It would have been easy for us to give in about two or three times when we had opportunities. The kids kept plugging.

I was interested to see where people would rank us, and obviously we're fifth or sixth. They obviously don't have a lot of respect for what we have returning. We'll talk about that occasionally with our players on days where we lack a little motivation.

If another guy throws 30 pitches one day, I know I'm not going to be able to use him the next day. With Pat, if he throws 30 pitches, and 15 are right-handed and 15 are left-handed, I know I can come back to him tomorrow.

If you look at talent alone, Pat shouldn't be doing what he's doing. But he has a different drive than most players in our program. He's a grinder.

Bases loaded, nobody out, you've got to find a way to score. Against a team like this, you've got to come away with at least one run. They very rarely give you those kinds of opportunities.

I never saw more trouble catching fly balls. First we had some issues with it, then they had issues with it in the eighth inning. It appeared the wind wasn't blowing all that hard, but it must have got above the grandstand and created more issues.