Tim Bates Quotations

Last year, we could hit the ball. That was our strength. We had inexperienced pitchers, but what is nice is that they're back. We left them in at difficult times last year so they could learn and they have improved because of it.

Offensively, we still have the philosophy of we want to score every inning. We want to get seven runs a game. We're not always doing that, but we have had some timely hits this year. The guys are working hard. They're excited. They have confidence.

Knock on wood, but we haven't run out of arms. Everyone wants to do well in the tournament and it's tough with arms that are tired. We have four to six guys who can shut someone down for an inning.

Our biggest improvement is our pitching staff. We have a much deeper stable of arms and our (Nos.) 1 and 2 are back, so we have experience. Our pitchers have worked hard and learned new pitches. They're going to keep us in games. We just have to find a way to score some runs.

I go into each game with three guys written in as pitchers. If I feel someone is losing something, we'll put someone else in. It's nice. A lot of times hitters are only seeing a pitcher once, so they are constantly adjusting.

We're getting good play at the catching spot and the outfield has done really well. But we need to work on our play in the infield.