FQ: Favorite
Restaurant in Greenville
A:
Texas Roadhouse.
Q: Favorite TV show?
A:
I'm a northern boy, so it was Jersey Shore. Now it would have to be Duck
Dynasty — I've kind of adapted to the southern ways.
Q: Any pre-game
rituals or routines?
A:
Music. Definitely got to get the beats going. Other than that, just kind
of thinking about what I've got to do.
Q: What are your
expectations for yourself and the team this season?
A:
High expectations. I expect nothing less than to go Omaha this year.
It's the seniors' last go around and I really wanted to succeed for
them.
Q: Why'd you choose to
wear number 30?
A:
(Director of ECU Baseball Operations and former Pirate catcher) Austin
Homan wore it before me and he's a pretty good leader to follow. I kind
of want to model my game after him.
Q: What brought you to
East Carolina?
A:
Warm weather, Coach Godwin and some baseball.
Q: What's your
favorite pitch?
A:
It'd have to be my cutter. I've been able to get a lot of outs with it,
especially this summer. It was my go-to pitch when I needed to get
somebody out.
Q: How important were
upperclassmen like Kevin Brandt and Zach Wright in your development last
year?
A:
Very important. Kevin and Zach kind of showed me the ways of how to win
at this level. It's not easy to win games at this level as a lot of
people know, but Kevin was here for four years and he knew what he
needed to do to win, which rubbed off on me a little bit.
Q: What would you be
doing if you weren't playing baseball?
A:
Trying to play basketball somewhere, actually. I love the game of
basketball — I played all through high school, so that's probably what
I'd be trying to do.
Q: If you could go
against any batter from any era, who would it be?
A:
I'd have to say Manny Ramirez. He's known as one of the best hitters who
ever lived. Obviously, his days with the Red Sox would've been when I
wanted to face him.
Q: How much did you
improve this offseason?
A:
I think I improved a lot, mainly as a leader. It was a pretty big
offseason with me going to Cape Cod. A lot of people didn't know how I
would do up there as a freshman. I took it as an opportunity to learn
from guys all over the country, how they lead their teams. I feel like I
got pretty good at taking younger guys under my wing and teaching them
how to do the right things.
Q: Who's had the
biggest impact on your life? Why?
A:
My parents. Ever since I was little they've always been pushing me to be
the best at whatever I do. My dad always coached me through little
league, took me to tournaments and stuff like that. He told me if I
worked hard, did what I had to do and stayed out of trouble, that I
would be able to do whatever I wanted with this game.
Q: How will your role
change this year compared to last season?
A:
I'll have a little bigger role this year. Last year we had a lot of good
guys, older guys, that were ahead of me. This year I'm going to have to
kind of take this staff and throw them on my back. We have a lot of
young guys who are going to be able to step into big roles this year. I
hope I can rub off on them and get them to lead us some too.
Q: What's your
favorite class you've taken at East Carolina?
A:
I'd have to say Psychology. That's a weird answer from a
student-athlete, but I had a lot of fun learning about the mind and how
it works.
Q: What's the best
moment of your playing career so far?
A:
Winning the Section championship in high school. It was the first time
my school had done it in a while and to be a part of a team like that,
with the chemistry we had, it was special.
