Latest / College Baseball Now / Weekend 13 Preview: Kan’t Be Stopped | Ep. 034

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Weekend 13 Preview: Kan’t Be Stopped | Ep. 034 · College Baseball Now

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We got a jam packed episode in front of you
• 0:03
  with a discussion of some midweek action, picking a ton
• 0:06
  of incredible games for Weekend thirteen, and reaching the final
• 0:10
  stretch of the race of the twenty twenty sixth season.
• 0:13
  Join us for this episode College Baseball Now.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there ain't no problems, No problems.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Don't want me?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Tut to the chat.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: They know what was going for a minute. I hit
• 0:33
  the bot, beat, grab a couple wins with a D.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: They even know the kid. I had to do a
• 0:37
  B I G. I can never be Taverridge and they
• 0:39
  want to pull them with the boy.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: They don't know.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: No statics counted, so coach Son run a week God,
• 0:43
  I want to test that title with standing Toli troll
• 0:46
  run the game. Best believe signing.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Ducks counting now my wins?
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it when.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: They count me y out counting on the.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Least sudden shame.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Why win at docks? Besbelieve I run the game?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: You know when man truly to.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Want to stand from our brains to your ears. It's
• 1:29
  College Baseball Now, Episode thirty four. We're glad to be
• 1:32
  here with you, and I'm glad to be here with
• 1:35
  my friends, hosting team of the podcast. Let's start with
• 1:38
  me and your friend, your host, your boy, Drew Wheeler,
• 1:40
  director of amateur Scouting at Prospects Live. So happy to
• 1:43
  be here with you all. I'm happy to be here
• 1:45
  with a squad. All of us are here. Two of
• 1:47
  you are in really weird positions on the screen. But
• 1:50
  will we'll make it work. Let's start with the gentleman
• 1:53
  on my right in the top corner. It's JB. Sebastiano. JB.
• 1:57
  The big day approaches rapidly, man, grad is just around
• 2:01
  the corner.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's crazy. It's crazy that it's finally, you know,
• 2:06
  going into the real world after after Saturday. Yeah, so
• 2:09
  crazy times.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Are you prepared to spread your wings and fly?
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: I hope.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: So we're going to find out what you'll do. Fine,
• 2:19
  you'll do fine. Uh. Speaking of graduation, we have to
• 2:23
  give a a round of applas to the gentleman who
• 2:27
  has just graduated from Auburn University. That's gonna be in
• 2:30
  the bottom right corner, Josh Catlet Josh, well done, sir, congratulations.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you, And the other day after after five years
• 2:37
  of college, never never thought the day would come.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know you have graduated in less time than
• 2:43
  some of us sitting here. Uh, it took them to graduate.
• 2:46
  I'm not gonna point fingers anybody, but some people it
• 2:48
  took longer to graduate college. So you're doing great. Uh,
• 2:52
  you're you're living your best life. Uh, no schoolwork, no finals,
• 2:56
  no pressure, no stress. I hope so far.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. I'm on the I'm on the
• 3:01
  hunt for an actual day job. So that's a love
• 3:04
  stressful as the word, because things knock on woods seem
• 3:07
  to be going well right now, but I don't know.
• 3:10
  We'll we'll see. There's no stress in between with stuff
• 3:14
  involving the company, prospects, life, tons of stuff going on
• 3:16
  here to keep me occupied while trying to figure out that.
• 3:18
  On the side, sure, there's plenty for you to do here.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: And if you have a job for Josh Catlett, let
• 3:23
  him know in the comments below. And then finally, bottom
• 3:27
  left corner, it is the coach, Jake Barjerie Jake Bummer
• 3:32
  news coming out of Arcadia this past weekend. Dude, the Nights.
• 3:36
  It was good night for the Nights, a real sad
• 3:39
  ending to the season. But man, we're so proud of
• 3:42
  you and proud of Arcadia. Glad to have been the
• 3:44
  number one podcasting fans of that team this year.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it. I'm proud of obviously all of our
• 3:51
  guys too. They we we you know, we had injuries,
• 3:55
  guys get sick and all that kinds of stuff, and
• 3:57
  you know, won a lot of games this year. I'm
• 3:59
  really proud to have been a part of it. And
• 4:01
  it's been did an end obviously the way that we
• 4:04
  wanted it to end, but it's you know, it's very
• 4:07
  rare to go out on a win. Only one team
• 4:09
  in the country really gets to do that. But so
• 4:13
  I'm happy with the year that we had. It was
• 4:14
  it was a success.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, we will. We will certainly miss several talented
• 4:21
  players from that team. Wheeler Oswald, you got some talent
• 4:24
  coming back, and of course our favorite unit, coaching first base,
• 4:28
  will be out there again next year. That's the right word, right,
• 4:33
  Was that what you called yourself?
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: That's what I looked like in that one clip when
• 4:36
  I had like seventeen layers on and the wind was
• 4:39
  blowing twenty five miles an hour.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I unit.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think that was the right word
• 4:45
  for it.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I love it. Classic stuff speaking of classic stuff. Guys, Josh,
• 4:50
  some nonsense is going on in your home state.
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  Speaker 2: Man.
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  Speaker 1: This midweek, Troy decided it'd be a good time to
• 4:57
  just play right into my agenda and lay the down
• 5:00
  on Alabama six to one in the midweek. Josh, I'm
• 5:04
  gonna let you speak as an Alababian exactly what happened
• 5:07
  in this game.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Troy's pitching was just on fire, shut
• 5:13
  on that Bama lineup better than most people have although
• 5:16
  they've been struggling a little bit lately. Dylan Alonso was
• 5:20
  probably the best guy from Troy in this game. Juco
• 5:23
  transfer and relief didn't allow a single run in two
• 5:26
  and the third innings on four strikeouts. The BAMDA lineup
• 5:29
  just went cold. It seemed like, and it's a midweek game.
• 5:32
  You know, they're trying to fight for a host spot,
• 5:34
  and so they would like games like this, but ultimately
• 5:36
  it's not the end of the world. Guys like Brendan
• 5:39
  Holtman over four to two strikeouts, Bryce Valor over four.
• 5:43
  I mean, I think the bigger takeaway from this is
• 5:45
  this really helped Troy's postseason hopes. They are sneakily fifty
• 5:49
  eight in the RPI right now, two games back from
• 5:52
  third place in the Sun Belt. I mean, like Jake
• 5:55
  and I just finished doing our bracketology and we discussed
• 5:58
  Troy for a little bit. I mean they're ultimately next
• 6:01
  four out, you know, like first ten twelve teams out
• 6:04
  of the field. But I mean they still ultimately have
• 6:06
  a losing record, and the fact they're even in that
• 6:07
  conversation is big. I think I've seen them in the
• 6:10
  conversation for a decent amount of people. I don't know how.
• 6:14
  I don't know if they'll get up there, because having
• 6:16
  that bad of a record in a mid major conference
• 6:19
  ultimately is probably not gonna be enough for you. But
• 6:22
  at the end of the day, I think that the
• 6:23
  fact they're even back in this conversation is about what
• 6:25
  we thought they would be like before the season started.
• 6:27
  And it's good to see that offense putting things together.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Definitely. Uh And Plus, if Troy is to make it
• 6:33
  to the postseason, that's just money in anybody's pocket that
• 6:36
  said Troy was an Omaha eight team this.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Year, I'm gonna assume that was you.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: It was one of the four of us. I thought
• 6:45
  it was me or you one Josh it might have
• 6:47
  been me.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Well hey that case, Hey, I pocket all right, I
• 6:51
  had some idbu ad Arizona. We don't need to talk
• 6:53
  about the Omahai's rough for me.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Coming next week, we're reviewing the Omaha eight dract. Reason No, Jay,
• 7:02
  Josh was just really leading into it. You guys did
• 7:05
  just finish bracketology. I say, just like it wasn't three
• 7:07
  and a half hours ago. We did just get our
• 7:09
  evening y ap on. But a couple hours ago you guys
• 7:12
  finished bracketology for the week. I'm curious, man, tell us
• 7:15
  about what Alabama's looking at right now in you guys'
• 7:17
  most recent bracketology and what was the logic behind them.
• 7:21
  As Josh said, they're hoping for a hosting spot. But
• 7:25
  I don't know, man, this FAMA team has kind of
• 7:26
  picked an odd time to look kind of traditionally bipolar
• 7:32
  for the SEC.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I'll say, yeah, so for Alabama, I think we ended
• 7:38
  up having them as the as the twelve seed, but
• 7:40
  like that, you know, twelve through like sixteen seventeen eighteen,
• 7:44
  like there's an order that you can go in. Like
• 7:46
  I think Alabama has firmly kind of earned the hosting
• 7:49
  right at this point, but like you know, and just
• 7:53
  some of the under the hood things like like they're
• 7:55
  they're sitting at the number five RPI team and you know,
• 7:57
  being in the SEC having an RPI that high, Like
• 8:00
  you know, the upcoming games that they have on their schedule,
• 8:03
  they have h South Carolina and Ole Miss, Like, they're
• 8:08
  not really you know, as long as they take care
• 8:10
  of business there, they're not really going to drop too
• 8:11
  much whether they you know, I think that may they
• 8:15
  have to win a few of those games obviously, but
• 8:17
  like I don't. I think they're set up nicely to
• 8:18
  kind of to maintain this range of like where we
• 8:23
  have them as a twelve. See just like some of
• 8:25
  their records against really good opponents, it just kind of
• 8:28
  all backs it up. Yeah, they're a little hot and
• 8:30
  cold at times, but like if there's a time to
• 8:33
  get cold and then get back hot again, I guess
• 8:35
  you could say that like now it is the time
• 8:37
  to start heating back up. But if I can make
• 8:40
  one note on Troy, if that's all right, Like like
• 8:44
  Josh mentioned, like they're kind of just on the outside
• 8:46
  looking in right now. It's more just that that overall record,
• 8:50
  but I think it kind of seems like heading into
• 8:52
  this game, they kind of realize that, like, you know,
• 8:54
  we have a chance, like we have to get our
• 8:56
  record up, but like, you know, we have a chance
• 8:57
  of getting this this this at large because you know,
• 9:00
  we're playing good ball at the right time, and like
• 9:02
  the we look at this at midweeks at times of
• 9:05
  some of these mid major teams playing the some of
• 9:08
  these Power Conference teams like Troy through Like they're guys
• 9:11
  like Matt Dill. I think had like is the guy
• 9:14
  that they pitched that has like the lowest amount of
• 9:16
  innings on this Troy teams. He's still got like twenty
• 9:19
  twenty five innings this year for him, Like like Ellingsworth, Crouch,
• 9:22
  Felt and Josh talked about Alonzo big Pen. All these
• 9:25
  guys are like weekend relievers that pitch a lot, and
• 9:29
  I think they're kind of realizing, like, you know, we
• 9:31
  need this win, like we have a chance to get
• 9:33
  in as a that large If we can, then this
• 9:36
  would be a this would be a big win to
• 9:37
  kind of boost that resume up for Troy too.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And sure enough it was.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: JB.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Want to go to you because obviously we've talked a
• 9:47
  lot about Alabama a lot of talented teams in that
• 9:50
  state this year, whether we're talking about you know, Jack State,
• 9:55
  Josh's alma mater of Auburn, Alabama, Troy JB. I guess
• 10:00
  that's my question to you, is Troy. Earlier in the
• 10:04
  season and in the preseason specially, we talked about Troy
• 10:06
  as being kind of one of the top contenders in
• 10:08
  the Sun Belt, and it wasn't exactly the season that
• 10:11
  we expected from them. But yet this kind of result
• 10:14
  is one that if you told us earlier in the
• 10:16
  season especially, would have been like, yeah, pish posh, this
• 10:18
  is exactly what we're expecting.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, I know we all
• 10:22
  had them in the discussion for the top twenty five.
• 10:25
  I even think originally back in the day, they were
• 10:27
  in our top thirty teams probably if we were to
• 10:29
  rank it at the time. Troy. It's just kind of
• 10:33
  the talent hasn't meshed together for them this year. But
• 10:35
  I think you know, that game right there was showing
• 10:38
  of the talent that they do have on roster and
• 10:40
  how they could get hot if they get into a regional.
• 10:43
  It would be fun to see. I think it would
• 10:44
  be interesting, but it's definitely an uphill battle. Like the
• 10:47
  other two guys said, so it'll definitely be something that
• 10:50
  we got to keep an eye on. But I think
• 10:51
  they're probably the last team out of those hot teams
• 10:54
  in Alabama to that we're really watching right now.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Last team to the dish, so to say, yeah, for sure,
• 11:01
  see how scrappy the runs are. JB. Want to stick
• 11:04
  with you to talk about a game a little closer
• 11:06
  to you. Clemson and Coastal Carolina. A lot of c's
• 11:10
  on the scoreboard for that one, but Clemson put up
• 11:13
  a W while Coastal was stuck with an L. If
• 11:15
  we're gonna keep to the alphabetical theme, Clemson took an
• 11:17
  eight to four victory over Coastal. I did not see
• 11:21
  this one coming, JB. I'm gonna go ahead and tell
• 11:23
  you I think Clemson is kind of a deceptive team.
• 11:26
  Where As I start to think, remember, they're not that bad,
• 11:29
  they'll drop something or look terrible on the field, and
• 11:31
  then when I think, oh, Clemson's just trash, they'll turn
• 11:33
  around to look really strong. Would the real Clemson please
• 11:38
  stand up? JB? That's my question.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Clemson's been a very bipolar team this season. I
• 11:44
  think you know there, they played very poorly in acc play.
• 11:49
  But Coastal Carolina they have been very, very very good
• 11:53
  recently and as we saw against u NC just so
• 11:57
  we again they looked on point. So it is definitely
• 12:01
  shocking to me. Horn and Lynchhoe came out of the
• 12:04
  back of the pen and kind of got roughed up.
• 12:07
  Both of them went one and a third, gave up
• 12:08
  two and one and run each Jackson Smollet's who's there
• 12:12
  midweek guy gave up three kind of just more let
• 12:16
  down from the pitching staff, I'd say from Coastal, and
• 12:19
  Clemson's guys really stepped up. So there's definitely a big
• 12:22
  win for them right now that they really needed to
• 12:24
  stay in the hunt, to say the least.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm certainly with you there, Jake. Want to bounce
• 12:30
  back to you talking about Coastal. JB really did the
• 12:34
  great job leading us into here. Coastal has played on
• 12:38
  fire lately. I mean, they're a top ten team for
• 12:40
  US as of right now. I believe at number nine
• 12:43
  if I'm not mistaken, Jake. Coastal losing this game, We've
• 12:47
  talked about it all season long. Obviously, you can't overreact
• 12:51
  to a midwek loss, especially to a you know, power
• 12:54
  conference Clemson team who is talented, like we said, deceptively so.
• 13:00
  But now that the RPI is being looked at a
• 13:02
  little more, we're starting to see some weather cancelation, weather cancelations,
• 13:06
  starting to see some outright cancelations as well. But Jake Coastal, no,
• 13:11
  no need to panic here, right, We're still pretty firmly
• 13:14
  in the driver's seat for a hosting spot.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, yeah, I do think so. Regardless of this,
• 13:22
  this loss to Clemson, they've they've earned they've earned that
• 13:25
  right to be in the hosting spot. I think me
• 13:28
  and Josh had them as the thirteen seed just above
• 13:32
  what was it just above Alabama that we just talked about,
• 13:36
  Like they're they're you know, they're nineteen and five conference play.
• 13:40
  I mean, they're taking care of business against against good teams.
• 13:44
  And yeah, just to straight up answer your question, I'm
• 13:47
  not I'm not too concerned about it. They they beat
• 13:50
  Clemson earlier in the year and you know, Clemson just
• 13:53
  kind of got them back here. But I'm not, I'm
• 13:55
  not this this does not raise any concerns for me.
• 13:59
  But uh, one note about the game though, shout out
• 14:02
  Jackson Smollett's and the other starter for Clemson, Danny Nelson,
• 14:07
  both freshmen this year, both from like my area, Danny
• 14:11
  Nelson Hershey Pa, Jackson Smollett's and Jersey kids. So it
• 14:16
  was cool to get those to see those two that
• 14:18
  I've kind of seen off and on over the last
• 14:21
  couple of years grow up and get to play against
• 14:23
  each other in college.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: So that's pretty fun.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: That is really cool. I got to love those personal ties.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: That is really sick that they pitched against each other
• 14:31
  in a midweek game that we're chatting about here. They
• 14:34
  made it, Mama, Mama, They've made it. College baseball now
• 14:37
  is talking about us. Josh, want to go to you
• 14:40
  here to talk about Clemson. Obviously, let's kind of flip
• 14:44
  the script, you know, coastal this isn't affecting them much,
• 14:46
  but kind of to piggyback off of what we talked
• 14:49
  about the last game. Troy benefits from this win over
• 14:52
  a team with a really substantial RPI in Alabama. I
• 14:56
  think the same could be said for Clemson.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: No, for sure. I mean it's kind of weird because
• 15:01
  it's the opposite from the other series or the other
• 15:03
  game that the mid major team usually is the one
• 15:06
  that benefits from these midweeks and the power copperence teams
• 15:08
  don't care. But it's the exact opposite here. But it's
• 15:11
  a weird situation because Cletchman came into the year as
• 15:13
  the top twenty five teen, similarly to Troy, or they weren't.
• 15:16
  Troy wasn't ranked, but they were ranked maybe in our poll.
• 15:18
  They were close regardless, But now Clemson last in the
• 15:22
  ACC sneakily number thirty seven in the RPI, though, I
• 15:26
  mean it's you didn't expect this at all a couple
• 15:29
  of weeks ago. I mean, before this past weekend against
• 15:32
  Boston College, they had won only one of their last
• 15:35
  seven series, and that being against Stanfords. That's not really
• 15:38
  the best thing in the world. But they were in
• 15:41
  our i think next four out in the bracketology. They
• 15:44
  were discussed. I mean, there's some redeeming qualities. They're sure
• 15:47
  like the Boston College series, certainly really good. But at
• 15:51
  the end of the day, they're eleven to nineteen in
• 15:54
  Quad one and Quad two combined with an eight and
• 15:56
  ten road record, not really good enough to get it,
• 15:59
  not really good enough to cut it. They don't really
• 16:01
  have any bad losses, but I mean overall, just the
• 16:03
  resume is rough. They haven't done much in ACC play,
• 16:05
  so I it's gonna take a lot for them to
• 16:07
  get into the big dance. Isn't at large? Probably uphill
• 16:11
  battle at this point. I know they have Florida State
• 16:15
  on deck, and I forget who else I think they've
• 16:18
  it's a Florida State at home this weekend. I think
• 16:20
  they're at VT, which they would probably to go five
• 16:25
  and one and win a couple in Charlotte maybe or
• 16:28
  like bet four and two and win a couple in
• 16:30
  Charlotte to get in, which is tough for them at
• 16:32
  this point, but it could get done. They need some
• 16:34
  things to go their way falling around them.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a couple of state Josh, So you are right,
• 16:41
  it's or that they're at home versus Florida State at
• 16:44
  Virginia Tech at USC Upstate is their schedule for like
• 16:49
  finale basically m hmm.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: It is gonna be interesting. And like you said, Josh,
• 16:56
  I think that there's a there's a road. There's a road.
• 16:59
  I do certainly think if you even if you took
• 17:01
  three wins of six games and ACC play and then
• 17:05
  you know, you get to Charlotte and take I don't know,
• 17:08
  you win, you win two games. That may push them
• 17:12
  up just enough, I guess, but like you said, it
• 17:15
  is a sketchy resume for what.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It's worth right now. If the standings ended the way
• 17:22
  they currently are in acc play their path to say,
• 17:25
  winning three games, they would have Pitt. Then they would
• 17:27
  play Virginia. If they won that, then they play North Carolina.
• 17:33
  So not exactly easy. I mean Pitt's I think Pitt
• 17:36
  was our first team out of the field actually, and
• 17:38
  then Virginia is a two seed. Carolina is a top
• 17:41
  four overall solidified seed at this point, so those would
• 17:43
  be good wins. Going only three and three in conference
• 17:46
  by the rest of the way with those three wins
• 17:49
  still might not be enough. It might RPI is good enough,
• 17:52
  but like they just need they got some work to do.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: It's to solidify it as Yeah, they're making the dance.
• 17:58
  I definitely get you the job should I think I
• 18:00
  think we're all on the same page on Clinton either way.
• 18:03
  Impressive midweek victory to them. Hat tip to them for sure. Josh.
• 18:07
  While we're with you, let's go ahead and talk about
• 18:09
  last weekend of Pickham because it was an interesting one.
• 18:13
  I know you weren't here. We didn't have we didn't
• 18:16
  have several of us. It was an odd week, but
• 18:18
  Quinn joined us. I'd put on a very strong performance.
• 18:22
  But Josh, I'm getting into your boat walk us through pickups.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I would absolutely love to, because for the first time
• 18:28
  all year, someone went seven and one or better on
• 18:32
  the week, and that's someone was yours truly, So this
• 18:35
  is my favorite topic of the week. I was I
• 18:37
  was a walk off win in Fayetteville away from going
• 18:40
  eight to no, and I'm still salty about that, but
• 18:42
  that's okay. The best guest has done this year by far.
• 18:47
  Quinn went six and two, got the overall guest record
• 18:50
  up to twelve and twelve, so they're five hundred now.
• 18:53
  The rest of you all went five and three, So
• 18:55
  now I'm fifty five and forty on the year, two
• 18:58
  games up on Drew. Drew is four games up on
• 19:02
  Jake and JB who were tied at forty nine to
• 19:04
  forty six, and our guests, like I said, are twelve
• 19:06
  and twelve, so.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Well, positively on the guest perspective them being fifty percent
• 19:14
  only I mean It still puts them in fourth place here,
• 19:17
  but they're at least a much more respectable percentage.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that six and ten is staring us in the
• 19:22
  face for like a month, wasn't Yeah, But shout out Quinn.
• 19:25
  We're good now.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: A big shout out to Quinn for jumping in and saying,
• 19:28
  hold up, let me fix this and hopefully we'll get
• 19:31
  another We'll get another episode from the guests to hopefully
• 19:34
  raise that percentage a little bit more. But Josh, incredible job.
• 19:38
  You had messaged us earlier in this week about the
• 19:41
  games this weekend, and I think you did a great
• 19:42
  job picking them. I do want to go ahead and
• 19:45
  start breaking down this slate of games, starting with one
• 19:49
  in the Big Ten. Am I gonna get any pushback
• 19:52
  for saying this is the two best teams in the
• 19:54
  Big ten across just y'all can shake your heads?
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: No, is there any pushback to that?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: JB.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, you shook your head and we'll start with
• 20:03
  you first.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: I don't know so, so, I mean Nebraska is in
• 20:07
  there too. Nebraska's It's it's Nebraska, Oregon, how you want
• 20:11
  to call it. Oregon did beat Nebraska in a series
• 20:14
  at home, so you know, you can use that as
• 20:16
  the tiebreaker if you'd like. I think it's like fifty.
• 20:19
  I think they're a coin flip, but yeah, it's a respectable,
• 20:22
  like top two matchup. I'd say, yeah.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I think if you're going based on who you think
• 20:26
  is the most talented team in the league, like you
• 20:29
  and and I like if you're say you're Vegas making
• 20:31
  lines like who's favored in games tomorrow? Whatever, I think
• 20:34
  Organ's too, But I think Nebraska is the best resume
• 20:37
  right now, and they beat Oregon head to head in
• 20:39
  the series. And who has the second best RPI behind UCLA.
• 20:43
  It's USC who still doesn't have a quad one win.
• 20:46
  Jake and I were talking about this earlier. Have you
• 20:48
  ever seen a team in the top ten of the
• 20:50
  RPI this late in the year with no quad one wins?
• 20:53
  It just doesn't happen. But the numbers are the numbers,
• 20:56
  so I think talent wise, yeah, it's probably a Organ,
• 20:59
  but resume and metrics might tell you third or fourth
• 21:03
  is in the picture. Oregon won that series, Josh, Between
• 21:07
  who them Nebraska, I don't, thanks Jake, and we look
• 21:12
  at they did. Yeah, that's it made me feel crazy
• 21:19
  when you said that right now. It was like I
• 21:21
  was right, right, I.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Already I'm not going to go back and fix that graphic.
• 21:28
  Now come on now, Well while you're fixing that graphic,
• 21:31
  Josh Jake, I do want to go to you and
• 21:33
  ask the same question I've asked these boys, Oregon's second
• 21:36
  best team in the Big tenor are you going to
• 21:38
  push back as well?
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: I mean there's an argument there, and I mean I
• 21:43
  would probably say I would probably say yes. I mean,
• 21:47
  especially here recently, like Oregon's looked like really good. Uh
• 21:52
  like Will Sandford he's been, he's been, he's been pretty good. Uh,
• 21:57
  he'd had a pretty rough start this past time out.
• 21:59
  But like going up against a team like U c
• 22:03
  l A, if you're cool with just kind of jumping
• 22:05
  into the to this series here for for Orgon specifically,
• 22:10
  like the the starting pitching is probably gonna need to
• 22:12
  be a little bit better than it was against Washington,
• 22:15
  especially in terms of of length, Like none of their
• 22:18
  starters made it through five innings against Washington, And I
• 22:22
  don't know if that was more of them, like you know,
• 22:24
  pitch counts trying to save them. Maybe for this series
• 22:26
  at U c l A. I don't know, but I
• 22:28
  would like to see their starters maybe go a little
• 22:30
  bit longer there. But like on the offensive side, like
• 22:33
  they have, they have solid numbers from top to bottom
• 22:37
  pretty much like Ryan Cooney, angel Ly Drew Smith. They've
• 22:41
  all looked good. But just watching this Oregon team play,
• 22:45
  it kind of just feels like, you know, like like
• 22:47
  who's gonna hit today? Like that would there that that's
• 22:51
  been kind of something that's played different teams around the country,
• 22:55
  but like, you know, who's gonna who's gonna hit today?
• 22:57
  Like I mentioned, like Cooney last Smith, They've kind of
• 22:59
  been really consistent this year, and they looked good last
• 23:01
  weekend as well, But like the consistency in the lineup
• 23:04
  is something that's really just gonna gonna have to be
• 23:07
  there this weekend obviously going into Ucla. That's just something
• 23:12
  that that we're gonna need to see a little bit
• 23:14
  more of from Oregon.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm, well, Jake, let's uh, let's stick with you
• 23:18
  then and talk about your pick for Oregon Ucla this weekend.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: I am going to pick Ucla just simply like they
• 23:29
  they're just the standard right now in the Big Ten.
• 23:31
  I mean, they're twenty four and oh obviously haven't lost
• 23:35
  a game yet. The offense, especially like that top that
• 23:39
  top seven in their lineup, I'd put up just about
• 23:41
  against just about anybody in the country. I just need
• 23:46
  to see it. I need to see somebody, you know,
• 23:47
  knock them off before I'm gonna pick against UCLA right now.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: So that's that's what it's gonna be.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: JB. Want to go to you, Oregon U c l A.
• 23:55
  Curious where you're leaning here, Pal.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna take U c A. But I will say
• 24:01
  that I think this is probably where UCLA drops their
• 24:05
  first big ten game. I think they win this series,
• 24:07
  but I think it's in a two to one fashion.
• 24:09
  I don't know if they sweep, but.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: That would have been an interesting side bet for us
• 24:13
  to take. Is is are they gonna sweep?
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Jake?
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Are they gonna sweep?
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, I mean it's hard to say. No, I
• 24:23
  mean I could I could see Oregon taking one though
• 24:26
  for sure. It's not. It's not setting stone that they're
• 24:28
  gonna sweep. But I wouldn't would I don't think i'd
• 24:30
  throw any real money on it that they're gonna sleep Oregon.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, Josh, I'm assuming you're gonna go Bruins as well.
• 24:39
  I am, And then what's your take on our side,
• 24:42
  bet Act.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's hard to say that UCLA is gonna
• 24:49
  drop a game at this point. They haven't. Yeah, they
• 24:52
  haven't lost to a Power five team or a Power
• 24:55
  four team, sorry, all year. Oregon's probably the best day
• 24:59
  of play to this point, unless I'm forgetting somebody, So
• 25:02
  I guess Misissippi State in that one game. But I
• 25:06
  think it's very possible that they sweep. And they just
• 25:08
  finished Big ten player thirty and oh, which is just
• 25:11
  an incomprehensible number, but it's very in play here, So.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna it may seem like I'm kind of championing
• 25:21
  Oregon through this discussion, I'm not. I still am very
• 25:24
  firmly and kind of the what is Oregon bandwagon. I'll
• 25:30
  take Ucla and I'll take the sweep. I feel really
• 25:33
  strong about them just keeping it up here. But JB,
• 25:37
  if there was gonna be a spot for them to
• 25:39
  lose a Big ten game, I do like kind of
• 25:41
  where you're like, this this is it.
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, Washerson next week ain't gonna do it. I
• 25:47
  don't think so. I think this is this is where
• 25:50
  they lose a big ten game.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: If they do, can I mean, here's the thing. I
• 25:53
  think Jake said it earlier this year about there's no
• 25:56
  such thing as a five or six run homer. But
• 25:58
  I mean, if Jackson Hotchkins can figure that much out,
• 26:01
  there may be a shot. But otherwise I just don't
• 26:04
  see it happening neither. Josh want to go to you
• 26:07
  here to talk about a university which you have just
• 26:10
  graduated from. Your Tigers are gonna be traveling to start
• 26:15
  viollet to take on Mississippi State. That's gonna be a
• 26:18
  top ten matchup for us, for any respectable outlet in
• 26:22
  the country, yours truly. I'm gonna be there for the
• 26:26
  for the Friday game. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
• 26:29
  I'm curious what's your thoughts on this one? What's the
• 26:31
  big the big game plan for Auburn if you had
• 26:33
  to sit these boys down at Seventh Street.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a couple of big storylines following this one
• 26:38
  one that just actually hit waves today. Typically that series
• 26:42
  starts on Thursday, so Friday being Game two, you'd probably
• 26:45
  expect to see Jake Marciano at this point. That is
• 26:48
  not the case. You will see Andreas Alvarez. This week,
• 26:50
  Auburn is switching up the rotation and flipping Marciano and
• 26:54
  Alvarez in Games one and two, probably as a result
• 26:58
  of recent many things haven't been going too great for Andreas.
• 27:03
  He has a six to one to nine ERA in
• 27:04
  his last three games. I had said, I don't know
• 27:07
  if it was on here, just off record, that he's
• 27:09
  had some really good bat of ballock early in the year,
• 27:13
  and I felt like the regression was coming in a sense,
• 27:15
  and it has seemed to come. It might it might
• 27:19
  regress with the met a little bit this weekend, although
• 27:21
  that's not the you know lineup you want to try
• 27:23
  and get back get right against. But nonetheless, Marciano has
• 27:26
  this three sixty ERA and nine point six ks per
• 27:29
  nine in that same stretch of three games, so he's
• 27:31
  been doing a little bit better, but still not as
• 27:33
  good as he was early in the year two. It's
• 27:36
  still an elite, elite pitching rotation leads the country and
• 27:39
  walks per nine. That's been the same thing that BT
• 27:41
  has been hammering home since the since all guess we're
• 27:44
  gonna throw strikes this year? Boy have they done it.
• 27:47
  We'll see if things work out, switching the rotation, the offense,
• 27:51
  finally really putting it together. It's been really great to see.
• 27:54
  They have eight point five runs per game their last fifteen,
• 27:57
  which is way way better than they were for the
• 27:58
  majority of the season prior to this. Side note Chase
• 28:02
  Freelik first Auburn Tiger since nineteen eighty five to homer
• 28:05
  in five straight games as the streak he was on
• 28:07
  before UAB this past week, so he's red hot. Eric
• 28:11
  Guavarro has been red hot, to Ethan Bingham in all
• 28:14
  those guys that seem to be stepping it up, and well,
• 28:18
  we'll see if it translates to Starkfield. That is arguably
• 28:21
  the toughest environment to play in the country. But one
• 28:25
  how many trait series is at this point? It like
• 28:28
  four straight series? I don't know. Alburn's won a lost
• 28:30
  straight series in a row. Before the year even started,
• 28:33
  we looked at the schedule and we said, wow, that
• 28:34
  back half is a gauntlet in the SEC, and Auburn
• 28:38
  is six and three and that back half so far,
• 28:41
  so not too shabby. If you want to cement yourself
• 28:43
  as a team that could be a national seed.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: They've they've looked very strong. I can't argue with you, JB.
• 28:49
  Thinking about Mississippi State, You've got another top ten team
• 28:53
  coming into town with a big series. I think there's
• 28:57
  a lot online for both teams. What is the major story?
• 29:00
  A lot for Mississippi State as they welcome the Tigers.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Well, for Mississippi State, if you go back to their
• 29:07
  recent home schedules in the SEC outside of LSU and Vanderbilt,
• 29:13
  they've lost all their home series, including a sweep to
• 29:17
  as an aforementioned team that we do see on a
• 29:19
  screen right now. Somebody's wearing something of it, but who knows,
• 29:23
  We don't know. But yeah, the last time they had
• 29:26
  a big matchup like this, though against UGA, it also
• 29:30
  did not go down well and they got swept at home,
• 29:33
  which was not a great look. So I think it's
• 29:38
  definitely a run it back for them and for Brian
• 29:40
  O'Connor to try to prove what this team is. I
• 29:43
  think all your everybody's kind of believed in them and
• 29:45
  had a lot of faith, but they've also had their
• 29:47
  moments of being very up and down. A lot of
• 29:49
  us have had questions because you know, they haven't performed
• 29:51
  in some big games and other times they have, They've
• 29:54
  looked great, So it's kind of, are we going to
• 29:56
  meet in the middle at some point here this season?
• 29:58
  I think Auburn's really a great test for them to
• 30:01
  kind of meet in the middle and really show everybody
• 30:03
  what we thought this team would be all along and
• 30:05
  going into the playoffs. You know, it's exactly what they need.
• 30:08
  And Auburn, on the other hand, is one of the
• 30:10
  hotter teams in the country, just like Josh was mentioning
• 30:13
  a minute ago. So it'll definitely be a tough test.
• 30:16
  I think for Mississippi State it's gonna be.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: I think you're absolutely right, Jake. Any notes on specific
• 30:22
  players for either squad who you think really need to
• 30:26
  show up and almost not put the team on their back,
• 30:28
  but a big performance, a big weekend out of these
• 30:30
  guys would certainly help either team.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's kind of I think I want
• 30:38
  to say Charlie Foster for Mississippi State, he's he's had,
• 30:42
  he wasn't good in his last start, and you know,
• 30:45
  I think I read earlier that Ryan McPherson's is apparently
• 30:49
  like day to day from what I read, like he's progressing,
• 30:51
  but no solid timetable I haven't seen anything like where
• 30:54
  he's like for sure going to come back on an
• 30:56
  X amount of days. So like even if he does
• 30:59
  come back soon, like does he goes straight into starting
• 31:01
  I don't know. Like Valentius has been great for them,
• 31:04
  Duke Stone's been has been has been good for them,
• 31:06
  but like they're just missing that consistency right now from
• 31:09
  a third starter's standpoint, And while McPherson coming back sooner
• 31:13
  than later would be like really big for them, you know,
• 31:15
  for the time being, it seems like, uh, and I
• 31:17
  haven't seen that they're going to let make a change
• 31:19
  or whatever. But like if Charlie Foster is going to
• 31:21
  be that guy on Sundays and he's just going to
• 31:23
  be that third starter, I think he's going to be
• 31:24
  one that needs to that needs to step it up,
• 31:27
  especially in a weekend like they're where they have Auburn
• 31:29
  coming into town, so you.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Know, Auburn's pitching staff not to kind of cop the
• 31:34
  Josh Catlett train of just talking good about Auburn, but
• 31:37
  their pitching staff has been what carried them through the
• 31:39
  inconsistency of the offense. Jake, And I think, like you said,
• 31:43
  Foster needs to kind of at least at least get
• 31:45
  to that level of meets. It beats it if we're
• 31:48
  coming into a Sunday where these teams may have theoretically
• 31:50
  split games. I love that call, and yes, Foster needs
• 31:54
  to be on his a game because I've seen it firsthand.
• 31:56
  I've been to several Sunday games and start ball and
• 31:58
  when he who he leaves it over the plate, it
• 32:02
  gets touched. When his locations are not sharp, Foster gets
• 32:06
  touched up. So it could be ugly if Auburn's bats
• 32:09
  are there to play. But let's go ahead and pick it.
• 32:12
  Josh I'll let you make the easiest and most boring
• 32:14
  pick of the episode. Well, the second most boring and
• 32:17
  second easiest pick of the episode. There's another one coming
• 32:19
  up that I think several could predict it. What are
• 32:21
  you thinking for Auburn Misissippi State, Joshua.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll take Auburn. I can't not. I mean, yeah,
• 32:26
  State's won eleven in the last thirteen, but Auburn's won
• 32:29
  to another last thirteen, including a couple of big series
• 32:32
  on the road. I'll choose that to continue, and we'll
• 32:36
  see if the starters who have been kind of iffy lately.
• 32:38
  We'll see if they can pick that back up.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: JV, where are you leaning on this one, buddy?
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: Well, Josh just made up my mind for me. Let's
• 32:47
  roll with Mississippi State.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: You know, why not?
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Why not?
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I saw that coming now. I mean, honestly expect to
• 32:52
  be the only person taking Auburn here. So we'll see
• 32:54
  if one of you proves me wrong.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Jake, will you be the one to prove him wrong?
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: Think I am, Me and JB had all the same
• 33:02
  picks last time, but we're starting out different here. Early.
• 33:06
  I'm gonna go Auburn. I just think if this one
• 33:08
  does you know, two really good teams, if they split
• 33:12
  the first two and it comes down to the Sunday game,
• 33:14
  I like Auburn's chances against uh, you know, we don't
• 33:17
  know obviously how deep Mississippi State is going to get
• 33:20
  into that bullpen in the first two games, but like,
• 33:22
  if it comes down to Sunday pitching, I think I
• 33:25
  like Auburn setting themselves with a better chance on Sunday
• 33:28
  than I do Misissippi State. Right now, so I'm going Auburn.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I think I think I'm gonna split it and I'll
• 33:35
  take Mississippi State. But I think the rationale behind it
• 33:38
  is in startful with those bats. I think if Auburn's
• 33:43
  pitching gives any leeway, any room for the bats to
• 33:47
  really show up, I think Mississippi State will take advantage.
• 33:51
  And I'll tell you that that atmosphere when one goes,
• 33:55
  it's like it's it radiates, and they just amplify and amplify,
• 33:59
  and that offense just starts ticking in a really dangerous way.
• 34:04
  I'll level it out. But I like Auburn, and just
• 34:07
  from a scouting perspective, I'm so excited to watch several
• 34:10
  dudes from Auburn this weekend. I'm eager to make my
• 34:14
  case from seal them in person. So it's gonna be
• 34:17
  fun on Friday night. Shout out Greg. He'll be there
• 34:19
  with me as well. He's never been to startfle so
• 34:22
  this is gonna be a good opportunity for him to
• 34:24
  see how that whole Shenanigan works it Start Vegas. I'm
• 34:27
  gonna keep the reins on this one, guys, talking West
• 34:30
  Virginia and Kansas as a resident Big twelve watcher no
• 34:33
  longer a Big twelve expert, as you guys are. Several
• 34:36
  episodes ago, I think these are two teams firmly among
• 34:40
  the top three in the Big Twelve, and I think
• 34:43
  this is gonna be an incredible test for Kansas, who
• 34:46
  will host West Virginia. Kansas's offense really kind of plays
• 34:50
  into that thing Jake was talking about just a minute ago,
• 34:54
  where their offense is lifted by a random It might
• 34:57
  just be a dice roll every game between Okay, you're
• 34:59
  gonna hit today because the dice sends it. The coin
• 35:01
  Flip tournament indicated that you, Brady Ballinger are going to
• 35:05
  lead this team. You, Jordan Bach are going to lead
• 35:08
  this team. You dari Lesuria are going to lead this team, Kansas.
• 35:10
  You can never tell who's gonna come out, but somebody
• 35:12
  will because this team has been as white hot as
• 35:15
  any across the country over the last month. Now that set.
• 35:20
  West Virginia has also looked very good, and since a
• 35:23
  mini vacation for their ace, Max Yale, he has looked
• 35:27
  just as good as ever. Chance and Cole has looked
• 35:30
  excellent lately. I think Dawson Montesa has very good stuff
• 35:35
  in him. This is gonna be a tough test for Kansas,
• 35:37
  who I think this pitching matchup for them may be
• 35:40
  one of the most tricky they'll face throughout the Big
• 35:42
  Ten schedule, conveniently coming at the end of the dance, Jake,
• 35:47
  want to go to you major storylines that you could
• 35:49
  think of for this game or excuse me, this series
• 35:52
  as the Mountaineers travel to take on the Jayhawks.
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I mean, you hit a lot of
• 35:59
  the high point there. But uh, just just to talk
• 36:02
  about the uh, just to talk about the West Virginia
• 36:04
  pitching a little bit more. I mean, they were they
• 36:07
  were just fantastic last weekend. Like Maxiale, uh Montesa, Chance
• 36:11
  and Cole that they combined for for eighteen innings last
• 36:15
  weekend and only allowed two runs. Uh Yale had eight
• 36:18
  k's and five innings cold nine in his nine inning
• 36:21
  complete game. Uh Montesa six, six k's and four innings.
• 36:26
  Like they really just just pitched the crap out of
• 36:29
  the ball and like they they kind of the line up.
• 36:33
  The lineup was was also playing well. Like the bats
• 36:36
  were hot. Gavin Kelly Sean Smith had multiple homer Smith
• 36:39
  had six RBIs on the weekend. Brody Cresler had four rbs.
• 36:43
  Uh Kelly also had a couple of homers in their
• 36:45
  in their midweek against Marshall yesterday, but like, their whole
• 36:48
  lineup was hitting the ball, and when you combine that
• 36:50
  with the with the success that their arms were having,
• 36:53
  you know, they they kind of made uh, the Kansas
• 36:56
  State team look look not good and they're in they're
• 37:00
  better than what West Virginia made them look. So, I mean,
• 37:02
  I think that was just impressive in its own right,
• 37:03
  and I like, I like what I'm saying from West Virginia.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Josh, I'm curious what are your thoughts here? Man,
• 37:09
  We've we've talked a lot about these two teams, but
• 37:12
  now they're colliding. I'm curious, do you have any certain
• 37:14
  leans or things you're watching more specifically?
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the main matchup has kind of been
• 37:19
  touched on already. I think it's West Virginia's pitching against
• 37:21
  Kansas's offense. West Virginia's pitching has been rock solid recently
• 37:26
  with Yale Cola Montesa, like you'll mentioned Montesa, not as
• 37:29
  much with the first two really, So, I mean, the
• 37:33
  offense has been the key driving force for this Kansas
• 37:37
  team that's bringing them to heights that we never imagined
• 37:39
  they would be. They could really be a national seat.
• 37:41
  At this point, guys like Brady Ballinger, Tyson the Bloc,
• 37:45
  Agusto Mongardieda like those kind of guys have been really
• 37:48
  the driving force behind this team. It's been kind of
• 37:52
  iffy gained the game from some of the guys at
• 37:54
  the bottom, but there's some reliable guys that you know,
• 37:56
  you can bank on. I think, I think, I get.
• 38:00
  I don't know if we're gonna have to making picks
• 38:02
  or not. I think it's hard to pick against Kansas
• 38:07
  at this point, no matter if you think that West
• 38:09
  Virginia is the more talented team or not. Kansas has
• 38:11
  won nineteen of their last twenty one weekend games. Kind
• 38:14
  of speaks for itself. At home, that's a really underrated
• 38:19
  or actually at this point, it's kind of getting the
• 38:21
  publicity it deserves about you know, it's one of those
• 38:24
  things where so many people say it's underrated to the
• 38:26
  point where it's not anymore great home atmosphere and Lawrence
• 38:29
  can't wait for a regional to be there because that's
• 38:31
  gonna be awesome. There's only the great student section there,
• 38:33
  so whoever gets the I don't want to say the
• 38:36
  privilege of going there because it won't be fun to
• 38:37
  play that team. But whichever fan bates to get the
• 38:39
  privilege of going to Lawrence and experiencing that, I envy you.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, Josh, let's say let's make your pick. Since
• 38:45
  you brought it up.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: I'll take Kansas. I mean, it's hard to it's hard
• 38:50
  to pick against them at this point. I feel like,
• 38:51
  like I said, it's until they show me that they
• 38:55
  can lose a series against one of these top notch teams.
• 38:58
  Not really going to pick against some West Virginia also
• 39:01
  tends to falter against the top tier of the Big
• 39:03
  twelve except for Arizona State. They kind of beat up
• 39:05
  on the worst teams and they've kind of struggled against
• 39:08
  the better teams. So I'll pick that to continue on
• 39:10
  the road, JB.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: I want to go to you. If you could pick
• 39:15
  one player in this whole series who needs to stand
• 39:19
  out for their team, who would you pick and why?
• 39:21
  And then on the back of that, let's get your
• 39:23
  pick for this series.
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm probably gonna go with Like, I'll go with
• 39:32
  Bretty Ballinger. I think it's because you know, he hasn't
• 39:34
  necessarily lived up to everything that a lot of people
• 39:37
  have built him up. To this year for sure, But
• 39:40
  I think if he's definitely the guy that's the key
• 39:44
  there that we want to see. Like LeBlanc has done
• 39:46
  what people were saying that he was gonna do. So
• 39:49
  if he acts like the middle of the lineup force
• 39:52
  that he should be, then that's a big piece for them.
• 39:55
  They're definitely gonna need this weekend against the West Virginia team,
• 39:57
  who you know, seems to be getting stronger, but like
• 40:00
  Josh said, they falter on the road, especially against higher
• 40:03
  end Big twelve competition like Cincinnati, which we picked a
• 40:06
  couple of weeks ago. So that's definitely where I lean
• 40:11
  with it. I think it's gonna gotta be a ballenger
• 40:13
  and kind of trying to thwart off of West Virginia
• 40:15
  team is trying to get back on track.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: What about your pick, buddy, what are you think of
• 40:20
  for this series?
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna go. I think I have to go Kansas.
• 40:23
  As much as I want to go take another swing here,
• 40:25
  I think I have to go Kansas just from my
• 40:28
  my thought process. I think got four guys over ten
• 40:30
  homers in the lineup right now, which is super impressive.
• 40:34
  I just think it's hard to pick against some right
• 40:35
  now with how theyveen playing Jake.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: That brings us to you, my fellow Big twelve enjoyer.
• 40:42
  What are you thinking for this one, buddy?
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean this, I mean I have in my
• 40:47
  notes this was just gonna be a game time decision
• 40:49
  for me. I wanted just to kind of kind of
• 40:51
  hash it all out and then and then I would
• 40:53
  decide later. And I think I think playing the game
• 40:56
  a little bit, I'm behind right now. I'm gonna I'm
• 40:59
  gonna go West Virginia. And that's not just like a
• 41:01
  cop out. I'm like, I'm searching for points, Like I
• 41:03
  think this is not like like a crazy reach here.
• 41:06
  West Virginia is good. They're a really good team. They
• 41:08
  have they have the pitching. I just I mean, I
• 41:10
  talked about them just a minute ago with with the
• 41:12
  bats and how well they played against Kansas State. Like
• 41:14
  I think Kansas obviously has a better a better a
• 41:18
  better staff overall, and they're playing, you know, crazy good
• 41:21
  at home right now. But like I think West Virginia
• 41:23
  going in there and win in that series wouldn't necessarily
• 41:25
  shock anybody. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go
• 41:28
  with the with the Mountaineers.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: HM, this is tough. My heart wants to pick West Virginia.
• 41:37
  My head needs to pick Kansas. I'm gonna pick Kansas,
• 41:40
  but I'll tell you what my actual prediction for this
• 41:42
  series is. I think max Yale gives these boys their
• 41:45
  first loss on a Friday. I think Kansas comes out
• 41:49
  pissed Saturday or excuse me, at game two and three
• 41:53
  and takes it to one. This is gonna be my
• 41:56
  official selection, but I think and I want to pick
• 41:58
  West Virginia is so bad, Jake, We've we've got one album.
• 42:02
  I'm going Cats, I'm going Cans. Gotta stick with my gun,
• 42:04
  stick with my gun here. Okay, Jake, do you want
• 42:08
  to go back to you?
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: Here?
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Texas A and m and Ole Miss to two teams
• 42:13
  who are again in the thick of it here, two
• 42:15
  of the better teams in the SEC. I'm curious what
• 42:18
  you think the lead storyline behind this game is going
• 42:21
  to be for these two powerhouses looking for another big
• 42:24
  series win.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'll I'll talk about Ole Miss like starting
• 42:32
  to start with Hunter Elliott, like he wasn't very effective
• 42:35
  in his in his start last weekend, Kate Townsend has
• 42:40
  been really good for him. He's got a three five
• 42:41
  e r A across his seven sec starts. The bullpen
• 42:46
  also has some things to clean up as well. It
• 42:49
  wasn't their best performance last weekend on offense for ole Miss,
• 42:54
  Judd you or mart Will Furness and Colin Ruder, who's
• 42:57
  who kind of came out of nowhere last weekend had
• 42:59
  a really strong series. But I guess just to highlight
• 43:03
  one name, it's Tristan Bassetta. I think he was not good.
• 43:07
  He was over twelve five strikeouts, and you know he's
• 43:10
  been he's been, you know, as the series of the season,
• 43:13
  as a whole, he's been. Oh Miss is kind of
• 43:16
  best player at times. You know, at times he's pushing
• 43:18
  for he's pushing for the Golden Spikes consideration, you know,
• 43:21
  of the year with those with those non conference stats,
• 43:24
  and he's just a guy that like that that Ole
• 43:27
  Miss really needs to play well. I feel like we
• 43:30
  talk about it all the time on here, but like
• 43:31
  the way that the way that Alabama needs Justin Lebron,
• 43:34
  I don't think it's that drastic, but like Tristan Massetta,
• 43:38
  he's the name in this lineup, he's the biggest, he's
• 43:40
  the biggest hit or he's the biggest threat, and they
• 43:42
  need they need him to at least be better than
• 43:44
  he was last week, and they can't have another another
• 43:46
  over twelve out of him.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: That's I think that's a very safe way to put in, Jake,
• 43:51
  And I'm with you, Josh. Some people, uh, some people
• 43:55
  have said that Tristan Massetta is the poor man's Logan
• 43:57
  Hughes famously. Some some people have said that, And I
• 44:01
  know you're a big Logan Hughes fan, so I think
• 44:03
  you would agree with Jake's sentiment that Besett has got
• 44:05
  to get back on that horse if Ole Miss is
• 44:07
  gonna make any impact here, even in Oxford. Though, Josh,
• 44:12
  I'm struggling to think of any reason not to go
• 44:14
  with this hyper powered A and M offense. And I'm curious,
• 44:17
  can you talk me off of this ledge, Josh. What's
• 44:20
  what's Old Miss got to do to really sell me here?
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: I think two different things that Jake hit on is
• 44:28
  probably the main selling point here. The offense has really
• 44:30
  struggled in the last two series, so they need those
• 44:33
  guys to step it back up. Also, I think the
• 44:35
  number one thing is far and away the most what's
• 44:40
  the word. I'm looking for dependable thing for ole Miss.
• 44:43
  Coming into the year, you thought it was gonna be
• 44:45
  Hunter Elliott on Fridays. He had a cold stretch earlier
• 44:48
  in the year, kind of got it back together. Now
• 44:50
  in his past two games, he's running in eighteen point
• 44:53
  nine ERA, allowing nineteen hits per nine, three home runs.
• 44:57
  Not what you love to see. Townsend and Rave have
• 44:59
  been pretty solid, but your Friday guy, that's really not
• 45:02
  what you'd like to see. I mean, even he can
• 45:05
  put together a performance like that this upcoming weekend. And
• 45:08
  you've gotten some inconsistency from A and M two, so
• 45:10
  maybe it evens out. I guess that's something you can
• 45:12
  rely on to. But the A and M offense is
• 45:16
  called off just to tattoo, but they're still elite, I
• 45:18
  mean like Sorell Grahovic, Jordian Wilson, Bear Harrison, the list
• 45:22
  goes on. It's a high powered offense. Ole Miss has
• 45:27
  been one in five in their last six games for
• 45:29
  they won ten of their last eleven before that. So hot, cold, hot,
• 45:34
  and just like like a miniature version of it in
• 45:36
  the back half of the season could be what we're
• 45:38
  experiencing here. I don't know. I don't know where Eileen
• 45:41
  here fully, but I think everything Jake hit on with
• 45:44
  Elliott and the Offensive struggles recently is kind of where
• 45:47
  things need to turn around if they want to take
• 45:49
  this one.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: I think I'm with both of you. Then, JB, let's
• 45:54
  think about Texas A and M. Let's think about Ole
• 45:57
  Miss these two teams in a comparative set. It's like
• 46:01
  Josh said, there's questions that need to be answered, inconsistency
• 46:05
  that needs to be addressed for both teams. JB, in
• 46:08
  your brain, which is going to be the easier set
• 46:10
  of inconsistency to address for these teams? And then as
• 46:14
  you answer that, I'd love to get your pick for
• 46:15
  this series.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: For me, I think it's the pitching is what faltered
• 46:20
  for both of them A weekend ago and specifically on Friday.
• 46:23
  Is Shane Sadall for Texas A and M who went
• 46:25
  an inning, and Hunter Elliott who only went three and
• 46:30
  gave up six as well. I believe so both of
• 46:33
  those guys are really the two that need to turn
• 46:35
  it around. I think it's a lot easier to see
• 46:38
  Hunter Elliott turning in around at home than for Shane Sadaw.
• 46:42
  I mean it's a big test. You have to go
• 46:44
  on the road. Ole Miss is not an easy environment either.
• 46:47
  He's the guy that obviously he's coming off with like
• 46:50
  Tommy John surgery, so I mean, obviously he's far removed
• 46:53
  from it, but it's still tough. It's just your first
• 46:56
  year back, you're building up. I think definitely Hunter Elliot's
• 47:00
  I am more confident in with that. And see I've
• 47:05
  said this all season long that I'd never pick against
• 47:09
  somebody here, but you know, it's making the game aspect,
• 47:12
  like Jake said, is making me want to in a sense.
• 47:15
  So I think I'm gonna take ole Miss here because
• 47:19
  I don't think anybody else is gonna do it. I'm
• 47:22
  gonna take Ole Miss. I think them being at home,
• 47:24
  like we talked about, I think that's a big thing.
• 47:27
  I think the pitching has been good for them, A
• 47:29
  and M. It's kind of been more of an inconsistency
• 47:31
  even though they're back to you guys have been been
• 47:33
  great for them. So I'm gonna rock with ole Miss
• 47:36
  here and we'll see how it goes.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: I appreciate the games been shipped. Josh JB's got Old
• 47:43
  Miss on the board, he said he's gonna be the
• 47:44
  only one. Is that correct? Thus far?
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: I don't agree that it's gonna be the only one.
• 47:49
  I think one of the other two of you is
• 47:50
  gonna take Ole Miss, but I am gonna take AM.
• 47:53
  I was thinking about this earlier today and couldn't make
• 47:55
  up my mind. I am ultimately gonna go with A
• 47:58
  and M just because I trust that offense way more
• 48:00
  than I trust the Old Miss pitching staff, and those
• 48:02
  seem to be the two strengths of the team as
• 48:04
  a whole, or the starting the starting rotation at least
• 48:08
  for all Miss. Yeah. I mean, like Swayze Fields a
• 48:12
  tough place to go into and when, but home field
• 48:14
  hasn't been as impactful this year an SEC series as previously.
• 48:18
  It seems like. So I'm gonna hope that continues.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Jake, It's all on us. Then JB said he feels
• 48:25
  like he's gonna be the only Old Miss fan to
• 48:28
  so support them this week and in the series. Jake,
• 48:31
  where are you leading, sir?
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm gonna pick A and M both of
• 48:38
  these teams. Have you know, we've we've already talked about
• 48:42
  all of it. They have inconsistencies like A and M's
• 48:44
  pitching has been inconsistent or misses pitching at times been inconsistent.
• 48:48
  Their offense is inconsistent right now. But if there's one
• 48:50
  thing that we can count on, it's that A and
• 48:52
  M is going to hit the ball. You know, their
• 48:55
  top two in the conference in pretty much every offensive
• 48:58
  stat they can just they can just hits to death,
• 49:00
  and they've proven that they can out hit the poor
• 49:03
  pitching that they've gotten at times out of their starters.
• 49:05
  So I'm just gonna make on A and M's bad
• 49:08
  staying hot and O, They're just gonna outscore on missing it.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, JB. I want to do it.
• 49:18
  Speaker 4: I don't mind being left out high and dry.
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: It gives me an opportunity to make up some poise here.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Now that makes me feel bad when you say hi
• 49:24
  and dry. That makes me feel guilty. I am gonna
• 49:26
  take A and M. But I think that I'm going
• 49:29
  from the opposite of you, JB. I need to play
• 49:33
  the game in the sense that I can't let Josh
• 49:36
  separate too much. I have to take my shots where
• 49:38
  I know I can take them, and I'm already gonna
• 49:42
  have to take one very deep shot later in the show.
• 49:45
  So I'm gonna go A and M. But I love
• 49:48
  I love the idea of old miss getting it done
• 49:50
  at home. We'll see what happens. Jake, want to go
• 49:53
  to you, buddy to walk us through one of your
• 49:57
  mid major matchups of the week, Louisiana Tech Liberty. I'd love,
• 50:01
  first of all, Jake, if you could walk me through
• 50:03
  where both of these teams fall on the most recent
• 50:06
  mid major Top thirty and then give us the storyline
• 50:08
  of the game for excuse me, of the series for
• 50:11
  these two squads.
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, uh, LA Tech they dropped to twenty two
• 50:17
  on the list after they lost last weekend. But Liberty
• 50:21
  is maintaining their staying in the top five. They're at
• 50:23
  number four, and they've they've they've earned that right to
• 50:28
  be in the conversation of being one of the top
• 50:30
  you know, four or five mid major teams in the country.
• 50:32
  But uh, just going into going into this series, you
• 50:35
  know it's back to back pick thems where we get
• 50:37
  to talk about l Tech and all. I'm all for it.
• 50:40
  After after beating after beating Missouri State, you know, there
• 50:44
  there were only a couple of things going their way
• 50:46
  last weekend from taking that series from DBU, but unfortunately
• 50:51
  it didn't happen and they ended up losing. But uh,
• 50:53
  they're they're starting pitching kind of let them down a
• 50:55
  little bit, outside of like Declan dah who was fantastic
• 50:58
  on Friday, but uh, Kobe Lunsford, Colton, Colton Coats, Matt
• 51:02
  Houston were all really good at played for them last weekend.
• 51:05
  Trey Hawsey has been another bat that's been that that's
• 51:07
  been really good for him the season. But uh, for Liberty, Uh,
• 51:11
  you know, they're they're eighteen and six uh in c
• 51:14
  USA play and they've been consistently one of the one
• 51:17
  of the best teams in this conference all year long.
• 51:21
  Tanner Marsh, Jordan Jaffe, Nick Barone have been have really
• 51:25
  been getting it done at the plate for him. And
• 51:29
  I don't I don't know. I don't know how many
• 51:31
  teams have had like the same rotation through all of
• 51:35
  conference play, but Liberty is one of them. Ben Blair,
• 51:40
  as expected, has been really really good. He's the leader
• 51:43
  this team needs on the pitching staff. And you know,
• 51:45
  when we discuss like Ben, major teams that are that
• 51:48
  are dangerous if they get into a regional. Uh, the
• 51:51
  conversation usually starts with the ones that have that frontline
• 51:54
  ace that can take down one of the parts of
• 51:56
  the strong Power conference lineups, and and Blair is one
• 51:59
  of them. It's not just Tim though, Bradley Zayak and
• 52:02
  Jax Lucas have been really good as well. The bullpen
• 52:06
  Cooper Harrington, my Taylor August has been really good for
• 52:10
  him as well. Out of the bullpen. This this this
• 52:12
  Livery team can really just you know, they can cling
• 52:14
  the pill and that makes it that makes it a
• 52:16
  tough matchup for Ebody.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: So Well said Buddy Well said, Josh, want to go
• 52:22
  to you thinking about this mid major collision, any major
• 52:26
  thoughts before you give us your.
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: Pick, uh. I mean, it's all about conference tournament seating
• 52:32
  for La TEC at this point. The number four in
• 52:34
  q SO right now. But the way that conference tournament's
• 52:38
  set up, it's in pods, I'm pretty sure, and you
• 52:40
  want to be one of the best teams in your
• 52:42
  four pods that not having to play one of the
• 52:46
  more difficult ones matched up whoever the fifth seed would
• 52:48
  be in that The pitching has been the driving force
• 52:51
  for this team, kind of like Jake mentioned, Deklan Dahl
• 52:54
  Hudson rowan great guy of the bullpen, Thomas Allen. He's
• 52:57
  a freshman running a two seven an o e r
• 53:00
  a forty four strikeouts to nine walks. Really promising stuff
• 53:03
  to see there for a freshman. I think the big
• 53:05
  story is Liberty though, considering that's the team that's probably
• 53:08
  gonna end up being like a two seed. There are
• 53:10
  two games back in the conference to USA right now,
• 53:12
  but two games up on third place, number twenty five
• 53:16
  in the RPI right now. Really promising from a conference
• 53:20
  like this. They're eighteen and twelve and quads one and
• 53:22
  two combined. Really good to see how they play against
• 53:25
  the top level competition there. The offense is heating up
• 53:28
  for them recently, but this is a tough matchup. We
• 53:30
  go up against the l Tech pitching, so we'll see
• 53:32
  something's gonna get here.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: Jake, let's bounce back to you. I meant to have
• 53:37
  you make your selection while we were While you were talking,
• 53:40
  so go ahead. What's you gonna attack Liberty? What are
• 53:42
  you thinking?
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna pick Liberty. I think it's just just overall Liberty.
• 53:49
  You know, they're just a more talented team playing at Home.
• 53:52
  That's not a knock on law Tech. They're really good.
• 53:54
  Obviously they took the able Zuri State not too long ago.
• 53:57
  But I'm going Liberty. I'm trusting the arms been played
• 54:00
  a Ben Blair is a dog, so I'm going I'm
• 54:02
  going Liberty, and Josh your.
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: Pixar, I'm going Liberty too. I feel like this is
• 54:08
  probably the most obvious sweep on the board. As many
• 54:11
  good things as you can say about LA Tech right now,
• 54:14
  Liberty is still top two team in that conference, top three,
• 54:17
  depending who you talk to. I think it's pretty clear
• 54:20
  here that them at home, it seems like they're gonna
• 54:22
  get it done.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: JB, you've written with Liberty consistently. I believe one of
• 54:27
  my favorite quotes Underrated, didn't get much love, but it
• 54:30
  was very funny. Was when you said, give me liberty
• 54:32
  or give me death. I'm assuming you're going to be
• 54:34
  making the great American quote once again.
• 54:37
  Speaker 4: We're rocking with it again. We're giving me liberty or
• 54:40
  you're giving me death. Shout out, Micah, and once again
• 54:43
  we're rocking it Liberty.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: We go shout him out and Josh called it sweep
• 54:47
  it up. I'm taking Liberty as well, but can't ignore.
• 54:52
  As Jake said a minute ago, I think Josh, you
• 54:54
  referenced it to Jake. You called him, what was it,
• 54:56
  the big blue foot. Gotta shout him out, though, got
• 55:00
  to shout them out. I love them. That's a that's
• 55:02
  a quality squad, all right, Josh, walk us through what
• 55:06
  you're working with with Oklahoma and Arkansas. An interesting matchup
• 55:11
  of teams here. Who and I've said this once before,
• 55:14
  I've said it all year, but I think it rings
• 55:17
  especially true in this one. Neither of these teams can't
• 55:20
  afford to lose it at this point, and I think
• 55:23
  it's especially winnable for both teams as well.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: Josh, Yeah, I think they're in a very similar situation here.
• 55:30
  Looking at their seasons as a whole, in the grand
• 55:33
  seam of things, their resumes are very similar from this matchup. Specifically,
• 55:38
  Oklahoma's losses seem to come at the expense of their
• 55:41
  arms pretty often. They've put Caden Leon in that game
• 55:45
  one starter spot, which is worked out relatively well for them,
• 55:50
  or it seems like it's going to. He's only allowing
• 55:52
  a one to seventy one average on the year, which
• 55:54
  is way better than the kind of stuff you were
• 55:55
  seeing out of l j RA, curious, Cam Johnson, Cord Rager, decent,
• 56:02
  pretty solid starters on Saturday and Sunday or Games one
• 56:05
  and two whenever it would be played. But I mean,
• 56:07
  I think the issue here is those arms are going
• 56:11
  up against a certain guy named Ryder Helfrick, and it's
• 56:15
  I know, one bat doesn't make an entire lineup, and
• 56:18
  he's really not the only guy. Cam Kochel, Damian Ruiz,
• 56:21
  guys like that have been really solid this year too.
• 56:23
  But look, Ryder Helfrick came to Auburn for a series
• 56:27
  and literally the entire thing was like, just don't pitch
• 56:30
  to him and you'll be good. And then all of
• 56:31
  a sudden, Auburn pitches to him and he had like,
• 56:33
  I think two bombs in a game or something. He
• 56:35
  can take over a game like that. On the year
• 56:39
  as a whole, I mean, he's been very clearly their
• 56:41
  best bet. Fifteen home runs, walking twenty percent of the time.
• 56:44
  From a metrics standpoint, he's a one oh eight to
• 56:46
  ninetieth ev you love to see that. From an MLB
• 56:48
  draft standpoint, I think I think that's probably one of
• 56:52
  the things I'm looking for the most also gave Gackles
• 56:54
  back in a Sunday starter role. I'd like to see
• 56:57
  how he continues. Last week he pitched four names, allowed
• 57:01
  two runs on five hits, five s trackouts, only walked
• 57:04
  one guy. Decent like very average started, I mean, starting
• 57:08
  spot for him, but we'll see how he can do
• 57:10
  against an Oklahoma lineup that has been admittedly not too great.
• 57:14
  So this could be kind of a confidence building spot
• 57:16
  with an SEC play for him.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: I think you're very you're very well right, very well
• 57:21
  could be. I'm curious how Gackle plays on Sunday. JB.
• 57:26
  Look at these two squads. I'm gonna have you again
• 57:28
  consider both rosters. Which one player needs to stand out
• 57:33
  for their team to take a series.
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: Not to be cheap, but I think Dackle is like
• 57:40
  Dackle is obvious one on Sunday. Him getting back in there,
• 57:42
  I think that's a huge game for them, especially if
• 57:44
  it's a deciding factor game. If it's a rubber match,
• 57:47
  I think that's huge for Gackle. If he goes out
• 57:48
  there and has a great outing for them, it, you know,
• 57:51
  could help save the bullpen for Arkansas, which could be
• 57:54
  taxed by that point. If it's a close series, and
• 57:56
  also it's just a true confidence booster going through the
• 57:58
  rest of the year. So I think Gackle is probably
• 58:00
  the key guy going into the weekend.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: Jake. All this to say, we certainly can't just count
• 58:07
  Oklahoma all the way out. I mean, this is a
• 58:09
  team who's been worded with if not been in the
• 58:12
  top ten and our top twenty five rankings previously in
• 58:15
  this season. And Oklahoma was not just washed right, No.
• 58:20
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't say so, But but this team, you know,
• 58:23
  it has, it's been it's been weird. Like you know,
• 58:26
  like last weekend against Florida was one that we had
• 58:30
  a lot of struggle trying to predict. And it had
• 58:32
  a lot to do with the with the inconsistencies of
• 58:35
  this Oklahoma team. Like if you're looking for for a
• 58:37
  consistent hitter, you know, after Cambden Johnson, I don't know, really,
• 58:41
  I don't really know who you who you point to, Like,
• 58:44
  there hasn't been like another consistent guy there. There also
• 58:47
  hasn't been a ton of power in the lineup as
• 58:49
  a whole, especially in conference play either. And in one
• 58:53
  note that I will mention Cameron Johnson, you know, he
• 58:57
  was coming off back to back really good starts and
• 59:00
  you know, end up leaving early with the with the
• 59:03
  knee injury last weekend. I haven't seen any updates on that,
• 59:05
  but uh, this team, you know, they don't have a
• 59:08
  lot of guys on the staff that they can necessarily trust.
• 59:11
  Like Josh talked about it when he was talking about Oklahoma. Uh,
• 59:15
  you know, Mercurius was was getting starts to their Cord Rager.
• 59:18
  You know, they're they're up and down with their outings
• 59:19
  and losing losing Cam Cameron Johnson, you know, as inconsistent.
• 59:24
  I guess it's a great word of me. If we're
• 59:26
  gonna use that word for anybody, it can be for
• 59:27
  him as he kind of has been at Toms. He
• 59:30
  was really coming off of back to back pretty good
• 59:32
  starts and you know, having him out hopefully he's back
• 59:35
  soon than later. But if he's out for any any
• 59:37
  any extended period of time, it's going to be a
• 59:39
  tough loss for them.
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: I think that's fair for sure, Josh. I want to
• 59:44
  start with you, Oklahoma, Arkansas. What are you leaving here?
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna take Arkansas. Oklahoma is three and six
• 59:53
  in Quad one road games. I'm gonna expect them to
• 59:55
  maintain that trend. In UH, Arkansas to pick up a
• 59:58
  big one of the Hawk.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Then maintain that trend is a great way to say
• 1:00:03
  you're gonna keep losing. JB Arkansas, Oklahoma. What do you
• 1:00:07
  think in pal.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 4: I'm taking Arkansas as well. I think there's just too
• 1:00:11
  much talent on that Arkansas roster against an Oklahoma team
• 1:00:14
  who's kind of a more middle of the pack talent
• 1:00:16
  wise SEC roster, maybe bottom half probably probably most likely
• 1:00:20
  more bottom third actually of the SEC talent wise. But yeah,
• 1:00:24
  I'm definitely taking Arkansas here, Jake to.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: Arkansas's on the board.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: Do you think at Hogs, I think I am. I'm
• 1:00:32
  gonna go Arkansas. You know, like, you know, outside of
• 1:00:34
  the outside of the Georgia Series a few weeks ago,
• 1:00:36
  they've had a really solid last bunch of baseball, but
• 1:00:41
  last weekend especially, you know this that kind of looked
• 1:00:43
  like the best, the best version of this Arkansas team
• 1:00:46
  that we've seen in some time, you know, arguably since
• 1:00:49
  like I don't know, February or something like that. This
• 1:00:51
  this just it was just nice to see, uh, this
• 1:00:54
  team playing as well as they did last weekend. I
• 1:00:56
  think they build on it.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: At home. I I will also take Arkansas. That's gonna
• 1:01:01
  be another interesting kind of sweep there. But I'm curious,
• 1:01:06
  like we said a minute ago, uh is this you know?
• 1:01:09
  JB pointed out, is Oklahoma a bottom third SEC team
• 1:01:13
  if you stack them all up at at peak talent?
• 1:01:16
  And I think at the on seventh season we would
• 1:01:18
  have all agreed that they were, but certainly they've been fluctuant.
• 1:01:22
  And speaking of flexuant, Arkansas wave so Loo, It's just
• 1:01:26
  a It's gonna be a very interesting series to see
• 1:01:29
  what happens in fail Jake, I'd love it if you
• 1:01:33
  could walk us through yet another of your favorites, a
• 1:01:36
  mid major matchup this weekend. Louisiana gonna be taking on
• 1:01:40
  Appalachian State at one of the most beautiful parks I
• 1:01:44
  can think of, pal what's the major storyline there? And
• 1:01:47
  then drive us right into your pick.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Luisia has been playing playing good ball and this
• 1:01:53
  is a really fun series and I'm glad that Josh
• 1:01:56
  added this one to our list of series to talk about.
• 1:02:00
  Depending on how this one goes, we could be discussed
• 1:02:02
  in Louisiana next week again, as they have a huge
• 1:02:04
  one between them and Coastal, but they've been quietly playing
• 1:02:09
  really good balls as of late. You know, we kind
• 1:02:11
  of you know, towards it, like in the middle of
• 1:02:14
  the season, like they had, they had a pretty stru
• 1:02:16
  tough stretch. They lost series to Texas State ULM James Madison,
• 1:02:20
  But they're eight and two in their last ten, including
• 1:02:22
  a big series win at Arkansas State a couple of
• 1:02:24
  weeks ago. Cody Brash has been really good as the
• 1:02:28
  end of the rotation. Two weeks ago, He's gone combined
• 1:02:32
  thirteen and two thirds only two runs allowed. Andrew Harriman
• 1:02:36
  and Tyroman have also been really good for them as well.
• 1:02:39
  But for for app State, you know, they're sitting at
• 1:02:41
  fifteen and nine and some belt play and they've they've
• 1:02:43
  only lost series to Coastal in Southern miss I mentioned
• 1:02:47
  the the pitching on the Louisiana side, but it's been
• 1:02:51
  the bats for app State that's been the most impressive
• 1:02:54
  in conference play. Charlie Evans, Drew Dupone, and Steven Smith
• 1:02:58
  they're all hitting above four hundred.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 3: They the only starter they have right now hitting below
• 1:03:04
  three hundred and somehow plays Camber Miller, and he's leading
• 1:03:06
  the team in hoverers like they're they're leading the conference
• 1:03:09
  in bat average, run scored. I'm sure some other categories,
• 1:03:12
  but uh, they're they're really swinging the bats, and just
• 1:03:15
  on the pitching side for them. Real quick, I'll hit
• 1:03:17
  on Gage Peterson, uh, twelve starts, sixty eight innings, eighty
• 1:03:22
  eight k's like three one A. He's he's, he's really
• 1:03:25
  good for him as well. Regardless though, this is gonna
• 1:03:28
  be a series where it's probably mostly pitching, uh in
• 1:03:31
  defense on the Louisiana side, and a lot of offense
• 1:03:33
  coming from the app State side, and it's gonna be
• 1:03:35
  fun to watch them to go at it.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 4: All.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, then, Jake, let's say you're putting money on it.
• 1:03:41
  What team are you gonna go for?
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm I don't know. This was kind of
• 1:03:47
  a toss up for me as well. I think I'm
• 1:03:50
  gonna I think I'm gonna pick up State. App State
• 1:03:52
  is gonna be at home. They have, like I mentioned,
• 1:03:55
  the record, they the way they swing the bats, especially
• 1:03:59
  at their home, their home park. I think they're just
• 1:04:01
  gonna outslug this Louisiana team something going Upstate.
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: JB, what are you thinking here?
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 3: Man?
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: They're gonna be nearer to you than Louisiana would be. Surely.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna be taking app State too. I just
• 1:04:16
  think they're gonna stay high. Just like Jake mentioned, I mean,
• 1:04:19
  they played really well, especially against teams that aren't the
• 1:04:21
  top two teams, most likely in the Sun Belt. So
• 1:04:25
  I'm gonna rock with app State here.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: Josh, two app States on the board. What do you leaning?
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I really did not expect this to go like this.
• 1:04:33
  I am gonna take app State too, and I really
• 1:04:36
  didn't think it'd be as sweep like this. There are
• 1:04:40
  third in the sun Belt. They won every sun Belt
• 1:04:42
  series besides Coastal and Southern miss but you know, those
• 1:04:46
  are uphill battles to win. I do want to say
• 1:04:49
  I would appreciate I Jake would stop taking all of
• 1:04:51
  my top talking points, literally every single point that I
• 1:04:53
  was gonna make. Jake hit on to add on to
• 1:04:56
  what he said, though, app State leads the Sun Belt
• 1:04:59
  in batting average, OPS, doubles, and runs per game, so
• 1:05:03
  pretty solid stats. They're one hundred in the RPI, though,
• 1:05:07
  which is really weird to be third in this conference
• 1:05:09
  and be one hundred in the RPI. But their non
• 1:05:13
  con is so weak that I think that's what's dragging
• 1:05:15
  that down. They They've backed it up in league play,
• 1:05:17
  so I think they'll continue to do that. Also side note,
• 1:05:20
  I think Louisiana might win Friday because I am pretty
• 1:05:24
  fond of Cody Brash, at least from like a like.
• 1:05:27
  He's got like a nice mid nineties fastball pairs with
• 1:05:29
  the slider that's been producing a lot of whiff and
• 1:05:31
  a lot of punch outs in the sun Belt, so
• 1:05:34
  I think that he matches up way better than Nick
• 1:05:37
  de Rito does against the lineup, So I think I'll
• 1:05:40
  take that. Can be really specific. I think Louisiana could
• 1:05:42
  win on Friday, but Appay takes it next two.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: Taking the dry method and giving us the full I
• 1:05:49
  like it. I want to take Louisiana so badly. I
• 1:05:53
  want to. I can't, but I want to, So I'm
• 1:05:56
  gonna say that before I take the coward drop and
• 1:05:58
  give us a four.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: We said we gotta get some diversity here.
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: I really wanted to, but I just getting in Josh.
• 1:06:06
  Since we're with you, who better than you to walk
• 1:06:08
  us through the final series? Texas gonna be on rocky
• 1:06:12
  top taking on Tennessee and Josh, what's the storyline of
• 1:06:15
  this game?
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, I can think of someone better to lead me,
• 1:06:18
  to lead us to this series than me, and it's
• 1:06:19
  probably the two Tennessee fans. But I'll talk about a
• 1:06:22
  little bit. Let's see, I'll touch on some Texas points first.
• 1:06:27
  I mean, they they've been stringing together some series wins,
• 1:06:29
  but not really convincingly. If we're being honest, They've been
• 1:06:33
  taking two, dropping one pretty consistently. I think that could
• 1:06:35
  get them in some scary situations. This weekend offense goes
• 1:06:39
  cold about once every like three games. That tends to
• 1:06:41
  be why that happens. Dylan Valantis is the main point
• 1:06:45
  there here, though they moved him to Game one. He
• 1:06:48
  is running a one eight seven ERA on the year
• 1:06:51
  in sixty two and two thirds ending, striking out thirty
• 1:06:53
  six percent of guys and getting a sixty percent round
• 1:06:56
  ball rate. That's just ridiculous stuff in the SEC. So
• 1:06:59
  we'll see if that continues. Teaking kuons Dylan Atlantis must
• 1:07:03
  see TV Game one. Let me tell you Tennessee As,
• 1:07:07
  if y'all don't already know this, they want to get
• 1:07:09
  out of playing on Tuesday and Hoover. Probably that's a
• 1:07:12
  big thing at this point as well, as they want
• 1:07:13
  to work their way up into a two seed, which
• 1:07:15
  they're pretty close to at this point. Some people think
• 1:07:17
  they're already there. I think this weekend would be a
• 1:07:19
  big one to pull two games out of and that
• 1:07:21
  would really help them in both of those spots in
• 1:07:23
  a way that no one expects. They're thirty five in
• 1:07:26
  the RPI right now, eleven and thirteen quad one and
• 1:07:29
  Quad two combined record. Get that up a little bit,
• 1:07:31
  and that's probably some two seed stuff right there. The
• 1:07:33
  quad one record is pretty good, ten and quad one
• 1:07:36
  wins really good compared to teams or other teams around
• 1:07:39
  that two to three seed line. You see. At this point,
• 1:07:41
  they'll have six quad one opportunities remaining. Take three from there,
• 1:07:46
  maybe four, and you're probably in good shape at this point.
• 1:07:48
  But I think this weekend could kickstart a really good
• 1:07:50
  end of the year for Tennessee if they put the
• 1:07:53
  pieces together right. If not, we thought they were out
• 1:07:55
  of the picture for a while, and they've already got
• 1:07:57
  themselves back in the conversation we're in now and think
• 1:08:00
  they would. So it's a good thing to even be here.
• 1:08:02
  In my opinion.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: Interesting, Josh, I'll let you go ahead and make your
• 1:08:05
  selection while we're here.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: I am going to take Texas, and I think this
• 1:08:08
  is just an easy way to get a get a
• 1:08:10
  little game up and drew again. If we're being put
• 1:08:12
  the honest, this could come back to buy me so poorly.
• 1:08:14
  But I just I know where he's going with this one,
• 1:08:16
  and I think I can get a little edge there.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 3: Interesting, Jake, your your rebuttal, sir, you know this is
• 1:08:27
  this is a battle, uh battle of the uts. I mean,
• 1:08:31
  we all know who the real ut is. But anyway
• 1:08:34
  I mean, I mean, I mean Tennessee lost last last
• 1:08:38
  series at Kentucky last weekend, but you know, both both
• 1:08:41
  Teak and kons Evan blancoleout six runs a piece. Appen
• 1:08:44
  Zeller and Rudy were both kind of bad out of
• 1:08:47
  the pen last weekend as well, but landon Max was awesome.
• 1:08:51
  You know, sixth innings, six strakeouts wouldn't run aloud. But
• 1:08:54
  the pitching as a whole just has to be better.
• 1:08:57
  And also like they never really played a complete offensive
• 1:09:02
  game against Kentucky. You know, it took a Levy Clark
• 1:09:06
  to homer five RBI performance to kind of salvage that
• 1:09:09
  series and avoid avoid the sweet but uh and and
• 1:09:13
  you know, in conference play, Henry Ford's had some big moments,
• 1:09:16
  as has Grimmer, Garrett Wright, uh and Reech Chapman. But
• 1:09:20
  but like the same issues that were kind of plaguing
• 1:09:23
  them at the at the start of conference play showed
• 1:09:26
  back up a little bit with the top of the
• 1:09:27
  Waterer not not really producing and the Tennessee and I
• 1:09:32
  know me and Drew especially are hoping that that doesn't
• 1:09:36
  linger too much further.
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's a safe way to put it. Jake,
• 1:09:43
  for sure. What are you laiting here? Man? What's gonna
• 1:09:46
  be the pick?
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 3: Jake, I'm gonna go Tennessee. I'm not I don't have
• 1:09:52
  a I don't have a smile on my face. So
• 1:09:54
  I do actually, but it's not a happy smile on
• 1:09:56
  my face taking this pick. I'm just kinda laughing through
• 1:10:00
  the pain a little bit of having to take Tennessee
• 1:10:02
  against Texas. But I'm going I'm going with the falls.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: I think we need to clip that because I was
• 1:10:08
  gonna say you you definitely did have a small very
• 1:10:10
  case as you were saying that. Love it.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 3: JB.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: I'll let you make a rebuttal again, just because you're
• 1:10:18
  not a bona fide Tennessee guys, I'll group you into
• 1:10:21
  the you know the others category here for the moment.
• 1:10:24
  But Texas, obviously, this is a great, great series win
• 1:10:28
  for Texas if they can take it.
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll hit on something that we haven't hit on yet.
• 1:10:33
  I don't know if we've talked about it at all,
• 1:10:34
  but Sam Cozart is putting up a run for probably
• 1:10:38
  the best reliever in the country this year with Texas As.
• 1:10:41
  He's gone forty two and the third innings this year,
• 1:10:43
  one seven oh year ra He's made three starts, but
• 1:10:46
  fourteen of his seventeen appearances are out of the pen.
• 1:10:49
  He's been incredible for them, probably the best quote unquote,
• 1:10:56
  he could be the best freshman arm in the country,
• 1:10:58
  one of the best out there, especially out of the pen.
• 1:11:01
  But Cozart, he's like phenomenal this year. And I'll be
• 1:11:05
  taking Texas as well. Just had to throw a little
• 1:11:09
  shout out to Sam Cozart because he's been incredible And
• 1:11:11
  I don't know if we talked about him, but Texas,
• 1:11:13
  I think they're just they're a great team. I it's
• 1:11:17
  crazy to say, but I could see world where Tennessee
• 1:11:19
  wins this series this weekend just because they need it
• 1:11:21
  so badly at home, and it just turns into an
• 1:11:23
  absolute slug fest and it just works out in their favor.
• 1:11:28
  But I'm going to go to Texas to play it safe.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: Interesting. I just have a question for all of you,
• 1:11:36
  off top your heads, do you remember the last time
• 1:11:39
  that Tennessee played Texas? Any of you, off the top
• 1:11:41
  of your head that will been in the SEC Tournament
• 1:11:46
  last year?
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 2: I was thinking series that.
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: You're right, anybody remember how that one went? I'm sure
• 1:11:53
  you're about the Dallas Tennessee won and deep Extras maybe
• 1:11:59
  my favavorite game I watched last year. There's no sweeter
• 1:12:04
  win for one specific Tennessee fan who shall remain nameless
• 1:12:09
  that when Big Orange puts uh puts a certain coach
• 1:12:13
  in the dirt for the day, I hope I'd love
• 1:12:19
  to see two wins. I'll be greedy, though. The last
• 1:12:23
  time I said this before a series it went really well.
• 1:12:25
  I'm gonna be greedy and say I hope we can
• 1:12:28
  get one. I'll take Tennessee. What if we get that one?
• 1:12:33
  What if I just go a little greedier. What if
• 1:12:35
  we take the series? What if I'm just really greedy
• 1:12:38
  and we take a sweet give me Tennessee. I'll you know,
• 1:12:43
  I will go down with this ship and I will
• 1:12:45
  hold my head up, not surrender. There will be no
• 1:12:48
  white flag above my door. Shout outdo that's the fix. Anyway,
• 1:12:55
  Thank you so much for joining us for this episode
• 1:12:57
  of College Baseball. Now, want to ask in the callow
• 1:13:00
  tell us what do you think Tennessee's got to do
• 1:13:02
  to take this series from Texas? What do you think
• 1:13:04
  they gotta do to take a game from Texas? Most importantly,
• 1:13:07
  you think they got a shot? Are you gonna bribe
• 1:13:09
  with the Drewid, Jake Army? Are you gonna go with
• 1:13:12
  the Disbelief Squad? Oh? JB and Josh. I'll let you
• 1:13:16
  tell me in the comments below, But until then, I'd
• 1:13:19
  love it if the founding member of the Disbelief Squad, Josh,
• 1:13:22
  tell the folks at home what you're working on and
• 1:13:24
  where folks can find you between our podcasts.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Josh Catlet three.
• 1:13:30
  Jake and I Last break Getology will be coming out tomorrow. Yeah,
• 1:13:37
  I'm trying to think I'm really I don't think I'm
• 1:13:38
  working on much other specific so if my life has
• 1:13:40
  been so busy recently, but it's okay. We're gonna be
• 1:13:43
  getting back into the swing of things in the next
• 1:13:44
  like a couple of days. So we're good. But there's
• 1:13:49
  not tons of news stuff right now, but there will
• 1:13:50
  be in the coming weeks. Trust me.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, there's gonna be plenty coming and we'll have all
• 1:13:54
  those announcements soon. Buddy, you're gonna be at the core
• 1:13:57
  of a lot of that.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: Jake folks home where they can find you between our
• 1:14:01
  episodes spout.
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 3: You can follow me on Twitter at Jake Barge. I've
• 1:14:06
  got the mid major rankings that are going up every
• 1:14:10
  week now. It's it's been kind of it's been tough
• 1:14:14
  to put them together, but it's been a lot of
• 1:14:16
  fun at the same time. This weekend, I think I'm
• 1:14:20
  gonna get out to see some Saint Joe's action. They're
• 1:14:23
  hosted VCU this weekend. I know it's not as exciting
• 1:14:27
  as what Drew's going to watch this weekend, but I
• 1:14:29
  am gonna get some some Duke McCarn Saint Joe's Blake Primrose,
• 1:14:33
  who's got twenty homers for them. It's gonna be like,
• 1:14:36
  I'm super excited. I've seen a lot of Saint Joe's
• 1:14:39
  baseball since I've been up here, but this is the
• 1:14:40
  most excited I've been to watch them yet. So it's
• 1:14:44
  gonna be fun.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: I'm so hyped to get your opinion on Blake Primrose.
• 1:14:47
  I started doing a little bit of research for a
• 1:14:49
  Twitter thread I'm gonna do here soon and Primrose is
• 1:14:52
  all over it. So excited to get the report on him. JB,
• 1:14:57
  You've got some important stuff coming up between our episodes,
• 1:15:00
  and this is actually, if I'm not second, gonna be
• 1:15:02
  your last episode for a little bit. So tell the
• 1:15:04
  folks what you're working on, what you're gonna be up to,
• 1:15:07
  and where they can find you until you grace us
• 1:15:10
  with your return.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's at jbunderscore to Bostiona on Twitter. With graduation
• 1:15:16
  coming around, comes said graduation trip, and I will be
• 1:15:20
  going to Europe for a little bit, so I'll catch
• 1:15:23
  you guys on the flip side on after I get
• 1:15:26
  back to the thirtieth or whenever. The next episode would
• 1:15:29
  be after the thirtieth, So yeah, it'll be uh, it'll
• 1:15:32
  be a little bit, but I look forward to being
• 1:15:35
  back on the pod once I'm back and get some stories.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, man.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: If you're interested in following me between our episodes, you
• 1:15:44
  may do so on the Twitter Machine, on Instagram, on
• 1:15:46
  Blue Sky at drew Is Okay, we'd love to interact
• 1:15:48
  with you there. Prospects Live membership start as low as
• 1:15:51
  seven dollars a month, where you can get all of
• 1:15:53
  the internet's best baseball content, tools, tips, tricks, lists, and more.
• 1:15:57
  Want to see how your team's best prospects are doing
• 1:16:00
  in the minor leagues. No better place you want to
• 1:16:02
  get some MLB draft insight. We got it this team
• 1:16:05
  plus a ton of other incredible and genius and dare
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  i say, handsome individuals writing all kinds of great stuff
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• 1:16:14
  Card stuff. We've got stuff for your fantasy baseball team.
• 1:16:17
  That's an incredible squad that is putting out. I think
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  they said twelve pieces of content per week, insanity level
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  stuff and a great, great deal at Prospects Lot for that.
• 1:16:27
  We're gonna have a top two hundred college players coming
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  out soon. We've got mock Draft three point zero coming
• 1:16:31
  out soon. In the College Daily. She continues to roll
• 1:16:33
  along all kinds of great stuff at prospects Live dot com.
• 1:16:36
  Want to again encourage you. If you haven't leave us
• 1:16:39
  a five stars, gold star, thumbs up, a plus, whatever
• 1:16:43
  the rating is, do that on your podcasting app choice.
• 1:16:46
  Also want to remind you be nice to yourself, be
• 1:16:49
  nice to each other. Enjoy the baseball this weekend because
• 1:16:52
  we're going to Happy graduation, Josh, Happy graduation, JB. Great
• 1:16:57
  season out of you, Jake Drew. All so here until
• 1:17:01
  next time, We'll see you later. Take care, bye bye