April 6, 2014
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Kentucky Baseball
Post-Game Notes
UK vs. Florida
April 6, 2014 – Lexington, Ky.
Cliff Hagan Stadium
Kentucky Head Coach Gary Henderson
On how important of a weekend it was …
“Well it was an unusual weekend there’s no doubt about that. With the bats that we have and be able to score as many runs as we did. And we gave up a few runs in the last two games clearly. That part is really unusual. I don’t think you are going to see that moving forward. I know I can’t predict the future, but that was very unusual. It’s great to beat the Gators at home. We’re four weekends down, 6-6 after playing some tough people. It doesn’t get easier for us, but we’ve had some good people behind us and it’s nice to be where we are considering where we were.”
On the offensive production this weekend …
“We had a lot of guys seeing it well and we had a lot of guys taking really good swings. Clearly when you have the middle of the order provide as much power as they did…A.J. (Reed) is doing a really good job. Ka’ai Tom hit the ball hard all weekend. It’s opens things up for the guys down at the bottom because there are baserunners all over the place. We just had a lot of guys taking a lot of good swings and see the ball really well all weekend.”
On what Kyle Cody’s presence brings to the bullpen …
“First I will answer in terms of the bullpen (leading up to Cody). Being able to put Dylan Dwyer in there, who got seven outs, was really huge. He’s a huge difference maker because he’s able to do it in a way different than we have up to this now. So if we can get him healthy and provide outs in that part of the game, it really helps. I was really impressed with Spencer Jack. The first two guys got hits, and then to give up the home run, obviously that’s a tough break for Spencer. But he comes back, punches out the next two, then gets the first two outs of the ninth. That’s a great job by Spencer, a tremendous job by Spencer. Kyle Cody threw two pitches on Saturday and then came back and threw two more today. I just wanted a matchup where we felt as good as we good about getting below the barrel, and that’s what that was. Obviously it was a right hander coming in for a right hander, but I wanted Gushue to see something that was moving down and not flat, so that’s what that was all about. To be able to go get a power arm, it makes you feel good.”
On the success of A.J. Reed on both sides of the plate …
“On the mound he provides stability and confidence. Even sometimes when he is not good early in the count, he is really confident when he gets deep and the team feeds off that. You feel like even if there are two runners on, they are still not going to score, and that’s A.J. and his presence and his ability to make pitches deep in the count. There’s not much I can say offensively. That kind of speaks for itself. You get a bat like that going in the middle of the order, everyone is aware, it is a game changer, a weekend changer.”
On the improvement of Max Kuhn over the last three years …
“Max has improved a bunch. He didn’t get much time as a freshman, got better last year, and clearly right now is seeing it. That was obviously a huge hit he had in the sixth inning. It took the momentum and put it right in our dugout. He gives you good at bats and he’s making plays over at third. A couple plays today were tremendous. Max is a good teammate. Kids like him.”
On having the ability to produce big innings …
“The ability to score a bunch of runs in one inning, besides the obvious, helps you down the road. You feel like even when you are chasing two or three that you have the ability to put a crooked number up there. You have to be able to do that a few times in order to a have a true sense of confidence that you can do that. You can talk about it all you want, but just like anything in our game, you have to do it. You have to do it more than once to feel like you can do it and have a realistic chance of doing it again.”
#9, Max Kuhn, 3B, Jr.
On the weekend series vs. Florida …
“It was a good weekend. Obviously it was good to get the two wins. From an offensive standpoint, it was really good. We had close to 50 hits and about 30 runs, which is always good in the SEC. It is something that doesn’t happen very often. From a pitching standpoint, we had good signs from everybody. It was definitely a good weekend.”
On his go-ahead three run home run …
“I was just feeling good and looking for something to hit. The guy left a slider hanging out over the plate. He had already thrown me a couple and I just picked it up fast and put a good swing on it.”
On having the ability to win games in different ways …
“It’s important. With our hitting, we always stay in it. Yesterday we started off a little slow. We were swinging right at them. Just staying in the game and getting some guys on can really get our offense going. That’s what we do. We get that momentum and it’s tough to stop us.”
On the play of A.J. Reed and his national campaign …
“He’s got my vote, no doubt. It’s unreal. Both sides. Whether he’s pitching, hitting, at first base, he does all well exceptionally well. Hitting, he is real fun to watch. He barrels everything up and doesn’t get fooled. Like I said, he’s got my vote and I’m sure he is going to have a ton of others.”
#18, A.J. Reed, Jr.
On the importance of winning the series against Florida …
“It was a great weekend for us to get the win against Florida. That’s another top-ranked team and we are doing pretty well against those guys. We came out here and we hit well obviously. We put up a bunch of runs. We had a little slip up with our pitching, but it’s only going to get better. It’s good to come out here and get the wins.”
On the ability of the team to win different types of games …
“We kind of blew them out on Friday and put up 17 runs, but it was good today to get a one run win. We haven’t had very many of those and we need to learn how to win in close games. Yesterday we came back from a big deficit, which was really good for us, a good confidence booster. Today, to get that seven run inning and get out to a big lead then have them have a big inning and us respond well was good. It showed us that we can do that and gave us some confidence.”
On what has been working well for him offensively …
“The last couple of weeks I have kind of been pressing a bit and trying to do a little bit too much. I kind of went back to the approach of see the ball and hit it and try not to make early decisions and take what they are giving me. I think for the most part I did a really good job of that.”
On his performance on the mound Friday …
“I obviously didn’t have my good stuff. I really didn’t even throw that much off speed because I couldn’t find the zone. It was one of those things where I would get behind, but not give in and come back on hitters and attack them. When I was behind in the count, creating soft contact was what you have to do and I felt I did a good job of that.”
On the production of Micheal Thomas and Max Kuhn from the right side of the plate …
“It’s awesome. We weren’t really expected Micheal Thomas to hit the way that he is hitting. He’s kind of going through a little funk right now, but still guys are coming after me because they know what he can do too. He has shown it, especially in conference play. He has four home runs in conference play. It’s nice to have Max in front of me and him behind me because Max is going to get on base and not force them to just walk me. Having those two guys hit the ball well is just giving me more at bats and more pitches to see. The way I am going right now, I am not missing too many pitches I can hit and hopefully I can continue that. Having those two guys hitting well is helping out the whole team.”
