He put it about where I thought he would. Luckily, we had one of the fastest guys in the country on first.

It's always good to have great offensive production. It doesn't matter whether it's the first game of the season or the last.

Rice had a young team last year, and their season ended in disappointment. Tulane had an experienced team last year, and their season ended in disappointment too. [Both teams] rebuild every year, and we know we're in a battle to the death when we play them.

A lot of it is being comfortable at the plate. I think early in the season we had some guys who were a little nervous, trying to live up to that No. 1 preseason ranking. Now we're shortening up our swings and making better contact.

It was almost like we were afraid to go after the first pitch because you don't want to make the first out on the first pitch. He forced us to hit his pitches, and we didn't have a very good day.

We just couldn't get on base. It's hard to score that way.

You can't put your finger on it. It's the magical aspect of Coach Garrido.

We can't get into the mindset that being a power team is the only way we can win. These two series (with Baylor and second-place Nebraska next week) are going to ask a lot of us.

He's been dropping the barrel (of the bat) more than he has in the past. It was good to see him looking like the old Chance from Rosenblatt last year today.