TCU Baseball Media Day Quotes
1/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 28, 2003
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Less than a week before the Lupton Stadium and Williams-Reilly Field era officially begins with Sunday's season-opening matchup versus Texas-Arlington, TCU baseball held its media day Tuesday afternoon to show off its new home.
Below are selected quotes from the event.
Head Coach Lance Brown:
On Lupton Stadium:
"A lot of times when you are building something, whether it's a stadium or a home, you wonder if it will be as nice as you hoped it would be. Well, here everything's as good as we hoped it would be. The locker rooms, the batting cages, anything you can think of is all great. But, there's a lot of things we have to get used to before it becomes truly a home field for us."
On how Lupton Stadium affects recruiting:
"The one thing that I think we have been most criticized for the last few years is not being able to sign local talent. In the fall we signed seven players, all from this area. They're all quality players and being recruited by major universities and I think that in itself was the answer we were looking for."
On the difference in playing at Lupton Stadium versus old TCU Diamond:
"Pitching and defense will become so much more important here as compared to the old park. Over there, you could get by with hitting the ball out of the park and playing just a little bit of defense. It was a given that your pitchers would give up runs and that you would have to outscore people, kind of like Coors Field. In the long run it's going to be so much better to play here because the park here will be pretty much like everywhere else that we play, as far as dimensions go. I think it's going to make a huge difference in the play of our team on the road."
Preseason all-America outfielder Terry Trofholz:
On Lupton Stadium:
"Ever since I came to TCU, the coaches have told me this thing was going to come along. But it seems like anywhere you go when being recruited by colleges, they always tell you, 'Oh, we're building a new stadium,' so you take it with a grain of salt. But then my sophomore year was over and then all of a sudden they announced a groundbreaking. Once it started going up, it was amazing how quickly it got done.
"A lot of people contributed and the coaches worked really hard to get it up. Now it's here and it's amazing. It's really nice, so it's a pleasure just to come to practice. Just hanging out in the locker room, it's so different compared to the other locker room. We're really happy to have it.
"Everyone that I've talked to, from my parents to other fans that have come through that just like to walk their dogs and stop by, they're all in awe. I think that's everybody's first reaction, that it's an amazing place. It's great for Fort Worth and it's going to be even better for TCU."
On the upcoming season:
"We feel confident. I feel confident. I think we're all very fresh and ready to go. We've been going at it really hard for the past month now. We have all our pitching back, the hitters have been seeing a lot of pitches and are ready to go. With some of the additions we've made, I think were really excited about the season. It'll be a good one."
