Alabama - Arkansas-Pine Bluff Notes and Quotes Game 3
2/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 26, 2012
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HEAD COACH Mitch Gaspard
Opening Statement:
"Regarding Justin Kamplain, it was really good to see him get his first collegiate win. The big thing with pitching is that you have to pound the strike zone, and today he was fortunate. He was able to wiggle out of a few tough spots, but his command is going to have to continue to improve. On the offensive end, we were good early, putting up a five-spot in the first and then a two-spot in the second, so we were able to get a comfortable lead. The bullpen, particularly in the back end with Gardeck and Hubbard, did a great job and Pilkington in particular got us out of a little jam back in the seventh. Again, defensively we need to shore up a few things and get comfortable with what we were doing out in the field."
Thoughts on players who did particularly well this series:
"Right off the top of my head I think that Ben Moore was a guy who really jumped out and who kind of solidified himself at catcher, where we really needed him. Obviously, Brett Booth is still going to catch for us, but for our team right now, Brett has to be the third baseman and Ben has got to be behind the plate."
Thoughts on Ben Moore's offensive performance:
"He hit the ball very well this weekend, but that's not surprising. He's done very well since he got here in the fall, and that's why he got in the lineup as quickly as he did. I like the way he plays the game. He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played, and he has got ability with it."
Thoughts on the five-run inning at the beginning of today's game:
"It was good. Any time that you can score early always kind of gets you in the flow. Another thing was when we got those two-out hits to extend the inning and extend the scoring. It was good to see, and I feel that with each game, our at-bats are getting a little bit better, and our guys are getting a little more comfortable with what we want to do. I also thought that this weekend's running game was very good."
Alabama Player Quotes
#26 Justin Kamplain, LHP
Thoughts on any adjustments Kamplain made between his first and second starts:
"I started getting ahead of myself. My foot would touch before my hands would break. I just tried to adjust those things, and once the adjustments were made I know the defense would make played behind me. It's not hard to throw strikes when you know you have a defense like this one behind you making plays."
Thoughts on how he felt physically at the end of his start today:
"It was the first time I'd gone 70-75 pitches. I was a little tired, but as far as the preparation and practice coming up through this week, I feel pretty good."
#3 Kenny Roberts, 2B
Thoughts on his base running in today's game:
"I just tried to make somethings happen on an offensive standpoint. The pitcher was kind of slow to the plate, so we took advantage of that, which allowed some guys to drive me in."
Thoughts on how different this series was from the games against FAU:
"We were a completely different team. We came out with a lot of intensity, we played solid defense and we just played how Alabama is known to play."
POST GAME NOTES:
* On Sunday, Alabama netted its third victory against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and outscored the Golden Eagles 30-3 in the series.
* After going 2-for-4 in today's game, Kenny Roberts ends the series against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with a .333 average (4-for-12), including a double and a triple. He also totaled two stolen bases on Sunday.
* As a team, Alabama was a perfect 12-for-12 on stolen base attempts versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Five different Alabama players had two stolen bases in the series.
* Freshman Ben Moore went 2-for-2 in today's game, finishing the series 4-for-7 with six runs, five RBI, and his first career home run. He reached base on nine of his 12 plate appearances in the series.
* Cameron Carlisle scored the first run of his career and registered career and season-highs in hits, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
* Senior Taylor Dugas netted four runs this series, putting his total number of runs at 197, nine behind Joe Caruso for fifth place all-time at Alabama.
* Starting LHP Justin Kamplain finished the day with 5.0 innings pitched, gave up one earned run on three hits, and had three walks and a career-high six strikeouts on 76 pitches.
*Kamplain also earned his first career win to improve to 1-1 on the season.
* Senior Jared Reaves collected his first triple of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was the third triple of Reaves' career at Alabama.
* Redshirt freshman Jay Shaw made his second appearance of the season. He threw 1.0 innings of relief, allowing no runs on three hits with one strikeout.
* Senior Hunter Gregory knocked in his first RBI of the season and was 2-for-4 in the game for his second multi-hit game of the season and fifth of his career.
* Junior pitcher Ian Gardeck made his team-leading fourth appearance of the season. He threw his fourth scoreless inning in relief, striking out two batters to bring his season total six in 4.0 innings.
* Freshman pitcher Jake Hubbard made his second appearance of the series, and fourth appearance of the year. He struck out two batters over the course of one inning. In the series against the Golden Lions, Hubbard struck out four and did not allow a run in 2.0 innings out of the bullpen.
