Joe Hudak Quotations

We've always wanted to try to figure out ways to improve our attendance. There's no doubt it's a great advantage if you can have a lot of people in the stands cheering for you and cheering against your opponents.

We've always played well here. We're a good club, and I think we're trying to show we can play with other good clubs. We're certainly not intimidated.

We got up 7-0 and with Heath (Rollins) on the mound, you feel pretty comfortable. I'm pleased with the way we swung the bat. We had 10 different guys get hits.

When your offense scores early, you don't have to be afraid to make one mistake. We got some early runs for Alex, a couple of insurance runs late, and played good defense.

We set the tone early. Dempsey got the home run in the first inning and we scored another one after that.

We needed a big effort out of him today. His thumb was bothering him. It was getting worse as the game went on. I'm so proud of him, the way he competed.

Settle entered in a really tough spot. Closer is a tough job; you're either the hero or the goat, no in-between. He did a good job in that situation.

Most of the year, every time we've gotten beat we've come back ready to play. We got beat 10-0 on Tuesday and we won 10-0 here today. And I can tell you I like the winning 10-0 than the losing 10-0. It was good to see our guys bounce back.

McDonald threw a great ball game. He's gotten better every single time out. His first start was down at Alabama and he struggled with his command. Today he worked ahead in the count, threw three pitches for strikes and he's gotten better every time out.

Obviously, we have a great rivalry with them. Historically, we enjoy playing each other. There's no love lost between the two of us. There is a great deal of respect for both clubs, for each other. But at the same time, we enjoy beating each other. It'll be an emotional series like it always is as well as a good series.

Obviously, I thought we could have scored a few more runs. We left a lot of guys on base and ran ourselves out of an inning. We certainly had the possibility of scoring more runs. But any time you can come away with a win, it is a good day.

I don't have one negative thought about them the whole weekend. We played hard. We played well. It was two very, very good teams. Certainly this game today, 3-2, could have gone either way. We hit a lot of balls on the barrel today. We play this well most every weekend, we're going to win at least two if not all three.

I am real pleased with the way Heath threw. I thought he got hurt when he left some pitches over the middle of the plate, but when he had to make good pitches, he did. It was a good outing for him, and a good way to set the tone. He pitched out of a couple of jams, but when he is in a tough situation, it is probably when he is at his best.

He's a kid that's got four pitches for strikes. When you can do that you can be effective. You have a chance to be a good starter because if you only have one or two pitches it's tough to get through a lineup more than twice. But he's a kid who has pretty good command of four pitches.

This was a good game. It had a lot of excitement. We kept trying to get back in. We just couldn't keep them from scoring. Tomorrow, hopefully, it'll be a better day.

I thought we swung the bats, obviously, very well, and Alex threw extremely well. You have to give Duke credit, they came back and scored some runs, but we held on and got a good win.

I think we are certainly not intimidated coming in here or going to Miami or going to Alabama or wherever we have gone. The only place we haven't played well is at Florida State, but outside of that we have always played well against big clubs in front of large crowds.

I think that we believe we are a good club, and we are trying to show that we can play with other good clubs.

(Martin) threw strikes and was ahead in the count. When you throw as hard as he does and you're ahead in the count you're going to be successful.

I thought it was another good outing. Heath, of course, threw extremely well, except in one inning when he got a couple balls up. All in all, though, I thought we played pretty well.

We enjoyed it the last time we were down there. Historically, we've played pretty well at Coastal. But it's a new year.

We had lost three out of four and were struggling a bit. We were not playing poorly; we just couldn't get a win, and this was a big win against a really good club. It was a good day for the Eagles.

We just didn't do the job, offensively or defensively. They are a good club, but they certainly aren't 10-0 better than us. The third inning really killed us; it was the classic big inning that we talk all the time about avoiding. When you play good clubs like this, you just can't do that. It just took us out of the game, and then we didn't take any advantage of any of the opportunities that we had after that.

We have a veteran lineup but we have a very good nucleus of young kids, freshmen who also can play. They're getting their opportunities and making the best of them.

We're excited about getting ready to play in the Big South. I think it's going to be another great run. We're ready, hopefully, to defend our title.

You look at our schedule. We won two out of three at Miami. We won two out of three at Alabama and we've won every other game we've played. As a coach, you can't ask for anything more than that. When you look at our schedule ... if anybody thought or expected we'd be better than (11-2) right now, I'd thought they were crazy. If I'd expected that I'd been crazy. It would have been very unrealistic of us. So I'm very pleased with where we're at.

We're still working that out. Josh McDonald has gotten better every single time out. He threw well this past weekend. He's one of our top four starters.

This was a huge game for us. I can't even say how big it was for us. If we had lost today and gone down two games to them, face the possibility of getting swept at home, it would have been really tough.

This weekend is going to be the third in three big weekends for us and we'll have a very good picture of where we're going to stand in the conference after this weekend.

Blake Martin's a great pitcher. The problem with him was that he hadn't thrown strikes in the past. Today he did. When he throws the ball across the plate he's a very, very good pitcher. You've got to tip your hat to him.

It would have been tough to take him out with a no-hitter against Wake Forest. I don't know if he'd ever have forgiven me if I'd done that.

They are a good offensive club, and today is just a start. It is only one game. We've said over and over, every day is a new day in the game of baseball. We have to come ready to play tomorrow, because I know they will. But it is a good win, so hopefully tomorrow we can come out and get another.

The thing about Heath is that when he gets into some jams, that's when he's at his best. When he gets guys on base, he focuses a little better. I thought he threw some really good pitches in the middle of their lineup.

Offensively, I am a little disappointed in how we've been swinging the bat this weekend. Fortunately, we've got good pitching, and that has carried us, but we need to get some more timely hits and swing the bat a little better.

Actually, we wanted him to not go more than 80 (pitches) and he went 92, which I don't think is going to hurt him if we decide to come with him on Sunday. He had great command and didn't throw very many balls which allowed him to go seven innings.

They've been struggling a little bit, but they're playing a lot better right now. I certainly expect them to play well against us.

They're very sound fundamentally. They'll be a very, very good club. If we think because we beat Alabama and Alabama beat them that we're going to win that series then we're going to be in for a long weekend.

They're a good offensive club. But we didn't pitch very well. You've got to give them credit. They swung the bats well. When we made a mistake they made us pay. We made enough of 'em. We left too many balls out over the plate.

It was a very good weekend for us. It feels good to be 7-2 right now. If you told me at the beginning of the year that this is where we would be after nine games, I would have said we'd take that.

It's been a great streak and, hopefully, he can keep it going.

It's like I said before. Certainly there is a good measure of satisfaction in that. My job is to prepare the guys. It's their job to go out, play and win. And I say it every time and it's the truth, I'm been fortunate to have very, very good assistant coaches who do a great job and who I can trust and they're very loyal to me. And I've had very, very good players. That's how you win a lot of games. You have good players around you and you coach a long time.

It was a great weekend for us. Anytime you can go on the road and sweep a team, it is very difficult to do. I am really proud of the way the guys played today. It was a long day, and the guys are tired. We are going to go get a shower and enjoy our day off tomorrow.

It was just kind of typical of the way the day went. We just didn't play very well. When you play good clubs and don't play very well you're going to get beat.

After that, we do have to find some answers.

He threw well today. It's good to see him back to being the Heath of old. He's a great pitcher and he's our No. 1 and it's good to see him go out and have a good outing. It's the right time to be doing that. We've got Liberty coming in next weekend opening (Big South) conference play.

Heath threw very, very well. We made some adjustments with his delivery, and he is still working on those. But when he focuses and throws strikes, he is great.

These are huge weekends and it would be a tremendous advantage if we could have 1,000 or 1,200 or even 1,500 fans at the ballpark cheering for us. It would be a great advantage to our guys. It would be so much more fun for our guys and the fans would have a great time.