Everything J.D. Arteaga Said After Friday Night Win Against Niagara

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Miami Hurricanes (1-0) start their season with a gift as they defeat the Niagara Purple Eagles (0-1) 14-2.

The only issue is that they know that Niagara could have been better. They were a tournament team last season and J.D. Arteaga knows it. He prepares for the next game with that in mind but reflects on a great opening day and start to the season.

Opening Statement

Great opening day win um for many reasons right I mean obviously you know winning 14-2 is a great feeling and had the opportunity to play every offensive player pretty much get into the game except for Dejesus who has been injured. Today was the first day he was cleared two play but everybody else got in the lineup and got in that place in defense and even on the pitching side we had four guys Nick did a good job going five innings five strong. We had a chance to do four put four guys under after him hat's are you know making their first debut appearance um for the cane so it's always nice to get their feet wet and were you know three freshmen there at the end so um great opportunity to get him going and you know Niagara is a better team that they play tonight obviously you know I think this might be their second day outside after yesterday when they've been indoors for a few months now you know the one thing you can't work on indoors his pop-up so um expect a better team to show up tomorrow on Sunday and our guys not uh getting too confident it's a much better team than they showed tonight so um but all in all is a great night for us.

On the crazy fourth inning...

Two out runs or RBI are are killer you know um it's something you want a lot of those on your side and on the defensive side that's it's just a killer. You're one pitch away and you know just again they helped us out and made some errors but we hit some balls hard and made some tougher plays and and even routine ground balls we did a good job you know running hard down the line and making them rush a little bit, but that's what you preach right. That's what you try to teach and and you're right it was three pitched two outs nobody on anda simple single by Ogden kind of got us going after that so um the more two out RBI hits you have the better season normally you're going to it's going to turn out to be so I it was nice to seet hat today.

On the pitching depth...

It was good to see you know Reese was kind of great. Cisar had a little dizzy spell on the mound which is the second time he had that during spring so had to pull him out then you know Lai came in and was a little erratic a little excited which is normal right for a freshman's first time on the mound but thought he did a really good job that his his second inning of settling down after you know a base H in a walk I guess and falling behind guys of getting two big strikeouts and then the opportunity to bring in Ashford to face a left-hander's one of those guys that uh we're not we're deep in a lot of areas left-handed pitching is not one of them um so we need those guys those freshmen to really step up uh and he showed that he's got the ability to do it today.

On freshman Michael Torres...

it was a great bat great approach you know he got the two strikes there we needed to to I'm not sure it might have been a two outRBI there as well know one got doubled up after you got doubled up after okay so it was a you know I know it was two strikes on him and he had a you know simple line drive up the middle stay behind the ball kept it simple and didn't get too big and and you know you understand it's his first bat in college. I can only imagine how amped up he was so for him to gather himself and settle down there were two strikes and put the ball in play that was a great job by him.

On Bobby Marsh's monster debut...

Obvious we had a lot of background on Bobby because you know coming from Penn State and Rob Cooper coaching him for a couple of years over there he knew the character of the player you know and the ability he had ability obviously but the biggest about Bobby is his makeup and his character he's a special human being and great teammate he works really hard as Dorian pointed out earlier but uh it's great to see those guys get rewarded with success when they put all the time they put in.

On Nick Robert's first start...

He's throwing Friday nights because we knew he could handle it. The only reason he wasn't their last year was was because we needed him in the b but he's really pitching out of position. He's more of a starter he's more of a contact guy he's efficient normally again one knock on him today I guess when he wasn't getting ahead of hitters that first pitch as much as he normally does um but again it's a first game whether it's your freshman or senior whatever you are every's a little amped up um so he's we knew that the type of guy he is and that's why we put him in there on Friday nights so we're not surprised by his success.

On following tonight's success into Saturday...

Hopefully, the same excitement same energy as today as the opening day is always a challenge in a sport like ours it's so repetitive. We play so many games and it's you know the same thing over and over it's bringing energy and the excitement um know it's easy when you're playing in a Florida State or Florida and a big rivalry game or it's opening day um then after that this Challenge and they got to recognize it we're human we're not going to show up with the same energy level but you got to find a way to you know kick yourself and get and get ready to play.