St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: NCAA TUSCALOOSA SUPER REGIONALS ST. JOHN’S VS. NO. 7 ALABAMA
St. John’s Baseball Head Coach Mike Hampton, redshirt junior pitcher Evan Chaffee, junior third baseman Jayder Raifstanger speak to the media ahead of this weekend’s NCAA Tournament Super Regionals at No. 7 Alabama
Head Coach Mike Hampton
Opening Statement …
“We're really excited to be here. It was great to get on the field [this afternoon], take a little batting practice, some cuts and relays, communicate, see the whole space and how the field plays. We're excited and we're going to be ready.”
On what this Super Regional run means to St. John’s University and the baseball alumni…
“We, we have a, a long history at St. John's of, of good baseball, a strong baseball history. I mean, going back to the, the days of, of Coach [Jack] Kaiser. He had some special, special teams that made it to the World Series. He was followed by Coach [Joe] Russo who made it to the World Series as well, with some really great big leaguers in, in [Frank] Viola and [John] Franco and, and Richard Auilia. Then going into Coach [Ed] Blankmeyer, who is my mentor. I still talk to him all the time. We have such a great history in our program. We hear from our alums, and these guys hear from them as well. They're honest [with us], it's not only the good, it's sometimes the bad. That's what makes it special though. You always have to be on your guard, you always got to be playing for something. I wouldn't have it any other way, to be honest with you.”
On the team’s rebound after a slow start to the season…
“I think it just took some time for us to kind of figure out what kind of a team we were. I felt like we pitched it all right pretty much the whole year, offensively it took us a little bit of time to figure out our identity. One thing we've done all year long is catch the ball and hopefully we continue that trend and not give any extra outs.”
On Alabama…
“Very well coached team. They got a good balance of left and right [hitters[ in their line-up. They have some speed. They also have some guys that have power. Again, they're well coached. I know that it's going to be a very competitive game, they have talent.”
On the keys to this Super Regionals…
“Good baseball. Again, I talked to our guys about not trying to do too much, staying within themselves. Staying fairly consistent. My three [rules] these guys know them better than me at this point. It's basically attacking the zone with quality strikes, catching the baseball, and the third one is timely hits.”
Redshirt Junior Pitcher Evan Chaffee
On returning to Alabama …
“Obviously, a great opportunity being [back] in Tuscaloosa for a Super Regional. Obviously super happy with how things shook out over the past week. Just a great opportunity to represent this team, represent the state of New York, and most importantly represent [St. John’s] University. So super excited for what's to come this weekend.”
On the message to his teammates …
“Just embracing the opportunity in front of us. Coach Hampton says it to us all the time the bases are still going to be 90 feet apart. Mound's still 60 feet, six inches away. I mean, every team we play from now on is going to be loaded with talent. We just need to have confidence in our approach and our identity as a team going forward.”
Junior Third Basemen Jayder Raifstanger
On his consistency at the plate…
“We all try to follow the same approach as a team. We were really slow at the beginning of the year. We weren't believing who we were, and slowly as the, as the year went on we just kept going, going. I just wanted to be there for my teammates and lead by example. Just hitting the ball hard, not trying to hit a home run. Just knowing my game, just get on for the guy behind me to drive me in, like Sean McMillan and Adam Agresti, just get on for those guys to drive me in.”
On what it means to be playing in a Super Regional…
“We've worked all fall season and off-season for this. Like, we've talked about it. We believe, we believe that we were good enough to be here, and we just needed to all come together and play as a team.”
Opening Statement …
“We're really excited to be here. It was great to get on the field [this afternoon], take a little batting practice, some cuts and relays, communicate, see the whole space and how the field plays. We're excited and we're going to be ready.”
On what this Super Regional run means to St. John’s University and the baseball alumni…
“We, we have a, a long history at St. John's of, of good baseball, a strong baseball history. I mean, going back to the, the days of, of Coach [Jack] Kaiser. He had some special, special teams that made it to the World Series. He was followed by Coach [Joe] Russo who made it to the World Series as well, with some really great big leaguers in, in [Frank] Viola and [John] Franco and, and Richard Auilia. Then going into Coach [Ed] Blankmeyer, who is my mentor. I still talk to him all the time. We have such a great history in our program. We hear from our alums, and these guys hear from them as well. They're honest [with us], it's not only the good, it's sometimes the bad. That's what makes it special though. You always have to be on your guard, you always got to be playing for something. I wouldn't have it any other way, to be honest with you.”
On the team’s rebound after a slow start to the season…
“I think it just took some time for us to kind of figure out what kind of a team we were. I felt like we pitched it all right pretty much the whole year, offensively it took us a little bit of time to figure out our identity. One thing we've done all year long is catch the ball and hopefully we continue that trend and not give any extra outs.”
On Alabama…
“Very well coached team. They got a good balance of left and right [hitters[ in their line-up. They have some speed. They also have some guys that have power. Again, they're well coached. I know that it's going to be a very competitive game, they have talent.”
On the keys to this Super Regionals…
“Good baseball. Again, I talked to our guys about not trying to do too much, staying within themselves. Staying fairly consistent. My three [rules] these guys know them better than me at this point. It's basically attacking the zone with quality strikes, catching the baseball, and the third one is timely hits.”
Redshirt Junior Pitcher Evan Chaffee
On returning to Alabama …
“Obviously, a great opportunity being [back] in Tuscaloosa for a Super Regional. Obviously super happy with how things shook out over the past week. Just a great opportunity to represent this team, represent the state of New York, and most importantly represent [St. John’s] University. So super excited for what's to come this weekend.”
On the message to his teammates …
“Just embracing the opportunity in front of us. Coach Hampton says it to us all the time the bases are still going to be 90 feet apart. Mound's still 60 feet, six inches away. I mean, every team we play from now on is going to be loaded with talent. We just need to have confidence in our approach and our identity as a team going forward.”
Junior Third Basemen Jayder Raifstanger
On his consistency at the plate…
“We all try to follow the same approach as a team. We were really slow at the beginning of the year. We weren't believing who we were, and slowly as the, as the year went on we just kept going, going. I just wanted to be there for my teammates and lead by example. Just hitting the ball hard, not trying to hit a home run. Just knowing my game, just get on for the guy behind me to drive me in, like Sean McMillan and Adam Agresti, just get on for those guys to drive me in.”
On what it means to be playing in a Super Regional…
“We've worked all fall season and off-season for this. Like, we've talked about it. We believe, we believe that we were good enough to be here, and we just needed to all come together and play as a team.”