By James Hernandez

James: Were you impressed with the resolve the team showed this past weekend, winning the final three games of the series after dropping the opener? 

Coach Garritano: I was very happy with the way our club responded after the series opening loss.  We had a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 5^th inning with 2 outs in that first game and then gave up 9 runs.  It was a very difficult situation to watch and deal with.  The players did a really nice job of hitting the reset button and getting a win in the second game on Friday and then played very well in games 3 and 4 on Saturday.

James:  It appeared as if Drew Newson only played in the first game of the series. Was he injured, and if so will he be okay moving forward?

Coach Garritano : Drew injured his back with a swing during the first game.  We felt like the best thing for Drew would be to not have him do anything the rest of the weekend.  We are hoping he will be available this weekend.  Our trainer, Steve Jacobucci, will evaluate daily and we will make a decision later on this week regarding his status.

James: Can you provide us with a brief scouting report of this weekend's opponent the Salt Lake City Bruins?

Coach Garritano: Salt Lake is a very aggressive team on the bases.  They always have tremendous team speed.  They have been scoring lots of runs the past few weeks so it is going to be one heck of a series.  They are always in the running for the league championship so this will be a huge test for our club.  Salt Lake will bring down a very good pitching staff; our hitters will definitely need to on top of their game for us to have success.

James: The relief pitching combined to allow just 4 runs and 8 hits over the final three games of the series. Talk a little about the bullpens ability to settle in and get some key outs after Cutting was hit hard in game one.

Coach Garritano:  I really thought the bullpen pitched much better this weekend.  That was a really strange 5^th inning in game 1 when Ben entered.  Anytime a team scores 9 runs with 2 outs it is strange in baseball.  Everything just seemed to go USU – Eastern Utah's way at that time.  Tyler Hallead looked his best so far this season which is very encouraging.

James: Long Beach commit Aj Jones was masterful in his start this weekend (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 12K's) to run his season record to 4-0. Has he established himself as the ace on this extremely talented starting staff?

Coach Garritano: AJ did a really nice job this weekend.  He had command of all of his pitches and the fastball had a ton of life.  I am not sure if we would say one guy or the other is the ace of our staff.  We have a bunch of guys that are simply trying to execute their role to the best of their ability.  He is definitely a leader for us and has a great bulldog mentality on the mound.

James: With arms like Lincoln Clayton and Mason Abrath are the Bruins the best starting rotation the Coyotes have seen in conference play so far? If so, what adjustments do you feel the offense needs to make in order to maintain its success?

Coach Garritano: I definitely believe this will be the best starting rotation we have seen in this young conference season.  SLCC always does a nice job of making you beat them; they rarely beat themselves on the mound.  We will have to do a great job this weekend of moving our runners when we need to and take advantage of any mistakes that we see.  Just like every weekend, we have to hunt our pitches and attack those pitches.  Like I said earlier, this will be a huge test on our hitters this weekend.

James: Shortstop Jay Martz had a strong weekend (7 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks and a career high 5 RBI's in the final game of the series). How nice is it to have a run producing threat like Martz near the bottom of the lineup?

Coach Garritano:  Jay has done a really nice job this year, not only on the offensive side but at SS as well.  It is nice to have balance throughout the lineup and Jay provides a lot in the back end of the order.

James: Are you pleased with the progress pitcher David Kuzma has made since returning to the bullpen from injury?

Coach Garritano: Absolutely!!  David will have his ups and downs being just 13 months or so out of TJ surgery.  We are trying to take him slowly to make sure he is healthy for the stretch RUN in May. 

James:  Give the reader's a few keys you feel are crucial to the Coyotes success this weekend.

Coach Garritano: We definitely are going to have to bring our A game.  SLCC is too good of an opponent to not play to the level we are capable of.  We will need to attack the strike zone and make them earn their way on base.  Any freebies issued to them can turn into doubles and triples in a hurry with their tremendous team speed and aggressiveness on the base paths.  Hitters will have to stick to the plan and do everything they can to win pitches and at bats.

James: Do you have the starting pitching rotation set for Salt Lake City?

Coach Garritano: Our rotation will be tweaked a little bit this weekend James.  We will start AJ Jones in game 1 this weekend at 1:00 PM Friday and then go with Gabe Gonzalez in game 2 Friday at approximately 3:30 PM.  Saturday will remain the same as we will hand the ball to Mikey York for Saturday's 12:00 PM game and Sage Diehm will have the ball to wrap up the series in game 4 at approximately 2:30 PM. 

We hope to see as many Coyote fans out to Morse Stadium this weekend for this potentially great matchup between CSN and SLCC.  Go Coyotes!!

As always, thank you Coach and good luck this weekend.

For more information and all the latest up-to-date news on CSN Coyote Baseball please log on to www.csncoyotes.com