Feb. 13, 2012

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) held its annual College Baseball Media Day Monday morning at Regions Park. Samford head coach Casey Dunn, along with senior pitcher Josh Martin and senior outfielder Brandon Miller talked with the media about the Bulldogs' upcoming season.

Below are some quotes from Coach Dunn and the players on the 2012 season, which starts Friday night at 6 p.m., when the Bulldogs take on Radford.

HEAD COACH Casey Dunn
ON HIGHER EXPECTATIONS THIS SEASON
"It's exciting that we've reached the point where you're expected to be good. At the same time, it's kind of the first time we've been in that situation so it will be interesting to see how we respond to that. I feel like it's going to be a good year for us, we have a good group. The question will be how well do we stack up against everybody else. If you look at our schedule, we have some tough games that'll push our guys outside of league play. In league play, I think our conference will be the strongest it's been since we've been in the SoCon."

ON HOSTING PRESEASON NO. 1 FLORIDA
"Getting to have them come here in a year where they're ranked first in the country and will probably still be ranked number one when we play them at the end of the year will be exciting. We're pushing ourselves and have given ourselves a good strength of schedule so that, if we can finish in the top two of our conference we can hopefully earn an at-large bid."

SENIOR PITCHER Josh Martin
ON PLAYING A STRONG SCHEDULE
"We're really excited about our schedule. It's the strongest one since I've been here at Samford. We have some good competition with teams like Florida and Oklahoma, and I think we can hang with some of those guys. We kind of get looked down on because we're a mid-major team but I think with the pitching staff we have and hitters we have we can hang with any of the guys we play this year."

ON LOSING IN THE SOCON CHAMPIONSHIP GAME LAST YEAR
"Losing in the conference championship hurt a lot. None of the guys returning forgot about it. It was right there in our grasp and to watch it slip away by one run really hurt. We are really looking forward to this year."

ON IF PLAYING THE STRONGER SCHEDULE WILL HELP THE TEAM
"If we can take a couple games here and there, it can really help our RPI out. Last year, some of our midweek games that we won really didn't help us out since they weren't really strong teams. Little things here and there will help boost us up and get us where we want to be."

SENIOR OUTFIELDER Brandon Miller
ON STARTING THE SEASON ON FRIDAY
"We're really excited for our season to start Friday. We couldn't be more hyped up for it. We've been waiting for it and practicing for it for a long time and we're ready. We're expected to have a great season, we have a lot of strong returners, pretty much the whole staff from last year."

ON LOSING IN THE SOCON TITLE GAME LAST YEAR
"We're not trying to think about last year at all. This is a new season. We're striving for bigger and better things this year and we're ready to go about it the best we can, taking it one game at a time."

ON THE STRENGTH OF THIS YEAR'S TEAM
"Our pitching staff is our greatest strength. I feel very comfortable with them. Our weekend guys and pretty much all of our bullpen guys are coming back. I'm also confident in our hitting. We have a very strong lineup. We have guys on the bench now who could come in and play just as well as the starters. Everyone has their role and they're all ready to play for the same goal."