Baseball Q&A: Aaron Barnett & Evan Dunn
11/11/2015 9:13:00 PM | Baseball, Competing With Purpose Blog
Fall baseball practice has been in full swing, and the annual Blue and Orange World Series gets started on Thursday. Two teams are led by player managers with bragging rights on the line. Before the series' start, we checked in with junior catcher Aaron Barnett and senior right handed pitcher Evan Dunn:
Q: How is fall practice going so far?
Dunn: I think that it is going pretty well. We've had a couple setbacks because pitchers' arms need to be in shape, so we haven't had as many inter-squads. However, I think that it has been really helpful for the pitchers to be able to get into shape, for longevity's sake.
Barnett: Yeah, I think tha tit's been good too. The new coaching staff has been stressing individual defense for each guy a lot more than years' past, which I think is really good.And because of that, each position is honing their skills better. So I think overall, it's been pretty good.
Q: How is the dynamic with the new coaching staff?
Barnett: I think it has been really good. It's been positive and they have a ton of energy. They get involved with the practices, which I think is awesome. They join in on the plays we are working on, and they have just been really constructive so far and it has just been really good.
Dunn: I would say the lines of communication are just widely open. We can go to them with literally any problem, whether it is with a play or with our arms or body, if there is anything going wrong, we can always go to them and talk to them about each thing and have an open dialogue about it.
Q: How does this year's freshman class look, and how do you think they are adjusting?
Barnett: I think they are doing pretty well adjusting. They have meshed with the team really well so far, and the culture has been really good so that has helped a lot. They have integrated themselves really well with the team, and I think they have adjusted really well. I also think there's a couple guys that can really help us this year.
Dunn: I agree with what Aaron said, with them coming in and adjusting well. We have a really good team chemistry, more of a brotherhood than just an athletic team. This improves more and more every day. We hang out all the time, guys going over to other guys' apartments. It's been really fun.
Q: Coming off two straight conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, do you feel like there is kind of a target on your backs from the rest of the WCC?
Barnett: Yeah, I think it would be really fun to win that tournament four years in a row, and obviously every other team in the conference doesn't want us to do that. I would say that we are probably the team to beat, as far as the amount of success that we have had in the last couple of years. I think it makes us better, having that target. I think that it is a lot of fun playing like that, when you know teams are coming for you and you just beat them anyway.
Dunn: Yeah, I think that's a really fun part of competition, especially if you're good. We were good in the past; we'll be good again this year. We want to be that team that everyone wants to beat. It gives us a bit of a competitive edge. It's a really good feeling to have.
Q: Finally, What can we expect from this year's team? Another title?
Dunn: I don't want to say anything too revealing, but I'm expecting another title, yeah. I am expecting us to be pretty good. We have a lot of guys returning, so we have some veterans, and we have a lot of young guys that can really help us out as well.I think that we are pretty solid in the pitching aspect, the defensive aspect and the hitting aspect.
Barnett: I agree with Evan. I think this team is pretty talented. We have a lot of returners. I think the coaching staff has been really good, having us work on some parts of our game that we might have struggled with last year. For example, I already think our defense looks a lot better and I just think that this will be an exciting year.
