S2E16 - Marshall Recap w/ Tahraun Hammond
Tahraun Hammond joins the guys talk ball and give his video game rating. CB, Gary and Coach Finny recap a series win over Marshall and what lies ahead for SBC tourney positioning.
Transcript
Yeah.
Speaker:Hello Monarch fans.
Speaker:Welcome to the Hudson Homer podcast for the second week in a row.
Speaker:This is a celebratory podcast because we won the series with Marshall.
Speaker:Yes,
Speaker:we did.
Speaker:How was your weekend?
Speaker:Yes, we
Speaker:did.
Speaker:Uh, my weekend was great.
Speaker:We won the series of Marshall.
Speaker:I got to see Thunderbolts twice.
Speaker:It was fantastic.
Speaker:I'm, I'm having a great weekend.
Speaker:I'm having, I'm having a sad Monday 'cause I get back to reality and just, and live.
Speaker:I can't do all the fun stuff.
Speaker:Yeah, it was a harsh wake up call when we had to like go to work and do
Speaker:all that boring stuff This weekend or this week after really a fun weekend.
Speaker:I made it down there Friday and Saturday was happy to finally
Speaker:break my curse on Saturday.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:I didn't realize that until you said it.
Speaker:How many games had you seen this year before they won
Speaker:a game when you were there?
Speaker:Uh, well, so I was one in seven going into Saturday.
Speaker:I had seen them beat Georgia State on the Saturday game.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, I
Speaker:had not seen them win since then.
Speaker:And then if I would like not go to the Sunday game in Harbor
Speaker:Park, they would somehow win that.
Speaker:They would win.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I couldn't go to the Saturday game against Louisiana.
Speaker:They won that one.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So starting to think it was me, I was already to just cancel my, my plane
Speaker:ticket in my hotel down in Montgomery just so the guys had some kind of chance.
Speaker:Uh, but they proved me wrong.
Speaker:They won on Saturday and Sunday was Blake Day.
Speaker:Complete game.
Speaker:First time since 2018 for a Monarch pitcher to go CG and man, talk
Speaker:about stepping up in a key moment.
Speaker:Yeah, I looked, uh, I, I, I put that out there that it was, 'cause I, I had
Speaker:to think about it and, and my first off, top of my head was Morgan McGuire.
Speaker:2018 was the last guy to complete game.
Speaker:He actually had two that year, uh, both Complete Games
Speaker:Shutouts, which is outstanding.
Speaker:Um, he, those are the last nine incomplete games.
Speaker:We actually had some, some seven incomplete games since then.
Speaker:Um, in 2021, uh, Ryan Moore, one of our current coaches, he had a seven inning.
Speaker:It was a, uh, run rule game against, um, Charlotte, and then Hunter Gregory was
Speaker:one of our Saturday starters that year.
Speaker:You might remember during conference we were playing.
Speaker:Scheduled seven inning games as part of Doubleheaders on Saturdays.
Speaker:Ah,
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And so, uh, he had, uh, hunter Gregory had three seven inning
Speaker:complete games that season.
Speaker:So, yeah, I, I still say it does hold up.
Speaker:It was the first complete game, uh, full, complete game for
Speaker:a Monarch pitcher since 2018.
Speaker:So, which is awesome.
Speaker:I mean, that, you know, that's just the kind of veteran gutsy
Speaker:leadership you expect from Blake.
Speaker:And, I mean, it was, he, he earned it 112 pitches.
Speaker:He went all nine, two earn runs, seven hits, two walks, seven strikeouts.
Speaker:Both of those runs came in the first inning.
Speaker:He walked the first batter, and I'm sure everyone was kind of groaned a
Speaker:little bit and then get a home run.
Speaker:But then after that, I mean, eight shutout innings to follow that up, slam
Speaker:the door on Marshall and Clin, a series that we desperately needed to win.
Speaker:Yeah, that was the most impressive part I think, you know, starting out
Speaker:it's like, all right, we're down.
Speaker:And then just kept the, the Saturday and Sunday games this week.
Speaker:I was talking to, to Hadra at the end of the game yesterday and I said, you know,
Speaker:this is like the first time we've really played some real baseball where it's
Speaker:like, you know, it wasn't this nonsense of like, it's a 12 to 11 game and we
Speaker:had to come back from nine runs down.
Speaker:And it wasn't like we, we got up by eight and then we gave up
Speaker:seven and just happened to win.
Speaker:It's like, no, we, both games got behind, but then got ahead and kept
Speaker:grinding and grinding and holding.
Speaker:I mean, the game Saturday where, uh, you know, Dylan does great.
Speaker:Six innings, what?
Speaker:Seven Ks, four runs and then the bullpen comes out Hubble with a
Speaker:scoreless inning killing with two scoreless innings and just holds
Speaker:on to the wind the way we need to.
Speaker:And then Blake, same thing, just grinding it out.
Speaker:We, we came from behind and just kept on piling runs.
Speaker:It was like, this is some real baseball.
Speaker:That's what we've been waiting all year to see some, some
Speaker:actual, like good baseball wins.
Speaker:And
Speaker:I think that was Kellen Davis's best performance of the season.
Speaker:Uh, one run game held the lead was able to get a two inning save, which set us
Speaker:up to potentially save Bailey for Sunday.
Speaker:Turns out, didn't need Bailey at all this weekend, so he actually gets a rest
Speaker:weekend, which I think is a really good thing for him at this point in the season.
Speaker:Uh, but Kellen Davis, he was filthy on Saturday.
Speaker:He was great.
Speaker:Uh, it, it's been a while since we've been able to just hold a one run lead over the
Speaker:three innings after the starter comes out.
Speaker:And the bullpen did a great job with, with Hubble and Kellen.
Speaker:Yeah, we, when we get Finny on here in a little bit, we need to talk to him.
Speaker:'cause I, the pitching management this weekend was spectacular.
Speaker:Um, you know, Friday, Ben had frankly just a terrible game.
Speaker:I think there's no real other way to say it.
Speaker:I think aside from the game, uh, where he came in relief down in Southern
Speaker:Miss, where he gave up, I think six or seven runs, this is probably his, his,
Speaker:if not his worst, his next worst game.
Speaker:Um, but they still, they kind of kept told him like, kind of, I dunno if
Speaker:they told him, but I'm assuming it was just like, Hey, you gotta eat it.
Speaker:Uh, so he still pitched into what, the fourth, fifth inning.
Speaker:Um, and then, you know, it was very clear, like I'm, I was kind of standing behind
Speaker:the dugout and uh, Jayce Park was there.
Speaker:Um, he was, he was acting as like the ball boy, you know, you know, they, they need
Speaker:somebody to do that there at that park.
Speaker:'cause they, we don't have a lot of student managers.
Speaker:Um, and at one point Finney kind of went over his ear and it was very clear.
Speaker:It was like, okay, hey, get on down the bullpen.
Speaker:Um, and you know.
Speaker:It was obvious at that point, they're down by so much.
Speaker:It was like, all right, we're not gonna use our studs, right?
Speaker:This is gonna be a game.
Speaker:We're not gonna see Bailey and, and Alex Hunt and Kellen and,
Speaker:and Hubble and those guys pitch.
Speaker:So they brought out Nick Sulpizio and Jace Park and Dylan Toro.
Speaker:Guys who have not pitched great this year.
Speaker:All three of 'em were outstanding.
Speaker:I mean, Ezio threw two scoreless innings Park.
Speaker:He did give up a two run Homer, which was, which is not great.
Speaker:But otherwise he did get, he got up a jam at Ezio, put himself in,
Speaker:and then Tora, who's only, he only had like five innings all year,
Speaker:threw two scoreless in that game.
Speaker:Um, so that sets you up, okay.
Speaker:Now you have all your bullets in the bullpen for the games
Speaker:on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker:And like you pointed out, you got Hubble out there.
Speaker:Good score this inning, Kellen too.
Speaker:So you saved, you saved Bailey.
Speaker:So you still had Bailey, uh, Matt available.
Speaker:You had, uh, Alex Hunt, you had, um, Frank Wright, you had Hunter Baes.
Speaker:Those four pretty solid arms.
Speaker:The bullpen, they were all available for Sunday, and you didn't,
Speaker:you didn't have to use them.
Speaker:So they got a weak of rest.
Speaker:I mean, that, that, this was a phenomenal, it was weird to say in a game where
Speaker:you lost 11 to four, there was a phenomenal pitching, uh, management.
Speaker:But there was, and that part of that was the guys have to pitch
Speaker:well enough to, to make it work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, the guys come outta the bullpen did a great job.
Speaker:I think this is probably one of the best weekends that the bullpens
Speaker:had end to end, even in that game.
Speaker:I mean, you know, Ben kind of had to eat the nine earned runs.
Speaker:Uh, the, the home runs that were getting out, by the way, at War
Speaker:Memorial, if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker:They're not these moonshot, just rocket home runs.
Speaker:A lot of 'em were just scraping the fence.
Speaker:I mean, both the ones that Dylan gave up on Saturday were nothing special there
Speaker:in out, probably in most ballparks, but.
Speaker:That's where we were playing.
Speaker:Marshall took advantage of it.
Speaker:They took the right approach and tried to get stuff down
Speaker:the line and it worked for him.
Speaker:Uh, really liked that.
Speaker:But I, on Friday, I think our offense had a lot of opportunities
Speaker:to go make that a slugfest shootout.
Speaker:But Marshall defensively made every play, I mean, every single play.
Speaker:And I've gotta give credit to Eddie Leon at the, the starting third baseman for
Speaker:Marshall, uh, made an outstanding play.
Speaker:Maverick Stallings rips a ball down the third base line
Speaker:with the runner wrong first.
Speaker:He somehow backhands that thing and turns two, uh, he had another good
Speaker:play up the middle between third and second, their outfielders had some
Speaker:crazy plays to Rob hits and doubles.
Speaker:So it is 11 to four, I think.
Speaker:You know, I think we'd still lose that game, but it's much more competitive if
Speaker:we get a couple shots to, to fall in here.
Speaker:There.
Speaker:But Marshall was great defensively and, uh, Eddie Leon, who, who plays for
Speaker:Marshall, the third baseman, uh, got to meet his dad because he actually played
Speaker:high school ball with Cane and George.
Speaker:Uh, they're good friends.
Speaker:Their dads are good friends.
Speaker:And while we were getting, you know, kind of stomped a little bit there
Speaker:on Friday, he was nice enough to buy Aaron and I some beverages and
Speaker:also can's, dad some beverages.
Speaker:And if you, you take a close look at the beer that's in his hand
Speaker:over my shoulder, he does have a Hudson Homer's podcast CZI on.
Speaker:So he made sure he did not go home empty handed.
Speaker:Uh, and then you got this great shot of the two of them.
Speaker:Uh, I believe it's after Sunday, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it's funny, it, it canan with his, his jersey untucked is, is funny 'cause
Speaker:as they were going to do the review, you know, the game's over Canan immediately
Speaker:is ripping his jersey out and they're gonna, the review and Finn's like telling
Speaker:him like, you gotta put it back in.
Speaker:We're still technically in the game.
Speaker:Like, we don't wanna get into kind of trouble for that.
Speaker:So it's just funny how, how committed he was to having that jersey untucked.
Speaker:He was done with that thing.
Speaker:It had been raining all day.
Speaker:Yeah, he was, he was done with it.
Speaker:Uh, I'm sure it was wet
Speaker:out in the outfield too.
Speaker:Yeah, no, you're, you're right man.
Speaker:I mean, at, at that Friday game I said a few times, like, this is
Speaker:kind of a microcosm of our season.
Speaker:It's like every, every time somebody can make the best play of their
Speaker:life, it's happening against us.
Speaker:It's these plays.
Speaker:The, if you gave these guys a hundred chances, they probably wouldn't make it
Speaker:again, but they're, they're doing it.
Speaker:I mean, there was one play to, to, I think it was the shortstop.
Speaker:It was like a line drive that hit off his glove and bounced out and he still managed
Speaker:to catch it and then throw the guy out.
Speaker:It's like, this is ridiculous.
Speaker:Like, how does this happen to us?
Speaker:Um, so yeah, I mean, props to them for, for having the game their lives.
Speaker:The Friday starter for Marshall Bryce Blevins, he was a pain for us last year.
Speaker:He's a really good crafty pitcher.
Speaker:He ended up going seven innings.
Speaker:He gave up four earn at three walks, three strikeouts.
Speaker:He had a comebacker come hit him in the foot fairly early in that game.
Speaker:Of course, it hits his cleat, it just deadens right in front of
Speaker:it, and he picks it up for one of the easiest outs of the game.
Speaker:But it was probably, you know, 95 plus off the bat, which should have been
Speaker:just a, a rocket into center field.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I had a feeling that our offense was gonna come around there, and I
Speaker:also knew that we probably weren't gonna have that pitching performance
Speaker:again the rest of the weekend.
Speaker:So I wasn't necessarily nervous, but obviously you, you lose Friday
Speaker:in a series that you really need to win and you're, you're a little
Speaker:bit tighter on Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker:But the guys did a great job of just stepping up, fighting back in every
Speaker:game, and then man, just Blake on Sunday, like, I'm sad I wasn't there in person.
Speaker:But it was great to be able to just watch that from afar.
Speaker:I know I'm too invested in not, uh, managing my emotions about things.
Speaker:Well, because the difference between how I feel leaving the ballpark Friday compared
Speaker:to how I feel leaving Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker:It's like, I, you, you gotta be better than this man.
Speaker:This is not a good place to mo let this, this thing I have no control
Speaker:over and I'm just hanging out at, uh, control my emotions that much.
Speaker:I, I gotta do a better job.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I hung out in the parking lot for about an hour after the game talking with,
Speaker:uh, Aaron Zielinski and kind of thinking of some longer term things and stuff
Speaker:like that, but mainly just to blow off steam so I wouldn't be thinking
Speaker:about the game, the whole ride up.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but hey, it was, it was worth it.
Speaker:I'm glad I went down there Saturday.
Speaker:Got to see, uh, a great performance there.
Speaker:Hung out with, uh, the Brown family.
Speaker:Uh, Alex Hunt's parents were around, obviously Kainen George.
Speaker:A few other ones I got to meet and chat with.
Speaker:Good to just be around good people all weekend too.
Speaker:And, uh, sitting with the family of the starting pitcher.
Speaker:I think they were probably the more relaxed of a, of
Speaker:a crew that I've sat with.
Speaker:A little different than, uh, you know, with the hols last
Speaker:year and things like that.
Speaker:Hey,
Speaker:speaking of Holobetz.
Speaker:Yes, yes.
Speaker:We had some, there was some breaking
Speaker:news today with our, our good buddy John Holobetz.
Speaker:He got traded to the Red Sox today.
Speaker:Uh, he, there was a trade, we were looking up a, a, a picture I'd never heard of,
Speaker:but he was with the Red Sox last year.
Speaker:And, uh, right there around the start of the year, he got traded to
Speaker:the, uh, brewers and it was for one player and the player be named later.
Speaker:Uh, and that player to be LA named later ended up being John Holobetz.
Speaker:So now he is moving from the brewers to the Red Sox and he's going to be with the
Speaker:Greenville Drive, where he'll be teammates with fellow ODU alum, uh, Noah Dean.
Speaker:So that is some absolute gas coming out, uh, for the Greenville Drive.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:Steal for the socks to get him as a player to be named later.
Speaker:'cause he's got right around a three ERA right now.
Speaker:He's been eating in low a ball.
Speaker:So John gets a promotion outta this.
Speaker:He's gonna go up to high a ball, uh, friendly face.
Speaker:And Noah ine really, really excited for him to see, see how he goes.
Speaker:Yeah, they didn't, they didn't play together, but Noah's been back around
Speaker:enough, uh, you know, with the, with his girlfriend playing the tennis team.
Speaker:And he's, he is worked out at the ballpark a ton.
Speaker:I'm, I'm sure he and Noah probably know each other pretty well, or
Speaker:he, and, uh, he and John probably know each other pretty well.
Speaker:Um, and, and the people don't know you, the player would be named later.
Speaker:A lot of times what happens is they give the other team a list of guys,
Speaker:uh, and, and kind of say, Hey, you know, you could pick one of these guys.
Speaker:You have to buy a certain date.
Speaker:And my guess would be that with John, with his his excellent start,
Speaker:it was like, yeah, it's pretty easy.
Speaker:We're taking that guy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he is, he's looked great.
Speaker:Well, coach Finwood, I see him backstage.
Speaker:I'm gonna bring him on now.
Speaker:The man of the hour.
Speaker:Coach Finwood how's it going?
Speaker:What's up guys?
Speaker:That was, how you doing man?
Speaker:Great news for, uh, Holbeck.
Speaker:Yeah, I heard you guys talking about that.
Speaker:That's really cool that him and Noah are gonna be teammates.
Speaker:They weren't ever teammates here, but they're, and teammates by
Speaker:proxy, uh, as, as Monarch alums and, um, both really good relievers
Speaker:for us, uh, in their careers here.
Speaker:Yeah, we're excited to see what John can do.
Speaker:I know he was eating pretty good there with the low a ball.
Speaker:I mean, we got to see him in person and just clearly a, a step up I think
Speaker:from the rest of the competition.
Speaker:So now, you know, the Red Sox, they do tend to fast track some guys to get up
Speaker:pretty quickly from the draft classes.
Speaker:So hopefully that maybe clears a quicker path for him since they've
Speaker:already moved him up to high a ball.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I wonder a little bit if Nick Murray didn't have a little input in that
Speaker:one of their pitching coordinators.
Speaker:Um, and you know, Nick was here for two years with us and um,
Speaker:got to work with Holts and.
Speaker:Um, got to get to know Noah Dean, you know, uh, when he'd come back for some
Speaker:side work and, um, you know, I wonder if he maybe had some input into helping that
Speaker:him become that guy to be named later.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So hope so.
Speaker:We love it.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah, that'd be cool.
Speaker:That'd be cool.
Speaker:Big series win for you this weekend.
Speaker:I thought the guys gutted out a pretty good performance.
Speaker:Saturday dominated, I think on Sunday behind behind Blake.
Speaker:Uh, what, what are your thoughts on this weekend?
Speaker:Are you sweating bullets after Friday, like we were,
Speaker:uh, you know, that's the second Friday in a row.
Speaker:We've lost in, in different fashions of course, but, um, you
Speaker:know, Ben is just having a a, i, I really feel bad for Ben Moore.
Speaker:He is having a rotten time with these.
Speaker:Migraines and he's gotten some different diagnosis on what's going on with him,
Speaker:and he just hasn't been able to be himself because he is, I think he and
Speaker:rightfully so, you know, you're worried about, um, you know, what's going on
Speaker:in my head, I, I don't feel right.
Speaker:And he clearly wasn't himself on, on Friday.
Speaker:So he is got, he is got an appointment, uh, with a specialist today and,
Speaker:you know, we'll hopefully hear some, have a little more clarity on that.
Speaker:But, um, he, he's pitching, you know, with a big, big weight on
Speaker:his shoulder because of all this.
Speaker:And, you know, he just, he's had, he's had flashes of his old self at times
Speaker:this year, but very inconsistent.
Speaker:And, and Friday just was a bad day.
Speaker:Um, they hit the ball, you know, they, they got a bunch of hits, too many
Speaker:walks and you know, it was one of those, you get behind too early, do a tough.
Speaker:I, I just, I think Blevins is tough.
Speaker:You know, we beat him up there last year on, uh, on, in a real low scoring close
Speaker:game on Saturday, and he's just that college lefty that is hard to get to.
Speaker:You know, we had a couple home runs off him and a couple other balls hard.
Speaker:They made some nice plays.
Speaker:Um, I, I thought you had to tip your hat to them.
Speaker:They played really well Friday and they've been playing well.
Speaker:So yeah, we had our work cut out for us, without a doubt.
Speaker:Um, but these guys, you know, every, so far, every time their, their
Speaker:back's been kind of to the wall.
Speaker:They've, they've come out fighting and, uh, we haven't always won, but they've
Speaker:come out, you know, punching and, uh, we did that again Saturday, you know, uh,
Speaker:got behind a little bit early and, you know, kind of, kind of got a rally going.
Speaker:And I thought, Dylan, you know, out outside of the, you know, he gave
Speaker:up what, four runs on two homers.
Speaker:Um, and, you know, and the wind's blowing out at, or memorial
Speaker:play small, especially the left.
Speaker:Uh, but he battled through some adversity, got out of a couple jams,
Speaker:you know, gave us six solid innings.
Speaker:And we, uh, you know, I, I, I thought, um, Hubble.
Speaker:Hubble came in through a really good seventh and then he came in and
Speaker:said his shoulders bothering her.
Speaker:Told Mike, and I was like, oh God.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Um, well, Davis had been up once or maybe once, just in case of jam row.
Speaker:So he was, he was the guy there mostly right-handed.
Speaker:So, you know, we said, let's just, let's just give, uh, give Kellen
Speaker:a shot to go out there and do it.
Speaker:And he had a pretty clean eighth and, you know, went out there and got
Speaker:it, got it done for us in the ninth.
Speaker:So, you know, I was proud of him.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:And, you know, we got some couple big hits in that game that kind
Speaker:of helped us, you know, expand it.
Speaker:I, I think, um, you know, Maverick Stallings got a, a three oh pitch with
Speaker:a runner on first and, and, and hit a double, and that's go ahead, run.
Speaker:As it turned out, um, Mavs been probably in his career, probably
Speaker:hitting 800 on 3.0 pitches.
Speaker:And we, we usually let him swing it, especially in the smaller parks.
Speaker:You know, if you remember in the, the tournament, the playing game, he had a
Speaker:two run homer, um, on a three oh pitch against South Alabama to give us the lead
Speaker:and, you know, so that, that was big.
Speaker:Um, and then, you know, the, the catching issues were probably the,
Speaker:uh, the lead story this weekend.
Speaker:Same guy knocked two catchers of our, of the series on a backswing.
Speaker:And so Evan Holman, who's been out because of no bleak strain, Ken hit left-handed.
Speaker:So I told him.
Speaker:Saturday morning, then you're just gonna have to right handed When's the last
Speaker:time you get right handed off of righty.
Speaker:He goes, I couldn't even tell you.
Speaker:I go, well, it's gonna be today.
Speaker:Um, and you'll be fine.
Speaker:You're actually a way better Right handed hitter than left handed hitter.
Speaker:Anyway,
Speaker:I was, I, I was gonna say, I said that to you this weekend.
Speaker:I, this might be your, uh, your, your fuel for getting them to switch to.
Speaker:Just righty.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And sure enough, you know, he gets up and hits the bases loaded, bases
Speaker:clearing double, um, on a slide hanging, slider down the left field line.
Speaker:Gets us going and, you know, caught, I, I thought Evan was a, a warrior back there.
Speaker:He's, you know, obliques are, no, they're, they're one of those things
Speaker:where everything you do, you feel it.
Speaker:Especially in baseball, it's such a rotational sport, just throwing the ball
Speaker:back to the pitcher, which, oh by the way, a catcher has to do 180 times a game.
Speaker:Uh, in case you're wondering, you know, uh, not to mention when they gotta throw
Speaker:down or call third strikes and you gotta block it and throw the first, and then
Speaker:you got, I think they hit him in a knee.
Speaker:You got knee capped a couple times behind the plate.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I'm sure he spent most of the day today in the, uh, in the cold tub.
Speaker:Uh, just icing it down, you know.
Speaker:Well, we were all anticipating, 'cause we knew the situation with
Speaker:Evan, like, best case scenario doesn't play over the weekend.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You get F and you get slate and you split it up.
Speaker:Then we know he is starting Saturday and I don't see him take any practice
Speaker:swings in the OnDeck circle and he goes to the plate and we're like,
Speaker:all right, what's gonna happen?
Speaker:First pitch hits him right on the elbow and we're like, all right.
Speaker:He ends up scoring and then yeah.
Speaker:Really the, I think the first swing he had of the day was that double
Speaker:down the line, uh, right at me.
Speaker:I was standing on the wall down there.
Speaker:But I mean, that's huge.
Speaker:That ties the game for you.
Speaker:It gets the, the bullpen or the, the dugouts all fired up.
Speaker:I mean, that's a, that's a big moment for Evan to step up in knowing
Speaker:he's held together with Popsicle sticks and duct tape at this point.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you know, being that it was a Morales second concussion and basically
Speaker:two and a half weeks, um, he probably won't catch anymore this year.
Speaker:We'll, hope to get him back.
Speaker:You know, I don't think it'll be this weekend, but maybe, maybe by the, you
Speaker:know, Tuesday of Richmond, he will be able to swing the bat for us again.
Speaker:But I think his catching days are, are done for this season.
Speaker:Um, and so Jack and Evan gotta be the guys that go and, you know, that's
Speaker:the way it is and they'll be fine.
Speaker:And Jack's feeling better, you know, I'm anticipating him catching
Speaker:Wednesday night at, at VCU.
Speaker:He's from Richmond.
Speaker:It's a home, you know, essence home town game for him.
Speaker:So that'll be neat, uh, for, for him to be able to do that, I think.
Speaker:Um, so yeah.
Speaker:And then, you know, yesterday was the Blake Morgan show, right?
Speaker:Like what a fantastic ging, our first complete game in seven years, I think.
Speaker:Um, and you know, he, and he, and he actually threw 27 outs without
Speaker:giving a run because the first battery walked in the second guy, you know.
Speaker:Tapped one out of the ballpark and down two, nothing with no outs.
Speaker:And then they didn't score again.
Speaker:And you know, they had some traffic out there, but he, he just really battled.
Speaker:He, he gets in those grooves like that sometimes where he's
Speaker:got that change up going in the innings, just go fast, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, and through strikes and you know what, he walked, walked two
Speaker:guys and struck out seven and we played very good defense behind him.
Speaker:Um, so that also is, was helpful.
Speaker:I thought we played good defense most of the weekend.
Speaker:Um, and you know, Tahraun had a big RBI hit for us out nine or two rbis actually,
Speaker:you know, and um, Evan got the, a hit and rundown that moves some guys up and.
Speaker:We just were letting him off the hook, though we weren't scoring the guy from
Speaker:third with less than two outs, which as we've talked about in the past,
Speaker:this team's had its issues with, um, and so we're letting him hang around
Speaker:three to two going in the seventh.
Speaker:And then we finally got some big hits in the seventh, you know,
Speaker:and, and got that thing going.
Speaker:And then we did it again in the eighth.
Speaker:Um, and busted open a, a close game, you know, and made it look
Speaker:like it wasn't that close a game.
Speaker:So that was good to give Blake some breathing room.
Speaker:Yeah, I was just gonna, so if, if they had not scored those runs, extra runs
Speaker:there in the bottom of the eighth, was Blake gonna go back out for the ninth?
Speaker:He was, yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah, he was going, you know, I just, he had that look in his eye, man.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And in today's world of analytics and numbers, what, what, what they miss
Speaker:in that I. Is the human element of it.
Speaker:And when you see that look in a kid's eye, like I don't need to talk to him.
Speaker:Like his pitch account was fine.
Speaker:I think he was at 98 going into the ninth.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Finished at one 12 maybe.
Speaker:Um, that's not a lot of pitches for a complete game.
Speaker:And you know, he, he just had that look man, he is like, I got you guys.
Speaker:Like, just let me have it.
Speaker:And, um, he is a senior and he deserved a, a chance to, to, you know,
Speaker:to do something special like that.
Speaker:And um, you know, Mike, Mike kind of came down and says, who, who you want up?
Speaker:And I said, well get these guys up.
Speaker:But it's his game.
Speaker:You know, we got a six run lead.
Speaker:Like he can give up a couple and still finish this thing.
Speaker:We're not gonna let him throw 130 pitches.
Speaker:But, um, he's got a little bit of wiggle room there.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:Yeah, we threw, yeah, that was great.
Speaker:We threw a couple extra there while the referee or the umpires had to go, you
Speaker:know, review the double play at the end and slow walk all the way back to the
Speaker:field and then slow call everything.
Speaker:But just
Speaker:if they would've turned, if they would've re reversed that one out.
Speaker:I told the guys already, I said, I tell you what, if they
Speaker:changed this call on this.
Speaker:You are gonna see a Earl Weaver type
Speaker:going on out here.
Speaker:Y'all can get one more out without me, and, uh, unfortunately they didn't so
Speaker:well.
Speaker:You did win another challenge this weekend.
Speaker:Uh, it's on Saturday, the, I think it was canan sliding into
Speaker:third that, yeah, that one really
Speaker:shouldn't count though.
Speaker:Everybody in the ballpark saw that he was safe except for
Speaker:the one guy making the call.
Speaker:It was a quick, quick review through the net.
Speaker:Um, he was a problem on Friday, I think, behind the dish.
Speaker:And he heard plenty.
Speaker:Yeah, he
Speaker:was terrible.
Speaker:He was terrible all weekend.
Speaker:I, he's, uh, it's not, it's not good.
Speaker:I mean, that was one of the quickest reviews I think I've ever seen too.
Speaker:Yeah, that was crazy.
Speaker:Hey, we gotta walk back here, but we all know so well
Speaker:one of the home runs that Dylan gave up, it was the shot that
Speaker:was down the left field line.
Speaker:And I saw who was making the fair foul call and I didn't care what he said.
Speaker:I was gonna say it was probably wrong.
Speaker:Yeah, it was
Speaker:close to the foul poll.
Speaker:I couldn't tell from my seat, but I was like, uh, maybe we
Speaker:should take a look at that.
Speaker:Yeah, it was pretty, yeah, that one was pretty fair.
Speaker:Uh, I think, um, yeah, that guy was bad.
Speaker:He was terrible on Friday.
Speaker:That, that wasn't helpful either.
Speaker:Like his TrackMan report was just awful.
Speaker:Um, so one of those things unfortunately, but that, that didn't,
Speaker:he didn't cost us a game Friday.
Speaker:I mean, those guys, ball.
Speaker:We weren't good enough.
Speaker:But you know, it's another, you know, we said we had to, you know, we needed
Speaker:to win these three series and, and we've won two of them, so now we
Speaker:gotta go up in JMU and do it again.
Speaker:And, you know, two or three are on the road.
Speaker:And, um, the other one's kind of on the road.
Speaker:So, uh, but I think with the way things are shaping up, I mean, what
Speaker:are we tied with Texas State for fifth?
Speaker:For fifth.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, that just tells you how punched together it was that, you know, yeah.
Speaker:You're up there at fifth.
Speaker:That's pretty impressive.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you got some teams moving in the wrong direction.
Speaker:I mean, a appalachia's lost like eight in a row or.
Speaker:Um, Georgia State's lost a bunch in the road.
Speaker:Georgia Southern's been scuffling, uh, Marshall plays at Georgia State
Speaker:this weekend, so one of those, whoever loses that one's gonna
Speaker:probably be out of it, I think.
Speaker:Um, and they got nine and 10 wins, and then there's some other
Speaker:people playing each other too.
Speaker:So, but two more wins.
Speaker:I think you're gonna be in a tournament.
Speaker:Three.
Speaker:I think you got a good shot at being, you know, in that top six.
Speaker:I mean, you're not, no one's gonna catch the top four at this point, but
Speaker:you could definitely finish fifth.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:And, you know, um, fifth or sixth, you know, does the same thing for you.
Speaker:It keeps you out of the, it is just what bracket you're gonna be in, right?
Speaker:Like fifth, you're in the one seed, one seeds bracket, uh, the 1 8, 4, 5, and,
Speaker:and sixth you're in the two seeds bracket.
Speaker:So, um, you know, coast or southern miss, I mean, pick your poison.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Either one would be tough.
Speaker:Yeah, they're all tough.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I think it's really down, like the five and six spot.
Speaker:There's, there's five teams I think that can get there because I don't think
Speaker:anyone's gonna catch one through four.
Speaker:Like Right.
Speaker:Us trying to catch four games on Louisiana with six to go, probably.
Speaker:Probably, yeah.
Speaker:And they got
Speaker:the five record.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's, it's us, Texas State, Georgia, Southern Arkansas State and app.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then you've got, I think Texas State and Georgia Southern
Speaker:play each other this week.
Speaker:So you kind of need like a Georgia Southern to win that series,
Speaker:like two games to one something.
Speaker:That's the, the way that helps you.
Speaker:But a lot of things you can just root for for teams to lose.
Speaker:Like app and Arc State, you know, just.
Speaker:Just reform to lose.
Speaker:But yeah, I mean, I think three and three, you're right in the thick of it.
Speaker:Maybe you come down with some tiebreakers to that five, six seed, but you know, I
Speaker:think you, you handle it, handle well.
Speaker:We
Speaker:got the tiebreaker over Georgia Southern.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But that's the only one of the Georgia State I don't think is
Speaker:gonna be get in, get up there.
Speaker:So that's not gonna matter.
Speaker:Um, you know, six and oh solves a lot of problems.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That'd be good.
Speaker:Especially since Coastal's 20 and four Uhhuh, uh, they're, uh,
Speaker:their, their pitching numbers have been just out of this world, man.
Speaker:But you never know what can happen.
Speaker:So we gotta take care of, we got a Wednesday night BCU
Speaker:game in front of that too.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So, um, go have some fun with that and get, you know, probably throw
Speaker:everybody an inning, you know, get some guys didn't pitch this weekend.
Speaker:Need to get out there and try to stay sharp.
Speaker:So one of those type deals and play at the Diamond and, um.
Speaker:We've played pretty well at the Diamond through the years.
Speaker:You know, I, I couldn't even tell about that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Last time ever.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker:It might be the last time ever.
Speaker:Um, so, you know, get, uh, if we gotta arrest somebody
Speaker:in that game, then we will.
Speaker:'cause at the end of the day, it means nothing, uh, other than it's a game you're
Speaker:playing and you'd like to play well, and I, I thought, um, you know, all, all in
Speaker:all the guys did a good job this weekend.
Speaker:And anytime you get, you know, a couple really good starts, like,
Speaker:like we did on Saturday and Sunday, it's certainly helpful and had some
Speaker:big hits to go, to go along with it.
Speaker:Uh, so I, I mentioned this before we were talking before you came
Speaker:on, and I wanted to bring it up.
Speaker:Uh, you guys did a fantastic job with your pitching management this weekend,
Speaker:um, which is, it's weird to say like in with losing Friday, 11 to four,
Speaker:but it was pretty clear after that.
Speaker:It was like, well, I'm not gonna use the guys, I'm not gonna
Speaker:use like the best pictures and.
Speaker:It was a great scenario where some guys who had not really done great
Speaker:all year came out and had some of the best games of the season.
Speaker:And then with Hubble and Davis, you were set up.
Speaker:I mean, you, you went into Sunday, you had Bailey and Hunt and baes, and uh, I've
Speaker:lost the fourth one I had a minute ago.
Speaker:Um, all ready to go and if you needed him on Sunday and you didn't end up
Speaker:needing him, so those guys got rest.
Speaker:I mean, that was just a, a great, and, and it, it had to happen.
Speaker:Had to get the good pitching to have it happen, but a great job of coaching.
Speaker:You guys did.
Speaker:Well, I I think that sometimes on Friday, CB back in the old days, if you got
Speaker:behind early on Friday by five or six and the other team's ACE was out there
Speaker:and you're like, all right man, we're not gonna score seven more runs off this guy.
Speaker:You would use that to get your young guys their experience.
Speaker:Like you'd throw a bunch of your better freshmen that weren't quite ready to be
Speaker:in the moments, the leverage moments yet.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:And I thought that Friday, you know, I thought Park threw the ball pretty well.
Speaker:I thought Ezio threw the ball pretty well.
Speaker:And, uh, who was the other one we threw Friday?
Speaker:Dylan,
Speaker:Jimmy Tora, pitch grade and Dylan
Speaker:threw the ball pretty well.
Speaker:And that was each, I don't know, each threw, you know, one or two plus.
Speaker:But, um, I thought it, it, it, it was good.
Speaker:They, they did a good job.
Speaker:They kept the game right there.
Speaker:Um, you know, and we, we had a couple shots at it.
Speaker:We just couldn't get a big hit, but they didn't let it just fall to crap, you know?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, and so they killed a little bit of their offensive momentum.
Speaker:I mean, you think about they didn't score a lot, they didn't do a lot of offense.
Speaker:They had three home runs.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:after about the fifth inning on Friday.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I was, if you go after the fourth inning Friday, we pretty much
Speaker:dominated 'em the rest of the weekend.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And they had, they're all, all, they scored six more runs
Speaker:and they were on three swings.
Speaker:Yeah, so I thought we really pitched well after that and um,
Speaker:I was proud of our guys, you know, for bouncing back that way.
Speaker:And it's such a funny dynamic.
Speaker:I mean, people put so much importance on the Friday game.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Uh, I've always been of the mind that they over important overemphasize it.
Speaker:Um, everybody would love to be one and oh rather than oh and one.
Speaker:I get that.
Speaker:But it doesn't necessarily.
Speaker:And baseball's one of those sports where the momentum is the
Speaker:guy on the mound the next day.
Speaker:That's where your momentum is.
Speaker:And our, our two guys on the mound the next two days were better than their two.
Speaker:And so we were able to get that momentum back.
Speaker:Their guy was better than ours on Friday.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:But sometimes, you know, you go out and you, you lose a, a close one on Friday.
Speaker:Both teams pitch well, and you know, that happens, that happens
Speaker:oftentimes as well, but you just gotta bounce back and win the next one.
Speaker:And then I think the momentum then switches like, all right,
Speaker:they won Friday, we won Saturday.
Speaker:You know, we got the win going in the Sunday.
Speaker:We're feeling a little better about ourselves now.
Speaker:And you know, we've all won on Friday and lost on Saturday too.
Speaker:And you are like, man, we had a chance to win the series.
Speaker:We didn't get it done.
Speaker:Now we kind of gotta win tomorrow.
Speaker:And the, the other team that lost Friday and one Saturday's like,
Speaker:all right, we get to play for the series now we, we get to try to win.
Speaker:And so the mindset of it is, you know, is always so important.
Speaker:Um, and you know, it's, we haven't won a lot on Fridays.
Speaker:I mean, I was looking, we were looking back at.
Speaker:Our record on the three days.
Speaker:You know, if you wanna talk about what pictures are, you know,
Speaker:what's your record when this guy pitches, you know, that stat.
Speaker:I was think it's cool.
Speaker:What mm-hmm.
Speaker:Not necessarily his record.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:What's your team's record and Friday's in the league?
Speaker:Um, I think we are two and six.
Speaker:Um, we've played eight.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, and then Saturdays, I believe, uh, we're four and four, um, which
Speaker:means we're six and two on Sundays.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:About as balanced as you can be.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so it's like, yeah, we're winning on Sunday, we're not winning on Friday,
Speaker:and we're, you know, 500 on Saturday.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So it's, uh, and we're also, you know, one of those, one of the few teams that
Speaker:haven't swept somebody or been swept.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, so we've just kind of been standing right in the middle.
Speaker:Um, and Marshall
Speaker:Marshall came in Friday riding a, a great hot streak.
Speaker:I think they won seven in a row.
Speaker:They beat a ranked West Virginia team.
Speaker:That was three games.
Speaker:Clear of everyone else in the Big 12.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think at least offensively with the bats, they were seeing the
Speaker:ball like it was a beach ball.
Speaker:And sometimes when you get those teams that maybe are overachieving a little
Speaker:bit and kind of on that hot streak, once they hit that loss and they kind of
Speaker:deplete that energy, man, they, they fall.
Speaker:And I feel like the way that we pitched on Saturday kind of extinguished that Flint.
Speaker:That's what it felt like.
Speaker:They didn't really, I don't feel like they had a whole lot together Sunday
Speaker:outside of that top of the first.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And obviously Blake had a lot to do with that because he was,
Speaker:you know, he kept them that way.
Speaker:And it's always interesting to see, 'cause it's always just different, you know,
Speaker:they gotta go down and play Georgia State, who they're a game ahead of, we were
Speaker:a game ahead of them coming into this.
Speaker:And um, you know, so they, they gotta go on the road and anything can
Speaker:happen down in that park down there too, man, that's an offensive park.
Speaker:So, and Georgia State can hit, uh, they just haven't been playing well.
Speaker:So, um, but they, they're, they're fighting for their lives now.
Speaker:You know, they got, they gotta win that series this weekend.
Speaker:So, um, and then if they beat Marshall in the series, then that, that may put,
Speaker:you know, Marshall pretty much out of it.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, yeah,
Speaker:a lot of, uh, grits and chaos going on in the next couple weeks here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I
Speaker:know.
Speaker:Yeah, a lot of people.
Speaker:Um, did you see, did you see, uh, somebody sent it to me on Twitter,
Speaker:there was a, some sort of bench clear or something in the end of the JMU
Speaker:Georgia Southern game yesterday?
Speaker:No, I don't think I saw that one.
Speaker:You have to look that up.
Speaker:I don't know what happened, but, um, but you know, baseball bench
Speaker:clears are much a do about nothing.
Speaker:Bunch of guys.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it looks cool because
Speaker:there's so many
Speaker:guys, but it's nothing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's a lot of chaos.
Speaker:Bo was telling me a little bit about it.
Speaker:He was texting me on Sunday.
Speaker:Uh, I never got a chance to see the video, but there's, I think there's
Speaker:been a couple of things up in, uh, uh, with involving JMU this year.
Speaker:There's been a couple of, uh, bench clearing situations.
Speaker:I will say.
Speaker:It does make me think of, you know, the, uh, the big internet
Speaker:thing going around right now, the a hundred men versus a gorilla.
Speaker:The only thing I've seen that was, the only thing I've seen from
Speaker:that that was funny was like, what about a hundred Don Zimmers versus.
Speaker:Was Pedro Mars who would win
Speaker:baseball bra.
Speaker:Maybe think of that one.
Speaker:But I got, uh, Gary, you got that picture.
Speaker:I got, I got a picture, uh, at the end of the game yesterday.
Speaker:I really enjoyed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So this was, I thought it was great.
Speaker:You know, they're in the line.
Speaker:Uh, you know, I think it's just, it's just cool to have those moments with
Speaker:the guys, you know, Blake Blake's been here with y'all for four years.
Speaker:I mean, you knew 'em I'm sure for years before that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, it's just a, it's gotta be fun to watch these guys grow
Speaker:up and have these big moments.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Without a doubt, man.
Speaker:It's, you know, and especially your seniors.
Speaker:'cause they, you don't get to be a senior in a baseball program without going
Speaker:through ups and downs and tough times.
Speaker:You're talking about a kid, you're talking about resilient.
Speaker:You know, that kid had the world by the balls his freshman
Speaker:year, um, came out of nowhere.
Speaker:Conference, first team all conference.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Which is unheard of for a freshman in a conference like conference, USA.
Speaker:Uh, first female all conference pitcher and freshman of the year.
Speaker:Um, and you know, everybody's, I mean, I don't even, what was ZRA, like something?
Speaker:It was like once I
Speaker:to looked at it yesterday.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:It was just crazy, crazy.
Speaker:And, and then, you know, sophomore year the injury bug got him.
Speaker:He, uh mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, you know, he, he, he was banged up a little bit.
Speaker:He ended up, you know, missing the end of the year with, uh, ACL surgery.
Speaker:And then he had the meniscus thing and coming back the next year
Speaker:just wasn't ever quite himself.
Speaker:Um, and this year he was finally healthy again and started to show good bits
Speaker:and pieces of, of, of even a better version of the old Blake Morgan.
Speaker:'cause he had a breaking ball now and he didn't even have that as a freshman.
Speaker:It was pretty much fast change, um, fast ball.
Speaker:And he was still throwing a fast ball in 91 in the nineties.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was, it was like, good.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So he's carried his velocity.
Speaker:A couple pro guys were in there to see him yesterday.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I was so happy about that.
Speaker:Um, 'cause sometimes it's when they see you, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And a couple of the guys called me today and said, man,
Speaker:that was awesome performance.
Speaker:You know, we were so impressed.
Speaker:So I like that for him, certainly.
Speaker:And he's a wonderful kid.
Speaker:He is a great teammate.
Speaker:You know, when he is not pitching, he's on the front rail, the dugout.
Speaker:He's encouraging all his,
Speaker:sometimes even when he is pitching.
Speaker:Yeah, sometimes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We got, I saw you actually yesterday.
Speaker:He was, he was there shouting while they were batting.
Speaker:I saw you kind of look over.
Speaker:I don't know if that was, it was at that, but it in my mind when you're
Speaker:like, is he really doing that?
Speaker:Ladies in the middle of this.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Uh, I think Mike came up to me after the seventh and.
Speaker:We were talking about pitching, and I said, well, he looks pretty good, man.
Speaker:How's he feel?
Speaker:He goes, I don't know.
Speaker:I'm not talking to him.
Speaker:That's, that's baseball in a nutshell right there, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Leave, leave alone.
Speaker:I might say something else, screw him up.
Speaker:I leave him alone.
Speaker:He's doing great.
Speaker:And that was, I remember talking to Mike about, I think he had
Speaker:everything was Mike Tano that he had, uh, coach, yeah, ano, yeah.
Speaker:Made the big leagues.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I remember talking to him about it.
Speaker:He was like, all I was trying to do was just not mess him up.
Speaker:That was my entire plan with him, is to do everything I could to stay
Speaker:outta his way and let him succeed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's kind of last night what it was, man, he just, yeah.
Speaker:Let him, let him roll like that.
Speaker:And what, like I said, he, I mean, I would imagine it'd be
Speaker:the Sunbelt pitcher of the week.
Speaker:I don't know if somebody could, I would hope so.
Speaker:Better be.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There'll be,
Speaker:there'll be some guy for Southern Miss Louisiana that threw, uh, seven innings.
Speaker:That gave up four runs.
Speaker:So he would the best,
Speaker:I mean, complete games are so rare now in any level of baseball.
Speaker:Um, you know, college baseball in particular, so probate
Speaker:any level, they're rare.
Speaker:I mean, and so they should be celebrated, especially when it wasn't like we threw
Speaker:him 160 pitches to get 'em that, uh, we would never do that, first of all.
Speaker:But he, he did it on schedule, you know, I mean, 112 over nine.
Speaker:Uh, I'm an English major, so you can do math mean, it's probably about, you
Speaker:know, it's probably about, you know, 13, 14 pitches in inning, which is nothing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's really what you shoot for, right?
Speaker:Like about 15 pitches in inning.
Speaker:And I feel like you're on track in what, two hours?
Speaker:One, 12.4, which is perfect.
Speaker:12.4. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You want about 13 inning?
Speaker:I mean, it's, it's pretty much what you need to do to pitch a, a complete game.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:One 20 they say.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's, uh, something like that.
Speaker:So, but he was fantastic and you know, he only had a couple
Speaker:innings where he had to mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, battle out of something and, um, we, we've got the one break where
Speaker:they had the steal in there with one out and we got the battered interference on
Speaker:the strikeout and yeah, that saved a run.
Speaker:But other than that, man, it was all, it was all him and the
Speaker:guys picking him up behind him.
Speaker:So, um, hopefully we can keep that up.
Speaker:And, you know, I'm glad this isn't a short week for him coming off that.
Speaker:'cause the following week will be, and we gotta get through this week and
Speaker:then we gotta figure out, you know.
Speaker:You guys tell me, gimme some of your thoughts on what we need to do to set
Speaker:up the picture for the how do, that's always a, how do you get Rick, you have
Speaker:a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series, the last one, and then you've got,
Speaker:you know, you're, if you're not in the playing game, you play Wednesday.
Speaker:If you're in the playing game, you play Tuesday.
Speaker:The whole playing dynamic changes everything, right?
Speaker:Because it's one you gotta win, must win.
Speaker:But if you're in the regular tournament, then you know, it's, it's a little
Speaker:different than if you're in play it.
Speaker:So we'll see what's up and, uh, let's, let's get there.
Speaker:First
Speaker:I say, I imagine this weekend we'll have a lot, 'cause how you do this weekend
Speaker:will probably give you a better idea of where you might be standing, regardless
Speaker:of what happens against Coastal.
Speaker:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker:I, I think if, if you can win the series this weekend
Speaker:mm-hmm.
Speaker:With 14.
Speaker:Depending on what, you know, Texas State does.
Speaker:Um, obviously, and then a couple other, I don't see anybody below us sweeping
Speaker:some of their plan, um, at this point.
Speaker:So, uh, it'll probably tell you, Hey, we're in, but we gotta, um,
Speaker:we gotta win one to, you know, maybe be in the, in the top six.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I, I think, I really do think fifteen's gonna get you in the top six this year.
Speaker:Feels like Yeah.
Speaker:It's looking like it here a couple weeks away.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:yeah,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Make 'em down to some tiebreakers if you're at 15 and 15, but
Speaker:you'll be in the conversation.
Speaker:I think 16 and 14.
Speaker:You're pretty much at this, I would think guaranteed a five or succeed.
Speaker:Um, yeah, just based on, and like I said,
Speaker:18 and 12 will really get you somewhere.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Started nipping in Louisiana there for that, that five seat.
Speaker:Yeah, it that, that's, that's a lot to figure out, manage too.
Speaker:'cause you also have a midweek next week before we play coastal at War
Speaker:Memorial and that may be you just the whole kitchen sink out there.
Speaker:Just see what happens.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That'll be one of those games, um, that you're just gonna go
Speaker:think about it like a practice.
Speaker:It's a, it's a good day to just get some guys some work and you may play
Speaker:a few guys and get 'em outta there and rest 'em, and depending on what
Speaker:we need to do against, against Coastal and that kind of thing, um, and then,
Speaker:you know, you gotta figure out what you want to do on with your pitching.
Speaker:Um, I, I've been in situations before where you really only needed, um,
Speaker:well you remember Covid, we, we didn't play, uh, have they had a
Speaker:open weekend that last weekend before the conference state tournament?
Speaker:And we ended up going down and playing Louisiana Tech and we
Speaker:played them Friday, Saturday.
Speaker:And we threw our, our our, um, we threw, uh, uh, Moore and, and
Speaker:Gregory both in the Friday game.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, just to give 'em an extra couple days for the tournament if you need one win.
Speaker:And we ended up winning both of those games, but we didn't need to.
Speaker:But, um, 'cause it was already set for the conference, if you need one win, it
Speaker:could be a scenario where, you know, you would just throw Blake at the end of one
Speaker:of the first two games, a couple innings to close and try to win it and that,
Speaker:and then he's done for the week and you could throw him first in the tournament,
Speaker:um, if you had to, something like that.
Speaker:So, but gotta go beat JMU and then all those things would be fun to talk about.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And they're, and that's not gonna be easy.
Speaker:They, no, they, you know, they, they obviously, they're
Speaker:one of the better pitching.
Speaker:Staff's in the league, top to bottom.
Speaker:Um, they got some guys that can throw the ball and a couple
Speaker:lefties that are pretty good.
Speaker:Um, yeah, Aiden, uh,
Speaker:Aiden Kools brother is doing really well.
Speaker:Yep, yep.
Speaker:They haven't hit a ton this year, um, but it's an offensive ballpark, so, and I, I
Speaker:did look at the extended weather forecast.
Speaker:It's gonna be cool up there on, uh, on, on Friday night.
Speaker:Um, so shocker in Harrisonburg, but, uh, and then Saturday
Speaker:and Sunday look nice, so,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:well, let's do it.
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:I'm, I'm all for six and Oh, let's do it.
Speaker:Let's go out and get some wins.
Speaker:Hey, we were supposed to have the groundbreaking ceremony today for the
Speaker:Elmer Family Stadium and the, uh, I guess whatever meteorologist they were
Speaker:talking to told 'em that it was gonna be, uh, some pretty bad weather around.
Speaker:So they postponed it to June 5th.
Speaker:Instead of May 5th.
Speaker:So we got that giant tent at our, our home plate right now looks
Speaker:like a, a Star Wars spaceship.
Speaker:I mean, it's huge.
Speaker:And I was like, how are we gonna practice tomorrow with this thing there?
Speaker:So yeah, we're gonna have to be creative.
Speaker:I think they're trying to get it down, but I haven't been given any guarantees.
Speaker:So just one more thing to around, it's like turtle, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, it's huge.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, so yeah, we may, maybe I'll take BP inside it.
Speaker:Maybe.
Speaker:We'll see.
Speaker:That's what I was thinking.
Speaker:Just you have to hit everything on a line or on the ground.
Speaker:If you pop it up, we gonna, you, you owe money for the tent.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Don't come pick without, but have
Speaker:a bunch of holes in it from all the popups.
Speaker:And that's a good lesson for the hitters.
Speaker:We're not trying to get popups.
Speaker:Hit it out.
Speaker:There's Right, exactly.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Uh, any questions?
Speaker:Anybody chime in on anything?
Speaker:No, you've an, you answered a couple questions that I had picked up just
Speaker:in person about, you know, approach to pitching and, and all of that good stuff.
Speaker:I will float you one because Chiron Hammond is gonna
Speaker:be our player guest today.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, watching him be the bullpen catcher and then having to run
Speaker:out and warm up the pitchers.
Speaker:Uh, I I guess, is he the emergency backup catcher now given the situation?
Speaker:He
Speaker:is, yeah.
Speaker:He is the, um, he's the guy that, he's been in the bullpen this
Speaker:year times when we've had to get two guys going and he does fine.
Speaker:And, um, you know, his biggest issue was he said, I don't have a cup, A cup, but
Speaker:yeah, we probably need to do that, Ron.
Speaker:Um, he is, he is an amazingly wonderful kid, great kid.
Speaker:His energy, you know, is infectious.
Speaker:He loves being a part of a team.
Speaker:Um, he plays hard.
Speaker:He is, he is just great and he gave us a big spark yesterday, man.
Speaker:And, um, you know, he hadn't played for a couple weeks much at all.
Speaker:A couple pitch hit, appearances, but he never mopes.
Speaker:He's always in the game.
Speaker:He, um, he is just a really, really fun guy to have on your team in your program
Speaker:and we all appreciate him so much.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're excited to talk to him and, and talk all about the
Speaker:weekend and his whole journey.
Speaker:And he's from Essex County.
Speaker:I went to Middlesex County, so we got a little, there you go.
Speaker:Little something, something there too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but no, I think, I think that's all we had and as always coach, we
Speaker:appreciate having you on here, man.
Speaker:It's an awesome boost for us and get to hear it.
Speaker:The information directly from you is always a big win.
Speaker:Trying my best to get to the diamond this week.
Speaker:I think CB's coming up, I'll be there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So we'll do that.
Speaker:And then, uh, of course we watching this weekend on ESPN plus for the JMU series.
Speaker:Hey, one of the things
Speaker:we are gonna try to do with, um, Tahraun, and you usually only wanna
Speaker:do it as a, in a, in a home game.
Speaker:Um, but I thought it would be cool to, to try and, and we're not gonna do it
Speaker:Wednesday night, uh, but we may try it at Richmond the following Tuesday.
Speaker:Um, never had a guy try to play all nine positions in the game.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:And so we're gonna give that award.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:We need to have the lead Yeah.
Speaker:In the, or at least be tied in the ninth grade to work, or else
Speaker:you're like, wasted a bunch of time.
Speaker:So, um, I don't know.
Speaker:Well, you know, he
Speaker:actually has a ton of pitching experience.
Speaker:I'm like, I know we were he gonna do this with, with, uh, Bryce Windham.
Speaker:We were gonna, which he had not ever pitched in college, so he pitched some
Speaker:bull, but, but, uh, Ron has a decent amount of, uh, pitching experience.
Speaker:He does.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he is actually been throwing bullpens, you know, um, he
Speaker:looked pretty good last week.
Speaker:He threw the hitters.
Speaker:So we may, we may still use him in that capacity, so we're gonna think about it.
Speaker:I'd love to be able to do it.
Speaker:I wish we had one more midweek home game.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, to do it in.
Speaker:'cause like I said, if you go through all that and then you don't
Speaker:get to, you know, play the night, that's when he is got a pitch.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, it kind of defeats the purpose of it a little bit.
Speaker:So, uh, but, but it's something we'd like to do, so we'll see.
Speaker:That would be pretty awesome.
Speaker:You know, it's always
Speaker:that mid, uh, switch of the eighth, you know, if the situation we're gonna, we're
Speaker:gonna be winning the game, we're not gonna worry about it, but just in case.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You can always throw in here.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:We
Speaker:could, we could, we could just bring 'em in.
Speaker:Bring 'em in the eighth top.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Off the field to pitch two outs in eighth.
Speaker:I mean, ECU does it right.
Speaker:Why not us?
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's a good, that's a good call.
Speaker:We might, we might need to try that.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Alright guys, we'll your time to Ron and thank you Goman.
Speaker:Appreciate you man.
Speaker:Thank you, coach.
Speaker:Go
Speaker:Monarch.
Speaker:All right, we're gonna take a quick break and we will be right back.
Speaker:This episode of the Monarchist podcast, it's brought to you
Speaker:by the pride of ODU Collective.
Speaker:Their mission is to elevate the experience of student athletes through
Speaker:name, image, and likeness, while also elevating the fan experience.
Speaker:If you or your business are interested in getting involved,
Speaker:you can reach out to us directly or go over to the pride of odu.com.
Speaker:That is the pride of odu.com.
Speaker:Thank you for listening, and go Monarchs
Speaker:Welcome back, Monarch fans to the Hudson Homer podcast.
Speaker:We are excited to bring on infielder slash bullpen catcher.
Speaker:Little bit of everything.
Speaker:Senior Tahraun Hammond has joined the podcast.
Speaker:Tahraun.
Speaker:How is it going, man?
Speaker:Uh,
Speaker:going
Speaker:really well.
Speaker:How you
Speaker:guys doing?
Speaker:We are great man.
Speaker:We are great.
Speaker:We know you are, uh, kind of in the middle of your journey back to campus from Essex.
Speaker:Uh, back in my home county of Middlesex where we apparently just
Speaker:still don't have cell towers there.
Speaker:They haven't upgrade since I graduated.
Speaker:Middlesex always gonna be like that.
Speaker:Always.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We'll be flying cars and they'll still be like, man, this, this
Speaker:wife out here is terrible.
Speaker:You
Speaker:definitely hop in a little time machine.
Speaker:I actually didn't know you was from Middlesex.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Graduated from Middlesex, played down in Deltaville, ballpark.
Speaker:Uh, it was obviously well before you were there.
Speaker:This is 2005 when I graduated high school.
Speaker:I think the, uh, the big name for Essex then was Harold Muzingo.
Speaker:I don't know if you heard that.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Harold heard
Speaker:that.
Speaker:I actually trained with Harold a few times.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah, he was a beast.
Speaker:He was throwing like low nineties to me and I was like 15 years old
Speaker:and it did not go well for me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, Tahraun you had a, a great weekend.
Speaker:I know you spent a lot of time running back and forth from the dugouts of the
Speaker:bullpen to catch the guys when we were down two catchers, but huge hit on
Speaker:Sunday to kind of break the offense open.
Speaker:What'd you think about the weekend?
Speaker:Um, I thought the weekend started off a little shaky, but
Speaker:uh, in the end it went well.
Speaker:We, we rallied together.
Speaker:We stayed together as a team to keep fighting.
Speaker:To overcome the obstacles that got in our way of winning.
Speaker:So I think it went really, it went, it started off bad, but ended.
Speaker:Ended.
Speaker:Ended up ended up really good.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're one of those guys that you're just such an important part of any
Speaker:team, like you show up every day, you've got a great attitude, you're always
Speaker:smiling, you can see you're out there, just always uplifting the guys man.
Speaker:Like it.
Speaker:Do you, is that a thing you think about doing or just something
Speaker:that just comes naturally to you?
Speaker:Uh, I would say it's a little bit of both.
Speaker:Uh, of course I'm human so sometimes I don't have a good day.
Speaker:But I just feel like if energy's a really important thing to, like in
Speaker:baseball to me, because like if you don't have good energy, then like
Speaker:how are you gonna perform well or how are you gonna do anything good?
Speaker:So I just feel like being the person I am to bring the energy to the
Speaker:team and to the dugout or on the field, like it just helps out a lot
Speaker:more than what anybody would think.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And you've moved around a couple positions this year.
Speaker:I think you've, you've played third, you've played second,
Speaker:you've done a couple other things.
Speaker:Um, but how is that for you just kind of always having to be at the ready to go?
Speaker:Is that part of that just positive energy you're bringing to the dugout?
Speaker:Uh, I'm just somebody that, that's just wants to play and win.
Speaker:Like, uh, when I was younger, like we just always wanted to compete.
Speaker:Like, especially like in Essex, like it's not many good baseball players.
Speaker:So like, of course, like I had to be that guy to play every position like
Speaker:that was needed whenever we needed it.
Speaker:So I just feel like the competitive nature is something that helps me bring, uh,
Speaker:like a winning mentality to the team.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and to that end, you know, you.
Speaker:This is your first year playing division one.
Speaker:You, you've, you've got as much college experience as pretty much anybody on
Speaker:the team, you know, playing at D two at Virginia State and, and Bluefield State.
Speaker:But this first year at D one, but also the first time, you've really haven't
Speaker:been in the lineup every single day.
Speaker:I mean, other, other years.
Speaker:You know, you're playing shortstop every day.
Speaker:You're even pitching every day.
Speaker:What's that adjustment been like for you to have, to learn how to,
Speaker:like I said, be ready anytime.
Speaker:I,
Speaker:uh, most of the time, of course,
Speaker:thanks.
Speaker:Not like, I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna be the best for the team, but as
Speaker:in like, if he sees something that like we don't see, then we have to just trust
Speaker:what he sees because he's been in here.
Speaker:20 plus years.
Speaker:So it's just the adjustment has been just, just being myself
Speaker:and just being there to help.
Speaker:Like, you know, like, like you said, like I've been, I've been at the college level
Speaker:for three years, so like I've seen the ups, I've seen the down, I've seen it all.
Speaker:So I just wanna be here to help my team win and succeeded in,
Speaker:Just asking a little bit about, you know, how you got recruited to ODU.
Speaker:Obviously you're at Virginia State for, for coup for two years.
Speaker:You're at Bluefield State for a year, you know, what's that journey
Speaker:like going get eventually coming from Bluefield to old Dominion?
Speaker:Uh, I would say that was a good, it was a, at first it was, it was a little rough.
Speaker:Uh, like when I first had entered the portal, I ended up entering
Speaker:the portal because my coach for Bluetooth state ended up leaving
Speaker:and going to a different school.
Speaker:So the recruiting, like I remember I just, one day, like I had, I honestly,
Speaker:I'm not gonna say I committed to another school, but like, I had
Speaker:told a school that was coming, but I just wanted to like battle myself.
Speaker:And, uh, one day, I just remember I text Hayes my sophomore year at college
Speaker:when I first entered the portal.
Speaker:And we had a little conversation and whatnot, and then I just was like,
Speaker:I just wanna, I'm gonna text him this year just to see, see what the
Speaker:odds are that I get the opportunity to be able to play at division one.
Speaker:Glad it worked out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It worked out really well for us.
Speaker:So we're, we're glad you landed here.
Speaker:I, I literally, like, when h first got to ODU, the first thing I told him is,
Speaker:you know, the guys you recruited at VMI were always some of my favorite human
Speaker:beings because I'd see 'em, you know, playing here local in high school.
Speaker:And so it makes perfect sense that you were the guy that you texted Hayes.
Speaker:'cause I was like, yep.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Just another top notch, fantastic human being.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what I try to be.
Speaker:You
Speaker:go.
Speaker:Awesome man.
Speaker:Well, we've, uh, we, we've talked to several other guys on the team.
Speaker:I think you're living in a house with Scotty and who's the, the third with you?
Speaker:Zach.
Speaker:Zach, yeah.
Speaker:Zach.
Speaker:Zach Leite.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Tell us a little bit about living in that house.
Speaker:Uh, it's a great household to live in, honestly.
Speaker:Uh.
Speaker:All of, like, me and Scotty, like we're we'd loud ones.
Speaker:We the talkative ones, uh, Zach don't really talk as much, but we get Zach
Speaker:out of his, like, out of his comfort zone when we're in the house together.
Speaker:So the household is just a fun household to live in.
Speaker:Like, we always laughing, joking, uh, we, we cook for each other.
Speaker:We do everything.
Speaker:Like it's a really good household to live in.
Speaker:Does Scotty ever get you do pterodactyl sounds with him?
Speaker:That's not something do, that's, that's more of him exact thing.
Speaker:Like, I'm more than one.
Speaker:Like I'm just gonna sit here and just laugh at them doing it.
Speaker:Because like what?
Speaker:Like,
Speaker:just like a competition heard, we heard about in
Speaker:the left field on like Saturday.
Speaker:He was out there at the end of the game.
Speaker:He was just out.
Speaker:You could hear him yelling, nobody else out there.
Speaker:He was like, let's go.
Speaker:Just being Scotty.
Speaker:Just saying.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's Scott.
Speaker:Definitely.
Speaker:Scotty right there.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Well, I mean, I, I noticed you down in the bullpen catching, I think early
Speaker:in the day on Saturday and 'cause I kind of knew the situation with,
Speaker:with f and then with Slate as well.
Speaker:Uh, but I assume you have caught at some point before 'cause
Speaker:you looked a little too natural out there, even in the bullpen.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah, I've caught throughout my whole life.
Speaker:Uh, I probably started, my catching was actually the first position I played.
Speaker:Like I played in baseball.
Speaker:I didn't start playing shortstop until about my seventh
Speaker:grade year, middle school.
Speaker:But like, catching is something that like I started doing, like that
Speaker:was one of the first things that,
Speaker:and pitching, pitching as long as you have the proper equipment to catch, right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's, that's the big issue.
Speaker:Yeah, I was about to say, you can go ask Evan if you can go without one.
Speaker:'cause I'm pretty sure he caught one right off the plate into him, uh, on Sunday.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Sunday, yes.
Speaker:I think Evan got hit twice on Sunday.
Speaker:I believe he's gotta be just
Speaker:living in an ice bath this, uh, next couple days.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:And yeah, you were talking about pitching and I, I, I brought that up a little.
Speaker:We talked about Finney.
Speaker:You, you pitched a ton between Virginia State and Bluefield State.
Speaker:What, what was that like?
Speaker:I think, I think you told me one time that it just kind of happened.
Speaker:Um, I pitched in high school and, uh, I think my freshman year of my freshman
Speaker:year of Virginia State, I believe one of our starters had got hurt.
Speaker:And uh, we just was looking for somebody like to just do it.
Speaker:And I just remember, like, I was like, man, I could do it.
Speaker:Like it's, you know, I, I'm not gonna say I was the hardest store my freshman
Speaker:year, but I can definitely say from my freshman year to now, like I've picked up
Speaker:a lot more vlo than what I started with.
Speaker:Well, I, I wanna tell the fans out there just actually how good you were pitching.
Speaker:So at Virginia State, 30 appearances, 3.81 ERA two 16 batting average
Speaker:against conference player of the year while you're there too.
Speaker:Then at Bluefield, was it 12 appearances, 2.53 ERA with three saves,
Speaker:uh, player of the Year award again.
Speaker:So I would say you were more than just like, getting filled into a spot.
Speaker:Like it seems like you may have upgraded the position by throwing you up there.
Speaker:Yeah, I was, like I said, I just, when I'm a, I'm a competitor, so I always,
Speaker:when I'm up on the mound, like it's just, it's you versus me, and I'm gonna bet
Speaker:on myself 10 times outta 10, no matter who it is or who step into the box.
Speaker:Like, I'm gonna bet on myself no matter what.
Speaker:Uh, I had a picture, uh, Gary, if you got the one of, uh, him and Mav.
Speaker:Uh, and this is, and I probably got a, a ton of these, but, uh, I noticed you guys
Speaker:take a take a minute before every game.
Speaker:Uh, whoop it went away.
Speaker:Is that, uh, take a minute before every game to to pray with each other.
Speaker:I tell, tell me why that's important for you guys and how
Speaker:did y'all start doing that?
Speaker:Um, I forgot what series started it.
Speaker:I believe it was, um, the series after Charlotte, when we were, when we were
Speaker:going to Auburn, like our Auburn series.
Speaker:Uh, it just was a thing, like we just came to each other like, uh, before the game.
Speaker:'cause we usually, we usually pray as a team.
Speaker:So like we would present, we would break off and throw and stuff.
Speaker:So like one day, like me and Mav just like, 'cause me and Mav are
Speaker:really close and like we both like, believe, like God is like the number
Speaker:one like thing person in our lives.
Speaker:So like, we do everything through him.
Speaker:So like, I. Me and him just one day, like disagree, like
Speaker:let's just pray before the game.
Speaker:And we just been praying in every game and it hasn't stopped since.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:It's always a ni it's a nice moment.
Speaker:Anytime another photographer is at a game, that's where, oh, you
Speaker:see, you can see it kind, see that photographer like click form to get it.
Speaker:But yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I remember the first time I met you was at a volleyball game.
Speaker:It was You were hanging out with Mav.
Speaker:Yeah, that was, and I was immediately like, well, I love this guy.
Speaker:I can't wait to see him get to play all here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mav was like, Mav was the first, like one of the first teammates that I had
Speaker:here that like, we actually clicked like as soon as we met each other.
Speaker:So like, that's, that's my boy, like, so yeah.
Speaker:So he, now that's interesting 'cause you know, it, I see him when he
Speaker:gets kind of hyped up on the field, especially when things start happening.
Speaker:He's a little louder, but in general, like, I've known Matt like two years
Speaker:and he maybe hadn't said 12 words to me.
Speaker:So it's funny 'cause you're, you're much more talkative.
Speaker:Is he, is he like that when y'all hang out or is it just like, you
Speaker:gotta open him up a little bit?
Speaker:Uh, I'm gonna say like, I remember 'cause everybody tells me like
Speaker:Mav, like ma, even Mav will tell me like he didn't talk to nobody last.
Speaker:His, uh, the first came here and I just remember like when I first came, I, it
Speaker:was like August and like we just, like all of us went to, um, our teammates
Speaker:house and we was just sitting there and talking and vi vibing with each other.
Speaker:And I just remember like him coming up just like introducing himself and
Speaker:showing me around the different things.
Speaker:Like we just had like a talk, like he, I found out he was from Florida.
Speaker:Uh, just different things.
Speaker:Like, it just was like a, a instant bond.
Speaker:Like as soon as we started talking,
Speaker:just
Speaker:soulmates, I get it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:CB got a couple other great shots from this weekend too.
Speaker:So, uh, if you ever need evidence that you caught at OD, if you sent
Speaker:out, don't up behind the plate.
Speaker:Uh, CB has got you covered.
Speaker:I mean
Speaker:Oh, of course.
Speaker:The smile, right?
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:That is awesome.
Speaker:And by the way, no one is gonna be, uh, trying to railroad the catcher.
Speaker:'cause that's a, it's gonna be a tough one to get through.
Speaker:I can tell you that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Did you play football?
Speaker:I have to assume you played like every sport there.
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:In high school
Speaker:I played football and I also played basketball in high school.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah, just, I just assuming, like you said, in a small town anyway, and
Speaker:you're a pretty phenomenal athlete.
Speaker:I had to imagine you were just like top of the world.
Speaker:So what, what'd you play in?
Speaker:I'm mis, I'm, I don't wanna put any disparagement on your height,
Speaker:but I'm assuming point guard and basketball and uh, yeah.
Speaker:And what were you football like running back, linebacker,
Speaker:running back, and safety.
Speaker:Actually.
Speaker:Safety, yeah.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Yeah, I see it.
Speaker:Some
Speaker:of those, uh, smaller county high schools out there, if you can run 50 yards
Speaker:without falling over, they're gonna be like, oh, you're a three sport athlete.
Speaker:Then there's Tahraun who ends up being like the best player
Speaker:in every sport that he plays.
Speaker:So I That's awesome.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:That's exactly how it is at the small schools.
Speaker:Everybody plays out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I have a year of cross country for some reason because they just
Speaker:didn't have enough guys to run, so
Speaker:that's
Speaker:funny.
Speaker:Uh, awesome.
Speaker:Well, Tahraun, we ask everyone who comes on, uh, you know, we've got a
Speaker:college elements to MLB, the show, you got the college football game back.
Speaker:So if they were to make a college baseball game, what would be your overall rating?
Speaker:And then what within the ratings would you spike?
Speaker:Could be like contact versus righties, power versus lefties, fielding.
Speaker:So overall and then your best attribute.
Speaker:Uh, I probably would be like a 85 overall.
Speaker:85 I think.
Speaker:Uh, and my best attribute would be my contact versus rights and lefties.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just contact all around, like putting the ball in clay, hitting line drives.
Speaker:That's, that would probably be my best attributes.
Speaker:This is, so you joined the, the growing list again, you see kind
Speaker:of who the people we have at odu.
Speaker:'cause most of our guys give that like 81 to 85 range.
Speaker:It's like, yeah, I'm, I'm good.
Speaker:You know, I'm not a mid, so, Hey, you can, you can, you can do
Speaker:something with this ball player.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Except for Was Zach.
Speaker:Wasn't Zach the only like No, I'm 99.
Speaker:99.
Speaker:Yeah, he's nine.
Speaker:Nine, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, that sound like too, Zach definitely would say 99.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think Scotty said he is somewhere in the low eighties or something like that.
Speaker:So, uh,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We, yeah, a lot of, lot of 80, 81 to 85 range, which is it.
Speaker:Which is fine.
Speaker:Another, I mean, especially the game.
Speaker:I mean, you guys are young, you know, put you in, put you in a ball game.
Speaker:That's pretty good.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, I know you had finals this week.
Speaker:We won't make you say how you felt you did on those, but what is, uh,
Speaker:what's next for you once the season wraps and the semester's over?
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:I'll ask you the harder question.
Speaker:Yeah, I would definitely try.
Speaker:I'm a, I'm play travel ball.
Speaker:I mean, uh, fall ball, I'm sorry, spring summer ball somewhere.
Speaker:I'm gonna play summer ball somewhere just to, uh, keep, keep everything
Speaker:good and, uh, hopefully like either at the draft or during the draft, like,
Speaker:you know, I'm just trying to do my best to get a shot at the next level.
Speaker:Honestly.
Speaker:There's lots of indie ball opportunities too.
Speaker:If it doesn't, you know, affiliate there.
Speaker:There's, and it's not, you know, Indy ball a few years back, you
Speaker:know, 10, 20 years ago was like, oh man, this is not that good.
Speaker:But now it's, it's, it's pretty solid.
Speaker:You can actually, I was talking to, um, Kyle Battle's mom,
Speaker:Kyle is one of our alums.
Speaker:He played, he got, uh, picked up by the Yankees for a few years and he's playing
Speaker:indie ball right now in, uh, Nebraska.
Speaker:And we're talking about, so, you know, now they actually pay enough.
Speaker:You can actually live and like, pay your bills and do Okay on.
Speaker:So it's, yeah.
Speaker:Even if it doesn't, uh, work out with, uh, with affiliate team, that's an
Speaker:option for you to, to try that out too.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:definitely.
Speaker:Just
Speaker:somewhere,
Speaker:just somewhere at the next level just to keep playing.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Doing what I love.
Speaker:That's great, man.
Speaker:Position flexibility should help you out quite a bit with that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:'cause All right.
Speaker:We need a catcher.
Speaker:We need a right fielder.
Speaker:We need a second baseman.
Speaker:I've
Speaker:got it all.
Speaker:Come get me.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm.
Speaker:And you played a few games for the, uh, chilia peppers for a
Speaker:couple, couple years, right?
Speaker:Yeah, I did.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think, I think I looked, and there was a game I was at taking pictures
Speaker:where y'all were playing at the pilots.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And you came in at the end of the game, but I just didn't
Speaker:happen to get a picture of you.
Speaker:So I was, I was, I was sad about that one.
Speaker:And I,
Speaker:yeah, I did that.
Speaker:That was my freshman year actually.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:because you had to like, wait out like it was raining or something.
Speaker:That's probably why I didn't get a picture.
Speaker:I might have not been there anymore.
Speaker:The game ended up starting really late.
Speaker:I definitely remember.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There
Speaker:you go.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let, all right, man.
Speaker:Well, Ron, we, uh, I, I thoroughly enjoyed you being on the team this year, man.
Speaker:I, I'm really glad that that's how it turned out for you.
Speaker:Um, you know, you're, you're the man.
Speaker:Uh, you're, you're awesome and you're, it's, you're just wonderful
Speaker:having your energy around the field.
Speaker:Uh, and so hopefully we can bring it here.
Speaker:And, uh, I was telling Finney earlier, we were talking about all the different
Speaker:variations about things we're, I'm like, six oh, in conference, let's,
Speaker:let's finish it out that way, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Yeah, so, uh, so just appreciate you coming on, man.
Speaker:We appreciate you being a monarch and, and just thanks for everything, man.
Speaker:Yeah, of course, man.
Speaker:Thank, thank y'all for just accepting me and giving me a shot.
Speaker:I, I love it here.
Speaker:I love Norfolk.
Speaker:I never really came down here, but I definitely feel like
Speaker:it's a home down here for me.
Speaker:That's awesome, man.
Speaker:Good.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:We're ha, definitely happy to hear that.
Speaker:So, well Tron, thank you so much.
Speaker:Uh, drive back to Norfolk safely.
Speaker:Watch out for the deer in Middlesex and Gloucester on your way back.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, but take care and, uh, good luck this week against VCU, then heading
Speaker:on up to Harrisonburg to beat the Dukes.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Alright, thanks Ron.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:All
Speaker:right, Ron.
Speaker:Thank y'all.
Speaker:Thank y'all for having me.
Speaker:Thanks Ron.
Speaker:Appreciate it man.
Speaker:Good kid.
Speaker:Good kid.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:We say that every time.
Speaker:Every time we finish with these.
Speaker:Good, good.
Speaker:Just a good kid.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Ron, Ron's a great guy.
Speaker:Yet to find someone on the team I don't like, so
Speaker:that's, I'm sure there, there's probably one of 'em when we hide 'em.
Speaker:Well, yeah.
Speaker:All right, so let's get to our players of the week.
Speaker:What did we say?
Speaker:Hey, you had that ready?
Speaker:Look at you.
Speaker:Oh, I'm learning, man.
Speaker:We, episode 16, I got this finally.
Speaker:So, uh, pitch of the week was really hard.
Speaker:It was really hard to pick who was gonna pitch for the week this week.
Speaker:Um, no, it was not obviously the plague.
Speaker:Morgan, uh, complete game, nine innings.
Speaker:Finney's Point was great.
Speaker:They got 27 outs actually in a row, or 27 outs, uh, without
Speaker:giving a run after the first two.
Speaker:Yeah, two runs, seven hits, two walks, seven Ks, and just
Speaker:absolute just senior leader.
Speaker:Um, you know, Kellen Davis, as you pointed out, probably one of
Speaker:his best performers of the year.
Speaker:Two innings no hits, two walks, three strikeouts.
Speaker:Um, Ethan Hubble, a scoreless inning with a couple of strikeouts,
Speaker:hopefully his shoulder's.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Dylan Brown, you know, you, it wasn't the greatest start of his, of his
Speaker:season, but a very nice start, right?
Speaker:Six innings, four runs, seven strikeouts.
Speaker:He's up over, what, 82 strikeouts this year.
Speaker:So he, he is getting up there, I think, I think I looked up in, in the most recent.
Speaker:Highest strikeout total within the last, like, since Fenwood has been here.
Speaker:Uh, hunter Gregory had 85 1 year, 86 another year.
Speaker:So I mean, Dylan is gonna blow right by that.
Speaker:Um, Nick Sulpizio with two scoreless innings, which he has not done all year.
Speaker:It was fantastic.
Speaker:Dylan.
Speaker:Toss strip, same thing.
Speaker:Two scoreless innings.
Speaker:So the pitching we had, we had some set, you wouldn't think in a, a week
Speaker:where we lost a game, 11 to four.
Speaker:We had some really great pitching, but we did.
Speaker:Um, and then Maverick Maverick, second week in a row.
Speaker:Maverick Stallings.
Speaker:It is, it is now, uh, past April 15th.
Speaker:So, so Maverick and I'll go through that here in a minute.
Speaker:I did some, I did some deep dive on the stats here.
Speaker:Uh, but Maverick for the week, he was five for 10.
Speaker:Uh, had two doubles, a Homer, four rbis, pick up three walks.
Speaker:Uh, some other guys who did really well.
Speaker:Uh, Canon George, another great week.
Speaker:He's, he's been really consistently good lately.
Speaker:Four for 11, a double a homer, three walks, uh, stolen base.
Speaker:Three, uh, three rbis.
Speaker:Uh, Evan Holman, two for four.
Speaker:Had that basis clearing.
Speaker:Double had four rbis.
Speaker:A couple hit by pitches of sacrifice.
Speaker:Kyle Edwards, another good week.
Speaker:Four for 10, two doubles, three rbis, a walk, a sacrifice, a stolen base.
Speaker:Just fill up that box score.
Speaker:And, and Zach late, not his best performance, but still three for
Speaker:10, two walks and hit by a pitch.
Speaker:I mean, again, he, he's sta statistically Zach has been our best hitter all season,
Speaker:uh, and he just kept on proving it.
Speaker:Um, you, and I'll give you an opportunity here, Gary, 'cause I talk, we know
Speaker:I talked too much to add anything.
Speaker:And then I'd like to, I'd like to break down a little more on
Speaker:the, on the Maverick's kind of numbers over the last couple years.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, obviously Blake with the cg, that's an easy pick
Speaker:for the picture of the week.
Speaker:Uh, very close second with Kellen, I think.
Speaker:The biggest takeaway for me this weekend was the pitching.
Speaker:We know, you know, it didn't go well early on Friday, but to see
Speaker:Nick Ezio get two scoreless innings, Kellen Davis with potentially
Speaker:the best stuff he's had all year.
Speaker:Yeah, these guys potentially rounding into form or stepping up into big spots
Speaker:two weeks before we go to the conference.
Speaker:Tournament is really, really important.
Speaker:Like even someone like Dylan to like, these guys are gonna have to eat
Speaker:innings and have good innings for us if we actually want a chance to win the
Speaker:conference tournament because it's, you know, the top six of the Sunbelt is gonna
Speaker:be brutal and we gotta have guys that can have some quality innings for us.
Speaker:And we see, seen a couple guys emerge over the last couple weeks.
Speaker:I think it came to a head later in the day, Friday and Saturday of Guy Arms in
Speaker:the bullpen stepping up in a big, big way.
Speaker:And that makes me feel a little bit more positive heading into
Speaker:the conference tournament.
Speaker:Um, and then, yeah, it's Mav season.
Speaker:I gotta hear that.
Speaker:This is crazy.
Speaker:This, these stats.
Speaker:So a again, I know, uh, hopefully when I just throw all these numbers,
Speaker:it's not too much for focus.
Speaker:I think it's at some point I'll get, we'll get good and actually put graphics up.
Speaker:But that, you know, again, you know, hey, if that's the kind of stuff you
Speaker:want, figure out a way to make this be my, our full-time job where we
Speaker:just take care of OU sports and stuff.
Speaker:That'd be amazing.
Speaker:Uh,
Speaker:give, give enough to the collective that, that we can just make it be a job
Speaker:and still also give money to players.
Speaker:I don't, but until then, you just have to listen to it.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:Um, so Maverick is currently on a nine game hitting streak.
Speaker:Um, during that streak, he is, uh, 16 for 36.
Speaker:Four doubles.
Speaker:Four homers.
Speaker:12 rbis.
Speaker:So nine game hitting streak.
Speaker:He's hitting 4 44 with a 1423 OPS.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Whew.
Speaker:Phenomenal, right?
Speaker:I mean, 1423 ops is ridiculous.
Speaker:That's like Mike Trout and, and uh, Barry Bonds and their prime,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Steroid era Barry Bonds.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, so in the 23 Games Maverick played, before that, he had one double.
Speaker:One Homer and two rbis, and he hit 1 93 with a 5 25 OPS.
Speaker:Some you could not talk about, more of a switch around.
Speaker:Um, this continues to trend.
Speaker:We, people may remember last year, Maverick was kind of, you know, he
Speaker:was, he was there and then end of the year he just blew up and went crazy and
Speaker:ended up leaving the team at home runs.
Speaker:So I looked at it and pretty much on the exact same date I looked at April 15th.
Speaker:So this from April 15th on is when these nine games are this year.
Speaker:It was April 16th last year starting with the game of UVA.
Speaker:So last year, um, before April 15th, Maverick hit 2 36 with a 7 0 9 OPS.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's, it's not terrible, but it's not great, obviously.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, you know, it's, it's like all right, you know, uh, after that
Speaker:date, hit 3 46 with an 1117 OPS hit eight of his 12 home runs.
Speaker:That is.
Speaker:Absolutely nuts.
Speaker:So he, I mean, he's from Florida.
Speaker:It makes sense as the weather heats up, so does he.
Speaker:Um, and it's great to see that he, he's on this stretch.
Speaker:Um, it, it, he also, he also weirdly has more home runs
Speaker:than doubles for his career.
Speaker:He has the same amount this year, but last year he had 12 doubles.
Speaker:12. 12 homers, only five rbis.
Speaker:Or 12, I'm sorry, I'm gonna stop.
Speaker:He had, last year he had 12 home runs and only five doubles.
Speaker:This year he, he is got five and five, so he, he weirdly, a lot of guys, you
Speaker:know, you tend to hit more doubles and then you get some home runs.
Speaker:He just tends to knock him over to the fence when he hits them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And uh, Finney mentioned it earlier, the big home run he hit in the playing
Speaker:game against South Alabama, the two run shot to help us go and win that.
Speaker:So, I mean, if you, if you're gonna get on a hot streak, this is the
Speaker:perfect time of year to do it.
Speaker:It seems like that's kind of Maverick's warming up point is April into May,
Speaker:so I'll take it.
Speaker:It will not hurt my feelings if every single week we're putting
Speaker:his, his picture on the board.
Speaker:I'll find a new picture of him every week.
Speaker:He does seem like he's having better at bats, even in some of
Speaker:the at bats where he is gotten out.
Speaker:His approach has been good.
Speaker:He is working counts, he's getting in very favorable accounts where I feel
Speaker:like he will just reach back and, and try to hit the ball back across the river.
Speaker:So love to see him coming on late.
Speaker:I think there's a couple other guys that probably need to.
Speaker:And maybe plateaued a little bit.
Speaker:They need to start kicking into gear, but we're getting contributions
Speaker:all throughout the lineup.
Speaker:And even Evan Holman, I know it's, it's not an award we have,
Speaker:but if I, we just had to say the toughest dude of the weekend.
Speaker:It's Evan Holman.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, having to get plugged into the catcher spot, already injured.
Speaker:When, when f and it Slater go down and then he comes up with the biggest
Speaker:hit of the game on Saturday to tie it.
Speaker:Um, got the dugout, juiced, Dylan comes out and his, his lights out from there on.
Speaker:So just some big guys stepping up in big moments for us in the
Speaker:most critical point of the season.
Speaker:'cause I actually think we are ahead in the standings as compared to
Speaker:where we were this time last year.
Speaker:And that's hard to believe with what we saying, which Crazy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Nuts.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I know.
Speaker:I, I've gotten a couple of messages.
Speaker:Who do I need to root for this weekend?
Speaker:Who do I need to root for this weekend?
Speaker:So not a lot has changed, but there are more teams for us to go and root for.
Speaker:So we've already said no one's gonna catch the top four.
Speaker:So Coastal Southern, miss Troy, Louisiana, feel free to root for them
Speaker:and anyone that they are gonna play.
Speaker:And then I really think your bottom three are done.
Speaker:South Alabama, J-M-U-U-L-M, Georgia State's, teetering Marshall.
Speaker:They could get back in it, probably not super likely.
Speaker:So Texas State, who we're currently tied with, they go to Georgia Southern and then
Speaker:they finish at home against JMU, Georgia.
Speaker:Southern has said Texas State, and then they go to Marshall, Arkansas
Speaker:State has Troy, and then at the Cajuns.
Speaker:Then App State has South Alabama and Georgia State, so a lot of
Speaker:good opportunities for teams to go and root for that can help us out.
Speaker:I think the tough ones are gonna be Texas State ho we're tied with, because Georgia
Speaker:Southern's been in the slump, and JMU is down at the bottom of the standings.
Speaker:Now with ULM, uh, they could in theory go four and two, five and one and those last
Speaker:six games, and that will push us to six.
Speaker:But I'm okay with
Speaker:six.
Speaker:Six didn't feel possible.
Speaker:Not that long ago.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Uh, you know, 10 was like, seemed like a stretch.
Speaker:So it's, it's pretty great that we're in a situation where right now we can
Speaker:control some things by winning some games.
Speaker:I mean, that's just crazy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Three and three and we're definitely in the tournament and we're in some
Speaker:tiebreakers, most likely for five or six.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, if we go four and two, I think it's five or six for us.
Speaker:I don't think anyone's gonna come up and tie us and push us to
Speaker:seven, but we just gotta go win.
Speaker:I, if we were to somehow go to Harrisonburg and sweep them.
Speaker:Then it's like, okay, how do we just get one game from coastal?
Speaker:And it goes into also just going up and
Speaker:sweeping, going up and sweeping.
Speaker:JMU just feels really good.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Because, you know, uh, unfortunately in our other
Speaker:sports, it's not really a rivalry.
Speaker:Uh, or at least in football and basketball, it's not
Speaker:really a rivalry Right now.
Speaker:We're just a little brother.
Speaker:They just whip up on, uh, in baseball.
Speaker:It has been a rivalry, but maybe, actually, maybe it
Speaker:might not, might not be.
Speaker:'cause we tend to handle 'em pretty darn well.
Speaker:Uh, and so maybe from their end, it's not a rivalry, but the fact that
Speaker:we, we beat 'em pretty consistently.
Speaker:Uh, but yeah, so we gotta, if, if we're gonna, if we're gonna make the
Speaker:royal rivalry actually a thing and 'cause we handle 'em pretty okay in
Speaker:some of the other sports that are, they're not basketball and football.
Speaker:Uh, but we gotta, you know, hopefully we can start setting
Speaker:that tone for, for everyone else.
Speaker:Since Jamie MU has joined the Sunbelt, we have not beaten them in football,
Speaker:men's basketball or women's basketball.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And
Speaker:that's problematic and that's a problem for those sports to go
Speaker:and figure out and deal with.
Speaker:Uh, baseball's beating 'em, soccer's have beaten 'em.
Speaker:Field hockey, tennis has beaten 'em.
Speaker:All the things.
Speaker:Um, but man, it would feel really good for ODU U fans to go and sweep JMU.
Speaker:There'd be some football fans that maybe haven't watched a single ODU baseball
Speaker:game that are maybe, uh, beating their chest over that I know basketball.
Speaker:Um, but we just gotta go win the series period.
Speaker:If we go one and two at JMU, things start getting real ugly and that
Speaker:play in game and it, it, it's just not gonna set up well for us.
Speaker:So gotta go win that series and then do everything you can to get a
Speaker:game, maybe two from Coastal, which we've been able to do that all year.
Speaker:So I feel pretty confident.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:JMU if you look at their offensive stats, they're pretty gross.
Speaker:They're pretty much at the bottom of everything in the league.
Speaker:Um, and they've got some good hitters.
Speaker:I mean, like Ryan Dooley, I've gotten to watch him the last couple years with the
Speaker:pilots, and he is a phenomenal hitter and he's having a terrible season.
Speaker:Um, and our, our buddy, uh, Jackson to, from Old Dominion who, uh,
Speaker:transferred to JMU, um, he, he is, uh, he's not having a, a great year.
Speaker:He is, uh, he's, I think he's five for 40 Outlook.
Speaker:He got his first college home run.
Speaker:Uh, but I mean, it just, it's not just him, you know, he,
Speaker:we know he's a good hitter.
Speaker:It's just, uh, the team in general.
Speaker:So we gotta, we gotta pitch.
Speaker:Well, we gotta go out, we gotta, we gotta beat him because they're beatable.
Speaker:Uh, they do have their, their top starter has been really good.
Speaker:Um, and then a, uh, Aiden KO's brother Max Kool is, uh, has pitched really well.
Speaker:Um, and after that, you know, so we just, we gotta go out
Speaker:and they're a beatable team.
Speaker:Let's go out and beat em.
Speaker:Yeah, last couple weeks the team has done everything they've needed to do to put
Speaker:themselves in this position where last two weeks are here and we've got a shot at
Speaker:the five or the six seed to get into that.
Speaker:They just have to continue that trend.
Speaker:I don't think they have to go crazy and reach outside themselves, grind out
Speaker:some baseball games, have good at bats, do everything you can on the mountain
Speaker:to just keep the ball in play, trust your defense, which was much better
Speaker:over the weekend, I think, for us.
Speaker:Uh, so it, it, it gets the feeling that the team has finally started
Speaker:truly gelling and coming together and you, if you just gotta keep that
Speaker:momentum going into the tournament.
Speaker:'cause ODU is a team that if they are the five seed or the six seed, if you're
Speaker:coastal, if you're southern, miss, if you're Troy, probably not super excited
Speaker:to see a matchup with us because of how good our starting pitching is.
Speaker:And if you stay in these tournament games, even as an underdog, you just
Speaker:open the door for weird shit to happen and then all of a sudden, well we did
Speaker:it.
Speaker:Yeah, we did it last year to, to Southern.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Last year was we, it was weird stuff.
Speaker:We made weird stuff happen.
Speaker:We were not going to that tournament thinking we were gonna get very
Speaker:deep when we almost won the thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We, we fought like hell down the end.
Speaker:We literally just had no arms left.
Speaker:But our starting pitching gives us a chance and just about every game.
Speaker:So does just get there.
Speaker:Give the tie game in the seventh against the higher seed.
Speaker:I'll bet on ODU every time.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:One more thing that we wanted to cover before we headed out of here.
Speaker:We got an update on Cole Lanford.
Speaker:And cb I think you have the details.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:No, I, I, trust me.
Speaker:'cause I did it for like a whole year before he showed up to
Speaker:ODUI was, I was saying it wrong in my head, so I Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Cole Lanford.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He, and so he was a freshman, he's a freshman pitcher for us.
Speaker:Um, pitched some games, has some good appearances, you
Speaker:know, pitched like a freshman.
Speaker:Uh, and you may have noticed he has a, in a while.
Speaker:Well, there was a reason for that.
Speaker:He, um, he had told me about this a while back and, you know, obviously I don't
Speaker:want, don't wanna share his business, but because he, he mentioned this publicly,
Speaker:uh, we thought it was okay to mention, um, yeah, we were at the Norfolk State game
Speaker:and hadn't, you know, hadn't seen a week or two 'cause they've been on the road.
Speaker:And I was like, oh, hey man, how's it going?
Speaker:He's again, I'm have surgery.
Speaker:I was like, oh man, it's a shame we get arm surgeries, no brain surgery.
Speaker:He is like, and I'm like, no, but for real.
Speaker:And he is like, no, like for real.
Speaker:Um, and so that was, you know, that was, I dunno, when that Norfolk
Speaker:State game was over a month ago.
Speaker:Um, and so I'm, I'm looking to make sure I get it right.
Speaker:So he said he had a cavernous malformation.
Speaker:Uh, in his brain.
Speaker:Um, and it was having, making him have, was it focal aware seizures?
Speaker:He was telling me, he said, it's been happening for a few years.
Speaker:Uh, but he said it was really getting progressively worse.
Speaker:And, and, you know, and I, I'm not a doctor, I don't know what that is, but
Speaker:I'm, I'm sure part of the stress of, you know, going away from home, going
Speaker:to college, you know, trying to compete.
Speaker:And at this level, I ha I, I don't know this specifically, but you know, our
Speaker:health is affected by those things, so I'm sure that had an effect.
Speaker:Um, and so he had the surgery and they said it was successful.
Speaker:Um, he's recovering.
Speaker:He had actually, along with this same tweet, he had a little video
Speaker:of him just on, like, on his knees, kind of just throwing.
Speaker:Um, he said in about three, four weeks he can start throwing again.
Speaker:Then he can start lifting weights.
Speaker:And so he, he's on the path to recovery.
Speaker:He told me, um, when I was talking to him, he said, this surgery
Speaker:has about a 95% chance that he will not have seizures anymore.
Speaker:Uh, it still be, you know, it's still along with medication.
Speaker:And I told him, I was like, well, you don't get a 95% chance of pretty
Speaker:much anything alive, especially, you know, you're a baseball player.
Speaker:There's nothing that's 95% sure.
Speaker:Uh, so he, you know, that's why he, he, I think I said they had
Speaker:about 10 days to decide to, there was an opening for the operation.
Speaker:He was like, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker:Um, so Cole, Cole's an awesome kid.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Uh, we haven't had a chance to talk to him on here.
Speaker:We haven't had a chance to really see him much with ODU, but he,
Speaker:I got a chance to meet him.
Speaker:Uh, last year.
Speaker:Uh, he was playing high school there, pro five.
Speaker:He came here, actually pitched a game here in Virginia Beach.
Speaker:Um, and he's just a, he's a phenomenal kid.
Speaker:His family are just wonderful people.
Speaker:Uh, and you know, it, it's, I'm, I'm, I really hope he comes back.
Speaker:I, I know he's gonna work his butt off.
Speaker:You know, it's all kinds of things, but I, I, I.
Speaker:Would not bet on anybody harder than I would bet on Cole to come back and be
Speaker:strong and, you know, hopefully we see him on the mound next year for ODU and
Speaker:come back out and, and pitching the way he can pitch because he's, he's a great kid.
Speaker:He's a really, really good pitcher and it's a tough thing to have
Speaker:deal with any age, but I mean, he's always 19 years old doing this.
Speaker:I mean, that, that's, that's hard.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, what's amazing to me is that you can have brain surgery and sometime
Speaker:in like a three week window you can start throwing a baseball again.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's pretty, pretty impressive.
Speaker:So certainly send in all the good thoughts and vibes over Cole's way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, as he recovers from this.
Speaker:And we would love to see him back on the mountain in the fall or, or
Speaker:in the spring when he is ready, but.
Speaker:Uh, I mean, that's, I, I can't imagine trying to do all the things
Speaker:he's doing with school and baseball while having seizures going on.
Speaker:Uh, so glad to hear the surgery was an option.
Speaker:I love the 95% Yeah.
Speaker:Success rate on it.
Speaker:I mean, that's not just a baseball thing.
Speaker:That's a quality of life thing.
Speaker:So, yeah, glad he was, uh, brave enough to kind of take the shot on this.
Speaker:And I hope the results all turn out the way that, uh, him
Speaker:and his family are hoping for.
Speaker:Yeah, we hope.
Speaker:See you back out there, 2 -2
Speaker:. Absolutely.
Speaker:All right, well, I think that's gonna do it for us today.
Speaker:Uh, appreciate you all listening and sharing the good word.
Speaker:Uh, we may have our episode drop a day earlier next week, because
Speaker:unfortunately, I'm gonna be stuck in Texas for work all next week.
Speaker:So you may record on Sunday and drop us on Monday, but we'll keep you tuning
Speaker:in through the market, social media, and also through my social media and
Speaker:CBS and all the other fun ways that we, uh, try to get information out to you.
Speaker:But anything else, cb
Speaker:Hey, man.
Speaker:Uh, you be safe traveling.
Speaker:We're gonna go.
Speaker:Uh, I'm, I'm telling you.
Speaker:Six.
Speaker:Oh, we're doing it.
Speaker:It's, it's happening.
Speaker:Let's go.
Speaker:I would love it.
Speaker:It all starts with a winning on Friday.
Speaker:I don't know when your, uh, curtain fell, but it has fallen
Speaker:into spectacular fashion.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:It's fallen aggressively.
Speaker:Yeah, it's, I I noticed it when we were talking to Ron.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It really went down.
Speaker:Usually it's the other side, isn't it?
Speaker:The fall?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's,
Speaker:it is.
Speaker:That's normally where I can see it.
Speaker:I think you were actually in the way.
Speaker:It's why I missed it.
Speaker:But don't worry.
Speaker:We'll get the timestamp on that.
Speaker:For those of you betting at home, we appreciate your bets and we
Speaker:will honor them all here, so.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well that'll do it for us.
Speaker:Uh, thank you so much.
Speaker:And go Monarchs.
Speaker:Go Monarchs.
