By James Hernandez

James: The team was only able to score eight runs in the three games this weekend. Why were the Bruins able to pitch so effectively against our lineup?

Coach Garritano:  SLCC did a great job of pitching to the elements this past weekend.  We hit some balls very hard that on a normal day would have carried out of the yard.  We didn't do a good enough job of staying above the baseball and taking advantage of what they gave us.  We tip our cap to them and move on.

James: What does the team need to do in order to get back on track this weekend versus a scrappy CSI team?

Coach Garritano:  We need to get that brotherhood back!!  Pull on the same side of the rope, ALL IN!!  We need to learn to simply be a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing.  We were literally a play away from winning the series, had our spots,  just didn't seem to work out.  We WILL be fine.  Have a great opportunity in front of us to get back on track at home this weekend.

James: Can you provide our readers with a brief scouting report of this weekend's opponent, the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles?

Coach Garritano:  CSI is coming off a winning weekend taking 3 of 4 from USU – Eastern Utah.  They always pitch the baseball well and I expect nothing less this weekend.  Mason Hayes has had a very good year offensively for them.  He is one of the few that we can't let beat us.

James: The team committed five errors in the two losses this weekend. With how rock solid the team has been defensively all year do the miscues concern you, or do you just chalk it up to a bad weekend that will have little to no carry over?

Coach Garritano:  It is always a concern when you are not playing sound defense.  The biggest concern is did we peak already?  We had a heck of a middle of the schedule run.  Now the question is, can we get that swag back in time for the season that counts the most, the playoffs.  We have 2 big series left to try and get back on track.  This was the first series that we have lost in conference play dating back to May 2014.  There is no panic button, it is baseball and strange things happen in this game.

James: Ben Cutting was able to pitch five innings of shutout relief in game two of the series. Is he evolving as the go to arm out of the pen versus lefties kind of like Kyle Brown was last season?

Coach Garritano:  Ben has done a terrific job for us out of the bullpen.  He definitely seems to be a key guy out of the bullpen.  He had one hiccup in Price, Utah and has done a great job since then.  We feel very comfortable with Ben throwing against Righties or Lefties at this point.  We hope he continues to improve each week.

James: Saturday is Sophomore Appreciation Day at Morse Stadium. Tell us a little about how special a day it is for you and your coaching staff to have the chance to honor and say goodbye to a very special sophomore class here at CSN. 

Coach Garritano: Sophomore day is always difficult.  These 13 guys have put a ton of time and effort into this program.  So far, their chapter in the history book has been a good one.  We are hoping to add many more sentences to this chapter including championships before we put the final period at the end of their chapter.  We control our own destiny to play another weekend at Morse Stadium.  Simply put, we can't talk about it, we must DO IT!!

James: Give us a player or two you feel is primed for a big weekend versus CSI? 

Coach Garritano: We truly feel that Jordan Hand has been swinging the bat really well as of late.  If not for 30 mph winds blowing dead in the past couple of weeks he would probably have hit at least 5 home runs.  The nice thing is he is doing it with many different pitches.  On the mound we have been pretty consistent.  I would have to say that Sage Diehm is on track for a big breakout performance for us this weekend.

James: Do you have the starting pitching rotation set for this upcoming weekend? 

Coach Garritano: Our rotation will remain the same with the first 3 guys.  AJ Jones will start game 1 on Friday at 1:00 PM followed up by Gabe Gonzalez at 3:30.  Saturday, Mikey York will take the ball in game 1 beginning at noon.  We have not made a determination on our game 4 starter as of yet. 

Thanks Coach, and as always good luck!

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