Latest / College Baseball Now / 2026 National Championship Preview | Ep. 044

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2026 National Championship Preview | Ep. 044 · College Baseball Now

0:01
Speaker 1: Well, it's all come down to this. We have been
0:04
all over the world, well three of us at least,
0:06
and yet now it's time to see who is going
0:09
to take home the twenty twenty six n Cuba Men's
0:13
College Baseball Championship. Will it be the hot cold hot
0:17
experts or will it be one of the nation's best
0:20
that have gone pillar to post, start to back with
0:24
a lead in the standings. We'll find out what these
0:27
guys think. Plus looking at all the results thus far
0:31
from Omaha. On today's episode of College Baseball, now there.
0:43
Speaker 2: Ain't no prod no prods.
0:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me not saying yet, sen it what was
0:52
gone for mane hit a bet.
0:54
Speaker 1: A couple of wins?
0:54
Speaker 3: Would be if the kid I had to do a
0:56
b at GDS average and the boy they don't know no.
1:01
Speaker 1: Static coach sn run a week. God, I want to
1:03
test that to them?
1:04
Speaker 4: Was standing troll run the game?
1:07
Speaker 1: Best believe of shining.
1:08
Speaker 2: Domes counting them my wins.
1:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love them when they count me out, counting
1:13
I'm the least sudden shame Why I'm being a job
1:16
best believe I run the game, you know, wave out
1:21
believe I want to stand this lam magic believe. I
1:26
want that stand scan it's that maticleave. I want that's standing.
1:31
Speaker 2: The knocking about.
1:32
Speaker 4: They really don't want.
1:33
Speaker 1: To stand it. One team will raise the championship trophy
1:49
at the end of the Greatest Show on Dirk and
1:52
we are here to make our projections and talk our
1:55
way from the start of the Omaha eighth down to
1:58
now the final two. Welcome back to college baseball. Now
2:02
we are your friends. You're hosting team starting with me
2:04
and your friends, your host, your boy Drew Wheeler, director
2:07
of Average are scouting at Prospects Live. Hi, how you
2:09
do it? Glad to be back with you? Speaking of
2:11
glad to be back, look at you three Jabroni's trotting
2:15
all over the world, not even inviting me to go
2:17
with you, and now you just mosey on back in
2:19
here like nothing's been happened. I will find out in
2:23
the middle, middle of the top. We got five here today,
2:26
Josh Catley, look at you, center stage.
2:30
Speaker 5: As all things should be. You know that was in
2:31
the center of the live broadcast. We were doing it
2:33
from Omaha. The center here. Yeah, everything just the lines
2:37
like this.
2:38
Speaker 1: How did you think your live broadcasts went? I thought
2:40
that they were excellent and very good.
2:42
Speaker 5: I enjoy I enjoyed doing them. It was a little
2:44
bit different than I think other people's because it was
2:46
more of like a like a breakdown breakdown of what
2:49
happened instead of just bigger picture stuff. And I kind
2:52
of like the way it worked out. I like the
2:54
way we got our setup figured out after the first
2:56
day when you were just staring at our legs pretty much,
2:58
but we had it ended not terrible.
3:02
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, I'm not gonna sit here and say
3:05
I enjoyed staring at you guys legs. That was. That
3:08
was not the worst part of the thing I'm playing.
3:10
I'm playing totally. I love the stuff. Great job.
3:14
Speaker 4: You like seeing our son Tan Burns that going on down.
3:16
Speaker 1: There, I did, as a matter of fact. Mister JB.
3:19
Sebastiano at the far right. JB, you just the the
3:24
globe trotter. You've been in Europe, you've been in Omaha,
3:28
and now you've got another trip coming up before you
3:30
know it.
3:30
Speaker 4: Buddy, Yeah, you know me and and Will Dodge. We
3:34
got a fun little trip coming up. If you know
3:36
the baseball calendar, I bet you can guess where we're going.
3:39
Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, it'll be a good time somewhere nice
3:42
and bright, nice and hot. If you haven't got enough
3:44
burns yet, think you may.
3:48
Speaker 4: Thankfully, the roof will probably be closed and there'll be
3:50
some ac so that's great. But yeah, still definitely a chance.
3:54
Speaker 1: Absolutely in the bottom right corner, sporting a hat you
3:58
might have seen on ESPN and a lovely Mac Champion
4:03
shirt advertising rider that's gonna be coach Jake Barjery coach, Hi.
4:10
Speaker 5: What's up?
4:11
Speaker 6: I had to I had to represent my my rider
4:13
Bronx for being the last MAC Champions that there ever
4:18
will be.
4:18
Speaker 4: But yeah, I can.
4:19
Speaker 6: I can speak for the I can speak for the
4:21
sun in Omaha.
4:22
Speaker 1: Like the high was.
4:23
Speaker 6: Like seventy five to eighty while we were there, but
4:27
I mean it was, it was hot, like I was.
4:29
I was toasted. Those two guys can tell you. I
4:31
was toast after the first game. Uh no, cloud.
4:36
Speaker 1: Coverage of like negative negative five, right.
4:38
Speaker 5: Jake, see frozen?
4:42
Speaker 4: I agree lost Jacob.
4:44
Speaker 1: Let's good. I think, I think, Jake, I think we
4:47
may have lost you. The cloud coverage was not good
4:49
in Omaha then, huh.
4:52
Speaker 6: No, no, it was, it was there. It was cloudy,
4:54
I think one day. But it was still I still
4:57
feel like I got burned from it.
4:58
Speaker 4: I don't know.
4:59
Speaker 1: Wow, hopefully the burns will be less bad for you.
5:02
Back in old Pennsylvania. My friend and joining me on
5:06
the sad Bus the Struggle Bus for his first episode
5:09
with us on College Baseball Now it is a member
5:12
of our draft team, mister Harris Youden, Harris, It's so
5:15
nice to have you with us on the show.
5:17
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to be here, you know, been slumming
5:20
it on my couch watching the tournament rather than h in Omaha,
5:23
but enjoying it so the same, and excited for this
5:25
final weekend.
5:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely, dude, I'm curious, you know, watching these ESPN broadcasts
5:31
every so often, to the top right of my screen,
5:33
I'd see these three Jabbroni's and I'd think those are
5:36
great seats. But you know, my couch was awful comfortable.
5:39
I didn't have to worry about my legs interceding onto
5:42
Jake or JB. I didn't have to worry about, you know,
5:45
flashing somebody in the back of the head whenever i'd
5:47
stretch out, or it was a really quick walk to
5:49
my concession. Stan Harris, I'm sure it was the same
5:51
for you.
5:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the ac was nice as.
5:54
Speaker 1: Well, beautiful. I didn't get burned. I don't know about you. No,
5:59
you're glad glad to hear it. Well, boys, let's go
6:02
ahead and start chopping it up, because we do have
6:04
quite a bit to talk about tonight, and I know
6:06
that we've got a lot to do. Let's go ahead
6:09
and get to it. But before we do, want to
6:11
tell you guys about something really cool. Some friends of
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6:58
if you're into that kind of thing. I'm actually looking
7:00
forward in the third year the Drew Wheeler coach Tennessee Volunteers.
7:04
I've made the tournament back to back. I know you
7:06
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7:09
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7:12
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getting up to in your game as well. Speaking of games, guys,
7:38
Bracket one whatever the opposite of the SEC Region of
7:44
Death is. I guess this is going to be the
7:46
multi multi conference Region of Death as it were North Carolina,
7:51
West Virginia, Troy, and Ole, Miss Josh. Let's start with you,
7:56
why not? Shall we? On Friday, we got to see
8:00
these these four teams kind of go at it, and
8:04
I think all of us projected that this is likely
8:07
how it would have gone, as West Virginia defeated Troy
8:10
seven to five, North Carolina, taking a game six to
8:13
two overall.
8:14
Speaker 5: Mens, Yeah, it was about the style of gameplay that
8:19
we imagined too. We probably didn't see the start that
8:23
we did see from Chancell and Cole. We probably didn't
8:25
see that coming. But he kind of had the same
8:27
issue all week where he wasn't commanding his stuff like usual.
8:30
It was getting hit pretty hard in the zone and
8:33
that started on Friday. But then Ian Korn came in relief.
8:37
It was awesome for them, kind of subdued that Troy
8:40
offense just a little bit. West Virginia offense was awesome.
8:44
I mean, like they started the day with an Armani
8:46
Guzman steel of home. That's the first run that was
8:48
scored the entire week. And I mean that's that's about
8:51
as you know, fun of a way to start as possible.
8:53
And that was as Jake mentioned in our live stream,
8:56
that was to break the all time West Virginia single
8:58
season stolen base record. That's a pretty electric way to start,
9:01
if you ask me. But yeah, it was the Jimmy
9:05
Jankee Show. Most of the week and the Jay Borob
9:08
Show most of the week for Troy, and it started
9:10
on that day too. It was an exciting game though,
9:12
really down to the wire. Uh As for North Carolina
9:15
Ole Miss. We thought it was gonna be a picture's
9:18
duel and it was Jason Karo Taylor Ray. It was
9:21
two two into oh what ending? Did it get blown up?
9:24
And I want to say, like the sixth ish, maybe
9:27
the seventh. It was a picture's duel for a while
9:29
and both those guys were dealing throwing strikes, big stuff,
9:32
big swing and miss lots of strikeouts. Colin Heinek saved
9:36
the day at the end with the three run shot
9:40
at the end. All all the games are blending together
9:42
in my mind. I'm really separate at this point. I
9:45
remember that one vividly though, because I think, yeah, we
9:48
got my raw reaction was caught on TV. It was
9:50
sent to me by someone. You can like one of
9:52
the few times we actually showed a motion on TV
9:54
was that Colin Hinnet calm run and you can see
9:57
like my mouth just like like like a still shot.
10:00
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, can you can you imitate it
10:02
for us?
10:04
Speaker 5: The picture?
10:04
Speaker 1: But that's that sounds great, it was.
10:08
Speaker 5: It's right here there we go. We're gonna see if
10:09
the camera can really do justice to this. But that's
10:11
that's my face as Colin Heine gets the home run.
10:15
Speaker 1: Did you send that to me place I need that?
10:17
Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure?
10:18
Speaker 5: I also you the whole picture off of the off
10:20
the ESPN footage whatever that sunmds up pretty well. That'sund
10:24
up how I felt pretty well. Would Ironically, we'll get
10:27
to this, I assume in a few minutes. But it
10:29
was kind of like the same exact format as the
10:31
first U and C West Virginia game. Like the style
10:33
of play and the way the scoring when that happened
10:36
is almost the exact same way. It was really weird,
10:39
but those are the two teams we expected to come
10:41
out on top, and Troy gave probably a little more
10:43
of a fight than people expected.
10:45
Speaker 1: I would say, so, Jake, that's actually a really wonderful
10:47
transition to you, buddy, Roy. All they did was fight, man.
10:52
They ended up eliminating Old miss on Sunday in a
10:56
twelve to eight game. And then, Jake, if I'm not mistaken,
10:59
you were the solo man at the ballpark on Tuesday
11:02
to watch as Troy was eliminated. Is that correct?
11:09
Speaker 5: Oh?
11:12
Speaker 1: Oh no, oh, no, Jake, are you there?
11:16
Speaker 5: He's mogging us.
11:18
Speaker 1: He's a forming That's what's happening here.
11:20
Speaker 4: Jake was the only guy at the ballpark. I'll answer
11:23
the question.
11:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, please, Jamie, go ahead.
11:25
Speaker 4: He was the only guy at the ballpark.
11:27
Speaker 1: I was.
11:28
Speaker 4: For my part, I was watching on an airplane. I
11:30
don't know about Josh, but I had Hulu up with
11:32
Wi Fi and I was watching it on the plane.
11:35
Speaker 5: I watched the first three names on the plane and
11:37
then I stopped being able to But that's what the
11:39
game stopped being competitive. So it's it worked out.
11:42
Speaker 1: Understand Uh, you know, Troy, It's like you said, Josh
11:45
just a minute ago. It was kind of the there's
11:47
stars anchoring and rising the tide for the entire team
11:52
who did step up. Troy has nothing to be ashamed
11:55
of in terms of their performance in Omaha. They did
11:57
put out Ole Miss, who defeated some incredibly talented teams
12:02
this season and put them out of out of commission
12:06
this year. Troy, sadly, though, falls short. Their first trip
12:10
to Omaha ends with the record of one and two,
12:14
a pair of losses to West Virginia, will do that,
12:16
but that's an incredibly talented team.
12:18
Speaker 4: Not to like jump on it, but I guess to
12:20
give a couple guys credit there if we're I don't
12:22
know if we're about to going to it, but Sean
12:24
Darnell had himself a hell of a weekend out of
12:27
the seven hole for Troy. I believe he's sitting in
12:28
the seven hole for them. He had a nice to
12:30
run over that was absolute nuke in the one game,
12:33
and then also he had a couple of RBI hits.
12:35
So Darnell did a great job. Crotch felt. Also, he
12:38
was great the whole weekend. His last outing, he was
12:41
up to ninety six and there maybe it wasn't his
12:43
last outing, but in the second game. I don't know
12:46
if he pitched in the last game or not, I forget,
12:48
but he was up to ninety six in the ninth
12:49
to close it out and shout out to missus, crotchfelt,
12:52
who did hit us up on Twitter? You know, Yeah,
12:55
Zach did a great job in the playoffs there, and yeah,
12:59
I mean it was all to get to watch that
13:00
Troy team. But Jimmy Janicky, I think all of us
13:02
walked away. So we can he was the main guy.
13:05
We walked away saying that dude is gonna be a
13:07
legit draft prospect for US in twenty twenty seven, and
13:10
we'll see where he ends up, if he stays a
13:11
Troy or not, but that'll be a fun name to follow.
13:14
Speaker 1: Without a doubt. I do think that, you guys, I
13:17
mean all of us, we definitely had We had some
13:21
Zach Krotch felt love very early as he was going
13:24
to transfer to Troy. We projected that he would be
13:26
a bit of a bulldog. I mean, you guys said
13:28
this very early in the season. So yes, I think that. Josh,
13:31
what was it you said about her keeping receipts and
13:34
definitely paying them all?
13:36
Speaker 5: Her tweeting back at us later in the season. The
13:39
way she commented means that she saw our post or
13:42
saw our podcast in November and remembered our faces and
13:45
names for talking about her son from seven months ago,
13:49
and like kept that in the back of her mind
13:52
and retweeted back at us seven months that, like that's impressive.
13:56
Speaker 1: Like this, I love it.
13:57
Speaker 2: I love that stuff.
13:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, isn't that awesome?
13:59
Speaker 5: Out like son's name on Twitter? Which I don't blame her,
14:01
that's fine. But like the fact that she remembered that,
14:04
like honestly impressive, Like I respect it.
14:07
Speaker 1: It is it's it's very impressive. Let's let's switch gears.
14:11
We've talked about Troy gave some talk to West Virginia. Harris,
14:15
you are here, my brother, because you are a fan
14:17
of the tar Heels. Now we have had all season long,
14:20
one very true Tar Heels fan. One guy who claims
14:24
claims North Carolina. You know that's still TVD. We'll see. Yeah,
14:28
that's true.
14:30
Speaker 5: US is going to Omaha for the Championship Series of
14:32
Support Carolina. It's not JB.
14:36
Speaker 4: So who hoo? Who bought the ticket?
14:38
Speaker 5: Though?
14:38
Speaker 4: Exactly can we say if you spend your money or
14:40
did someone else spend the money? Who cares?
14:44
Speaker 1: Yeah? Exactly?
14:47
Speaker 5: Did you buy any of your tickets this week? I
14:49
didn't think so, said.
14:51
Speaker 1: Now dad, gummt you guys, Harris, what did you?
14:59
Speaker 2: This is I'm here for the bickering.
15:01
Speaker 1: But listen, brother, this is this is what you walk
15:03
into when you come into our house. You're gonna see
15:05
these guys clawing at each other's throats. I don't know
15:07
how Jake made it through an entire weekend. Harris I'm
15:09
gonna start with you here, what did you come away
15:12
with most impressed with with North Carolina JB slash Josh's
15:16
favorite team certain certainly one of yours as well, Harris,
15:19
I believe that's your favorite squad as well.
15:21
Speaker 2: It is, yes, uh yeah, I mean it's honestly didn't
15:26
have this kind of expectation heading into the season, just
15:28
in terms of the depth of the pitching, like what
15:32
literally going to be as a full time starter, what
15:34
boas would be like coming back relying on a couple
15:38
of freshmen in the bullpen who have obviously been incredible,
15:41
and I think just like the key for them all
15:43
year has just been like the depth one through nine,
15:46
the lineup, the guys who are throwing midweek deeper in
15:51
the bullpen, and obviously they've shortened that tournament time, but
15:54
I think just with that, like Event's honeycut, like Luke
15:58
Stevenson type of anchor offensively, Hole has turned into that
16:03
later on, but for the most part of the season,
16:04
like they didn't have that as a little bit more balanced,
16:07
and so I think just the way they've been able
16:09
to sustain that like just consistent play, not like any
16:13
sort of up and down streaks like they've had in
16:16
some years past. Just going out there every day and
16:19
guys are hitting and the same guys are throwing and
16:23
go way forbes uses the managers. The bullpen has been
16:26
impressive and just always seems to be pulling the right strings.
16:31
For this weekend, I think, just really simple, like they
16:34
just were in a class of their own in this bracket.
16:37
I think that it's a little bit of a generous
16:40
draw the way it worked out, it didn't have to
16:42
go up against in that gauntlet of SEC teams. I
16:44
think like Troy was a really fun team, but then
16:48
Carolyn didn't play them, but they don't exactly measure up
16:51
on paper. I think we saw with them the same
16:54
thing we saw with West Virginia the next game, which
16:57
was yesterday. Man, these days are all blend to get it.
17:00
They's just a little bit of the pitching depth just
17:03
fell short right, Like they're just a lot of talent,
17:06
but just not quite that built for this long stretch
17:11
in Omaha. I think Carolina just outlasted these teams just
17:14
with their depth, and I think they just some of
17:18
the games were closer than others, but just they they
17:22
were just a little bit in the class of their
17:24
own in this little region here.
17:26
Speaker 1: Harris, I think that one of the things with North Carolina,
17:29
and I would assume that both JB and Josh will
17:32
agree with you now that I'm officially outvoted in terms
17:36
of tar Heel fandom here. I think North Carolina's pedigree
17:41
is what really paid off for them a lot. They've
17:43
been in the moment. This is nothing new for North Carolina.
17:47
This is something that they have expected all season long.
17:49
The tar Hills are going to be in Omaha's kind
17:51
of a belief you could see in the way they
17:53
play all season long as opposed to and this is
17:56
taking nothing away from West Virginia, from Troy and for
17:59
Ole Miss who had I think a turbulent season is
18:01
a more than fair description of the season in Oxford. Harris,
18:05
would you agree I think that that pedigree was one
18:08
of the driving factors to North Carolina's success.
18:10
Speaker 2: I would, And I think what's what's interesting you talk
18:12
about West Virginia like those are two teams in Carolina
18:14
and Virginia who have been in the Supers each last
18:16
three years. So I do think there's a little bit
18:18
of that with the Mountaineers as well. And they obviously
18:20
had a great, great run, but yeah, I mean Carolina
18:24
like to make one to three, hosting three supers in
18:28
a row. You got guys like Tacarro and Gallaher especially
18:33
who have just been there for three years in big
18:35
game after big game, coming up in big moments, and
18:38
like you saw them come through as freshman and still
18:41
to this day, like, yeah, they have a coach who's
18:45
been there, players who've been there three years and been
18:48
in this moment in the past, and I think, yeah,
18:49
just they didn't seem faithed by any of the big moments.
18:54
Speaker 1: Yes, I think that was the thing that kind of
18:56
stuck with me. Harrison, I'm glad that glad to hear
18:58
that you guys seem to agree with me on that. JB.
19:01
I want to go to you here to kind of
19:03
give us a general wrap up on kind of that
19:05
first couple of games before we get to the bracket
19:10
one final yesterday, thinking about teams like, of course i'd
19:15
love your North Carolina thoughts, but I mean thinking about
19:18
teams like Old miss who do have that pedigree. You've
19:20
got guys like Hunter Elliott who were pitching in a
19:23
national championship setting in Omaha, and just to see that
19:27
career end in kind of such an unceremonious way was
19:31
probably painful even for you guys as you and c fans.
19:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess I'll go with this route with ole Miss.
19:38
That was that was one I really wanted to talk
19:39
about it outside of North Carolina Ole Miss. When you
19:42
watched ole Miss go out there, it was very interesting
19:44
and I think we'll hit on a point. Hear Me
19:46
and Josh both thought Bianco really messed up a few
19:49
spots that I would say that we really thought were like, hey,
19:52
this is what cost them this trip Toma. Basically the
19:56
first one comes in the first game. Taylor Rabe was
19:59
absolute dominating. He did a great job all throughout. Now
20:02
they decided to go to Walker Hooks. He obviously gave
20:06
up I believe the go ahead with I know, Whole
20:10
hit the homer to tie it at the first time.
20:13
Then they got another hit later and I believe Gallagher
20:16
had the go ahead single. I believe it was off
20:18
of hooks if it's correct later in the game. But
20:21
then it gets to the point where we had second
20:24
and third and two outs. Colin Heinek was up and
20:27
you have hooks in the game now instead of walking
20:30
him to go to the nine hole. French, who I know,
20:31
had a decent week, but this is the first game
20:33
he hadn't started his whole.
20:36
Speaker 1: On on rage.
20:37
Speaker 4: You know, kind of performance that he had. It was
20:39
kind of you know, he's the nine hole guy that
20:41
is more of a singles guy, ground ball hitter with
20:44
a left handed pitcher who had some decent stuff to
20:45
get out left handed hitters. Colin Heineck is raked against
20:49
left handed pitching all tournament long. They leave him in.
20:52
He made him pay. He hung a slider, absolutely hammered
20:55
it to left field, and that fired us up behind
20:57
the plate. But at the same time we looked at
20:59
each other and said, why are you not walking hin
21:01
it to at least make a force play at any
21:03
base and put up the nine hole hitter that is
21:06
left handed against hooks or at least you know, you
21:09
gotta take him out and go to a righty. Like
21:12
we thought, it's here, you go to Writy, you put
21:13
him on. They didn't either, and he gives up the
21:15
homer costs you a game. The next game we go
21:18
up there, Elliott and we kind of talked about this too,
21:21
he has the bok, which is you know, a lot
21:22
of people have a lot of disagreement on it. I thought,
21:25
you know, when you watch it back, I think it's
21:26
a box because he kind of started the motion, he stops,
21:28
tries to do the thing whatever. I look at Josh
21:31
and Jake and they can say. I was like, how
21:32
funny would it be if he pokes a single through
21:35
right here to score the next two runs, And sure
21:37
enough Cap shot right through the shift. Two guys score.
21:40
It's a one run game. From there, it keeps moving
21:43
on and then sure enough again later on in the game.
21:46
Walker Hooks is back in this game, and I looked
21:48
at him. I'm like, man, did they not learn from
21:50
the first time? Is this really gonna happen again? And
21:53
sure enough, Hooks gave up the homer there once again.
21:57
Then you give up two Actually in this outing, I
21:59
think that was like almost back to back. It was
22:02
just like in my notes, I remember just writing like
22:04
Wolf like it was exactly. Robertson gave up the homer
22:09
as Janicky and then they took him out. And I
22:11
believe if I'm Cavill hit one that was the solo,
22:14
And I know there was a multi run homer, and
22:17
I'm forgetting who hit it is really what's getting me
22:19
right here. It might have been it might have been Darnell.
22:23
Speaker 5: It might have been Darnhill's homer actually Darnell early in
22:26
that game.
22:26
Speaker 4: But yeah, I think there's something that was somewhere in
22:29
that order. I know they gave the homer there and
22:31
we just sat there and looked at each other and said, wow,
22:33
like it really was Walker Hooks again. And then they
22:35
bring it Will Libert and Libert looked great. I mean
22:38
he was there, a more power stuff he really overmatched
22:41
to and he was like, man, you have a guy
22:42
that's really cold after that last outing. I get that
22:45
you trust him through the year, but why is this
22:46
who you're going to? It is really the guy that
22:48
played into Troy's strength.
22:50
Speaker 5: Again.
22:50
Speaker 4: Not to mention the miss fly ball, which was absolute cinema.
22:54
It has to be mentioned because Station Josh one he said,
22:57
I'm gonna go get up and go to the bathroom.
22:59
I really got to go. As soon as the ball's
23:01
in there, and I know it's now and they pop
23:02
it up to third, Josh stands up and I look
23:04
and said, no, no, no, you can't see it. As
23:06
soon as Utemark throws his hands out. Right after that,
23:09
Payno comes over and I was like, this just does
23:12
not look right. And sure enough, he flings out the glove,
23:15
hits off the heel, pops in the hand with his
23:18
with his hand on the other hand, and then it
23:20
just fell down and Udemar couldn't make a play and
23:21
they scored two runs on that, and it kind of
23:24
just showed that this Troy team was just like a
23:25
spiral effect. They couldn't get it together. It was just
23:28
spiraling out of control. At the end of the game,
23:31
fan base tried to get back into it, but they
23:33
were done. It was just kind of a you know
23:35
your fate at this point. And for ole Miss it
23:37
was kind of something we talked about the region of death.
23:39
It turned out to be the region of death for
23:41
them on our side, which is like against you know,
23:43
they did have to face the best team technically in
23:45
North Carolina and then you go and face Troy, which
23:48
we all kind of walked in there thinking, hey, Ole
23:50
Miss is gonna win today, and then we see what
23:52
happens and we walked out going, wow, this Troy team
23:55
really has no quitnom So it was kind of different
23:59
only on the North Carolina. In fact, I know I've
24:01
been rambling for a minute here Carolina, going back to
24:05
twenty four they had the kind of the region to
24:07
death that time. We had Tennessee, who is the national champion.
24:10
You had a really good Florida State team, and you
24:12
had Uva. It was also a very good team that year,
24:14
all in our bracket exactly. I know, you can put
24:19
it up because they were damn good and we got
24:20
handed to us. And I think the difference is we
24:22
kind of talked about pedigree. It was Scott Forbes's first
24:25
time as a head coach and Oma last time. We
24:27
also were dealing with a few injuries to our two
24:29
main pen guys, and it kind of just all caught
24:31
up to us there. And I feel like it was
24:32
more of a a situe where our goal was to
24:35
get to Omaha. We were so happy to get there,
24:37
and it was kind of like the foot came off
24:38
the gas slightly. I mean, also, you want to win
24:41
the national championship, but everybody's just really taken in being
24:43
in Omaha for the first time since twenty eighteen, and
24:46
for Forbes his first time. This year was kind of different.
24:49
It's like coming off the super Regional loss, everybody's hungry.
24:51
We were like, hey, last sum we're here, we didn't finish
24:53
the job. We need to do better, we need to
24:55
do different things here. And with a really fresh pitching
24:58
staff that we had and no true injury and all
25:00
that type of stuff going in, it was an easy
25:02
money experience to know that the pitching is going to dominate.
25:05
And you had great outings from Jason Lynch did enough
25:08
to get us there, and you had McDuffie and Globber
25:10
who both were electric in both of their outings. Jackson
25:13
Rose came in the last game and did a great job.
25:16
Manny Matthias came in as well. I had some called
25:18
innings and obviously Glober closed it out. That's the difference.
25:21
I think this year. The pitching is way deeper. The lineup,
25:24
despite its struggles. The batting changes that we made to
25:27
the order in the last game showed, hey, this order
25:30
can really do this and scored twelve plus runs like
25:33
we saw last time, Like this is the order that
25:35
we need, compared to the order where it was kind
25:37
of Winslow and Paulson kind of struggling in the middle
25:40
of the order. Early on, and then some of the
25:42
bottom guys kind of having a few good at bats
25:44
but not really consistently performing. It felt like you had
25:46
three key guys you were lying on the first two games.
25:49
Now it feels a lot deeper because guys kind of
25:51
in different spots and performing a little better, some different
25:55
So for Carolina, I think that's more so the draw there.
25:57
West Virginia felt like they were kind of the hey,
25:59
we're to be here team this time, Sam a Troy
26:03
and that's just kind of how they cud you grumbled.
26:04
Speaker 1: I think it's almost justifiable in some senses that they were, though,
26:08
just because they are happy to be there. This is
26:11
this is history for those two squads. But yes, obviously
26:14
now the last thing to kind of mention, as you
26:17
guys alluded to yesterday game eleven, we did see North
26:21
Carolina take a twelve to seven victory to put out
26:24
the last of their vanquish the last of their rivals.
26:27
And now the tar Heels stand alone a top of
26:31
bracket one. That's that's really awesome. Obviously, that's a team
26:35
we've covered in great detail this year. And it's glad.
26:38
I'm glad, I'm glad, and this is coming from a
26:40
guy who's not an UNC fan. Despite the three of
26:42
you staring on the other parts of the screen here,
26:45
it's very cool to see a team like that make
26:47
it here. Definitely an interesting comparison to the other squad
26:51
in the final. But before we get to that, I
26:53
did have an interesting game if you guys want to
26:55
play it.
26:56
Speaker 2: If I jump in real quick, I just want to
26:58
mention one thing I had a couple of buddies went
27:00
to West Virginia. They're not happy just to be there.
27:02
They wanted they want to win.
27:05
Speaker 1: I'm glad you threw that out there on there for
27:06
that there, so I think I think that's its accurate.
27:10
Speaker 5: Can I make Can I make one more Carolina point
27:12
while we're at it, please? We'll probably get to it later,
27:14
so really quickly, I think it should be noted that
27:20
what the big like, the big issue, the big pushback
27:24
that we had about Carolina coming into this was the
27:26
bullpen depth, and it didn't really seem to impact them
27:29
and the Supers or the regionals or really the first
27:31
couple of games here because they only had to get
27:33
to they only needed to get to glob McDuffie. But
27:38
Forbes made it pretty clear that they were gonna try
27:41
bow As out on uh. I guess it was yesterday,
27:44
and then it was kind of gonna be like a
27:46
Rose Mataas whatever you have to do to get through
27:48
that game yesterday, and bow As only went an inning
27:51
and Rose looked really good, and that was like four
27:53
solid ending is a good ball from Rose. And then
27:56
after that it's when you start getting into the non
27:58
Glover McDuffie things. And you know, you had a twelve
28:02
to one lead, so you're like, all right, maybe we
28:04
can have a little bit of like, you know, we
28:07
have something that we can rely on, like a big,
28:09
comfortable lead, a little bit of a cushion, so we
28:11
can kind of like see how these guys do in
28:13
a big setting. I get with a big lead, and
28:15
then Matteas went out there and Paget went out and
28:19
we see what happened. Six runs allowed. So I said
28:22
that to say they needed Glober again for two winnings
28:25
just to close it out, even though they had a
28:27
five run lead, still just to feel a little bit
28:28
comfortable Forbes need to put Glober back out there. The
28:31
concern we had with Carolina is still there. I'm not
28:34
sure it's gonna need to get there. But they've benefited
28:37
from having so many days, like a day in between
28:40
each of their games to this point in Omaha, so
28:42
they can have their bullpen get rested and not really
28:44
have to get there. They might have to get there
28:46
if it's a three game series and you know Glober
28:49
has to give length after a DeCaro or Lynch bad
28:53
start or with a Duffy and that you just literally
28:55
cannot put them out there for that amount of time.
28:57
That's a possibility. I'm not saying it's gonna be like,
29:01
I have full confidence in Glauburn, McDuffie and the Caro
29:04
and Lynch and all their abilities. It's just a matter
29:06
of if like one thing goes wrong in a three
29:08
game stretch, they might have to get to a campaget
29:11
at Madame Montea's. And that's when you're gonna wonder, Like,
29:14
with as hot as these Oklahoma bats have been, how
29:16
quick can things of the fan.
29:18
Speaker 1: Without a doubt? I think that, like you said, Josh,
29:21
it's gonna be a it's just another test of this bullpen.
29:25
Is it going to matter thus far? Like you said, no,
29:28
everything's great, but that looming risk gets almost like Michael
29:33
Myers creeping through the shadows somewhere. I'm not sure that
29:36
it's not gonna pop up late in the movie. We'll
29:39
find out. Harris, let's start this game. I'd love it
29:43
if each of you could help me determine MVPs of
29:46
this pool. So Harris, I'm gonna pitch it to you
29:49
first as the guest. You can choose either name me
29:52
a hitting MVP, a starting pitching MVP, or a relief
29:56
pitching MVP. Your choice.
30:02
Speaker 2: I have to go Kaiden Glober. I know couple of
30:06
the bats have been fantastic, right like the four hit
30:09
games L and Gallaher, But I mean, just what what
30:13
Globbers meant to this? To the staff down the stretch
30:17
and just like throwing him in in different situations and
30:21
just knowing that you're gonna get out of it and
30:25
quite literally gone what eight No in games he's pitched
30:28
this year, like hoping to not use him in that
30:33
previous game where McDuffie went into the ninth and he
30:35
closed out the last few and getting the last two
30:38
and the third yesterday, just he's just come in different
30:43
moments and just been absolutely untouchable and like they're they're
30:47
just absolutely not here without him.
30:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, he has been nails. That's the guy that it
30:52
looks like Josh had Globber in mind for the relief
30:55
MVP of this pool. I think that would be mine
30:57
as well. Josh will go to you. You may choose
31:00
either a starting pitching or a hitting MVP of this pool.
31:03
Who do you what are you gonna go with?
31:06
Speaker 5: I mean, I think there's an obvious answer for both,
31:08
but I'll take the more obvious of the answers. It's
31:10
ohen Hole. I mean, he's betting over six hundred in
31:14
the postseason. He's betting five thirty eight in Omaha. That's
31:17
just unheard of, Like it just that just doesn't happen. Ever,
31:22
he's as reliable as feared of a bat, and that
31:25
two or three whole spot because they've been flipping it
31:27
around a little bit. Him and gallaher paired there at
31:30
two and three. It's as feared of a combo as
31:33
anywhere in the country. And with these two teams left,
31:36
it's it's the most intimidating bat left right now. And
31:40
you know you might not get a ton of pop
31:42
like you got the one home run. That kind of
31:44
he pushed it to left center only one hundred and
31:47
two off the bat, but it kept floating because the
31:48
wind was blowing out a little bit that day. You're
31:52
gonna get gap shots and shots in the line from him,
31:54
and he's gonna turn singles in the doubles and doubles
31:56
in the triples. With that speed of his It's he's
32:00
gonna get to the ball anywhere in the zone pretty much.
32:02
Uh has trouble getting to his pool side, but that
32:04
hasn't really been an issue yet because if you're giving
32:06
him a pitch on the outside part of the plate,
32:08
good luck. He can get to anything. At this point,
32:10
it seems like, and at least for the time being,
32:13
he is seen as like the star for this team.
32:16
Like around the country, I've I've texted people about this,
32:18
Like there are twelve year old UNC fans that are
32:21
gonna think he's the best player to ever come through
32:23
the program. I had what I'm about to say, my
32:25
grandparents agree with me on it, and I've had this
32:27
conversation with a couple other Carolina people and we all
32:30
agree at this point, Like in terms of Owen Hole
32:33
versus Vance Honeycutt, Like, who do you trust the most
32:35
in like a big spot. I don't think saying owen
32:37
hole is a crazy answer, Like I don't like at
32:40
this point based on what he's shown in terms of
32:42
just purely you need to hit, like who do I
32:44
need to hit from in a big spot, it seems
32:46
to be owen hole at this point, and I think
32:47
that's MVP of the offense as straightforward as it gets.
32:51
Speaker 1: Okay, Harris, I'm gonna just go to you for a
32:54
one sentence response to what Josh just said. If it's
32:56
in the if we're if we're in the pressure cooker,
32:59
do you want honeycut or do you want Hall.
33:03
Speaker 2: Near base hit? It's all I mean extra bases or Homer,
33:07
it's honeycut.
33:08
Speaker 5: That's probably the correct answer, I think.
33:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jab, I'm gonna go to you first for your
33:13
one sentence answer to this question.
33:15
Speaker 4: It's not it's not even a question. That is that
33:18
is absolutely an absurd statement that you just made. And
33:20
you did not watch the twenty four runner sit in
33:22
the dugout. If you make that, I was there obviously
33:26
not because that was that was everything.
33:29
Speaker 5: Every other is by far without a question, both my people,
33:36
what's in the program? I've talked to a couple of
33:38
other Carolina people and they all like to all agree
33:40
that said, like I think I would take hole over
33:41
honeycut and a one at that spot this.
33:43
Speaker 2: One I would. I wouldn't, but I get it, Like
33:48
it's just if you if you're trying to avoid a strikeout, right, Like,
33:52
obviously Hall is just far superior in that one one area.
33:57
Depends on the situation, It's it's hard to to match with.
34:02
Speaker 5: Right, was like, that's a different type of conversation, Like
34:05
that's pretty that speaks for itself. But it's like if
34:09
at this point, I mean, the dude's betting over six
34:10
hundred in the postseason, what are we talking about here,
34:13
Like it's it's undeniable, like purely, Look, I know you
34:16
don't like like long term like the swing, the pro projection.
34:20
Speaker 4: Wow, okay, this is not coming. It was just like
34:23
in the moment and if you're giving it one, one
34:25
or two, it's they're both amazing players and has been
34:29
like by far the best player in this offense. But
34:32
if you're telling me that you need a spark plug
34:34
in the base moment, Vance was like ice cold in
34:37
the veins. Every single bat he had in twenty four,
34:39
it was just didn't matter multiphast he hit the walk off.
34:47
Speaker 5: So they're both to Omaha this year.
34:49
Speaker 1: They are both incredibly talented and clutch players. I think
34:53
that I'm gonna side with Harris and say that, depending
34:56
on the exact situation, may determine who we go with.
35:00
Speaker 2: You two?
35:01
Speaker 1: Are you two are just on a bickerom Ram page.
35:05
Speaker 5: The fact that it's like you think it's asked the
35:06
nine to propose the question, I think is ridiculous. He's
35:09
betting six hundred to get the walk off to come
35:10
to Omaha. He was four for five in the clinching
35:12
spot to get into the championship.
35:15
Speaker 4: Sure, I mean, you can make this argument, but Honey
35:18
could also hit the walk off, and he hit the
35:20
runs in in the last game of the Super He
35:21
hit all the runs of the Super reasonal games, and
35:24
he also walked off the first game, and he scored
35:26
all of our runs in twenty four that we basically
35:27
scored another two games in the World Series.
35:29
Speaker 5: Also holds only game Hula has only had one of
35:33
those situations where he could do that, and he came through.
35:36
Honeycuff just happened to be in the situation more often
35:38
you only given whole He's one for one.
35:41
Speaker 2: That's what I was going to say, is that we
35:42
just we've seen it for three years, right versus yeah,
35:46
two years. That sophomore year was a little shaky, but yeah.
35:51
Speaker 5: Drew real this thing back then.
35:53
Speaker 4: J My answer m VP outside of this would be
35:57
Gavin Kelly.
36:00
Speaker 1: Davin Kelly is mine, all right, JV. Thank you.
36:05
Speaker 4: Davin Kelly. He was seven for nineteen with two homers
36:07
in a triple in his College World Series run, and he,
36:11
like we just talked about, he basically the last couple
36:13
of games is like West Virginia's offense, so he was
36:16
the catalyst there. I think you know, they didn't end
36:19
up winning, but he was by far the best player
36:21
in the field and multiple of his games that he
36:23
played in, so.
36:25
Speaker 1: Several guys in this pool definitely were. They had that
36:28
vibe of I'm gonna put this team up if I
36:30
have to, And yes, I think I think you guys
36:32
have acknowledged and uh and talked about several of them. Here.
36:36
We do have to press on, though, and talk about
36:39
the second pool, the SEC pool of depth. Some will
36:43
say bungeee pitt a pool whose peak depth is one foot.
36:50
Also there's broken glass and now you're gonna have to
36:53
cannonball into it. It's that kind of pool we're talking about.
36:56
Uh JB. We're gonna start with you here because we're
36:58
gonna look at these that got us up to our
37:02
pool final on Saturday. You guys got to catch a
37:06
whole lot of sec baseball in the schwab, in the chuck,
37:12
as it were. Oklahoma took a I'm gonna go I'm
37:16
gonna say it, no matter what we've seen out of Oklahoma,
37:20
the hot cold, hot Masters, the Sooners who have been
37:22
on absolute fire, who have been dragon slaying one after
37:26
another after another, I'm gonna call it a shocking win
37:30
nine to zero over Alabama and then Georgia seven to
37:33
one over Texas. JB. Which of those results were more
37:37
shocking to you? And let's get your thoughts on this
37:41
pool as a whole.
37:42
Speaker 4: Sure, definitely the Georgia Texas game, especially in person, because
37:48
the first inning was just insanity. I mean, Carson Tini
37:52
behind the plate, making the two throwing areas basically you
37:55
just open this thing up was insane. Ryan lujohen the
37:59
homer off the Alpol and then it going to basically,
38:03
I think it went to review. They had to come
38:05
together and then call it a Homer was insane. That
38:09
game was just complete cinema. Volshka was absolute nails. That game.
38:14
Compared to what we saw in the supers against Misissippi State,
38:17
where was just Homer and Derby and you know he
38:19
kind of struggled. It was the complete opposite. No mah,
38:21
fifteen strikeouts, complete game. He was just dominant all night long,
38:25
Joey Volshko. So that was definitely the shocker Alabama as
38:31
a whole, I'll give this thought. First, they proved our point.
38:34
That's all I gotta say on that. They just proved
38:36
our point. They looked completely unprepared basically for either game
38:39
that they played in, especially offensively. Oh yeah, that's all
38:44
I'm gonna say about them. That's all they need. They
38:47
just looked unprepared. Oklahoma, they looked incredible. Xander mccurius Outing
38:52
of the year for him against Georgia. I mean that's
38:55
probably the biggest game of the year for them against
38:57
what would have gone into this is the top offense
38:59
in the country and just absolutely shut them down. And
39:02
it was just pure domination. Mostly at the fastball, which
39:05
was kind of shocking to us. We were talking about
39:07
how the shapes kind of has some good shape, but
39:09
it's not a great vertical approach. But somehow he's just
39:12
getting whiff up in the zone, middle up in the
39:14
zone with the fastball. So he kind of dominated with that,
39:17
and he did give up a couple of long balls,
39:19
but like we talked about, it's the country leader in
39:22
long balls and you only give up solo shots. So
39:24
he gave his team a chance. They did a great
39:26
job and it was a really exciting game there, especially
39:30
in the first inning. You know, Willets had the dramatic homer.
39:32
It's kind of a whole thing. But yeah, I think
39:37
it was really exciting to see this pool. You know.
39:39
Texas was another one we're excited to see. And when
39:41
they played Alabama, the offense just completely broke out and
39:44
came to life. And then they kind of back up
39:46
the next night and when they're there on their backs
39:48
against the wall. So I know we were fans of
39:52
it for your sake as well, Drew, you know, seeing
39:54
that man at the helm of the dugout go home.
39:56
But yeah, Oklahoma, they they're just the hottest team in
40:01
the country. I think right now, honestly, they just everything
40:04
clicks for them. The pitching is all together. Cord Rager
40:06
looked amazing, Mercurius looked great.
40:09
Speaker 1: L J.
40:09
Speaker 4: Mccurus also looked great out of the bullpen. It was
40:12
just everything firing for them every single time they went
40:14
out there. Every game. The offense was doing great. Deeton
40:18
the chance, you know, even with the rold Ankle did
40:21
a great job. He's just mashing baseballs the whole time
40:23
we were there, and it was just a different contributor
40:25
every day, kind of like Walks picked it up at
40:27
the end. Camdon Johnson's had a couple of good games
40:29
and a couple of nice plays. The Chance, you know,
40:32
will its Gamble, Like all these guys, they kind of
40:36
just pick it up each day. So yeah, I think
40:38
Oklahoma right now is probably, by the end of it,
40:41
surprisingly the most consistent one through nine offense and also
40:44
showed one of the better pitching stats besides us not
40:47
really seeing it going into this, but they're great.
40:50
Speaker 1: Definitely. I think that's certainly fair to say. Harris, I
40:53
want to go to you here to talk about these
40:56
sec offenses because if you'll indulge me, sir, I think
41:01
we can look at Oklahoma as I love the analogy
41:05
that I made a minute to almost almost unwittingly, dragon slayers.
41:09
They this is like a D and D campaign where
41:11
you start in an insane dungeon and you come out
41:14
of it with the dragon's head, throw it aside. You
41:17
go to another battle and you cast fireball from fifty
41:20
feet away and strike. By the grace of God, you
41:23
come into here. You slay a dragon nine to nothing,
41:25
You hit a dirty twenty to beat Georgia with a
41:28
four to three win. And then you know, as we
41:30
get to Wednesday, NAT twenty, kill eleven to four to
41:35
beat the piss out of this team again, the Mighty
41:38
Bulldogs fall to the Sooners boomer On Harris. But my
41:42
question to YouTube play off of that, how bad is
41:46
it for these teams? Alabama lost by nine runs, Georgia
41:52
by one run, and then again by seven runs. What
41:57
do we make of this from those teams? Obama, who
42:00
you know, granted we've been critical of, but then Georgia,
42:02
who we've been highly you know, we've praised them all
42:05
season long.
42:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think definitely surprising just what Oklahoma's been able
42:11
to do. I mean, I think that they The stat
42:13
going around was like they've hit more homewers in the
42:15
last like eighteen games and the first like forty something.
42:19
Whatever it was. It's insane. And I was also critical
42:24
of Alabama. I didn't really think they should have been
42:27
a top eight national seed, and I wasn't super surprised
42:32
the way they came out against these teams in this bracket. Georgia,
42:36
I think the uh, the box score from last night,
42:41
it is a little bit misleading. I think it was
42:43
a closer game than that showed. I thought it was
42:47
a grind and I thought Georgia put up battles, and
42:49
I think they just ran into a buzzsaw. I didn't
42:53
come away with it like worried about Georgia or like
42:55
what or questioning how we felt about them all year
42:58
or anything like that. I think they they just ran
43:00
into a team that was just playing his best baseball
43:03
and kind of nothing they could have done about it.
43:08
I agree. I think the Georgia Texas game on Day
43:12
one was the most surprising. I think just the way
43:14
that Georgia Volchko came out and just mowed down like
43:19
four of the best hitters in the country, a top
43:21
Texas's lineup was like, oh, for fifteen with twelve strike
43:27
eleven strikeouts or something like. It was you just dominating them.
43:30
And I'm sure you don't remember, but we had this
43:32
a call about our college rankings for the draft, like
43:37
the beginning of the season. I was talking about Joey
43:39
Volco and how I wanted to push him way down.
43:41
I seen him last year and it was just kind
43:43
of made me sick.
43:44
Speaker 1: Just like I was about to say, I think you
43:45
used the phrase that he makes me sick.
43:47
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, the number of like three ball counts
43:51
that he had put himself in was insane, and I
43:54
think he's taking just like really big strides this year,
43:57
Like the control and command are still fringe average, but
44:01
like a lot better than they were. And he was
44:03
obviously like unbelievable in this game. And just like being
44:08
able to hold down that Texas lineup was was crazy
44:12
to me. And so I think Georgia the whole. I
44:16
think they had a good week. I thought they played
44:18
pretty well. It's not their best baseball, but they you know,
44:21
they just like I said, they just they ran into
44:23
the hottest team in the country, like you're saying, and
44:26
I don't think we should look back and question their
44:29
validity or anything like that. Like versus Alabama, it's like
44:35
how did they get here? It's a little bit more
44:37
in how I feel.
44:38
Speaker 1: That A wonderful a wonderful point and excellent transition, Harris.
44:42
I love that you're doing very good at your transitions
44:44
as far. Thank you. The check is in the mail. Josh,
44:47
I want to go to you here because you've obviously
44:49
heard me talk about these four teams all year. You've
44:52
talked about them ad nauseum. Jake and JB, We've we've
44:55
talked about Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, and Alabama so much. Josh,
45:00
I have a specific question for you, and it's gonna
45:01
pretend into an individual game time. If you're ready to play.
45:06
Speaker 5: Drew with a game time shocker number two of the day.
45:09
Speaker 1: Well, listen, I've been I've had the fomo of the
45:13
century watching you guys have fun, so I've been preparing
45:15
for my own fun here. So Josh, here's what we're
45:18
gonna do. I'm gonna walk you through each of the
45:20
four teams in the SEC bracket of Death, and I
45:23
want you to uh encompassing what we've seen from them
45:26
at Omaha, taking the rest of the season into account.
45:29
You're a recent college grad. I need you to give
45:31
these seasons a grade, and I need you to give
45:34
your teacher's note out to the side of it. So
45:37
what I mean by that? Of course, if my teacher
45:39
gets an essay from me, it normally has a big
45:41
A at the top and just says masterful work go
45:45
into writing long term, whereas we need thank you. Whereas
45:51
if it's a math quiz, it will likely have a
45:53
D and it says next to the side of it,
45:55
this is not for Drew. It stands for this is terrible, dreadful. So, Josh,
46:00
I'm gonna ask you, one by one give me your grade.
46:03
You can use the plus and minus scale for these
46:05
teams if you'd like, and I'd like your your caption
46:08
out to the side of it, or are you willing
46:09
to do this for me?
46:10
Speaker 4: I think so?
46:11
Speaker 5: Is this like in terms like from the beginning of
46:13
the season, like what we would have thought of the result?
46:15
Speaker 1: I think you can handle it however you want, just
46:19
so long as you take in kind of what they
46:21
did through the season to what we've seen here now
46:24
obviously put a little bit of weight on what we've
46:27
seen in Omaha. But don't let that be your entire
46:29
deciding factor. So let's go ahead and get to it.
46:32
We'll start with the first team eliminated, the Alabama Currimson time. Obviously,
46:36
it's all of our favorite team on the show.
46:38
Speaker 5: I mean, if I so, I'm gonna try and put
46:41
myself in the shoes of where I was on February thirteenth,
46:44
I think it was the day before the season started.
46:46
I'm gonna put myself in those shoes.
46:49
Speaker 4: Bama.
46:51
Speaker 5: It has to be like an A. I mean, there's
46:53
no way I didn't have them ranked, none of us did.
46:56
When Jake mentioned that they should, they they can be
46:59
an oh my I eight, we all scoffed at it.
47:01
They were like, there's no way this Bama team's not
47:03
making it there. They ended up being a national seed
47:06
made to Omaha. We can have all these debates we
47:08
want about their path and how they got there, but
47:10
they had a good enough regular season for them to
47:14
end up making it to Omaha, for them to end
47:16
up getting a national seed in the first place, which
47:17
gave them the fast track to Omaha. So I would say,
47:20
in a regardless, like all encompassing THEMA hasn't made it
47:23
there in twenty seven years. It's a win, Okay.
47:26
Speaker 1: I appreciate that you looked at that from a fair perspective,
47:29
and you're right. We can't have the debates about it.
47:31
Some hosts of College Baseball Now can say that it
47:34
was a Mickey Mouse path to Omaha. Some posts can
47:36
say that. Some hosts can say laughable children's play, like
47:41
hilariously pathetic path obahs. Some can say that, but I
47:44
understand if others don't want to say that. I think
47:47
it's a fair greed. You're absolutely right, and Alabama did,
47:49
as you say, overcome a lot of a perception, and
47:54
they did go on a run and they did earn
47:56
their spot. No matter what the path looks like. To
48:00
move on though, to your preseason national championship favorite, Texas,
48:05
all things considered, what's the great for Texas?
48:11
Speaker 5: I'm in like the B to B minus range. I'll
48:15
give them a straight B just because they were I
48:18
think were preseason number three at most places I had
48:22
them won. I had them as my champion, and they
48:26
had the expectations for that after last year being the
48:29
number two overall seed in the tournament. Even though they
48:31
fanned out early. You can maybe say B plus, but
48:34
I think they technically compared to where we thought they
48:37
were before the season, where they were ranked, they technically
48:39
did underperform a little bit. They did make it to Omaha.
48:43
Pitching staff was as good as we are, about as
48:46
good as we imagine. The bats were probably a little
48:48
bit better, especially down the stretch. But I mean they
48:52
did technically underperform, and I just don't think this is
48:55
where they wanted the season to end, as the technical
48:58
fifth or sixth place team in Omaha. Their fans might disagree.
49:01
Their fans might say an A, but I doubt it,
49:03
so I'll say, like A, we'll just give it a
49:05
flat b.
49:06
Speaker 1: Okay. Moving from them, of course, to the Georgia Bulldogs.
49:10
We talked about it, Josh. They fed the trees all
49:12
season long, despite the bullpen's best efforts. Those trees apparently
49:17
were not the ones their bats wanted on last evening,
49:20
so you know, the trees went unfed. What about Georgia though,
49:24
still dynamic offense, and they made it as well.
49:27
Speaker 5: I'll say flat A. Can't give it a plus because
49:31
they didn't win at all, but I'll say a flat
49:32
A because I actually don't remember where they were ranked preseason.
49:36
In most places, I think we had them in like
49:37
the teens, somewhere in like the nine to fifteenish range,
49:42
like some somewhere in there. And they won the SEC
49:46
regular season for the first time in eighteen years, won
49:49
the SEC Tournament for the first time, and I think
49:51
also eighteen years, but I don't know, and man it'
49:53
to Omaha for the first time. In that stretch. It
49:57
was they overperformed, for sure. We were really worried about
50:00
how the transfers would pan out, especially on the mound.
50:03
We know what Wes Johnson's capable of, but we didn't
50:05
know if these guys, you know, the Joey volt shows
50:08
to doing big u'es, the Matt Scott's of the world.
50:10
There's such projects in different ways. Can he manipulate it
50:13
into a like successful coherent pitching unit. And it ended
50:17
up working out beyond that. Well, really, the pitching unit
50:20
not as much, but the bats, the transfer bats as
50:23
a whole. I mean, good Lord and Daniel Jackson. We
50:27
couldn't have imagined he would turn into a potential Golden
50:29
Spikes winner, at least finalist. I said, I thought, Jake,
50:33
this when we were there, like maybe my worst take
50:35
ever that I probably shouldn't admit to right now because
50:38
you know, no one's telling me to admit to this.
50:40
But I remember before the season started and being like
50:43
Jack Arkamone, Daniel Jackson was a legitimate argument for who
50:46
should be the starting catcher, and I think I remember
50:48
saying that I think I would start Arkamone, And now
50:51
Daniel Jackson is maybe gonna win the Golden Spikes, so
50:54
no one would have seen that coming. Like, but they
50:56
had an embarrassment of riches like Bryce Callaway was like
50:59
a almost a preseason all for like all SEC preseason
51:03
first baseman. He's had like one at bat in Omaha
51:08
because they have three four other bench bats above him.
51:11
And that's not a hit on him as much as
51:12
it is a praise for everybody else. I mean, as
51:15
far as they made it number three overall seed, the
51:18
number three team at the end of the season in
51:20
terms of Omaha, I'd say it's a straight a nothing more,
51:22
nothing less.
51:23
Speaker 1: And then of course.
51:24
Speaker 2: We had him. We had Georgia number six in our preseason.
51:27
Speaker 5: Really, oh, I remember I was lower on them, but
51:31
it might have been outweighed by y'all. I don't know.
51:33
I guess interesting, I don't Okay, well fair enough still,
51:37
I would say a but interesting. I don't remember them
51:39
being that I.
51:40
Speaker 1: Harris, thank you for pulling that up. I appreciate it.
51:41
Bro uh. And then of course Josh. Finally Oklahoma, the Sooners,
51:46
who I've said it all all episode long, We've talked
51:49
about it. The hot cold hot theory has been personified
51:52
with Oklahoma, and and now, of course these Sooners are
51:55
going to have an opportunity to boom one more time
51:58
against North Carolina. So what's the grade for them? Is?
52:01
They have a championship within arms reach.
52:03
Speaker 5: I think it's easy to say a plus here, but
52:06
if I'm trying to take the whole season into account,
52:08
I am also just gonna go flat A maybe even
52:11
a minus. I'll just say a though, because they are
52:14
in the national Championship, they are as hot as you
52:16
can possibly be. But I mean, objectively, the last month
52:20
of the regular season they were bad. They lost four
52:22
straight series in the regular season. They came into the
52:25
tournament unranked a two seed and a boarderline three seed,
52:30
but they just kept happen to get hot at the
52:31
right time. So if you're looking back on this season, like,
52:33
it's obviously easy to look at it as a whole
52:36
and say, you know, it's like in the National Championship Series,
52:40
what a year. But like use twenty twenty two for
52:42
an example, Ole Miss and Oklahoma were in the Championship
52:45
Series and they started the postseason as two and three seeds.
52:48
If you ask one of those the fans of one
52:51
of those teams in the end of May, how's the
52:53
season gone, they would be like blow expectations, like not great,
52:57
but you know, use that one month. That's all that
52:59
really matters. I'm looking back on it, right, So if
53:02
I'm trying to take the whole season into account, I'll
53:04
just say a, because it hasn't been great and we
53:06
like I didn't even predict them to be final, like
53:08
the top two in their regional because they had been
53:10
so cold.
53:11
Speaker 1: But I was just about to bring that up, that's as.
53:14
Speaker 5: Hot as possible, and I mean, like you can't deny it,
53:16
and they're at the point now that everyone wants to
53:17
be at and they're two wins away from a national championship.
53:20
Speaker 1: I was just about to bring that up. How we
53:22
all poo pooed on Oklahoma as like this should be
53:25
the easy pick. But hell, well, let's take the Citadel
53:28
like it's just it's insane what a three week stretch
53:30
will do. Harris. You we're gonna say.
53:31
Speaker 2: Something, Oh, just that I had them as the runner
53:34
up in the regional. So obviously I.
53:37
Speaker 1: Think Harris nos Ball and JB. That's what we're learning here.
53:42
Speaker 5: The bar was so low that we're taking victory lap
53:44
for picking the final two of the whole tournament to.
53:48
Speaker 2: I mean, if we do feel like pulling up the
53:51
standings for our bracket challenge, we can do that. And
53:54
my ten point lead, oh.
53:58
Speaker 1: Harris, Harris does no Ball did did kind of run
54:01
away with that. So credit to you, sir, well done
54:04
on that front.
54:05
Speaker 4: I'm in second.
54:06
Speaker 5: I'll take it. I'm tired for sure. Good lord, you
54:07
do have a massive lead on this thing.
54:10
Speaker 1: Josh, how bad did I do?
54:12
Speaker 5: You're actually one point. It's weird that you're like you're
54:14
one point behind me for second. There's a big log
54:17
jam for second. Jake is a Jake and Gregor a
54:20
distant last. But that's okay, shame shame, shame, shame.
54:25
Speaker 1: All right, let's wrap up discussion with this pool JB.
54:28
I want to start with you. You can choose either
54:31
a reliever, a pitcher, a starting pitcher, excuse me, or
54:34
a hitter MVP of this pool. Go ahead and choose.
54:40
Speaker 4: I'll leave the obvious one because I know Josh probably
54:43
wants to take him, and I'll mention someone else that's
54:46
that it should be mentioned. Cord Rager definitely, like had
54:50
one of the most dominant performances that we saw outside
54:53
of the guy that I'm assuming someone else is going
54:55
to talk about. But seven shutout innings, three hits, eight
54:58
strikeouts against Alabama. I know we ragged on the offense,
55:02
but Alabama could swing it, and he really did a
55:05
great job going out there and dominating them and kind
55:07
of just putting him away immediately out of this game.
55:09
So I'm gonna go with him.
55:11
Speaker 1: Well said, I agree with you, JB. Rager has a
55:15
He's an interesting case. I think that he's gonna be
55:18
a very compelling watch next season in Oklahoma's in their
55:23
Crimson Harris, We're gonna go to you, buddy. You can
55:26
choose either reliever, a starter, or a hitting MVP from
55:30
this pool. Curious what you got.
55:35
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna go with justin Byrd. Okay, you know,
55:44
I think just what he did to in that five
55:49
inning battle five innings in that battle against Texas to
55:52
the night, just just absolutely following up the game Game
56:01
one against Texas, right, Georgia pitching was just unbelievable, and
56:05
and Bird went the second half of that game and
56:07
just he just that they couldn't touch him. I think,
56:13
like it was that was a fun one because you
56:14
had him and coz Art battling towards the end of
56:18
the game. But I think just Bird was just so
56:20
fun to watch, and like, if they don't even get
56:24
the opportunity to go to the bracket final, if he's
56:29
not lights out in that that game and keeping those
56:32
text s bats down.
56:34
Speaker 1: That's a really great point. And it does kind of
56:37
when you put the perspective on it. The added context
56:39
of this was do or die. Uh. Bird certainly soared
56:44
in that in that opportunity.
56:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, Mike, that drew there you go.
56:50
Speaker 2: I didn't I didn't register.
56:54
Speaker 1: That's okay, Harris, my bad jokes. They tend to they
56:57
tend to strike once you're used to that.
56:59
Speaker 5: I tend to fly over people's heads.
57:03
Speaker 1: There you go, Josh, Josh, you have earned an opportunity
57:06
to choose an MVP from this pool.
57:09
Speaker 5: I'll take an honorable mention first, Jackson Willitts for hitter.
57:13
He was seven for thirteen on the whole week with
57:15
a home run, two doubles, and four RBI. That's that's
57:18
the leader of those red hot Oklahoma bats right now.
57:23
But will we be remissed if we didn't mention the
57:25
real MVP at this pool? Starting pitching, it's Joey Bulschko.
57:28
I mean, like he nine innings, no urn runs allowed,
57:32
with fifteen strikeouts, only one walk. He had forty percent
57:35
whiff on the game, seventy three percent strikes. I mean,
57:39
the dude was averaging three thousand rpm on an eighty
57:42
eight mile an hour slider that was getting like forty
57:44
five percent with it was just stupid, like absolutely stupid.
57:47
When you were watching and no one could read it
57:48
out of the hand, it was ridiculous. That's it's the
57:52
clear winner. He's bumped up to a first round grade.
57:54
And like my draft boards and everything, now, there's always
57:56
that one, and he was the one this year. And
57:58
I feel like we talked about this like over and over,
58:01
and it's like we were walking at scouts behind a
58:03
home plate and they said the same exact thing we
58:05
have been saying. Where it's like vult goes this year's gage,
58:08
would he has solely like the one performance in Omaha
58:12
has boosted his draft stock a whole round from the
58:14
third or second round to the first. Every year there's
58:16
one of them. That was this year. It was insane
58:18
to watch behind the plate that.
58:22
Speaker 1: That's probably the second thing. I'm most jealous of you
58:25
guys experiencing an Omaha. So without a doubt, I'm with you.
58:29
Speaker 5: I think it was first.
58:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I may tell you, guys at the end of
58:33
the episode, how about that if you were abo not.
58:35
Speaker 4: To jump on it either. I think Jason Walks in
58:37
honorable mention too. Jason Walkers in the double. He was
58:42
kind of spark plugged for Oklahoma outside of Willetts, so
58:44
I think he's up there too.
58:46
Speaker 5: I'm for eleven to three walk because he was on
58:48
base over fifty percent of the time for the week.
58:50
That's yeah, that's up there.
58:52
Speaker 1: Guy needed to take out residence on base. He was
58:55
there so much. All right, boys, the National Championship obviously
58:59
we know that it's starts on Saturday. That's gonna be
59:02
June twentieth. For all of you who are calendar freaks
59:05
out there, don't know what you're doing. Listen to listen
59:07
to Calendar now, Calendars whatever. Game one begins though eight
59:12
o'clock PM, North Carolina against Oklahoma, Harris, I'm gonna start
59:18
with you here in one sentence, what does North Carolina
59:22
have to do to take home a national championship? One sentence?
59:27
Speaker 2: Pal win without Cloudberg in game one? Oh?
59:33
Speaker 1: I love that. Okay, I love it. So you're saying,
59:36
let's take all the all the chips for this bullpen
59:40
implosion off the table. Let's just stretch without him. I
59:44
like that. Good call. Josh, your hand up like a
59:47
good student.
59:48
Speaker 5: Josh has his hand raised. I hate to be that guy.
59:51
I do feel like I could be wrong at this point.
59:53
If you're gonna for Carolina to win in Game one
59:55
without Glober based on the way Forbes has used his
59:58
bullpen all year, I think that w just indicate adjacent
1:00:01
to Carrow complete game, because if he's gonna put in
1:00:04
a reliever behind to Caro, it will be Glober. He's
1:00:07
shown that. Like, I could be wrong, it could be different,
1:00:09
but like it's been pretty consistent that's been the case.
1:00:13
DeCaro has shown two weeks ago that the complete game
1:00:16
is not out of the picture for him. But if
1:00:17
you're trying to go without Glober, I think that would
1:00:20
be what it would indicate, because you could get eight
1:00:23
innings out of to Caro and he's still probably gonna
1:00:25
put Glober in for that night.
1:00:27
Speaker 1: Could be absolutely could be the case. I wonder if
1:00:31
in that instance, like Harris is saying, we can leave
1:00:34
that last most dangerous bullet still chambered.
1:00:38
Speaker 5: I mean, I'd be on board with that if it
1:00:40
was a big enough lead. I'm just saying, like Forbes's
1:00:42
track record at this point kind of indicates that's what
1:00:44
he likes to do and feels the most comfortable with.
1:00:46
And we know that he's aggressive. He's I mean, he
1:00:49
has shown in the past couple of games, if anything,
1:00:51
how aggressive he is with not taking chances, and I
1:00:53
think he would put Glober out there as much as
1:00:55
Glaobber is able to.
1:00:56
Speaker 1: Go okay, I can't disagree with that. It's an interesting thought. JB.
1:01:01
I'm gonna give you the last one. You're gonna have
1:01:03
the trickiest one because I know you can handle You've
1:01:06
got on a snazzy black hat just like me. So
1:01:08
I trust you. That gives me all the faith in
1:01:10
the world. And you, Josh, I'm gonna go to you, buddy.
1:01:13
What does Oklahoma have to do to win a national championship?
1:01:20
Speaker 5: They have to stick to what's been working for them,
1:01:23
and that is I mean, it's pretty It's tough to
1:01:26
ask these Bats to say as hot as they've been,
1:01:29
but it's either the bats stay on fire or the
1:01:35
freshman starters keep up between between Rager, between Xander mccurius
1:01:43
and between Nick Weslowski. Those three freshman arms have been
1:01:48
really really good for them. Is against even better offenses
1:01:51
than Carolina not even really debatable. You know, in Georgia,
1:01:56
those three arms have been ridiculous and and I think
1:02:00
they have to show the moment is not too big.
1:02:04
And you know, if they can, if they've already gotten
1:02:07
to this point and shown that Omaha is not too
1:02:09
big of a moment, I don't think the National Championship
1:02:11
Series is going to be that much different. I think
1:02:16
that's my answer. I mean, the Bats are like Jackson
1:02:21
will At Jason Walk, the Son, Harris, Brendan Brock, all
1:02:24
of been awesome, deating the chance fighting do injury that
1:02:26
first game. He's been great, still had five to fourteen
1:02:29
on the week with a home run. I think maybe
1:02:35
Cam Johnson and Kyle Branch have a combined one hit
1:02:38
on the week. You need to see something out of them,
1:02:41
because I don't think you're really gonna have room for
1:02:43
holes in this lineup, especially with how good Carolina's pitching
1:02:46
has been.
1:02:48
Speaker 2: I don't know.
1:02:49
Speaker 5: I think it's a difficult answer for one thing with
1:02:51
Oklahoma because Carolina you can point to so many things
1:02:54
they've done well all year. I think you have room
1:02:56
for something to fall back a little bit and something
1:02:59
else pick up. Oklahoma has just been so consistent with
1:03:02
every single thing meshing together at once and being so
1:03:05
perfect right now for the past three weeks. I think
1:03:08
you still need all those pieces to be almost perfectly
1:03:11
in place to win a couple more games, and it's possible.
1:03:13
They've shown it's possible, but I think that's kind of
1:03:15
the way it has to continue to go.
1:03:17
Speaker 1: That super glue has held for a long time. Josh,
1:03:20
I'm curious how strong those bonds are. We'll have to
1:03:24
check and see. We'll start to find out on Saturday, JB,
1:03:28
is your audio still with that? You're good?
1:03:30
Speaker 4: I think we're good.
1:03:31
Speaker 1: You are so, JB. I asked Harris, what does North
1:03:36
Carolina have to do to win? I asked Josh? What
1:03:38
does Oklaholma have to do to win? JB? You get
1:03:40
the most important one of all. What do we as
1:03:44
college baseball fans have to hope happens to win ourselves?
1:03:47
What has to happen for us to get a game
1:03:50
three on Monday?
1:03:51
Speaker 4: Oh, to get a Game three on Monday. I think
1:03:55
the key is gonna be Oklahoma's first two guys being
1:03:59
able to go toe to toe with Karen Lynch, Rayger
1:04:03
and mccurius backing up what they did last time. For
1:04:06
North Carolina too, I think it's also their starters going
1:04:09
deep into the game. We kind of alluded on not
1:04:13
using too many bullpen bullets. I think the less you
1:04:16
know that you have to use McDuffie and Globber in
1:04:18
the first two games, you know, that's great. If you
1:04:20
can use them for an inning or you know, in
1:04:22
some situation like that, an inning too innings, that's great,
1:04:24
that's a real win for you. So I think that's
1:04:28
probably where i'd lean with it. I think it really
1:04:30
just is up to the pitching, both size and you
1:04:32
and them to hold up.
1:04:33
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting, buddy. This is gonna be a
1:04:36
really compelling final. I'm excited to see what these two
1:04:42
teams do. They've been compelling television for the last week,
1:04:46
compelling viewing for you guys across the last week as well. Josh,
1:04:52
while I'm getting this together, do you happen to have
1:04:54
any kind of recap on the season. I'm pretty sure
1:04:57
you're gonna end up walking away with our Pick Them
1:04:59
season champions. I think I think I pissed it away
1:05:02
after a very strong regional round.
1:05:06
Speaker 5: Well, you're asking for a recap of what like the
1:05:08
pick them?
1:05:08
Speaker 3: Is that?
1:05:08
Speaker 1: What do we have? Like a final points total? By chance?
1:05:12
If not?
1:05:12
Speaker 5: Just maybe I'm not just saying this because it's me,
1:05:14
but like just being honest, I don't have a point total.
1:05:18
But I am the winner because I won the regular season,
1:05:21
and I won I won the regular season, I won
1:05:23
the regionals. You won the conference tournaments. I don't even
1:05:27
know if we kept like an Omaha eight tally, I
1:05:30
could buy a check. I know the if I remember correctly,
1:05:35
all of us, but you picked North Carolina to be
1:05:38
in the championship and none of us picked Oklahoma, So
1:05:41
I don't know what the tally is. I just know
1:05:43
I won and I can take my award in cash.
1:05:46
I will take it. And really, anything creative you can
1:05:50
you can think of, I'll.
1:05:51
Speaker 1: Figure something out. Remind me of that, but I'll figure
1:05:53
something out.
1:05:54
Speaker 5: Thank you.
1:05:54
Speaker 1: Okay, National Championship. The selection time is here, Harris, welcome
1:05:59
to pick them. I I hate to tell you, though, buddy,
1:06:01
you only got the one series, so you know, but
1:06:04
it's the championship series. So take that as you will.
1:06:07
I'm gonna ask you, sir, who is your selection for
1:06:10
the National champion and give me your rationale as to.
1:06:13
Speaker 2: Why heals in two? Oh and obviously a little bit
1:06:21
biased and trying to push aside, I think just what
1:06:26
Jim had mentioned before, like the Oklahoma Bats have been
1:06:30
on fire pitching, well, I just don't think they have
1:06:36
the arms to match up with Caroline's arms. And I
1:06:38
think no matter how it shakes out, whether Globber goes
1:06:43
behind to caron one or he gives him enough way
1:06:45
to go to McDuffie, and you get clever for two,
1:06:47
like with Lens. I just think that with en Rose
1:06:51
as well, those those top five just have the firepower
1:06:56
to to hold him down and back to back games and.
1:07:01
Speaker 1: I think they put up very good, very good. I
1:07:04
love that you threw in how many games? Wow? Like
1:07:08
you you took the extra step, Harris. I love that
1:07:10
and thank you. All right, Josh, I'm curious, can you
1:07:13
read us Jake's answer first, and then if you don't mind,
1:07:16
would you give us your national champion?
1:07:19
Speaker 5: Jake says that Oklahoma is his national champion. They've looked
1:07:23
unstoppable this postseason on both sides of the ball, and uh,
1:07:27
Jake says he hasn't picked. You didn't see for anything
1:07:31
this postseason, so why start now and then impart the
1:07:33
seas he said, start? Sorry, Josh and JB. It's okay, Jake,
1:07:37
I forgive you because if you haven't picked Carolina all
1:07:40
year and you're still not sticking with it, I mean
1:07:42
you're still sticking with that, then could be good sign
1:07:45
of good things to come. I will also be taking Carolina.
1:07:51
Speaker 4: Let's not forget the time Josh didn't pick Carolina in
1:07:53
this series either earlier this year, so maybe you shouldn't
1:07:55
pick him because it was good luck pick Oklahoma for us,
1:07:58
it was good.
1:07:59
Speaker 5: I think my head, not my heart, and my head's
1:08:01
want me to pick him this year. So I'm picked
1:08:03
with my head again and my head tells me it's
1:08:04
gonna be Carolina. Here's the thing with Oklahoma's how does
1:08:08
their bats have been? They have not face an arm
1:08:11
like Carolina's in this postseason. That's just the fact. Who's
1:08:14
the best starter they face this postseason? Dylan vig U,
1:08:17
Kaiden Aoki like maybe Tyler fay or like I think
1:08:22
they faced me Don vaguely like. None of those guys
1:08:26
are Jason Nacaro, Ryan Lynch and k And Glauber and
1:08:29
Walker McDuffie, none of them so as hot as their
1:08:32
bats have been, they haven't faced an arm like Carolina's.
1:08:35
And Carolina's bats have been good enough Forbes likes their
1:08:37
bats not to be talked about. He's been on record
1:08:39
saying he doesn't want people to talk about their bats
1:08:41
because they want to have some, you know fuel. I
1:08:44
am gonna mention how good they have been, how not
1:08:47
like over the top run production, but as many as
1:08:51
you need, and omaha, it's been five, six and twelve.
1:08:53
I think you know, averaging out for just under eight
1:08:56
runs a game. That's good enough with that pitching staff.
1:08:59
I'll take him in three, though, just because I'm kind
1:09:01
of wishing that inte existence. I mean, would it do
1:09:04
some would it put some stress on myself and the
1:09:06
fan base and my family and all that stuff? Yes,
1:09:09
But I have a my I think I love college baseball.
1:09:13
It's my favorite sport. It's nearly perfect. I have one
1:09:15
gripe with the sport, the fact that if a team
1:09:18
can win the national Championship series and two they get
1:09:21
to win it in broad daylight at like four o'clock
1:09:24
on a Sunday. I hate that. You need you need
1:09:26
to be under the lights. You're winning a national championship,
1:09:29
it should be under the lights. It should be primetime
1:09:31
all that stuff. I would hate for Carolina to win
1:09:33
a championship and it'd be like broad daylight and you
1:09:36
still got like eight hours before you go to bed.
1:09:38
Like that just was weird, and I hate it.
1:09:41
Speaker 1: Josh. I can't think of anything more fitting than if
1:09:44
the sky itself matched the that's good. That's good. I
1:09:49
think I can think of anything more poetic.
1:09:52
Speaker 5: And I stand on my point, But I do like
1:09:56
that that's a good twist on.
1:09:57
Speaker 1: It, JB. Might be the most boring question I've asked
1:10:01
you all year, my friend, who's your national champion? Pick?
1:10:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I'm gonna rock with of course Carolina again.
1:10:08
I think this Oklahoma team is really good. I think
1:10:10
that's tune in two is a really really tall order.
1:10:14
I think it'll probably be in three two. It would
1:10:18
be great if they could do it in two. I mean,
1:10:19
I'd love that more than anything in the world. But
1:10:22
I just think this Oklahoma team is really, really good,
1:10:24
and I think it's gonna be a fight through the end.
1:10:26
Speaker 1: So definitely, it definitely is gonna be a fight. I
1:10:30
have a couple of a couple of thoughts here. I'm
1:10:32
gonna start with this. I think the storybook ending, and
1:10:38
because we're not playing for points anymore, Josh is won,
1:10:40
so I can throw gamesmanship, I can throw trying to
1:10:43
win out of the out of the window here. I
1:10:45
think the storybook ending would be for Oklahoma to slay
1:10:48
one last dragon and lift a pretty gold trophy amidst
1:10:52
the beautiful blue skies of midday Sunday. I mean, as
1:10:55
much as Josh hates, what a wonderful thing that would be.
1:10:58
Speaker 4: For them seventh straight sec apiens.
1:11:00
Speaker 1: Is that where you're going for seven? Yeah? You know,
1:11:06
some some lesser men might say it just means more,
1:11:11
But I will take that. I think in another retrospect,
1:11:16
you know, I think that the graphic is saved if
1:11:19
we're split three to two. As well, there are a
1:11:22
lot of reasons for me to take Oklahoma, but I
1:11:26
don't know. UNC has been a lot of fun. That
1:11:30
blue Blood certainly is pretty nice to see, and it'd
1:11:32
be cool to see the ACC snap.
1:11:35
Speaker 4: Their first one.
1:11:38
Speaker 5: Yep and thirteen tries. Also listen the first time an
1:11:41
ACC team has been in the Championship Series in eleven years.
1:11:44
Speaker 1: Where it's very true. I listen, I want to put
1:11:48
I want to pick my foot up and put it
1:11:50
down and say Oklahoma, but I can't. It's like my
1:11:52
foot is stuck to the floor, like some sort of
1:11:55
sticky substances attached to the back of my foot on
1:12:02
my heel as it were. Uh so, yeah, I'm going
1:12:06
to go against the Green here and pick I'm just kidding.
1:12:08
I'm taken Oak. I'm taking Oklahoma because of the SEC.
1:12:11
It just means more. Seven straight. But no, anyhow, I
1:12:16
think the actual winner here is gonna be me. I
1:12:18
can't wait. This is gonna be an incredible series. It's
1:12:20
gonna be fun to watch. And uh, guys, what an outstanding,
1:12:24
outstanding season it's been. And I've had a great time
1:12:27
covering this tournament. It's been excellent and a lot of twists,
1:12:31
a lot of turns. Uh, Tennessee made me question my life.
1:12:35
Nearly got like a spur of the moment tattoo after
1:12:37
they lost, Uh like too straight to and Q. So yeah,
1:12:42
some crazy stuff nearly happened. Anyway, great stuff all the
1:12:45
way around. Uh. Before we throw it to you, guys
1:12:49
on where they can find you, want to remind you.
1:12:50
Home Run Empire just dropped on the app store. It's incredible, guys,
1:12:55
It's such a fun game. Josh said he was playing it. Uh,
1:12:58
he's having some fun with it. I'm having fun with it.
1:13:00
And again, if you happen to run into on the
1:13:02
social media tab a drew a Josh, a JB or
1:13:05
a Jake screenshot that send it to us on the
1:13:08
Twitter machine. We'd love to see us of what we're
1:13:10
up to in your game. I was talking the other
1:13:13
day about Auburn losing actually so, I thought that was
1:13:15
awful ironic, Josh, I'm sorry if you.
1:13:18
Speaker 5: Get used to it. We do that pretty often, you get.
1:13:20
Speaker 1: Used to it. I knew you'd say something witty like that,
1:13:23
but yeah, Home Run Empire. Check it out. They're doing
1:13:25
incredible work. We really think that you should check it out. Harris.
1:13:29
Speaking of great work, dude, you killed it on this episode.
1:13:32
I know you were excited to come in to talk
1:13:34
about you truitar Heels and man, they have given you
1:13:36
a lot to talk about and we're so thrilled that
1:13:39
you can join us on the show.
1:13:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a blast, appreciate it. I've been enjoying
1:13:44
following y'all coverage of the whole tournament and it's been
1:13:49
great and not really ready for it to end this weekend,
1:13:52
to be honest.
1:13:53
Speaker 1: Same dude, it's gonna suck. But alas with every new
1:13:56
beginning comes some other beginnings.
1:13:58
Speaker 2: And we got the draft coming out.
1:14:00
Speaker 1: That is true, bro, So Harris, at the end of
1:14:02
these things, as you know, we like to ask you
1:14:05
to tell us where the people can follow you if
1:14:07
they're interested in doing so on social media. Between our
1:14:09
episodes and what you're working on right now, as well.
1:14:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so not really on Twitter these days, but post
1:14:18
a limit of stuff on Instagram. That's how Udi is
1:14:24
the handle there. And as far as working on for
1:14:27
Prospect Live, working on my rankings and mox that I'm
1:14:31
going to be I like to put out as well
1:14:33
as I know it's booking to you a better a
1:14:36
while ago, team specific draft boards with previous picks and
1:14:42
demographic trends and all that kind of stuff and players
1:14:45
who might be on the board of each pick and
1:14:47
maybe like ten or so guys that might be targets
1:14:51
for each each pick there. So it's not really excited
1:14:53
to get that finished up soon and get it up
1:14:56
on the site.
1:14:57
Speaker 1: The hype is real and thank you again buddy for
1:14:59
joining us. She did great. Uh JB JB tell us pal,
1:15:04
where can the folks find you be joining our episodes
1:15:06
and what are you working on her?
1:15:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's at JB underscors Subastiano on Twitter from Omaha.
1:15:12
We obviously have our recaps the lives we did after
1:15:15
and also on Twitter, I posted a whole bunch of
1:15:17
game film from Right Behind Home played of all the
1:15:19
pictures that threw that you basically care about. So that's
1:15:22
all there if you want to find it. Me and
1:15:25
Dodge will have some funny content soon. I won't spoil anything,
1:15:29
but we're gonna do something pretty cool.
1:15:30
Speaker 1: Go ahead, go ahead.
1:15:32
Speaker 4: I guess I'll spoil. We're going to the Combine, so
1:15:34
you will see a lot of Combine content very soon
1:15:36
for me and we'll Dodge, so shout him out too.
1:15:39
You'll see a lot of stuff from that, a lot
1:15:40
of video again, and you'll have some articles from us
1:15:43
from there.
1:15:43
Speaker 1: It's gonna be great. Can't wait to hear all about
1:15:46
how Max Shale is your favorite picture. After all this expires,
1:15:49
it's gonna be.
1:15:50
Speaker 4: Look pretty good at the World Series.
1:15:51
Speaker 2: I'll say that.
1:15:52
Speaker 1: You don't have to tell me, JB. I was watching baby.
1:15:55
I was watching. I didn't have as good a seat
1:15:57
as you, but I was watching it. Uh, John, tell
1:16:00
all the folks at home where they can find you
1:16:02
between our episodes. And uh, Also, what's your working answer?
1:16:05
Speaker 2: Wa?
1:16:06
Speaker 5: Government name from you? Andrew. That's a big deal.
1:16:08
Speaker 1: That's so I told Malory the other day. I said
1:16:10
my favorite joke that Josh does to see government names
1:16:12
all of us in different at different instances.
1:16:15
Speaker 5: So, yeah, Harris, by chance is your actual name Harrison
1:16:18
or are you just Harris?
1:16:19
Speaker 1: It is not just It's Harrison now, I promise, Yeah.
1:16:23
Speaker 2: That I've been I've been getting in my whole life. Man.
1:16:26
Speaker 5: We have we have Andrew Harrison, Joseph, Jacob and Joshua.
1:16:30
We have all the government it's it's it's also a
1:16:33
big day for Joseph Benson tomorrow. It's the Big twenty three.
1:16:37
Speaker 4: You know it is twenty minutes. Yeah, we got a
1:16:40
twenty minute countdown. Yeah, oh true. Yeah, Well, everyone don't
1:16:46
text Jacob. I mean, whoa not Jacob Joseph. I got
1:16:50
my government names all mixed up.
1:16:52
Speaker 5: I got I got a You can follow me on
1:16:55
Twitter at josh Catlet three. You have all the Omaha
1:17:00
stuff that JB talked about that we have that we've
1:17:01
been putting together. I will be back in Omaha for
1:17:04
the Championship Series. Actually, my uh so many of the
1:17:08
u n C parents and whatnot, and like everyone was
1:17:11
telling my family they have to get back out there.
1:17:14
Former head coach Mike Fox was like telling my dad,
1:17:16
there's no way your parents aren't gonna be out here
1:17:18
if they make it to the championship and so they're
1:17:21
back out and my dad was like, they want you
1:17:23
to come with him, Like, oh, I twist my arm,
1:17:25
like it'll be a great time. I don't know how
1:17:30
much I'll be posting from there, but I will be there.
1:17:33
Speaker 1: I'd love to at least see your thoughts on the finals.
1:17:36
If that was an article you're interested in, then while
1:17:38
we're talking about your family, shout out the man LG.
1:17:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know what, LG and Cindy could have.
1:17:45
Speaker 4: Like plushing off for us, So he deserves a shout
1:17:50
out for mister Glenn, our chaperone. He was the real one.
1:17:53
Speaker 5: Glenn was our uber driver, and my dad and grandparents
1:17:57
are like a celebrity within that fan base, and I
1:17:58
did not realize it until I was behind him, like
1:18:01
all the parents know, Like he's walking up in down
1:18:03
the aisles and everyone's like, oh Glenn, like like everyone
1:18:06
loves my dad. I don't know. They could get peaked life.
1:18:09
First ever Carolina Championship could be a lot of fun.
1:18:13
We'll see. If I don't know, we'll see how it goes.
1:18:15
I'm having I'll be put out some Twitter content here
1:18:18
in the future. With the draft coming up, I'm trying
1:18:20
to refine my final top one fifty and everything. Trying
1:18:24
to get all my prep stuff straightened out for that
1:18:26
so I can put that out and actually feel good
1:18:27
about ith. Yeah, you can get a lot of that
1:18:29
content from me in the near future. Here we're wrapping
1:18:32
up this part of the season.
1:18:35
Speaker 1: We are. It's it's coming up very quickly, yes, Josh, yeah,
1:18:40
Josh is gonna go work on that right now. If
1:18:43
you're interested in following me, it's sweeten our episodes. You
1:18:47
may do so on the Twitter machine at Drew is Okay, Instagram,
1:18:51
a Blue Sky the same as well Prospects Live dot com.
1:18:54
We've got all kinds of incredible things going up. You
1:18:56
can catch all of the tips, tricks, tools articles. Everything's
1:18:59
starting as low as seven dollars a month. It's an
1:19:02
incredible bargain, less than coffee in some places, guys, one
1:19:05
coffee a month giveaway and you can have Prospects Live
1:19:08
all month long. Tremendous bargain. But I am pretty I'm
1:19:11
pretty biased as it were. Either way, we do have
1:19:14
the top four hundred combined to board for the twenty
1:19:18
six MLB draft dropping very soon. Just had Modern Draft
1:19:20
four drop and it was incredibly well viewed, So thank you.
1:19:24
Guys so much for checking that out. The College Daily
1:19:26
Sheet is rolling along. I know Harris had a day
1:19:29
with of that. I had a day of that. We're
1:19:31
going to keep that rolling through the Championship Final whenever
1:19:35
that may come. Yes, it's and we're gearing up for draft.
1:19:38
All kinds of electric and incredible stuff there, and of
1:19:41
course College Baseball now will roll on as well. We
1:19:44
will see you guys at the conclusion of the College
1:19:47
World Series Final, where we will break that down one
1:19:50
last time. We'll break it down again for the twenty
1:19:52
twenty sixth season. But for mister Harris, thank you again
1:19:56
for joining us. For Harris, for Jake, for Josh, for JB.
1:20:00
I'm Drew and we'll see you next time. The championship
1:20:03
is with an arms reach. Who's gonna take it? We'll
1:20:06
find out