He knew I had head-coaching aspirations. You can't be the second assistant all your life.

With our offense not really here early in the season, we're really emphasizing pitching and defense. I told Timmy to keep the ball low and make them hit grounders, especially on this infield. There are no bad hops.

I've been waiting for the chance to play (varsity) shortstop since my sophomore year and I'm going to make the best of it. I've been playing it my whole life. I take pride in it. I don't think I have a hit this year. I like to make plays on defense. I'll live off that.

I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the offense was very good. That's the one thing after not playing together for so long you'd expect to come down a little bit.