Quotes by Chris Hawkins

“They had some good receivers last week and I think we pretty much held them in check.”

“Papa Joe (Paterno of Penn State) came over and said that was one of the best performances hes ever seen.”

“Id like to take all the credit in the world, but hes a self-made player. Ive never been around anybody (who) works as hard as him. He watched as much film, if not more, than I did. I wanted his opinion because he was such a student of the game.”

“I think Im ready for leadership. Its a big responsibility ... getting guys emotions up and getting everybody ready on the field. You have to make sure everybody is ready to play mentally and physically.”

“That was the key to the first game. The second game, we put the ball in play a lot better. Our kids responded well after the first game loss.”

“Hes definitely hitting the ball well. He hit a walk-off home run Saturday (against Lincoln) and he was big with two outs today. His three-run double broke the game open.”

“He was on today. It was little wet, damp and cold, but he battled. He didnt have a lot of strikeouts, but he was in control. He got ahead in the count constantly.”

“The kids really came back with a lot of positive emotion after a tough loss (Thursday to Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin). I thought we showed signs of starting to gel as a team.”

“I thought we had a good approach for the first couple innings. They brought in a new pitcher in the third inning and we just lost focus after that.”

“The pitchers did a great job in forcing contact and getting the ground balls. The infield had a lot of chances, some of them tough, and got it done without an error.”