Feb. 16, 2005

June 4, 2004

Godri on the End of the Season: The Rutgers series capped of a successful season. It was a really enjoyable year. Going into the weekend, Rutgers was fighting for their playoff lives. I felt we really played our best baseball at the end of the season. We played well against Pitt and Penn State, we took care of business versus La Salle and we played well at Georgetown. Finishing with over 30 wins and finishing sixth in the Big East is another big step for the program. Our corps of seniors played really well this season. That last weekend they came out, played hard, and put it all on the line; and we won three one-run ball games.

Godri on the Rutgers Series: Rutgers was a huge series. With the amount of recruiting we do in the state of New Jersey, we are trying to win the recruiting battle. So going into Rutgers, it is always an important series. We were able to dictate the score and the pace of the games. We won two games 8-7 and 7-6 and we also came out and beat them in a 2-1 game. The team was able to do the stuff we wanted to do as far as the bunt game and the running game. It was a tremendous team effort. It was a series you walk away from it as a coach feeling really good about what your team was able to accomplish.

Godri on the Season as a Whole: We had a new outlook that started in the fall, and things just started falling into place actually as far back as last year's June draft. We were fortunate to have Adrian (Schau) drafted, and then have him decide to come back to school. We also had Kevin Mulvey drafted out of high school and decide to come to Villanova. And Brian Newbold graduated last May, but was able to come back because of a redshirt year and play while he started grad school. We could have had none of them heading into the season, but instead we had all three. I attach all of our success to the senior class. They took the 2003 season personally because they thought we were much better than 14 wins. Their attention to detail and their attention to us getting better was taken very seriously and to heart. The team came out and swept Norfolk State to start the season in February, played well as No. 5 Georgia Tech and then went a perfect 5-0 in Florida. We ended up 31-20 and I think from April 3-10 we played out worst baseball of the year. It just so happens that seven of the games during that time were Big East games and that set up our fate as far as the playoffs. A lesser team would have folded. We were a team that started two freshmen in our weekend rotation and a freshman catcher towards the end of the season. And this team never folded through all the tough times. I credit that not solely to talent, but to the leadership our team had from the seniors.

Godri on the Senior Class: Individually and collectively, the seniors did a great job. Each one had their personal struggles during their careers at one time or another. And this year, they were able to show the younger players how to battle through that and that even when things aren't going well, you still have to stay locked in. Baseball is a team sport. The seniors really showed their personal character this season. The importance of Villanova baseball to those guys was tremendous. We will miss them dearly on and off the field. I really appreciate all of their efforts.

Godri on the Draft: Hopefully we can continue to have the success we have had in the MLB Draft. The success our players have had in the draft and their continued development in the professional ranks has been amazing. Adrian Schau, Brian Newbold, Mike Ciccotelli and Danny Poydenis have all been invited to individual pre-draft workouts. One of the unique things about our team is that we stress pitching so much and we spend so much man-power on our pitching staff, that it has continued to show in our success in the draft. We have also been able to have some success with some backend relievers as well, getting selected in the draft. That speaks quite a bit to our pitching coach Rick Clagett and the rest of our staff.

Godri on Summer League Baseball: Summer leagues do a couple of things. The more leagues our kids play in, puts the Villanova program and the Wildcat name out to different parts of the country. We have guys playing in ever quadrant of the country. It is an important way to get the Villanova name out. It also gets our players on the radar of some of the professional teams. Summer Leagues are also very important individually because baseball is a game of repetition. The more at-bats you get, pitches you throw, and groundballs or flyballs you take, the more you improve as a player.

Godri on next season's Wildcats: The outlook is strong especially in the area of pitching. As a staff, we are trying to finalize recruiting by possibly adding a junior college player or a transfer to the ballclub. We are excited about the incoming freshman group. Last year we concentrated on pitching and our freshman finished 13-6 on the mound this season. We are equally excited about some of the offensive players we are bringing in this season. As a team, we want to add more team speed, cut down on our strikeouts and play the game more along the lines of small ball.

Godri on the future of the Villanova program: From my perspective, I am happy but not content on where we are going as a program. It is nice to look back after three years and have two 30+ win seasons. But in some areas, we still need a lot of work. Those are some of the challenges we have as a coaching staff. We have shared some good times and have had some down times. But we've worked through it together and reaped the benefits of it.

Godri on the Villanova Baseball Alumni Association: One of the things that sometimes go un-noticed in programs is the efforts of the booster groups and the alumni support. Mike Evangelista and Scott Reidenbach have been tremendous and give a solid base of alumni support to our program. This foundation will continue to grow and affect the program in a positive light. I thank everyone who has continued to give back to the program. Go Wildcats.

April 15, 2004

Godri on last weekend's Big East series: It is difficult for a team to drop four home games in conference. In two of those games, we had an opportunity to do some damage offensively. In our first game against BC, we had a runner on third and no outs and didn't score. In the first game against Virginia Tech, we had runners on base in eight of the nine innings and we weren't able to get the job done. We had first and third in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and couldn't get the big hit. The team realizes that they have to find ways to win and that we're struggling right now, but we are still 18-12.

Godri on the Wildcats' play of late: We have shown the ability to win games in a variety of ways and against a variety of competition. We have had a few minor breakdowns in certain areas of late and it affects us being able to win games. I am pleased with our starting pitching. Our pitchers have gone out almost every outing and given us a chance to win. In eight of our last 10 games, we have gotten quality starts. We continue to grow on the mound because we have a great deal of youth.

Godri on the pitching of Wildcat sophomore Ted Aust: Ted Aust has been a key for us this season. He was a highly touted pitcher out of Arizona. For whatever reason, we really couldn't get him in the mix last season. This season, he has seven appearances, 18 innings and two victories, and has done a great job for us. As a staff, we are gaining a lot of confidence in Teddy and we see even bigger and better things in his future.

Godri on the West Virginia series: This weekend is the end of a conference homestand. It is also alumni day so there will be a lot of excitement and the weather is also supposed to be nice. As a team, we are just talking about trying to go out, play a good game of baseball and stay focused.

Godri on Alumni Weekend: It is very important to me and to the players to have former athletes come back and see us play. It is getting close to really taking off into a big event. This year we weren't able to have the golf outing on the same weekend as alumni day, but they are two events that should be a lot of fun and bring the program a lot of excitement. Players like coming out and seeing the new park. Guys are also more involved following the team on the internet. We are starting to have a strong baseball family feeling at Villanova.

Godri on the Big East Conference: So far in the Big East it is very confusing because a lot of teams that are traditional powers like West Virginia and Virginia Tech aren't faring as well. Some other teams like Pittsburgh are very strong and are playing extremely well. There is a lot of baseball to be played before we settle who the top four teams will be. We talked the other day as a team and what I told them was that we are not where we want to be but we are going to make it a battle.

April 7, 2004

Godri on the Notre Dame Series: When we went in there to Notre Dame, there was a lot of excite both at Villanova University and on the national level. It was disappointing because we didn't play up to our capabilities in two of the three games. To play a team like Notre Dame at Notre Dame, you have to play your best game. We just had too many breakdowns throughout our ball club. In game two, our guys really fought hard throughout the whole game. We had the opportunity to score in the 10th and weren't able to. Then they got one of better guys up in the bottom of the 10th in Macri, who will probably be playing in the majors someday, and he flipped a ball out to leftfield to win it for them.

Godri on his freshmen pitcher's poise pitching at ND: I thought that our two freshmen did a great job. Mike Loree was outstanding. It became very frustrating because there were some calls early in that game that really hurt us. Through five innings, Mike gave us the chance to win that game. He should have left with the lead. I thought Kevin (Mulvey) also did well. We misplayed two pop-ups in the first inning and they ended up scoring six runs because of it. If we would have caught those balls, they might not have scored. At the very most, they would have had one or two runs. We should have made those plays for him. But Kevin kept fighting and he didn't give up anything rest of way. Both kids are continuing to mature and get better each weekend.

Godri on yesterday's win against Saint Joseph's: I thought yesterday was a tough game. We were coming off of Notre Dame and were looking ahead to BC. I thought we were unemotional at the start of the game. But out seniors, Brian Newbold and Brian Trotta, did an excellent job of swinging the bat. Al Day got on base five times for us and that helped. I thought that one through nine, we did a good job of taking care of baserunning, advancing when we had the chance to advance, and doing the little things. Pitching wise, Jake Wolff pitched five strong innings and got the win. Jake, Nate Hall, Mike Ciccotelli and Adrian Schau took care of business for us yesterday.

Godri on Brian Trotta's hot hitting: Doc (Kennedy) made some little changes in his stance last week. Going into Notre Dame, he had a lot of confidence because he has traditionally done well against them. And that continued. Yesterday, he carried over his performance from the weekend to our ballpark and really did a great job.

Godri on the team's Big East start: Going 3-3 and having played Notre Dame and UConn is certainly acceptable. But we're at the point in the season now where we play seven straight home Big East Conference games. We play very well at home and we are at the stretch of the season now that's very vital for postseason hopes. It is important for our ball club to continue to play well at home. When we play at home, we play well because our kids really understand our ballpark. It plays right up our alley. We're not a big power team. We have to do little things to win. We have to come out and get after it. It is a beautiful park and our kids appreciate it. We just need to continue to play well there.

Godri on the Boston College Series: There will be a lot of hoopla because they bring Lambert and Sheppard, two high draft picks, to the park. It has been a kind of up and down year for them this year so far. But BC is always tough and has always been a team we've circled on our calender because of the similarities they have to our program. Preseason, they were 38th in the country. The talent is there. We will have to play extremely well to have to the chance to score on these guys. And our pitching staff has to be up to the challenge facing their offense. If we hold them down and find ways to score, we will have the opportunity to do some good things on Thursday.

Godri on the Virginia Tech Series: Virginia Tech, number one, has been a traditionally hard opponent for us. We are 0-5 versus them over the last two years. It is a tough match-up because they are a lot like us. They pitch, play defense, and they try to run a lot. In some areas, they have more talent then us. Virginia Tech has done a lot of good things in a short time in the conference. They haven't played their best baseball yet and we hope we can buy one more weekend from them. They play Georgetown on Thursday, so this is a make or break four games for them. We wouldn't expect anything but their best effort.

April 2, 2004

Godri on the Wildcats' 5-0 record last week: It was a big week for the program and for our team, especially considering the fact that we were unable to play the previous weekend against Fordham because of the weather. Our first game last week against Saint Joseph's is a big rivalry game. Early in the game, we had to shake off a little bit of rust offensively because of the layoff. But we got a really good outing from Kevin Mulvey and as the innings went on, our offense got into gear and we ended up winning the game big, 14-3. Temple is a whole different "animal" altogether. They are a big offensive team. They have some powerful guys who can put numbers on the board in a hurry. And they proved that by putting up five in the first inning. Our team did an outstanding job of keeping its composure. Ted Aust and Joe McCoy came in and helped our bullpen do an excellent job. On offense, we didn't look to score everything at once. We chipped away and grabbed a big lead. The game wasn't as close as the score (11-9) might indicate. Going 2-0 in the Big Five against two rivals really helped us to get ready for UConn.

Godri on sweeping the UConn series: Like I always say, "styles make fights". And this was a perfect example of where that came into play. Offensively, UConn was a tremendous hitting team that came into our ballpark where it is tough to score runs, and had to face a good pitching staff. They were averaging something like 10 runs per game coming into the weekend. Our game plan was to tie up their hitters early in the count, and on offense - to run up their starter's pitch count to get into the bullpen. I thought we ended up accomplishing what we set out to do. Nick Allen went out and beat a guy that I thought was really a "bulldog" for UConn on the mound. That set the tone for the rest of the weekend. I thought our player's mental approach was outstanding. What we talked about was taking it pitch by pitch. We didn't carry game one into game two and we didn't carry Saturday into Sunday. On Sunday, I thought we didn't capitalize offensively early in the game and we let them hang around - which can sometimes hurt you. But Kevin Mulvey did another outstanding job. And Mike Grodecki and Adrian Schau were tremendous out of the bullpen. They went in there and didn't give up an inch. It was a great game and a great series.

Godri on Adrian Schau's game three performance against UConn: Adrian was outstanding earlier in the year against Maine as well. But I thought Sunday against UConn was the best he has pitched. It was his best outing of the season. He came into the game in some trouble with runners on first and second with no out and he didn't even let the runners move up. He struck out the first two guys he faced and got a groundout to end the game. That's why he is out closer.

Godri on the Wildcats getting regional and national notoriety: It is really nice. When you go 17-5, from a coaching perspective, you are just worried what is going to happen the next day. But it is nice to know that some of the efforts put in by the staff and the players are starting to get publicized and recognized. First we got recognized regionally by being ranked in the northeast. Now we are getting recognized nationally. That's fantastic. It is great for the kids and the program...for the notoriety and for recruiting.

Godri on the Villanova vs. Notre Dame weekend series: Today on CollegeBaseballInsider.com, the Villanova/Notre Dame series was listed as one of the top 10 college baseball series in the country this weekend. For us to be mentioned is a challenge, and that is everything that's great about college baseball. We are going to have to go into a hostile environment and try to win. Notre Dame is ranked fifth in the country in one poll. Coach Paul Mainieri is one of the top coaches in the country. His teams are always ready and prepared to play. To have them where they are is phenomenal. They have outstanding starting pitching, a good bullpen and great defense. They play the game the play we try to play it. Notre Dame plays a west coast style of baseball on the east coast. We are looking forward to the challenge.

March 25, 2004

Godri on last week's cancellations: That's always tough, but we have really benefited from our schedule this year overall. We opened up the week before most northeast teams. Last week we lost three winnable game to weather, but we spent that time watching game film and working on the mental aspects of the game - what our approach on the mound should be and how to run the bases. Just as important was the fact that our players got the chance to rest their bodies. When we got back on the field on Tuesday at Saint Joseph's, we had to shake off the rust once through the lineup, but then we got right back into it as if we didn't miss a beat.

Godri on the Wildcats' midweek success: It is a credit to the kids and the staff that we have been able to get up for each game...weekend or weekday. We are really focusing on paying attention to each game as if it were our most important game of the season. When we step foot on the field, we will take no days off on gamedays. We are going to go full board to win the game.

Godri on the Wildcats 14-5 start and on starting Big East play: Our guys are where they need to be mentally right now. Being 14-5 is difficult to do. But we know the challenges of the Big East. We know that you have to go out and play well to have the opportunity to win in our style of baseball. Big East play is a different phase of the season. UConn is playing extremely well right now. They are a scrappy bunch of guys that play hard for nine innings. They have some talented players. We are going to have to come out and dictate the game - pitch the ball well and D it up. Offensively, we just have to do the things that the team has been doing.

Godri on the Villanova bullpen: It's the most important part of the club and that certainly played out yesterday against Temple with Ted Aust, Joe McCoy and Mike Grodecki really coming in and pitching well. We didn't give up a hit after the first inning until the eighth.

Godri on the Wildcats' improved offense: Offensively, we retooled after last season. We refocused on what was important...on-base percentage, and doing the little thing on the bases like tagging up which can end up deciding a game.

March 17, 2004

Godri on the weekend: Going into the weekend, we lost a game to rain against La Salle. The good thing about the weekend was that we won two out of three. I think we put ourselves in good position talent-wise to compete and have a chance to win all three. You are always going to go through some growing pains when you start two freshmen. But I think we only had one bad inning all weekend and it cost us a loss. Sunday's game was a good game because Cornell played really well. They had a good senior pitcher throwing against us. When they picked up their energy level, we matched it and overtook it.

Godri on the regional rankings: It is a nice thing for other coaches to give us a strong vote of confidence towards the team and the program. People obviously think we're doing some good things up here. We just have to keep it up.

Godri on having two freshmen in the starting rotation: We made a decision going into the year that we thought we had a good enough recruiting class on the mound to do that. The approach was just to throw them in the fire right away and see how they respond. They have responded well.

Godri on newcomer Kris Molloy: When you lose a guy like Chris Graziano at the top of the lineup, you lose a lot. But having Kris Molloy at the top of the lineup has helped us make up for that loss. He is still learning how to hit in the leadoff spot. That's new to him. Kris is continuing to get better in that roll. Him being a transfer, he is still settling in to the baseball team and adjusting to our style of play. As he gets more confident, his production will continue to increase.

Godri on the performance of Nick Allen: He is as competitive a player as we have. Nick has done an excellent job managing the game on the mound. He seldom pitches himself into trouble. Nick makes teams earn everything that they get. He has excellent control with his pitches and great location. Nick is pitching up to where we think Nick should be.

Godri on the Wildcats' style of play: Again...the way we look at the games we play is that the style makes the fight. And our style makes every game a fight. Right now, that's a reality for us. We just want to continue to work through these things and continue to win.

March 12, 2004

Godri on the Wildcats' hot start: Everybody is really excited right now. We had a good start in Florida, winning five games and going back home with an undefeated 5-0 trip. Then we went out and won two out of three in our first home weekend. We are starting to get some notoriety being ranked in the College Baseball Insider's Northeast Regional Coaches Poll. It is a real testament from where we came up from last season and hopefully shows the Big East and the country where this program is headed.

Godri on the Wildcats' win over Florida International: The win over FIU is something that we can really be proud of. The game was something we had discussed going into the trip. Going into a top tier program's home and winning on their field is very impressive. Schedule-wise, we have seen a lot of different challenges and met a lot of them. A big part of college baseball is going to different places and getting to experience baseball in other areas of the country. We have done that and come out with a good start to the season.

Godri on the team's mental mindset: We have invested a lot of time in preparing our team to go out and compete consistently and on being prepared mentally no matter what the situation is. Right now we're 10-4 and the record is what it is...it's a good start. But we can't get too caught up with what our record is three weeks into the season. I think we have the chance to have a really good season, but we have to go out and work for everything we get. The team has to keep everything in perspective.

Godri on the Wildcats talented, yet young roster: We have a young team in a lot of areas, but a young team with a lot of talent and a good mental mindset. The seniors have done a good job in helping these players with preparation and that's the reason we have not seen many typical freshmen mistakes so far this season.

Godri on the success of freshman pitcher Mike Loree: As far as notoriety goes, Mike (Loree) got a lot of high school accolades in football. He was an All-State quarterback who played for one of the best teams in the state of New Jersey. Baseball was a secondary thing for Mike in high school, but now all of his focus is on baseball; and he has reaped all the benefits of that. He is a big kid with a good understanding and management of the game. The fact that he was a successful quarterback in high school has ended up helping him out in baseball.

Godri on the tremendous early-season performance of the Villanova bullpen: I have always said that this is the most important area at Villanova. We think very highly of our pitching staff and I am not afraid to have to turn a game over to our bullpen. There are a lot of expectations and demands on our bullpen and they have really stepped it up and gotten it done.

Feb. 26, 2004

Godri on the Wildcats' performance at Georgia Tech: I like the way we came out of Georgia Tech. We put ourselves in a situation versus a good team where we had the chance to win twice late in the game. We just weren't able to get it done at this stage of the season. Heading to Florida, we'll see if we can't build on what we've done offensively and get stronger as a team. Pitchers Nick Allen and Kevin Mulvey were very effective at Georgia Tech. If we can get performances like that every weekend, then we will have an enormous chance to be successful.

Godri on the Wildcats' strengths and weaknesses: I want to continue to see good pitching and really solid defense. We want to get into some games down in Florida where we can get things going offensively. I think the one thing we can take away from the Georgia Tech series is that we were able to hang in there. Now heading to Florida, this gives us the confidence to know how to compete with good teams.

Godri on Sunday's Villanova Alumni function at Georgia Tech: I thought Greg and the rest of the Villanova University Atlanta Alumni Association Chapter did an excellent job. When we go to places like that, that's what it is all about - getting the Villanova family out and giving our players and coaches the chance to meet some of these great people. It is important for our players to learn the history of not only the baseball program, but the history of what some fellow alums are doing and have done all over the country.

Godri on the team's start and the Wildcats' upcoming trip to Florida: Having started the season 3-0 and now being 3-3 after playing well at Georgia Tech, this is the best start we've had over my two years. Going down the Florida, we are excited to have the opportunity to play baseball at a great location in a national tournament.

Feb. 18, 2004

Godri on the Wildcats' Sweep at Norfolk State: I am excited and pleased after seeing our team's performance last weekend. We did not look like a team that was outside for the first time. Our players acted professionally and played through some tough situations, especially with the weather. It is to our player's credit that they were able to go out in those circumstances and come home with three wins.

Godri on his top performers from the weekend: We had some great performances from a number of position players. I was extremely happy with newcomers Kris Molloy and Angelo Petracca. Returners Danny Poydenis and Mark Cardillo were tremendous, and Brian Trotta did a good job defensively at shortstop. Alan Day also had an excellent weekend for us. As far as pitching goes, our bullpen did a solid job. Mike Ciccotelli, Mike Grodecki and Adrian Schau really shut the door on Norfolk in a number of areas. We had some problems early on in a couple games but our pitchers fought through it mentally and with our offense really gave the team an outstanding chance to win.

Godri on the Wildcats' upcoming trip to Georgia Tech: Going into the weekend, everyone knows that we are playing the No. 4 team in the nation. We just can't get caught up too much in that. It is a great opportunity for the program and the players are getting a great experience. We have played games in this type of venue before so I think that we will be focused and ready to compete. The longer we stay in the game, the more chance there is to win. We just have to block out the names on the front of their jersey's and worry about the little things that we have to do to win: throw the ball over the plate, sac bunt, hit and run and play solid team defense. Going in there and playing a team like Georgia Tech helps us to get ready to play teams in our conference like Notre Dame and Rutgers.

Godri on the team's alumni support in the Atlanta area: The Villanova Alumni Atlanta Chapter is coming on Sunday and we are very excited about that. That's one of the other good things about playing in places such as this - getting the different alumni groups to come see us play. They are having a barbeque for our players and player's families after the game. It will be a great day for the program.

Feb. 11, 2004

Godri on the start of the season:

The season comes so quickly. After the summer ends and you finish recruiting its time for fall baseball to start up. Then you begin individual workouts and before you know it the holidays are here. After you come back, you think you have so much time before the start of the season. Before you know it though, it is only four or five days before the season starts. That's where we are. The kids are excited to go to Virginia this weekend and to play a team with a different jersey. We have been practicing and playing together for so long now that this will be a nice change.

Godri on a new team approach and outlook:

Going into this season, we (the coaches) changed the practice structure completely from the play we played in the fall to the way we were going to play when we stepped foot on the field this spring. We really wanted to stress all parts of baseball from the way we practice to different scenarios we will see in game situations. The team had a good fall season, especially considering the fact that we had as many new guys as we did. I think the team handled it well. We got a lot accomplished. The staff emphasized the physical and mental aspects of baseball - keeping offense, defense and pitching in mind.

Godri on the Wildcats' 2004 schedule:

We break the season down into segments. The first segment includes this coming trip to Norfolk State as well as the trips to Georgia Tech and Homestead, Florida. The team is coming off a disappointing season. If you look at it as a fight, we got knocked out. We had to get over the wounds from that. But the team chose to get up from that and we are ready to start fighting again. First and foremost, they need to taste winning again. We have a lot of new people in the program and the team has blended well so far. These are three trips that give us a variety of opponents - teams that I feel we can compete with but also teams that are highly ranked in college baseball. We will gain a good perspective on where we are after these trips and on where we have to go.

Godri on what the Wildcats will try to accomplish early in the season:

I feel we have better players in the program this season. Early on, we are going to try to answer a lot of questions about playing time and about what the makeup of this team will be. We have a good mix of returning players and new players that we have high expectations for. Out challenge is getting a lot of people playing time, while still keeping the integrity and ultimate goal of winning in mind. A number of people will get the opportunity to play early on in the season and this will help us prepare for our schedule once we come back north. This team needs to go out and learn to play hard everyday. If we do that, everything else will fall into place.

Godri on the senior class:

I am extremely pleased with our senior leadership. The returners really took it upon themselves to make team chemistry and communication an important aspect of the ballclub. I feel these players efforts will really pay off, and the team will reap the benefits.

Godri on the Early Season Progression of his young pitching staff:

On the mound, we have a lot of young pitchers that were highly recruited and got a lot of national recognition playing in high school. I am happy where they are at right now. I just hope we are able to support them enough offensively to get them a good start in our program.

Godri on the Wildcats' Offense:

Offensively, we have spent a lot of man time and hours trying to formulate a real solid foundation to what our approach will be. Each of the last couple of years we have lost key offensive players and how you replace them determines how the team will do. This year, the big thing is that we entered two junior college transfers into the program. The transition for a freshman is tough. Hopefully these players are experienced enough and have been through it enough that the transition isn't as tough. Fortunately, these players are from high caliber programs and have played against top competition already. Offensively, we have to be able to handle playing small ball - bunting, hit and runs, aggression on the basepaths. That's our game.

Godri on his upcoming trip to play national power Georgia Tech:

Right now, our first job is the challenge of going out and playing at Norfolk State. We are excited about opening the season and that's the only team that can be on our minds right now. But Georgia Tech will be a great experience, no doubt. The program will have an opportunity to play one of the top teams in all of college baseball and in one of the nation's top facilities.

Godri on the first season of doing Internet Audiocasts for all home games and select road games:

I like a lot of the things that have happened surrounding our program over the last three years - one of which is being able to have all of our home games and select road games broadcasted on our website Villanova.com in 2004. If you look at where we were three years ago and where we are now, there have been some drastic changes. For starters, the upgrade to our new facility in Plymouth Meeting is incredible. It gives us one of the finest complexes in the Big East Conference. Also, the support from our Baseball Alumni Association has been tremendous and that is a very encouraging sign. Having our games broadcasted over the internet now is just another piece of the puzzle for this program. When prospective players look at the program, Villanova will compare favorably to some of the nation's top universities. It is great to look around and see the really good things going on with this program. When I took the job here, one of the key positives was the baseball rich tradition here at Villanova that former coach George Bennett helped lay the groundwork for. We are working to help build upon that tradition here at Villanova.