I apologize for not getting these up over the weekend, but I caught a pretty bad cold from my son that was accompanied by a nasty headache.
Gavin Schulz, Jackson Linn, Michael Lombardi, Luc Fladda and Connor Rasmussen spoke before Friday's opening practice.
SCHULZ
On surreal scene of watching vehicle clear ice and snow off the turf so they could practice:
"Growing up I've never even held snow in my hand. Me and one of my teammates had a $10 bet that it wouldn't even snow. For it to wind up snowing 10 inches is crazy, so it was surreal."
On whom he bet and which side he was on:
"William Good. A younger guy here. He's one of my roommates. He's from New Orleans, too, and he bet that there would be snow."
On what step up he wants to take in his game:
"There are different roles each year. I'm just excited to be out here with the guys and compete to have another good year, another successful year. I'm very excited about this team. Our coaches have done a great job to bring guys in. They work their tails off for us. We've worked hard in the weight room. We've worked hard at practice. We're just excited to have another good year."
On replacing Colin Tuff, Teo Banks and Brady Marget:
"Losing key guys like that, it's good and bad. Those guys are now playing in professional baseball, living their dream. We'll be fine. We'll be good. We've re-amped, brought in some talent. We're just looking forward."
On what they are building at Tulane:
"We're getting the program to where it needs to be. We have a message that coach gives us, keep raising the standards. Last year we had a good year, but we want to keep taking steps forward and build this program to where it's a consistent, winning program, and that consistent winning helps bring in more talent, helps get better players. We're just super excited."
On pieces being in place for at-large bid if needed:
"Yes, I feel like the pieces are in place. We have a great bullpen. We have great position guys. Definitely we want to win the tournament again, but our eyes on our conference (regular season title). It's been a few years since we've won the conference (last time was 2016 and the time before that was 2005), so we're going for that and we want the tournament, but words are words and we have to show up every day and leave it all out there on the field."
On if back-to-back tourney appearances create more pressure to produce:
"Pressure is more self created. You look around, you don't see pressure. Pressure's all in your head. There can be pressure from fans, but we're not worried about the program. We're worried about what happens in the locker room, worried about winning each day, and when that times comes for winning the conference and winning the tournament, we're here stacking days trying to win."
On excitement for opening day:
"I'm so excited. Last opening day here (for him). I'm just very excited to go out there with some of the guys that have been with me and some new guys to go out there and compete and leave it all out there."
On his feeling about his final year as a local guy on the team:
"It's a dream come true. That dream's not over yet, but it's a dream come true. Getting here, there it was, we hadn't been to a regional. We've gone to back-to-back regionals. We've won the tournament twice, but the message in the locker room is we haven't arrived. We've done what we've done in the past, but we're trying to keep raising that standard and trying to get our cleats dug in to Omaha"
LINN
On getting in position to earn at-large bid:
"Similar to what Gavin said, we've got an older team, a more experienced team, a team that knows how to win. This was my fourth fall ball here, and this team is the most well-rounded, most put-together team that I've been on, which is saying something because we've had some pretty good teams. That's going to give us the best chance to go out and win a ton of games in conference play and hopefully before conference play. That's the goal."
On why this is the most well-rounded team:
"We've had a lot of good guys in the portal, a lot of older guys, people with a lot of in-game success in the past. We've had talented guys come through, but this team has the most tangible numbers put up that are going to say this team's going to go out and have a good year."
On replacing Tuft, Banks and Marget:
"You can never tell exactly how it's going to shake out. By the end of the year we'll probably have a different lineup than what I think it's going to be right now because guys always step up. Some guys will struggle, some guys will succeed and that's just how it goes. We're so deep. We've got so many good talented players that somebody's going to step up and we'll have a good lineup by the end of the year."
On having a lot of pitchers back:
"I'm a hitter, so I focus on hitting, but pitching is key to winning games. We've got a really talented group of guys this year and I've faced all of them at this point, so I know that we've got some good stuff. I'm excited to see what they can do. I think It's going to be impressive."
On not having to worry about health:
"After having two surgeries done and fully recovered through that, I feel really just grateful to be out here. I attribute a lot of success that I've had to just being freed mentally, just able to go out and play hard and play my best without any physical limitations."
On making more progress as a team in the postseason this year:
"Yeah, we beat Nicholls, which we beat during the year. It felt like we were supposed to win that game. We did what we were supposed to do, but now we've got our eyes set for something bigger. Like Gavin said, we feel like there's more to give. There's a lot more on the table and we can go take what's ours this year."
On Omaha as a tangible goal:
"For sure. Going to a regional two years in a row feels like we've got a taste of postseason play. This coaching staff was new my sophomore year, and now it feels like everyone's got there foot in where they know they need to be, including us, the players. We really want it more this year, and we know what we need to do to get it."
On walk-off homer than won AAC tourney never getting old:
"I mean, it's definitely the highlight of my career. It made all of the hard work worth it to some degree, but my career's not over. I've got more to do this year, so eyes are looking forward right now."
Gavin Schulz, Jackson Linn, Michael Lombardi, Luc Fladda and Connor Rasmussen spoke before Friday's opening practice.
SCHULZ
On surreal scene of watching vehicle clear ice and snow off the turf so they could practice:
"Growing up I've never even held snow in my hand. Me and one of my teammates had a $10 bet that it wouldn't even snow. For it to wind up snowing 10 inches is crazy, so it was surreal."
On whom he bet and which side he was on:
"William Good. A younger guy here. He's one of my roommates. He's from New Orleans, too, and he bet that there would be snow."
On what step up he wants to take in his game:
"There are different roles each year. I'm just excited to be out here with the guys and compete to have another good year, another successful year. I'm very excited about this team. Our coaches have done a great job to bring guys in. They work their tails off for us. We've worked hard in the weight room. We've worked hard at practice. We're just excited to have another good year."
On replacing Colin Tuff, Teo Banks and Brady Marget:
"Losing key guys like that, it's good and bad. Those guys are now playing in professional baseball, living their dream. We'll be fine. We'll be good. We've re-amped, brought in some talent. We're just looking forward."
On what they are building at Tulane:
"We're getting the program to where it needs to be. We have a message that coach gives us, keep raising the standards. Last year we had a good year, but we want to keep taking steps forward and build this program to where it's a consistent, winning program, and that consistent winning helps bring in more talent, helps get better players. We're just super excited."
On pieces being in place for at-large bid if needed:
"Yes, I feel like the pieces are in place. We have a great bullpen. We have great position guys. Definitely we want to win the tournament again, but our eyes on our conference (regular season title). It's been a few years since we've won the conference (last time was 2016 and the time before that was 2005), so we're going for that and we want the tournament, but words are words and we have to show up every day and leave it all out there on the field."
On if back-to-back tourney appearances create more pressure to produce:
"Pressure is more self created. You look around, you don't see pressure. Pressure's all in your head. There can be pressure from fans, but we're not worried about the program. We're worried about what happens in the locker room, worried about winning each day, and when that times comes for winning the conference and winning the tournament, we're here stacking days trying to win."
On excitement for opening day:
"I'm so excited. Last opening day here (for him). I'm just very excited to go out there with some of the guys that have been with me and some new guys to go out there and compete and leave it all out there."
On his feeling about his final year as a local guy on the team:
"It's a dream come true. That dream's not over yet, but it's a dream come true. Getting here, there it was, we hadn't been to a regional. We've gone to back-to-back regionals. We've won the tournament twice, but the message in the locker room is we haven't arrived. We've done what we've done in the past, but we're trying to keep raising that standard and trying to get our cleats dug in to Omaha"
LINN
On getting in position to earn at-large bid:
"Similar to what Gavin said, we've got an older team, a more experienced team, a team that knows how to win. This was my fourth fall ball here, and this team is the most well-rounded, most put-together team that I've been on, which is saying something because we've had some pretty good teams. That's going to give us the best chance to go out and win a ton of games in conference play and hopefully before conference play. That's the goal."
On why this is the most well-rounded team:
"We've had a lot of good guys in the portal, a lot of older guys, people with a lot of in-game success in the past. We've had talented guys come through, but this team has the most tangible numbers put up that are going to say this team's going to go out and have a good year."
On replacing Tuft, Banks and Marget:
"You can never tell exactly how it's going to shake out. By the end of the year we'll probably have a different lineup than what I think it's going to be right now because guys always step up. Some guys will struggle, some guys will succeed and that's just how it goes. We're so deep. We've got so many good talented players that somebody's going to step up and we'll have a good lineup by the end of the year."
On having a lot of pitchers back:
"I'm a hitter, so I focus on hitting, but pitching is key to winning games. We've got a really talented group of guys this year and I've faced all of them at this point, so I know that we've got some good stuff. I'm excited to see what they can do. I think It's going to be impressive."
On not having to worry about health:
"After having two surgeries done and fully recovered through that, I feel really just grateful to be out here. I attribute a lot of success that I've had to just being freed mentally, just able to go out and play hard and play my best without any physical limitations."
On making more progress as a team in the postseason this year:
"Yeah, we beat Nicholls, which we beat during the year. It felt like we were supposed to win that game. We did what we were supposed to do, but now we've got our eyes set for something bigger. Like Gavin said, we feel like there's more to give. There's a lot more on the table and we can go take what's ours this year."
On Omaha as a tangible goal:
"For sure. Going to a regional two years in a row feels like we've got a taste of postseason play. This coaching staff was new my sophomore year, and now it feels like everyone's got there foot in where they know they need to be, including us, the players. We really want it more this year, and we know what we need to do to get it."
On walk-off homer than won AAC tourney never getting old:
"I mean, it's definitely the highlight of my career. It made all of the hard work worth it to some degree, but my career's not over. I've got more to do this year, so eyes are looking forward right now."
