St. John's University Athletics
Throwing Strikes With Anthony Varvaro
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2005
Every week through the end of the regular season, junior pitcher Anthony Varvaro will chronicle the 2005 St. John's baseball season in a journal on www.RedStormSports.com.
The team has struggled a bit since coming back home, what are your thoughts on the team at this point of the season?
"I think we just need to be confident. One day, we'll hit good and one day we'll pitch good, it's just a matter of bringing it all together. As the weather gets better, I think we will too. It's been tough with the weather because you get ready to play and then sometimes you have to wait."
One of the keys to a season is winning your non-league games. Last week, the team had a non-conference loss. How has the team responded?
"It's really important to take those games like your conference games. You can say losing to Fairfield was a wake-up for us because after last year's success, we know we can't lie down for anyone. Not that we did in that game, but we know we have to play every single day and compete as hard as we can. Just sitting back won't work. What we've done the last two games (Columbia and Wagner) has shown what we can do. We can hit it (28 hits against Columbia), but you need to do the little things too. If you have runners on, you want to move them up; and if you have runners in scoring position, you've got to get them in. That's what we've done."
How much does it hurt having a doubleheader wiped away like the games with Connecticut? Does it make the team press more?
"I'm not too sure that it makes us press. I don't know right now how much it will hurt us, if at all. A lot of the teams in the league, with the exception of Boston College, split or things were even. We just want to get as many games in as we can so we can better. Losing games (because of weather) could hurt, but we're just focused on doing what we can to win games."
What's it like pitching in cold weather?
"Once you get on the mound you don't even feel it. I don't' mind pitching in the cold. If it's 30 degrees or 90 degrees, I feel the same once I'm out there."
What are your thoughts on the Pittsburgh series this weekend?
"I'm thinking that we've seen them a lot and they know us pretty well, having played four games in a week last year. We handed them their first loss in the BIG EAST Tournament, so I'm sure they're going to come here this weekend ready to give it back to us. We have to have greater intensity and play smart baseball."
