SPEAKER_00 0:01

Alright, we are recording. I'm gonna make sure I'm on the button here. And so I'm not there was a delay last time we did it, and I did not like my delay. Oh, you know what? Let me add these together.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Can you grab your bet?

SPEAKER_02 0:25

I'm going to whenever we go to the intro.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Whenever it goes to the intro, I'm gonna do it. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Alright. Are we splitting this intro or are we going to do that? No, no, just do it. Just do it. Okay. You didn't like it last time?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

I didn't mind it, but it it felt like it was um. It felt too too forced.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Yeah, too forced, understandable.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Oh Cardinals came back at one. What? Cardinals came back at one. I just saw the final score. Five-three. Okay, go ahead. I'll see it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Alright, alrighty, alrighty. Oh, what's the call? Alright. Three, two, one. The agronauts. Okay. We're not saying that. We're saying Central Florida. Alright, here we go. Three, two, one, UFC. UCF. UCF moonwalks all over U UCF walks over.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

UCF moonwalks over West Virginia.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

You might as well do this fucking intro. You know what? You do the intro today. Let's have you do it. Alright. That's fine. You ready? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

You gotta look at the camera. You gotta look at the camera. I need to put it in the middle so I'm looking at the camera. Alright, am I looking at the camera right now? Yep, looking at it good enough. Perfect.

unknown 2:10

All right.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Top series, UCF versus West Virginia. UCF moonwalks over West Virginia. Wait, Kenny, why are there a bunch of brackets here? Oh, you want me to just quickly hit these? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't Georgia, Mississippi State.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah. First, top series, UCF versus West Virginia. Georgia, Mississippi State, West Coast Granddaddy of them all. Check back with the midweek games and fight of arms and the big ballers of the week.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

We're gonna talk some college baseball today. Jason is laying down the best butt you've ever seen. How are we looking?

SPEAKER_02 3:18

How are we looking?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

We're looking pretty good. I guess it was a game. The guys, I've seen them hold them up almost after the barrel now.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

They like to, they like to yes, man.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I was shocked by that.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

No, the stupid. Yeah, and you may like the old MVP baseball. That's how they used to bunt. Because they bunt and then they look back at the camera. Yeah, they'd be they'd be they'd be sitting there wiggling like this. You just do the screen all over the place.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

I don't think we're gonna be talking about bunts today, but a lot of college baseball, good college baseball. I'm your host, Kitty Hilliard. I have not introduced myself, and this is the third episode we're in. Great week of college baseball. Jason, how are we feeling about this week?

SPEAKER_02 4:07

We're doing good. This week was great. Great weekend of games, and uh a lot of good mid-majors, got a little lot of good midweek games, so really excited.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna hit some uh Central Florida and West Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi State, pretty good series. And also we'll talk about the West Coast granddaddy of them all that turned out not to be so of grand. Uh, that is USC and UCLA, and we'll again check with our midweeks and come back to our five arms and our big ballers of the week. Um, great week to start off, Jason. Let's jump into the top matchups. How about that? Yep, sounds good. Lead us off, dude. Lead us off.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Yeah, so if we want to start off, we'll go Florida State and Virginia. This was a big one. Uh Florida State number seven in the country, Virginia had number 10. So top 10 matchup here. Uh this was a great series. Uh, I saw a lot of the first game, uh, very good pitchers duel. Virginia ended up uh edging out Florida State four to three, but then Florida State takes the next two to win the series 2-1. Big big series went for Florida State. I think this is gonna be a big one for them just moving forward, right? It's good for their RPI, it's good for uh rankings in general. So I think this is gonna help them. Uh when we're down the road looking at who's gonna get a top eight seed to end up with a home super regional, this could be a matchup that ends up giving Florida State an edge.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Especially, I mean, again, you see up in the right, they got Georgia Tech up next. Man, that Georgia Tech team looks good. So you really gotta come off of a good weekend. And I mean, they're and they're at no, they're excuse me. They got Florida this week. Yeah, they got Florida this week, which is another Florida's still kind of trying to prove themselves. I mean, they didn't have a good showing this week. Um, but Florida State's looking hot. And and like I said last week, I thought they were gonna have a little issues maybe with Miles Bailey out, but again, they got other ballers on their team that can easily step up, so not an issue with Florida State.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yep. Next we got Boston College in North Carolina, Boston College number 22. We talked about them a little bit last week and we were excited for this series. And right out the gate, um, it kind of hit like we thought it would, right? Boston College's pitching staff has been really pitching really well uh with the lefties, and they got a lefty on the mound for the first game. North Carolina uh leading into this game was batting only 250 against lefties coming in and uh 305 against righties. So, really, uh Scott uh Forbes was really saying that their kind of mantra was going to be get to the lefties, get to the bullpen so they can get to the righties, because that's actually how they beat Boston College in the postseason last year in the ACC uh conference tournament. I believe it was in the quarterfinals. Uh, but not today. Uh game one goes to Boston College 6-1. Um, don't know what the stat line was for the starter, uh, but he he had an outstanding game. Uh, but then North Carolina goes back and takes games two and three. Uh that game three was a tough one, Kenny. Um, eight seven, North Carolina took it. Uh had a little pressure there late in the game, but took care of business.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, we we we talk about the pitching staffs and kind of just you either get ahead or you don't. And those late innings, you you cannot the late innings you really got to close. You gotta really do a good job of closing those in. And and I'm all I'm all for North Carolina. North Carolina, no, we'll we'll hit up them, we'll hit talk about them later when we come back to talk our midweeks. Um, Campbell. Upcoming this week, um Clemson for North Carolina. Clemson's Clemson was at Stanford this week. Um, I did not, I'm pretty sure Clem Stanford took the series on that. Clip, I mean I watched a little bit of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Clemson's falling apart.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Yeah, it's not the greatest a year for Clemson. Virginia Tech taking Boston College next week. Not too sad.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

That's that's a I think that's a big bounce back opportunity for uh for Boston College. I mean, there this is a good program, uh, good pitching staff. This is gonna be an opportunity for them to go in and possibly get a sweep at home against Boston uh against Virginia Tech.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Right. Moving on. This series, a great this was this is a great matchup, and I think Georgia proved a lot. Uh Mississippi State had a good series last week, but Georgia took it to two of them this week, swept the series against Mississippi State 25 and 7, 75 in the SEC for uh Mississippi State. Uh I didn't have a chance to catch much of the game, but um, do you have anything on them, Jason?

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Yeah, yeah. The first game uh was tight, and that was it was uh it was a down to the wire game, right? Georgia ended up taking it. I believe, yeah, gosh, I'm blanking now, but I believe Mississippi State had did they have bases loaded whenever they went out in that game? Uh I don't remember. It was definitely a high pressure situation down there, and I believe they went to 10 innings, right? Uh, where Mississippi State ended up giving up the game to Georgia. So didn't watch a whole lot of this series, watched a lot of other games. Uh, but it's good to see, you know, Georgia, Georgia with a big series win. I mean, a sweep is huge here. Uh it sucks that Mississippi State didn't get a win, but and and at and at uh Mississippi State.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

So yeah. Uh then you you think either gonna drop or I don't know. They probably won't drop.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

I think Mississippi State, yeah, I was about to say, I think Mississippi State maybe drops a few spots uh just because they're still such a great program uh this year, and uh Georgia winning. I mean, uh Georgia's gonna, I mean, now, you know, you never would have thought Georgia's a team that you're gonna look at baseball-wise, right? To be up there in top five. But uh looking forward to them moving up with Smith, maybe. Uh, maybe just uh maybe they just take Mississippi State spot. Mississippi State drops a couple spots, but with a lot of teams losing in that uh that 8 to 12, 14 range this weekend, I think that's gonna help Mississippi State, even Virginia, not drop a whole lot in the rankings when they come out.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, with UCLA, Texas up at the top, Georgia Tech. I think they'll I think they'll be okay. So nothing, nothing hidden. Uh let's talk about the granddaddy of them all. Uh UCLA absolutely tore up on USC this week. Um, I USC's got a good pitching staff, but it UCLA is hitting the ball really well. And they're looking like a dangerous team. I I don't think it's the same team as last year. They were hitting they were hitting those little slow rollers, but uh UCLA's got a really a dominant team this year, and I believe looking at the rest of the rest of their schedule, it's not actually I could be wrong. I think they got a pretty tough schedule this year, but um I just watched I watched their third game. And this is another point. I think it's embarrassing Big Ten, Big Ten, Big Ten Network. They did not have any of those games nationally televised. They were with the Vinted Plus, and the only game that was somewhat shown today was their last game, which I think is a kind of a gut punch. Um maybe that has something to do with UCLA's women's basketball team being in the final in the finals. Congratulations to them, by the way. Um I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

I I think I think it's just the nature of college baseball and the way the media sees it.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

So well, I think they had other like I heard complaints that they had sports like lacrosse or something on. They weren't even close to something that important to actually move a game like that off.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

But at the end of the day, USC actually um, you know, they have a chance to bounce back in the midweek against UC Santa Barbara. That's gonna be a tough matchup, though. UC Santa Barbara's playing really well right now. Um, but then their next series against Iowa. I don't see Iowa as a powerhouse in baseball. So an opportunity for USC to get back. Uh UCLA, they got Fullerton this week in the midweek. Fullerton's not a bad program. They're playing really well. Yeah, so we got two footing midweek matchups. Maybe they end up on the midweek mayhem next week. Uh, but uh then UCLA's got ruckers at home next week, and I I don't see them uh losing another game there.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

No, uh how dominant they've been. Um, I I don't see either. You again, you see Santa Barbara. We I really wanted I thought they were gonna pull a series upset against Oregon last week, so I had them written down, but I'm excited to see you see and uh again we hit on it. We're really excited about these California teams kind of coming back up. Um it's need it, need it, need it.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

So and the last one to mention is our Big 12 matchup for the week, Central Florida, number 23, and West Virginia. West Virginia was sitting right sitting pretty, right? They're sitting right there around a regional right now at number 13. They needed a win in the series, it was going to be huge for their RPI as well. But UCF comes in to Morgantown, gets a 2-1 series, and this was a crazy series, Kenny. Uh, five to nothing on the first night. UC UCF Andrews Williamson. Uh Andrew Williamson, he gets two home runs on Friday in the 5-0 win. And then West Virginia gets a crazy comeback win in game two, which we'll discuss a little bit later in our um performances. But then today, sent UCF uh with a 5-1 win, and this was a tough one for West Virginia because they had an opportunity to get out of the inning when it was one-to-one and um had an error that gave up a run, a letter run score. Then they walked in a run, made it three to one, and then ended up another couple runs getting in. They had to go to the bullpen, and their bats were not hitting the rest of the day. I mean, there were a lot of hit swings today that looked like they could have gone out, but just wasn't carrying today.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

Yeah, the announcers was talking about West Virginia. It was, I think today they only hit three singles, and I believe it was the same thing either Friday or Saturday. Like they really weren't hitting the ball well enough to even get out. Yeah, so um it it's it's one of those things in baseball. You you if you ain't hitting it, you're just not gonna be able to touch. And it's uh I guess it's it's just difficult to say. Um, that's that's a lot of programs right now. If you're not touching the ball, you ain't touching it for a while, and it'll it'll beat you, it'll beat you. But yeah, it's a it's a game that's a team to watch. We we have them on our watch list. I think we talked about it earlier, they'll probably shoot up pretty well.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Yeah, I think I think they just gonna jump right up where West Virginia is about. Uh, but a big series this weekend for them, right? Next weekend they got they're at Kansas. Kansas is sitting atop of the Big 12. We wouldn't have thought that would be a big thing we'd be talking about, uh, for baseball. Uh, but UCF going to Kansas. I mean, that's gonna determine whoever wins that series is gonna be number one in the Big 12 going into the following week, and it's gonna be huge.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Exactly. Be a fun game. We we gotta keep an eye on that uh Big 12 um conference.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

All right, you ready? I just realized as I was scrolling over to get my to go to the next slide, my mouse just appeared on the screen, but I was looking at it, just ever so slightly did. So you get fun stuff. Huh? Yeah, no, we're good. We're good. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

All right. Well, next up, we we really are we talking midweek?

SPEAKER_02 16:25

Yeah, midweek mayhem's next. Let's hear it, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

All right, midweek mayhem. We're gonna talk about three really important games. Uh, again, we're big on Campbell. Let's talk Campbell, North Carolina. We'll talk Arkansas at Missouri State. We love those. And then uh we'll highlight Western Kentucky against Tennessee Tech. Tennessee Tech's not the greatest in uh in the Ohio Valley, but Western Kentucky, Jason. You could talk all about Western Kentucky and their pitching performance. How about them?

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Yeah, no hitter. Another no hitter again this week. But this one was interesting. We don't have a solo performance this time. We don't even have a duo performance. We have seven pitchers.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Catch this, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Seven innings, seven pitchers. Each pitcher pitched an inning. Everybody got out. Uh, they were perfect through the first three. I believe the fourth is when they gave up a walker hit by pitch, uh, but end up with a no-hitter and seven. And uh, I mean, kudos to the bats, too, right? They get the 12-0, and uh, we don't have to play any more innings to even get an opportunity to allow Tennessee Tech to get some hits. So seven inning, no hitter. Interesting to see. Uh, probably not your probably not something you're gonna see very often. So really cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, I read up on the game. They they the guy said that the defense for them was really good. They made some really spectacular plays, and as a pitcher, you you feel really comfortable. And this is probably why the they felt so comfortable just throwing in a bunch of other pitchers. And again, that's one of those midweek games where in a team like Tennessee Tech, you're probably just testing waters out the entire week, and you're throwing all your pitchers in. So pretty good performance for them. And I believe that was reading since 2023. They threw a no-hitter in 2023, kind of doing the same thing, but I believe that was just one pitcher. So um great dominant performance by Western Kentucky. Let's talk about our Campbell Campbell's and North Carolina. We jumped into this game late. I I think I remember I started watching around the fourth inning. Um well, you weren't late then. You were you were early. Uh well, I I think I got there early and I got there at the right time because Campbell, it was uh, I think Campbell could turn it around two to four. Yeah, Campbell. Yeah, two to four. But it was a big performance by Mason Smith. Mason Smith uh started the game and he he he looked so dialed in. The dude was up on that mouth focus. He says after his last two outings, he gave up 11 runs in his last three innings. So he was getting torn up. But he came against North Carolina, he looked good. His his change up fastball combo was pretty good, nasty stuff. He went four and a third, four hits, five K's. Only in at this point, there their only runs for North Carolina were home, solo home runs. So I'll take that as a pitcher. Um but he he he could he was I'm I'm trying to review my notes here, but if you want to jump jump in here.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Yeah, I think uh the crazy thing here was Campbell we discussed this recently, right? A couple weeks ago, where we were talking about midweek games, and now it's an opportunity to get a lot of pitchers in. Um this game going so late allowed Campbell to get an opportunity to see their right fielder come in and pitch late in the game.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Oh, yes, I forgot. I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

So that was really cool. I believe that was um oh gosh, what's the guy's name? Is that Carlos? Oh, I'm blanking. So many things that happened in this game. Because they switched pictures around. Was it Zach Sabres? Was that it? No, see, you know what happened in this? They lost their they they lost their um their DH spot because of the way they moved things around. It was played like an old time game. So them bringing in a new pitcher, I I don't even see it on here which what was his name was great.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

It was cool to see. It wasn't like it was some Joblo out there just throwing fastball, fastball, fastball. So I'm I'm kind of wondering if he I wasn't listening real well because we were watching other games at the same time, but I mean it's like they brought in multiple.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

But the key thing here is um, and gosh, I can't. I I I'm sad that I'm not remembering which one it was. It was either uh Owen Simmons or it was Bo Brayley. I just don't remember which one it was. Owen Simmons.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

I got I got an Owen Simmons, he's two outs, three two count. They weren't looking at it.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

It was it was Carlos Lugo. It was Carlos Lugo, he was the right fielder, and then he went to pitch. Okay, and then when he went out from pitching, he went back to left field. So so this was uh this was fun to see. Um, and you the thing that we we talked about it a little bit. This game went so late, you start to run into a situation of who who are we gonna have ready for Thursday? This is two days before series. Restart with a holiday weekend. So yeah, uh, you know, we didn't discuss it at the front end, but uh North Carolina actually had to throw in a 17-year-old freshman on that Thursday game against Boston College because most of their pitchers had pitched in this game, they had to let them rest a little bit. So definitely took a toll there. But Kenny, what happened? What happened late, right? We got a runner on third for North Carolina, pitchers struggling a little bit, and then we have something crazy happen with two outs.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I forgot.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

What did you forget, or did you see a guy going home and then you zoned down?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yes, he I guess he was he was trying to time the he stole. I mean, he stole home, which which I think even the announcer you and I were oh he picked him off easily. That was our that was uh the right fielder pitching, I think, at the time. Yeah, it was Owen Hall. Yeah, he he and why we were confused about it because I believe he had walked the first two batters. And so Owen Hall got all on a hit by pitch. Yeah, he wasn't doing that.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Right. And he had struggled a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Oh, he got an ash chewing when he got to that dugout. Like he totally stole on his own. He got an ash chewing when he got in the dugout, but I think he ended up coming clutch for the game-winning run anyway, later on in the game.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Was he?

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, I kept seeing his so late at night. Yeah, and they're all white dudes, they all look the same. So that's what also confused me.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

No offense, but so so here's what happened. We got two outs, and then he gets hit by the pitch. Then they get a single, so now it's first and second. Then he steals third, so he's got the confidence, right? He stole third, he's got the confidence. Then guy was walked on three straight pitches to make the basement loaded. Yeah, looking good when he decided he was gonna try and steal home, and Forbes was not happy, and he, like you said, chewed him out.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

He was red at the end of it. I go, Jason, look how red he is.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Yeah, Kenny, he was put, I believe he was pulled from the game. I don't I don't think he was put back in. I think he was pulled from the game. Yeah, Carl French went back, went out to center, went to center field. He was pulled.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Okay, he because they kept showing him in the dugout, and and I kept this is why I'm saying that he came in because they kept showing him the dugout, and he he he felt better. I think he ended up apologizing to his pitcher too and his team because he I he was trying, I get that hero ball. He was trying to do that hero ball, yeah, kind of Virginia stuff. Um honestly kudos to Campbell because in that situation, that was my always you're so afraid to ball, it's so easy to ball, yeah, because you kind of hesitate. But uh I it was a great play. Great play. Oh, speaking of play, oh we won't talk about it. Did you you see South Carolina uh USC and UCLA get pulled off on that old um the guy stealing first, and instead of throwing it all the way down, you throw it really hard to the pitcher, and he got picked off at third. No, wait, what I know that's a total going off the edge, but yeah, they they did the old element uh little league play where you you act like you're throwing it to second base and you just hard throw it to the pitcher, and the guy took off home.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

So everybody was going, why would you why would you ever fall for that? And people in the comments are going, Y'all don't know baseball. I'm like, no, that's what we're saying. Why you anyway?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

But I was watching inning game for Campbell in North Carolina. I forgot how long that game was. It wasn't it was like nine here, huh? It was late.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Uh no, it was like almost midnight. It was it was midnight in there. They were already into Wednesday whenever they finished it. But and then you want to talk about another one that went late, 10 innings, Missouri State, Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Huge one, beautiful game, beautiful game. Didn't pull it out, didn't pull it out, but good game.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Who didn't pull it out?

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Missouri State.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Yeah, they did. Did you forget the walk-off home run?

SPEAKER_00 26:39

So bad today. Oh, he did he pimp it? Oh, yeah, he didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

And I believe, uh, if I'm not mistaken, they tied it in the ninth to send it to Extras.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Yes, they did. They so oh I got it up here. Yeah, they scored two. They scored two to the ninth.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Yeah, I believe it was a two-run homer to tie the game and then hit the solo in the tenth to win the game. At home, it's great to see Arkansas going to Missouri State. That's great for Missouri State. And so the you know, them getting the win over Arkansas. You know, this kind of says a lot about Arkansas. They struggled and they then they struggled again this weekend against Auburn.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So, yeah, they're they're still and they look, uh is it the curse of whatever the hell happened last year? They might be cursed because whatever the hell that was was acin. Yeah, but Missouri State, we we love them, we love them.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

All right, ready to jump ahead to the arms five arms of the week?

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yes, sir. Let's do it. Jump into it. Let me pull it up, let me pull it up.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

All right, so five arms of the week. Uh, first we have Shane Brynham, freshman, left-hander out of uh from Michigan. So against Oregon on on Thursday, you know, this is a team we were discussing about Oregon, number 15. You know, how good are they? Uh, they end up losing this series to Michigan. But big thing here is Shane Brenham, freshman, complete game shutout for seven innings. Uh, he had four strikeouts on the fastball, three on the breakers. They got a lot of swings and rollovers on the ground ball uh on the breakers. So that's great to see. He had a couple nice swings by Oregon in the fifth, but they went right to the outfielders. And then he ended with a game, Kenny, with a liner that came right back to him. Luckily, it hit his glove, so it didn't uh didn't get hurt uh to get out of this game. So great, great performance by him. Next, we got Noah Kenny, a junior right-hander out of Washington. Uh, he's three-and-three on the season against Valprazo on Friday. He had a win, seven innings, no runs given up, uh, four hits, two walks, and a 14 strikeouts. So this is huge for him. Yeah, and so let me tell you about this. There were a lot of swings, swinging strikeouts on the big breakers. There were a lot of swinging strikeouts on fastballs that were high, uh, some uh and a couple changes, right? So he was working a lot of north to south action in this game, a lot of high fastballs, a lot of breakers in the down at the bottom of the zone, but a couple of those changeups, or you know, he might not call it a changeup. It looks like a changeup uh based on the speed and where it's at landing in the zone. Everybody's expecting the breaker, they hold off on him, get called for strikeout. So a lot of good things to see. Saw a few hard hit hard contacted balls in this game uh by Valparaiso, but right to outfielders, didn't get a lot of hits. Um, so big performance there. Um, so next we got uh Brady Bendick uh for Navy. So against Lehigh on Saturday, this is huge, right? This is the uh this was the first of a double hitter. So we were discussing about pitching and how you're trying to allow your pitchers to get a lot of rest. This is huge for uh for him to come in and get a complete game shutout in this game, which allows the coach to basically pitch whoever he wants in game two and feel comfortable uh without any arms wasted in the first game. Uh two hits, three walks, one hit by pitch, nine strikeouts. Uh, this was a big bounce back performance because they previously played Lehigh where Brady lost. So this is a big one. But uh he was he was it last year or or no earlier this year. They they the Patriots were funny. Uh they got a different skill.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

That's the league that does the two they do a lot of double. Yeah, okay. Okay, double series.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

So his breaker was dropping into the zone, it was dropping below the zone. Uh a lot of strikes, a lot of getting ahead early. And uh he worked out of a jam in the third after hit by pitch with two that put two runners on. Uh worked around the leadoff walk in the fourth with two strikeouts on the breaker chasing in the dirt, and then they had three Ks to end the game uh end the game after a leadoff double in the seventh. So, like I was saying, a lot of getting ahead in this one. Uh seventh inning, he he got a little behind in the in the in the at-bats, but bounced back and got a got a couple strikeouts, so it's really good to see. Next, uh, we got Aiden Sims for Texas AM, sophomore right-hander. He is six and oh on the year at Vanderbilt on Friday, uh, or at home against Vanderbilt on Friday. He got a complete game shutout, seven innings, three hits, two walks, eight strikeouts. Uh, this is 117 pitches, which it may seem like a lot, but the reason was Vanderbilt was getting a lot of two-strike foul balls, but he was staying in control, a lot of fastballs on boat working both blacks uh on both edges of the plate. And then he was also working a lot, some some fastballs high. He had this like I it was almost like a cut fastball where he would throw it to the lefties inside and low, getting swings and misses, or in a couple, um, to put it in perspective. There were three balls popped up to the second baseman in the first three innings, the first since uh nine outs. So that's huge. Uh, but he was able to work around a leadoff walk to open up the game where then uh uh Ms. Mancini stole second, ends up getting the third on the ground ball. So he ends up working out of that. So great to see him. He's pitching really well. I mean, he's a sophomore. 3.69 K per walk ERA on this uh K per BB ratio on the season is huge. Uh, and so looking forward to seeing him the rest of the way. And then our last one, Matt Stewart for Gardner Webb, a little small school action. Uh, he was pitching, he's a freshman, he's five and three on the year. Let's let's see, he's 6'3, 220. Kenny had a nine plus ERA coming into this game and ends up bouncing back after giving up six runs, six hits against high point in his previous out uh performance. This time he was pitching a lot of content to contact, getting a lot of balls that you know, some lucky plays. Balls go right to outfielders on line drives, but uh a lot of pitching to contact is good, right? We get efficiency, we got 109 pitches in nine innings. So uh great to see Matt Stewart bounce back. Hopefully, he'll continue it throughout the rest of the year for Gardner Webb.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

That's not bad. And I love I love that we're doing this. I love the five arms pitching of the week because we we see a lot of that talk of pitching wise, and kind of just to give everybody a look at the pitching because uh again, we're one of those you and I will talk pitching night and day.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

So after the five arms, next one we got our notable upsets.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Dude, I'm so sorry. I don't know what is up with me today, dude. I feel I've felt so slow the entire day. I it's been one of those yeah, man. I don't uh we had huh? I said you're good, no worries. I know, man.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

I I feel recording a little we're recording a little later than we normally do, too. So yeah, it's been a long day.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Wait, we talking, we talking we talking our performances or what?

SPEAKER_02 34:00

We're just talking about a couple notable upsets this week. So you know, yeah. So the ones to note this week were a couple WCC matchups. So we love we were talking about the West Coast. We love the West Coast, Portland and Seattle. Seattle was six and eighteen coming into this series, and Portland was 18 and 8. And Portland had just beaten Oregon, right? Just beaten Oregon, yeah. Yep, they go to Seattle and loses this series. So this is uh, you know, you're looking at this, you're like, I mean, why do why do I care about these two teams? Why why should you? Well, one of them could end up representing the WCC in the postseason, and um, you know, our next matchup is the WCC as well. So we're looking at a lot of West Coast conference teams that could possibly, you know, make a push. And you know, I I doubt they get two in. It's possible, but I yeah, I I doubt it. Uh but you know, this is an opportunity for a 4C to go to Oregon, Oregon State, uh UCLA, one of those teams, and uh, you know, we're just letting you guys know about who's who's around. Um, the next one, San Francisco. They go and um they lose to Loyola Marymount. This is another one or San Francisco, and I just realized I think I spelled Fran Francisco wrong. Uh there we go.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Maybe Greg Bellin.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

Who knows? I don't know. Uh, regardless, they were uh, you know, then to drop this series of well, it's another series where you got a a poor team in the conference that was 0-6 coming in. Uh now they're two and seven.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Uh they lost they lost the series to Merriman?

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

So they're 10 and 24. Yeah, yeah, they're they're not they're not up there either.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Yeah. What was our last one, Kenny? SEC.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Uh the good old SEC, Ole Miss uh versus Florida. Now we we kind of talked about this. We we were kind of well, I was, and you brought up pretty good points. Um is it an upset? I mean, Ole Miss took that series, correct? Ole Miss took the series, yep, um, and Florida just got back up in the rankings at 21 after beating Oklahoma. Yeah, I believe. And then and then, yeah, yeah, and I I even I was on the fence about that. The fact that and and a lot of people have said that if Florida needed to be up there, but oh miss what a good series win. I think it's a good series win for them. Um, and again, you gotta watch out for these SEC teams, like they get hot. I think we are halfway week seven, and they this is when they start getting hot.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

I was about to say, I think we're a third of the way through the conference, yeah. Uh maybe maybe a little over the third, yeah. But yeah, yeah, we're reaching the halfway point. Yeah, but I agree with you. This is an opportunity, you know, to be able to see what what is an upset in the SEC, right? So many good teams, you never know who's good. We were talking about the Oklahoma Alabama. I said, Do I put that on there as an upset? Because Alabama's rank slower, but you brought up a good point. Oklahoma lost the series last week, they're kind of uh you know, slipping a little bit. So it's like we won't know who's really gonna be upsets in the SEC week in and week out because while AM beat Vanderbilt, big series, Vanderbilt took game one. I mean, Vanderbilt could go next week and sweep somebody out. I mean, like, you know, you just never know what this. So yeah, can you ready to go ahead?

SPEAKER_00 37:40

I'm sorry, I was gonna say we'll we'll we'll see what Florida's really made of when they face Georgia this this week coming up, and they got Florida State this week. And Florida's got a tough schedule, and that's why I'm like, you kind of want to give them the benefit of the doubt. And this is why I think it's weird that a lot of people love to talk shit, excuse my language, in college ball because baseball's so weird, man. Like LSU today, like you just kind of and I this is a good segue. We're gonna we're gonna jump into the top individual game performances. We'll talk about Kate Aaron Beatty. The dude has he's had some issues behind the plate. Everybody's kind of off about him behind the plate. But LSU goes out and just four home runs for Kate, one being a bomb grand slam, just beat the crap out of tech Tennessee today by taking the series. In Tennessee, they cannot hold a series. They keep they they did it versus Vanderbilt. I think they did it versus uh the team they played the week before, they can't hold a lead. Yeah, and for LSU to do what they did today, and it was so funny. We complained, and I complain about it all the time. It's these stupid solo home runs. LSU hit like six of them today.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Yeah, a lot of a lot of solo home runs.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

It was one to four, Jason, and we tied it because we hit three, no, excuse me, one to five, I believe. And we four to five because of solo home runs.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Yep. In the same inning, I believe they were all in the eighth.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

So but then hey, then then what do you call the run in the ninth is a productive out run, right? Yeah so it's good to see um the tigers do that. So while you're talking about it, let's just jump right into those top single game performances. Uh you brought up Carrot Kate Aaron Beattie already in that 16-6 win against Tennessee again on Easter Sunday. Uh, tell us about the other LSU performance you liked this weekend, Kimmy.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Uh, my boy, where's he at? Devin Sheeran. So my issue with LSU is that and the pitching staff for them looked good, great this weekend. Like they actually came in pretty clutch. My issue is consistency. And Sheeran, he he gave up a two-run homer or a home run. He ended up giving up three, but he he he finished the game strong. It was a great close. I'll take a good close when we're at this level of college baseball and at this time where you get to the sixth, seventh, and eighth, and we're gonna talk about another game. You the runs in the ninth inning, uh screw your five run, your six run, your seven run, or your eight run, ten run lead. If your picture ain't coming in clutch in those last innings, these last few innings, you're gonna fall behind. And he came in and just shut him out, consistent pitching and props to him, props to Devin Sheeran, closing on Friday. Wasn't a big performance again, but I feel like it's notable to put in there.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

It's also notable because you were talking about it, right? A lot of times we run into an issue where, especially on the road, bullpen's are the are sometimes struggle, give up walks late. And uh, you know, for him to come in, get the first two outs on flyouts, uh, next two guys get on. I believe it was a walk and a hit and then a hit. Um, and then he comes back with a strikeout to end the eighth, right? So you got two on in the eighth with two outs, and he gets out of it. It was seven to four at this time. Then he gets two strikeouts to lead off the ninth, gives up a solo homer. But at this point, you know, you're it's a solo homer, you're still seven, five, but you got two outs now. Gets that last strikeout, and like you said, strikes out four for the last five. That's huge, and that's a good performance. So it's it's notable to mention bullpen performances because sometimes the only reason people talk about the bullpen, it's like the center in football. You only talk about them when something goes wrong, and so it's good to see it's good to see us highlighting that. And let's and while we're discussing the bullpen, let's just jump right over to South Carolina's bullpen that shined on Thursday. So they come in, they play Texas, they're at home, they just lost their coach recently. Texas is playing really well. They come in and put up 5.1 shutout innings uh between Zach Russell and Alex Philpot, and they deliver seven strikeouts, one hit in those five and a third, and that's huge for a Thursday game and for an opening series, uh, series game. So kind of pressure on Texas.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Yeah, yeah. And that's I think that's a good look for South Carolina, too. I mean, just I mean, they've had a they've had a really bad, not the program that South Carolina should be having. And I think I think as a program, I think they're thinking the wins as as big wins. I mean, I'll take taking one out of two from Texas is ain't bad.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

Yeah, as I say, they end up losing the next two, but like you said, I mean, just getting just getting a win there is huge.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Kenny, you were talking about ninth innings and how no run is safe. The Mountaineers. So we were talking about West Virginia a little bit earlier, and we said we'd come back to this. So this was the only win West Virginia gets in this series, which is huge for them, but they were down eight in the sixth inning. Come come up and get four runs in the ninth. You want to hear how this went down, Kenny? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

I love a run down.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

So the pitcher, Mr. Jones for UCF, was in the eighth inning, stays in in the ninth. Uh, we come in in the ninth uh with the top of the lineup coming up, so that's huge already, right? You starting off the ninth inning with your leadoff hitter. That's an opportunity to basically feel like, hey, you know, we're basically starting the game over, but we're down, but we only have a one inning game. And so Guzman comes in and gets a base hit up the up right up the line, uh, right up center, uh, not up the line. Right. Back up, yeah, back up the middle, uh, right up the gut. Uh, then we get a full pitch walk. So, do you think they pull the pitcher at this point? You got first and second. Oh, uh, you're right. No, they don't. They don't. They leave them in. So then we get another walk after after the pitcher was ahead O2. So now we got the bases loaded. Nobody out. Do you think they pull the pitcher, Kenny? No. No, no, they don't pull the pitcher. So the next batter comes up, gets a big hit to right field. This is an opportunity for them to get out get an out in the inning and only give up one run. What does he do? He drops it. So then we end up with a dropout in right field, two run score. Now you got the tying run on third. Now they pull him. Now they pull the pitcher. Now it's the time to pull Mr. Jones. So then uh Kevin Schoenboom boom Schoenboom comes in. So Schoenboom pitched the day before, got four outs. Three of them were ground balls. So you're thinking tying runs on third. We need a ground ball. Well, he comes up and gets a strikeout on three pitches. So now we're down to two outs, second and third. Then we get an intentional walk to lower the bases. Now we got a force on every play. That's a good play by the coach. I mean, at the end of the day, you're trying to keep that run from scoring. Um, I kid you not, on the next batter, it is so important to get ahead on batters late in games. If you do not get to 0-1, the difference between 0-1 and 1-0 on a batter is significant difference in the outcome of the at-bat. They get to 2-0, gets a ball right down the middle. He sends it right up the middle. I mean, it's just smoked right back, right back where it came from. And they even asked him post-game, he said, I was expecting the fastball. It's a 2-0 count, and he knew he was getting it, took advantage of it. They get the two runs, they end up winning the game. Just like that. A four-run ninth. This is an incredible performance. And I do want to shout out uh the hitter on that. That was Matthew Graveline. Um, he had a big, big performance there to walk off the game. So then we had a couple other home run performances. Kenny, I mean, we talk about the SEC being power, power hitting. Well, yeah. Bryce Fowler had a leadoff home run to open up the game on Thursday. That's an opening of the series against Oklahoma. I mean, that sets the tone right there. He ends up getting another home run in that game. They end up winning two 10-7. They end up winning the series 2-1. Um, and then we had one more performance. Kenny will take it away.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

We're talking about we're talking about man Colin down here.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Yeah, they had a last home run.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Yeah, yeah. Three run in again, power hidden, power hidden. Three run homer, uh 14 home runs. Three home. What did I say?

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Three run homer. He had three home runs. Three home a day. Second three run, three homer day. Second three homer day of the season.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Uh it's probably you know what? You know what? I've I've had some crawfish today, so it's probably my mouth not been able to not talk about the crawfish in front of me and not have blaming the crawfish. Uh three homer uh and a 14-8 win over Texas AM, and I think that's great. Death AM's looking pretty good. Uh Vanderbilt's kind of that weird team that's kind of getting in there. So good performance by our boy Colin. All right, Jason, I think we're kind of running out of time here. Do we want to jump into our mid-majors of the week really quick? Uh, kind of a couple teams that we've been looking at.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

Yeah, we just want to highlight a couple of mid-majors to watch this week. Uh, Rhode Island is 11 and 18. You may be looking at that, like, what does that matter? They got a sweep of VCU after starting 0-12 on the year. So they're 11 and 11 and 6 in their last in their last 17. And the sweep of VCU is huge for them. So it's good to see Rhode Island doing a little bounce back. And they're they're still gonna be up in the um up for grabs in the conference there being at 7-5. So there's an opportunity there for them to get back. Uh, Liberty 22-9 on the year, uh, four and a week with a big win versus NC State, 7-5 during the midweek. We meant uh saw it on the screen earlier, and then a sweep of the team that had the no-hitter during the week, Western Kentucky. So huge there for Liberty. Uh, you want to kick off the next one, Skinny?

SPEAKER_00 48:17

Yeah, high points looking good. That that's another team that we keep on talking about. Uh, W versus Wake Forest, 26 shut out innings, three and one on the week for them. Excuse me. Oh, crawfish coming back up. Hi, he said. Uh, and then maybe Northwestern State kind of gives us something to roll with these Louisiana schools, so left a mid-major.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

You laughing at I've been backstage, I didn't know where it happened. I couldn't hear anything. Have you been talking about the games?

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Oh, I bet you nobody heard a damn thing I just said.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

No, they may have heard you.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

I was backstage though. No, let me see. Go ahead. What what I edited so bad we had technical difficulties.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

So, what happened on your end?

SPEAKER_00 50:18

It so I put it in I put it in media form, and when I put it where it just shows the media, it cuts us out into the background.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

Oh, okay. Just just just hit your high points again. Uh, you already you I heard you mention uh high points 26 streets shutout endings, and then you cut out so uh so just jump back to Jacksonville State real quick. Just hit it quick, and then we can round out our top, and then we can round out the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

I'm sure you are too. Yeah, uh a team we haven't talked about, Jacksonville State. We need to really be talking about them. They're the top conference USA 12-0. Uh close loss to uh Alabama, and then a team that we'll keep on the bubble uh is Northwestern State 2023. They they weren't that great, they were below four, they were kind of a the worst team in college baseball. The record didn't really show that. Uh, but 21-10, 13-5 in the Southland Conference. Good uh little sweep of uh U Texas of Rio Grande Valley. They're gonna went eight of the last nine. So that's a we're a little tired. I think we're gonna quit graph this up. Jason, are you ready to head into the ninth? Here we go to the ninth, heading to the ninth inning. Let me put two side five. Here we are. All right. I'm gonna talk about my top uh three uniforms out of the week. Uh, the only team that really had a kind of new uniform this week. Uh West Virginia threw back some uniforms, a nice like throwback, kind of a New York Yankees logo, a little W W V yeah, WV action. Uh from Holly to here. It was a great video. They had some the 60s and the 80s had some beautiful uniforms, and I think we need to go back to that. Uh, another team I'm high on is uh Southern Cow. I love a dark gray. That's some dark gray uniforms. I wish I had some pictures to show up here. Um really good uniforms. Tennessee today came out with some cream black helmets. It really reminded me of a like the thing, it was the throwback, but it reminded me of like uh the 90s uh excuse me, like when the MVP baseball came out, everybody had kind of dark helmets, kind of the early 2000s. And I learned a pet peeve of mine. I've discovered a pet peeve. Baseball teams do not wear gray pants when they're on the road anymore. Why what that happened? I don't and we the gray just disappear from people's uniform. I mean, LSU wears their gray on Saturdays, but wait, what do they what do you see the other days?

SPEAKER_02 53:27

So if they're not wearing, if teams aren't wearing gray, are you seeing them both wear white or are they wearing white pants?

SPEAKER_00 53:33

They don't wear gray pants, and but they interesting they barely even wear gray jerseys half the time.

SPEAKER_02 53:39

I've seen they're they'll go solid color, but yeah, everybody likes to wear their colorful uniforms now.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

Uh, you got a trivia question?

SPEAKER_02 53:49

I do have a trivia question for you, Kenny.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

How many seams are on a baseball?

SPEAKER_00 53:56

How many seams are on a baseball?

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 54:01

Is it 92? Not stitches. How many seams are on a baseball? One. Very good, Kenny. It is only one. It's just funny the reason it was brought up. It was actually uh it was actually a trivia question that was brought up by the announcer during the West Virginia's uh UCF game, and so I was like, I gotta bring that one up to Kenny. It's just interesting because we're so used to hearing four four seam fastball, two seam fastball. Yeah, but really there's only one seam. So what about you? One for me.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

I do not have one. How many stitch? Oh, how many how many seams are on a baseball? How many stitches are on a baseball?

SPEAKER_02 54:38

I thought it was 108.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

Why does why am I thinking 92? Look, you could be right. Can you look it up?

SPEAKER_02 54:46

Yep, hold on. I feel like it's 92. I thought it was 108. It's 108 double stitches, yep. So technically, well, it's 108 double stitches. So technically, single stitches is 216.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

What is 92? Something has to be on 92. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Oh, but before we close out, Kenny, run us run the run the slide up there so we can show everybody our current regional host right now. We got our 16 teams uh currently on our side. These are current our current rankings, nobody else's. Uh, so take them with a grain of salt. Uh, this is after the use UCLA sweep of USC. We're keeping USC in at 16. They may bounce out uh based on how they do next week, but UCLA is a tough team, so I'm not gonna hurt them too much for losing to the best team in the country. Uh, then we have Georgia Tech and Georgia sitting at 3-4 still. No movement in the top top three. Uh, we're gonna leave Texas and Georgia Tech there. I know Georgia Tech got the sweep in Texas, lost that one game to South Carolina, but I'm not gonna put too much pain in that. They still won the series, and so we're gonna keep them there. Um, Georgia get that gets that sweep over Mississippi State. We're gonna move them up. We see Mississippi State drop a couple spots to seven. Uh, North Carolina stays in at five. Florida State moves up to six after their series win. Uh, and then if you look at the other side, some newcomers into the brand into the into the top 16. Kenny, we got AM coming in at 11, uh, Nebraska in at 12, and uh and UCF in at 15. So, what are your thoughts on this so far?

SPEAKER_00 56:31

I like it. I I like I think Southern Myths, Southern Myths might be dropping a little bit more. I cannot remember who they lost to this week.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

They lost that midweek game to um yeah, it was on our page earlier. They lost the midweek game to Southeastern.

SPEAKER_00 56:51

Southeastern. Oh, yes, they sure did. I think it was five and one. That's a good win for Southeastern. Um, yeah, it was. Coastal's a team that will I feel like that's one of them bubble. No thoughts on coastal right now. Nebraska's kind of that's a fun, that's funny. Nebraska's funny. I you I think Nebraska will stay there for a while. Central Florida might get a little bit of a more bump up. No, no, no. 15's fine. 15's fine. I think 15's good, yeah. Yeah, I think 15's good. Just to let them kind of prove a little bit more, and then this is a good top 16. We'll we'll see what Southern Miss stays at.

SPEAKER_02 57:29

Yeah, again, the SCAA is kind of weird with their ranking, so um we have seen we have seen a lot of teams move around a lot and get some big bumps for random performances. Yeah, so I mean, not completely random performances, but I mean we saw Alabama jump from uh from nearly unranked to like top top what number eight in one of the ranking polls. So it's huge that how quick uh things can change right now. Uh, Nebraska's a big one here because you don't think Nebraska is baseball, and especially with the Big Ten now having all those Pac-12 teams, this is huge for them because it gives them an opportunity to face some of those teams and it makes the Big Ten look a little better as a conference as a whole, uh, for RPI rankings and everything like that. So good to see them jumping in here. Uh, Virginia only dropping four spots after that series lost to Florida State. That was a tough series, and Florida State coming out on top. Uh, it doesn't hurt Virginia too much. And like we were mentioning, I mean, we saw West Virginia drop out, we saw Oklahoma drop out. Uh multiple teams right there in that that you know 8 to 12 spot. Uh didn't win their series this weekend, so that helps Virginia stay in here, I think. So we'll look forward to seeing what happens next week because who knows? Next week Kansas could be taking the Big 12 spot and moving Central Florida out. So we'll see. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

And look, we'll I'll hit one more note. Nebraska actually has a pretty good they got Kansas this week. Nebraska's got Kansas this week as well. Then they go to Oregon. Yeah. Oh wow. They go to Oregon, they got Creighton, and then USC. And then back at Kansas. So I don't Nebraska's having a fun day with Kansas, but wow. Anyway, guys, thank y'all for watching. Uh uh deeply apologize for I'm off on one today. Hey, you know what? Can you know Jason coming in?

SPEAKER_02 59:25

You don't you don't need to apologize for anything. We are on we're authentic around here. We love baseball, we just like talking ball.

SPEAKER_00 59:33

Amen. Well, look, if y'all can like, share, subscribe, give us some comments. Go watch out some of our college basketball. I know Final Force kind of, I mean, excuse me, national championship's about to wrap up. Um tomorrow. Jason, I get I had Arizona's Arizona's out, right? They got destroyed.

SPEAKER_02 59:53

By a lot of but all right.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

My name's Kenny. This is Jason Id, and thank you for watching the Five Arms of Electric Ben podcast. We'll see you later.