TREVOR JENSEN
Talk about slapping the sticker on Jewett's chest after the win last night against Nicholls and how much fun you guys are having?
We are having a good time every night, as you can tell when the video goes out. It seems like everyone is looking forward to seeing that. But yeah, when he brought it out, we were like where is he going to put it, where is he going to put it? He's like, 'Oh, no, we're still putting it up tonight.' He was like, yeah, right here and then patted his chest. Before I slapped the sticker, I said this is for (freshman infielder Ethan) Groff because I don't know if you guys heard, but I got him pretty good with a line drive in B.P. He had to go to the hospital and get six stitches in his head. That kind of made me feel good. I had to say it because it was a scary moment."
The energy of the ballpark last night obviously wasn't the same as when you played Ole Miss over the weekend. You could have come out flat but did the opposite, scoring five runs early. How significant was that?
"We're trying to really push it. Every game matters. When we got there, everyone was chattering about wow, this feels so much different, but like the older guys were saying, it still matters. The win matters."
There probably will not be very many people at the games this weekend. How do you make sure to treat those with the same energy as you did Ole Miss?
"Just how it is, one game at a time. I have no idea and most of the team probably doesn't know what to expect. We've never played any of these teams and I don't know how much we know on them and most of them are from up north, so they have been playing inside for a while. It's a totally different feel, but it's still the same game. If we go out there and do what we've been doing, I think we'll be perfectly fine."
How nice was it to see Brendan Cellucci dominate and Connor Pellerin get the job done last night?
"It was unbelievable. When I saw Cucc come out there and right after the first or second pitch to the first batter, I was like, oh man, he's really got it tonight. When he has it, it's really unhittable. It's Big League stuff. Fastball, power slide, it's fun to watch and it's fun to play behind. And they both work with pretty good tempo. A lot of guys don't square them up, but if they do the infield's ready and position players are ready to make a play. Pellerin's the same way. He got ahead of the kid, the kid put a good swing on it and hit a hard hit to left field and instantly the next pitch ground-ball double play. That was good for Pellerin and for Brendan."
Who came up with the idea for the sticker slap after wins?
"I have no idea (it was Jewett). It was Jew or Curtis (director of baseball operations Curtis Akey). Everyone's buying into it, and as you can see, everyone gets really excited. I don't think anyone thinks about it during the game, but once the game's over, everyone is all right, it's time."
TRAVIS JEWETT
Whose idea was it to slap the stickers in the back of the dugout after wins?
"That was my idea. The biggest thing about it was I wanted the kids to start enjoying winning. We hadn't done it a ton. We've done it in flashes but without consistency, but now it's coming to fruition. We've trained that way, too. We're just trying to create a little bit more competitive winning school."
Had that idea been done anywhere else you've coached?
"No. First time."
You did a little variation last night. I assume you came up with that, too?
"I did. I sat and talked to my wife about it. OK, honey, so we're going to go on the road and we're going to win hopefully and if we come back and do it two-and-a-half hours later I think it loses its gusto. I wanted a little bit more flair to it. We actually had one of the kids bring a pitching stand-in hitter thing and I was thinking about slapping it on his his head. But the other one I had on my mind first it was my forehead. But then I was worried about somebody getting crazy and maybe breaking my nose. Not that they would try. Well they might actually. And then it was my back, but my back's too soft. Chest was probably the next, so I just said this is the wall today, put it right there.
"He put it on there pretty good. He probably could have done it a little bit better, but he knows who writes the lineup."
In that atmosphere it was very easy for the team to not be charged up, but you got out to a 5-0 lead.
"You're exactly right, but there confidence was really good all day. Mine was too, but I worried were we mature enough mentally to leave the past in the past and going on the road and all the things that are different. That swing in the first inning (David Bedgood's three-run home run into the wind) was big. It said OK, we're here and let's do this thing. And then we fought off some situations by them. Yesterday we were 4 for 4 in what we call shutdown opportunities. We threw up some zeroes after we scored. That was big."
When you get relief performances like you got out of Cellucci and Pellerin, how much better does that make this team?
"You've got to add (Ryan) Green in there, too. The seventh inning he came in and charged that thing over the plate. And when you've got (an effective Cellucci and Pellerin) starting at you at the back end of the game, then the game can get a little bit shorter. Those guys have stuff and arm strength. It could make it tough on people."
The hitting numbers are sensational. How excited are you by the the way the whole team is swinging the bat?
"We're kind of doing a little bit of everything. We're walking more. We're getting hit by pitches. We're fighting more with two strikes, and then we can split a gap with a double and we've got 15 home runs.The kids are feeling it pretty good, and that goes to our depth. That lineup is what we call a baton pass. Every time the kids are up there, you're like, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit. Everybody that we're running out there has a pretty good offensive approach."
What is the mindset entering a weekend where you will face two teams (Dartmouth and Saint Joseph's) that are not good on paper and then Army, which appears to be decent?
"The same thing. Respect the game, respect the opponent. Respect all, fear none. We're not that good yet. We've got a lot of work to do. We can't float. We've got to keep our gloves up. The minute we put our gloves down, we've seen some things that happened to us in terms of free things that were given away or giving teams a scoring opportunity right after we score, two outs with nobody on. We've got to keep our gloves up. When you come off the mound or get off the field, you can relax, but until that moment we've got to keep our gloves up. In this game if you disrespect the other opponent, you get beat."
Will it be the same rotation?
"Same rotation. Roper, Gillies and Solesky."
Talk about slapping the sticker on Jewett's chest after the win last night against Nicholls and how much fun you guys are having?
We are having a good time every night, as you can tell when the video goes out. It seems like everyone is looking forward to seeing that. But yeah, when he brought it out, we were like where is he going to put it, where is he going to put it? He's like, 'Oh, no, we're still putting it up tonight.' He was like, yeah, right here and then patted his chest. Before I slapped the sticker, I said this is for (freshman infielder Ethan) Groff because I don't know if you guys heard, but I got him pretty good with a line drive in B.P. He had to go to the hospital and get six stitches in his head. That kind of made me feel good. I had to say it because it was a scary moment."
The energy of the ballpark last night obviously wasn't the same as when you played Ole Miss over the weekend. You could have come out flat but did the opposite, scoring five runs early. How significant was that?
"We're trying to really push it. Every game matters. When we got there, everyone was chattering about wow, this feels so much different, but like the older guys were saying, it still matters. The win matters."
There probably will not be very many people at the games this weekend. How do you make sure to treat those with the same energy as you did Ole Miss?
"Just how it is, one game at a time. I have no idea and most of the team probably doesn't know what to expect. We've never played any of these teams and I don't know how much we know on them and most of them are from up north, so they have been playing inside for a while. It's a totally different feel, but it's still the same game. If we go out there and do what we've been doing, I think we'll be perfectly fine."
How nice was it to see Brendan Cellucci dominate and Connor Pellerin get the job done last night?
"It was unbelievable. When I saw Cucc come out there and right after the first or second pitch to the first batter, I was like, oh man, he's really got it tonight. When he has it, it's really unhittable. It's Big League stuff. Fastball, power slide, it's fun to watch and it's fun to play behind. And they both work with pretty good tempo. A lot of guys don't square them up, but if they do the infield's ready and position players are ready to make a play. Pellerin's the same way. He got ahead of the kid, the kid put a good swing on it and hit a hard hit to left field and instantly the next pitch ground-ball double play. That was good for Pellerin and for Brendan."
Who came up with the idea for the sticker slap after wins?
"I have no idea (it was Jewett). It was Jew or Curtis (director of baseball operations Curtis Akey). Everyone's buying into it, and as you can see, everyone gets really excited. I don't think anyone thinks about it during the game, but once the game's over, everyone is all right, it's time."
TRAVIS JEWETT
Whose idea was it to slap the stickers in the back of the dugout after wins?
"That was my idea. The biggest thing about it was I wanted the kids to start enjoying winning. We hadn't done it a ton. We've done it in flashes but without consistency, but now it's coming to fruition. We've trained that way, too. We're just trying to create a little bit more competitive winning school."
Had that idea been done anywhere else you've coached?
"No. First time."
You did a little variation last night. I assume you came up with that, too?
"I did. I sat and talked to my wife about it. OK, honey, so we're going to go on the road and we're going to win hopefully and if we come back and do it two-and-a-half hours later I think it loses its gusto. I wanted a little bit more flair to it. We actually had one of the kids bring a pitching stand-in hitter thing and I was thinking about slapping it on his his head. But the other one I had on my mind first it was my forehead. But then I was worried about somebody getting crazy and maybe breaking my nose. Not that they would try. Well they might actually. And then it was my back, but my back's too soft. Chest was probably the next, so I just said this is the wall today, put it right there.
"He put it on there pretty good. He probably could have done it a little bit better, but he knows who writes the lineup."
In that atmosphere it was very easy for the team to not be charged up, but you got out to a 5-0 lead.
"You're exactly right, but there confidence was really good all day. Mine was too, but I worried were we mature enough mentally to leave the past in the past and going on the road and all the things that are different. That swing in the first inning (David Bedgood's three-run home run into the wind) was big. It said OK, we're here and let's do this thing. And then we fought off some situations by them. Yesterday we were 4 for 4 in what we call shutdown opportunities. We threw up some zeroes after we scored. That was big."
When you get relief performances like you got out of Cellucci and Pellerin, how much better does that make this team?
"You've got to add (Ryan) Green in there, too. The seventh inning he came in and charged that thing over the plate. And when you've got (an effective Cellucci and Pellerin) starting at you at the back end of the game, then the game can get a little bit shorter. Those guys have stuff and arm strength. It could make it tough on people."
The hitting numbers are sensational. How excited are you by the the way the whole team is swinging the bat?
"We're kind of doing a little bit of everything. We're walking more. We're getting hit by pitches. We're fighting more with two strikes, and then we can split a gap with a double and we've got 15 home runs.The kids are feeling it pretty good, and that goes to our depth. That lineup is what we call a baton pass. Every time the kids are up there, you're like, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit. Everybody that we're running out there has a pretty good offensive approach."
What is the mindset entering a weekend where you will face two teams (Dartmouth and Saint Joseph's) that are not good on paper and then Army, which appears to be decent?
"The same thing. Respect the game, respect the opponent. Respect all, fear none. We're not that good yet. We've got a lot of work to do. We can't float. We've got to keep our gloves up. The minute we put our gloves down, we've seen some things that happened to us in terms of free things that were given away or giving teams a scoring opportunity right after we score, two outs with nobody on. We've got to keep our gloves up. When you come off the mound or get off the field, you can relax, but until that moment we've got to keep our gloves up. In this game if you disrespect the other opponent, you get beat."
Will it be the same rotation?
"Same rotation. Roper, Gillies and Solesky."
