Yeah.
Hello Monarch fans.
Like we,
we got the, the shot of Brock Gallardi there, uh, enjoying
a, a, a a, a cold beverage and some ODU fandom at Arbor Park.
And we saw some that this weekend.
That was nice.
Saw Brock and then a Tell me about night out there this weekend.
Sorry.
Oh, yeah.
Now, now we can intro.
Hello?
Hello.
Monarch fans.
I, you always do.
Me.
I should.
Welcome to another episode of Hudson Homers.
Uh, I'm CB and I'm here with Gary.
Gary, how are you doing?
You know what I'm doing Great.
I have one more day at work before vacation.
I got to go see some college baseball in person.
Things are, things are, uh, okay.
I mean, you know, aside from some things, but other things
are, are doing great, man.
How are you?
The, the okay things are okay and the not okay.
Things we're, we're gonna worry about the Okay.
Things.
We'll worry about those later.
Yes.
I'm great man.
Yeah, we got so some college baseball like I saw, I mean, we could have
fielded a whole team full of law.
Our alumni that are out there watching this weekend, that was fun to see.
Um, and then, you know, we'll talk about the other stuff, but then
tomorrow get more college baseball right here in Norfolk against
Norfolk State, so That's great.
Got the afternoon off so I can go out and watch it.
Yeah, we actually had, we actually had baseball weather this weekend too.
Almost a little hot man.
At some points I am sunburn.
If it wasn't for the, the breeze, it'd have been awful out there.
Uh, I was at the lacrosse game Saturday before going to the
baseball and on that turf it was hot.
Yeah.
Uh, I was over with Mike and Aaron at SB Ballard watching football practice.
And the same thing, I had my back to the sun and I not put on sunblock
yet, so the back of my neck is.
Is roasted and ready, uh, to be in some more sun later this week.
I've got the, the nice strips on top of my knees, like the, like, yeah, yeah.
I got those.
Those are, those are solid right now.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I had a haircut earlier this week, so, you know, the, the nice areas to get
protected got, got toasted up pretty good.
Uh, but yeah, but it was good to see some baseball, uh, not the week
we wanted in terms of, of record.
We lose the series to Troy, but we do salvage Sunday, uh, lost earlier in
the week up in Charlottesville to UVA.
Uh, so the, the win totals did not kick up this week, but I
feel like we're a broken record.
It was good to at least win one in the series and keep things alive for us.
Yeah.
You know, and it, it's funny how, again, your whole attitude
about the team changes.
Like, I sitting here and again, probably just 'cause I, I
like sitting and doing this.
This is a, a fun part of my week.
Uh, so you feel good anyway, but yeah, they, and they went on
Sunday, so you could like, oh yeah.
And they, and they look great doing it, um, had, you know,
one rough ending pitching.
But that's the team that you're like, man, why aren't they
doing this every single game?
You know, I'm sitting there during the game, I'm like, you
know, where is this all the time?
Yeah.
And Friday was a tough one to watch.
Yeah.
Uh, losing seven, nothing.
Just watching the struggles at the plate, just not, not having good at
bats and, and credit to Troy's pitching.
They were throwing the ball very well.
Uh, but I, I don't think that a four hitter was what
I had in mind on that Friday.
Uh, especially when you see the guys at about the sixth inning on Saturday.
Suddenly turn it on and they look like the lineup.
We've expected it's a little, little too little, too late on Saturday,
but the bat stayed alive Sunday.
We were able to get runs early, get ahead and go and win that ball game.
Some good pitching down the stretch there from Bailey Mattel to seal that one up.
Yeah, Bailey is man, and, and that's, uh, what I liked about that is, you know,
we've seen him, like in Southern Miss, he came in back to back days, right?
And he got a, you know, a few outs.
Um, I think he had like two thirds of inning on the Saturday game and like
inning a third for the save on the Sunday.
Uh, and then now we see him here getting a save with two and a third innings.
You know, obviously I think they really were hoping Frankie Wright
would get him into the eighth inning and then, you know, if it's with one
out or, or if it just need two innings outta Bailey, then you could do it.
But they, I, I guarantee they did not intend to bring Bailey
out in the seventh inning.
Uh, but knowing he can do it, you know, knowing he's got that ability, he can
stretch it out and he, he can dominate.
Um, he's, he's one of those guys that, you know, when you sit by the other
team's dugouts, you hear him, they're just like, this guy's disgusting.
Uh, so yeah, Bailey is always, and, and, and Blake with another, you
know, just a, just a stud senior.
I mean, he's just what you want of a senior.
The guy brings the attitude and the energy every single time and, and he
brings the, the pitching to match.
I
ran into Blake on Saturday morning over at the Chick-fil-A at the village
as I was trying to figure out how to go through that ordering system.
Talk to him for a few minutes.
Uh, yeah, great.
Doubting from him.
C yeah, he came in clutch from my chicken minis, that's for sure.
Uh, but another, along the same line with Bailey being able to go two and a
third to close out that game on Sunday.
The reason he was able to do that was actually because of Kellen being able to
go two scoreless innings the day before on Saturday, and we didn't have to go
to Bailey on that on that Saturday game.
Uh, I thought Kellen looked great, he looked great.
Coming back out for a second inning of work on Saturday, kept us in that game.
It was a one run game down, down to the final outs there.
Uh, just didn't have enough offense early in that game
to, to stay at.
And while we're breaking up relievers, hunter Baynes had a
great outing on, uh, on Friday.
Um, and, and honestly, I, you know, I know they took him out after an out in the, um.
And what was it, the seventh inning?
I'll be honest, I'm not real sure why.
I'd be curious to ask if there was a reason, if, you know, 'cause it looked
like he was kind of rolling right then.
I mean, obviously we were, you know, we were down pretty big.
It really didn't have any effect on the game 'cause it didn't hit no matter what.
Um, but, and then Marco, he had, he had a little bit of trouble, but he
got outta the inning with no runs.
But, so Hunter Baynes had another great one.
So that, that was really fun to see.
Yes.
Well, you've got a question and I'm gonna bring on the man
with the answers, coach Finwood
but before you answer
that Coach, how's it going?
Hey.
Hey, I got to hear that question too.
That was awesome.
Oh, did you?
Okay.
I like that.
Yeah.
CB always has the best questions.
Yeah.
Real.
So I don't forget, in regards to Baynes, he's, he's been throwing
the ball a lot better for us.
And, um, he was a little tender.
Mike said nothing bad.
He, he wanted to go back out there.
And you know, I, at that point, you know, we're down.
Pretty good.
And I said, I didn't really, we, we didn't really find it out and
I, I didn't find it out anywhere.
I wouldn't have sent him back out there at all.
Um, but he said no, he wanted to go try it.
And I said, all right, well let's just get somebody going.
Let's get LaVar going.
And he got that.
He threw, I don't know if he threw one pitch or whatever it was, and he
got an album Better safe than sorry.
'cause he's, he's trending in the right direction.
That's gonna be, you know, helpful down the, down the stretch.
And like you said, we were, you know, we weren't hitting that night
and we, we didn't play with the hoop Friday night, uh, on top of that.
So, um, but it is nice to see him getting.
In those games, getting more experience talking about Hunter,
um, and throwing the ball.
Well that's, you know, two or three outings in a row that
he's been pretty good for.
So hopefully down the stretch he could, you know, we just been behind on Fridays.
Mm-hmm.
So much.
Um, and, but he's a guy that you can bring in right as he develops and that's okay.
Um, I'd like to see him come into there, you know, come in in the fifth or sixth
inning when we're up and see what we got.
Yeah.
So that's the next step.
Well, I, I appreciate that answer because you know that, and that's the thing that
I, I try to tell people when they're sitting there in the stands and they
ask me so later, it's like, you know, you don't really know what's going on.
Like I, my assumption was like, okay, there's something going on.
There's some kind of plan.
There's some reason they didn't just take 'em out 'cause their idiots
that dunno what they're doing.
Like that's not what's happening.
That's right.
That's true.
And yeah, we're always
gonna.
Trend towards guy's health.
I mean, it's just not, you know, none of this is worth getting a kid hurt.
And he, he wasn't hurting.
He had just, he had a couple, you know, and he was throwing the
ball well, but he hasn't thrown a ton of pitches in a row yet.
No.
And so we're trying to build that up a little bit.
And, um, I don't know what his pitch count, you know,
was that day, but it might.
42. It might have been.
Yeah, 42 in the forties is about as long as he's, he's gone, so.
Yeah.
Well, speaking of knowing what you're doing, we are gonna, gonna
put you on the spot here and wish you a congratulations on 400 career
coaching wins at Old Dominion.
So, congratulations
coach.
Thank you guys.
I appreciate that.
And, uh.
It's, um, I did not, not know that until I heard Jack Ankerson say
it when we were shaking hands.
Yeah.
I don't tend to pay that much attention to those things, but it, it, it's
humbling and a nice honor to be mentioned.
You know, like on the graphic you, you guys put up, um, in
the, in the same sentences.
There's been some great co bud Metheny to finish that thought.
And there's been so, so many great baseball coaches at Old Dominion and,
um, you know, just to be thought of, um, I'm sure there's plenty of people that
don't think I'm being that way, but for those that do, uh, you know, to be thought
of in those same, um, conversations, uh, mark Newman's, pat McMahons, Tony
Guzzo, bud Metheny's, um, guys that, you know, I grew up learning the game from.
And so, uh, that's, that's a nice, nice honor to, you know,
get to 400 here and, um, you know, hopefully keep on, keep on rolling.
Absolutely only, only 23 behind Bud too.
So you're uh,
yeah.
Hopeful on
24 game winning streak.
That's, Hey, that's what I've been saying.
I said we can make it happen.
Yeah.
I mean, it's gotta be when once you start getting close to the guy whose name is on
the stadium, that's, that's pretty good.
Things are, good things are happening.
Yeah.
Well it's, um, like I said, you know, numbers are all, um, records
are gonna get broken, um, sooner or later, and numbers are there to create
interest and it's a lot of wins.
It means you were around for good enough time and people thought you did a good
enough job to keep you around there.
So, uh, I guess that's the good, good part of it.
Now let's get back to talking about the games.
There we go.
Yes.
Well, we, we hadn't talked too much about, uh, the game in Charlottesville this week.
I dunno if there's anything you want to touch on there.
I know you ran through some, some bullpen arms there too, and
maybe saw some improvement from a couple guys in that department.
Well, gosh, it seems like four, four months ago now.
It does, it does, it
does.
Last
Tuesday, you know, a four hour game again, another long Tuesday game.
We just walk too many guys and give up too many free bases in those midweek games.
And I, I told the guys, you know, these midweek games are supposed to be for
some of you guys, like trying out to throw more on the weekends, like you,
and you're not doing it like you, you're not giving us anything to, to, to go on.
Like these are, these are opportunities for you guys to earn,
you know, innings on the weekends.
And right now all we do is walk a bunch of guys and get behind and
we actually swung the bats fine.
I mean, they only, I think they all hit us nine to eight and we lost by six.
So, uh, that's disappointing.
Um.
But you know, it's, we need some guys to throw a little bit
better, obviously, in there.
And, um, hopefully tomorrow, you know, a couple guys will get a
chance, uh, and, and, and perform better against Norfolk State.
I, I'm, I'm pretty, you know, I think overall our top.
10, eight to 10 guys are throwing the ball pretty well right now.
Overall, um, competitive with whoever we're playing and it's the guys down
the line after that that aren't.
And so, you know, it's real simple guys.
Like if you're not gonna throw the ball better, you're gonna stop getting chances.
That's how it works.
And we're gonna have to throw some of these other guys more.
And guys like Jayce Park are gonna have to go out there on Tuesday
and you know, you're gonna give us three or four innings, man.
And if you want to give up one or none, or if you want to
give up 10, you figure it out.
Um, and, uh, we're gonna need to stop rescuing him.
He is gotta grow up and it is time, you know, we got four or five
more midweek games and that's it.
And he needs to, he needs to start on his keep.
He is, he is.
He was very good in the fall.
He cut his finger open in January that put him behind.
He just hasn't been himself a, been a shell of the pitcher
he was for us in the fall.
And that's, that's been disappointing.
'cause we, we expected a lot outta him and he, he still can do it.
He just has it yet, you know, so his time, you never know when the
worm can turn and, and hopefully it'll start to turn off for him.
Yeah.
I love Jason.
Like I said, he, I, every time I think he pitched every single time
I was out there in the fall and it was like, man, this kid's awesome.
And we've seen some flashes of it.
So, so you're right.
I, and I, I, you know, frankly, I know it doesn't always feel good for
them when you leave him out there and say, Hey, it's your inning.
I don't care.
I mean, he runs, you give up.
But I think sometimes that helps the guy if you get the guy with
the right mentality, that's a great learning experience.
Yeah.
I think sometimes we, we, you know, and, and a lot of years for us anyway,
you're in the RPI conversations where you gotta try to win those
midweek games and we're, we're not gonna be in that boat this year, so.
We need to, we need to lean towards development.
And I think a guy like Kim, a guy like Will Orberson, um, I mean they're the only
two freshmen left, you know, that freshman class, uh, through injuries and, and crazy
things has just basically all redshirted.
Um, but they, uh, they need to go out there and just do it.
Like you said, this is your inning, this is your two innings,
this is your three innings.
You go figure it out.
If you give up a few, then you know, if you give up two, try not to give up three.
Um, and learn from it and grow.
And I think that's where we need to be at with those guys
at this point in the season.
Yeah.
Don't want them looking to the bullpen to see all who's getting
up to come get me outta this.
Yeah, I think you had a pretty good example of that on Saturday with Kellen.
Uh, you know, he came back in for a second inning of work.
I kept looking out in the bullpen and like, this is Kellen's inning.
We're, we're not going anywhere else.
Kellen's got it.
And he stepped up and did a great job and lets you say Bailey for Sunday.
And uh, it's going close out the win against Troy.
Yeah, yeah.
Hunter and him both really, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Um, it, it's a, people don't think about the, like CBU were saying.
I, it's, and it's hard to, as a fan, like a series is you're trying to
win the series and if you can't win the series, you're trying to win
a game in the series and mm-hmm.
You know, so it becomes the next best thing.
On Friday, you're trying to win all three.
You get down early on Friday, alright, you have to start
thinking about the next two games.
And so who can I throw in this?
That might give us a chance, but you know, we're down, we're down one there.
We're down two and then we scratch back to make it one.
And we just said, we have to save two guys in the pen for tomorrow.
Um, and let's, let's kellen's already thrown, so he is gotta go back in.
He is gotta throw another one.
And whether we give up none or one or five, five, it's, it's, it's the, the
dilemma of being down as opposed to up and not having a ton of depth down there.
Um, yeah, I was just
gonna say, and that's the problem of those guys that you're giving chances
to on Tuesday, not seizing their opportunities because then you are,
you're like, well, I only got two guy, I only have two guys instead of
like three, four guys I can pick from.
Yeah,
you're, you're limited.
Yeah.
We're limited, uh, somewhat, you know, right now on the weekends
with guys that you really.
Trust, trust.
I mean, baes has turned into one of those guys, uh, Kellen Bailey and, and Frank
is, uh, you know, so, you know, it's, it's kind of those guys minus the starters.
And so we need to get good starts, obviously.
And then you gotta pick your spots, um, for those guys.
And, and a couple of 'em have shown the ability to throw more than once.
Um, you don't wanna go that well too often, but, you know, it's just like
Marco, Marco threw a really good inning, uh, in, at, at Virginia, um, clean.
But then you bring 'em in with one out and nobody on, and next thing
you know, there's bases loaded and it's just like, come on man.
Like, and two of them were freebies, you know, it's like one hit.
He just wanted to show you.
And if he can just stay away from the freebies, his stuff is good enough
to be successful at this level.
He hasn't done it yet.
There's plenty of guys that end up as college juniors throwing the ball real
well that, uh, were Marco Lari, you know, and so we just got, he's a great kid.
He's got to learn how to compete better and, and trust his stuff
better and throw it in there, man.
If they hit it, then they hit it, we'll figure the rest out.
But when you walk guys and hit guys and you're just all over the
place, that's, it's hard to, you know, manage the game that way.
It's hard to call that game that way for pitching coach.
Um, it's hard for guys to play behind you and that's been
his, his snake bite, right?
Like, it's just the free basis.
So, and
may, maybe this is just a dumb fan theory, but I, I feel like the
pitcher's pitched differently when the offense is putting up some runs,
whether you're in the lead or not.
Just kind of having that thought of.
If I give a run up here because I am gonna throw fastballs in the zone,
I feel like my, my lineup behind me can, can go get that run back.
I don't Yeah.
Think that was necessarily true Friday for sure.
No, you're a hundred percent right.
Um, and that's the, you know, the issue when you're not hitting, hitting and
pitching certainly compliment each other, just like pitching and defense.
Do you know, uh, it's a lot easier to throw when you're,
when you're up five to one.
Um, than when you're down five to one, uh, you feel like you gotta
be perfect, you know, when you're down and we've been down a lot.
Um, and so that puts a lot of pressure on those pitchers.
Um, it was nice to get the lead for Blake on, on on Sunday.
We kind of did that last, the following Sunday.
And, you know, Blake's just been lights out for us on Sundays, man.
I mean, you know, he, he's been so consistently good, even when he
doesn't have his best stuff, he is just battled his tail off and kept
us in the game and given us a chance.
Um, and we've won, you know, a, a bunch of his starts on, on Sundays, you know, and,
and since league play started, certainly.
So,
yeah.
And it's, you know, kind of on that offensive side, it seemed like the
guys didn't really wake up until about that sixth inning on Saturday.
And then when they did, I mean, you have.
Pretty good series after that, kind of, once the bats get going,
you get right back into the game.
Saturday they fought down to the final out.
I think you, uh, I won't make you say it, say it, but the, uh, umpire was, uh,
a little all over the place on Saturday.
Yeah.
Trying to figure that out.
I
don't think any, any of the three guys were any good.
Uh, I was just gonna say the same thing.
CB, I'm not gonna say it, but you said it.
Uh, that was, that was as inconsistent.
Uh, yeah.
Three days as I can remember, man.
And, um, you're right.
They were all over.
When you got both dugouts yelling at you, then, you know, it's just not a good day.
That's, that's what I said at some point yesterday.
Yeah.
That's the way it was.
And you know, we, we just didn't play, you know, we were awful Friday,
let's just call it what it is.
And we told the guys, you know, we challenged them like, come on.
And then Saturday we played a good ball game.
We got beat, their starter Saturday was fantastic.
On ball.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
I mean, it was low to mid nineties with a real breaking ball.
We could not figure him out until he just got tired and, and they
probably, you know, left him out there maybe anything too long.
But that can happen.
Right?
And, and then the kid they brought in deal was up to 98.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so we, we had, you know, we had a couple guys that were gonna
be tough for anybody to deal with.
We had to face Saturday, so that had something to do with, with why we
didn't score more than three runs.
Um, and Sunday we came out and swing of bats and had some big hits.
Kyle Edwards, you know, hits two home runs and, uh, we needed 'em.
And er, Morales goes four for four.
I thought F gave gave us great energy behind the plate.
You know, he's gonna be a really catcher, he's a talker back there.
He's just, yeah, he's a winner.
That's what he is.
Yeah, he's a winner.
He is competitive.
He is a tough little.
SOBI love that kid.
And, um, he is just gotta keep working on the arm, which he will, you know,
he is just had some arm issues.
Nothing major, but.
Uh, it just kind of gets underwater on him sometimes.
And, um, but he caught good, he blocks good.
He just gives you tremendous, you know, desire back there.
And I think it bleeds into everything we do.
And Blake, I, I mean, I think it helps Blake.
I mean, not that Blake hadn't been throwing good to whoever's showing
too, but he, he's, you know, he seems to work, work well with him as well.
He kind of matches Blake's energy.
'cause Blake's a very high energy.
Yes.
He's, I mean, he's a talker even when he's pitching.
Yeah.
That's a good point.
I think, I think that's a good way to put it.
And, you know, um,
as we get farther down the road, hopefully we can catch stuff a little bit more.
He is just not quite ready for it yet arm wise.
So, um, but we're moving in that direction.
I think he's gonna be our, you know, our future catcher.
So, um, and then, and then, you know, we had some big hits.
Scott thought, Scotty Young.
Obviously his first at bat to double down the line, you know, gets us going.
Uh, uh, he had a, he had a really good day in game three, uh, last week
at, at Appalachian State, and should have had a home run last night too.
I mean, he murdered that ball, dead end 30 mile an hour wind.
And having said that, my gosh, man, it's just like you start to feel
like you snake bit a little bit, you know, Friday we probably hit
three, uh, tj, Luke, you know, maybe three home runs that didn't go.
And, and TJ had another one Saturday.
Um, and then, you know, uh, I mean, Kyle got his, uh, hit his to the right b part
of the ballpark, fortunately, but Scotty, that's as hard as you can hit a ball, man.
And it didn't go out.
So, uh, it's too bad.
Were they telling you,
um, it looked like there were a few.
Hit the center where Scotty like, it seemed like, I think the wind
kind of carried him away from him.
'cause I noticed, like when I was sitting they did.
Yeah.
Yeah, they did.
We should had him more and left center, I think.
Um mm-hmm.
That's on us.
I, I think we should have played the wind a little bit more, um, than we did.
'cause, you know, a couple of those balls I think he'd had a better
chance of if he was just over, you know, four or five more steps.
And, um, so that's on us.
But yeah, he, he had a little bit of trouble reading some of those,
but man, it wasn't an easy day.
I mean, not easy.
No.
Every ball in the air was gonna be an adventure.
And I thought we did a pretty good job on a bunch of popups, man.
The one guy, I don't remember who hit it, but I thought it was going
to Elite and it ended up, Kyle had to catch it in front of the third base.
Yeah.
And I was like, wow.
That's, you know, 50 feet.
That ball moved.
Yeah.
There was an, there was another, another one on.
Blake and Zach ran into each other on the one, fortunately we call it.
Yeah.
Oh, hold on.
I think we got that here.
There you go.
There it is.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's, that's, that's a good shot right there.
Yeah.
And, and fortunately Blake.
Yeah.
And Blake is Blake, he is just, he's sitting there laughing
on the ground afterwards.
You know, he's just got that great attitude no matter what,
you know?
Yeah, yeah.
And he's probably our best fielding pitcher.
Yeah.
Um, so, you know, you feel good about him catching a popup, which not all
left-handed pitchers, if that the case.
Yeah,
it, it was definitely an adventure.
Looked like some points in the outfield.
There was a line drive screamer hit to dead center on Saturday.
I watched it go over the second base bag and then it curled into left.
And I think TJ took like three steps to his left and caught it in left field.
Yeah.
And you can see just that jet stream cutting across right center
towards that left field foul pole.
Yeah.
Pushing everything that way.
Yeah.
I really think the stadium was kind of blocking and then once it got
past that and like, you know, mid outfield, it was just pushing hard.
Yeah,
yeah.
Took
off.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it was great weather temperature wise and yeah.
Um, it was nice to play some baseball and short sleeves and sweat a little bit.
That was fun.
And you know, um, uh, you know, we'll be back tomorrow in the, in
the mid fifties and cold, windy.
Gotta love it.
Close it in.
We're heading down the Georgia, it's gonna be in the seventies all weekend,
so, uh, maybe spring is finally here.
We got pollen
everywhere again, so, oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm glad to see
the, glad to see the rain wash and some of that pollen away.
Uh, but I, I want to go back a little bit on the umpire discussion here.
'cause we actually have two voicemails today and one of 'em is
about, and a very interesting play that occurred over the weekend.
But, uh, it's from Aaron who was sitting with me most of the game,
and he had this question for you.
What's up fellas?
This is Aaron here.
First and foremost, congrats.
Vinny.
400 wins at ODU.
What an awesome accomplishment.
Uh, I've got a question for coach.
On Friday night, there was a bang, bang play at first where from the
stance, it looked like the ball bounced off the first baseman's glove.
The umpire called the runner out, and many of us in the stands were really confused.
Um, after a few moments of us,
so to to, to paraphrase and thank you Aaron.
Uh, 'cause I have this question too.
The, the play at first base on Friday, uh, where the first baseman for Troy
caught the ball and it looked like the ball pops out immediately and he's
called out and we're all confused.
And I guess it turned out they had a ball in his pocket.
No, no, that, that's great.
No, uh, it's, that's like the, uh, you know, the, the circle game where
you go around and you start saying one thing and then by the time you
get back to the end of the circle, it's something completely different.
So I thought it was a ball too.
And I went, went out.
Was was, now I saw balls laying on the ground, like what's going on?
Yeah.
He said, was it a guard, his finger
guy,
the guy has a thumb guard.
Yeah.
That he keeps, 'cause he, he busted his hand up on his glove hand.
And it, it's at a point where, you know, where your gloves open on your wrist.
Mm-hmm.
And sometimes the ball hits and it flies.
And from a distance, it looks like, 'cause it happened again yesterday.
Yeah, it did.
I dunno if you guys saw that.
And I, I went, there it is again.
Then I saw him go pick it up.
Uh, and so that, that's what, that's what went flying off.
It wasn't his, it wasn't a ball.
Okay.
That's the, i I did see
it, uh, yesterday.
I was, I was on that side when it happened and it was his, it was his finger guard.
'cause he had his finger out, I'm assuming.
Yeah.
And so it was like outside the glove and it just shot right off.
That's what it was.
And that was the same thing the, the other time.
'cause I, I asked the same question.
I was like, yeah, it looked crazy.
You know, uh, how's, how's, how's he out?
He's gotta catch the ball because that wasn't the ball as his finger guard.
Okay.
Alright.
That
we had the exact same call, though, two different days that
they called two different ways.
Mm-hmm.
Stallings got hit on the, yeah.
On the wrist on Friday, I guess.
And, uh, you know, they said, hit the bat first.
Mm-hmm.
It, it's, it's almost impossible to get hit on the hand and have it hit the bat.
First.
You, you're supposed to call and hit the bat and if they wanna review that.
You go back in and you say it, they, they actually got it right the second time.
Unfortunately it was for them.
'cause I went out and he said, no, I got it hitting his hand and in the back.
And that's almost all, unless it hits the bottom of that knob.
Mm-hmm.
Somehow it, it's, it's impossible to hit the bat and not your hand.
And so that's what I said.
I said, you gotta be kidding me, that at no point did that ball hit his
hand and they review it and say no.
And I was like, I don't, I don't believe it.
I I, I told the guy the next day, I said, I, I watched it.
Like, I don't know how you can say that ball didn't hit some part of his hand.
Um, I'm, I'm convinced
Replay just exists that I can say they're right.
I don't think they even look at 'em
anymore.
I mean, think about what, what call, when's the last time
you saw a call overturned?
I've had 'em walk by me and say, let's go, let's go see them.
Right.
Like they don't.
Yeah.
I remember
that last year when we first, when we first, you know, had it, you were
seeing a lot of calls overturned and now, and now they're going, oh yeah,
well, we're getting them all right.
Well, that's garbage.
You guys are just colluding.
You're colluding in there.
Uh, I
don't like either that the guy that makes the call goes in the room.
It's like, that's crazy.
One of the other guy should go, that's not supposed cakes.
Yeah.
I, I think it happens every
game.
I think it's supposed to be the crew chief and the guy that didn't make the call.
Yeah.
Unless.
It's got something to do with the home plate umpire.
Like they don't want the guy having to run in there with all
his gear on and stuff like that.
Oh, suck those buttercup.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Um,
but I mean, they were in there long enough.
Yeah, they're in there long enough and I can't even tell you the
last time I saw a call overturned.
Nah, it's been a while.
I can't remember.
I don't know if there's been one this year.
Like if we do, I
guarantee it was against us.
Yeah,
yeah.
Spoken
like a true Monarch fan.
Yeah.
Yes.
It's never, never in our favor there, honestly.
No.
Uh, yeah.
Well, um, Norfolk State, uh, tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on when
you're, you're listening to this.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, then head down to Georgia Southern.
Uh, it, it's obviously, it's still tight race in the Sunbelt.
I mean, I feel like everyone is still very much bunched together.
'cause uh, Troy actually moved into a, a first place tie this week,
eight and four with Coastal and Southern Miss and Georgia State.
Uh, so it's, it's all still pretty jammed up, but.
What have you seen from, uh, from Georgia Southern so far, if you've
had a chance to take a look at 'em?
Well, they're good and they really play well at home.
You know, they lost two outta three to south on the road this weekend.
Um, so again, after we played Georgia, Southern Louisiana.
You know, outside of the last weekend against Coastal Wolf
played six of the top seven teams.
Um, so the schedule makers didn't do us any favors this, this year either.
Of course, right?
When, when they started out with Troy and Southern Miss, it was like, oh, thanks.
Yeah.
And, uh, Louisiana's getting healthy.
They're, they're playing back, playing good now.
So, but it is what it is.
You know, I, I'm, I am, we're, you know, there's been a lot
of teams that have been swept.
Um, you know, I'm proud of our guys for hanging in there and not, you
know, when we haven't, you know, won on Friday, Saturday, we haven't
allowed our subs to be swept.
And that gives you a chance, man, that's a, such a big two
game swing in those weekends.
Um, when you, when you just keep from being swept, you still got a, a shot.
So, um, you know, we were five and seven last year at this point, and uh,
difference was we had JMU coming in this year we're going to Georgia Southern, so.
But I mean, if we can keep pitching, you know, overall the way we're
pitching, find a way to get some more timely hits and, you know, we've
gotta, we've gotta play better defense.
I mean, we're costing our pitchers too many pitches by not making routine plays.
And, um, those guys have to play like, uh, I don't know what
we're gonna do at third base.
So it is just been a mm-hmm.
Disappointing, terrible black hole for us right now, this year.
And I can't put it any simpler than that.
Those guys need to step up and somebody's gotta play better over there.
So, um.
Plain and simple.
And if we can do that, then, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm proud of some guys trending
in the right direction offensively and, you know, some other things, you
know, bullpen wise are, are better.
And so, we'll, we'll give ourselves a chance.
'cause our starting pitching's good.
You know, I mean, and you know, most, most of these weekends you're seeing,
you know, somebody's just crappy, uh, in one of those three games on the mound.
And we really haven't been, um, for the most part.
So, um, that's good.
And, you know, Ben's feeling better.
He got some new medicine for his migraines and I think he's been, you
know, a week now without, you know, feeling dizzy or any of that stuff.
He looked better.
Yeah.
Like he looked better walking around, like physically.
And I think that, I think too, you know, every weekend, here's something
else maybe you don't think about.
Every weekend is a, is a different.
Um, approach from a hitting standpoint, like what their hitters
do and what they're good at.
I, I really believe.
Appalachian state and Troy, um, how they hit makes it as difficult
on your pitchers as, as just about every other team in the league.
I mean, they don't give that way at bats.
They don't strike out much.
They grind out bats, they put pitches in you.
You know, you play a Georgia State, like they're gonna be more free
swingers, they're gonna strike out a little more, that kind of stuff.
And, uh, Georgia Southern has been that way.
Um, so having to fight through those six games in a row maybe can help you, uh,
down the road, you know, as, as you work.
'cause maybe you get a little bit easier outs, you know, in some of these places.
So I think that's the case.
You know, Louisiana's, uh, usually a very left-handed heavy lineup and,
you know, that's, um, uh, a strength of ours is left-handed pitching.
So you like that matchup, I think.
And, uh, we just gotta show up and, and play better behind those guys.
Now, like when you have teams like App State and Troy, which
I absolutely agree with you.
The way they bat is just wonderful.
Is that something you point out to your guys and say, Hey,
oh, always.
Yeah.
Look at this.
Yeah, because that's not, we're not good at that.
Mm-hmm.
No.
You know, I, I mean part of that's personnel.
Um, and part of it's coaching, like we gotta do a better job with 'em.
Like it's, it's, you know, Tylers Zedalis was oh, for four, four
strikeouts yesterday and didn't have one competitive at bat.
Like, and he's just bailing out, you know, heads facing the third
base coaches box on every swing.
And I was like, go back and look man.
Like, how can you hit that way?
Like, nobody any good hits like that.
And I hate to be, I'm not picking on him because he is a great
kid, but you can't hit like that.
It doesn't work.
Well, the one at bat,
he actually did have the RBI ground out was great.
He did stayed in there the ground out.
He, he got, yeah, but you're right.
The other four was like, what are you doing?
Like, why even go up?
Yeah.
Which it is.
He is a great kid.
It's, you're right.
It's not to stick on him, it's just to point it out.
Yep.
And so it's something that guys gotta take pride in and um, unfortunately, you know,
not enough of 'em in today's game do, but we gotta make it a point, we gotta make
'em, I guess is a better way to say it.
Uh, and
that, and that's what's frustrating is because, uh, there are enough guys
who do, you got a whole, you just saw two whole teams of them that do.
Yeah.
And I, I've even noticed Troy starting to crowd the plate a little
bit more when they got two strikes.
So it was even more than just the choking up, like at least the top
half of that lineup was moving in about an inch closer to the plate
anytime they got in two strike count.
And I think that's, yeah, Ben was stay,
if you come inside, they'll, they'll wear it.
And again, you know, that's part of the approach.
And um, you know, we hit a number of guys, you know, unfortunately this
weekend and we got hit a few times too.
But I think, uh, Ron, did Ron get hit twice yesterday trying to bunt?
Yeah, he did.
Trying to bunt both times.
Competing, yeah.
You know, it's funny, sometimes you just show bunt and the pitcher just freaks
out and throws the ball over the place.
Like it happens all the time.
We've had a
few instances this year when we're pitching and a guy shows bunt.
Oh, oh.
We somehow get two called strikes and then end up winning the at bat.
We even had someone foul out this weekend against us.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
They went to bump with two strikes and they fouled it off.
Yeah,
yeah.
Right back into the cage.
Yeah.
That's, uh, yeah, that's, there's different, different thought processes
on bunting with two strikes, I guess.
Um,
I was always told no.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of it.
You fail that twice.
Why do a third
one?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
They're probably not gonna get it done on that.
So sometimes slashing in that, in that instance is better 'cause you still show
the bunt and get the people moving for the bunt and then you pull back and swing and
if you foul that off, it's a foul ball.
Um, so yeah.
So
Finney uh, national championship for basketball tonight.
You got Florida and Houston.
Yeah, Florida.
I mean obviously by Florida by time to
say airs tomorrow.
We'll know if you're right or not.
Florida
is so good.
That's Pick Jr. Is unbelievable.
Having said that, uhoh, I loved the analogy of Houston.
Uh, somebody called him the cockroaches, like, you can't kill 'em.
Fair.
And they are so tough, uh, and so resilient on, on the, the rebounding
side of things and defense.
Yeah, there's defense.
I think they're gonna be in the game, man.
I mean, I really do.
Um, and I, I think Florida's more talented.
It wouldn't surprise.
I think it's gonna be a great game.
It would not surprise me in the least if Houston beats them though.
Okay.
Yeah.
Kelvin s Samson's tough man.
He's always a tough out from the tournament.
Yeah.
They play that defense first.
Basketball man.
That's, yeah.
You talk about a
guy that kinda reinvented himself.
Uh, yeah.
He was, uh, in the Bruce, him and Bruce Pearl, they were in the, uh, cheaters
anonymous, uh, uh, meetings there back in the, uh, back in the early two thousands.
You know, they, hi, my name is Bruce.
I'm, I'm fan by the ncaa, hi, my name is Calvin.
That's funny.
Uh, and, and they've reinvented themselves and done a great job and, you know,
take second chances, third chances, and they're, they're taking advantage of
'em and obviously great coaches and got great teams and, you know, so, um, I
saw something on, I don't know if it was Instagram or something where they wouldn't
let hakeem olajuwon, on the court to celebrate with Houston after the thing.
Like who in the world?
Crazy.
Yeah.
What Dummy wouldn't let hakeem olajuwon on the court?
I would let him do anything.
If he just showed up and walked to my house, I'd let him hang out.
Like, I'm not gonna, like Elijah could do anything else.
Come on
man.
Like that deserves to come on, man.
Like, yeah.
Do you not know who that is?
He is right.
Seven, seven feet tall and yeah, that was, that was a bad move.
I hope that guy's happy with himself for that.
Yeah,
he's probably, he's probably having a fun day yesterday until, oh
yeah, he was getting smashed everywhere.
Like, uh, and, and deservedly so have some feel.
Yeah.
Some guys think take their jobs real seriously and, you know, lack feel, but
Yes.
Alright, so you guys got F coming on.
What a wonderful kid.
And
Yes.
Remind
him that, uh, when we got to the ballpark yesterday.
They had, uh, some Latin music going and, um, whenever that's happened, I'll, uh,
I'll ask eff, you know, what's the, you know, what are, what are they saying?
What are, he always translates it for me.
So it's great.
He's
he's smiling backstage right now.
I can seen there.
Yeah.
Well, he's a great kid.
We're, we're really happy.
He is a monarch.
He's ultra competitive.
Uh, he's a winner and he is gonna be a big part of, of this program
for, for the next few years.
And, you know, we're, we're really proud of him.
Absolutely.
We're, we're excited to have him join us today.
We did get one more voicemail and hopefully you can hear this one.
They actually called him Wednesday, so it was before the game this weekend.
Yeah.
But it kind of goes back to some defensive positioning in the question they had.
So we'll see if you can hear it here.
Okay.
Hi.
I was wondering if, uh, coach Finwood consider playing Luke Waters.
I can hear in the infield.
Possibly at second base or third base.
I know in his freshman year, Luke played a little second base and
certainly played that in high school.
So no, in the volatility we seem to have in the infield, just
wondered if he paraphrase any
thought.
Yeah, yeah.
Yep.
See, it was tough to hear, but, uh, they're, they were asking if you
considered, uh, moving Luke back into the infield because of some recent volatility
with fielding within the infield, if that was an option that was on the table.
I really haven't, I mean, Luke's, Luke's been, you know,
going through it offensively.
And last thing I wanna do is add, you know, having to worry about.
All the things you gotta worry about in the infield with him.
And he's, you know, he had, he had some better at bats yesterday.
He had a big single force, he walked, um, and he hit some balls Hard.
I mean, right now what Luke's going through is part of the thing that,
you know, classifies the S-L-U-M-P.
Uh, when you hit it hard, it set somebody and you know, you, he's
gotta get more balls in play.
Certainly he knows that.
But he'll, you know, maybe I said maybe they're just saving 'em all up
for second half of the season, man.
Like, yeah, think about it that way.
That's possible.
So when he gets hot, he can carry you.
And so hopefully we, we got that coming up.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, we, we appreciate the calls that came in, uh, both from Aaron and, uh,
didn't leave the name on that second call, but appreciate the, the call in.
We'll definitely be getting to 'em.
Uh, coach, we appreciate as always you coming on here.
Uh, it's been a blast having you on this season.
Got a lot of compliments from parents and fans.
About the show and mainly because we have you on and we have players
on it, so we, we appreciate you.
Yeah.
Well, and, and I tell our players the, these same things, so I don't think
any of them are surprises and I don't ever wanna come across as trying to,
um, you know, blame or deflect or complain about anyone's performance.
These guys are college kids.
They're trying their butts off.
Um, it's our job to help 'em and support 'em.
And sometimes that's being honest and, you know, being honest and, uh,
being able to handle honest feedback from people that care about how you're
doing, um, and are invested in it.
You know, like we work our tails off of these guys.
So, um, I think we're entitled to be honest with 'em and give them honest
feedback and, um, we want them to be better and we're gonna keep on working on
trying to find ways to help 'em be better.
You know, as long as they're playing in our program, that's our job.
And, um, so I, I just think it's important that, you know, when, when
a guy does well, you, you tell 'em.
And when he is not doing well, you tell him that too.
And it's equal opportunity.
Um, we're not, we're not just trying to candy coat everything,
but we want guys to, you know.
We want guys to be honest about their own performance.
'cause I don't think a lot of kids are, I think they can, you know, live
in this candy shell of a, of a, you know, a barrier where they're just not
gonna admit what's really going on.
And some guys got competition anxiety, like they're afraid of failure.
Mm-hmm.
And so what does that cause guess what?
Failure, uh, that's how it works.
Yeah.
And, you know, and that's the beauty of guys and some of
this comes down to recruiting.
All right.
Uh, I've heard it said, Hey, if you don't want, uh, problems with
your team, don't recruit kids with a bunch of attitude problems.
Right.
If you want a competitive team.
You need the crew to recruit a bunch of dudes like Effer Morales.
'cause that sucker likes to play.
Yes.
And he hates to lose and he'll bite your knees off to get a win.
So, uh, we need more guys.
Is that the right level for it?
Quite honest.
And, um, that's a, that's just the, you know, that's the, on us to find
that type of attitude, that type of desire, that type of competitive spirit.
Um, because it, it is contagious.
And when you don't have enough of it, it's contagious as well.
Yep.
Absolutely.
Well said.
All right.
Appreciate, we'll see you out tomorrow.
Looking forward to it.
Yep.
See you.
Good luck.
Thank you.
All right, go Monarch.
Let's take a go Monarchs.
Go Monarchs.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break.
When we come back, we will have Efrain Morales joining us.
Yay.
This episode of the Monarchist Podcast is brought to you by
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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.
Welcome back, Monarch fans.
We are joined by Morales, uh, catcher dh.
I'm heard, I've been told that you can play pretty much anywhere
in the field, but Efrain, thanks so much for joining us today.
A hundred percent.
Love to be here.
Yeah.
Well, uh, I think that was your first time playing in Harbor Park, at least for ODU.
What was that experience like over the weekend?
It was awesome.
Um, really playing in a big stadium like that is like an honor.
It's like a really, like a blessing, especially at like such a high level.
And competing against a really good team too, was also like a
very, very good experience for me, especially as a freshman.
Well, I know you got to play at the AA park down there in Biloxi.
Mm-hmm.
Um,
I wanna hear about how that was, but have you played in any other pro parks?
Um, so at P 27, um, uh, there's this team that we played against us called PDG.
Uh, they played in the national Sing a, um, stadium.
It's a pretty nice stadium.
I think it's here in Virginia actually.
Is that the one in in Fredericksburg?
Fredericksburg, yes.
It's a really nice park.
Nice.
Very nice park.
Nice.
Okay.
How'd you like?
And so Biloxi, I dunno know about you.
For me, Biloxi, that was, that was pretty wild that they had that place packed.
Like, I couldn't leave the dog out to take pictures.
There's nowhere to go.
Oh yeah.
That place was, there were so many fans, like all around the ballpark.
It was, it was insane.
Yeah.
Those Mississippi State fans showed up.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
So a hundred
percent.
You mentioned P 27.
Now, uh, now a lot of folks maybe don't know about this.
So you, you went to, it's called P 27 Academy.
It's like a baseball high school basically.
Right.
Yes, sir. It's uh, just the academy for baseball and that's it.
Just baseball.
And then we have school online.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
So you were there
for what, one year?
Two year?
How many years were you there?
I was there for two years, my junior year and, and senior year of high school.
Nice.
And how far away is that?
'cause that that's in South Carolina, correct?
In, yeah.
South Carolina.
In
Lexington?
Yep.
Okay.
And you, but you live uh, with Raleigh?
I'm trying to, I'm trying to, yeah.
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Yeah.
So about was about like
four hours.
How far is that?
About four, because depending on traffic too.
'cause you have to go through Charlotte and Charlotte's never fun to go through.
Always traffic.
I used to
live in Charlotte, so Charlotte's more fun to stay in than to go through.
Oh yeah, a hundred percent.
Yeah.
So much
traffic around there.
But yeah, it's about four hours.
So you, so you're
living away from home all throughout, you know, the school year, right?
Is that, that's what's happening?
Yeah.
Junior and senior year away from home.
Yeah.
How is that?
I mean, that's, that's, that's different, man.
You don't see that, I mean, I guess you're seeing it more now with these academies,
but like, what's that like for you?
So like that first year was, was a little tough 'cause like I was
definitely homesick, especially as a junior in high school.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but it is definitely built a lot of maturity in me.
Like not much high schoolers get to go, um, out of state and be with a
bunch of guys that love to compete and it just matured me a lot.
Especially matured me and uh, preparing me for college for sure.
Yeah.
I mean we're definitely seeing that a lot more.
Sorry, Gary.
'cause but we're, 'cause I know what Cole Lanford, he was at the P five we got Yeah.
Pro five.
Yeah.
Oron and Baes both were IMG, uh, SIO was, was P five to, uh, pro five.
Yeah.
I think somebody else was PI mean we, it's starting to become a thing now,
especially as you see the D one level.
Oh yeah.
What I mean, so as someone, you know, you don't have to sell it if
you thought it sucked, but it sounds like you probably had a good time.
What, for people who might be thinking about maybe sending their
kid to one of these academies, what would you tell 'em about it?
Um, I would tell 'em for sure.
It definitely gets you ready for the next level.
Um, uh, the difference between, um, college and, uh, the academy baseball?
Um, playing wise, it's gonna be like, uh, the fastball, uh, velos would be the same.
The only difference is that like D one, you're definitely coached a lot better.
Um, and the pitchers know how to locate a lot more and they're not
throwing 97 to your head 24 7.
So, uh, but yeah, it's, uh, that's the only difference and
the competition is really good.
Um, yeah, the competition all around, I mean, um, our whole lineup,
um, this last year we're all, uh, division, uh, one, um, players in
the lineup, so it was very cool.
I.
Oh, that must have been just a stud lineup there.
Oh yeah.
It was, it was insane.
Uh, our first five were, and it was insane.
It was, uh, a great experience for sure.
Yeah.
I mean, I see you share stuff on social media.
You got guys like all over, like Florida and some different places.
Oh
yeah.
We had, we had some studs, like our first five were like all going
to like the SEC and like Arkansas.
Florida, yeah.
Um, wake Forest, like bunch of dudes, like they're bunch
of dudes that are really good.
Yeah.
The few times I've seen like IMG or seen Pro five, it's like, this is really good.
This isn't high school baseball.
This is really, really good.
I, I've seen 'em like beat JUCO teams who were pretty solid JUCO teams.
Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.
We've played, uh, we've played a couple really good jucos too.
As a matter of fact, we, uh, we played, uh, north, north Greenville University.
They're a very solid D two school down in South Carolina.
Yeah.
And they're, lemme tell you, they're pretty good.
And we put a good fight against them last year.
Nice.
Yeah.
Well, I imagine with that much D one talent, there's, there's probably not
a huge difference in rosters, even, even with the age differences there.
Oh, no.
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
Well, I know you've, you've gotten the chance to start catching, uh,
a couple times for us this year.
I know you're still kind of rehabbing off of an arm injury,
but have you always been a catcher?
Is that something you've moved to recently, or what was, what was
your positional journey there?
Um, so it was, uh, so starting off with like the young days, uh,
like literal league, uh, I was always a second basement because I
was never the tallest, like what?
I, yeah.
Like I was cb you know, I'm short, I'm short.
Um, and I, I admit no.
And so how tall
are you for people who aren't aware?
How tall?
How tall do you tell people you are, I guess the reality,
so I tell 'em I'm five nine.
In reality, like, I'm like five, seven, and like three fours.
Okay.
All right.
I'll let you see.
I
was gonna let you go with what you said.
I, I was gonna let you go with what you tell 'em.
You didn't have to, you didn't have to give yourself out like that.
But that's, I, I appreciate the honesty.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Uh, but with cleats on, I'm definitely five nine.
Oh, I was gonna say.
And spikes.
You're good.
That was always my out too.
Five, nine.
You put like thick socks on.
You're like six one.
I see you.
Yep, yep, yep.
You play it like you're seven feet tall, that's what's what matters.
Yeah.
And, but going to like the positional like, um, topic.
Um, I started off as a second basement.
Um, I was a second baseman, outfielder, and then one of my
coaches, uh, from middle league was like, you have a really good arm,
uh, that's probably behind the plate.
And this was like maybe sixth grade.
And my dad was a catcher too, and uh, back in his day.
So he was all for it.
And ever since then, um.
Just became a catcher and I enjoyed it, but I also miss like, being
in the outfield, like it's always fun to like go in the outfield
and, and catch 'em fly balls.
I haven't played second for a while though.
Yeah.
You, you probably would not miss, you know, taking a foul ball to the
inside of your knee, which I think is what happened on Sunday, right?
Like, you're just
getting beaten up back there.
Oh yeah.
I, hmm.
I have a big bruise right now in that, in that, uh, inner
thigh, it's not the best feeling.
Was that one of the biggest things, because I know you, you've been
playing a lot, you've been ding
Yeah.
And I
know you've been catching a ton of bullpens, but then when you actually
getting in the game is that reminder of like, oh yeah, this is what it's really
like when you're getting those foul balls.
Yep.
It's gotta be a kind of a shock to your body.
Yeah.
Uh, and then the first, the first game I caught, I got a bat to the knee.
Oof.
That one did not feel good either.
That was Georgia State, right?
Georgia State?
Yeah.
I don't know how you stayed in that game.
'cause I, I heard the bat hit your knee and I was hoping it just hit the pad,
but obviously it didn't and I think you got on base the next half inning
and I saw you trying to run the second.
I was like, oh no, that's, that looks painful.
Yeah.
There's, there's one thing about me and it's like, I never want
to get out of the game ever.
It's, uh, it's more of like a, it's just like the competitive in me.
It's like, even if I'm limping, like I never want to get outta the game.
It's just the way I was taught by my father and mom's just being tough.
For sure.
Definitely.
Yeah.
You, you're a competitive guy that's, I know yesterday you had
a, you had a really, you swung it really well and I think it just
got caught like at the last second.
And, uh, you, you let anybody in, in hearing distance knew
you were not happy about that?
No.
Yeah.
Yeah, I was not happy for sure.
I was not happy.
Well still, you know, going four for five, uh, against the 23 team in
the country is not, not a bad day.
So,
no, uh, no, not a bad day at all.
So first four hit game at college.
I gotta imagine you've had some four hit games in the past.
Oh yeah.
I mean, I really don't, I mean, I've definitely have, but like,
don't really like, focus on that.
Like yesterday all I was focused on was winning that game.
Yeah,
that's great.
For sure.
Hey,
you were part of it for sure, man.
Oh yeah.
That was awesome.
That's too, so I, I have to imagine probably you probably haven't dhd a
ton in the past before the season.
How has that been kind of transitioning and figuring that out?
Um,
honestly, it definitely saves the legs a bunch.
Like, and my legs feel fresh, but it was definitely like hard 'cause like
DH and like, if you have a bad day at dh, like you can't say, oh, I did
really good on the field, you know.
Like if you have a bad day hitting and then you do good on the field, it's like,
all right, now tomorrow let's do better.
But like, ding, it's just like if you do bad ding, you can't
say you did good on the field.
Yeah.
Well, speaking of that, you know, you, you get off a really great
start, you know, you're killing it.
We're like, Hey, this guy's amazing, right?
Uh, we got on to Auburn first at bat of the whole series to smoke one over
the wall, and it's like, holy crap, RAI is the best player we ever had.
This guy, I love this kid,
which I still,
you're still, you're still awesome.
I still love you.
Um, but then like you hit that home run.
And then I think, I think I was looking at minute.
I was like, oh, for 25 until, yeah, like the rest of that trip.
What was, so what was that like, you know, after all that success, I
mean, like you said, you're, you're clearly the guy you like to compete.
I mean, how did you, how did you deal with it?
How'd you get through it?
And I mean, clearly you're, we're on the other side, now you're back kind
of, you know, being yourself again.
Um, so talking about that, like, I have such a great roommate,
my roommate's, Kyle Edwards.
Oh yeah.
Um, so like every day he's always like boosting up my energy and making sure
to tell me like that I'm that guy.
Um, and every, every good baseball player, um, everybody goes through slumps.
I mean, it's just part of the baseball.
Like baseball's not just skyrocket going up.
It's a more of like a wave, you know?
And I, you was gonna get, uh, out of it soon.
Uh, it was just about time that I was gonna get out of it, so.
Well, you've definitely been hitting the ball well of late and of course going
four for five on, on Sunday against Troy.
Uh, you've also had some pretty epic photos taken.
I don't know if you've noticed it.
I think that the Georgia State series, you had, I think, I think our social
media outlets, the teams, everyone else had you celebrating in second base.
And then, uh, CB grabs this one yesterday.
Oh, that was
a great one.
I saw that one yesterday.
Yeah, he have F's, uh, he's a handsome man, so he, he's, he's
a big fan of photos of himself.
Thank you.
So he, he's definitely a guy that I, I know appreciates him, that's for sure.
Yep.
Love the photos, especially the one that I'm hyped up in.
I love seeing.
Yeah.
Hyped up during the game for sure.
Oh yeah.
You had, I think the Georgia State one, I, I don't have it up at the, the
moment, but you had slid into second.
It popped up and I think you're giving like a double
thumbs up back to the dugout.
Yeah, that's a good one too.
Amazing, uh, series win picture that we used for sure.
Yes.
And then, uh, course CB got another good one yesterday.
One of your, one of your four hits on Sunday there.
One of the many hits.
Yes.
And this is what I love too, is this like, you always have this like textbook swing.
I mean, this is like exa like, if you were gonna like draw what a baseball
swing looks like, like, I mean I, the, I have so many pictures because you
have so many hits, but I have so many pictures of like, just like this where
it's like just head down, hands to bat.
I mean, uh, hands to barrel, like bald at bat.
Like it's just the best, what you wanna do every time.
Yep.
That's
great man.
Yeah.
Well what
that's go every time.
What is kind of your mindset when you go to the play?
'cause you know, obviously we're, we're seeing some guys that are, they're
scuffling a little bit right now.
They're, they're trying to have more competitive at bats.
Uh, facing good pitching.
I'll definitely caveat with that.
They face good pitching, but what's going through your mind from on
deck circle, getting some warmup swings and then going into the box,
uh, on deck circle.
I don't know if you guys see me, but I get close to the fence.
Um, and I just from trying to have a short swing, try to hug myself.
'cause if I try to hug myself, the shortest I can be, the more
barrel I'm gonna get to the bowl.
Um, and I try to have an approach before I get into the box because once you
start thinking so much, like my dad will make me watch like Tony Gwin growing up.
Mm-hmm.
And he always said like, if you start thinking in the
box, your abs already over.
Um, so I have an approach before the box, um, and I talked to h uh, about
the approach, what the guy has, and I mostly just try to sit on the fastball.
Um, I try to really hit that fastball and then if he pops a slider and I
can see the slider of his hand and he hangs it, um, definitely swing at it.
And I like to drive those pitchers a lot, but mostly, uh, getting in
there and swinging at a fastball anywhere near the strike zone.
Really try to be aggressive.
And that's just a game plan that I have always.
You, you talk about that kind of shorter compact swing, get
more barrel over the plate.
I also noticed that you do crowd the plate a little bit more than
maybe some other footers do.
Yes.
And that shows up with, I think you've been hit by a pitch
nine times so far this season.
Nine times.
Yeah.
But that I, I think you have the right idea of that short compact swing.
And, uh, I, CB actually pointed out to me in some photos of Kyle yesterday
on his, the home runs he hit, you can see his hands are tucked in tight.
He's got that shorter compact swing.
Mm-hmm.
And he hits two bombs to the left center.
So maybe he's been watching you a little bit on those avs.
No, I've been watching him.
I look up to Kyle a lot for sure.
Well, that's, that definitely a good one to, uh, to look out for.
He is, he's been on with us a couple times, uh, and we, we certainly
enjoy chatting to him as well.
No, I've been watching, I dunno if I've ever told you, I've been
watching Kyle play since he was like 14, and kid's just phenomenal.
I'm, I'm always been such a fan.
Um, so, so f how did you end up at ODU, right?
I, you said you're, you're from North Carolina, playing down in South Carolina.
How do you end up here at ODU?
Uh, so, um,
recruiting process.
Talking about the recruiting process, um,
I didn't really talk to a lot of schools, like, not really like it would be
talking to like schools close to home.
And they all wanted me as like a utility outfielder.
Um, the only school that wanted me as a catcher was Old Dominion.
Um, and so I took the opportunity, uh, Logan Robbins was the one
that was recruiting me at the time, and so did Marin, um, and.
Funny story is when I committed, um, I think it was he's first
day or something like that.
Oh wow.
And I think it was, he's like, first zoom call and I committed,
uh, that day with, uh, hey, on Zoom call and Marin on Zoom call.
That's a hell of a first day.
Yeah.
Pretty
good.
Yeah.
Well, how, how have you adjusted coming to ODU being in college?
I mean, it sounds like where you're at prepped you a little bit.
Mm-hmm.
Um, what have been some adjustments you've had to make coming into the college world?
Um, so coming into like the college world, I mean, definitely like school part of it.
Uh, like I said, like I had online school, so it was just online, so
it was kind of weird like going into the first day of, uh, school and.
Going into class and I actually had to like pay attention to a teacher.
That was definitely like a big, a big adjustment to Yeah, the school.
As a former
teacher who taught during Covid, I I absolutely understand
what you're talking about.
Yeah.
So it was definitely, uh, quite a bit of a adjustment for sure.
And I imagine that just the student population's a lot bigger too.
'cause you've just got a bunch of kids playing baseball.
How many, how many kids were in that, that academy?
Um, so there was, I think there was exactly 52 kids.
So yeah, 52 compared to walking around campus.
And it's just a bunch of people that I do not even know.
It's kind of a, definitely a big adjustment.
You could meet 52 new people every single day and still not
probably by the end of the year.
And not even come close to gotten everybody.
No, definitely not.
Yeah.
You were in classes that were bigger than your school.
I had that experience too, so I know how you feel.
Yeah, it was a, it was a pretty big adjustment for
the first two weeks for sure.
Yeah.
That's great, man.
Well, I know you're in the house with Kyle.
I think I, I can't remember who all lives there.
Kyle was sold this before, but Is Luke in that house too?
Uh, so, no.
So, um, Kyle was my roommate on, uh, on the road.
Okay.
Uh, so my house, it's, uh, Rocky and Evan.
Okay.
Uh, Holman.
Yeah.
Yep.
There's no other Evan, I dunno why I'm asking.
Yeah, not currently.
Yeah.
So, okay.
So yeah.
Not, but yeah.
So Rocky Green is a freshman.
Freshman pitchers, yes.
Red Shirting, uh, and then Evan catcher.
So, so you and Evan, you guys have, you guys have catcher talks a lot.
You guys just sit there like in your mask, in the living room and, and
have catcher, the master living room.
Yeah, for sure.
We'd be talking a lot about baseball and we love to watch, uh, wheels on YouTube.
Um, so we love to watch baseball.
For sure.
There we go.
Okay.
I noticed he started using the, the hockey mask.
Is that something, did you get him to, to do that?
No.
No, I did not.
I'm surprised he started, uh, doing that actually.
Yeah.
I have to talk to him.
I don't, I don't, I don't remember
him using it during the fall, during the scrimmages at all.
He is, he's always been using the, uh, the old style two piece.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
But I talked, I talked to his parents for quite a while before the game on
Saturday when we were over at Waterside, and I did not think to ask that mass
question, so I should have done that.
That's fair.
Well, we got a podcast.
We'll ring on at some point.
Ask him.
There we go.
Save some content.
So
I, I know like Finney, like one, I think one of the very first podcasts we did
this year, you know, we're talking about you and what you may be able to do and he
was talking about the possibility of you playing some second base in left field.
Now I know.
And now again, you probably mm-hmm.
You just heard him saying is like, this is probably gonna
be our catch for the future.
And I, I'm all for that.
'cause you're awesome.
Uh, and I, I love your energy back there, but is that playing other positions?
Is that something you're like down for?
You're like, that's okay by me.
Oh yeah, for sure.
I mean the, I just love to be on the field and competing with guys that I love.
That's all I really care about.
I could be first basement, I mean, I'd probably be the shortest first
basement in the whole country, but, uh, I'll definitely love,
uh, to play anywhere on the field.
It doesn't matter with me.
Yeah.
Kind of the answer I expected, that's why I wanted to ask it
eventually.
All the short guys that are decent at baseball are told you can't
play first base anymore because you're, you know, 5 7, 5 8.
Yeah, you're right here.
I got, I have some old first baseman m for you.
The funny thing is I've been to plenty of AAA games where they just like,
well, we need a guy in the lineup.
So they end up throwing like some like five, nine guy to play first base.
So weirdly it like in the minor leagues kind of turns around
just like, whatever, man.
Go over there.
Yeah.
So, uh, my junior year, uh, I forgot what it was of high school.
Um, uh, we were playing a game and I think when our first baseman got hurt.
And our, uh, our catcher was usually like the back and first basement.
Mm-hmm.
And I was, eh, hing.
'cause you know how you could hit like 10 guys in the lineup during high school?
Yeah.
So I was like, eh, hing.
So they just put me to first base
and it was, it was a lot of fun.
Lemme tell you.
It was a lot of fun.
Yeah.
You probably get a chance to talk to everybody.
That's why I know some guys love that.
Like Vinny Serino played here.
That was his favorite thing about playing first base.
Talked to everybody.
Everybody.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I
definitely talked to everybody when I was playing.
Yeah, there you go.
I played two innings and then it was a lot of fun.
You tell 'em guys just throw it low.
If you throw it low, we're fine.
Yep.
Oh yeah.
Because you've got the flexibility.
Yeah.
You've got the flexibility to get down and stretch for it.
No doubt it's those.
No.
Yeah, it's the high.
Yeah.
I don't know if I'll be able to catch those.
Yeah.
Oh,
so, uh, hey, we, we asked finna a minute ago, national Championship tonight.
Who you got?
Florida.
Houston.
What do you think?
Man, I don't know.
Um, I forgot who was talking about it, but he's a famous, um, like reporter and that,
and he was saying that he has Houston because Houston just wants it more.
And like, they're more like, they're tough.
But I think I have the Gators win.
Uh, I've got with
the Gators too.
I just, I like the talent.
I like their bigs.
The kid, Clayton, the point guard's really good.
But I like the, I like, you know, I'm a big guy.
I like, I like centers and power forwards anyway.
And they got some good advice.
Yeah,
I think I got the Gators with 'em, uh, this game.
They've had a good run this whole year.
They said by the time this comes out tomorrow, we'll know we're
either correct or we're incorrect.
We, oh yeah, they'll,
oh yeah.
I, I, I need the gators for both the bracket pool and uh, you know, a. A wager
that was placed back in, uh, November that had some pretty good odds on it.
So go, go Gators to me,
I had a 97% bracket on the women's bracket.
I, I crushed that one.
Really?
Yeah.
I almost had, I had the points down to like two points.
Like I was, I I did really well on that one.
Yeah.
Did you have Yukon winning the whole thing?
I had Yon Yukon, the over South Carolina.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
I, I picked like the final four.
I had it, like, I, I crushed it on the women's, the men's brutal like 56%.
But I
feel like, I feel like with men's, like you, you never know what's gonna happen.
You know what's funny though?
That, and that's why I thought I had a chance, but I think this year was more
like the, the better teams just won.
It's almost like this, this year for sure.
The, the, the portal is more like, because that was always the
thing with the women's, it was like the, the very best player.
It was like a, the pyramid went kind of straight up.
Yeah.
The very
best players at the very top.
So I was just like, Hey, you picked the best schools.
That's why I picked you guys.
It's like they got Paige Becker's, right?
Yeah.
Um,
but with the men's teams, I think it became more like that this year
where it was like, no, the, the talent is gets pushed upwards.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
It was wild.
Only the second time ever.
There's been all one seeds in the final Four.
And then, uh, on the women's side, I think it's the first time in a while
that a one seed does not want it.
'cause somehow eComm was a two.
Uh, but I swear, CB you and I must hang out too much.
You must be high mine because I'm in the 97th percentile as well.
And I had a perfect Final Four and National Final
Game Champion, so, wow.
Uh, Gary, you gotta ask him my, our favorite question.
Oh, yes.
All right.
So, uh, college football, video games come out.
We know there's a college component to MLB, the show.
So we're asking all the guys what would your overall rating be and what
would be your, like, your strongest category, whether it's like power
against lefties, contact bunting, fielding could be anything, but what's
your overall and what and where do you spike there on those ratings?
Man, like overall, if they made like a NCA baseball,
yeah.
If they made that again, that'd be great.
That would be awesome.
Yeah, I'll be playing that 24 7 for sure.
Me too.
I used to, I'll be putting myself on road to the show and
just grinding that out for sure.
Yes.
That would be so much fun.
Um, I don't know.
I mean, I'll like, I'll give myself a high rating just 'cause like
freshmen come in.
I'll give myself like an 85 overall coming in.
All's pretty good.
Freshman solid.
Yeah.
Solid for freshman.
Zach.
Late last week.
Yeah.
Zach Leite last week, said he was 99.
Overall, there were no questions, no hesitation.
He went full 99.
Well, big late big lake's.
Different big lake's, hitting that ball hard every time.
Yes.
He, yes.
He's, he is raking right now
and with two strikes, he gets that contact approach and, and hits it that other way.
Like it's, yep.
Yeah, he's putting on a clinic, that's for sure.
Yep.
He sure is.
Uh,
so what's the second part?
What would your, what would your top, uh, if you could give yourself
like a, like a highest score in one of the, one of the category?
So Lefty, uh, hitting off a lefty, I'll give myself like a 99 overall.
Okay.
Uh, love, love hitting off lefties.
One of my favorite things to do, love, um, off variety, depending on if it
throws submarine or over the top.
'cause some guys, some variety, uh, their sinkers are pretty gross.
Yeah.
Um, so probably like off variety.
Probably give myself like a. 85 to 80 grade, which is still really good.
Okay.
Yeah.
You put some numbers up at those ratings.
I like it.
We got it.
See, I see the ability to, to grow.
Are you a big video game guy?
I'm not, actually.
I like to.
Okay, that's fair.
I like to explore out and I'm more of like, I like to go out to the
beach and like do stuff like that.
What's, uh, the best spot you've found so far here?
You don't have to give away if it's like secret.
I don't want you to give away, like you spot everybody else gets Do
you have have fans lining up there waiting for you?
Yeah.
Right.
Oh, no, it's not, it's not a secret.
Uh, I forgot what it was called actually.
It's, I just went last week with Rocky actually.
Um,
it's not, it's it's the bay.
It's pretty, it's pretty, it's not like Virginia Beach.
It's like the View streets, that area.
Yeah, I think it's uh, like Ocean View.
Ocean View.
That's what it's called.
Okay.
Yeah.
Ocean Beach.
It is pretty, man.
Yeah, it's pretty nice just going out there and seeing the ocean.
I like to do that.
Yeah.
There we go.
Yeah, I mean, because growing up
in North Carolina and, and living in South Carolina, you did
probably didn't see it too much.
No.
Yeah, not too much.
Well, I, I actually grew up in, uh, so I was born in Puerto Rico,
so there's just water all around.
And then from Puerto Rico, I moved to Miami, so there was a lot of water too,
and I didn't move to North Carolina until my sophomore year of high school.
Oh,
wow.
Okay.
When did you
leave Puerto Rico?
Uh, I think I was three or four years old.
Okay.
So there few years.
And then Miami for a good chunk.
All right.
Yeah.
All right.
Yeah.
So you, so you are used to the water.
Okay.
So you get back to it, that's ice.
Okay.
Yeah.
But moving to North Carolina was like, oh yeah.
It's just freeze and mountains.
Yeah.
And, and, and hot and humid in the summer.
Oh man.
It is so bad.
And the pollen.
Yeah.
I, I, the pollen is bad.
Pollen's gone bad.
Oh.
Just, just this weekend I feel like you could cut through the air with a knife.
You could just see it floating underneath the lights.
Oh,
yeah.
And now since it just rained, like you could see like the pollen,
like right now outside my window.
Yeah.
You could see like the water and like the, yeah.
Oh,
that's crazy.
I could see
it.
'cause I was taking pictures through the net.
I could see in my pictures, I had to like, change the tint 'cause everything was like
yellow through the, through the pictures.
Oh, awesome.
Well, rem we'll, uh, we're gonna let you get outta here, but really
appreciate your time coming on.
It was great to chat with you, uh, awesome.
This awesome past weekend and definitely rooting for you.
Thank you so much.
In Norfolk State and then Georgia Southern this weekend coming up.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, man.
It's been a blast, man.
Thank you guys for having me on.
You're, you know, I, I tell a lot of our guys this, but like, you're,
you're what a monarch should be, man.
You're just, you're here, you're engaged, you're, you're a fighter.
We love it, man.
I'm, I'm excited to get to get to watch with you.
You, you're gonna play at Charlottesville this summer, is that right?
From the top box?
Yeah.
Charlottesville.
So I'm, I'm pretty close.
It's only two hours away.
Yeah.
My born too, but yeah, but it's, it's, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But we'll, so yeah, we'll definitely, we'll definitely pop up there and
get to see you and that's, that's the one anybody who's in Virginia
get, go out and see a, a Tom.
So game this summer and catch Efron.
Uh, probably getting three or four more hits every day of that one.
A hundred percent.
Thank you guys for having me on.
Alright, thank you.
Thanks
man.
Appreciate you man.
Take care.
Thank you guys.
Good kid.
Yeah, absolutely.
That's
weird when that, when that camera went back to me, I had like a
weird angle I was sitting at.
Well, we can zoom it in a little more if you want.
I look like, look like I got a neck today.
I dunno what's going on.
All right.
Yeah, no efron's awesome man.
So he is a good kid.
I, I, I was getting a chance to talk to him a little bit.
You know, I met him, uh, at, when he came for, they, they had the, their
weekend, like official visit weekend before they do the signing day.
And we, you know, took some pictures and I talked to him a little bit through social
media, just like, man, this kid's awesome.
And yeah, he's, he, he's the real deal.
He's fun to watch, play.
Uh, he's really fun to watch when he's in the batters box and working
through account, uh, 'cause you're seeing him do all the things that
Finney is talking about with getting a little bit more in on the plate,
having smart at bats, fighting up there, making the picture uncomfortable.
He does a really good job of that.
And you're seeing it show up in the stats.
I mean, I think he's moved up to second on the team in, in average or, uh,
third on the team in average, 2 98.
Uh, getting on base pretty well at 3 85, uh, six dubs.
I mean, not striking out a ton either.
Yeah, yeah.
He's
only striking out 21% of the time, which is phenomenal in the modern game.
Yeah.
So he's, he's a fun one to watch.
So if you come out to a game, definitely keep your eye out for
ing and, uh, you know, he's got a very, very bright career ahead of
him here at ODU u that we're pretty,
and it is great to, that's one of the amazing things about baseball is, you
know, he isn't, he is not a big guy.
I mean, like, he, he did really admit like five seven, like, that's pretty,
he might be shorting himself a little.
Actually, five eight might be right.
But that's the cool thing about baseball is that, you know, we all
love, like the picture of Altuve standing next to Aaron Judge, right.
I mean, and I've stood side by side by both those guys, and Altuve is every bit
of five three and Judge is every bit of six eight, maybe he might be six, nine.
I mean, they, I think they actually short his height.
Um, and the fact that you can go on a baseball field and both those
guys can be amazing at the sport.
Like they're both phenomenal.
They're both, they're both just.
Top of the world ball players, and that's such a cool thing.
That's one of the amazing things I think about baseball.
They both won an MVP and that's the difference.
That's, that is is wild.
Um, yeah.
I've, I've stood on the field at Minute made with Altuve and my dad and mm-hmm.
Not one of us is even sniffing six foot.
And we're lucky if we, we get mistaken for five nine.
So it's, uh,
I, I am a full foot taller than Tuve, like, for sure.
Yeah.
And, and at the same time, judge Towers over me, it makes me feel tiny.
So it just to show that, that that difference, it's what a, there's those, I
mean, you see basketball, you occasionally see like, oh, there, it's been a while
since Mugsy bogs is out there playing.
So it can, it can happen, but baseball is really the only
one where you really have that.
A guy rim size can really go out and be as big as anybody.
And that's, I think it's just a cool part of the sport.
It is, it's very fun.
All right, we got a couple things to cover here.
We're gonna definitely hit players of the week, uh, but stick around because
we have a new way to track monarchs that are now in the minors, the majors and
indie ball that we wanna walk you through as well, and a couple other things, but.
We gotta go with players of the week here.
Yeah.
There we did it.
So, let's see.
Uh, and of course I, I immediately had my phone away when it was time for this.
Uh, but Kyle had a great week.
He, he really is.
He, the big thing is he, yesterday's game hit the two home runs.
He was four for 13 for the week, which isn't amazing, but two Homers, three
rbis, had a walk, played great defense.
I mean, I, I, I was telling him yesterday before the game, I was like, man, you
really were playing phenomenal defense on, on, uh, Friday and Saturday.
And he kept it up yesterday.
So that's as much as anything.
Um, uh, and of course I just put this down as I had more point to make, uh, 'cause
Raim, you know, with the four hit day, he was four for nine for the week, as I
think he didn't start one of the games.
RBI and A walk, and, and Zach late, another great week, five
for 13, three rbis, four walks.
Um, you know, before yesterday's game, there weren't a lot of
options for hit of the week.
It got kind of like, no, who had two hits this week.
Uh, so it was good that a few of the guys pulled it out there.
It was, and Kyle was the catalyst that got us to that win on Sunday.
Uh, he homered in the two innings that we scored runs, uh, on, on Sunday.
So kind of being that senior leader again, stepping up in big moments,
taking a good approach at the plate and getting two balls up and outta the
ballpark on a very, very windy day.
Uh, but we needed that win.
Getting swept there would make the math really difficult to do.
Be, to be in any kind of good position comes Sunbelt tournament time.
It's also just a killer for your, your.
Feel and your culture and your, you know, it's just, yeah, getting
swept by anybody just hurts you.
Uh, and, and again, not just Kyle, but at the, on the mound, Blake
Morgan, of course, a huge part.
I think this is at least the third or fourth time he is
won this out of eight weeks.
Um, he went five and a third innings, one earn run, one walk, two strikeouts.
Uh, just phenomenal again and really could've, could've as easily given it
to Bailey Patella for that same movie.
We talked about him two and a third, uh, came in, got a, got
a two and a third inning saved, one hit, one walk, one strikeout.
Um, those guys were huge.
You know, hunter Baes had a great week also.
Um.
Uh, Kellen Davis outta the bullpen.
Kellen.
Yep.
Yeah.
And, and again, Dylan and, and, uh, Dylan Brown and Ben Moore, they pitched five.
I mean, Ben Moore won earned, run in four innings.
He had some really not great defense behind him that's kind
of got his inning to count up.
Dylan Brown, three earned runs in five innings.
I mean, to me, in a college game, if you get the three run runs in five
innings, like you're doing pretty good.
So the, the pitching has, like I said, it's been going a lot
better in the right direction.
And, you know, having guys like Blake who can step up and be that senior
star, just, it's, it's invaluable.
I've been trying to tell people how important it is that we essentially have
an ace going every single Sunday because weird things happen on Sunday games.
If you watch any other college baseball on Sunday, I mean, you saw some good
teams getting their doors blown off.
East Carolina got swept at home.
They were not able to kind of overcome that and win on Sunday to avoid the sweep.
Forest State got blown out twice by Wake Forest at home.
Uh, things can go south, but knowing that we have someone like Blake that we can
depend on to get you five, six, maybe 70 good innings on a Sunday and keep
you in there because, you know, in this situation we had already lost a series,
but we still need to win that game.
But there's a lot of times you're going into that Sunday with a split series,
and I'll put Blake up against anyone else who's throwing on Sundays in the Sunbelt
easily, like without, without question.
And then, uh, you know, this guy getting his, uh, well-deserved construction
helmet crown there after his second
helmet.
Yeah, I know, I know we talked about the helmet.
The, I don't know if we, uh, we had, I seen a picture of it
yet, but yeah, there's the, with the construction helmet for the
celebrations, which I think is great.
Like I said, it's, it's very much, you know, if we're this team, we're uh,
we're building the stadiums, that's why we're kinda these, these road warriors.
And at the same time it's got that kind of, that lunch pail, you know,
drinking, uh, water outta the garden hose mentality that you wanna have.
I don't know that all our guys have, but I, we wanna have it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, as much as I love that picture, I'm gonna get that framed.
Yeah.
Either him or one of the FM ones.
Great.
Sure.
You, you've taken some, uh, just awesome shots.
I frankly, I think about 90% of the pictures I put up,
we could, we could frame.
'cause I, you know, we really good.
Yeah.
But, but again, guys gotta do cool stuff and y'all don't see
all the ones that weren't good.
I leave those and in the, and the camera.
Um, yeah.
Yeah.
We, and we'll talk in a minute about the, the, the great, uh,
link we have there on the site.
Uh, but it was, it was nice seeing Steven Meyer.
It was great.
I know you said you gotta talk to him a little bit before the game Saturday.
I gotta talk to him for, for a bit, uh, Sunday, you know,
just guys a phenomenal kid.
Um, just a really high quality person having a great year, uh, there with Troy
and they're having a great year and, you know, he said he is rooting for us
and I told him we're rooting for him.
Uh, you know, we want them to, we want, and at the end of the day, you know,
it's like, yeah, we wanna beat 'em where you're playing, but like, Hey, we want
you guys to succeed and do really well.
You know, we want, we want the, the conference teams to, to to, to
have nothing but success, um, and.
Kind of the best of both worlds.
You know, we, the two games they won, we had, Steven was Hitless, I think he had
a walk and a, and maybe hit by a pitch.
Mm-hmm.
And in the
game we won, he got a couple hits and score a few runs.
So, you know, I think he was like two for 12, two for 13 on the weekend.
A couple of walks and, and hit by a pitch, you know, so it, it dropped his out.
He went from, when you take a, a hitter on the top 20 team in the
country is hitting like three 70 and holding the two hits on the weekend.
You're doing pretty good.
He did a good job of limiting him and I think the times he did get on base
there was a runner in front of him so he wasn't able to beat us with the speed.
'cause he has a lot of stolen bases this year.
Yes.
Uh, it was great catch up with him.
Only got him for a couple minutes before they had to go huddle up
and get ready to play on Saturday, but good to chat with him.
I did not get an answer on why he went with the shorts, the baseball shorts.
I know the crowd was letting him hear a little bit, but
Yeah.
I don't think we didn't, I didn't, I don't think we keyed up a picture of that, but
it, I, I'll share some later this week.
Uh, yeah, his, his, he's doing the, uh, the, the pants at the, like the
mid thigh situation, and he told me it was the only pants they had and.
I kind of looked around, I was like, eh, a little dubious, but you know, I, I said,
Hey, you're, you're making it, you know, when you look good, when you're hitting
three 70, you do whatever you want.
That's what I told him.
Um, and he, he did admit that they do get higher as the game
goes on, especially on base.
He said he, he does think, he kind of unconsciously pulls 'em up on base.
So they, they did, because that was the first time I noticed I
had been taking pictures of him.
And it wasn't until the time he got on base and I was like, I looked.
Back of the camera, and I was like, why are his pants so high?
What, what's going on here?
I figured he was just messing with us in after each of bat, putting
on a smaller size each time.
So I'm glad we didn't get to like 6, 7, 8 of bats.
I didn't know what that would look like,
but yeah, no, I told, I I, I told him, uh, if anybody's seen Reno 9 1 1, the
Lieutenant Dangle character who wears the, uh, he's, he's a sheriff, but he wears
like Daisy Duke shorts, so he could, so he is mobile, he can move around and get
mobile and, and so I, I was like, that's, that's what you got going on, right?
He's like, yeah, the best Gotta be agile.
Yeah.
Gotta be.
It was, it
was great seeing, uh, Ryan Fineman too.
And of course he coached with us and he's, he's there with Troy and, you
know, he's, he's, and again, he's having a blast and they're, they're,
you know, it's, Hey, when you're top 20 in the country, things are fun.
So, uh, good for them and wish 'em well.
And you know, we hope, we hope they have a great season.
Um, and we hope we turn things around and start moving in the
right direction and, and become a problem for 'em later in the year.
Yeah.
Uh, a couple of people wanna shout out from the weekend.
Uh, Alex Hunt's, uh, parents, uh, ran into them actually getting
on the tide at MacArthur Center, and we rode the tide to the game.
Ended up being on the same train coming back.
Uh, great to chat with him and get to know them a little bit.
Uh, Evan Holman's parents were both at, uh, blue Moon
at Waterside before the game.
Uh, Dylan Brown's family kind of got that a little bit organized over there, so we
were able to hang out with some of the parents, spend some time with them, uh,
Kellen's mom and uh, uh, I guess Kellen's grandfather was in there with us as well.
So, good to see all those people.
Uh, Bo I know you're, you're listening, we got to, uh, to chat
for about four innings on Saturday.
So that was, uh, that was a lot of fun, but good to see you to you fans.
Good to be at the ballpark.
Yeah.
So, uh, Blake's, uh, Blake, uh, his mom and brother
surprised him, so that was nice.
Good to see them.
And, and she got to meet my mom, and so they're like,
they're like mom besties now.
So that's, that's always fun.
Yes.
Yeah.
Your parents always, always take care of me.
Uh.
Gotta, gotta request more cookies at some point.
'cause I got sent home with some of those after Georgia State.
No, everybody,
everybody loves my mom.
And I'm like, I dunno what happened to me.
I'm sorry that, that, she's great.
And clearly there was a, clearly there's a disconnect.
I kind of blame my dad on that one.
I don't know.
Uhhuh.
Yes.
But yeah, so,
so tell him about, tell him about the website.
Gary, what do we got there?
Yeah, well, um, you and I kind of kicked this idea around and Mike Langston,
uh, was also with us in the monarchist, kind of brought this to light, but we
now have a site on the pride of odu nil.com, and I'm gonna pull this up here.
Uh, it, it is basically just a really easy way to track all the former
monarchs that are either in the pros, like Verlander, YBI, uh, pa
in the majors.
In the majors.
The other guys are pros.
Also, sir, don't, don't, don't, don't make my major pet peeve
happen in real life in front of me.
I've clearly been talking too much today.
Uh, but all the guys that are in the majors.
Okay.
And then, uh, if you scroll down, you got our guys that are in the
minor league systems right now.
Uh, if you click these links, it'll take you right to their bio page for MILB.
Mm-hmm.
So if they move up and move down, if they get traded, whatever,
the link will always be accurate.
We may be a few days behind updating the text, but you can go on there and you
can see their stats, how they're doing.
I know we were keeping a close eye on Jacob Gomez and Trent
Buchanan down in Augusta.
They both had scoreless outings to start their minor league
career, which is really awesome.
We've got Kyle Battle down for Indie Ball.
I know, I think there's a few other guys that are playing or will be playing soon.
We will keep this as a living breathing list for now.
Uh, but wanted to really have one clear, good, up-to-date spot
where you can keep track, see if they're coming to your neighborhood.
I know, uh, you know, with Hobe being down there with Mudcats,
he's gonna be traveling up to Fredericksburg, out to Salem Del
Marva, kind of all over the place.
And, and
Mudcats are only like two and a half hours away if you're in Hampton Roads.
I know.
I'm gonna go down there, uh, a few weeks.
Uh, and I mean, I know, um, they're, Augusta doesn't come up here a ton.
They've got both Gomez and Buchanan, but I know they're coming to Del
Marva, I think the last weekend of April when Odus on the road too.
So that's perfect.
Go up and see them.
Um, yes.
Yeah,
good chances to see those, those guys come through.
But, uh, you know, big, big shout out to Mike Langston for getting that together,
getting that on, on the Pride websites.
It's the pride of odu.com.
Uh, you can also find our podcast, get posted there in case you're
looking for a different way to.
Consume us.
There's also some good, uh, merch on there for some of the guys,
and that is just gonna continue to expand with what we're offering.
I know there's some really cool stuff on the horizon that will impact this
show in a very, very positive way.
Not, not ready to announce all that good stuff yet, but,
um, good thing to bookmark.
Yeah.
And I know last year we had, I think 23, uh, former Monarchs
playing pro ball somewhere.
Um, we'll see, you know, as Indie Ball gets started up here and then they
usually start about the beginning of May.
They wait till, you know, guys get cut out of, out of the organizations
and then end up signing with them.
Um, and so hopefully we'll add, we'll add some more and then as the summer goes on,
hopefully some of our current guys will end up playing pro and you know, we will.
Hopefully we get up towards that 23 number again.
'cause it's, it's pretty nice to be able to say, I know that was one
thing that we were down in Auburn and they kept saying we'd had like
36 current professional players.
And I was like, that's, that's a ton.
And I was, you know, kinda like, how many do we have?
It's like 23.
23 is a lot for the school.
People don't normally think of as, as, you know, ODU.
Yeah.
It's a good thing to show off.
And, uh, we may add to that some of the summer ball things, uh, we found last year
that's very difficult to track because Yeah, guys will play two games with one
team and move to a different league.
I moved to another one, uh, you know, as, as much as I'm, well it's funny you
had, um, we got Ybi up there, Ryan Yarborough, I think the last time
we played a game at Norfolk State.
Yee started the game.
Um, and he's in like his eighth year in the big leagues with like
his sixth team or so, I don't know how many teams he's been with now.
Um, so to tell you how long it's been since we played a game at Norfolk State,
uh, it's, that's, it's been a while.
So I'm looking forward to it.
Yeah, that'll, it'll be interesting.
I, I haven't looked at the Norfolk State site to see if they've
added us to their schedule yet.
I know they were.
They are.
They did.
Um, they, they're, and, and we haven't talked about, I think we
talked about this for a minute.
I know we we're, we're going real long here, so we wanna get done, but they
are, uh, they're having a tough year.
They're one in 22.
Um, but they got some hitters.
They got some guys, especially the top like three in the
lineup are really phenomenal.
Um, and they, the pitching has been a struggle for 'em, but, you know,
hey, you're, you're one in 22, I guarantee those guys are grinding,
fighting and they're tired of losing.
So, you know, don't wanna walk over there and think, oh, this is an easy one.
Like, nah man, they've, I'm sure fairly Dickinson thought that till they lost.
Yeah.
And if there's one game they probably have circled on their calendar, it's us.
Yeah.
Do, they would love to meet the cross down team badly.
They get hype every single time we've ever played them.
They're, they, they, there was a game I think they did beat us at, at ODU and I
mean, they were just losing their minds because that's, that's their World Series.
Um, which good for them.
It should be, you know, you gotta, you know, I'm sure plenty of 'em probably
would've liked to have come to O to U and end up go Norfolk eight instead.
And so it's like, Hey, I'm gonna show 'em up.
Yeah.
Get those bragging rights for a while.
So our boys will need to be ready and have those bats hot early and
often, uh, to get some runs up in that game and, and put it away.
But yeah, they're gonna, they're gonna give us hell.
And there's some scary thoughts creeping in the back of my mind
going into this game on Tuesday.
So hopefully you're listening to this on like late Tuesday, Wednesday.
We've already won.
It's fine.
But, uh, I'm, I'm telling you, we're gonna get everything we
can handle from the Spartans
and I'm, I believe it's a, it's another great chance for our guys to step up
and, and do some big things and keep moving here in the right direction.
'cause like I said, you see the game like they played on Sunday, it's like,
Hey, this is what the team can be.
We, we keep having those kind of games where it's like,
Hey, this is what we could do.
And so I was talking with a Hunter Baynes about this, you know, we were talking
after his game Friday, he pitched so well.
I said, yeah, just keep stacking those ones.
He's, that's what I'm trying to do.
It's what the team's trying to do.
Yep.
Absolutely.
Um, awesome.
Then yeah, go down to Georgia Southern this weekend.
Yes.
They're always good.
Uh, they're always tough to play at home.
I think they got a guy situation hit 400.
Yeah.
Gotta watch out for that guy.
Uh, yeah, they got a, they got
a few dudes, uh, yeah, Sean Smith hitting 4 0 2 with a 1239 OPS.
Uh, they got the top like three guys in their lineup are ridiculous.
Um, so they, they got, they got some stuff.
So, and again, they, they've had kind of up and down, you know, they're
six and six, 18 and 13 overall, they've been kinda up and down.
So yeah, that's, it's not gonna be easy weekend.
And no weekend on the road is easy, but you know, again, if this team
plays like they can and they grind out, some of bats take, take that
Efrain Morales approach of, of you just wanna win every single time.
We can do some stuff.
And with the situation we're in of losing a home series, it's now imperative
that we have to win a road series.
'cause if you.
You go two in one for all your home series and one and two on the road, you're gonna
be 500 Sunbelt, you're gonna be okay.
Come conference, tournament time.
It's when you drop one of those series at home, you really have to work.
Now we've, we've got some, some teams that we have the potential to
do that against, but, uh, Louisiana Monroe isn't exactly a team that
likes to be swept at home either.
So let's, uh, not, not count those chickens yet, but we are gonna
have to go win a road series.
And why not start with this weekend?
Why not get it right back right now?
Let's good.
And put ourselves in a good spot.
Yep.
It's a good week to have a good week.
So, uh, we, we've definitely gone very long.
I say we, we left the one, even though I, I will say you could
just pause it and watch it again later, but whatever, uh, you, you
do your podcasting however you want.
Yes.
Well, I got, uh, one more announcement and, uh, you know,
oh, like I didn't even noticed that that's
Oh, yep.
Didn't notice.
I dunno when that happened.
I don't, I didn't, I missed it too.
I have to go back in and review there.
Uh, one, one other note we wanted to send out.
Uh, I just wanted to send out well wishes and all the good
thoughts to Ted Alexander mm-hmm.
And his family.
He announced on Friday that his wife passed away after a, I believe,
a 15 year battle with cancer.
Uh, so definitely send in all the good vibes, all the support,
uh, to the voice of the monarchs.
We've, we've missed him.
Uh, and just, uh, you know, anything you can send his his way
would be appreciated, uh, just for what he's done for our program.
Then obviously going through a really difficult time right now.
And, and I know he, he said in that same video, he is like, she
would've wanted me to get back out there and, and do what I do.
And so he is, like I said, I will be soon.
And that, and that's great to hear.
'cause I, I, you know, and you hope that it can be a place that,
that brings him that comfort.
Um, you know, uh, yeah, Ted Ted's awesome.
He's a great guy.
He is, he is.
I really love listening to him calling games and yeah, really just
thinking about him and his family.
All right.
Well, that's gonna do it for us today.
We appreciate everyone who's tuning in.
Um, everyone that ever, I, I miss probably a hundred people
that came up and said hello.
Oh yeah.
At some point, the course of the weekend.
But we appreciate, we appreciate the love, keep telling everyone you can think of.
We're, we're definitely trying to grow this thing, but.
I'll do it for us.
Cb.
Anything else?
Go Monarchs.