidence than in the past?
"No doubt. His first career start in college was against me (at Southeastern Louisiana, when Solesky pitched five innings and gave up two unearned runs in February of 2017 as a freshman), and it was pretty good. His freshman year was pretty good. He had a big role, so I had an idea of what he is. But he carries himself so well. As strong as he is right now, and his stuff's ticked up. He's been up to 95 (mph), and he just feels good about what's he doing right now. Confidence is so important in this game, especially for these guys 21 and 22 years old, confidence is everything for those guys. He feels good about himself right now, so we are going to roll with it.
Did you notice much about him when he pitched against you?
"Absolutely. He competed really well. He worked with a really good tempo his freshman year. Other than that, he's a different pitcher. The person's the same, but the delivery's a little different, the fastball plays up a little bit more, the breaker's a little better, the changeup's a little better. He's just two years later, a stronger kid. But the competitor's still the same. I saw that early when he came in against us. You could tell who wants the ball and wants to be out there."
Didn't he kind of get by on grit his freshman year?
"Yeah, his stuff was 85, 88, whatever it was without much other than a fastball, and he won. They would bring him in big situations, start him, so you could tell early with some of those guys and then you hope that they develop going forward and he obviously has, so that's exciting for us."
