Latest / College Baseball Now / Weekend 8 Recap: The Big Ten’s Best | Ep. 025

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Weekend 8 Recap: The Big Ten’s Best | Ep. 025 · College Baseball Now

0:01
Speaker 1: Another weekend is coming gone. And while we often discuss
0:04
how their upsets and big teams who make statements, this
0:07
seemed especially true in the weekend day. We're gonna break
0:11
all of it down, the statements, the upsets on today's
0:13
episode of College Baseball Now.
0:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, there ain't no problems. There ain't no problems. Don't
0:26
want problem with me?
0:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me turn to the chat.
0:32
Speaker 4: They know what was gone for a minute.
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Speaker 1: Hit the pot, bet, grab a couple wins with a
0:35
the ID. They even know the kid.
0:37
Speaker 4: I had to do a p I g's we can
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never be average and they want to pull them with
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the boy.
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Speaker 1: They don't know, no status. I don't need so coach
0:43
time run a week God, I want to test that
0:45
sun the standing to control, run the game. Best believe
0:48
the signing.
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Speaker 4: Dogs counting them up wins. Yeah, I love it when
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they count me out of the least sudden shame why
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minute dogs, Best believe I run the game.
0:58
Speaker 1: You know, won't be construng.
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Speaker 4: Leg stand, dilatandla magic wand numb out.
1:14
Speaker 1: To stand thrilled as always to be back with you,
1:29
our favorite listener for College Baseball Now, episode number twenty five. Guys,
1:35
are you aware of what's funnier than twenty four?
1:39
Speaker 3: Twenty five?
1:40
Speaker 1: Okay?
1:40
Speaker 2: Five?
1:41
Speaker 1: Well said? Uh, Starting with your hosting crew, it is me,
1:45
your friend, your boy, Drew Wheeler, the amateur scouting director
1:48
at Prospects Live. Thrill has always to be here with
1:51
my friends, and you're starting, of course, Uh with the
1:53
gentleman in the middle. It is mister Josh Catlin. Josh, Hello, sir,
1:57
how are you?
1:58
Speaker 3: I am great. I spent ap but a week. I'm
2:00
back home with the family for Easter, and now I'm
2:02
back in my middle spot instead of the top right
2:04
corner again, so I just keep going back and fourth.
2:07
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I hope your weekend was lovely with the family.
2:10
Speaker 3: It was, it always does always is.
2:13
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you got to do that. You did
2:15
give your furry friend pets as I requested, right.
2:18
Speaker 3: I did.
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Speaker 2: I did.
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Speaker 3: I thought her it was from Drew too. That's what matters.
2:22
Speaker 1: Good, That's all I asked. So I'm glad to hear
2:25
that you're you always follow instructions, well, you always deliver
2:28
as well. So uh. With us on the far right,
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it's coach Jake Barjorie Jake, Hello, sir, good to see you.
2:36
Speaker 5: Good to see you too, Drew. I'm happy to be
2:38
back on here. I can't wait to talk about what
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happened this weekend.
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Speaker 1: There's been a lot, man, and I know that it's
2:45
been it's been a hectic weekend. I know that you
2:47
enjoyed some Easter festivities as well. I hope you had
2:50
a great Easter holidays.
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Speaker 2: I did, and I hope you did also.
2:55
Speaker 1: Thank you very very much. Yes, as you alluded to, Jake,
2:59
and I know you were talking about watching all weekend long.
3:02
We've seen the pictures of your setup. We know you've
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been in sicko mode this weekend, buddy. Tons of stuff
3:09
going on around the country. As we alluded to at
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the top of the show, let's go ahead and get
3:13
into it from the jump three minutes in no delay.
3:17
UCLA USC Josh, it's written here the big ten series
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of the year. I think it's difficult to argue with
3:24
that what we know as of right now, UCLA up
3:29
to oh over USC. I don't think any of us
3:33
would have disagreed with that being the outcome, especially in
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our midweek. I think we all took UCLA over USC.
3:42
I think, in my mind, Josh, one of the deciding
3:45
things in Friday's game. At least you don't put up
3:48
seven runs at a single inning as UCLA did and
3:52
come away with a loss more often than not.
3:55
Speaker 3: Right right, Also, I can report that that third game
4:00
finished and UCLA won ten to four, So it's a
4:02
sweet but yeah, Weirdly enough, I think this series. I
4:07
didn't think it was going to be possible coming away
4:09
from it like this. But is it weird to say
4:12
that I feel better about both of these teams coming
4:15
away from the weekend, which I know sounds weird with
4:17
USC because they get swept. But first of all, that
4:22
first game was way closer than the score indicates. The
4:25
bullpen just kind of let it up and let things
4:27
really get away from them in the eighth. That second
4:29
game was super close. Peyton Brennan robbed the home run
4:32
that could have been the tying home run inning Today's
4:35
was a little bit different. Don't get me wrong, but
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if you want to poke holes and the starting rotation
4:41
for USC saying that they didn't perform against that lineup
4:44
like they happened the entire year. First of all, A
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it's kind of hard to expect them to because of
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how that lineup is and b counter argument. Offense did
4:54
way better than we thought they would against the UCLA
4:57
starting rotation and bullpen, So I think think you can
5:00
feel a little comforted both ways. UCLA goes out saying
5:03
they've won twenty I think it's twenty three straight games now,
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I mean they're I'm ready to have the conversations about
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them that people were having about you know, pick your
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favorite LSU or Tennessee team of the past five six years.
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I think UCLA is right in that range right now.
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Only two losses on the entire year the series. The
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result didn't really live up to the hype as much,
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but in terms of kind of what I wanted to
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see from both teams, it almost did. I would have
5:29
expected a little more out of the pitching from USC,
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but I mean, keeping it close in two of those
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games against the undisputed best team in the country shows
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that they're not just some fraud who benefited from a
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really good schedule the beginning of the year. They can
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actually compete with some of the up rush line teams
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in the sport.
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Speaker 1: You you're right in seeing that, Josh, I don't. I
5:48
can't argue with anything you just said. I to fill
5:52
you in at home. Right before we clicked record, we
5:55
were having this conversation amongst the three of us, and
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I think Josh is Josh has a very realistic perspective
6:03
that hey, we saw this offense come in against one
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of the better pitching steps they faced, and this is
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the USC offense. Forgive me, I shouldn't be so big
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and perform admirably. And Josh, I think what our differentiation is.
6:16
I'm maybe still a little hesitant to say I can
6:20
fully trust them. I think I trust this team to compete,
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but the offense is where I draw the line as
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saying I have hesitation and I'm not I'm definitely not
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judging you for saying no, this is this was a
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point in the right direction, or they have proven themselves
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to me.
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Speaker 3: Well that's right. Yeah. I don't obviously like scoring. What
6:39
was it, I guess five point three runs per game.
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Obviously that's not like astounding, but you gotta think who
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they're going up against. And also compared to what we
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thought about that offense coming into the weekend, I thought
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they were kind of there's a chance they just lay
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a goosegg a couple of games this series. I thought
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that was possible, and it didn't happen, and they competed
6:56
the entire weekend except for I mean today it was
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I mean USC was winning into the seventh I want
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to say it was close, like every game was close,
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and then the difference just ended up being that UCLA
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had more pitching depth, which you know, USC's starting pitchers
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are probably indisputably better than UCLA's, but the depth is
7:16
just where it came into play and where the differentiating
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factor was, which that could end up hurting USC, which
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we had already kind of seen like in these big
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midweek games against teams like Oregon State Santa Barbara, the
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pitching isn't as good and that kind of stuff hurts you,
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like latent regionals on a Monday game. You know, that
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stuff catches up to you eventually, which that could end
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up being a problem. But in terms of just pulling
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together some serious wins and winning early in postseason series,
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I still think they'll be fine.
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Speaker 1: I get that, and you're right. I mean, a game
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where we run out ten pitchers in the midweek is
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not gonna be our deal late in the season, so
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it's probably best to kick that habit while we can.
7:52
Jake do you want to get your opinion here? Two
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pronged question for you, sir. First thing, would you say
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you're closer to Josh or to my in the sense
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of I like what I saw from USC. I think
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that they've proven that they are a better offense than
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we thought, or there's still questions for you. That's my
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first one. So please, what do you think, Jack?
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Speaker 5: I mean, I think they in certain spots in this series,
8:15
they were better than what we expected them to be.
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But like, I don't think that that clears up every
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question that we had about them. I mean, I guess,
8:25
I guess I'm kind of in between you two and
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then in that way, but like you know, like for
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this series, like what I'm more concerned about I guess
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I don't want to say concerned either.
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Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't I may not word.
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Speaker 5: This the right way, but like the USC rotation kind
8:40
of got like they kind of proved that they're not invincible,
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I guess, is what I'm trying to say, Like they
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faced a really really tough offense on the road, Like
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I don't want to I don't want to say that
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like they that we all expected them to go in
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and just roll over UCLA like they kind of have
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like other teams, but you know, this was a series, like,
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like I said, as tough as as it was to
9:00
like to go on the road at UCLA, this was
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a series where we kind of knew that the that
9:04
that Mason Edwards, Grant Goveel, Andrew Johnson were all gonna
9:07
have to pitch well. And they you know, they kind
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of you know, they kind of they kind of didn't
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like they weren't they weren't terrible, but they weren't good enough.
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And like as far as the offense goes, like we
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just I think we just talked about it either last
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episode or the one before or a couple weeks ago
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or something like can the u C can this USC
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lineup you know, win them games if the pitching has
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a bad weekend. And they weren't bad, but they obviously,
9:31
I mean, they couldn't hang with UCLA. But like I
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don't know what team can at this point. But like
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that's not it's not what they needed. You know, they
9:37
didn't answer that question either. I don't know, right, uh, Jake, I.
9:42
Speaker 1: Do want to. I guess I know that we've put
9:44
a lot of emphasis on USC and how they did.
9:47
I've got to agree with Josh in this regard. They
9:50
did answer the call. This was not some blowout series
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with just trash, you know, garbage time games by any means.
9:57
These were quality the ball games. Uh, Jake, I do
10:00
want you to throw out your guy that impressed you
10:04
the most for UCLA. We talked about Govell Edwards, we
10:07
talked about Johnson, we talked about USC's guys that stood
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out and who answered that bell. Who was it for
10:12
Ucla that really stood up for you this weekend, Jacob.
10:16
Speaker 5: I don't have like exact numbers or anything, but I
10:18
feel like every time I turned on this game, Mulliva
10:21
Levu was doing something really cool at the plate, Like
10:25
I don't know, it felt like like I watched most
10:27
of the most of this game today and I think
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he had like uh so he had Yeah, he had
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two homers.
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Speaker 2: Stay, That's what I thought.
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Speaker 5: Like every time he came up, he you know, was
10:36
making an impact with his bat, whether it was hitting
10:39
the ball.
10:39
Speaker 2: Over the fence.
10:39
Speaker 5: I think he had like a triple in Game two
10:41
that scored like a pretty key run later in that game,
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Like like mulliv Olivo outside of the obvious Rock Schlawski,
10:47
who's going to impress you every time he's on the field.
10:50
Mulliv Olevu had had a big weekend and then came
10:52
really came through in some big spots.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, one last like really minor thing that I want
10:57
to add about Ucla, just to harp on them a
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little bit more. This was kind of a weekend. Jake
11:02
just kind of alluded to it a little bit. Rock
11:04
Scholowski wasn't even that good this weekend. He was three
11:07
for fourteen on the whole weekend, but the rest of
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that lineup really stepped up. Peyton Brennan and will Gasprino
11:12
were probably the two big ones. Peyton Brennan in particular,
11:15
he had six RBI on seven for eleven, hitting with
11:18
a home run, robbed a home run yesterday that could
11:21
have tied up that game in the ninth. Gasprino had
11:23
a good weekend. Lavou like everyone else around Rock Scholowski
11:27
stepped up. So it shows that when they're Superman, when
11:29
their best guy is a little bit down, their offense
11:32
is good enough that everyone else around them can step
11:34
up and come through.
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Speaker 1: Well said, Hey, great points, guys, absolutely, and I think
11:40
UCLA needs that moving forward. To that's what separates the
11:44
good teams from the truly great ones. And I think
11:46
you guys made a good player. Let's talk about another
11:49
team that I think earlier in the physical week in
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the last seven days, we might have said has established
11:55
themselves as another one of the elite teams being in
11:57
Mississippi State, and yet the weekend, lo and behold, Georgia
12:02
has come to Starkville. Sweeps. Josh Wonderful notes as normal, Sir,
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sweeps in Starkville for the first time in twenty two years.
12:12
Wolf Golly, Jake, We've talked about it. Last episode. We
12:17
talked about how this was two sec superpower offenses. What's
12:22
the story here and what did what did you think
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we learned the most about Georgia this weekend.
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Speaker 2: So for yeah, for Georgia, I have on here.
12:32
Speaker 5: The key for Georgia for me, and especially in those
12:35
first two games was just like limiting damage on the mound,
12:39
like Joey Volsco on the mount in Game one he
12:42
allowed I think it was I think it's ten base
12:44
runners in five innings if I have the numbers right,
12:47
only allowed two runs in that in that outing.
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Speaker 2: Dylan Vick, you kind of kind of similar.
12:53
Speaker 5: I think he walked like six, had ten base runners
12:55
five innings, only allowed one run. Like I think that
12:59
I think that was really a deciding factor in both
13:02
of those games. Like is that sustainable? Like it might be,
13:06
it might not be, but like you know, they're gonna
13:08
have to clean some of that stuff off. But the
13:10
reason I say that it could be sustainable for Georgia
13:13
is just because, like the offense, the offense scored ten
13:17
runs on you know, Charlie Foster and all those guys
13:19
in game one, Kenny Ishicawa, Trey Phelps, they contributed a
13:23
lot there. But the fact that they can seemingly like
13:26
score at will, like when the team needs a run,
13:28
it feels like the offense is kind of consistently coming
13:30
through for him. That's a skill that you know, a
13:32
lot of teams in the country don't have. And like,
13:35
you know, they hit at the right time. They prove
13:37
they can pitch at the right time this weekend, and
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like you know, being able to do both of those
13:41
two things is usually a pretty good key to success.
13:45
Speaker 1: Two of the three main keys. Some might say, Josh
13:50
gonna go to you here, Mississippi State. I don't expect
13:54
them to take a precipitous fall in my rankings. At
13:56
least I would project that for the two of you,
13:58
this is a quality team there. And yet something in
14:02
me feels a little iffy about that brand, the marine
14:05
brand of bulldog. I think that it's when they get
14:09
punched in the mouth. It's not by a not quality team.
14:12
It's typically by a really good team. But what he
14:14
would learn the most about Mississippi State this weekend, Josh.
14:18
Speaker 3: I mean, you can go two different routes here, but
14:20
I think the big thing is probably the pitching. Besides
14:24
Thomas Fallincius was a little concerning. Like today, it was
14:29
just like a different mix of guys that kind of
14:32
got like hit around just a little bit here and there.
14:35
Charlie Foster finally had his performance that we kind of
14:38
thought would come at some point that wasn't so great
14:40
on Thursday or yeah, Thursday, I guess it was, but
14:43
having three arn runs and two innings of four hits,
14:47
like we kind of expected that out of the starters
14:49
role since McPherson wasn't able to take that spot anymore. Offense,
14:55
it's it's volatile. It's been a really big selling point
14:58
for them this year. But overall, I'm not really concerned.
15:01
Like it's a really good Georgia pitching staff that has
15:04
their highs, has their lows, for sure. They just happened to,
15:07
you know, obviously have way more highs this weekend than not.
15:09
But I really don't have any big takeaways. I'll probably
15:12
drop in Mississippi State to like seven or eight ish
15:15
in my rankings because they're still overall they have a
15:17
really good record. This is just a shocking result that
15:20
I mean, obviously we all thought they would win the
15:22
series and sweep wasn't even nearly in the picture. But
15:25
I've I've had Georgia on my top five. I can
15:27
probably look and find it. I've had Georgia on my
15:29
top five for weeks now. It feels like or at
15:32
least near that range. Yeah. See, I've had Georgia on
15:35
my top five since March first, and not a lot
15:38
of people have had them that high until like very
15:41
very recently. So I've had faith in this team, just
15:44
not even to this extent, Like as high as I've
15:46
been on them, I didn't see this coming.
15:49
Speaker 1: Well said, Hey, good for you for having them in
15:52
that echelon for a long time. That's why you're the
15:54
best in the biz, at least one of them. I
15:56
don't want to blow that hat up too big, guys,
15:58
real quick game time. I imagine you know where I'm
16:01
going with this. Looking at one weekend from today, your
16:06
friend of mine, me Drew, I'm gonna be in Starkville
16:09
for an entire weekend to watch the Tennessee volunteers taking
16:13
on the missip State Bulldoks. One to ten. One being Drew,
16:18
it's probably going to be a blowout each day. Not
16:21
looking to have much fun, ten being expect, expect chaos
16:26
and fun and savagery with every at bat one to ten, Josh,
16:31
where do you think I'm going to be at on
16:33
this series? How much fun can I expect to have?
16:37
Speaker 3: How much fun can you expect to have? I mean, sure,
16:39
Duty Noble is a great place, but you probably won't
16:41
be having much fun as a Tennessee fan. I'll say,
16:43
like four, that feels safe. I don't know. I don't
16:48
know what to make of Tennessee anymore, and I'm sure
16:51
you don't either, But I really don't.
16:54
Speaker 1: Jake, where does this weekend, this upcoming weekend for Drew
16:57
falling the fun ameter for you?
17:00
Speaker 2: Yeah?
17:00
Speaker 5: I don't, you know, Drew, I don't think today is
17:03
just not a great day to ask me and me
17:06
and you this this question. You know, I don't think
17:10
you can go to start for and not have a
17:11
good time in general. But just uh, just watching the baseball.
17:15
I mean, I don't know, three like, I don't.
17:20
Speaker 2: I can't.
17:20
Speaker 5: I can't feel great. I can't feel great. But but
17:23
the atmosphere is gonna be awesome. So just go down
17:25
there and you know, try to strut uptight up. Try
17:27
to have a good time, you know, try to.
17:29
Speaker 1: Just try to vibe out. Take some good note, let's
17:31
get some good video. Just try to vibe. See what happens.
17:34
That's the goal. That's the goal. All right, guys, let's
17:37
keep talking here because Jake, we're gonna go back to you.
17:40
Top ten matchup Florida State UV a super interesting stuff,
17:45
I know, looking at it, Uh, in the pick them,
17:48
we had some some conflicting opinions that said Virginia took
17:53
Game one in Charlotte Swamp Friday and then loses the
17:57
series two to one. It's Florida State put up to
18:00
in a roal, Jake, what was the major deciding factor
18:03
in that series. What's the biggest takeaway for you?
18:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean the biggest storyline kind of at the
18:09
end of at the end of last weekend was you know,
18:11
obviously what happened to Myles Bailey. And we had the
18:13
big questions when we talked about it when we previewed
18:16
this series was like, you know, obviously, how was the
18:18
offense going to perform without him? And like those are
18:21
obviously well warranted questions to how they would you know,
18:24
respond after losing like one of their stars and you know,
18:27
one of the biggest stars in the game right now,
18:29
And like they responded by going to Charlottesville and taking
18:33
the series from Virginia. Like that's something that like I
18:36
don't I don't remember how we went with our picks.
18:38
I feel like this was one that we kind of split.
18:41
I think we were two and two on it just
18:44
because you know, Florida State's and press so as Virginia they're.
18:47
Speaker 2: Going on the road.
18:47
Speaker 5: Florida State just lost their star. But like the pitching
18:52
for Florida State, you know it it it kind of continued.
18:56
Like west Mendez was really good. He had a tough
18:58
i think fourth inning in that first game, but he
19:02
was really good again.
19:03
Speaker 2: Trey Beard.
19:04
Speaker 5: Trey Beard was good in his and then John Abraham
19:06
in that second game, you know, he went four scoreless
19:08
innings and that was you know, the huge out of
19:11
the bullpen for him there. And then Game three just
19:14
kind of ended up being off. Florida State, like Bryson
19:16
Moore was was was really good in his start, but
19:20
then like cal Fisher had a big home run, they
19:23
had multiple guys with you know, multiple RBIs. The score
19:25
ended up being just nine to three in that one,
19:28
but it felt like Florida State was kind of in
19:30
total control of that one from start to finish. Yeah,
19:34
I mean I really liked what I saw out of
19:35
Florida State and how they were spotted after losing Myles Bailey.
19:37
I think that's very promising to just fans of the
19:41
game and then obviously Florida State fans too.
19:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, Josh, you called you called me out last
19:48
week for saying that Florida State's offense may sputter without
19:52
kind of their biggest, their biggest hulk at the pot,
19:55
and yet you were correct again, Good on you. I
19:59
guess I'm I'm gonna switch the flip the script though.
20:02
What's the big takeaway from Virginia here. I know that
20:05
I saw a really solid performance from A. J. Grossia
20:09
By and you'll forgive me, I forget the exact day,
20:11
but he had a really solid game in what I
20:13
believe offhand was a loss.
20:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the obvious concern here is the same
20:20
thing we talked about last week after the Boston College series.
20:23
This offense is lifeless almost. I mean, it's game the
20:27
game I think they scored. It was four on the
20:31
first day. I want to say two to the second
20:32
day and three today or not today, yesterday or the
20:36
last game. It's just you're not if you can't score
20:39
over five runs in an entire series or I guess
20:42
the second series in a row. It is. That's beyond
20:45
just raising eyebrows and being a little bit concerned. I
20:48
mean that that's like full like on the Drew on
20:51
the Drew Trademark Worrio meter, that's like a solid nine
20:54
or ten, like you got you gotta start really sounding
20:57
the alarms at this point, and like, yeah, Grossi has
20:59
been good, Sam Harris has been good, Becker's been good enough.
21:04
But that's it. That's kind of where that's kind of
21:06
where it really settles out. I mean, like Antonio Parrado
21:10
was pretty good on Thursday I remember correctly, not really
21:14
the rest of the weekend though, and to the level
21:15
of which you needed him to. The pitching was really
21:18
good on Thursday too, like Kyle Johnson and Henry Zatkowski.
21:21
That was just howid piggyback that worked out for them.
21:24
On Friday and Saturday not so much. And like it
21:27
really it really didn't work out too well for him.
21:29
So if the pitching is gonna perform like that and
21:31
you can't get anything from the offense, I don't really
21:33
know where this team goes from here.
21:36
Speaker 1: It's I mean, hates to be so blunted, but I
21:40
mean down feels like kut of the answer. If it
21:43
can't get together, it's gonna be interesting to see what
21:46
happens in Charlotte'sville with U.
21:49
Speaker 3: Specific that series when they have in Chapel Hill feels
21:52
like a distant memory at this point, I'll tell you
21:54
that much.
21:54
Speaker 1: It It almost feels like another team, doesn't it. Yeah, yeah,
22:00
very it's like you said, the distant memory. I love
22:02
the way you said that. Since you used the Drew
22:05
TM Warriam meter used the Drew trademark. I'll use the
22:07
Josh trademark in exchange because they got their get back
22:12
in the Get Right series. Auburn got it right, got
22:15
back on track. They took two of three games at
22:18
home over Arkansas. I think a lot of folks who
22:24
are especially Arkansas fans, probably didn't see this being a
22:29
two to one. I think they would have expected to
22:31
maybe win two on the road. And yet Josh, you
22:35
called it. Auburn typically doesn't lose a series at home.
22:40
What's the biggest takeaway for your Tigers this weekend.
22:44
Speaker 3: It's hard to have like a super big takeaway from
22:47
this weekend, if for being honest, because like, look, what
22:49
have we been saying about this Auburn offense for a while.
22:52
It's volatile, it fluctuates from game to game. We scored ten,
22:56
and they scored two. Then they scored eight, so the
22:59
same thing happened again. They just happened, you know, two
23:01
times instead of one. You've got the better end of it.
23:04
But I mean, it wasn't even across the board, Like
23:06
there were some guys that didn't really play great. Eric
23:08
Guavara had a great weekend though, Chris, remember it stepped
23:11
up when he needed to. Brandon mccran looked great today
23:14
and if there were I'm not gonna try and talk
23:17
negative about Alburn because they did win the series. But
23:20
at the end of the day, like the bottom of
23:22
the bull bend kind of was concerning. Andreas Alvarez and
23:24
Jake Martiano looked great in both their outings, for sure,
23:28
but kind of like after Marciano on Friday is kind
23:32
of what blew the game. I mean, I don't know,
23:37
it's hard to have any big opinions about the team.
23:39
It's great to get a home like great to come home,
23:42
get a big series when it was very needed, got
23:44
Kentucky at home again next week. Who I mean, we'll
23:47
talk about them later, but they really need a bounce
23:49
back too, especially after what happened this week. I don't know.
23:55
It's it's kind of easy for the pitching to look
23:59
decent in this series when the Arkansas offense looks the
24:01
way it has been. There are people around here that
24:03
were saying, like, why on earth would you pick pitched
24:06
to Ryder hell Rick in any circumstance, Because on the
24:09
first two days he was the only person who did anything.
24:12
He was five for seven with three home runs, and
24:14
four RBI in the first two games, but he was
24:17
zero for four on Saturday, so he kind of reeled
24:19
it back in a little bit, came back to you know,
24:21
reality team only scored three runs. See what happens. I
24:25
think if I remember currently, if I saw this right,
24:27
I don't think Arkansas had a single extra or no
24:30
who there was another series I was looking at someone
24:32
didn't have a single extra base hit and scored five
24:35
runs in a game. I forget who it was. But regardless,
24:39
the Arkansas offense is the biggest concern here Alburn's offense,
24:43
like it's it's good to see if they can still
24:45
do that every once in a while. I just want
24:46
to see it happened a little more often. Great to see.
24:48
Speaker 1: Nonetheless, though, I want to just piggyback off that really quick.
24:52
Josh Andreas Alparez moving into the weekend, what were your
24:55
thoughts on that, if you could give me like two
24:57
sentences on kind of the overall you know, the transition
24:59
for him.
25:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not fully sure it's gonna be a thing
25:02
that sticks, because maybe the Thursday through it's like Saturday
25:05
thing is what threw that off, because a lot of
25:06
teams did that that said, it very well could and
25:11
I'd be four. I mean, he is a I think
25:13
his e RA is still sub one, So I mean, like,
25:16
if you're rocking at era like that eight weeks in
25:19
the season, like absolutely give him a shot. And it's
25:21
not like Jackson Sanders has played poorly per se, but
25:24
like he and Petrovitch look pretty good on Saturday as
25:27
those two being like Petrovitch starts Sanders at the first
25:30
part of the bullpen. That worked pretty well. And if
25:32
that's what you want to go forward with, that's fine.
25:35
Griffin Grave should be coming back really good soon. And
25:37
he was supposed to be the ace before the season
25:39
started then he got hurt. So I have no idea
25:41
how it plays out from here, but I'd be cool
25:43
with Andrea As being the second guy in that rotation
25:45
from now on.
25:47
Speaker 1: Well, the riches for the Tigers right now, ye Jake
25:52
Josh kind of alluded to it. Auburt or excuse me,
25:54
Arkansas's offense has been spottering, maybe two kinds of word
25:58
right now for the Hogs, Jake, when we look at
26:01
Arkansas on the weekend, we know that they it's not
26:04
gonna get any easier for them, But what's the biggest
26:06
takeaway from this road series loss.
26:11
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think it, I mean, I think
26:12
it just I think it just is the offense. Like
26:14
you know, going into the series, we we I mean,
26:16
you guys both just talked about it, but we had
26:18
concerns about both offenses. And you know, Auburn's got the
26:21
best of Arkansas this weekend, and like it just kind
26:24
of seems like Arkansas might just be like a streaky,
26:28
a streaky team at this point. Like, you know, they're
26:30
they're just hitting They're hitting two twenty four right now
26:33
in uh for a batan average and sec play and
26:37
like their ops is just over seven hundred and sec
26:40
play and like right now, outside of like Nolan Susa, Ryderhilfrek,
26:45
which Helfrik was awesome this weekend, they aren't getting much
26:49
out of their offense, you know. And then as for
26:52
like the pitching, you know, they're not going to give
26:54
up on gape back on, nor should they. But like
26:57
you know, Colin Fisher is gonna have to figure some
26:58
things out pretty quick and in a hurry, or they're
27:01
gonna he might lose his spot in the rotation. But yeah,
27:04
going back to the offense, Like guys like t J. Pompei,
27:07
Cam cam Coziel, Uh, Mica New Cahill Lloyd, Like they're
27:11
just not performing well enough for this offensive, for the
27:14
for this Arkansas team, and like, you know, they're gonna
27:16
need those guys to put up some offensive numbers if
27:18
they're gonna be able to to stay in games and compete,
27:21
you know, in this conference until the end of the
27:23
year or else. You know, they could find themselves, you know,
27:26
pretty far behind if they don't end up hitting it
27:28
all right.
27:29
Speaker 1: Without a doubt. Man, I the guys you just said
27:32
to Kocial new pompeii Uh, these are dudes who we
27:37
at the onset of this season were like, man, Arkansas's
27:40
wind up could be a little bit of a murderer's
27:41
ruin a lot of ways. Like they've got dudes who
27:43
can really go out and crush it, and they've done
27:46
practically everything. But with again, I will I will complete
27:50
the traffic to and credit writer Helford for an on
27:52
awesome weekend, and he continues to impress just just's he's
27:56
gonna be a sterling professional and a great prospect and
28:00
thus far either way, let's move forward, though, Jake I'll
28:04
stick with you here because let's I got to talk
28:06
about the Big Twelve. It's it's contractually obligated. It's in
28:09
my contract. I have to talking about the Big Twelve
28:10
on every episode now. Uh. The first place in the
28:14
Big Twelve, though now officially property of UCF Knights A
28:20
road series win in Morgantown two to one, is that series.
28:25
That's how it went against the West Virginia Mountaineers, not
28:29
how I thought it was gonna go, but I mean
28:33
credit to UCF really got it done. And Jake, I'd
28:38
love it if you could talk well about UCF. Maybe
28:40
what the biggest takeaway for them was this weekend?
28:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, this this series, this series was awesome, man. And
28:47
and what I and what I got out of it
28:49
was just that you know, u c F, Like you know,
28:51
u c F is for real. They kind of came
28:53
out of nowhere as at one point this year too,
28:55
like nobody had nobody expected them, you know, obviously, to
28:58
be as good as they've been this year, and like
29:00
they just kept winning, kept winning, and then I think
29:02
it was like a few weeks ago we looked at
29:03
their record, We're like, man, they've only lost you know
29:05
a couple of games this year and then they go
29:07
into I forget who they I forget what series it was,
29:11
but like they won another big twelve series.
29:12
Speaker 2: They kept winning.
29:13
Speaker 5: Then they go into this one and like obviously they
29:16
we talked about it last weekend, like we didn't know
29:18
how they would be without without Sauser going on game two,
29:22
like they're used to having him, and like just looking
29:25
at just looking at the series as a whole, Like
29:28
in Game one, you know, Braden Smith, he I think
29:30
he got hit in the face by line drive and
29:32
like left at the top of the you know, the
29:34
second inning. Like I haven't seen an update out there
29:37
for him. There might be one, I don't know, but
29:39
either way, obviously, you know, prayers for him, hope we
29:42
hopefully he makes a full recovery and we see him
29:44
again very soon. But like for the rest of that game,
29:47
you know, it's the pitching stuff picked him up very
29:49
very well. I think they pitched eight innings scoreless with
29:52
like seven strikeouts, only had three guys get on base
29:54
the rest of that game, Like they really pitched and
29:57
picked up Braden Smith whenever he was out of the game.
29:59
And then, uh, Game two was kind of a weird
30:02
one where like you know, where Matteo Gray went for
30:05
UCF in place of Souser and then Max Yell, who's
30:08
been really good this year, they both got uh rocked
30:11
in that game. Just to just to put it bluntly, like, uh,
30:14
this was you know, it was back and forth. I think,
30:17
uh yeah, Matthew Gravel ended up getting the walk off
30:19
hit on that one.
30:20
Speaker 2: But the man of.
30:22
Speaker 5: Game three was was Camden Wicker, Like you know, after
30:25
going you know, game one where they only got one
30:28
inning out of Braden Smith and then no matt Sauser
30:30
for the weekend, Like he really he really.
30:33
Speaker 2: Stepped up for this team.
30:35
Speaker 5: He went seven innings, uh six strackouts, three hits, just
30:38
one run like Wicker, you know, he really picked up
30:41
the slack where this this staff was.
30:43
Speaker 2: Kind of blacking a little bit. He did he did
30:46
his job.
30:46
Speaker 5: The depth was kind of running thin with the starters
30:48
going out, and he really carried him to a win
30:51
in that game. But Drew, Uh, if you don't mind,
30:54
I'd like to to ask you a question about this series.
30:58
Speaker 2: Is that Okay, can I do that?
31:00
Speaker 5: Of course you can, Buddy, So like it feels like
31:04
the title of best team in The Big Twelve is
31:08
kind of swapped hands a few times this year. You know,
31:11
we started out it was TCU, then we kind of
31:14
lean more towards Arizona State.
31:15
Speaker 2: Like I just want to ask you.
31:17
Speaker 5: You're the Big twelve guy, you watch them every single weekend,
31:19
Like how close are you to give in UCF that title?
31:23
Speaker 2: Are they? Like?
31:23
Speaker 5: Are they clearly a step behind still from Arizona State?
31:26
Like how do you how do you how do you
31:27
feel about it for UCF?
31:29
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for asking. It's incredibly sweet that
31:32
you care what I think. I don't care what. I
31:38
would still put Arizona State above U SEF, but that
31:40
gap is narrowly Like by the week man, you SEEF
31:44
is so good. I think about you know Williamson, who
31:48
we knew. Andrew Williamson we knew, and the outfield was
31:50
going to be a stud. He's got a very capable
31:53
hit tool, can play competent defense. I think you can
31:56
play all three spots, although I'd prefer him in a corner,
31:58
but I mean John Spith the third has been just
32:01
a revelation for me with them this year, and I
32:04
mean this is just talking strictly. Offense has been so
32:07
good and has really turned the burners on over the
32:11
last month and has has really been kind of the
32:15
lightning to Williamson's thunder. Outstanding stuff for them. I do
32:20
think I like Arizona State better. I would put the
32:23
Sun Devil's offense up there with anybody, especially Big twelve.
32:29
I dare say they're like a B tier offense across
32:32
the country, though, Like I love Arizona State's offense, and
32:35
I still like West Virginia. They've been super impressive. Yeah,
32:41
I'd say they're in that second tier though. Jake UCF
32:43
has been so impressive. What do you think.
32:49
Speaker 2: I think, I'm there with you.
32:50
Speaker 5: I don't know, man, like the way that they I mean,
32:53
just going in to Morgantown, which isn't an easy place
32:56
to play. You know, West Virginia's a really good team
32:58
and they're especially good at home them. You know, they
33:01
pitch you know well, you know, I just talked about
33:04
it like four times, but without two of like their
33:06
starters that they're used to having for the whole year
33:08
and win the series. Like I came away, I came
33:10
away really impressed with with UCF and like I wish
33:13
we could get a UCF Arizona State series like tomorrow.
33:17
Speaker 2: Like, I know it's not gonna I know it's not happen. Yeah,
33:21
I don't know. I guess I guess I'm more.
33:25
Speaker 5: I guess I'm in your boat kind of like I
33:27
think Arizona State kind of has to give me a
33:30
reason to not have them at the top right now.
33:33
And I don't think I'm quite there yet, but it's
33:35
really it's really close.
33:37
Speaker 1: It is, Josh, I really I would love your thoughts
33:41
on Jake's question as well, where you see a f
33:43
falls on your Big twelve pecking order, And then I'd
33:46
love it if you could tell me kind of what
33:48
the outlook is for West Virginia. Now, are you kind
33:50
of in the boat with Jake and I that this
33:52
hasn't dinged them severely? Or do you take the do
33:56
you take the approach of no, they showed that they
33:58
are quite human? What's your thoughts on these things?
34:01
Speaker 2: All?
34:02
Speaker 1: Right?
34:02
Speaker 3: Well, lots to hit on. I gotta organize my thoughts
34:04
first of all, for your first question, I think it
34:07
depends how you look at it. If you're going like
34:09
rankings versus ratings, I think in terms of a ranking system,
34:13
I will have UCF as the highest ranked team from
34:16
the twelve of my rankings this week, and we were
34:19
just talking about bracketology before we got on here. I
34:22
think UCF would be the highest seed right now from
34:24
what they've done so far and kind of projecting out
34:27
what's not on that schedule and what I think they
34:29
can do now. On the other side of that, I
34:32
think if I'm like if I'm power rating them, like
34:35
if I'm Vegas making lines for who I think as
34:39
the most likely chance to go to Omaha, say, I
34:43
think Arizona State still is number one for me there.
34:46
And to be fair, Jake was like, Jake said, Arizona
34:49
State has to show something to make him feel like
34:52
they're not the best in the Big twelve. West Virginia
34:55
did beat them in a series just last weekend, and
34:57
UCF now beat West Virginia. That said, U s F
35:00
an Arizona State play later on in the season. That
35:03
could switch it up again too. I don't know, we'll see,
35:06
but I think that's enough reason why, at least right now,
35:09
if you were to ask me who's the best Big
35:10
twelve team, I think I'd go with you, I think,
35:14
but it.
35:14
Speaker 1: Is we apply the transitive property a lot on this podcast.
35:19
What you're saying, Yes, West Virginia beats Ariason State beats
35:23
West Virginia. You see f Vizia's on.
35:25
Speaker 3: State, right, and that you just have no idea what's
35:28
going on.
35:29
Speaker 1: Or this could become like a rock paper scissors thing
35:32
or a Bulbosar charm Andrew Squirdal thing and everybody beats
35:35
one and the other.
35:37
Speaker 2: Right.
35:37
Speaker 1: Yes, big takeaways though for the weekend from West Virginia.
35:41
Speaker 3: Please, I still think I still feel fine about them.
35:45
To be honest, losing a home series like this isn't great,
35:48
but there's a couple of ways to look at it.
35:50
I think, first of all, the rest of the year,
35:53
their schedule. I mean, we talked about it beforehand. Coming
35:56
on here certainly not easy, but it's not the most
35:59
difficult thing in the world world. I think they can
36:04
still mess around in host I think they probably will
36:06
or it's gonna be really close. I think this weekend,
36:09
the fact that the one game they won was a
36:13
game in which Max Yale had his worst game of
36:16
the year, or at least close to it to this
36:18
point kind of comforting in a way. Although I do
36:21
want to mention I think it's hilarious. How like, not
36:24
that we have an effect on these games in any way,
36:26
but it's so funny that, like, if you asked me,
36:28
who is the single person who has talked about in
36:31
our our message group chat of the entire past week,
36:34
who's the single person talked about the most. Definitely Max
36:38
Yale and he was and bro seven shutty or he
36:42
was gonna get shelled for the first time all year.
36:44
I could have told you, sir, Unfortunately it was the latter.
36:47
But that's just always how that stuff seems to work out, apparently.
36:50
But I mean, like it's I don't know when the
36:53
other pitchers were, like Montesa was okay, I mean, like
36:56
it yeah, I think it was fine, just the offense
37:00
do on those days that said, do you feel any
37:02
less convicted about the top four or five guys in
37:05
this lineup? Because I don't. Just from this weekend we've
37:08
been talking about how the bottom of that lineup has
37:10
been kind of concerning. But no matter what happened from
37:12
this past weekend, I feel no less convicted about them,
37:15
and I still think they'll be able to perform the
37:16
rest of the year.
37:18
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I mean, I don't really feel any
37:20
less convicted about anybody on that West Virginia team. I mean,
37:24
marginally Maxhell, but I think even I I mean and Josh,
37:28
we can we can even pull the curtain back even further.
37:30
You and I disagree about Max Shell, and I mean
37:33
it's marginal, but I mean we disagree about him and
37:35
his outlook and his draft stock. I think I would
37:39
have said, and I think you would have, because I
37:41
hope one of you would have called me out if
37:42
I would have said it. This has been a heater
37:44
that would have been very unlikely to have continued for him.
37:47
But I still think he's an incredibly competent picture. Sure,
37:51
it's certainly West Virginia's best picture. This is just a
37:55
quality team, and I think I think it was almost
37:58
like what you said earlier. We learned a lot about
38:00
both teams this weekend, and I think it's going to
38:02
be for the better if they take it and use it,
38:05
especially in the case of Maxim. I'd say, so well done, boys,
38:10
Well done.
38:11
Speaker 2: Josh.
38:11
Speaker 1: I want to stick with you. I realized you spent
38:15
some time at home this weekend, So what I'm assuming
38:18
is that your unc fandom charged slightly by being closer
38:23
to actual un C fans, and so in doing so,
38:27
would you talk about that series what you learn?
38:29
Speaker 3: Actually, I was back home with my family. That's more
38:32
Auburn fans this weekend. But don't you worry. All who
38:35
were U and C fans were at the games, don't don't.
38:37
Don't you worry one bit.
38:39
Speaker 1: We saw the photo wearing their Walker.
38:41
Speaker 3: Mcduffy glasses on Saturday. And actually that's the main selling
38:45
point that I want to say from this weekend if
38:47
I have one, actually before I get into U and
38:49
see bird balls, no slouch. Just because they lost this
38:53
just because they lost this series to you and see
38:54
like a top six, seven eight team in the country. Indisputably,
38:58
that does not mean anything. They lost a one run
39:00
game in which they blew a lead on Saturday. This
39:04
is not like an indictment on them. That's a very
39:06
good team. I would imagine they would stay ranked at
39:08
most places who already had them ranked this past week.
39:11
I'm not dropping them much. I think that's still a
39:13
very good team. Aj Colo Russo is legit. I mean,
39:17
they can clearly keep up with the best of the best.
39:19
From the Carolina perspective, I feel like a lot of
39:22
my opinions are already kind of like solidified on them.
39:25
I feel like I feel like I have a good
39:27
read for what they are. Mostly. The thing that surprised
39:31
me in a positive way this past weekend the bullpen
39:34
really came through because there were a couple of really
39:37
tricky spots this week where were certain guys in the
39:40
bullpen who I would say Carolina would maybe at this
39:44
point consider their three best guys, maybe three or four
39:47
best guys really really stepped up. In Game two, Cad
39:51
and Glober came in for Jason N. Carro who just
39:53
couldn't throw strikes on Friday, and Glober had five and
39:57
a third innings, only allowed one run on two hits,
40:00
struck out five guys. On Saturday's game, Cameron Seagraves got
40:03
lit up really badly after Boas was all right and
40:06
Walker McDuffie and Jackson Rose eliminated, I mean, alleviated damage
40:10
really really well in that game too, and came in
40:13
and shut the door and allowed for a comeback to
40:15
get Caroline into the series victory. So, I mean, the
40:17
pitching staff is obviously the strength of that team, even
40:20
though guys like Schaffner and Winslow had good weekends too,
40:23
and they kind of have the entire year. I think
40:27
really seeing that bullpen come through in like actual high
40:30
pressure spots in a series that it really feels like
40:33
you can't lose it to do what they want to
40:35
do and be a national seed and everything. It's really
40:38
comforting to see that. And like Glober might work his
40:41
way into the weekend rotation at this point, but it
40:43
depends on how they want to play. That's that's an
40:45
on but it's going to be there for the next
40:46
two years and they're happy to have him.
40:48
Speaker 1: We had that conversation. That's been a wild but I
40:51
remember we had that October.
40:53
Speaker 3: It was a long time ago.
40:55
Speaker 1: It's been a while, but we talked about Glober being
40:57
potentially we can go for I think we even had
41:00
that conversation more recently than that, but like last week,
41:04
I'm saying, my brain is, yeah, we've been on the
41:08
collabor trade a minute. You're right, You're right on that.
41:11
Jake Josh put it really well, bird Ball, no slotch
41:16
BC is here to uh to stay. What's the biggest
41:20
takeaway for them this weekend?
41:22
Speaker 5: Pal, Yeah, I came away from this series like really
41:27
impressed by Boston College. Like you know, they go into
41:31
the tough environment and they fought hard. You know, they
41:33
were just you know, a couple of plays away from
41:35
like you know, winning the series, even they could have
41:37
done that, Like like in Game one. That's kind of
41:40
what stands out to me, not just because it's the
41:42
one that they won, but like they kind of they
41:46
really made a statement in that game.
41:47
Speaker 2: Like you know, the the.
41:49
Speaker 5: Expectations were, I don't really know where they were for
41:52
Boston College. Like I said, I think teams kind of
41:55
people still kind of weren't like completely bought in on
41:58
Boston College. They wanted to see them go do it
42:00
against a really good team like North Carolina, and like
42:02
aj col Russo was was awesome. I think I said
42:06
it when I was making my pick last week, like like.
42:08
Speaker 2: He's he's a legit he's a legit pitcher.
42:11
Speaker 5: Uh six innings, you know, seven strikeouts, five hits, no.
42:15
Speaker 2: One run not earned, just really really good stuff out
42:20
of him.
42:20
Speaker 5: And they have to feel great about him going forward,
42:24
you know, depending no matter. I mean, if they if
42:26
he can go and perform that well at North Carolina,
42:28
that they have to feel good about him being able
42:30
to perform that well against anybody.
42:33
Speaker 2: Uh.
42:33
Speaker 5: And then you know that that third game, uh, you
42:36
know they got on you know, they got on the
42:37
board early, and then they they answered uh with with
42:41
a few more runs later in that later in that game,
42:43
it just kind of went back and forth. They just
42:45
ended up not being able to to keep up there
42:47
at the end. But like, I don't know, I'm impressed
42:50
by Boston College. I think they fought really hard. Uh
42:52
And I'm I'm kind of with Josh. My opinion about
42:55
them doesn't doesn't really change just because they lost this
42:58
series at North Carolina. I don't know how you can
43:00
look at any team that loses at North Carolina in
43:03
your opinion would change in it. And it feels good
43:06
that they didn't get swept and they weren't like completely overmatched,
43:09
like they look good.
43:11
Speaker 1: Definitely they did, and that's that's unanimous with the three
43:13
of us. I don't think that you can drop this
43:15
team far at all. Super super impressed. That's official. We're
43:21
bird ball fans at college based at all now. But guys,
43:24
tons of other games that really deserving of our attention. Obviously,
43:28
we don't have unlimited time for the show and you
43:30
guys listening don't have unlimited time to listen us Proud
43:33
al Oregon dowters, you have been validated a series loss.
43:37
Michigan picks up two wins at home to take the series.
43:41
Ana and Arbor, Missouri prove they are not a pushover.
43:45
Two wins over Kentucky on the road, shock it all,
43:51
shocking all. And finally Alabama two wins on the road
43:55
in Mormond for their third straight series dub stuff and
44:01
yet one of us, one of us made that pick.
44:05
Who was it? Jake? You brought up something that you
44:09
wanted to talk about, so I think we can get
44:11
to that super quickly. Who's the top dog in the
44:15
Sun Belt as it stands today? Interesting topic of discussion.
44:19
There were three teams that I think I could reasonably
44:22
shuffle about here. I think I've got it narrowed to two,
44:26
and Jake, since you brought it up, I'd love to
44:28
hear your thoughts. Who's the top dog in the Sun Belt? Man?
44:34
Speaker 5: You know so so my rankings going into this weekend.
44:39
Before the weekend started, if I left Southern miss at
44:43
one and kept co set too, I was pretty close
44:46
to flipping those two before this weekend. But you know,
44:52
Southern Miss, let's just like just looking at this weekend
44:54
as a whole. They did lose a game to Old Dominion.
44:59
That's you're looking at looking at it as a whole.
45:01
They won the road series, like it's it's it's tough
45:04
to win in conference play on the road, no matter
45:06
what conference you're in or what level of competition it is.
45:09
Speaker 2: But like they play.
45:11
Speaker 5: At you know, at Old Dominion and they gave up,
45:14
you know, ten runs to Old Dominion in that second game.
45:18
And then I look at, say Coastal, who I still
45:21
probably have as my you know, right there with them.
45:23
They go they play South Alabama, who I consider I
45:26
consider South Alabama a good team. I consider them much
45:30
better than Old Dominion, and they won that series they
45:32
had they had kind of a stinker in game two
45:34
as well. But like the third team drew, I think
45:37
the one that you're hopefully referring to is Texas State.
45:41
Speaker 2: Do I have that right?
45:43
Speaker 5: They're twenty one and ten eight and foign conference play
45:47
like this is this is a good this is a
45:50
good team. I don't know quite that I'm ready to
45:55
put them above either Southern Miss or Coastal, but They're
45:58
They're creeping.
45:59
Speaker 2: They are a snake. Very good team. I like them.
46:04
Speaker 1: I think so too, Josh curious which dog is a
46:09
top the pyramid that is the sun Belt.
46:13
Speaker 3: I'm actually gonna go with the answer that you probably
46:15
don't expect me to say. I've obvio this. I don't
46:18
need to harp on it. Y'all know how vocal I've
46:19
been about Southern Miss all year, you I know, yeah, right, No,
46:24
not me. I think this is the first time all year,
46:27
or the first time in a while. I'm going to
46:29
switch them in my rankings in terms of the pecking order,
46:32
purely based on well two things. First of all, I
46:36
don't really feel great about either of these teams right now.
46:40
But I'll tell you something the coastal before the game
46:42
on Friday. Granted they want my thirteam South, they have
46:46
won thirty two straight sun Belt games, and they found
46:49
a way to come back in the ninth on Saturday
46:52
and pull that one out too. I feel more comfortable
46:56
with this team what they've done time over time in
46:59
Southern Miss. Look, they've dropped at least one game in
47:03
every single sun Belt series this year, if not lose
47:06
the series. As a whole and it's against not some
47:08
of the best teams either, so and like usually if
47:11
they win a series and they end up dropping one
47:13
of those games, they probably have to crawl back in
47:15
one game from behind, and it's a really close game too.
47:18
It's just really not what we saw from them in
47:21
the midweeks against SEC teams and in the non conference.
47:24
It's really we're not seeing that anymore. And look, as
47:28
someone who supported them and been on the on sellarn
47:31
mistrain all year, I'm really hoping they're just kind of
47:34
doing the whole hot cold hot theory thing. If you'll
47:36
know about that, I assume you do, because they started
47:39
out super hot and they're getting a little cold right now.
47:42
So maybe they just boost right back up at the
47:44
begin at the end of the year. Who knows, But
47:46
as it stands right now, Coastal looks better to me
47:49
for sure.
47:51
Speaker 1: Oh you guys are gonna make me break this tie.
47:55
I had Southern as my favorite just because of I
47:59
know what they are. I like, I like how they
48:02
could shut down teams. I think they historically, speaking before
48:06
this weekend, I would have said they shut teams down
48:09
better than Coastal, certainly better than Texas State. But again,
48:12
I just I looked at those three as my primary
48:15
three kind of candidates. I mean, looking again at a
48:19
scoring margin, though, I think that Coastal is certainly better.
48:23
I'm gonna go with Southern Miss. I think. Again. I
48:25
love your referencing the hot cold hot theory, Josh. I
48:28
was going to bring that up as well. So good
48:30
stuff there. I don't know, guys, if I had to, yeah,
48:35
I think that I think I would say Southern Miss.
48:38
But yeah, Coastal Coastal is really really tight, Jake. I
48:41
think this was an interesting discussion that you brought up.
48:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, before we before we move on to midweeks, I
48:48
have one thing that I would like to do, Drew.
48:52
Over the past couple of weeks. Oh yeah, over the
48:55
past couple of weeks, you've given me the opportunity to
48:58
rant about something for about a mint a group chat.
49:02
Over the past weekend, you've been very vocal. The beast
49:05
two weekends, you've been very vocal about how you want
49:08
to rant about a certain team that was a certain
49:10
color orange. You see this, Yeah, you got a minute.
49:14
I'm gonna give you a minute to talk about Tennessee
49:16
and rant about anything you want to okay, go oh uh.
49:23
Speaker 1: I want to be polite, I want to be kind.
49:25
I'm not gonna mention any players by name. I think
49:28
that this bullpen is incredibly shaky. I can't trust beyond
49:33
maybe two relievers right now if I'm being genuine, and
49:36
that's not counting one of three players who I think
49:39
play with play like Tennessee baseball has established themselves in
49:43
the last couple of years. The brand of baseball I
49:45
expect when I turn on and watch a team in Orange,
49:49
I'm only seeing it. Out of three players. One of
49:51
them I'm thanking God. Legitimately, I have prayed to thank God.
49:55
He's made it to campus in cam happenzill Or. He
49:57
has been a legitimate revelation. I can't wait to watch
50:00
him just deal and dice people next year in the rotation,
50:03
probably just be in the rotation currently. I want to
50:06
see the offense doing what they did this weekend without
50:09
fumbling out of the bullpen. I want to see the
50:11
rotation find something stable, and I'd like to see it
50:14
sooner rather than later. Oh gbovfl fair enough?
50:20
Speaker 3: Two seconds is fair? I feel like that we just
50:23
we couldn't go on without hearing a little Tennessee talk
50:26
from through after as much as I've heard about it,
50:28
I feel like if you've given me the opportunity to
50:30
rant about things that ninety nine percent of people listening
50:33
to this don't care about, then I should give you
50:35
the same opportunity. And people care about Tennessee baseball. The
50:38
difference is probably just not in the way that you
50:40
probably want. It's probably on the they might be a
50:43
little happy about this. I'm sure Jake and chime into
50:46
but it's would.
50:49
Speaker 1: I would say so. I mean, Tennessee, it's it's not
50:51
a secret that Tennessee has villainized. They've been villainized, and
50:54
I mean I think that the team's done it to itself.
50:57
But it's okay. It's fun. It's fun baseball to have
51:00
a team to root for to root against. And just
51:02
because the team I root for as a team that
51:05
the country probably sees is arrogant or cocky, that's that's fine,
51:09
because it's fun to watch, and baseball's more fun when
51:11
you have something fun to watch, a fun team to watch.
51:14
I'd love it if Jake could give his thoughts on
51:16
Tennessee super quickly before we.
51:17
Speaker 3: Move on there.
51:20
Speaker 5: I mean I'm kind of right there with you, Like,
51:23
I don't know. I love cam Eppenzeller. I wanna, I
51:26
want to I want to make that known. I'd like
51:29
to see him start at potentially at some point this year.
51:32
Speaker 2: That would be that would be a lot of fun.
51:33
Speaker 5: But he's really good in his role right now, you know,
51:35
the long relief he's that's Eastron balling. I don't think
51:38
they don't necessarily need to need to change that, but
51:41
what they do need to change is well, not necessarily change,
51:44
but but figure out is like you talked about, just
51:47
some sort of late game bullpen structure just.
51:51
Speaker 2: Because what they have going on right now is not
51:55
is not cutting it.
51:55
Speaker 5: Like when you have guys come in and you know,
51:58
go one third and or don't even in and out
52:00
without giving.
52:01
Speaker 2: Up a run, Like that's that's a that's a that's
52:04
a that's a problem. Uh. I don't know. I don't
52:07
like it.
52:08
Speaker 1: I don't either. We haven't said his name, and we've
52:11
got to give credit as well. Cata Embiidie came into
52:13
this game zero home runs in SEC play. He quadrupled
52:19
that number intoday's game four home runs, including a granny
52:24
in extras. Yeah, thanks Josh. That's that's the right number
52:32
you had to get there after anyway, no outstanding, truly,
52:36
I mean a truly abhorrent performance from Tennessee after regulation
52:41
got a credit blame Brown too. Two really timely and
52:44
good hits today, but I'd like to see a little
52:46
more fire out of him on the rink. Anyway, let's
52:48
move on. Hey, thanks Josh, I appreciate the opportunity to rent.
52:51
That was very kind to everybody. Thank you so much.
52:54
Uh salk midweeks though, Guys, looking at the midwek slate,
52:56
the game that I have highlighted as the one that
52:58
I most want to see is about two teams that
53:01
I have wanted to see a little more out of.
53:02
That's Florida and Florida State. A huge rivalry obviously between
53:06
these two teams, huge rivalries between the conferences obviously SEC
53:09
and ACC. Who's better? Does it just mean more? Does
53:12
it just mean you know something different? I think I'm
53:15
looking at Florida State to take this one. If I'm
53:17
being honest with the two of you, I think Florida
53:20
State has really eschewed any concerns I have about that offense.
53:24
This is the top tier team I think they're gonna
53:26
put the boots to Florida. It may be a little
53:28
bit of BTA this week for state. I would love
53:31
it if Florida could make it competitive though, because that's
53:33
a game that I have circle highlighted and start to
53:37
watch Jake put game. Are you looking forward to? I
53:39
think you're you're going out of the Sunshine State. You're
53:41
going to more Middle America, Buddy.
53:44
Speaker 5: I am directly Middle America. I believe Kansas and Nebraska
53:50
is playing, which is a really really like it's just
53:54
a fun like midwek These two teams just scream on
53:57
fun midweek teams and like, I just want to hit
54:00
on one thing with with with Kansas. The ending of
54:05
that Thursday night game for Kansas, dude.
54:08
Speaker 2: Crazy crazy stuff.
54:09
Speaker 5: They're down twelve to nine and go four four home
54:14
runs to walk it off against Utah. Dude, Like that
54:17
is that's insane. But like just looking at the looking
54:20
at the game, uh, between Kansas and Nebraska just going
54:24
off of like their midweek starters from their last one.
54:28
Kansas should have cannon car going uh and then Nebraska
54:32
Gavin Blahovitz is going to be going for them.
54:35
Speaker 2: I'm pretty surested that name right, I really hope I
54:37
did think and like both of them have been both
54:41
of them have been solid.
54:42
Speaker 5: Both of them have made uh uh starts this year,
54:45
and both of them have been solid.
54:47
Speaker 2: Love.
54:47
Speaker 5: But I think the you know the name of these
54:50
these midweek games is is offense most of the time.
54:55
Speaker 2: Uh.
54:55
Speaker 5: And Nebraska's coming off of a pretty big offensive weekend,
54:58
and the Bats are hot now for them. They got
55:01
they got, they got to pick on Penn State a
55:03
little bit. But uh, I'm expecting I'm expecting some some fireworks,
55:07
Like I think, I think, I do like an ambressive
55:09
I just a pick for the game, But that's what
55:12
I'm gonna be tuning into and paying a lot of
55:13
attention to.
55:14
Speaker 2: For sure.
55:16
Speaker 1: I'd like to watch that one too.
55:18
Speaker 2: Man.
55:18
Speaker 1: I think I said and typed Rock Chalk Jayhawk more
55:21
than I have in my entire life this weekend. So
55:24
gotta gotta put some love on Kansas as well. Josh,
55:27
you looking not at either Florida nor in the middle
55:30
of America. You're going out to the coast or maybe
55:34
back home if we will. What series are you looking
55:37
or what game?
55:39
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, Wake Forest goes to coastal Carolina. They'll be
55:42
playing for the second time this year. Coastal beat weight
55:46
ten for the first time, and I think both these
55:48
teams would really need this one right now for I
55:52
might not seem like because both teams kind of are
55:54
ramping things up a little bit. Coastal had a big
55:59
series week. I mean when this past weekend, in a
56:01
tough spot, Wake went to Pitt and got a solid
56:04
series win, which you know doesn't seem like that great
56:06
win on the surface, but Pitt might be a postseason team.
56:09
Like four scored twenty two runs in that second game,
56:12
and Jake kind of said it best. Midweek's typically the
56:14
offense is the story. We know what both of these
56:17
pitching staffs can be at their especially Wake right now,
56:20
but I mean last time we saw what Coastal did
56:23
against them in the midweek score and ten runs. Can
56:25
they do something like that again? I think they need
56:28
this a little bit more for their resume if they're
56:31
trying to host. I don't think Wake doesn't get attention
56:33
to host in any kind of scenario now, but Coastal
56:36
needs these as RPI boosters, and just beating an a
56:38
SEC team is good for morale at this point. But
56:41
it should be a fun one. Anytime Coastal plays an
56:43
ACC team in a midweek it's always fun.
56:46
Speaker 1: I love the phrase good for morale at this fuck.
56:48
That's such facts the center. Uh, you guys have got
56:53
one more each that I'm gonna let you mentioned super quickly,
56:55
maybe like a sentence or sentence and a half on each.
56:58
Beyond those though, you see and you see Santa Barbara,
57:01
a huge, huge series from JB's neck of the woods. Uh,
57:05
these two teams that we've criticized, what does the pitching
57:08
midweek look like? What does this offense look like? We're
57:12
gonna see them collide? I think I would. I'm not
57:15
gonna make that bold of statement right here. I'm excited
57:18
for that one. Missouri State and Missouri. Wow. I think
57:22
maybe even a week ago we might have said this
57:24
will be a radically different game. But man, what if
57:26
Missouri comes up with a little bit of chip and
57:28
a little bit of swing in their stuff? You a
57:30
be in Mississippi State, a game that if I did
57:33
not have such a busy week, I'd considered going to guys.
57:35
I think UA BE is very quality team and I'd
57:38
love to see them as startful Charlotte and North Carolina.
57:41
That is not a city in state. That's a matchup
57:44
we're gonna catch midweek. Charlotte has been I think we
57:46
reference Charlotte as being a really quality squad as well.
57:50
It's gonna be an interesting one. Texas A and M
57:52
and Texas State Cinema. I think that that one could
57:57
be really good as well. Josh, real quick, tell how
58:00
about your other midweek You've got your ass on.
58:02
Speaker 3: Before I say that, I do want to mention you
58:04
talked about the UAB Mississippi State game, something we haven't
58:07
talked about at all. I think the American is probably
58:09
the second best mid major conference behind the Sun Belt.
58:14
We talked about the big four teams we think can
58:16
win that South Florida, East Carolina, UTSA, Charlotte. Guess who's
58:20
number one of the conference right now? Though UAB people
58:23
not talking about it. That's a good squad. Actually, what
58:27
a transition from UAB just a little bit further south.
58:30
Two teams in the same state are playing And I
58:33
can't believe I'm about to say what I'm about to say,
58:36
But according to the rankings that will be out by
58:38
the time this podcast comes out, Auburn playing Jacksonville State
58:42
is a top twenty five matchup in my opinion, which
58:44
is just Acdine, but it's it is what it is.
58:48
At this point, I don't know who we're going to
58:50
start in the midweek at like at Pitcher, considering Andreas
58:53
is at the weekend rotation. Now I'm gonna assume Christian Chatterton.
58:56
But I'm actually just very excited to see this because
58:59
at this point Jacksonville State could be the favorite in
59:02
the Conference USA, maybe in Missouri State, maybe Liberty, but regardless,
59:06
they're I mean, they performed so well this year. They
59:09
just keep piling on wins. They were with them one
59:11
run of Bama last week and they almost pulled that off.
59:14
So we'll see what they can do against Auburn, who,
59:16
you know, like we've talked about before, performs way better
59:19
at home than on the road. So we'll see if
59:21
that matters.
59:22
Speaker 1: See if it matters, Jake, You've got one more kind
59:25
of similar to Charlotte, North Carolina. We're not talking to
59:28
city in state with your next midweek matchup. It's a
59:30
battle of two rivals.
59:33
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was getting ready to say this is a
59:35
this is a fun little in state out of conference
59:38
rivalry here. Louisville and Kentucky are playing in a midweek
59:42
this week, and like Louisville is Like Louisville's a team,
59:45
like you know, we talked about them in the preseason.
59:47
You know, they were an Omaha team last year. We
59:50
talked about how they lost their opening series to Michigan State,
59:54
then they scored twenty three runs on Xavier, and then
59:58
they played in the the Amity Banks Series and then
1:00:01
like after that, I don't know that we've mentioned Louisville
1:00:03
one time since that since that happened. So they deserve
1:00:08
some love because they've been playing some pretty good ball,
1:00:10
especially on the offensive side, which is where things kind
1:00:12
of get highlighted in midweek games that we keep talking about,
1:00:15
Like like Byron Hot is hitting over four hundred this year,
1:00:19
eleven hundred ops, Griffin Crane is hitting four hundred with
1:00:22
one thousand ops, Kadi Elam, Jimmy Nugent, Ben Slag, like
1:00:26
a lot of their off a lot of their lineup
1:00:28
is hitting over three hundred. Right now, they're hitting nearly
1:00:31
you know, they're hitting three thirty two as a team.
1:00:34
But a guy I haven't mentioned yet is Take Davis.
1:00:36
He might be my favorite hitter on this team. Take
1:00:38
Davis has nineteen home runs this year. He's hitting three
1:00:44
ninety two average, and he just hit a home run
1:00:48
this past weekend that went four hundred and ninety feet
1:00:51
against Duke. Like kids got some real power. I saw
1:00:55
him in high school. There was there was holes in
1:00:57
the swing. There was some swing and miss even in
1:00:59
high school. I think that's kind of what took him
1:01:00
off with some teams boards.
1:01:02
Speaker 2: But the kid the kick and hit.
1:01:04
Speaker 5: And I hope JV's listening right now because he would
1:01:09
love him to hear me talk really well about Take Davis,
1:01:12
but uh yeah, I just I want to.
1:01:14
Speaker 2: He needed to be mentioned. And then for Kentucky, you
1:01:15
know they're hitting right now.
1:01:16
Speaker 5: Too, like Hudson Brown, Jase Tarnish, Luc Lawrence, they all
1:01:21
have good numbers this year. But I wanted to. I
1:01:24
wanted to mention Louisville just because we hadn't talked about
1:01:26
him hardly at all this year. And I think it's
1:01:28
going to be obviously a fun rivalry game, but I
1:01:31
can't wait to see how the bats bats perform.
1:01:35
Speaker 1: Never a bad opportunity to get some Take Davis propaganda
1:01:38
on the pot either, Jake.
1:01:41
Speaker 3: I agree, especially especially with jb out and so he
1:01:44
can't talk about the other side of it.
1:01:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Always a good time to get that
1:01:51
propaganda in, especially when nobody's going to push back on it. Jake.
1:01:54
Let's stick with you, buddy. Tell the folks at all
1:01:56
what you're working on right now and where they can
1:01:57
reach you. Between our MSS.
1:02:01
Speaker 5: You can follow me on Twitter at Jake Barge. Kind
1:02:04
of the same old stuff going on over there. I
1:02:06
got my Midranger rankings coming out. But the one massive
1:02:10
thing I have coming up and I'll probably talk about
1:02:12
it in the next episode as well. As UCLA is
1:02:16
coming to Rutgers this upcoming weekend and I will be
1:02:21
there to see Rock and the boys hit the ball
1:02:25
around at Baton Field in the Scataway, New Jersey. I
1:02:28
will be there to watch it. It's gonna be so much fun.
1:02:31
I'm sure I won't be alone there. I'm sure there'll
1:02:32
be plenty of you know, large scouting presents. It'll be
1:02:35
at all three of those games. But I can't I
1:02:38
can't wait. I'm gonna I'm gonna be talking about it.
1:02:40
Speaker 2: Just as excited in our next episode two.
1:02:42
Speaker 1: I promise, can't wait. That's gonna be awesome. Man, Josh,
1:02:46
what are you working on? Where can the folks find
1:02:47
you between our episodes?
1:02:48
Speaker 3: Sir, you go find me on Twitter at Josh Catlet Three.
1:02:53
I think I'm gonna have another Bracketology come out this week.
1:02:56
God be with me with whoever I irritate with that.
1:03:00
I don't know what I'm gonna do because the bubble
1:03:02
is so confusing right now, and it's so hard to project.
1:03:04
But I always had a ton of fun doing it.
1:03:07
Rankings like usual, you know, at same all, same all
1:03:11
with that. But yeah, it's a lot of fun putting
1:03:14
out the stuff I do. But it boys it confusing sometimes.
1:03:16
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, Sorr right, nobody better to do it.
1:03:20
So well done, looking forward to all of that, looking
1:03:22
forward to the bracketology, looking forward to the mid major rankings, Jake,
1:03:25
I was so glad to see them come back. I
1:03:27
think I hit it with the Harry Potter. He's back, Jeff,
1:03:30
So proud of that. As always, If you want to
1:03:33
follow me between our episodes, you may do so on
1:03:35
the Twitter Machine, on Blue Sky, on Instagram. Hat Drew
1:03:37
is okay, got a lot of work that needs to
1:03:39
come out, but as a reference, it's been a crazy
1:03:41
little bit of time. We've got some rankings coming out.
1:03:44
I know that our deadline for College reports is actually
1:03:47
coming up, that we're going to have two lists come out.
1:03:49
College Daily Sheet is rolling along. All the stuff in
1:03:51
more you can find at prospects Live dot com. Start
1:03:53
as a little a seven dollars a month where you
1:03:55
can get all kinds of cool things. We've got tools dropping.
1:03:58
It feels like practically every day rankings for fantasy, for
1:04:00
real life, for the hobby, for obviously college baseball, and
1:04:04
they will be draft, which is the section of the
1:04:05
house that we specialize in here on the pod. All
1:04:09
kinds of wonderful things. And that doesn't include things like
1:04:11
live looks, things like articles, things like things to help
1:04:13
with your team, things like podcasts, obviously, all kinds of
1:04:17
great stuff. Want to shout out the Dynasty podcast. Want
1:04:19
to shout out the Dynasty Baseball Pickups podcast. Just everybody
1:04:23
is killing it at the site and we're proud to
1:04:25
be part of them. Want to remind you all we
1:04:29
will be back this Wednesday, obviously for the Weekend nine preview.
1:04:34
Until that time, though, reminding you as well. Be nice
1:04:36
to yourself, be nice to each other. We hope you
1:04:39
had an amazing Easter weekend, and until next time, for Jake,
1:04:43
for Josh, for JB. Sebastiano out there wherever he is.
1:04:48
I'm Drew and we'll see you later.
1:04:50
Speaker 2: Take care,