Tim Funkhouser Quotations

With their pitching, you're not going to score a lot of runs. We had seven hits and we felt fortunate to get seven hits.

He was very good today. He threw a good game.

He did a nice job. We pitched well, gave up some hits, but the wind was blowing out and it was a hard infield so it was fast, I thought we did well on the mound against a good hitting team.

He did a good job for us defensively last year and I think he's got more in him offensively. Once he knocks off the rust, he's obviously so athletic and he'll find a way to achieve.

He had a good day at the plate as far as his overall rhythm and seeing the ball. He's got good speed and can do a lot of different things when he gets on to create havoc for the defense.

He came out right off the bat and threw strikes and competed well. I think this is a maturing process. The more games like this we get into and see how guys do under fire ... it was really good to see our guys meet the challenge.

We're pretty confident up and down the order. It's definitely a plus when you can get offense from anybody.

He's done that before. That was a huge play.

He's been mainly our closer, and with the way he throws, he's just better off going a couple of innings, so that was the plan coming in. It had no bearing on his performance. In fact, I thought he threw pretty well.

He's been coming on. When he's been given an opportunity, he's been swinging the bat batter lately. It's good to see kids get rewarded like that who work hard each day.

He's been coming on. He's been our defensive second baseman and we just needed to go with a guy consistently there. When he's getting the opportunity, he's been swinging the bat better lately..

We made some bad choices and didn't get some reads today. We've got to get better at that. We've got to let the game come to us and make better reads of plays.

He was impressive. He's really fitting into that role well.

He didn't crush the ball but he did enough to put it in play.

He didn't crush it, but it got us a run there. He put the ball in play with two strikes and that was very important. We've struck out a lot early on and for him to come through like that was good.

He just put the ball in play. He didn't try to do too much with it, just put in play and he found a hole for it.

This was a good bounce back game for us. We got up early and had good at-bats throughout the game. The guys showed a lot of maturity against a Highland team that is always good fundamentally.

I think we've made good strides the three weeks we've had so far. We've got to be able to manufacture runs in all types of ways, so it will be real interesting to see how we do.

It got a little exciting there. It's nice to get off to a good start like this, especially in the conference.

Overall it was good to get outside the last two days, even though it was cold. To get out here and work out a lot of the kinks before we kick off the conference season on Tuesday, I think it will make a big difference.

That was a tough game for us. We had some runners in scoring position and some runners on base eliminated and that hurt us. But I did like the way the guys kept battling in the latter innings. They never quit.

We had guys on base and the opportunities to score some runs and peck away at the lead, but we just never really broke through to get ourselves back in the game.

We have a lot of depth on this team and it's making for a lot of guys playing a lot of baseball. I think our guys have thrived on the competition for spots, because they know if they don't perform, there is someone behind them that wants that job.

We left a lot of runners out there. Obviously, we got some big hits in the game, but we had some key areas where we could have scored some more runs if we just put the ball in play. But we didn't execute.

We kind of broke it open in the top of the seventh with some more key hits. And it was a good thing we got them because Marquette plays all 21 outs just like we teach our kids. They didn't quit and believed they could win the game in the seventh.

This was a huge, huge week for us setting up for conference as well as the seed meeting. To come up with a win here was very key.

We've been leaving runners on base a lot. I thought our at bats were a lot better overall.

Today we were pretty fortunate. There were some circumstances that, if they went against us, it could be a different story.

We've got a lot of guys that can play and do different things. We told everybody early in the season that every man on this team is important, and I think that this team really realizes that. It a really tight-knit group for this time of the year. It's a fun group to be around.

Those two guys both threw the ball really well.

We got a chance to get those guys out there and get them some work in and that was big for us in a game like this. They came in and pitched well against a good ball club.

We had a few mistakes here and there. But for a first game you have to be pretty pleased.

We talked about it at the very beginning, to keep playing the game because usually something strange happens when we play Granite City. They get the big lead, then we get a big lead and they come back . . . The bottom line is that we didn't make the plays we needed to win the game.

We got some clutch hitting in this one. It was good to see us put the ball in play and make things happen with two outs. We've been striking out some early on and now we're getting the ball in play and putting pressure on the defense.

We hit it well today. It was a hitters park today with the hard ground and the wind blowing out, but we put some good swings on the ball today.

We saw some opportunities where we could take advantage of it, because overall we have pretty good team speed. We'll probably have to move some runners around a lot early because we've had some problems making contact, not seeing much live pitching yet. That was also part of the reason. Hopefully, as the bats warm up a little bit, we might be able to take our chances swinging it. But right now we've got to try to generate something.

Another clutch hit. That was a nice piece of hitting.

I've been really impressed with our pitching. We're throwing strikes and we're getting people out.

I've been really impressed with Kevin Sullivan maturing as a player.

Our defense was very good, and so was the pitching. There was a lot of living on the edge on both sides today. Neither offense really busted through.

Once we get going, it's every day. And that's what we like. We've played very well this season and beaten some good teams, but there are some more good teams coming.

That was a big insurance run. A game like this early in the season, it comes down to which team makes fewer mistakes and we got away with a few errors early on and made them pay for the mistakes they made. Every game counts in the conference. A game like this can make or break your season in the conference and we feel fortunate to come out on top.

They were both tattooed, there's not doubt about that. They're a good hitting team.

The kids know we're undefeated. But they are still working hard because they want to stay that way and they know they still have some areas to work on. We have some places we need to get better in, and we're working hard to get there.

He stayed within himself and I thought that showed a lot of maturity to relax and do what he's practiced. He's an excellent player.

He's tough. He's the real deal there. When you have three pitches you can throw for strikes, it's tough to hit.