S3E17 - JMU Recap and SBC Tourney Preview
CB and Gary recap a series win over JMU and reveal Players of the Week. Then a quick preview of the Sun Belt Baseball Tournament before the fellas head off to Montgomery.
Transcript
This episode is brought to you by the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation.
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Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Hello, Monarch fans, and welcome to the Hudson homers podcast.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We're, uh, talking about Old Dirty in the daylight here.
Speaker:It is Sunday morning.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We're gonna get you the episode a day early as we all start
Speaker:traveling down to Montgomery.
Speaker:We get two from JMU this weekend.
Speaker:We secure a spot in the tournament.
Speaker:Uh, but I think we left, uh, left one on the table there Sunday, feels like to me.
Speaker:But CB, what do you think?
Speaker:Yeah, I... It's, you know, it's weird how you, you went into the week and
Speaker:you wanted to win at least one game, secure yourself in the tournament.
Speaker:You did that.
Speaker:You won the series, and you're still a little like, "Eh, that
Speaker:wasn't quite what we could've had."
Speaker:Um, you know, win- we went into Sunday, I think you were sharing it,
Speaker:went into Sunday with the opportunity to, uh, sweep the series and then,
Speaker:depending on some other things, uh, end up in maybe the fifth seed maybe.
Speaker:I think, I think by the last day it was the sixth seed.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but- It was all that was left Sunday or Saturday
Speaker:we didn't do our job, and then I think the other teams didn't do
Speaker:what we needed them to do anyway.
Speaker:So, you know, it's, uh, it's, it feels a little frustrating 'cause,
Speaker:you know, we, well, we still ended up 15 and 15, which we've been now
Speaker:four years in a row in the Sun Belt.
Speaker:So might need to interrogate, you know, how do we make that better.
Speaker:I think part of it is getting off to better starts and, you know,
Speaker:we, we don't wanna be a 15 and 15 team every year in the Sun Belt.
Speaker:But from where we started, 5 and 10, pretty phenomenal.
Speaker:Went 10 and five in the second half.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We've taken four creative ways to get to 15 and 15 all of those years.
Speaker:We've had, like, bad starts.
Speaker:We've had bad endings.
Speaker:We've been kind of average some of that.
Speaker:Um, I, I will say that, like, 15 and 15 is not great.
Speaker:I think if Coach Finny was here, he would tell you there's
Speaker:probably should've had more wins throughout many of those seasons.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:But the fact that last year we were pretty much completely on the road
Speaker:not playing at home, went 15 and 15.
Speaker:This year we've got the funky stadium set up.
Speaker:We still find a way to go 15 and 15.
Speaker:So I think brighter days are ahead, especially with the new stadium opening,
Speaker:the young talent that's on the team.
Speaker:I think better days are ahead for ODU baseball than 15 and 15, but-
Speaker:It's still kind of a miracle we got to that this year starting 5 and 10.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, uh, like I said, so it's- it's a, it's a weird one where it was a
Speaker:successful week, but it kind of doesn't feel like it, but then that's where
Speaker:maybe you need to, again, adjust your perspective and realize, like, "Nope,
Speaker:that was a great successful..." Finny laid it out when we were 5 and 10.
Speaker:"Hey-" He called
Speaker:it.
Speaker:you got a team..." Yeah, he called it.
Speaker:He called the shot.
Speaker:Um, and so that was great.
Speaker:I mean, that's what we wanted.
Speaker:We saw, I think, a lot of growth in our guys the last, uh, what,
Speaker:I guess five weeks of the season.
Speaker:Um, a lot of guys that stepped up in ways they needed to.
Speaker:A lot of guys, you... I think you're seeing a lot more competitive at
Speaker:bats, both pitching and hitting.
Speaker:Um, you're seeing a team of guys who believe... I really, we went into the
Speaker:ninth inning there yesterday down, what, four runs, and I really thought, "Oh,
Speaker:we- we're gonna win." Like, because- Yeah ... we just, they've been doing that.
Speaker:Uh, so that's a good sign because there are parts of the year where
Speaker:we're down, uh, one run and times it's like, "We're not gonna win."
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:there are other times it was, you know, 8-nothing through the third and we were
Speaker:like, "Well, we just- Yeah. Yeah ... gotta hope we don't burn too many arms and
Speaker:try to steal one later." Um, but yeah.
Speaker:But n- uh, neither of the other outcomes we needed yesterday happened.
Speaker:Texas State completed the sweep.
Speaker:Louisiana won the series against Coastal.
Speaker:So even if we would've won yesterday, we would still
Speaker:effectively be in the same boat.
Speaker:So you know, it, we were, w- the tiebreakers are not friendly to us,
Speaker:and Texas State, by beating Marshall a third time, took the common opponent
Speaker:tiebreaker which kicked out our, our edge that we had with Southern Miss and
Speaker:Coastal being at the top of the standings.
Speaker:Um, I, I will say- But it is
Speaker:nice to win.
Speaker:Yeah, especially against JMU- Yeah ... 'cause I, I mean, I don't really-
Speaker:Right ... care about the Royal Rivalry or anything- No ... but that swung
Speaker:the outcome of that to JMU's favor.
Speaker:Um, I would say baseball did their part by winning two out of three.
Speaker:It'd be great if some other sports would, uh, you know, do their part at least once,
Speaker:especially not blowing halftime leads.
Speaker:Um, anyway, but- ... still they didn't play, like, horribly yesterday.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:We've essentially- No ... had one bad inning, and we had so
Speaker:many screaming line drives hit right at people in the outfield.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, uh, w- glad we got the, the two out of three.
Speaker:It would've been a very different tone on this podcast if we lost the
Speaker:series to JMU and were out- Yeah
Speaker:of the tournament.
Speaker:That'd be- Right ... different conversations today.
Speaker:We might not even be recording it.
Speaker:It's weird how things swing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We wouldn't be recording it on Sunday.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:We wouldn't have a need.
Speaker:Yeah, right.
Speaker:Uh, but y- the point you just made about, you know, the line drives, some
Speaker:days it's not your day, and yesterday was one of those where it's like they
Speaker:were hitting the ball right at people really hard and they, or they make
Speaker:diving catches, they make great plays.
Speaker:The, the inning where we scored a few runs, it wa- it, it was like,
Speaker:"Oh, that's now what's happening." Um, and then the same way all their
Speaker:little dribblers are going through.
Speaker:It's just some days it's just, you know- For whatever reason, the, the fates
Speaker:and the, the baseball gods or whatever, it's just like this is not your day.
Speaker:So kind of how it went.
Speaker:Yeah, it was either in the fifth or the sixth inning.
Speaker:We had runners on, we were building some momentum, hit kind of a shallow
Speaker:pop-up behind first base into right.
Speaker:Should have dropped in for a hit, especially with the wind.
Speaker:Uh, right fielder for JMU just made an unbelievable diving catch.
Speaker:Great catch.
Speaker:Ended up keeping, kept the run off the board, and it was at that point
Speaker:I think I, I sent a message in the group text, "You know it's not your day
Speaker:when they're making that play." Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We, we
Speaker:beat JMU for a- That's how it goes ... like they, they didn't really
Speaker:have anything to play for Sunday other than this was their last game.
Speaker:They were playing for pride.
Speaker:They were pumped up.
Speaker:They did not lay down, so give them credit for that.
Speaker:I felt like they laid down a little more on Thursday and Friday than they did on
Speaker:Saturday.
Speaker:There's ... Yeah, and, and they, and you know, those guys, a lot of
Speaker:them, you know, you, you kind of can see them as they're walking out, and
Speaker:a lot of them look like we're just ready for our season to be done.
Speaker:Um, you know, which is a shame.
Speaker:But yeah, we had the one bad inning, the third nightmare inning, uh, on
Speaker:the Saturday game, gave up five runs.
Speaker:Even with that, our, our pitching staff in three games, we had 26
Speaker:innings, five earned runs, so that's a 1.73 ERA, had a 1.12- Yeah ... WHIP
Speaker:and 31 strikeouts in 26 innings.
Speaker:I mean, that, that's including the bad fifth, 'cause actually only
Speaker:two of those runs were earned.
Speaker:Um, so you know, you are, again, as I said, despite that loss,
Speaker:you're seeing what you want to see going into the tournament.
Speaker:You're seeing the pitching staff.
Speaker:The guys are finding their roles, finding, you know, some, some length in
Speaker:their outings they haven't had before.
Speaker:And the hitting, you know, I think, I think we, we both would agree the
Speaker:hitting could have done better in all three games, but certainly in the
Speaker:first two, they, they were timely.
Speaker:Yeah, we were able to do enough in the first two games, then obviously
Speaker:get the walk-off in the Friday game to, to win it 10-nothing and run rule.
Speaker:Walk-off.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Most dramatic walk-off of the year.
Speaker:That's what I told Mike right after.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:It
Speaker:was.
Speaker:Uh, but yeah, I mean, well, you also got what is now my favorite
Speaker:picture- That's a good one, yeah
Speaker:uh, for ODU baseball, Scotty and Zach celebrating at second after Zach
Speaker:hits the walk-off two run double.
Speaker:Um-
Speaker:You think when Scotty hit a bomb off him in high school that Zach ever
Speaker:thought they'd be sharing a picture like
Speaker:that?
Speaker:Just add this to the collection of like, "Hey, here's when I hit the
Speaker:walk-off, or the home run off of Zach-
Speaker:and here's us celebrating together in college." Uh, uh, props to Zach,
Speaker:uh, for getting almost the same vertical as Scotty on this, so.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:it was pretty good.
Speaker:I, I, I might... I think he just kind of started late.
Speaker:I think I caught them both kind of at the peak of their, their jump, and maybe,
Speaker:I mean, you see Zach maybe getting, uh, stopped from his momentum up by-
Speaker:by Scotty.
Speaker:Scotty's like, "You can't out-jump me."
Speaker:Uh, but amazing
Speaker:shot.
Speaker:I think it kind of summed up that game where the guys were just coming
Speaker:together and doing what needed to be done to get the run rule, save
Speaker:an inning for the pitching staff.
Speaker:Uh, and it's just fun.
Speaker:I, you know, we could have won that thing eight to nothing and nine
Speaker:and been like, "Oh, ho-hum," but to get the, the walk-off with the run
Speaker:rule is always just more exciting.
Speaker:It gets to rub it in a little bit more.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah, the guys all did what they needed to do.
Speaker:I mean, it was, um, uh, Kuskie and Gatti were both phenomenal in their starts.
Speaker:Uh, it was Kuskie five innings, one run, six strikeouts.
Speaker:Uh, Gatti five scoreless, um, a walk and a strikeout.
Speaker:And I... Both of them, honestly, what, Gatti only had 69 pitches, Kuskie had 72.
Speaker:They both could have gone deeper.
Speaker:I mean, that was a game they were both were gonna finish six, maybe going seven.
Speaker:Uh, but because of the situation, you know, knowing that, you know, okay,
Speaker:Kuskie's pitching on Thursday, if things don't work out for us, which is exactly
Speaker:what happened, he's probably gonna be starting the game for us on Tuesday.
Speaker:Well, okay, let's not throw him a bunch and have him be
Speaker:on the- Yeah ... short rest.
Speaker:Um, so did what they needed to do to get the win.
Speaker:That, that was a case of if that game happened two weeks
Speaker:ago, they're both throwing seven innings and maybe into the eighth.
Speaker:Yeah, they could definitely have gone longer.
Speaker:I mean, it's the most efficient I think either one of them has been all year- Yeah
Speaker:both Darin and JJ.
Speaker:Um, th- they looked good.
Speaker:They were in command.
Speaker:They were hitting their spots, being super efficient.
Speaker:And that may help us a ton going into, you know, having to play
Speaker:a Tuesday game in single elim.
Speaker:Uh, you know, we were able to keep, um, you know, Ben Tanton,
Speaker:he threw in the game on Friday.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Only got one inning, only threw 13 pitches, so he should be good to go.
Speaker:Was
Speaker:disgusting in those 13 pitches too.
Speaker:Uh, the, the pit... I mean, the pitching on Thursday was really good.
Speaker:Like, don't get me wrong.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, Darin, Patrick, and Bailey were, were great.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Bailey ate a lot of innings for- Bailey was phenomenal
Speaker:for a third.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um- Bailey's
Speaker:maybe best performance of his career at ODU
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, three and a third, no runs, no hits, one walk, six strikeouts
Speaker:and he did it all in just 50 pitches.
Speaker:New career high.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but yeah, 50 pitches is big so obviously he's gonna be available, but-
Speaker:Mm-hmm ... Friday, I mean, JJ getting to five innings, I, I still can't believe
Speaker:that's his first win of the season, but I started looking through box scores-
Speaker:and it makes sense.
Speaker:That was
Speaker:weird, yeah.
Speaker:But five scoreless innings, three hits, one walk, six strikeouts, only 69 pitches.
Speaker:Um, you know, Kellen coming in behind him, two hits, that was it and w- we
Speaker:didn't know this until last week's episode that he actually got a, you know,
Speaker:I think a cortisone shot in his arm.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That's why he was down last weekend.
Speaker:But he looked good and then Ben Tanton just f- absolutely 18
Speaker:pitches in two innings
Speaker:Yeah, that's pretty damn efficient- Crazy ... I gotta say.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For, for Kellen that's pretty awesome.
Speaker:Uh, the pitching was good and I, I don't think the pitching was that
Speaker:bad on Saturday, it's just- No
Speaker:the one inning, but I don't think Jackson got a lot of support in the field in
Speaker:that inning, as evidenced by the unearned runs, but also- Right ... some hits that,
Speaker:you know, if we have a normal outfield configuration some of those don't drop in.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, I, you know, I had forgotten until looking at the box scores and
Speaker:checking things that Sulpizio threw s- three scoreless and looked really great.
Speaker:Um- Yeah ... he, he's, we were just talking before we started, I think
Speaker:he's on a stretch his last four games.
Speaker:It's like 11 and two-thirds, one run, uh, no walks, 14 strikeouts.
Speaker:So, so Nick is really getting hot here at the right time, which is great to see.
Speaker:And- And Cavalcante looked really great in the, in the game too.
Speaker:He did.
Speaker:He did.
Speaker:He looked good and I was really happy to see Tyler Stott be able to get-
Speaker:Mm-hmm
Speaker:... uh, an inning of work there.
Speaker:Uh, you know, obviously- Yeah ... last appearance at the bud for him.
Speaker:He's been around for I think five- Yeah ... maybe six years now,
Speaker:playing football- I- ... baseball.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, kid's just a, he's just a good teammate, he's a good dude- Yeah
Speaker:and to see him go out there and he got two strikeouts in his final appearance
Speaker:at the bud is, is really cool.
Speaker:He's had some good moments this year.
Speaker:I'm glad he's, he had a- Yeah ... good final year.
Speaker:Um, but with that, th- th- that third inning, I mean, y- you get
Speaker:a, a ground rule double which I, I don't know if anyone could've gotten.
Speaker:That ball was pretty perfectly placed in the left center gap and
Speaker:one hopped up, and then you have a home run by that- So, so to hit
Speaker:that ball where it would land and then bounce almost straight up into the
Speaker:stands- ... he, that ball was high.
Speaker:And that's, and I think we talked about, you know, uh, we had Efrain
Speaker:Morales play in left field, which, you know, he hasn't done a ton of outfield.
Speaker:And you think, well maybe if TJ's in left and Nick is in center,
Speaker:maybe one of them catches it.
Speaker:It's like maybe, you know, it, it'd be a pretty phenomenal play if they had.
Speaker:Um, I think it's- Yeah ... we can agree, you know, Ef I think is a,
Speaker:an average- Outfielder at best.
Speaker:He's not bad out there, he's just not, you know, anything special.
Speaker:Um, so that was a play I don't think you can expect him... I don't know if you
Speaker:can expect anybody to make that play.
Speaker:I think if somebody had made that play, it'd be amazing.
Speaker:So that guy, just you gotta give him credit.
Speaker:He, he, he smoked the ball, hit it extremely high- ... and
Speaker:in the perfect spot.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, Ef- you, there's a trade-off in speed with Efren- Yeah
Speaker:in, in left, but that's about it.
Speaker:I think he's, he's got a strong arm.
Speaker:He showed that off a little bit there.
Speaker:Uh, but there was a play- He gets that whole
Speaker:body into the throw.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, he's leaving his feet.
Speaker:I mean, he's, he's strong.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, don't, don't make any mistake.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He is.
Speaker:Ef is a strong dude.
Speaker:Um, but you know, there's, there's an, an error there at first, which kind of a...
Speaker:It was a hard hit ball awkwardly hit right at him.
Speaker:Uh- Yeah ... then there was kind of one of those big popups that went
Speaker:to shallow center that was just kind of perfectly between the infielders
Speaker:and Scotty coming in from center.
Speaker:I think we've just been spoiled by how much range Nick Felton has.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So anytime there's a ball hit to center field, I just automatically
Speaker:think, oh, it's caught.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's caught.
Speaker:Um, and it's just- That sun was
Speaker:brutal yesterday.
Speaker:There were a lot of balls lost between both teams.
Speaker:Um, I don't know if it was just, like, the exact perfect time, you know.
Speaker:I'm not gonna turn around and stare at the sun to figure it out.
Speaker:But there were a lot of dropped balls.
Speaker:I mean, not necessarily, I mean, or ones that were, like, shaky catches even.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Anything on that first base side of the field that was popped up, especially early
Speaker:in the game, you couldn't see anything.
Speaker:Like, you- Yeah ... you were just staring right into the
Speaker:sun, so that was pretty tough.
Speaker:Uh, but yeah, but that's just kind of how that inning kind of
Speaker:went off the rails a little bit.
Speaker:Um, then they got a double that they just snuck just inside the bag- Yeah
Speaker:down the third baseline, they got two more.
Speaker:Uh, but if you erase that inning, I mean, the, the pitching
Speaker:has gotten better each week.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you erase a little bit of that inning, even though the, only two
Speaker:of the runs were earned, the, the turnaround for this pitching staff
Speaker:from where they were at the start of Sun Belt play to now is unbelievable.
Speaker:I mean, we had guys that could not get out of the first and second inning, and
Speaker:now we're like, "Well, they could've gone six, seven innings," but we pulled them at
Speaker:five because we're winning and they were throwing so well and we need them again.
Speaker:Like,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Again.
Speaker:It comes up every time.
Speaker:It's unavoidable.
Speaker:It's amazing how they pick that number and you just, you, it just
Speaker:so comes up naturally in life.
Speaker:Um, yeah, no, you're, you're dead on.
Speaker:I mean, it, it really is a case of, like I said, guys have just stepped
Speaker:up and decided they need to, to win.
Speaker:Like I said, I, I, we kind of said it a few times on the podcast,
Speaker:just, just you have to determine that you are going to win.
Speaker:You are going to just play each pitch.
Speaker:You're not gonna worry about what's happened before, not gonna worry about
Speaker:what could happen in the future, and we're seeing a lot of guys just, just
Speaker:fighting and competing, and it's really... I mean, we, the, the feelings we have
Speaker:watching the team kind of the first part of the year where things were not
Speaker:going very well compared to now, like I said, I'm sitting here, we're down
Speaker:three, four runs, I'm like, "We're fine.
Speaker:We're gonna win
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Very different mentality than before.
Speaker:It's like, "Oh, crap- Yeah ... we're down three." Yeah.
Speaker:Go ahead and start- Right ... thinking about tomorrow.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's over,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And credit to these guys for sticking together and just
Speaker:continuing- Yes ... to fight and claw- Yeah ... their way back in.
Speaker:Um-
Speaker:They love each other.
Speaker:They really do.
Speaker:When you talk to them about each other, they just ... And they're ... You
Speaker:can see that their eyes light up.
Speaker:You can see ... You can feel their hearts.
Speaker:You can feel how much they really care about each other.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it's very apparent.
Speaker:And, you know, there wasn't a ton of energy in the dugout yesterday
Speaker:early on, but when things started to tip towards ODU, you felt it-
Speaker:get wild.
Speaker:Also, a shout-out to the crowd that was there on Saturday.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:On all days.
Speaker:Uh, giving the umpire hell from 375 feet away about balls over the
Speaker:plate that were not called a strike.
Speaker:I mean, we had- I mean- We had a packed crowd.
Speaker:I mean, obviously last weekend of the season, um, we got a ... JMU has
Speaker:a ton of local kids, so they had all
Speaker:You could see r- uh, Ryan Goscio, who w- who was one of my students
Speaker:in seventh grade- Uh, when he ... So he was catching on, on Friday.
Speaker:You ... Every time he came up, his whole, like, extended family was
Speaker:out there making a bunch of noise.
Speaker:Uh, but the crowds were, were huge and packed.
Speaker:I mean, obviously between, you know, graduation, senior day,
Speaker:all the things, Mother's Day celebration, we had tons of family.
Speaker:Uh, so it was, it was really cool to see.
Speaker:For, for the unique, um, you know, not ideal scenario of our stands, to see
Speaker:them just completely packed on the nicest weather weekend we had all year, it,
Speaker:it's what, it's what the team deserved.
Speaker:And it was great.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:There was one funky thing that happened, and off the top of my head I can't
Speaker:remember if it was Thursday or Friday, but it resulted in Scotty Young getting
Speaker:a put out on a force play at second base.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Uh, I think everyone just- Yeah, I think that was- ... forgot
Speaker:how many outs there were.
Speaker:Well, I think that was Friday, and, um, I don't wanna call
Speaker:anybody out, but I'm pretty sure the scoreboard had two outs up.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, which, you know, that happens not just at ODU, happens other places,
Speaker:where the scoreboard is just wrong.
Speaker:Sometimes they get the count wrong all the time.
Speaker:Um, and so when they hit the fly ball, um, you know, the, even the coach for JMU at
Speaker:third base is telling him, you know, "Just keep running." You know, so when two outs,
Speaker:just keep running in case he drops it.
Speaker:Um, and so that guy, he kept running.
Speaker:And then they kinda
Speaker:Our, our whole team is, is running into the dugout, and
Speaker:then our coaches are like, "Wait.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Hey.
Speaker:Whoa.
Speaker:Hold on," and, "Stop." And then they're all kind of there, and they're like,
Speaker:"Just throw it to second base." And so, uh, which I think s- I think you
Speaker:pointed out that Scotty caught the ball, then also ended up back with the ball
Speaker:at second base to get, like, a- Yeah.
Speaker:like, it was, like, a what?
Speaker:An eight to who knows what?
Speaker:A three to, to eight double play.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it s- I don't ... I can't remember how you would input that into, like,
Speaker:the stat system, but it's a fly out to right with a throw to Maverick.
Speaker:So was it nine, four, nine double play with the second out at second base?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh yeah, he was playing right field.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it's crazy.
Speaker:It was, it was weird.
Speaker:It was, and it's one that, you know, uh, you could argue it was, it was
Speaker:on the, the score operator, but at the same time, y- you know, you're
Speaker:the one playing the game, man.
Speaker:You gotta keep track of the outs.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:If you don't know how many outs there are- Yeah ... it, that's on you.
Speaker:Uh, it sucks because you do rely on the s- Like, now me personally,
Speaker:I rely on the score all the time.
Speaker:I look over and sometimes I'm like, "What's the count?" You know?
Speaker:But I'm not in the game.
Speaker:If I'm in the game, I'm at a, "Yo, what you got? Hey, we got two outs, two outs."
Speaker:Like, you
Speaker:know?
Speaker:I mean, that, that's, that's all you hear in between plays.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it wasn't like it was an extended inning where, you know, eight or
Speaker:nine guys came up to the plate.
Speaker:Like it was a pretty quick- No ... inning.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but it, it was, it was very weird and I was watching the ESPN+ broadcast
Speaker:and I was listening to Ted go, "I've got one out on my score sheet.
Speaker:I've got one out on my score sheet." Yeah.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden it was like they could hear Ted from his perch
Speaker:above the, the visitor dugout there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, and they, that's when they, you know, Scotty started calling
Speaker:for the ball back from Maverick- Yeah ... to catch it and stuff.
Speaker:Well, that's
Speaker:what I think our guys had the...
Speaker:You know, we have guys keeping charts and everybody's keeping
Speaker:stuff, and they're like, "Hey, that's only two outs." You know?
Speaker:It's-
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So yeah, it's, it's, it's unfortunate.
Speaker:I think, you know... And, and again, I think some of that is the case of
Speaker:they're, they've got the, the makeshift situation out there in the Rally Alley.
Speaker:Um- Yeah ... and you know, it's, it's not, it's not the scenario that
Speaker:they want to have and, and that's led to a couple times things happening.
Speaker:It's, which, you know, our, our, our crew and our people did a phenomenal job this
Speaker:year, uh, with everything they had to deal with and, and I'm, I'm not gonna,
Speaker:I'm not gonna blame them for anything.
Speaker:Somebody else might.
Speaker:That's, that's not what I'm gonna do.
Speaker:They're phenomenal.
Speaker:They take care of us.
Speaker:They're great.
Speaker:Um, if, uh, th- something hap- again, I'm putting that, you know, if you guys
Speaker:know how many outs there are when you're playing the game, that's on y'all.
Speaker:Sorry.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:You can't depend on the score, bro.
Speaker:That's why it's, it's- Yeah ... behind you.
Speaker:Uh, yeah, and also shout out to the, uh, the camera crew that's been there.
Speaker:They're basically placed- Yeah ... in the worst spots imaginable.
Speaker:Oof.
Speaker:Uh, just baking in the sun, having to look up into the sun to watch a monitor.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, they were one of that was about fall down yesterday.
Speaker:A- and in the spots
Speaker:where hard line drives are gonna come down a- and try to kill you also.
Speaker:Yeah, 'cause they did not have the L screen- Yeah ... at least the
Speaker:last couple of, uh- Yeah ... series down that third baseline.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:'Cause they... I basically stand right behind them normally
Speaker:when I'm, I'm over there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And it's, uh, it, it's not ideal and they got a lot of people in their way, too, uh,
Speaker:as I was- Yeah ... finding out yesterday.
Speaker:But, uh, o- one note, um, 'cause, uh, we talked about, you know,
Speaker:four straight years at 15 to 15.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's obviously not where we want to be.
Speaker:And we've got to find a way to get to, like, 20 and 10,
Speaker:get to the top of the league.
Speaker:I- 18 and 12, you know, something a little, little better.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Six or 15.
Speaker:Like, securely in... That way we're not sweating the top six
Speaker:going into the last weekend.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, we were kind of, kind of comfortable there.
Speaker:Uh, but just a note on JMU baseball.
Speaker:So- Woof.
Speaker:... they, they went to NCAA regional two years ago.
Speaker:Mm.
Speaker:Since then they are, uh, w- 38 and 70 since going to the regional.
Speaker:So it's like they geared- As- ... up for the one year and then it's
Speaker:been, been pretty rough since.
Speaker:As the Donald Glover GIF I shared when I shared that with y'all, uh, "Good."
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We gotta be able to get them in something down bad.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, and that's, that's what it is for now.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's been my argument.
Speaker:Again, I think I said this last week we were talking about them, that there
Speaker:should be no reason that if we are, uh, looking at the same prospect, that if
Speaker:it's a good ballplayer and they want to come someplace and play at a good school
Speaker:and a good program and a great stadium, if you want to choose JMU, that's cool.
Speaker:I don't know why you would, but all right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For, for baseball, I, I don't understand.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They have plenty of other sports where it makes a lot of sense-
Speaker:Yeah, sure ... to go there.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:Instead of a lot of these.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Um, b- baseball is not one of them.
Speaker:I, I think y- you're gonna have to... You're gonna start seeing Group of
Speaker:Five schools make a lot of business decisions with what sports- Mm
Speaker:they can actually be competitive in, and they're gonna cut money from the
Speaker:ones that they can't be competitive in.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Obviously JMU has been fantastic at football since
Speaker:they've come to the Sun Belt.
Speaker:They've been pretty damn good at basketball, too.
Speaker:That's where their investment's going, 'cause there's not, like,
Speaker:a ton of money to go around at the G5 level, especially at JMU.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, they don't have quite the donor base that, that we do, which is weird,
Speaker:but that's accurate for athletics.
Speaker:Um, and I- Ag- as,
Speaker:as, as we always say, it's a trash school
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It'll be curious to see if other schools in the Sun Belt start cutting back
Speaker:on baseball because they, they can't compete with Coastal and Southern Miss.
Speaker:I mean, if you're like- Pretty good ... ULM, why are you
Speaker:spending money on it, right?
Speaker:You know, it's... But what do they spend any money on, I guess, is the real...
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:That, they, they have the lowest athletic budget.
Speaker:I seriously- They- ... think that the Louisiana Tech addition for
Speaker:the Sun Belt is an insurance- Yeah
Speaker:policy on ULM dropping back down.
Speaker:Uh, we should, I mean, I, I hate to like pick on a school, but I don't,
Speaker:ULM does not fit in the Sun Belt.
Speaker:It's not a- No ... they're not competitive in anything.
Speaker:I, it, it's, it's a weird...
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They did, uh, we did get their women's soccer coach, so we've got-
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Yeah ... we're, we're able
Speaker:to, to, to get something out of that for sure.
Speaker:Which you
Speaker:know he must be good because he competed in that place where they spend
Speaker:no money and don't seem to care, and he, he really- He won ... dominated.
Speaker:I know he, I saw their, their exhibition game and, and two of the players
Speaker:that he brought with them played, and they both looked really good.
Speaker:So yeah, I am looking forward.
Speaker:It's... We hate to see Angie leave.
Speaker:You know, she was, she was wonderful and did a ton for us.
Speaker:Uh, but- Yeah ... and it sounds like she's still really supporting
Speaker:the, the school and the team.
Speaker:Um- Yeah.
Speaker:That's a tough situation for her, obviously.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:She was loved here.
Speaker:Uh, god-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... did amazing things.
Speaker:Uh, you know- Yeah
Speaker:stinks that she is stepping away kind of for personal family reasons
Speaker:that she's having to go through that.
Speaker:But, um, yeah.
Speaker:Well, anyway, uh- We're gonna talk, we're gonna talk players of the week, then we're
Speaker:gonna look at- Yes ... the tournament.
Speaker:So without- Yes ... further ado, let's get our three- Okay ... crew
Speaker:here for players of the week.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Look at that, three.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So we, um, we talked about our pitching, right?
Speaker:We talked about Gatti and Kuskie both throwing great.
Speaker:Um, honestly we could have put the entire staff.
Speaker:We talked about Matela had probably his best outing of the year.
Speaker:Uh, Sulpizio, Davis, I mean, we already stated all these stats.
Speaker:Tanton, Cavalcante, the whole staff, they were phenomenal.
Speaker:Um, hitting wise, we really, it wasn't a super deep week.
Speaker:I mean, it's only three games too.
Speaker:But Will Johnson, third straight week, he, he, he's four of 11, homer, three
Speaker:RBIs, uh, a walk, couple hit by pitches.
Speaker:Um, Zach Leite was four for 12 with a double, three RBIs.
Speaker:Uh, Mack Dye only played two of the games with three out of seven.
Speaker:Uh, which is good to see him getting in the right direction.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, Nick Felton only played in two of the game, but he was two for four with
Speaker:a walk, uh, a couple hit by pitches.
Speaker:So he was, he was good.
Speaker:Um, Will Johnson, I want to point out, you know, it's his third straight week.
Speaker:So in those three weeks where he's been player of the week, and I think, I, I was
Speaker:looking, I didn't quite do all the stats, but he's been hotter since before then.
Speaker:Probably about the last, um, seven weeks he's probably been hot.
Speaker:But last three weeks, Will is 20 for 41.
Speaker:Ooh.
Speaker:Four doubles, two homers, 11 RBIs, um, six walks, three hit
Speaker:by pitch, nine runs scored.
Speaker:So the slash line there, a .488 average.
Speaker:A .580 on base percentage.
Speaker:So almost 60% of the time he comes to the plate, he's getting on base,
Speaker:which is, he's leading off now.
Speaker:That's fantastic.
Speaker:A .732 slugging percentage.
Speaker:For a shortstop.
Speaker:And then,
Speaker:for a shortstop.
Speaker:And so that, it equals out to a 1312 OPS.
Speaker:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker:Woo, those are some numbers, and that's again, over a
Speaker:course of 48 bats, three weeks.
Speaker:Like, that's, that's doing work.
Speaker:That, that's an unbelievable hot streak.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he's still just as scrappy as ever because I, I'll put players of the
Speaker:week back up, but- I mean, dude got drilled- Yeah ... in the spot that I-
Speaker:Oh ... blow out every time I sneeze, so I know exactly what that feels like.
Speaker:I, I mean, that was a breaking ball, so at first I was like, "Oh, he's fine."
Speaker:And then he was in the dugout.
Speaker:He was... He did not appreciate it.
Speaker:He was not happy about that one.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:That got right in between the, the spine- Yeah ... and the, and the muscle there.
Speaker:Like, that's a, that's a painful one.
Speaker:But I mean, dude doesn't care.
Speaker:Like, you can see he's- No ... got his feet locked.
Speaker:He's getting on base any way he can.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But u- unbelievable.
Speaker:Like, never mind just being a shortstop, but just to have that
Speaker:slash line in the Sun Belt, like, that's absolutely- Yeah ... insane
Speaker:for Will to, to come back like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He's, he's had a pretty solid year.
Speaker:I mean, Will, you know, obviously as we, as the season ends, we'll, we'll talk
Speaker:about our overall players of the year.
Speaker:Um, he's, you know, hey, if he has an amazing, uh, tournament,
Speaker:he might sneak in there, you know?
Speaker:But he's, he's had a pretty solid s- he, he's had, obviously he had defensive
Speaker:issues the first half of the year and those have kind of cleaned up.
Speaker:Um, but he's, overall hitting, I mean, he maybe had a little lull at
Speaker:one point for a few weeks, but he's been a very good hitter all year.
Speaker:The home run that he hit yesterday- Ooh.
Speaker:... hit the Jim Jarrett building.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He smoked it straight down the line.
Speaker:It got us going.
Speaker:It got us like, "All right. W- we can-" Yeah ... "get back into this thing.
Speaker:We can try." Like, it was, it was no longer a library in that place, but that
Speaker:ball was- Yeah ... absolutely smoked.
Speaker:And he's not a big dude.
Speaker:Like, he- No, he's really not.
Speaker:He's, he's very s- He, he looks like a shortstop ... he's
Speaker:6'1", but he's very... Yeah, he looks like, sure, he's 6'1",
Speaker:very, pretty, pretty thin.
Speaker:That's the swing right there he hit the home run on, too, in that picture.
Speaker:Uh, yeah, he, he's, yeah, he's not a guy where you're like, "Oh, man, of course
Speaker:he's gonna hit the ball 9,000 feet."
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, so it, it kind of surprised you.
Speaker:But he's just got quick, quick action, like the bat gets through the zone fast
Speaker:and, I mean, you left that thing up and he smoked it out of the ballpark.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, well congrats to the players of the week.
Speaker:I, I do like the- Yes ... three person layout.
Speaker:I know we probably won't always do that, but you know, Daren, JJ, Paulsen.
Speaker:Sometimes we deserve it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, that, the, the, we probably could have filled that whole thing
Speaker:up with- I, I really- ... this old pitching staff ... we thought we'd just,
Speaker:just have like a, like a nine grid of just all the pitchers that were really good.
Speaker:But yeah, yeah, we got to, uh, just again, shout them out.
Speaker:The, the, the pitching staff frankly was, was the, uh, was
Speaker:the, the star of the week.
Speaker:I mean, again, you take out that one bad inning and, and, and again, Jackson's
Speaker:had that sometimes before where he's looked phenomenal and then all of
Speaker:a sudden it's just not phenomenal.
Speaker:Um, you know, he's a freshman.
Speaker:Uh, you know, there's some, always some argument at this point in the
Speaker:year, the guy's not a freshman anymore.
Speaker:Okay, whatever.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He's still young.
Speaker:Um, ton of talent.
Speaker:I think, you know, again, we'll talk about the future probably as, as after the
Speaker:season ends, but the reality is, like, we could have the same rotation next year.
Speaker:Uh, you think you can have Kuskie.
Speaker:Now Kuskie, he's back to getting scouts looking at him again, uh, because
Speaker:he's been doing so well, you know.
Speaker:So who knows, he might, you know, pitch his way to getting drafted.
Speaker:But you theoretically could have Kuskie and, and Gatti as seniors, and then
Speaker:Okonkwo as a sophomore come right back in and be the rotation again, and that
Speaker:would be... I'd feel pretty good about things if we started out with that.
Speaker:I would feel really good about it as well.
Speaker:Also, there are a lot of younger guys that would push all three of them- Yes.
Speaker:Yeah ... which is also a nice thing to have.
Speaker:And who know, we, you could, you could always deal with injuries.
Speaker:We've dealt with plenty this year.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Uh, so to have a little bit, little bit deeper pitching staff is good.
Speaker:Um, one other, a c- couple other notes just to kind of wrap the JMU series.
Speaker:Uh- Yeah ... the Thursday game, we did not hit the ball particularly well.
Speaker:We only had nine hits.
Speaker:We had to manufacture a lot of runs, and Scotty I think had two key sack bunts.
Speaker:Uh, one of them drove in a run, uh, but I j- I thought the shot was awesome.
Speaker:You get a- Yeah ... bat on ball contact on the sack bunt.
Speaker:And he loves it too.
Speaker:I thought it looked good.
Speaker:He's,
Speaker:he's, he's running in the dugout, he's running out, like, the Bunting Monarchs.
Speaker:Like, he's just, you know- ... Scotty is all personality and he's gonna
Speaker:have fun no matter what he's doing.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:He's, he's gonna have a good time.
Speaker:Uh, and then also TJ Aiken breaks out of what's been a really tough slump for
Speaker:him with a grand slam that just- Yeah
Speaker:kind of put the game, uh, away on Friday, made it eight to nothing.
Speaker:Uh, really pumped for him, getting the, the fire helmet and all that.
Speaker:Great picture of
Speaker:him.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, th- And what a nice easy swing too.
Speaker:It wasn't, I mean, that was like, that again, I mean we, I, I talk to him all the
Speaker:time, you know, I try to keep reminding him like, "Hey man, just be an athlete.
Speaker:Just have fun." And that was a case of he just saw the ball, hit the ball.
Speaker:He didn't try to do too much.
Speaker:Like, he's, he's so naturally good- That just a easy swing and
Speaker:just destroyed that baseball.
Speaker:Yeah, it got left up in the zone and he- Yeah ... absolutely crushed it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So
Speaker:good to see him kind of get off the side.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Then he came into the game later on Saturday, uh, to g- get some reps,
Speaker:but i- if he can get back on the right track, that'd be a nice bonus to the
Speaker:line-up with a bunch of guys that are hitting the ball pretty well right now.
Speaker:And as Nick Felton pointed out, um, uh, after the game on Thursday, it's all
Speaker:mom's cookies 'cause mom brought- Yes.
Speaker:the cookies and, uh, got, got some wins, so.
Speaker:And I, I have been told that, uh, he will be bringing some cookies for the bus
Speaker:ride- Yes ... down to Montgomery- Yes, we get- ... when y'all leave later today.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so yeah, so today is Sunday.
Speaker:We are gonna leave this afternoon.
Speaker:I'm taking the bus.
Speaker:I'm riding right down with them.
Speaker:We're, we're leaving this afternoon, gonna stay in Charlotte.
Speaker:Uh, and then tomorrow, Monday, uh, we're gonna drive to Auburn, uh, and
Speaker:work out, uh, do our, do a, do a BP and workout, uh, with our friends at Auburn.
Speaker:I don't know if they'll be there or not.
Speaker:Um, which they're like number eight in the country or something like
Speaker:that, which is phenomenal for them.
Speaker:Mm-hmm, pretty good.
Speaker:Pretty
Speaker:good.
Speaker:Uh, they might even be six.
Speaker:They might be higher than that.
Speaker:Um, and then we're gonna drive the last hour to Montgomery, and then of
Speaker:course tomorrow at, uh, what is it?
Speaker:Uh, 6:30 local time, we'll be, or thereabouts depending on the game before
Speaker:us, um, we'll be playing our game.
Speaker:Yeah, that'll be, uh, Tuesday at 6:30 Central, 7:30 Eastern.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I try to put that reminder out there that Sun Belt- Yeah, yeah ... publishes
Speaker:everything in Central Time, so don't let that, uh, make you miss
Speaker:the game by an hour or anything.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Don't... Or, or the other way because we also, we have plenty of our players
Speaker:from the West Coast, you know, so they-
Speaker:Yes
Speaker:... which I feel like on the West Coast you're more aware of it.
Speaker:On the East Coast we, again, we always have the East Coast
Speaker:bias when they say a time.
Speaker:We're like, "Obviously that's, that's our time, obviously. No one
Speaker:would talk about anything else."
Speaker:Yeah, America's time, the East Coast time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, and I'll also point out too, we were talking, the weather
Speaker:forecast is not great this week.
Speaker:Hot.
Speaker:There's a lot of chance of the thunderstorms.
Speaker:It's gonna be hot- Yeah ... and humid.
Speaker:Hot and humid.
Speaker:Typical kind of Deep South summer.
Speaker:Last year we got lucky.
Speaker:It was a little cooler.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Uh, so pay attention to social media and game times- Yeah ... 'cause things can
Speaker:change quick, fast, and in a hurry when you've got 10 teams, uh, trying to play a
Speaker:whole bunch of games in a short timeframe.
Speaker:But- Yeah, I was trying to tell some of my, uh, my coworkers, you know, about
Speaker:what I was doing next week, and I was like, "Yeah," but they have a couple
Speaker:of these days where there's like four games scheduled over the course of the
Speaker:entire day, and- ... a little bit of rain can really ma- play with the schedule.
Speaker:So, uh, it's gon- it's gonna be hot and sweaty.
Speaker:It's gonna be one of those days we're all gonna be sticky and gross
Speaker:and just gonna have to deal with it and, and be together as people.
Speaker:Yeah, and someone was asking me, "Well, why do they bus down there?" And it's
Speaker:like, well, it's easy to plan when you're gonna go there on the bus.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But you have no idea when you're coming back.
Speaker:We could be coming back- No ... Tuesday night.
Speaker:We could be coming back Thursday night.
Speaker:We could be coming back Sunday or Monday.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:so-
Speaker:Hopefully we're coming
Speaker:back Monday.
Speaker:That's, that's the goal.
Speaker:That would be great.
Speaker:That would be, uh, the best, uh, Memorial Day weekend ever, I think-
Speaker:It is ... if we were to pull that off.
Speaker:But we got a long way to go because we- Yeah Going to be the eight seed going
Speaker:up against ninth seeded Georgia State.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Uh, probably the most heartbreaking loss of the season occurred
Speaker:down there at Georgia State.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Losing that third game, blowing a big lead in the ninth, and losing
Speaker:in extras to a walk-off home run.
Speaker:Chance for some redemption though, 'cause I feel like we more or
Speaker:less dominated them that series.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We just kind of melted down in that final inning of the third game, and
Speaker:kind of comes back to haunt you a little bit 'cause we'd be in a very
Speaker:different boat in terms of seeding if we had won that game and been 16 to 14.
Speaker:Yeah, and you know, and this is where confidence comes in.
Speaker:Like I said, I, I think, you know, we're playing Georgia State.
Speaker:I think we, obviously we showed we can beat them.
Speaker:Um, you know, again, we had that mistakes.
Speaker:If... I don't think those same things would happen.
Speaker:Those same pitchers would do the same thing, I don't think the same...
Speaker:And, and you know, I think what, what is it?
Speaker:If, if we, we win the game, depending on what happens, uh, on Wednesday,
Speaker:you're either gonna be playing Coastal Carolina or Southern Miss, just depending
Speaker:on who else wins the other game.
Speaker:And you'll know that ahead of time, uh, 'cause the, the first game will tell you.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Um, and obviously we know we can beat Coastal Carolina, and frankly the same
Speaker:thing happened against Southern Miss.
Speaker:We blew the game at the end there.
Speaker:I, I feel very confident about these teams.
Speaker:I don't... Y- you know, again, it's the way this team is playing.
Speaker:It feels like, hey, we can beat them, you know?
Speaker:So I, I feel good.
Speaker:You know, obviously the goal is you wanna win on Tuesday, uh, you wanna
Speaker:win on Wednesday, you wanna win on Thursday, and have a day off on Friday,
Speaker:which you'll need at that point.
Speaker:Uh, that's the goal.
Speaker:Yeah, the only realistic path is o- obviously you gotta win Tuesday.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And when you put baseball in a one game playoff, anything can happen.
Speaker:Anything.
Speaker:Anything can happen.
Speaker:You can kind of throw a lot of things out.
Speaker:You just have to do what you have to do to win that game, and then- There's a reason
Speaker:baseball is played in series.
Speaker:It's, it's not a one game, because one game- Yeah ... rarely gives
Speaker:you the, the real test of a team.
Speaker:Uh, so it's always weird when that happens.
Speaker:Even the three game series that they do for super regionals and in the first
Speaker:round- Yeah ... of the MLB playoffs, like, you're not really, you're not
Speaker:really valuing the best team, but, like, who can win two before losing two- Yeah,
Speaker:right ... is basically what that is.
Speaker:Uh, but the way the seeding works there is Southern Miss, because of
Speaker:Coastal's little collapse down the stretch here, won the regular season.
Speaker:We broke Coastal.
Speaker:That's hilarious.
Speaker:We did.
Speaker:We broke their hearts and their soul.
Speaker:I think what, their fans had that realization after our series that they
Speaker:are not gonna win a national championship this year, which of course led them
Speaker:to all be like, "We're the worst team ever." I mean, they're still gonna go.
Speaker:They're probably gonna win their regional.
Speaker:They might win a super regional, who knows?
Speaker:But maybe not with the injuries they have.
Speaker:But they, I think that they are, it is accurate to say they're not gonna
Speaker:win a national championship this year.
Speaker:They don't have the bullets.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And you know, you can only expect so much.
Speaker:They were in the final last year- Right.
Speaker:Yeah ... but they've had a ton of injuries.
Speaker:But they really have gone into a tailspin.
Speaker:The Cajuns were- Yeah ... smelling blood in the water, and
Speaker:they took two out of three.
Speaker:And that- Yeah ... you know, Louisiana's not an easy place to
Speaker:play, especially if you're down.
Speaker:Uh- Yeah ... so I would much rather see Co- uh, Coastal on Wednesday if
Speaker:we win Tuesday than I would Southern Miss, who's won nine in a row.
Speaker:Um- They're ... I think they said they won 13 out of 14 Sun Belt games to
Speaker:finish the year or something like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just one
Speaker:crazy amount at the end that, that Southern Miss is, is on.
Speaker:And, and you know, I personally, I kind of always root for Southern Miss
Speaker:because they seem like they, they're pretty nice folks, and we like them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But I don't wanna root for them anymore than-
Speaker:Yeah, I don't wanna have to play them ... unless, unless
Speaker:next week when they're in like the regional, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, we'll, we'll root for them then.
Speaker:Uh, but basically- Yeah ... Southern Miss will play the lowest
Speaker:seed out of those first four.
Speaker:So- Mm-hmm ... uh, if you go and, and look at the schedule, uh, you know,
Speaker:if Marshall upsets Louisiana, then Marshall will play Southern Miss.
Speaker:And no matter what happens in our game, the winner of that would play,
Speaker:uh, would play Coastal Carolina.
Speaker:But so we'll, we'll kind of have a good idea.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, but the only true path is win Tuesday, win Wednesday, and win Thursday.
Speaker:You gotta win three games in a row, something that we really
Speaker:haven't done this season.
Speaker:Uh, if you do that, Friday is basically just a loser's bracket day.
Speaker:So if you've come through the f- the, the Wednesday, Thursday, and you've
Speaker:won, you get the day off, which we would obviously desperately need-
Speaker:Yeah ... because the alternative is you have to basically win two games on Friday.
Speaker:So it's a big swing coming out of those first two games.
Speaker:It's a lot.
Speaker:And that's, that's where we've seen the champion for the Sun
Speaker:Belt come from historically.
Speaker:They've had that Friday off, and they haven't played in the first round.
Speaker:So it's a long and a very difficult road.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But I mean, this team has the ability to get hot.
Speaker:They're consistently inconsistent.
Speaker:If this is a week where they're inconsistently good,
Speaker:we could be in great shape.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I imagine the teams are not wanting to play Old Dominion right now.
Speaker:I think that they, the people who are paying attention realize this team has
Speaker:a lot of talent, probably should've been better than it was this year, is playing
Speaker:really well right now, and they're aware that like they could really...
Speaker:I mean, like I say, when you go and punch Coastal in the mouth at their place, it's
Speaker:like that's a wake-up call to like- Yeah ... "Hey, these guys have some stuff." Um,
Speaker:we, we've got to, you know, when our, when things are going right, we've got
Speaker:a really dominant pitching staff, and we've got a really dominant lineup.
Speaker:Yeah, and we, we played some tougher teams, uh, you know, early in the
Speaker:season, but I, what I was most impressed by is we went three and three against
Speaker:the top two teams in the league.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that has to give you a lot of confidence and put some
Speaker:fear in some other people.
Speaker:We can play up to-
Speaker:Probably should've been four and two
Speaker:I mean, probably so.
Speaker:We, we kind of blew that game to Southern Miss, so it could be- Yeah ... a
Speaker:very different, different situation.
Speaker:Uh, but our ability to play up to the best competition in the Sun
Speaker:Belt's not something I worry about.
Speaker:It's those shooting yourself in the foot mistakes against a team-
Speaker:Mm-hmm ... that doesn't make it.
Speaker:Um- Yeah
Speaker:you know, we had to walk off Arkansas State who somehow, despite their hot
Speaker:start, they did not make the tournament, uh, which is kind of unbelievable to me.
Speaker:Marshall was able to sneak in above them.
Speaker:I, I
Speaker:think they're like, they're like 16 RPI for the whole country
Speaker:and didn't make the tournament.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They- Right?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:they, they finished- Yeah ... 29 and 24.
Speaker:Uh, so they- Yeah ... they just had one less loss than us this season, but-
Speaker:They should be having a conversation about like, are they a, like, at large bid team,
Speaker:you know, if they have a good tournament and they're not even in the tournament.
Speaker:That's, that's wild.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Th- there was a ton of parity in the Sun Belt.
Speaker:I mean, Southern Miss- Yeah ... and Coastal were kind of up there, but again,
Speaker:we went three and three against them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then South Alabama, App, and Troy finished tied for third at 17 and 13.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So we were two games back of third.
Speaker:It's just a tough league, man.
Speaker:Like-
Speaker:It's a hard league.
Speaker:I mean, it's a, it's a- It's hard
Speaker:it's a Power Four conference.
Speaker:Um, that was when the, the other day somebody on Twitter was, was
Speaker:pointing out, it was like the percentages of players from Virginia
Speaker:that each Virginia school has.
Speaker:Um, which I think like VMI was number one with like 97%.
Speaker:And I think- Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah ... you know, I don't believe they give out scholarships,
Speaker:so that makes sense, right?
Speaker:It's in-state tuition.
Speaker:Um, ODU was at like 23% of our roster is from Virginia, which is... Or 24, which
Speaker:is right where, I mean, UVA had 23 also.
Speaker:It's not like... Uh, and, and th- so the, the argument was, you know, of
Speaker:course being biased living here in Hampton Roads was like, "How do we
Speaker:keep 757 kids from going other places?"
Speaker:And I said, "You know, I l- personally, I love it. I love getting to see 757
Speaker:kids because I could see them in their high school. A lot of times I've known
Speaker:them for years." Uh, but at the same time, it's like that's the plus side
Speaker:of playing in a Power Four conference is we can get the best talent.
Speaker:We are, I mean, you see we have guys from California, we have guys from Florida,
Speaker:we have guys from all up the Northeast, New Jersey, all the, all the places.
Speaker:Texas, everywhere.
Speaker:Uh, Texas.
Speaker:Getting a lot of North Carolina guys now.
Speaker:I mean, we are, because we are a power conference, we might not
Speaker:be for all the, all the sports.
Speaker:For baseball, we for sure are.
Speaker:We are a power four.
Speaker:Um, and we can get the best players.
Speaker:So it's like, yeah, is it nice to have local kids?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Is it...
Speaker:Does that matter more than having talent?
Speaker:No, I'd much rather have the talented players and they're from somewhere else.
Speaker:So it's one of those, yeah, I get from like a fan perspective, it's
Speaker:fun to root for our local guys.
Speaker:But at the same time it's like, hey, you know, if... And, and, and the reality
Speaker:is, you know, uh, some of these g- I'm, I'm trying to think of some guys off
Speaker:the top of my head who are, like, going.
Speaker:And some, it's like, hey, if a, if a SEC school or a ACC school wants you,
Speaker:it's hard to turn them down, frankly.
Speaker:The, just, just the, the, the allure of it all.
Speaker:If- Now, in two years when you haven't played and they, and they dump you - Yeah,
Speaker:you come right back home ... you'll be wishing you'd gone Old Dominion.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and I think that's where we can kind of bring a lot of those guys back.
Speaker:'Cause at, at a certain level, I mean, it's similar to football.
Speaker:If kid's a four or a five star, he's not coming to ODU.
Speaker:Like not, at least not initially.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like it's just, it's just not happening.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Why, why would you when you can play on a bigger stage
Speaker:and make more money elsewhere?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But- Just
Speaker:the, just the, the ability, I mean, look at the draft.
Speaker:Like how many SEC guys are drafted first five rounds compared to how many... We
Speaker:haven't, I mean, our highest draft pick in the last 20 years is a fourth round.
Speaker:I think Yarbrough was the highest draft pick the last 20 years.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:I mean, so it's like that's just the reality and that, and that's, in the
Speaker:Sun Belt we're, if we have a guy, like a first rounder, it's kind of like, oh,
Speaker:there's a Sun Belt guy up high, right?
Speaker:You know, it's just not- Again, and that's maybe that's part of them
Speaker:not realizing where the talent is.
Speaker:Um, because, you know, you get Vinnie Pasquantino who's an 11th round pick
Speaker:who then gets to the big leagues in three years and is phenomenal.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Every day starter
Speaker:now.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, this is, this is not the days of the CAA when we were
Speaker:one of the best teams in a- Yeah
Speaker:you know, an okay conference, but they were never a top 10 conference.
Speaker:You know- Yeah ... Conference USA would push into the top 10.
Speaker:There were some years there where they were really good.
Speaker:But the Sun Belt, even in a year where, you know, maybe Southern Miss and Coastal
Speaker:are down a little bit, we're still trading off fourth, fifth best conference in RPI.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So i- it's just a little different, and when you play at that stage you
Speaker:have to widen your recruiting net.
Speaker:Like, we still target guys that are local.
Speaker:You,
Speaker:you get to widen your recruiting net.
Speaker:It's not you get to.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:You're allow- You know, but whereas if you're playing in the CAA,
Speaker:it's like, yeah, you're gonna kinda g- get Virginia and anybody
Speaker:who's heard of your school before.
Speaker:When you're in the Power Four or Power Five group, yeah, you're allowed to
Speaker:go out and grab guys from everywhere.
Speaker:And we've been successful.
Speaker:I mean, how many guys from, like, Washington and Idaho have
Speaker:we brought in in the past couple years that have been phenomenal?
Speaker:I mean, we got a
Speaker:kid from, uh, yeah, we got a kid from Indiana coming, uh, so...
Speaker:And apparently, I think, I think I remember Finny saying this kid,
Speaker:like, if it wasn't for all the weird rules and things they've done with
Speaker:all the NIL, this kid wouldn't have, wouldn't have ended up coming to us.
Speaker:But because things have, have worked out and because we are- Mm-hmm ... actually
Speaker:a power school, and he's hype.
Speaker:I see him sharing stuff about ODU all the time.
Speaker:He can't wait to be here, which is great.
Speaker:That's, that's what you want.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I mean, I'm j- You know, I'd love if 757... I'd love it.
Speaker:I love it when 757 kids are here, but at the same time it's like,
Speaker:hey, I love it when we get talented players and have a good team.
Speaker:I, that's, uh, just give me good people that can play some good ball and-
Speaker:Yes ... and we'll be in good shape.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But that is the difference.
Speaker:And I, you know, y- you can ask yourself the question, and I don't know
Speaker:if there's a right or wrong answer.
Speaker:You can be 15 and 15 in one of the best baseball conferences, or you
Speaker:could be 20 and 10 in the CAA or the A10 or something like that.
Speaker:Like, what, what are you- And still maybe lose a
Speaker:tournament and have no chance of being in the, in the regional.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, look, like, look at men's basketball for the Sun Belt.
Speaker:If you don't win the tournament- Yeah ... you don't get in
Speaker:the NCAA tournament, period.
Speaker:That's right.
Speaker:So at least in the Sun Belt we could finish third and be 18 and 12- Yeah
Speaker:and host a regional.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:like- So it's just different,
Speaker:different playing field.
Speaker:You know, we got a schedule here.
Speaker:Southern Miss and Coastal are both going to regional.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We already know.
Speaker:Um, South Alabama, App State, and Troy, I'm not, I don't have their
Speaker:RPI in front of me, but all three of them and maybe two, probably two of
Speaker:those three, especially depending on how the tournament goes for them, are
Speaker:probably going to the, the regionals.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:App- We're usually a three or four bid league.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:App State may have shot themselves in the foot by dropping their
Speaker:series to Georgia State.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:But they're still playing.
Speaker:I mean, we've talked about Arkansas State has an RPI in the 60s and they
Speaker:didn't make the Sun Belt tournament.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, it's pretty, pretty wild.
Speaker:Um, all right.
Speaker:Well- We're gonna be heading down to Montgomery.
Speaker:I know you're hopping the bus- Yeah ... and riding down,
Speaker:which I'm, I'm very jealous of.
Speaker:I'm sad I have to work on Monday- ... 'cause it sounds like a fun time.
Speaker:We- we'll see.
Speaker:We'll see how jealous you'll, you'll be of that.
Speaker:I'll, I'll, I'll keep you updated.
Speaker:It might be, you know.
Speaker:I, I, it was very funny this week at work, you know, I said that,
Speaker:yeah, I'm on vacation next week.
Speaker:"Oh, what are you doing?" I'm taking a bus ride to Alabama.
Speaker:Like it does not ... What I'm doing is super fun when I explain
Speaker:what it is, but when you just say what's happening, it sounds not fun.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Uh, but I will catch up with you on Monday.
Speaker:I'm gonna, gonna get down to Montgomery probably around
:00 or 7:00 on Monday.
:Uh, we'll have some additional content for you.
:We're gonna try to record some things with the 6-7 on either Monday-
:Yeah ... uh, depending what the schedule is, or Tuesday before the game.
:Hopefully we're bringing you stuff all week because we won Tuesday-
:Yeah ... and we're guaranteed two more games after that.
:Yeah.
:We'll be down there.
:We'll be live.
:I've got all the fun and exciting equipment that I don't really know how
:to use, but- We'll, I'll figure a way to get the- We're gonna figure out.
:We're gonna- Get the shot and frame here.
:Um- Yeah ... certainly, uh, not, not CB level of, uh, shot framing here, but
:we'll try.
:Yeah.
:We're gonna figure out.
:We're gonna try.
:We- we'll try to figure out what we're doing and try to do some fun.
:It might be live and maybe you see it later or maybe you're
:yet to be part of it live.
:Who knows?
:We're gonna, we're gonna figure out what we're doing and I'll, I'll try and, you
:know, as we're working out at Auburn I'll maybe try to figure out some stuff, at
:least maybe some video and who knows.
:We'll ... Who knows what we're doing.
:As you know, we're not professionals.
:We're just a couple of guys.
:And so we'll do what we can.
:Yes.
:We're using our, uh, our PTO from work to take a bus to Montgomery.
:Yes.
:Yeah.
:So.
:Right.
:Exactly.
:Yes.
:100%. The PTO we saved up from work to take a bus to Montgomery.
:That's what it is.
:Exactly.
:It's
:good.
:But make sure you're following us on social media.
:Uh, h- @HudsonHomers on Twitter, at X, uh, Hudson Homers on Instagram, also
:the ODU Monarchists account on YouTube.
:That's where all of our content is at.
:So make sure you're subscribed and got alerts and all that fun stuff.
:We'll keep you in the loop.
:But I'm excited.
:I mean, we're gonna go down there and just see what happens.
:We, we got nothing to lose.
:Just go down there and try and win some ballgames.
:Go down and be fully committed to the having the funnest summer ever.
:Funnest summer ever.
:Go Monarchs.
:Go Monarchs.
