BATON ROUGE — On Tuesday, LSU baseball head coach Smoke Laval addressed the media during baseball’s annual media day, held on the fifth floor of the LSU Athletics Administration Building.
LSU SPORTS INFORMATION
BASEBALL MEDIA DAY
FEBRUARY 4, 2003
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LAVAL
…On the pitching staff
“The street talk, as I call it, is we are going to lean on pitching most of the year and that is just because of experience. Jake Tompkins will throw Friday. Brian Wilson will throw Saturday, and Bo Pettit will throw on Sunday. They have all been in the fire before. They pitched a lot last year. Jake switched over from a starting pitcher to help in relief last year, so we have three guys that have been there. They are going to overdo it early by throwing too hard and too much to keep us there. That is something that you will have to look to overcome. The depth of this staff is very strong with guys like Nate Bumstead, Justin Meier, Billy Sadler, and Clayton Harris who pitched a lot for us last year. He is not going to be looked upon as heavily. There are many more guys like Jason Determann, who was injured last year, throwing better than ever. We have a new coach that is going to run that staff, Brady Wiederhold. He has the privilege to take over a pretty good staff. He was with me at Monroe and really sat back as the administrative assistant last year and helped Coach Canevari who is the new coach at Southeastern (Louisiana). The pitching looks okay. One good thing I like about this team is that those three starters are trying to keep some of these other younger guys under their wing. Another thing that looks pretty good is that we will have a closer, a gentleman by the name of Brandon Nall. Sometimes he can throw way underneath and side arm. He steps into the third base dugout and throws across his body. He gets pretty nasty. Even though he did very well in the alumni game, it is how many times can he do it well in front of 8,000 fans where one pitch can change the game. He is allowed to make a bad pitch but only when we are up by eight or nine runs. An official closer and three great ones that have been in the fire before, that is what we are looking to lean on.”
…On the infield situation
“Aaron Hill will move from shortstop to third base. Aaron is going to be a very nice draft pick for us. He played with the U.S. team. Had Wally (Pontiff) still been with us, which he will always be with us, Aaron would be back at short. He is a Division I shortstop that in pro ball will probably play second or third and can play short. This is just to let Aaron concentrate a little more on offense and let him relax a little bit. Here again, he may try to overdo it. It only counts as one run when you hit it over the fence. The gentlemen that will take his place is a freshman by the name of Matt Horwath. He knows how to win the ballgame. He can run the show out there for us. All we want Aaron to do is get up there and hit. Matt Horwath is a great find. If he gets hurt, as Aaron did last year, Aaron can go right back to shortstop. At second base will be a transfer from Chipola Junior College, Ivan Naccarata. He is a left handed hitter who was drafted in the middle-teen rounds and decided to attend LSU. He will be hitting third in our lineup and is a very good three, four, or five hole hitter. At first base we will have a freshman named Will Harris, brother of Clayton Harris. Will is just a little bit bigger, hits them a little farther, throws it a little bit harder, but we want him to just concentrate on hitting. Behind the plate, will be Dustin Weaver who was here last year. He is a tremendous catch-and-throw guy. He can catch and throw better than anyone I have seen in the SEC last year. Backing him up will be a freshman, Matt Liuzza, who has a little better arm. They will both bat ninth and have a chance to move up.”
…On the outfield situation
“We are in a great situation in the outfield because a freshman All-American, J.C. Holt, is moving to utilize his speed to play centerfield for us. J.C. can really go. He runs a 6.2 to 6.3 60 (yard dash). He can really run and will steal a lot of bases for us. He got bigger and stronger with a little more home run power. Hopefully, if it is in the air, he will run it down and keep it in the ballpark. In right field will be Jon Zeringue, of course who was a third round draft pick as a catcher. He had a little bit of a knee problem last year and got it scoped over the summer and decided that he is just going to stay in the outfield. If he can catch fire for us, we are going to have a chance. We are looking for one guy to have that type of year. Ryan Patterson is right on Jon Zeringue’s heels. He is a two-time draft pick. Both can run, have power, and possess pretty good arms. That’s a good race to have out there. In left field will be Bruce Sprowl. He is a little guy, a little bit like Horwath. You don’t notice him, and then the next inning you know you have a big inning and Bruce Sprowl hits two in, sliding in head first, or taking the extra base. He is always involved and knows how to win a baseball game. He won’t hit many homers or doubles, but he can just win a baseball game for you. Backing him up and in the DH, will be Quinn Stewart who did hit a double and an opposite field home run in the alumni game. Blake Gill is one of those guys that can play everywhere. If we are not hitting or something happens in the outfield, Blake Gill can play left and right. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. If Matt Horwath gets hurt or Aaron Hill gets hurt, Blake Gill can play third base. He can definitely play first as well. Coach Turtle Thomas had Blake Gill catching at times. Funny thing is, Blake Gill is a better second basemen than any of the above. He is great to have and very valuable.”
…On the Southeastern Conference
“Expectations again are very high for us. I like the SEC West. I really like Auburn and Mississippi State. They are very talented and have everybody back with that experience that is going to be very strong in the conference. In the SEC East, I like South Carolina and Georgia.”
Player Quotes
Jake Tompkins
Sr. Right-handed Pitcher
On the weekend starters…
“All three of us are very competitive and all three of us think we are the best and that’s what I think it’s going to come down to. I think its great having all three of us back, and I think it is really going to push us. Because one of us had a better game I think one of the other two might. It’s nice to have competition like that because it does push you, and when it comes down to the games you do play better in the long run.”
On only having three weeks to prepare…
“We have only been practicing for three weeks and that is not a whole lot of time to get pitchers ready after a few months off from fall ball. So I think we will be on tight pitch counts early and hopefully all we can do is just maybe get through the innings with low pitch counts and a lot the time that never happens. But, as coach Laval said we have a great pitching staff this year as opposed to last year.”
J.C. Holt
So. Center Fielder
On the switch from second to centerfield…
“Coach Laval told me last year in the fall that I was going to move from second to shortstop. Then he pulled me aside and told me that he was going to move me to centerfield. This summer I went to Danville, Illinois and he told me to play outfield. So I played centerfield for them this whole summer to get used to it. I am taking fly balls, because it is different reading ball off of the bat in centerfield. At second base you mostly get ground balls, and in the outfield you get everything off of the bat. It’s been different, but I enjoy it and like it. I really like playing out there and I am ready to get the season started Friday.”
On the other outfielders
“Well the new guys that we have Bruce Sprowl, Quinn Stewart, and Ryan Patterson are all very very good outfielders. They will be fine out there. Some of them are better defensively than others, but all of them can hit the ball very well. John Zeringue is a very good outfielder and he will probably play right field starting off. He played there last year and he does a great job in right field and he has been hitting the ball a lot better than he was last year. He has some big shoes to fill, filling in for Sean Barker. He is just as good as Barker defensively, and he has a great arm. I am really excited about our outfield.”
Aaron Hill
Jr. Infielder
On the transition from shortstop to third base and the rest of the infield…
“From short to third I’m not looking at much of a transition. I played third the past two summers and I am comfortable playing there. I just have to field and through just like Smoke is saying. The rest of the infield I can’t wait to get it going. We have Matt at short, the new kid Ivan at second base. They are going to be turning double plays. You have Will and Blake at first, and you can’t ask for better first basemen.”
On assuming the leadership role left by Wally Pontiff…
“I am going to do my best just like Wally did his best last year. Hopefully people pick up on that and they will see that I am working hard and that I am trying 110%, and that is going to rub off on the younger guys. I know Blake is going to be doing it, and Jake will also. They are going to look up to us, and they are going to play 110% and we are going to win some ball games.”