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Q&A with Robbinsdale Cooper's Griffin Smith

By David La Vaque, Star Tribune, 05/11/11, 11:19AM CDT

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Senior pitcher has 40 strikeouts on teh season


Griffin Smith

More important than winning games, Cooper’s veteran-laden baseball team is not losing sight of the big picture.

The No. 3-ranked Hawks started this week with a 10-1 record but have greater goals in mind. Playing in Class 3A, Section 5 with the likes of Centennial and No. 2 Maple Grove, the Hawks will be considered underdogs until they break through.

They possess many elements important to success, most notably experience — several seniors have played varsity baseball since they were freshmen — and pitching. Seniors Taylor Schumacher and Griffin Smith are both considered aces by coach Tim Palm.

“They are throwing very well and shutting teams down,” Palm said.

Smith started this week with a 4-0 record, a 2.52 ERA and 40 strikeouts. Smith spoke with Star Tribune reporter David La Vaque about the team’s strong start, staying focused on the postseason and the satisfaction of getting even with rival Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

Q  Is the team’s 10-1 start way above and beyond your expectations?
Honestly, I expected to start this well. Last year we were a good team but we lost in the playoffs. I knew we could get on a roll because the North Suburban Conference isn’t one of the stronger conferences.

Q  Is there any one victory you’re most proud of?
A  The Benilde-St. Margaret’s game was really big [an 11-1 Hawks victory April 14]. Last year, we were up 9-1 in the seventh inning but they came back and beat us. I’m still not over it. So to be their first game on their new field and then spank them was very satisfying.

Q And this time you put them away with a six runs in the seventh inning, right?
A Yeah, the whole game we’d been close, but we kept leaving guys on base. We would get two runs and leave a guy on second and third. We wanted to bust through, so it was very satisfying to do that.

You mentioned the North Suburban Conference isn’t as strong as other conferences, in your opinion. What do you do to avoid letdowns?
A  It’s easy for us to stay focused because we only lost [five] games last year and we did not get a first-round bye in the playoffs. So we have to win a lot of games to get a bye. And Coach Palm really gets us up. His message in one of our practices the other day was, “You’re not that good.”

Q  Did your veteran team understand what he was saying?
A  Yeah, we know teams in our section like Maple Grove and Centennial aren’t going to not get better. We know we have to keep pushing ourselves.

Q  With you and Taylor on the mound and a guy like Max Murphy hitting six home runs — there is some individual talent on this team, isn’t there?
A  Max has the best hands I’ve ever seen. And with Taylor, when he goes out and does well, I try to do just as well the next game. Coach calls both of us No. 1 pitchers.

Q  Have any of you seniors ever experienced some big-time baseball success as kids?
A  The last big thing that Taylor, Max and me have won was a Little League championship when were 11 years old. Now we’re all seniors really focused on not falling short in the playoffs.

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