Cochell Answers Questions From Media On Big 12 Teleconference

Oklahoma baseball head coach Larry Cochell participated in the Big 12 Conference's Head Coaches' Teleconference on Friday to answer questions from participating national media on the Sooners' prospects for the 2004 season. The following is a transcription of Cochell's 10 minute chat.

Head Coach Larry Cochell's Opening Comments
We're anxious to get started like everybody. One of the great things about college athletics, which there are many, is when you start the year everyone starts in the same position. You have no debit, you have no credits -- everybody starts with a clean slat. What we did last year means nothing. So, that's kind of the approach that we are taking and we're anxious to get started with the club that we have.

I think the strength of our club will be our pitching staff with our six returners that have Big 12 experience plus the two young men that we've added, two freshmen named Charles Benoit and Ryan Mottern -- two freshmen will be able to help us immediately.

Really the bulk of our new players are: we have (Josh) Stinson, a kid from Texas who's an outstanding catcher. We have a young man by the name of (Ryan) Rohlinger who will be at shortstop and came from Wisconsin that we like. We have a kid named (Ole) Sheldon from Santa Rosa, Calif., who was the MVP of that league. We have a kid named (Jeff) Scuderi, an All-American junior college outfielder from California. Those four, Stinson, Sheldon, Rohlinger and Scuderi, have done well in junior college and we expect them to be big contributors to our program this year. Plus we have (Matt) Bose back, (Andrew) McGuire back and (LaFringe) Hayes back.

So with that ingredient, starting out with our pitching having a little experience and we think our defense is going to be vastly improved. Everything is going to take time but we feel very confident and very anxious to get going at this time.

Jack Lazorko - Fox Sports Net
Lazorko: Larry, I know that a lot of the teams are playing tough schedules. Are you guys looking forward to going out to Surprise, Ariz., and playing in a little warmer weather?

Cochell: We really are, Jack. You get tired of playing against yourself and intersquading. We think our schedule beginning out there with our first nine games, we've got Southern Cal, Georgia Tech, Arizona State and Cal State Fullerton. So, four of our first nine will be really difficult starting in Surprise with that tournament, coming back home with a series, then going back to Fullerton for the Kia tournament with Georgia Tech, Southern Cal and Fullerton. So, the early schedule is going to be very difficult for us.

Lazorko: Just to follow up on that, how is the Bedlam Series going to be now with Frank (Anderson) coming up to Oklahoma State? Have you talked to him about what that's like?

Cochell: Well, I think he'll understand the depth of the series when I think last year we drew over 36,000 fans in three games. Its pretty intense and a lot of fun and this is why players come to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State it's a fun series and its one of the games you look forward to playing in.

Brian Davis - Dallas Morning News
Davis: I want to ask you about two of your guys. About Jarod (McAuliff), I understand you guys are going to try and put him in the starting spot now. What do you think about that and what are some of your thoughts behind that?

Cochell: Well, we thought"that's something that we really have six or seven weeks before the Big 12 starts. He really, Brian, was one of our most effective pitchers this fall. He has third quality pitches: fast ball, curve ball and changeup, that a lot of times he doesn't get to use those when he just comes in on short relief. And he's always been a starter. He has the makeup to be a closer so that's what we've done, but we think he deserves a chance to be a starter. What we are going to do is just move Mark Roberts to the closers role, which he did as a freshmen.

So we're going to try that, but nothing set in stone. As we start out I'm one of those guys who's not afraid to roll the dice a little bit and try different situations before you get to the heart of it. So, that's where we are at the present time.

Davis: Talking about (Charles) Benoit, a guy from Southlake. Did you have any reservations or any hesitancy in taking him after what all happened at his high school?

Cochell: None whatsoever. There are two sides to every story as everybody would know. It's one of those ugly situations that sometimes happen, but the young man is a wonderful young man, and his family, and we're delighted to have him.

To be really frank, probably if that wouldn't have happened we may not have him. That was may be a blessing in disguise for him to be an Oklahoma Sooner because if he could have gone out and done what a lot of people thought he was going to do we may not have had him. So, that is how we've kind of looked at that.

Davis: Early on do you see him as a midweek starting candidate?

Cochell: I think he's going to be midweek guy. We're going to get his feet wet as quickly as possible because he's a lefthander that has an idea about what he's doing. He hasn't been in division one, although he has faced our hard hitters in the fall, so we think he's doing very well at this present time. But he is a candidate for that.

Jeff Wilson - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Wilson: Coach, could you talk about how you guys think you will be fielding, defensively this year, with some of the newcomers?

Cochell: Jeff, with from what I've seen so far I'm excited about our defense. I'm one of these guys, over the years that I really can't live without that defense. That's always been a priority with me.

I feel really good with Sheldon, the young man out of California. He is going to be, probably, our best first basemen defensively since Ryan Minor was here. Raley, the kid from Uvalde, was an All-State shortstop out of Texas -- he'll be at second. Rohlinger, a kid out of Wisconsin who played junior college in Texas, is at shortstop. We'll either have (Kyle) Bradburry or (Brenan) Herrera at third base who have been shortstops.

I think that what we have on paper looks good so far. We really have all the shortstops in the infield, at shortstop and third, because I haven't been happy the last couple of years with the defensive play that we've had. And to your question, we're going to be better.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Cochell Answers Questions From Media On Big 12 Teleconference

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