After his solid performance out of the bullpen on Sunday, I talked to Chase Solesky, who may be the most important player on the team in the AAC tournament. He gave up only four earned runs in his first 23.2 innings but stopped missing bats when he was promoted to weekend duty, giving up 41 hits in 24.1 innings. He appears to be the most likely candidate to give the Wave good innings in Clearwater aside from J.P. France, Corey Merrill and closer Christian Colletti.
Here's what he had to say following his four-inning stint against Houston, when he earned the victory by giving up one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
You've been scuffling for a while. How good did you feel today?
"Yeah, I had been throwing a lot these last couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure I was up nine innings in relief last week (over three appearances). I had an easier week this week (he faced one batter on Friday) but I could feel progress (in bullpen work). Today it was just something inside of me. With all the seniors, I get chills thinking about it. Those guys deserve it. I get tears in my eyes when they come off the field."
How much did you need a win like this?
"It's huge for us. The bats came around and we started to find ourselves a little bit. Now we need to keep it going and see what we can do. We needed that."
You were really good early in the year. What happened after you moved to the weekend rotation?
"I needed to learn. The competition I had been playing against was good--you play LSU, McNeese, San Diego, but when you come in against conference, it's a different ballgame. Maybe you start trying a little harder. I've been going in and getting better day by day, learning from Corey, J.P., Ross, they all came up today in the dugout and said something to me. I've learned from them."
This team will need better pitching in the conference tournament. How important can you be?
"I feel very important for this team. I've really come to like my role coming out of the bullpen. It's the best chance I can give our team to win right now. That's all I can ask for and all I can do for this team. As long as I can keep going out there and giving out and doing my thing for the team, that's all that matters."
Here's what he had to say following his four-inning stint against Houston, when he earned the victory by giving up one run on four hits with four strikeouts.
You've been scuffling for a while. How good did you feel today?
"Yeah, I had been throwing a lot these last couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure I was up nine innings in relief last week (over three appearances). I had an easier week this week (he faced one batter on Friday) but I could feel progress (in bullpen work). Today it was just something inside of me. With all the seniors, I get chills thinking about it. Those guys deserve it. I get tears in my eyes when they come off the field."
How much did you need a win like this?
"It's huge for us. The bats came around and we started to find ourselves a little bit. Now we need to keep it going and see what we can do. We needed that."
You were really good early in the year. What happened after you moved to the weekend rotation?
"I needed to learn. The competition I had been playing against was good--you play LSU, McNeese, San Diego, but when you come in against conference, it's a different ballgame. Maybe you start trying a little harder. I've been going in and getting better day by day, learning from Corey, J.P., Ross, they all came up today in the dugout and said something to me. I've learned from them."
This team will need better pitching in the conference tournament. How important can you be?
"I feel very important for this team. I've really come to like my role coming out of the bullpen. It's the best chance I can give our team to win right now. That's all I can ask for and all I can do for this team. As long as I can keep going out there and giving out and doing my thing for the team, that's all that matters."
