Hello, Monarch fans.
Welcome back to the Hudson Homer's podcast.
I've got CB with me.
He was on this fun, long adventure down into Alabama and Mississippi,
uh, potentially having coach Finwood join here a little while.
We will see, uh, if not, we'll definitely get to any questions
for him in the next episode, but.
CB, other than being tired from your 2 a. m. Arrival back into
Norfolk on a Monday morning.
How are things going?
4 a. m. Arrival.
Let's make sure we get all the credit.
Yeah, it was.
I got the, I got the full experience of, of the baseball road trip.
They're not getting until 4 a. m. It was, uh, that was, that was a lot.
We were, we were supposed to get in about midnight and they just kept, I mean, we
were, cause I, I happened to be, I wasn't flying with the team, you know, cause I'm
just kind of separate on my own thing.
They don't.
Um, but so we ended up on the same flights cause there's not a
lot of options of getting out of Mississippi back to back to Norfolk.
Um, so we were getting, we were in Jackson and gotten delayed, delayed, delayed.
I think it was supposed to be a seven 30 flight.
Didn't leave till like nine 30 or something like that.
And then out of Atlanta, it was supposed to be a 10 30 flight.
We didn't leave there until like around.
2 a. m. And then even by the time we're getting into Norfolk, I watched
the guy next to me had the map up and like, we're like circling all around
Hampton road is trying to avoid.
So even at the very end, it's still like 10 minutes longer.
Uh, but, uh, for some of you, we had a great game on Sunday and we won.
So, uh, the mood was still fine.
We're all just like, Hey, we just want to get home.
And then, you know, it's, everybody just wants to be in their own bed.
Cause they were, they had left on the Wednesday before.
So they, they had been gone for 12, I'd been gone for 10 days.
They've been gone for 12.
Um, but I'm great.
I got to sleep last night, finally in my own bed.
It's fantastic.
You, you don't realize how much you miss it.
Uh, pillows are huge.
The casino pillow was terrible.
Uh, but you know, Hey, I'm, it was, it was a lot of fun.
Yeah, well, it sounds like it was an exciting trip.
I'm glad that it ended on a win, because I imagine that made the travel back much,
much better, much better day on Monday, trying to start rehabbing from that.
We know that the William Mary game was originally supposed to be Tuesday.
It's moved back to Wednesday.
And we got the rest of the confirmation of the home schedule.
Georgia State coming to War Memorial Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
There were some adjustments to the game times.
Friday is going to be 3 p. m. Saturday, Sunday are now 1 p. m. I think it was
originally pushed out as 11 a. m. It'll be 1 p. m. Saturday, Sunday at War Memorial.
So if you got pregame plans, you got a couple more hours to go.
Enjoy yourself before you head down across the street from
the Hampton City Jail Annex.
It should be.
I had not, I've been there a million times.
I had never, I got to War Memorial, you know, 20 times a summer.
I had no idea there was, the jail was right there.
Um, but no, it should be great weather.
Uh, yeah, it was, it was, uh, it was great of, um, William and
Mary being able to push that game.
I know we, number one, the late travel and number two, it's like, well, you
know, we don't really know the bus has got all the equipment driving separately.
Who knows if the equipment's really going to be there by, uh, by like
right now they would have been playing.
Um, so.
Yeah, I'm sure that nobody was sad about the game being pushed.
It's probably not even the William Mary guys.
I think everybody doesn't mind that.
No.
And you mentioned to me, like the players are probably ready to go that next day
because they're 18 to 22 year olds.
Imagine the coaching staff felt differently.
Yeah.
The players probably would have would have, you know, yeah, we're
going to game at noon, whatever.
It was like the coaches and me, we wouldn't have been able to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
And, uh, you know, from our last episode, coach Finwood.
Didn't have a whole lot of, of a voice.
He's definitely feeling better, which is a good thing.
Yes.
Um, but nothing worse than being on a long road trip and get
sick kind of right in the middle
of it.
He is good.
Yeah.
And there was a lot of pollen down in, um, in Hattiesburg and the place was just
covered every time I went to the rental car, it was covered in pollen, like we
were there in the dugout, like the whole Inside the dugout is covered in pollen.
The rails are covered in pollen.
So, uh, at the airport on Sunday and all the guys are just still
sniffling and sneezing and all.
So I'm, I'm sure a few of them are probably still feel a little bit of that.
And hopefully, you know, getting over cause just, just allergies,
nothing like sickness or anything.
Well, they should have all built up the same immunity at this point.
Cause they've been in such close quarters for the past, you know, two weeks.
Uh, so hopefully we're, we're good to go there.
Cause there's definitely some more travel trips on the horizon.
Uh, we go two and five on this, this long road trip.
I mean, all of those games against raked opponents.
I don't think anyone here is two and five and necessarily happy about
that, but definitely better than going one and six or Oh, and seven.
So we get the win against Auburn.
We get the win against Southern medicine.
I kind of feel like we had every opportunity to go and win that
Saturday game at Southern Miss.
We just kind of had that meltdown inning that really doomed us and the
offense couldn't get back going again.
Yeah.
And even before that, you know, we had the, um, and I, in the moment
I'm blanking about who it was.
We had the runner on third base and I want to say the fifth inning, sixth inning with
no outs, lead off batter gets to third.
Um, and we got three guys coming up with no outs and three strikeouts.
Could not put the ball in play, couldn't get a ground ball,
couldn't get a fly ball, nothing.
You've got guy in.
Um, and so that's frustrating.
I know if any pointed out to him, say, Hey, at that point, the game
is five to three, the way you manage in a five to three game, the way you
play in a five to three game is just.
It's different than the way you play in a four to three game.
I always, I mean, three runs in mentally feels like a lot, two runs.
It's like, Hey man, we can two runs, nothing like two runs can
happen on accident three, just for whatever reason, it's like a lot.
So yeah, that, that obviously, you know, the inning there, um, with, with Ben,
it did not go over a bit, Ben more, it did not go well, but even before
that, it's like, Hey, you know, winning teams capitalize on these things.
And that's still the little mistakes and little things that,
you know, this team has got a lot of things they need to tighten up.
You know, a lot of time, a lot of moments we play sloppy there.
The defense sometimes a sloppy the offense sometimes again because they're not now.
Now I will say things went in better directions.
He really got on him, especially after that friday night when,
um, frankly, it was just embarrassing against Southern Miss.
Uh, so things went a lot better next couple of days, which led
to, you know, doing all the right things on sunday to get the win.
Yeah, the friday game was definitely a difficult one to watch.
Like that was, that was not the team that we've been watching so far this season.
Despite what the record says, you know, they're ball team.
Uh, and that w of the wheels falling off I was glad to hear that C rest
of the staff kind of bit, a little bit of moti played better on saturday
And then, of course, we have the big eighth run eighth inning, and as I'm
sure they've now experienced on the road, when you have those big crowds that get
loud, like you see at Southern Miss and Auburn, even Mississippi State, they came
down to Biloxi and packed the place out.
Once you start, once you kind of start that slide, the crowd gets
into it, it becomes even harder and harder to overcome, and you can
turn into these eight run innings.
that really doomed us.
Because I mean, we really hadn't played poorly at all up until that eighth inning.
So you're just kind of getting it out here, getting it out there away
from going down and winning a series against a ranked Southern Miss team.
You feel a lot different at two and one.
And unfortunately, that's, that's not where we are, but we've got some
opportunities ahead of us to start getting back more in that win column, to start
gaining some ground in the Sunbelt.
Uh, cause we are not last in the Sunbelt.
Uh, there were three teams that got swept this weekend.
Teams who didn't necessarily expect Georgia Southern, South Alabama, Texas
State all got swept this weekend.
Coastal, Georgia State, who's coming to town this weekend, and
App State, uh, that we have the following weekend, they are all 3 0.
So, the Sun Belt's still wide open in case you're worried that it got
settled in the first weekend series.
Now, as, as what you said there, is those, doing those little things that,
that, That's the difference between being two and one and being one and two,
it's different between, you know, maybe being three and four or four and three
on the road trip instead of, of, of two and five, you know, that, and that's the
difference is what's going to make you a team is good and can compete at the level.
They really should be able to compete at and a team that has the
record they have right now, you know, that, that's the reality.
And yeah, the, the Finney and the coach is definitely, there was, it was
a challenge after the game on Friday.
It was like, look, this is not, I mean, basically it came down to like, this
is not what old dominion baseball is.
And he said, this is not what it's been for years and years, years,
definitely not been what it's been since Finwood's been here.
Um, and so that's just not going to be, I mean, there was at the one
point it was like, Hey, you know what, if you're not willing to do these
things, turn your uniform in, um, you know, I mean, that's the reality.
It's it, it, it really, I think it's what.
Unfortunately, some guys need, I think sometimes, you know,
sometimes guys need to hear the reality, like, Hey, this isn't okay.
What we're doing is not okay.
And, you know, it's like, yeah, it's not everybody.
I mean, there's some guys, no matter what, they're going to
be running through a brick wall.
Uh, but some guys are just, you know, everyone has different motivations.
Uh, you know, I don't care what.
If you're playing baseball, what you're doing in life, people motivate
differently, think different things, reach them in different ways.
Um, and unfortunately sometimes you got kicked in the teeth.
Sometimes that's a motivator.
I know the last time I ever got punched in the face made me say, I'm never
going to get in a situation where I got myself punched in the face.
Like, all right, I'll, I'll talk my mess and then leave real fast.
I'm not going to stand there and talk my mess anymore.
Yeah.
Typically good.
Especially when you start getting in the upper thirties to try
not to get punched in the face.
Cause it doesn't, you don't bounce back as well as you did when you were 21 and
you were drinking beers 30 seconds later,
43. If you punch me in the face now, my whole face will probably implode.
Like it's, it's over for me.
It'll turn to dust.
I'll just turn into a little cloud.
It'd be like, it'd be like the end of a vendors infinity war where everyone was
just like, Mr. Stark, I don't feel good.
One of those,
the snap happens and we're, the snap would
be my whole, all the bones in my body.
If you punch me.
And, you know, going to the doctor is not exactly a cheap experience anymore.
So, uh, but there were some bright spots.
We saw some guys kind of come to life offensively that I've been struggling
lately, TJ Aiken, one of them, uh, Luke waters, I think also had a nice bounce
back, uh, hitting a couple of home runs for us, come up, coming through big.
We saw some guys start to find their footing offensively,
which we desperately need.
Yeah.
Luke was, uh, he was three for 11, uh, with two homers, three
RBIs and a hit by a pitch.
So, I mean, you know, not an amazing week, but he had the two home runs.
And again, that was after that Friday game, uh, that he came right
out and just said, boom, boom.
And, you know, that was where we were up on Saturday and feeling good.
Um, you mentioned TJ, another nice week for him.
And he's, he's, he's a really talented ballplayer.
He is one of my favorite guys.
I just, I love the kid.
Um, he is, he was five 14, uh, had two walks, three RBIs, hit a home
run, stole a base, had a sack fly.
So another good week.
Um, let's see who else I write it down here.
Tyler Zedalis.
Now he only had the one good game.
Um, but he was still three for 10 for the week.
Cause he was three for four, uh, on Sunday, missed the cycle by a double.
Uh, I was, I really wanted it with that.
And that last, that bad, so bad.
I was like, Oh man, I want to double.
I've never seen a cycle in person.
Uh, so yeah, Homer triple two RBIs, um, which was great.
You know, he, they said they did a few little adjustments in his swing.
Um, he's, he's one of those guys and he, he looks like a ball player.
Like he's always, you know, he, he's, he's got the size, he's got the look
and, and you really, you see the talent there, so it'd be, it'd be nice to see.
Uh, see Tyler really do well.
Uh, Zach Leite had a, he had a, you know, it wasn't an amazing week, but a
four out of 15, uh, had a Homer and big Homer in the, uh, the, um, Mississippi
state game had a double two RBIs.
Um, and Kyle Edwards, of course, had an outstanding week.
He was seven for 16.
Uh, two walks had a double, two stolen bases.
So he was, he was, uh, so yeah, we've definitely seen some of the hitters,
um, get back in the right direction.
Uh, Efrain Morales was really scuffling there.
I think he, I think he hadn't had a hit since the home run,
the very first at bat in Auburn.
And then I had a couple of hits on Sunday.
Um, so yeah, we're, we're seeing some guys moving right direction, uh, which is nice.
Yeah.
And Efrain might've moved down in the lineup, uh, mainly on that, that
Sunday kind of take a little bit of pressure off in the leadoff spot.
Kyle Edwards jumps into that role and he has three hits to kind of help.
Propel us to that, to that win on Sunday.
Um, yeah, you're talking about Zach Leite and, uh, we're going to Bailey Matela
joining us here in just a few minutes.
Uh, but you tell me about Zach Leite.
I had to get this from the Mississippi state game.
Uh, the awesome shot you got of one, this is the home run celebration.
Two, those jerseys are pretty nasty.
Those are awesome.
Yeah.
The black uniforms of the black hats.
It's, it's a solid look.
They, they definitely have had those before.
It's been a while.
I want to say, I want to feel like, like the kind of Adam Bainbridge and
the sentence, that kind of era, you know, the 17 or so maybe pre Vinnie
Pasquantino early Vinnie Pasquantino.
Uh, so it's, it's been a little while since we've worn these.
Yeah, I know that for a while Under Armour was pushing out kind of like the black
alternate uniforms or everything because we had them for football and a couple
other sports, but throwing this in every once in a while is not exactly a bad
thing, especially with the hat combo too.
And you know, the home run chain is fine.
You throw that on any time you want.
And that level of excitement.
Yeah, exactly.
That, I mean, that was not a, that was not, that was not a small feat.
He had a, he had that big bomb there and that was there
in a Biloxi, which is funny.
It's a, it's a double a park.
Um, that really, to me is, it feels a little more like a single a park.
We just happened to have double a in it.
Uh, it's a nice ballpark, but it's, it's funny how compared to Auburn,
which we'd been to right before is like, this is no comparison.
Auburn's college baseball park is.
way nicer than this professional double a ballpark where guys are like a step away
from getting called to the big leagues.
Um, but that was, that was a really neat night.
Um, it was again, Mississippi state was the home team.
Um, and I, you know, being from here, I haven't really have a
good bearing on where Mississippi things are in Mississippi.
Mississippi state is four hours away from Biloxi and they had this double a
ballpark, which I don't know what it sees.
Yeah.
Four or 5, 000 people.
It was packed.
I think all, but the very, very ends like down the first and third base line,
those, those sections were a little bit empty, but everything else was just like,
I, I couldn't leave the dugout to go around anywhere and take pictures because
like, there's nowhere I could sit to go.
I wanted a couple of times.
I was like, well, I'd like to get different.
I am like, I'm like, there's no seat.
There's nowhere I can not be in the way somewhere.
And that's wild to bring that many fans from that far away.
And I know that they have fans all over the state and a lot of them
are probably more local, but still.
You know, Check and see what the attendance is like at War
Memorial over the weekend, which is just across the river.
It's just going to be a different environment, different,
different culture down there.
Uh, the whole trip
was like that.
It was like, this is where you want to be as a team.
Cause I know Southern baseball is different now.
And now again.
Now, Auburn right now has no more basketball team and their
football has been amazing.
So they're just like sports.
But like, you know, Mississippi state, you don't really miss the
state football or basketball.
You definitely don't hear anything about Southern Miss football or basketball.
They're baseball schools.
Um, so it's, it is easy for them, you know, To push that and be so
big at, but it, it really, it shows like Southern miss all weekend,
they were packed even the Saturday night after the hurricanes and all.
I mean, the attendance wasn't as big, but there were a lot of people there.
And it was really, it's really neat to see like, okay, this is what you want.
You hope.
And you hope as you, you build this new stadium and you hope you get Keep
being better and keep having the program that you want to have and showing up
and playing the way you want to play that you get, because there are three
very aspirational, uh, situations where you've got to experience.
Yeah.
I think the way you get there is you've got to build the program
up to be consistently ranked.
And we're not far off that.
If you go and look at like our last 10 year, like we're.
We're right on their heels in terms of what we are as a program,
the new stadium will help a ton.
Um, I think anything we can do there in the NIL space and with the
roster size limits changing, like that could actually benefit us.
I can't remember if any said this, but they said Auburn has 2 million in
NIL money on their baseball roster.
Um, not sure.
I think we, I think it was something like 250, 000 for Southern Miss, which
is, you know, it's not 2 million, but compared to the zero that we have,
uh, because again, now, now if I'm at Southern Miss, like I would, I would
put all my money into the baseball because the baseball could be good.
I don't think Southern Miss football or basketball is going to be national
contenders, but again, that's the reality.
There was Sunbelt team.
And just like us, one of the things I think is cool is that our
teams in baseball can be ranked.
You know, in the top 25, which is something that unfortunately football,
who knows if it'll ever happen basketball.
It's been a long time, uh, and our teams can beat ranked teams.
You know, we, again, we were two, we were two and five on a road trip.
We played seven games against top 25 teams and won two of them.
I don't know that that would happen in football or basketball.
We gave them seven chances against top 25 teams to play and what they
beat when two of them, uh, you know, again, that's just not, that's just
not the reality of the levels are just so different that we actually Yeah.
As a mid major can compete and can, could very easily with some things
happening, become a perennial top 25 team.
Absolutely.
And I think we're closer to that than people realize in terms
of being like Southern Miss.
Like, I think you're always going to have the Auburns and Mississippi
States that they just get so much money in TV revenue and donations.
You're not going to compete.
So you look at who you.
The SEC is
different.
Yeah.
And I mean, that's even different compared to the ACC.
If you look at the money, like there's a, just as big of a gap
between those and there is to us.
Uh, but the Southern Miss is the baseball program we want to compete with.
I think in the Sunbelt, like they've been the perennial team.
They were really great with us in conference USA too.
So, but that's, that's right there
too.
They're competitive.
Yeah, you're right.
There are these teams, you know, again, you don't have to be Auburn, you know?
Yeah.
It'd be amazing.
That'd be why I would phenomenal.
Right.
You don't have to miss it, but you're right.
There is no reason we can't be at the kind of level and doing the kind
of things that Southern Miss does, because there, there, let me tell you,
their place wasn't anything special.
Their ballpark wasn't anything special.
It was nice.
You know, they got, they got seats there.
It's cool.
You know, they got, and some of it was benches.
They have the fields.
Nice.
It's all turf field.
Um, the dugouts aren't especially amazing at the, the, the visitors one, this kind
of little janky, honestly, which, you know, I'm sure they did on purpose because
you walk over to the, the, the home side.
I still, the way it's, the way it's constructed is weird.
It's just kind of like down this little.
Pit.
Uh, but the home side had all the nice new finishing and stuff and they have a
nice bullpen area, nice hitting facility, you know, but it's nothing like, again,
it's not like what we saw at Auburn.
Right.
So they're not working with any kind of, you know, facilities that are
any, you know, great shakes, amazing and better than OD probably by the
time we finished the stadium, we'll have everything nicer and better, I
would imagine, but that just that.
You know, the, the community down there, this is true.
Now I will also say, having been in Hattiesburg for the whole, you
know, three or four days there, there's nothing else to do.
There's a reason, there's a reason they pack the place.
Like, and I, and I think about, we started talking about some of the
different places, you know, now we don't have that same excuse with like.
You know, down Conway, right?
I mean, Conway is close enough to Myrtle Beach.
There's plenty to do.
But that's one thing here in Hampton Roads.
There's a lot to do.
So we do, I mean, you have to remember that sometimes you're competing with
a lot of things and, and so that's a different thing, you know, but
yeah, you're, you're in Hattiesburg.
If you want to do something on a, on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, that's
probably about your best option in town.
Yeah, I mean, and also down the South, they don't have a lot of Major League
Baseball teams, so they cling to their college teams like, you know, we would,
our MLB teams, uh, we can get there though, we just, we got to market it
the right way and we got to get the product on the field, which I think is
going to go in the right direction and we'll get better with a new facility.
You're, you're dead on man.
It's the fans that make that experience like that right field corner where you
can back up your truck and tailgate and watch the game is one of the
coolest things in college sports.
So, and we start that we had,
you know, rally alley is great.
That was a, that was the thing that Finney brought in.
Cause they had that when he was at Western Kentucky.
Um, and, and, you know, we, that's a really.
I don't go down there much because, you know, I'm taking pictures and all.
It's just not, and it's also just in general, not my scene.
I just want to watch the game, but for the people who like it, I'm the worst
one because I would never be good at building a program and all, because
I just want to sit there and watch my game and kind of, I'm not, I'm not
there for like the hanging out and stuff that you guys like and enjoy.
But it is, it's great.
And like the times when we have, you know, some of the former players come
and they're, and they're, they're good for, you know, yelling and Raz and the
other team, and then a fun way, which again, not really my thing, but like
it's, it's, it makes for atmosphere.
So we're, we've got the building blocks.
We, you know, we've got the stuff and you just, you want to see the fans keep
getting more invested, more involved and making these kinds of things happen.
Bring your friends, come to the games, you know, Hey, frankly, look, I know we
don't have home games this year, right?
Harbor park's right there in Norfolk.
No excuse.
You can't go to those games.
War Memorial.
It's just across the bridge.
I know people in Hampton Roads hate, hate, hate, hate, hate going to other cities.
I know if you can't, you tell someone in Norfolk to go, go to Virginia beach.
They think it's like the other, you know, some of the Jimmy's to go to
Chesapeake, get across the bridge.
It's not that hard.
Okay.
Just do it.
And for those of us in Richmond and on the peninsula, this is actually easier.
I'm an hour 15 door to door to war Memorial.
So I'll be down there Saturday.
I might be an hour
15 door to door to war Memorial.
Yeah.
Well, you got to grow.
You got to deal with the time.
So, all right.
Well, uh, we're going to take a quick break and come back.
We'll have Bailey Matela to hop on with us.
This episode of the Monarchist podcast is brought to you by
the pride of ODU collective.
Their mission is to elevate the experience of student athletes through
name, image, and likeness, while also elevating the fan experience.
If you or your business are interested in getting involved.
You can reach out to us directly or go over to the pride of odu.com.
That is the pride of odu.com.
Thank you for listening, and go Monarchs.
All right, welcome back Monarch fans.
We've got Bailey Matela, who has joined us here, uh, fresh off of the long road
trip through Alabama and Mississippi.
So Bailey, really appreciate you taking some time outta your day, one of your
few days that you've actually had at home this, this baseball season.
But, uh, how you doing Bailey?
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, definitely.
Well, long road trip, basically two straight weeks on the road.
Just kind of what were your overall thoughts of that trip and the
experiences that you had there?
Yeah, no, I definitely thought it was a lot of fun.
Um, but just being with the guys the whole time.
So there was some long days, definitely some boring days, but
especially those travel days.
Um, but no, just being with everyone, getting to hang out in the hotels,
I feel like really was a lot of fun, brought us all really close.
Yeah.
Do you have any, uh, guys that are like your, your favorite guy?
Like who, who are your like best buddies?
Say that again.
Who, who are like the guys who are like, you're like, these are my favorite guys.
These are, these are my, these are my boys.
Um,
man.
I mean, that's a fun hanging out with a lot of them, but I mean, I
roomed with Kellen both, both weeks.
So being with him was a lot of fun.
Didn't get tired of him, which I'm surprised because that was
a long time to be together.
Did you figure out what exactly he does to throw that Raptor pitch or whatever
we're, we're calling it these days?
No, I still have no idea.
I wish, I wish I did.
It's the eighth wonder of the world is that that pitch that he throws.
Well, you came into some pretty big high leverage situations over the weekend
against good teams with crazy crowds.
Mainly, you know, obviously getting through a pretty important bridge
inning there to get the win on Sunday.
What was it like warming up with that crowd around you
and then coming into the game?
What were your feelings there?
Yeah.
Honestly, it's, I mean, you get used to it.
Um, you just kind of use it to fuel you, I guess.
Like, I don't really pay too much attention to it.
Um, just, just kind of use it to get some good energy going and get ready.
Kind of gives me like that.
I just want to beat your team even more now.
So
that's great.
So, uh, you're a, you're a local guy, right?
So what city did you grow up in?
I know they list Norfolk.
Is that where you grew up?
Yeah.
Okay.
Um, yeah, I know like the first, you went to Greenbar Christian High
School, Greenbar Christian Academy.
Uh, you were coached by Pat Nichols, who great, you know,
former Old Dominion Monarch alumni.
Uh, he, a lot of people, if you don't know, he at one point was
the, uh, had the second most home runs ever in a season to ODU.
Uh, it was a catcher played professionally for the Washington
Nationals, uh, the minors.
One of my favorite guys, Pat's, I've known him all about 20 years.
One of my favorite guys, I remember, I think you were in eighth grade
and he was like, he was like, yeah, I got this big lefty.
He's going to be really, really good.
And I was like, he'd be kind of point you out.
I was like, well, he's big.
I know that it was like, so, so it's, it's pretty, so you're a junior now.
So it's, it's kind of amazing.
Like, like, like got to see you play over the years.
Um.
Tell us about like you ending up at ODU.
Like, how did you kind of end up getting recruited, getting to ODU?
What made you choose ODU?
What, what keeps you here?
Right.
I mean, cause like in the, in the Portland area, right.
What keeps you staying at ODU?
Yeah.
Um, I mean, high school, it's actually a really funny story of how I was recruited.
Um, during COVID I was throwing bullpens in my driveway.
Um, and Mike Maron.
And his family were on a bike ride and saw me throwing a bullpen in my driveway
and gave me a call later that day.
So that's a really funny story of how I was recruited.
Um, and then from there, all the kids
in Norfolk need to go out and throw a bullpen to their driveways.
Yeah,
exactly.
Yeah.
Um, but after that, I was pretty, pretty quickly after I think I committed.
And then, I mean, It wasn't, it was an easy decision, a great program
right in my backyard and all my family can come out and watch and support.
And like, I mean, they can, they could walk there if they wanted to.
I mean, we are right there.
I guess I realize, yeah, because I know your, your mom and your granddad are
at basically every game you typically have a pretty nice cheering section.
Anytime you come in.
Yeah,
that might be the wildest recruiting story.
I've heard, like, literally rides past you on a bike, sees you throwing.
Is he like, stop, take the helmet off.
I come walking over.
Like, is that basically how that went down?
Um, I, I actually didn't even notice.
He said he stopped and watched a few pitches, but he'd, he'd
seen me play before, but yeah,
let's just pull the radar gun out of the basket on the bike and just
see what you're paying in there.
Yeah.
Oh,
that's great.
That is awesome.
Well, speaking of your family, this is one thing I don't think I've ever
asked you or, or talk to your mama, but your mom played college basketball.
Is that right?
Yeah, she did.
I think she played one season and then she got hurt.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's dope though.
That's all right.
It's one of those things.
I mean, you know, you're a college athlete.
I don't think it matters what level of college you're playing
at, where you're playing at.
Like being a college athlete is impressive.
I don't, I don't really care what you're playing, where you're playing it.
Uh, at least you're doing e sports.
I might not be as impressive to me, but
yeah.
The ODU e sports team is actually really good.
So
are they good for that?
Hey, there you go.
I apologize to the ODU e sports team that I didn't know existed.
Yeah.
Did you know there was a
thing, Bailey?
What's that?
Did you know ODU Esports?
Did you know that existed?
I, I did not as well.
There you go.
All right.
So we, they, they gotta, they gotta get a little more better
with their marketing, I think.
Yeah, I think that's why they keep reaching out to us.
Uh, they've got like a whole little stadium where they play and all,
all kinds of cool stuff, but,
uh, check this out maybe.
Yeah.
Well, since we're on the topic of video games, I'll go ahead and ask
you this now and put you on the spot.
So, uh, we know the college football game came back.
There's going to be a college baseball elements of the new
MLB, the show that's coming out.
If you had to give yourself an overall rating.
What would that be?
And then what attribute would you have the highest point on?
Like, would it be like velocity, control, command, and then
what's your overall rating?
Oh, wow.
That is a good question.
Uh,
I mean, I would definitely say my top attribute would be probably like
break on like my off speed pitches.
And then overall,
I mean, reliever, I don't throw the hardest, but.
I'd say like, uh, I'd say like an 85, we'll give himself an 85.
Ooh, okay.
Solid, solid rating.
85 with Great Break.
You can work with that.
You can win games with that.
I like the, I like the, the relievers are, you guys are always so funny, cause
y'all are, y'all are always so like modest, you know, you're like, like,
let me get, I'm gonna be realistic.
It's, you know, like Jay Cassidy last year was my favorite.
He's like, I like an 82, like a sneaky 82, you know, it's like, like an 85
lefty reliever, like we can work with that in any video game I've ever played.
I'm down with that.
Right.
Let's do it.
Yeah, well, this year is obviously a unique one, not getting to play any
games at the Bud and you get like some kind of home games of War Memorial.
I'm sure playing at Harvard Park is going to be awesome from you being a Norfolk
native, but how has this travel schedule impacted like your throwing schedule?
Does it, has it thrown any of that timing off, especially coming off of
basically two straight weeks on the road?
Right.
Um.
These other teams have been really good about letting us use their field
when we need to like as long as they're not out there, obviously, but, um, I
think the biggest thing it's impacting is just you have to sleep in a hotel.
You don't have your own space.
And then obviously, like we don't have access to a lot of things,
like if we wanted to go to the field and just stretch or throw
like we don't have access to that.
We have to do that as a team and stuff.
But overall, like we get we get our throwing done whenever we need to, like
at the practices and then the other teams let us use their weight room.
So when we need to, we have access to things, but Yeah,
biggest thing is just the hotels.
How excited are you to be able to sleep in your own bed after
this upcoming weekend series?
Oh, I'm very excited.
I won't know what that's like for a while.
It's up until this weekend.
Uh, who, so speaking of your own bed, who are you living with this year?
Um, so I have a, I live in a house on Melrose right next
to the football stadium.
Um,
Oh wow.
I'm right, I'm in there with Tyler Stott and then my brother
actually lives there too.
Really?
Okay.
Yeah.
Brother and cousin.
Okay.
Now is Harley, your younger
brother lives
there?
No, I have
a, I have a middle brother.
I didn't, didn't even know that.
Okay.
Look at you.
Okay.
Well, since I brought him up, I'm just saying, since I brought him
up, Harley, you gotta, you know, younger brother, who's a little
bit of a baseball stud, right?
He said, yeah, I think you said you were actually out there
watching him today, right?
Yeah.
He's, he's pretty good.
I don't want to give him too much credit, but yeah, he's,
he's looking like he's going to, he's going to do some big things.
Yeah.
He's, he's a freshman there right now.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I mean, you know, again, we don't have to push him.
We don't have to like, you know, we're not give the hard sell.
I'm just saying, you know, always make sure if he needs some extra clothes,
he's got like an ODU shirt, ODU hat, you know, just, just kind of make
sure he, the kid stays well attired.
You know, I know he's been, he goes plenty of games.
I'm, I'm just saying, make sure he he's don't ever, you don't have to
hard sell them, but just let them know.
Right.
Yeah.
I will.
I'll make sure.
We'll just get him in the driveway, uh, throwing some bullpens and say,
tell me, you know, Marin that, hey, somebody left their bike outside
your house and he'll come right by.
Yeah, exactly.
Awesome.
Well, what's the what's been the vibe of the team coming off of this road trip?
Like, obviously, you know, if you just look at the overall record,
it's not not super impressive.
But of course, we know that that schedule has been just a beast this season.
What's that mentality like and how much are you all focusing
on like the Sun Belt series now we've gotten into conference play?
Yeah.
Um, I mean, obviously we want to win as much as possible.
And, I mean, we expect to win any game we go into.
It doesn't matter who we're playing.
Um, but I think, like, mentality and vibes are still really high.
Like, we know that that was a tough schedule and it was tough
to do all on the road as well.
So, we're really looking forward to conference play and just getting out
there and just really getting after it.
Especially playing at home in front of, well, technically at home, in front
of some, some of our own fans, too.
It'll be nice.
Yeah.
And not having the crowd getting on you every five seconds will probably
be a nice change after your last seven games in front of just brutal fan bases.
Yeah.
We were, we were leaving Saturday and like guys were like heckling Bailey
on the way out of the ballpark.
I was like, that's a little weird.
That was otherwise the Southern Miss fans were pretty nice, but they were there.
I mean, there's always gonna be a drunk jerk everywhere, wherever you go.
So that was, I was like, come on guys.
Like he, you pitched amazing and why would he be mad at you for?
Yeah.
Oh, well, I know going into this weekend over at War Memorial will feel
a little bit more like a home game.
Obviously, more O. D. U. Fans will will be there.
Um, you know, what are you most looking forward to as far as like adjusting
anything you're doing from the road trip you just had to go into this weekend?
Is there anything you're kind of fine tuning before you get fired
up Friday, Saturday, Sunday?
Um, I think just staying ready to get after it in any situation I'm called into.
Um, I feel like my process have been really good so far and just
coming in in these tight situations.
So I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.
So that's one thing, you know, you were a starter pretty much all through
high school and then you've been a reliever pretty much all in college.
What was, was there a transition period or is there a different kind of mentality?
Do you find you like this better?
Um, I definitely liked being in the end of the game.
I mean, starting was fun, but getting to come in and shut the door on someone in
a, in a big situation is a lot of fun.
Really big adrenaline booster too.
We noticed, yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome shot from CB there from that Southern Miss game.
You getting fired up?
Well, I think I accidentally kicked CB off here too.
There we go.
We're back.
Yeah.
Um.
Well, I know there's, we've seen a couple of guys this year.
I know Blake has been getting like really into it, kind of channeling his,
his Jacob Gomez from, from last season.
Is that just spur of the moment thing?
Or are you trying to send a message to your, your dugout saying like,
Hey, let's go, let's go win this game.
Um, probably a little bit of both.
I mean, you're, you're in the moment.
You kind of just like blank when things happen, you're all fired up
and everyone else is fired up for you.
So it just kind of happens.
Yeah, those are as a photographer.
Those are moments like I'm, I'm hoping for that.
I'm sitting there when you get like a couple of straight, we get
it like, I'm like focused on you.
Like it did kind of like, I'm like to the point where like somebody might make
an amazing dive or play or something.
It's like, well, I'm going to miss it because I'm, I'm hoping to get that shot.
So it's, it's, I say as a photographer, I love when you guys, when you
guys do it, it's, it's very fun.
Oh
yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you, you may have seen it before we brought you on, but, uh, what were
your thoughts on these, uh, yeah.
Kind of throwback black uniforms the other night in Mississippi state.
Um, I like him.
I like the black hats too.
It's nice to have different options.
Like how we have the gray this year too.
Um, it's, it's nice to not just have the Navy hat.
Yeah.
The gray is sick.
Yeah.
Uh, Paul panic.
And the other day we're talking about, we think it would be neat to have the,
um, the Navy top with the Hudson pants.
Oh yeah.
I know it looked good.
There's so many different like combinations you could do
with those jerseys and pants.
You just got to find one that you can wear for all three games of the weekend
series and sweep and then just keep wearing those same ones until you lose.
There you go.
Awesome.
Well, Bailey, we'll let you get out of here.
Really appreciate your time, especially after a long road trip.
We'll let you spend time with family, friends, or, you know, just relax and
enjoy some peace and quiet for a change.
But really appreciate it.
And good luck tomorrow.
William Mary.
And then, of course, over the weekend against Georgia State.
Oh, yeah.
Thank
you.
All right.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate you, man.
We'll see you soon.
All right.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, it's a good, you know, I, I definitely remember, um,
my face is huge in this view.
I'm working on it.
I was like, I know I keep it a little, a little zoomed in, but I
was like, that's the whole face.
Um, but no, I definitely, it was, I definitely remember like when Pat, uh,
Pat Nichols, Eric Greenberg Christian, you know, cause we, we talk about guys.
And then he's got, you know, he, he's an ODU guy.
He wants anybody who was good.
You know, he's the one that you got Jason Hart lined over to ODU.
He, I'm sure he made calls about Bailey coming to ODU.
You know, he's going to make sure any, any good, uh, Greenberg Christian
players end up at Old Dominion.
That's what he wants.
Um, but I, I definitely remember him like being like, yeah, I got this kid.
He's big, big lefty.
He's real good.
And it was like, he's in eighth grade now.
I was like, geez, man, you're talking about it.
An eighth grader is good.
He's like, yeah, he's that good.
Like, all right, I believe it.
He was, and he was, uh, and Bailey was, you know, a lot of high school
guys are, are good, uh, at all around, you know, he, he DH his, uh, his
senior year for him and it was, was a solid hitter the whole season too.
Yeah.
Well, maybe you can warm the bat up and see what happens, but it's been nice to
see Bailey kind of settle in and become one of the stoppers out of the bullpen.
Uh, you know, the inning that he tossed there on Sunday helped set up the win.
I mean, he doesn't get the win or the save.
He's kind of gets that hold stat.
They do an MLB, but it was a shutdown and it got to a really tough part of
the order and it really set things up well for us to finish that game out
and come away with one conference win.
Uh, cause being one and two in the standings right now is so much better
than being Oh, and three, cause you're just all uphill from here.
And if you focus on winning your home series, like we
talked about a lot last year.
You can set yourself up in a good spot and be well positioned for the tournament.
So hopefully this.
Just onslaught of a schedule to start the year pays dividends
starting against William Mary.
Like that's a game we need to go win.
Like we need to win that game and then we got to win the
series against Georgia State.
Yeah, William Mary is, I think, what did we say?
They're 5 15.
Um.
I have it up here at, uh, yeah, five 15.
They're five and 15 is not the same as our what?
Five and 12 that we have.
Uh, they, they have, they have not really played the same level of competition.
They, they played a few, like they, I think they got beat by ECU this past
weekend, which, you know, we've had about the most, yeah, they got swept by ECU.
It got run ruled twice.
Um, I mean, they split with Princeton, got, you know, Kansas
state's always got a good program.
They got swept by them.
Uh, you know, Virginia beat them.
So they played some teams, but in general, like the, the teams, they,
you know, they're getting, losing two out of three to Rhode Island.
Like these are, you know, they're, we need to be.
William and Mary and beat him well.
And just to show like, Hey, we can.
And William Mary is one of the teams that generally when we play them,
we do pretty well, uh, I think the years where we, where we are feeling,
feeling ourselves a little too much and we go into overconfident, like,
Oh yeah, we're just gonna beat him.
No problem.
That's William.
Mary tends, tends to, tends to beat us.
So as long as they go in and again, right now, I think, I think you and I said this
the other day, there's no reason that.
At this point, the ODU should have any kind of cockiness and
think if they could beat anybody.
It's like they can, but they got to show up.
So if they go in and just keep that good kind of approach they had going
Saturday and Sunday, they should be fine against William and Mary tomorrow night.
You have to go into it thinking that you are backed into the
corner of a cage and you're going to have to fight your way out.
Uh, I will.
bring back the unfortunate memories of Princeton last year, where
we get, uh, too excited about thinking that we're going to win.
This is a game that we should win.
And I think it's a game that might let some guys stretch their legs
out, build up some confidence.
before Georgia State rolls into town over the weekend, because Georgia
State, they're 15 and 6 overall.
They're 3 0 in the Sun Belt after sweeping South Alabama at home.
Uh, you know, some close games, they won 9 2, 3 0, and then what
must have been a fun 15 14 game to watch to round out the series.
Uh, so I think that the pitching looks like for both South Alabama
and Georgia State kind of runs out.
After day two, uh, but they swept that series.
Uh, they've played some tough teams.
They've got South Carolina.
They played Georgia tech.
Uh, they played Georgia.
I think the one that you might want to flag for like ODU fans is they did play
a series against UT Martin at home.
They took two out of three and that was a team that absolutely shut
us down for a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah.
And like I said, their schedule, their, their.
Uh, you literally said them, it was 15 to six.
Yeah.
And you know, they, they've lost against the good teams really.
And they said, UT Martin is one that we played and they, they beat them two out
of three, but otherwise this is, they, they're not, they're not really a 15 to
16, they just have a 15 to six record.
Um, but again, you're right.
They, they sweeping in conference is not easy.
Um, uh, and they did it and so you got to respect that.
And, but again, you're, you're, you're playing them and I, I fully, I fully
believe in this team's ability and this team's talent, uh, old to me.
And I, I think, um, you know, yeah, things have happened.
And now, now again, can you question maybe some of their toughness, some
of their, their want to in this, you know, some of the, just the, the,
the pure grit, yeah, I think you can.
And some of the guys, hopefully you're answering those questions.
Uh, but yeah, the talent is there.
And so.
If you show up and you play hard and you play right and hopefully you get
to play in front of some of your fans and know you're going to sleep in your
own bed at night, which psychologically has some, some big pluses to it.
Uh, you know, we're going to be good.
I, I, I'm a little sad that they, they made the, the, the, um, the
Friday game at three o'clock.
Cause that means I won't be able to see it.
You know, I got, I got the real world.
And so again, somebody wants to pay me to just, Go watch ODU
sports and just a full time.
I'm all for like we, we can make that part of things, but until then
I gotta gotta live in the real world.
So, but I will be there.
We'll be driving up to, um, William Mary tomorrow night, hopefully, uh, or tonight,
I guess, if you're listening to this on Wednesday, hopefully make it there
by game time, we'll see how that goes.
Yeah.
I'm in the same boat, planning to go to William Mary tomorrow, unless I have
study duty with the, uh, with the niece.
Um, but, uh, definitely be down there Saturday and Sunday, there's going to
be a big contingent of ODU parents.
They're going to be over there at War Memorial.
So if you do make your way over the game, go by, say hello, shake
their hand, let them know that you, uh, you know, support ODU baseball
and the kids that are playing.
Uh, cause that's one thing that this team is probably missing a lot right
now is feeling that fan support.
Uh, when, when it's, you're losing a lot of games, the record's not good.
You're not playing at home.
You can kind of disconnect.
It feels like a little bit from your fan base.
So it'd be nice.
Pick one of those days, come out, supposed to be a nice weather weekend.
come out, enjoy some base is cool.
Um, Georgia is I mean, they're going to going three and after bea I mean,
they gave us all Atlanta in the season las not some teams going to r nice
to come out on friday Punch them in the mouth, burn their bullpen and
then just try to get the next two.
And then all of a sudden you're four and two in conference play.
You're on a much different playing field than you were.
But I think it's a, it's a big litmus test for this team this weekend.
Yeah, I love it.
Georgia
state's best player is number 99.
I think that's fun.
Caleb Freeman.
He's, he's hitting best right now for him.
And he's, where's 99?
I think I think it's fun.
Yeah.
It's like they pulled them off the defensive line from the baseball team.
We brought him over there.
He's got 14 doubles, five home runs, 22 ribbies, and he's hitting 400.
And that's where I didn't go down in the box scores.
You know, I guess I did the same thing.
You just kind of looked at the stats.
Um, but the 14 doubles and five homers, I don't, I don't know how many of
those you hit against, uh, Georgia tech and Georgia, you know, some
of these, some of these teams they played, you know, But hey, he hit him
either way, no matter who you hit him against, they hit him against D1 teams.
I think it's also important to note that he's had 70 official at
bats, and according to the stat sheet, he has 34 walks, which,
that's gotta be a stat error, right?
On base percentage of 600?
That's a lot of walks, and he's 7 for 8 steel and bag, so, uh, they gotta, don't,
let's not throw anything good to this guy.
Uh, and, uh, . So you got a,
had a, had one for six with a double against Georgia.
Oh, for three against Georgia?
Yeah.
So one for five with a RBI against Georgia Tech.
Yeah, so he is not really now, he did go, let's see, this weekend
he was six for 10, uh, with four doubles, two triples and a homer.
So yeah, he had a good weekend.
Yeah.
Not a, not a bad day at the ballpark.
Uh, yeah, so they, they've got some dudes that can hit, I mean, yeah, you don't put
up 15 runs on a Sunbelt team unless you.
You got some offensive firepower, so they're going to bring it.
Uh, now the advantage
that it could have, I mean, you might be saying, I'm sorry,
again, I was interrupted.
Nobody called to say anything.
I do interrupt you.
I'm sorry about that.
Uh, we, we, we know, and I'm bad at it.
I'm trying to get better, even though I'm not getting better.
Um, but they do have a five 93 era as a team.
So now again, that comes from, you play some of those good teams.
Uh, but so there's, there's opportunity there if our guys show up and hit
like they can and have the right approach and attack and be patient,
uh, attack and be patient, which is ironic, but you have to do it.
Baseball.
Uh, it's weird.
You have, you have to do it.
You have to attack it.
Like, like, like I feel what says, you know, and hate hatred
talks about this all the time.
You know, you have to yeah.
You attack on the right spots and be patient in the right spots.
You know, you can't go into every single, you know, you have to have an approach.
And part of the approach is knowing when to do when, and, you know, because
we have a lot of guys who, you know, unfortunately we'll have two strikes
and they're sitting there not attacking.
Like that's a time.
It's like, Hey, if it's close at all, you swing, you foul it off or
you put it in play, but you can't strike out looking is frustrating.
It really is.
Yeah, especially when you get in those situations where you're
running on third and no outs.
Like, you gotta luck your way into getting that run home one way or another.
Uh, and just close out a little bit more on Georgia State before
we do a couple other things.
Pitching wise, it looks like their three starters this weekend are
going to be Caleb Wright, Caleb White, Ross Norman and Cole Roberts.
Uh, Caleb White kind of looks like the ace of their staff.
He's got a 4.
5 ERA.
Uh, but Ross Norman, he's got a 4.
78 ERA, but his batting average against his only.
191. So they got some, some sneaky talent on the mound, at least in their
starting rotation, it gets a little bit dicier as you go down into the bullpen.
Uh, so I think getting into those starters early, getting them out of
the game, burn what bullpen you can on Friday, Saturday, and buckle up
for a fun slug fest on, on Sunday.
The kid white has got, uh, 38 strikeouts and 26 innings.
But then like I said, he's got a 305 average against.
So he's, it seems like when you hit the ball, you hit it so that, that again,
that the trick on the guys like that is, you know, have the right approach.
If you sit back and let him dictate things, you're probably gonna get
yourself out probably with a strikeout.
Yeah.
They've got a couple of guys have been good on the very back end of their
bullpen, uh, Tyson Benford and Jacob Cruz.
Uh, not a lot of endings, but three and two saves respectively.
They're, uh, sub two, six ERAs.
So there's.
You know, depending on the competition, who they've done that against,
obviously, but they are not the Georgia state that existed like three or four
years ago when they were like, you wouldn't really lose a game to them.
This is a very different team.
They've obviously upscaled a good bit in the last couple of years.
So, uh,
we've said it a million times, right?
In conference play.
I don't care.
You know, if we get to the very last weekend of the season and the
team is Owen 27 and conference, it's still a conference play and they
can still sweep you just as easy.
Yeah.
I mean, we've got a road trip down to Louisiana, Monroe, and I don't
know if you've ever been to Monroe, Louisiana, or I've heard the stories from
football and all that it's an adventure just to get on the field in Monroe.
Uh, so that's, that's another one to watch out in the future, but,
uh, we did miss one thing earlier.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
We kind of, we
kind of talked around it.
Yeah.
And I keep doing it again.
Another way that I, I run, uh, Ramshot over, over Gary is I keep
kind of just making this without really talking to you about it.
But in general, I think there hasn't been a lot of, we haven't
had a lot where it's like, Oh, which ones, who's it going to be?
It's kind of like, well, yeah, it's, it's going to be, uh, so yeah, I mentioned
Kyle Edwards, seven for 16, uh, a double, uh, two walks and two steals.
So very nice week for him played really good defense, um,
made some really good plays.
And then Blake, you know, Blake had.
the phenomenal start on Sunday.
He, I, this is something I'm glad you, you put this up.
Cause I would have forgotten to mention this.
Otherwise when he got taken, cause he came back out in the seventh
inning or an eighth inning, um, and gave up, gave up the home run.
Uh, and I think, I think I'll be too.
I can't remember if we took him out right after that or not.
Uh, but when they took him out, the Southern Miss crowd gave him
a standing ovation on the way out.
Wow.
Which is phenomenal.
I mean, you talk about like the level of like class.
And, and baseball knowledge and just appreciation for, for competition that
you have to have was, that was unreal.
That was so, that was such a cool moment.
Um, and he, you know, I think, I think we were talking about the airport
that I think Blake's had two starts at Southern Miss and won both of
them and give up like one run, like 13 innings or something like that.
Um, so, you know, they've, they've got to see him pitch very well.
So that was just, you, you can't say anything better about it.
a fan base, then the opposing pitcher pieces you up for seven
innings and you give him a standing ovation on the way out.
Like that's, that's awesome.
And well deserved because he just looked great on the mound, even without
seeing what happened to the pitch and where it goes, but his mechanics,
how fluid he looked, how just relaxed he looked like nothing stressed him.
Get a guy on who cares?
Like We're just going to plow right through that thing.
Nice to see him come into that form and continue that upward swing of getting
back to how he was as a freshman, where he was just so dominant out there.
And it's something we're going to need.
Um, you know, and we needed it
on Sunday.
It was such, I mean, you think about it again, Friday, we got embarrassed.
Um, and Saturday, you know, we blew the game.
We were ahead and just, and gave it away.
And here is your senior leader.
Really, you know, as good as, as good as, uh, Dylan Brown's been this year,
your ace is your senior guy, right?
And the guy who has been just consistent and here he is being
that guy and showing up in the exact moment you need him to be that guy.
Uh, so that, I mean, it was huge.
Yeah, just so important to get that win for nothing else other than team morale,
like to not go one and six on the road trip to pick up another win over a ranked
team and just show that, all right, things have not gone our way this entire series.
We get, like you said, embarrassed Friday, eight run eighth inning on
Saturday and a game that we, I think we had every opportunity to go and win
and just to reset roll Blake out there and let him just plow through that
order and put you in a spot to win.
It's huge.
I mean, it's massive.
We're not Owen three in the Sunbelt.
Uh, going into this weekend because of the way that the Blake threw the
ball and got some timely hits and got guys in to do enough to win it.
And, and as a photographer gave me a bunch of, uh, this, this was not
the only one of these, uh, turning and shouting and celebrate, they
were at least two or three innings of these that I could have picked from.
They were just give me wonderful, fun, great shots, which I know he loves.
He, I think he changed his profile picture again from the last screaming shot of
God mid Georgia tech to one of these.
Yeah, there were quite a few that I saw coming through my text messages
throughout the day on, on Sunday with him.
And then of course we had the ones from Bailey earlier, uh,
from, from the other night.
Um, yeah, we got to figure out the Friday pitching now because what we tried to do
this past Friday was, did not get it done.
And it's.
It's difficult because you're kind of experimenting a little bit like you don't
necessarily know how some of these guys are going to do in that starting role or
the opener role, whatever you want to call it, but I think this is a great weekend
to go figure out who your Friday starter is going to be, because I, as much as it
would make sense to move Dylan to Friday or Blake to Friday, I don't think you want
to mess with the rhythm at this point.
No, I definitely agree with that.
I think they're, they're fine where they are and you figure out the rest.
I, I think, um, I think the plan originally was probably to have,
uh, Ben Moore pitch on Friday after.
Uh, Ethan, but you know, as things got out of hand, that just became not feasible.
Um, and again, now we know Ben had a, had a bad outing, but
Ben's a phenomenal pitcher.
Ben's a really good pitcher and one bad outing doesn't make you bad.
And I, and I think, I think Ethan Hubble is, is an answer there.
I think he's a much better pitcher than he's, he's had some good outings.
He's had some, you know, just kind of so, so outings he he's, he's talented.
He's a, he's a big kid.
He's got kind of a little bit of a funk in his delivery.
Um, he he's played some, he's done some really good pitching in Juco.
Uh, so I think hopefully, you know, he comes out Friday and he.
He shows what he's got because I think he's, he's got some skills and we, and
we've seen a few of the guys out there, you know, Luke Ridley's, he's getting
healthy as is showing some stuff.
Um, Jace Park had a great week.
Uh, he, now he, he came in and mop up duty really on Tuesday and mop up duty in
that game on Friday, but he threw three scoreless innings between those two.
And again, this is a guy we talked about, uh, Finney talked about him,
you know, leading in the season.
I talked about how good he was in the fall.
Um, it's way, I think Finney said he had a cut on his finger to kind of mess some
things up, but so he's getting it back.
Um, you know, but some of these guys there, there are guys who are showing
some things and stepping up and you're seeing like, okay, Bailey and Kellen
are kind of the guys now they're clearly like, you know, the ones you're looking
to, to, to come out of the bullpen in the big spots and you're figuring
out who else can do the other stuff.
You know, Marco, he, again, he didn't have the greatest outing on a Friday,
but he's had some very good at Marco Lovario said some very good outings.
Um, so.
The pieces are there again.
You know, again, you still, you don't want to be here.
And what are we in week six of the season now, you're still
trying to figure things out.
That's not the most ideal you, you would hope it got figured out, but that's just.
How things go, their college kids, sometimes you gotta, you hope so hopefully
like I said, this is, it's a good week, you know, tomorrow is a good day.
I mean, I don't, I, I wonder if tomorrow you might see some of these
guys who haven't got opportunities at all yet, you know, maybe to save
a few of the guys for the weekend.
But again, it's also an opportunity to let them go out and throw.
So you might, you might still see some of the, uh, the guys
who are figuring things out.
Tomorrow.
Yeah.
Because not everyone has been on all of these travel trips.
It's usually a little bit smaller party.
So you do get a little bit more limited with the bullpen who can eat innings,
uh, William and Mary, Georgia state.
I think all of our home series, you're just going to
see more bodies in the dugout.
More guys could potentially be available.
If we run into a situation like we did on Friday where, you
know, the, you kind of got to.
Lose that game to try to salvage something else.
The rest of the series with your bullpen arms, I think so.
I think
we still have a roster limit for the conference games.
So you probably see more bodies in the dugout just because we're
closer and they can put them on a, you know, a van or whatever, a
bus across the, across the water.
But, uh, but yeah, I think, you know, you could still have,
you could have guys available.
You know, I kind of mentioned that we were at the airport.
I said, well, you're gonna have to reintroduce yourself to a few
of these guys when we get back.
I mean, so, um, You know, you hope, you know, if they come in and they,
they show, you know, if it's not this week and maybe, you know, some
of these other midweek games that.
Where they're, they're playing, we're playing close that, that some
of these guys can come and, you know, hopefully, I mean, you saw
that with Dylan Tostrup, right?
He, he, um, Tostrup, uh, not Todd Tostrup, Dylan Tostrup, when he,
he wasn't injured and he, he wasn't on those first couple of trips.
And then he, now he's in this last trip and he's, he's again.
Had some moments where it weren't as good, had some moments
where he's very effective.
So some of these things you got to iron out, but he's again, getting healthy.
So yeah, it might be that, you know, some of those guys that, that haven't,
and there, and we're still, you know, uh, Connor Schuman and Will Orberson
were on the trip and neither one of them actually got to appear in a game.
Um, which, you know, me as the photographer, I want to try
to get pictures of everybody.
I'm like, put them in the game, put them in there.
Like when the games get a little out of hand, I'm like.
Put Schumann in, but now, yeah, like, right.
Like it's like, I got shots of them just hanging out, but like,
I want that cool picture for them.
Um, you know, you want, you know, you want it for them and their family.
You want it for, you know, when I make them a baseball card, you want
something cool to put on there.
Uh, but so there, there, there are guys who still can get opportunities.
Um, and you know, you never know who can surprise you.
I mean, yeah, I always like to think back to, um.
Uh, I think it was 2018, the year, the terrible year, the year we only
won 15 games, uh, which I don't think this year is gonna be that year.
Uh, but you know, we had so many injuries that we ended up with Luke
Krantz, who wasn't even on the roster.
He wasn't even on the original like 40 man roster.
Uh, or 30, whatever it was, and they had to get like a waiver to
Adam and he ended up throwing like 45 innings and being great for us.
So, you know, you, you really don't know who is going to step up.
So, so there's still plenty of opportunity.
I mean, there's a lot of season left.
We we've played 18 games out of 56.
There's a ton of season left.
So there's going to be guys who are going to be important, competitive
parts of things by the end of the year who are not right now.
And what's left on the calendar is what's most important to ODU fans.
It's conference games.
And aside from the, the, the one game with East Tennessee state,
it's all Virginia schools too.
So you've got Virginia in there.
You've got Norfolk state VCU.
Uh, we got Richmond mixed in there as well.
So it's conference and teams that you want to beat.
Cause you probably know someone that went to one of those schools and you
don't want to hear them run their mouth, whether it's about baseball.
Women's lacrosse, football, basketball, it doesn't matter.
You don't want to lose to those schools in anything.
So I think you almost have to just start ignoring our overall record at this
point and look at the Sunbelt record.
And then how we do in these games against Virginia opponents, the rest of the way.
That's what I'm, I'm looking at.
Uh, cause you can't, you can't go get those games back anyway.
Like our path to.
Making the postseason is we're going to need to win the Sunbelt Tournament.
We're going to need to have a great conference record.
Uh, and then for bragging rights, of course, like we just don't want
to lose to VCU or Richmond, I would love to go hang an L on Virginia too.
That would be a whole lot of fun.
Uh, but all those are still very much in front of us.
We finally have some baseball weather starting to show up.
So I would just encourage you.
If you like baseball at all, get out and go catch a game at some point,
whether it's when you don't like baseball
at all, get out and catch a game.
I don't care if you like it cause I go to see, I went to some ODU soccer games.
I'm not a huge fan of soccer.
Now we'll say, as I went out there and I'm taking pictures of it, I
learned to appreciate it, right?
Like I, I was like, okay, I get it.
I see.
I still don't really see the national, like the global appeal,
but if you individually find something you enjoy that you can.
Yeah.
But, but yes, even if you don't like baseball, come see baseball.
Yeah.
Gonna be a great weekend for it.
Gonna be a lot of good people out.
I'm excited to see I know there are a couple of Parents of former players
that are actually making the trek all the way over to War Memorial
this weekend to come support us.
So if you can, hop across the river from, from Norfolk, come over to War Memorial.
If you're in Richmond, you got no excuse.
It's hour 15 down the road and
Great.
It's a, it's a really fun place to watch a game.
Um, if it's hopefully the vibe is anything like a pile.
I mean, and frankly, I'm hoping that there's just a lot of fans over in
Hampton, just you're missing the pilots games of the summer and come
hang out and watch a game, uh, because it's a fun place and hopefully you
figure out like, Hey, I could, might want to come watch some games of the
summer and maybe see some of my roadie guys playing summer ball over there.
Yeah, it's a smaller stadium and you can get it really loud.
And that may be something we need Saturday, Sunday for an ending or two
of just the crowd to get into it, get some juice behind the guys, uh, start
that avalanche that we saw Southern Miss put on us on Saturday, but let's,
let's do it to the visiting team.
Uh, this time.
All right.
Well, CB, uh, as this kind of the day that this comes out, I'll be seeing you
at William and Mary traffic for you.
And then, uh,
yeah, well, I mean, you'll, you'll see me whether it's in the first inning or
the third, who knows, but you'll see me.
Don't worry.
I got my iPhone.
I can almost replicate one 10th of your photos, man.
There you go.
Yeah.
Well, uh, we're, I'm excited for, I'm, I'm looking forward to getting to see
him actually playing hamper roads.
It's going to be very fun.
Yeah, well, we did have one voicemail caller.
We were hoping that coach Pemba would join so he could answer the question.
Uh, but play the call we got from justice.
If you listen to any monarchist podcast, justice called it a couple of times.
And I promise if I can't answer the question for you, we will bring it back
up with coach Finwood next week, but
here's justice.
Thank you guys.
You've done an outstanding job on Hudson homers this season.
I've enjoyed each and every episode.
Uh, they've been great.
We can just pause it right there.
That's all we need.
Appreciate it, Justice.
Um, quick question.
So, during the East Carolina game, we saw the double first base, uh, come into play.
And the announcers, the broadcasters for the game, did a really poor job of
trying to explain, explain the new rule.
So, I was wondering if you guys could talk about it a little bit and give
us a better explanation of what has to take place if something doesn't happen
and how things are treated, et cetera.
Thanks.
As always go monarchs.
We definitely appreciate the call and the numbers on the screen.
If you're watching on YouTube, even though CBS head is currently
in the way, but we have it out on all over social medias as well.
And we'd love to get some more voicemails and we're happy to share them with
Coach Finwood and get his thoughts.
CB.
You have any thoughts on this?
So I don't have a beautiful, great explanation for the rule.
I, I know apparently the rule is that you have to touch the green orange
bag, whichever color it might be.
Um, I thought it was incredibly stupid.
I can't, I can't blame ECU for challenging it cause they knew the rule and you
know, that's what you got to do that moment because you know, Maverick
gets on, that's something just going, happening, but, uh, it was upsetting.
And, uh, I guess that's the rule.
That's the rule.
I think it kind of, I, I think it's, you know, they add these rules sometimes for
safety, but it's like how many people have actually gotten hurt from this,
you know, it's, you know, you add it, you add it, it's like, it's like the
taking your shoes off the airport, right?
Well, cause one guy, one time, like 30 years ago had a bomb
that probably was only gonna blow his foot off and nothing else.
Uh, so now you have to take your, your shoes off the airport forever.
Um,
yeah, I would guess it's, yeah, Just a way to enforce that you stay in the
running lane that you are supposed to for safety right like you have to run to that
outer bag, because the position players thinking I need to get to the inner bag
like the normal bag, so I didn't realize that it was like a hard and fast rule
that you had to I kind of thought like.
You can hit either one.
I mean, what do you do if you're, if you go round that into a double and you
somehow put both bases like out now, like what, I don't know how that works.
We will ask coach him with that next week when he is back on with us,
we'll try to get a more firm answer.
What was explained to him from the umpires?
Cause I think that's important too, of.
What did the umpires explain it as?
And that's something you don't necessarily get with a lot of the
ESPN plus broadcast because they don't have the connection there.
Um, but yeah, it was, it was weird.
And it's
also the question of, is it, is it every single, is it only on the close
plays or is it every single play?
If I get a hit, if I, if I hit a single, just out to left field,
right in front of the guy, no question about the play whatsoever.
And if I run to first and step on the white bag base and they throw it to
first and then do a replay, am I out?
Like, you know, I mean, that, that's the, the question is only on bang, bang plays
or like, what's the, is that a judgment?
So I, I, I have a lot of questions.
I'm, I'm with you justice.
We will, we'll, we'll bookmark this one next time.
We have Finneon because I think we, we didn't get a chance to ask
him because he was dying last week.
He was, he was, he was, he was deathly ill and joined us anyway.
Uh, I know he's feeling better now.
I hope he's okay.
I don't, I don't know, you know, he was supposed to be here.
I'm, I'm assuming, you know, something important going on that he, he couldn't
make it, uh, Because we love him.
We appreciate him being here all the time.
He's been here.
And miss him when he's not.
He's a wonderful man.
Yes, I miss hearing him.
Especially after he was sick last week.
I'm wondering, at some point this season, Is a home run going to get
overturned because the guy did his trot and stepped on the wrong base.
Cause I think if that happens, like, yeah,
like when, when do you have to tell you then, yeah, that is the question.
So that's, I do want some more clarification on when do you have to
touch the, the, the, the safety base?
Um, and again, maybe now maybe it's all super easy.
They've been doing softball for as long as I've been alive.
So maybe it's all super easy, but it's definitely a new thing.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, again, Justice, appreciate the call.
We appreciate everyone who is listening in.
You know, make sure to tell your friends, tell your family, grab somebody's
phone who doesn't know how to use it.
Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube.
We are all over the place, but that will do it for us today.
Hope to see you out either in Williamsburg on Wednesday or War
Memorial Friday through Sunday.
Go Monarchs!