SPEAKER_00 0:31

The road, the road, the road, the road to Omaha is very close. Welcome to the midweek review. I am Kenny Hilliard. This is the Lucky Finn Inning Podcast, along with my co-host, Jason Lucky Finn. I Jason, pretty big week and an even bigger weekend coming up for us. Um so, but we're super excited. Um, before we start, uh ever should everybody make sure you like, share, subscribe to this video, leave a comment, um, even hit the notification bell. Look, we really want y'all coming back to listen in. Uh, we have a special episode coming out next week where we're kind of reviewing um our field of 64 and who we think should be hosting, and maybe who the last of four are. So uh, Jason, I know you're excited that for that. You've been building crazy dude. And uh how you feeling?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Oh, I'm feeling great. I'm excited to do that. Yeah, I was texting you the other day as I was making those, making our designs for it. I was like, man, this is just I'm I'm just so excited. It brings me back to my childhood.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah, and I think what really helps out, and shout out to the Diamond app. You and I have been talking about this whole week. This app is just absolutely it's like, so what's good about it is you and I we love data, okay? You you're a data guy. I'm not as much of a data guy as you, but I do love visuals, and this app is just perfect for the visuals, it's so easy, and I think that's what makes all of this even better. So I don't know, you've been I I think I told you about it, and then you kind of went with it, and I've been playing around with it, and it is it is awesome, but yep, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

As soon as you mentioned it, I was like, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna pay money for this. Like, I have no problem with that. It was it's it's so great, it's so good to help you know develop the content for what we're gonna do on these podcasts, and and also just get a glimmer a glimmer into other things that are happening around the country.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, so yeah, I mean, speaking of around the country, this this weekend before we jump into midweek, look a lot of conference ones and twos. Um, some teams are and what's good about this, and you and I talked about this weekend is teams that are built on arms and teams who are built on their bat. That is a lot of bat this weekend, but uh anyway. Well, let's jump into it. Uh we'll we'll jump in and look at all the games from this week. Uh, Oregon is gonna edge out Gonzaga. Gonzaga is a big one of those groups out in the big west, correct? Nope, I see it right there. West Coast, excuse me. Yeah, uh, Kansas over my favorite team, Wichita State. UC Irvine is gonna take over Southern Cal. Texas walks off on a back and forth game uh against Sam Houston. You and I you were talking about Sam Houston was they were they were ripping the ball. Look, 14 hits. Uh and uh man, Carson Tenney. Dude, yeah, he bombed.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

He just took that breaking ball and just sent it to the stratosphere. It was, I mean, the left fielder didn't even move. There was no reason to, except move towards the left.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Both teams were just monster shots. Uh Campbell's gonna bat uh good battle up top with uh the Big South. UC Irvine and Oral Roberts take down power four teams. Uh Oral Roberts is a great school. They're definitely one of those teams that will 100% be in a regional. Uh Pitt, Pitt, Kent, I don't know what Pitt and Kent State and Ohio, Miami, Ohio, and Wright State. Uh they play tonight. No updates on that yet. But Jason, out of all of these, what what's your biggest takeaway?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Uh well, coastal getting the bats hot in the sixth inning was huge for me. Uh, we we've been talking about them for a while about hey, you know, they don't play as tough of competition. So these midweek games that they play are a lot more important. Uh, and they really showed up this week. I was really excited to see the bats come alive. Uh, they struggled a little bit early, a little slow start, two to one, and then uh fourth and fifth inning were a little slow uh on both sides, and then coastal took over in the sixth inning and just didn't give up, and and North Carolina really couldn't do anything after that. We were kind of you were talking about the pitcher, I don't remember his name, but uh freshman pitcher who was pitching really well for coastal in the middle ofnings. Incredible so kind of gave them the edge down the stretch. So, and then also uh Kent State and Pitt are actually playing right now. So Kent State's winning six to one. Uh Pitt's had a couple errors that they had five five runs on like one hit because of pit errors. Um, and then Miami of Ohio actually beat right state today 14 to 7. That's a big win for Miami of Ohio in terms of, I mean, these are two teams that are at the top, top, top levels of their conference. Miami, I know, is trailing Kent State a little bit, but both of them are really strong teams in separate conferences, and just like High Point and Campbell, it's really cool to see the top tiers of the mid-majors also facing off each other during the mid-weeks. So cool to see.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah, I don't I don't want to I don't want to go any further before I we don't really hit that coastal Carolina, North Carolina. I'm glad you brought it up. I don't know why I totally went past that. Uh UNC starting pitcher did really good. Uh he shut North uh Coastal Carolina down, but uh the the kind of that mid mid-staff for uh Carolina, North Carolina just was faltering, man. They had, I think, two guys. They he threw three pitches and that was it. Uh multiple pass balls, but coastal was ripping the ball. I mean, there were I think there were multiple hits that went off the center field wall. Coastal prove, I think that was a game that they really needed to kind of, especially for people like me, who really don't want to their you kind of question their strength and schedule and everything like that, but honestly, they they did a good job.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

But yeah, what do you what do you think, Kenny, about Mississippi State and old misplaying on that neutral site? We were talking about the field a little bit yesterday. Mississippi State prevails, but you know, we got a scare, almost an injury by Mr. Furnace uh going in the second base. So what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yeah, uh I don't for especially a game like that, especially two powerhouse game teams like that. I mean, both of them won College World Series right after one another. They had issues at this the playing at the Mississippi Mud Cats, something mud, mud fish. Um, last year they played and I think they canceled the game because the field was so awful. And then to make worse, you go play on turf. And yeah, he slid in the second, his arm just kind of buckled up. I don't know the update on him, but anyway, it all that doesn't matter. Mississippi State put a handle on them. I mean, they were tattooing the ball too. So Omi's kind of fought back a little bit in the end, but I Mississippi State's on the rise, and and we'll uh we'll get into them later. Anyway, Jason, are you ready to jump into our uh predictions for this week? All right, let me pull it up. All right, we go. All right, top matchups that we're gonna pick this week. Pittsburgh is at Florida State, Arizona State at Central Florida. Uh kind of I call the battle of the mid, but not really mid. Florida is at Oklahoma, Mississippi State at Texas, Auburn at AM. I know we got three SEC teams. I know I've seen a lot of back and forth about especially D1, baseball America, all these other you know, ranking systems that putting all these SEC teams in. Jason, give me your opinion on this. Uh how do you how do you truly feel about these SEC teams? I think a couple of these, especially the Florida and Oklahoma game. I think that's probably the most important SEC series this week because of the implications of how many SEC teams deserve. And these are the two teams that I don't think they I feel like Florida is, yeah, I've seen conversations of them hosting. Um I don't know. What's the thing?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

I I feel like when they choose regionals, a lot of times SEC teams are more favored than others because they're in the south where it's going to be warm, and their stadiums are typically hold more fans. And you know, at some point it's there's a part of it where you want to fit as many people in to the stadium as possible. And I feel like that kind of is weighed a little bit, but also we have to look at the facts. Yes, is he has won six, seven national champions championships in a row by five, five different teams. So it's like across across the board, these teams just perform really well uh in the postseason. And so it's hard not to look at them and say, well, they have some of the best talent, they have some of the best prospects. Uh, and how do we not rank more of them above? I know we try and stay as unbiased as possible when we're doing our rankings, so our rankings look a little different than some of the other ones. Um, but yeah, so what do you think about that, Kenny, with the SEC teams? Do you think that they're a little overhyped or do you think it's worthy?

SPEAKER_00 10:07

I think it's a tad over it. It's it's oh it's really a tad overhyped, and it's because of uh the so iffiness about these some of these SEC teams. When I believe there's again like conference USA, uh Sunbelt has so many powerful teams that are you know going to some of these SEC schools and putting up a decent fight, they could possibly lose a spot because like Vanderbilt is being in a conversation about being any one of these regionals. How I've even seen Kentucky, I've even seen Kentucky, absolutely not. So look, we're gonna talk about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's one of those schools. Let's I mean, let's just move into there. Pittsburgh at Florida State. We both have Florida State. Whoa, you were hot on Pittsburgh. What why why Florida State? Why Florida State?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, Florida State, rough weekend last weekend at Stanford, but Florida State's 23 at home this season. Pitts has struggled a little bit on the road. Uh, and Pitts Pitts pitching staff really showed up last week against Virginia. I think on the road, it's gonna be a little tougher being at Florida State, as well as Florida State. You know, they have a really good pitching staff as well. So when whenever I was looking at up the stats on this on the teams and looking down the ACC numbers, you really look at Virginia and Florida State, you can almost feel like they're similar in team structure. They're both led by their pitching. Uh Florida State doesn't have as much power as Virginia, so they're not gonna be hit, they don't have as many home runs on the year. But Pitt is led by their by their offense and by their pitching and their pitching staff is not what is strong for them. And so I think this week is really going to tell us was that pitching an anomaly for them last week against Virginia, or are they actually going to be able to show up on the road? And that's really what I think is going to make the difference. But I do have Florida State this week, 2-1 in the series. Um, I think them being led by Wes Mendez, uh, you know, with 86 strike, 86 strikeouts on the year, and he's one of the best pitchers in the in the conference. And, you know, in general, Florida State's is top of the conference in most pitching statistics. Uh, I mean, they're third in ERA, second in whip, and uh second in strikeouts on the season. So I think Pitts offense is really gonna have to stay disciplined, and uh they've done really well with that so far this year, right? They're leading the conference in walk percentage. So uh, but are they gonna be able to show up on the road? I don't know. I I have a I have a tough time believing Florida State is gonna have another downfall again after what happened last week. So I'm going Florida State 2-1.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

I will 100% take Florida State 2-1. I think that series against Stanford was I hate using this, but the the the long distance traveling, you're probably just really out of whack. Um I don't want to call the that week a fluke. I mean it it could be. Um, but again, Florida State at home. Um you know, pit pit is on a four-game win streak. Stanford's on a seventh-game win streak, so maybe this could show that Stanford's just growing that decent enough to be capable of beating all these high-quality ACCs schools. So got it down? You read it, wrote it down? Yep, I got him wrote it down. Yep, perfect. All right, next, Arizona State, 31-14. They are 14 and 7 in conference. Central Florida is 14 and 7 in conference as well. Uh Arizona State's third in the Big 12. Central Florida is second. Both got good pitching staff. Uh Cole Carlin Jr., uh, the left-handed pitcher for Arizona State. He's got a ton of K's. Uh, and this probably could be the uh could stop, could stop Central Florida. Both got good pitching staffs. Um how we how we feeling? You kind of you kind of did a lot of studying on this one.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, uh both of these teams are kind of decent in RPI. You look at Arizona State 46, West uh UCF at 25, but uh both of these are playing well recently. Uh UCF is on a four-game win streak with a win over our friends, Bethi and Cookman, uh, who we've been high on this year in the SWAC, and uh a sweep over Utah. Uh Arizona State has won five their last six, including a um a sweep against Baylor at home last weekend. So here's the difference, Kenny. And we were talking about this, and this is this is what I was diving into when I was looking up their stats. So Arizona State is led by their offense. Arizona State is strong. Now, their pitching staff isn't bad, but they're led by their offense and and and sophomore land than Harrison with 23 home runs on the year. So when I think about how UCF is gonna have to pitch in this performance, they don't strike out that many guys. They're lower in the streets. Central Florida does it. Yeah, UCF is not as high on strikeouts as Arizona is. So I think this is an opportunity for Arizona State to get bats on the balls. There that to me just tells me UCF's pitching is maybe not as deceptive to hitters, so they're not getting as many strikeouts. And so I think this is an opportunity where, hey, if I'm Arizona State, I'm going in there ready to smoke the ball. And oh yeah, as well as help your pitching staff out. We've talked about it, right? Uh, you get out early on teams, gives your pitchers confidence. A lot of times your pitchers can perform off of your offense, and uh they know that they have they have bats behind them, so they're not stressing as much whenever they're out there, they're just having fun, and I think this is gonna be an opportunity for Arizona State to do that, so that's why I'm going Arizona State on the road, 2-1 in the series.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yeah, they got a little bit bit of a hitting advantage too. Their average is team average is 328. Central Florida's is just 285. So I'll definitely take Arizona State. Man, do you have them sweeping?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

No, I have 2-1. On the road, it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Oh, on the road. You know what? I I said this last week because I said I can't, I gotta watch out for the road game. I'll use my sweep button for this. Give me Arizona State on the sweep.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

He's got him. So Guinea, with UCF's conference lead and ERA at 3.83 and whipping 1.21, how bad do we think? How bad do you think Arizona State's offense is gonna hurt damage those numbers?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Uh maybe one game. I'll take one game where they really hurt him. Maybe a man, what what's the pitch? I want you have the idea on pitching-wise on who's pitching Friday?

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Let's say you say I'm not sure who which one is pitching Friday. Not off not off my notes, no. Okay. But UCF does have Camden Wicker, 6'7 junior.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

He'll be seven shutout innings last game. Okay, well, let's let's do this. I think that game, whatever he's pitching, I think will be a low, maybe two low-scoring games. Can be two low scoring games. That's the game I think that's the game I think UCF's gonna win. Oh, you think they're gonna tear it up on that one? Well, I didn't say tear it up. No, no, no, no, no. Sorry. I thought you said okay. I thought you said Florida State. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think maybe the whenever he's not pitching, I think that would be maybe the final game. I think Arizona State lights him up. I think that's what they did against BYU, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

No, it was the second game. They lost first game against BYU, and then Arizona State just I think 11-1, 13-1, somewhere around there. So you're thinking double digit runs for Arizona State one game.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Yep. Uh, you know what? Write it down. I'm gonna guess the score. I'm gonna guess the score. We're gonna really guess. Let's do it. Uh 15 to 3. Oh, that's too much. You think one? No, hey, hey, go with change it. 15 to 3. 15 to 3.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

All right, so I think a high scoring game, I'm gonna go 9-4.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Okay, that's a that's a that's a way better idea.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

We're giving we're giving a top scoring performance by Arizona State in an Arizona State win and watch UCF get a sweep, and neither of us will ever have an opportunity to talk about this again. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

No more, no more score guessing.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Well, Kenny, you know, we we talked about it beforehand. We were trying to decide our matchups this week. No Big Ten matchup that really stands out for us this week as far as the top teams matching up. So we went ahead and SEC has a lot of matchups this week. So we got three SEC matchups to discuss this week. Why don't you kick us off? Who you got between Florida and Oklahoma?

SPEAKER_00 19:09

I will take Oklahoma. This is the probably the biggest eye test game I have for all of these games that we have lined up. This is the biggest eye test that I think both teams can have that are actually you're proving to me that this is what I mean. This is it's time to it's time to set up. This is six versus nine in the SEC. Um, Oklahoma has a strength in batting a defense. Um, but Florida's Aiden King, dude. He we talk about him all the time. That is a big guy that everybody talks about. I don't see Oklahoma winning their their first game. That Friday night, I think Aiden King will just shove him down. I think the second game might be a back and forth. Back and forth. Uh Cam Cam Johnson, Cam Johnson, he did really good last week uh against Auburn. I think Auburn. Uh yes, but Florida's Florida's second guy, uh Liam Peterson, he's up and down. I mean, he was their Friday night starter. We talked about it.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Um or three-o?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Oh, it's two uh two-one. 2-1 Oklahoma. I say Florida kind of just falls apart at the at that last game. They both teams they don't give up a lot of hits. Um, pitching-wise, Oklahoma's got a lot of hit by pitches and walks, but I mean it really wasn't much of a difference, but what are your thoughts? Uh, you got Florida, so I do.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I do have Florida this week. Um, you know, we talked about it two weeks ago, about their upcoming series with AM and Oklahoma, and we talked about hey, Florida needs to win one of those series if they really want to even have a chance to host down the down the down the line, because they have, I believe you you said they had Kentucky and LSU in their last two weeks. So this is a series that after losing AM last week, Florida needs this bounce back. Now, Oklahoma does too, because Oklahoma ended up losing game three against Auburn, getting run-ruled, and lost that series. But I think this isn't a Florida team where you said it. Aidan King is gonna lead them for game one, but I also believe their offense is gonna come alive like they did against Georgia this weekend. I think that this is an opportunity for Florida to hit some home runs, get some runs on the board, help their pitching staff out on those other days, give them some confidence. And I got Florida 2-1.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

2-1. All right. That's that's a good deal. I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm telling you, Jason, this is this is a game for Florida that they lose. I think if they lose, and they lose a couple games that aren't good enough. I don't I don't know. I'm not even gonna say it because I feel like they're gonna make everyone. Yeah, they got their what their sick their strength of schedule is like a three or two. They got a hard schedule. Number one, I believe. I believe they're a schedule. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. Next game. Uh Mississippi State, Texas. We won't really hit much on this uh because of they've I think both teams kind of submitted their place in into a uh regional or and hosting a regional. Um Mississippi State's been ripping the horror out of the ball lately. I mean, they they were hitting really well against LSU. Um Blake Beavis has come in. He yeah, he just got his start in like April, like the mid of April. Yeah, and um yeah, he's had a hit almost you know every ever since. But I feel like he hit a home run almost every game. Oh, dude, he's he's been and that's true. He's been lining it up. These are the guys you need to come in. So we both got Texas. I and this is this is me not trusting Mississippi. I mean, I don't I was surprised of how well they did against Ole Miss, but um look, seven and eighth in ERA in whole of Division I and both got a lot of strikeout percentages. So why do you got Texas?

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah, I think this Texas starting pitching staff is probably one of the best in the country. Um, they they struggled on the road at AM, but being at home, they pitched really well. Uh Rugar Rios. Uh he had Rio Haas. Rio Has, my bad. Sorry, I'm just you know, you got third times a time, buddy. He had 11 strikeouts last weekend. That team in that game had I think 18 strikeouts. So I look forward to seeing that Texas pitching staff play well. And like you said, Mississippi State had did not play that great against LSU. I mean, LSU is not a great team this year, and LSU had early leads on them in every game, and Mississippi State ends up coming back to win every game in the series. So Texas can't do that. Their pitching staff is a lot stronger than LSU's, and but and their offense is probably better than LSU's. So, what are you gonna do for Mississippi State? Um, it's hard to say sweep because Mississippi State has been playing well lately, and I think Mississippi State's a good team. So I'm gonna go 2-1 Texas. What do you have in this? 2-1 or 3-0 Texas?

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Uh give me 2-1. 2-1 Texas. Um, Mississippi State's kind of proven a little bit more to me that they've, you know, that wasn't that was just one of those weekends, like the that weekend against LSU, that it just they just weren't there, but give me 2-1.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Gotcha. And Kenny, our last SEC matchup that matters, Texas AM and Auburn. We both have we're both sitting on Texas AM. I have Texas AM 2-1 in this series. This is the top matchup, probably of the week up to this point in the season, outside of the Georgia Tech and North Carolina series, as far as top-ranked teams. These teams are four and five in RPI, Auburn being four, AM being five, or sorry, other way around. AM's four, Auburn is five. AM's won nine of their last 10 games, and uh Caden Sorrell for AM as well as Gavin Grahovac, they've both been hitting a lot of bombs this year. Sorrell has 20, uh, Grahovac has 14. So these team, these this team in AM is led by not only their offense though, their pitching staff has also pitched really well, led by Aiden Sims, who's uh who has a 1.0 whip, which is you know a great, great whip for a starter. You want to keep you want to keep those um those walks and hits down, uh keep the keep the arm going and be able to have a lower pitching pitching count. Uh but Kenny, I have 2-1 AM. I like Auburn's hitting. They hit really well last week against Oklahoma. Um, I like their pitching staff too. I think that's what's gonna have to drive them in this week. But what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Yeah, that pitching staff is the best in the country, one of the best in the country besides Texas. Um, but I have AM taking the sweep. And wow. I have uh I think AM is really hot, especially at the 10th man. Uh Auburn's been their practices, they've been pumping in the ball six, the ball seven, they've been pumping in music. Um, I think the bubbles will probably be a distraction to Texas. So I think the bubbles, the blowing the bubbles will be a distraction to Auburn. But I'll say this: this is a series that Auburn cannot go down bad. Look, they if they're gonna go down, it cannot look ugly because they got Mississippi State, they got Jacksonville State at Jacksonville State. Let me take that, at Jacksonville State, and then at Georgia to end the season. Uh these they look, they got a tough schedule. Um but I'll I'll take Texas AM. I think one of those games will probably be a little back and forth, but I'll take Texas AM on the sweep. God, I hate saying that.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

I know, but also you also hated saying you also hated saying sweep against Texas, and and you had it right. So, I mean, it was only two games, but still had the sweep.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yeah, that's the thing, and I've I've just come to kind of just take it with how it is. LSU fans, we as an LSU fan, as our fan best, we do not respect AM. I don't think a lot of people do, but I happen to be one of them, and I think this because my cousin went there, so it's kind of a soft spot, but I've been respecting AM. I you gotta respect them just a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

It sucks to say, but hey, that team is good, they're fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

But Jason, we're gonna wrap this up. Let's get into our meaningful mid-majors. Hot mid-majors. The hot mid-majors. We got army, navy, southeastern at Lamar. A huge one. We'll I can't wait to jump into Jacksonville State at Missouri State, uh, Southeast Most State, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, the directional schools, and then the catamounts versus I guess they're bulldogs. Terriers weren't that. Oh man. Jason, this is this is kind of a good one for you and I to talk about. I'm a navy guy, you're an army guy. Both are all right, 15 conference wins. Uh, Navy, actually, Army the beginning of the season, they've already played each other. Army took that series. Um Navy is seven in the national ERA, and they're in between Texas and North Carolina. That kind of gives you a gist of how what Navy's uh kind of game is. Army is 13th in field percentage, and I was talking about uh Brady Brady Bendick. He's a Friday guy. He's got A3Ks, he's uh 22nd in Division one. Um who do you got? I mean, well, we already saw what you got. Why do you have Army besides the love for Army?

SPEAKER_01 29:25

So uh Army with the two with the two one win. We covered it a little bit earlier this year. I'm thinking it's another two-one for them. Uh, we also talked about Brady Mendick uh uh earlier in the year. We talked about how how great he did on a he was a five, he was one of our five arms of the week one week. Pitching staff is uh he pitched really well. Like you said, he's got a high number of strikeouts, so I think he's gonna be the guy who gets a win for Navy. I mean, I think Army's gonna be able to get the other two games. Uh Josiah Overbeek has a 305 batting average, but he's also also coming in pitching. You you talked a little bit about that's crazy uh beforehand. Tell us a little bit about that guy.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Yeah, I was I was literally just looking over stats and like who who got who, and kind of and I saw that he had won a game. He won a game pitching. And I was like, wait, and in the stats, he's he's got this average, batten average. Like, what is he? He's uh he's a freshman. I'm pretty sure he's a freshman. Oh wow. So just yeah, that's and he he come he's got five saves on the season, so he's kind of just a guy. I'm wondering if he just it's like high school baseball. When I I mean we didn't have a bunch of guys on our team, but the outfielder comes in and pitches for the game. So um, I got navy 2-1. Um, um because go navy beat army. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

And also, this is it's I don't have them in here, but you know, this is the last series of the season for both these teams in the Patriot. So whoever wins this is gonna end up winning winning the conference.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

So they don't they don't do conference title for the regular season, okay. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Yeah, I believe we have a tournament. Pretty sure, yeah, pretty sure they all have tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

So uh Jason, bring us into this uh southeastern game versus Lamar.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Okay, I did I did have some fun researching this one because we talked about this at the beginning of the show. A lot of a lot of matchups here where there's strong pitching versus strong offense, and this is like top tier. Uh Jacksonville State's Missouri State's another one that's going to be like this, but Lamar's pitching is probably one of the best in the Southland. And Southeastern has the best offense in the Southland. Southeastern has six of the top 20 home run hitters in the Southland, including senior third baseman Alex Perry with 11, and catcher Blaze Priester senior with eight, who we have formerly interviewed. So go Blaze, who also had a grand slam against Oklahoma earlier this year. Also important to note. But when we think about these two teams, this is one versus two in the Southland. One of these two teams is most likely going to be the um the auto bid from the Southland, uh, unless they both falter in the tournament. But Southeastern 88 in RPI, Lamar 106. And when I think about this this matchup, I think Southeastern's great at getting the bat on the ball. Yeah, Lamar great on the pitching staff. Uh, but Lamar also has a senior right-hander from Mandeville, which is not far from where Southeastern is. So, you know, little matchups. A little get ahead of it. Yeah, exactly. So I'm gonna go 2-1 Southeastern. Uh Kenny, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 32:51

2-1 Southeastern. Uh Southeastern's been playing pretty good. Um, I'll take Southeastern 2-1. Uh, I think Lamar was is is the favorite and has been the favorite to kind of just um win that and get that that bid for them. But um yeah, give me give me that. Uh Jason, you and I will go Jacksonville State and you will go Missouri State. This is a huge one. This is the one I think you and I have been talking about since we found out about this. Let's quickly jump into it. Oh, excuse me. Please take over while I drink water. My goodness.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Uh, right off the bat, I think about this being just like the previous matchup where we have a strong offense in Missouri State versus a better pitching staff in Jacksonville State. Uh, this is number one versus number three, as you mentioned. And Missouri State needs a bounce back. They lost three in five in a row. They lost a sweep to Louisiana Tech in a heartbreak in losing that last game, giving up, I think, five or six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. And they need this one. This is at home for them. They hit a lot of home runs. The advantage 79 to 36, led by junior Curry Sutherland and senior Carter Bergman with 14 and 13 home runs. This is an opportunity for their offense to really come alive against Jacksonville State. Uh, but Jacksonville State's tops in the conference in strikeouts. Missouri State strikes out only is ninth in conference and K percentage at 20.4%. So this is a tough team to get out in strikeouts. Jacksonville State's gonna have to find another way to get these Missouri State guys out. So that's kind of where I give the edge to Missouri State. Plus, after a five-game losing street, baseball is just one of those sports, Kenny, where it's hard to look at a team and say they're gonna get swept again or lose another series after getting swept. It kind of reminds me of the Florida State, you know. It's hard to think Florida State go home and lose. So that's why I'm Missouri State 2-1, but you got Jacksonville State, and why?

SPEAKER_00 34:57

It it's a I'll go off the point that you just made. It's a weekend by weekend game. Like like we said later on in Florida State versus Stanford. I think it's just probably those weekends. But let me know if this is too dramatic. I was kind of looking and breaking it down. Missouri State hasn't been hitting the ball well lately. You know, their last couple games, they've been batting under 230. Uh yeah, their last what, seven or nine games between uh like late March and in April, they just haven't been hitting in it now. Maybe this is nitpicking, but most of those games have been away. Um batting 308 in April, their last seven is two eighty. So it's starting to go down. But I don't know. I mean, they're still 11th at Slug and I'm sure you brought that up, but I I think Jacksonville State is on the rise. They've had a couple games where they've struggled a little bit, but because Missouri State's kind of been on the downward spot with hitting, I'll take Jacksonville State 2-1.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Okay, I think this is gonna be when we've we've talked actually we talked about when these two teams were gonna match up earlier this year, and we were like, oh my god, that's gonna be a fun week. So it's here, and this is gonna be a good one. So looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

All right, Jason, we'll wrap this up. We'll hit these quickly on our last two. Um SOMO is south SIMO, yeah. Come on, Southeast Missouri State. Yeah, SIMO in the direction. I like SEMO. We've both got SIMO. Uh any thoughts on that? You've you've got all the notes on that one. I'll take uh let me I'll start it. I'll take SIMO through 2-1. 2-1. Give me two.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Okay. I was about to say, look, I've been going 2-1 on every series so far. Yeah, I'm breaking it. I'm breaking it. Southeast Missouri this week on the road. The sweep on the road. It's not just a sweep, it's a sweep on the road. Southeast Missouri State is playing really well, and this team, uh, when I think about their pitching staff, they're led on Fridays by senior right-hander, Nathan. I'm guessing it's Martins. I'm guessing it's not Mertins. Martins, uh Martins is what I'm guessing. But he's coming off of a complete game win at uh SIU Edwardsville last week, who was tops of the conference with Southeast Missouri State, and now they're a little behind. But they're also led by Mason Pennington, senior right-hander, also pitching really well. And he's most likely going to go up against Bryce Riggs for EIU, and I think for Eastern Illinois, that's the only game they really have an opportunity to win, in my opinion, because he's their best pitcher on the staff, and Southeast Missate has been hitting the ball really well, led by Joe Hall with a 361 average and 11 home runs, and Cal Sullivan with 14 home runs. And but Eastern Illinois doesn't hit that many home runs, Kenny. But they're more of a disciplined approach team. They focus on getting on base. Their hittings led by Mike O'Connor, he's a senior third baseman who had three home runs last weekend against UT Martin. So I think the edge goes to Southeast Missouri State. I think the pitching will outduel EIU, as well as their offense, is going to be tough to shut down against EY against EIU's pitching staff. Uh, so I think the pitching staff of EIU is going to struggle a little bit. Um, and I think this is gonna be an opportunity for Southeast Missouri State to really, really get ahead of them in the conference and go ahead and take the lead in the conference. And just to just to tidbit, this is the Ohio Valley. Just for those who don't know Ohio Valleys.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

And our final one, Western Carolina at Waffbert. Uh Wafford was the the favorite to take over uh in the SOCON, but looks like Mercer's kind of making that move. I'm a big Mercer guy. I'm gonna take Western Carolina. Um, I think Western Carolina's kind of been mainly on the terror. I'll take Western Carolina 2-1. Um and my favorite Western Carolina uh person is um well, we're gonna take this out because I forgot her name. She was the the LCU rec uh she's over there now. The athletic uh intramural director for Casey? Was her name Casey? It wasn't Casey, was it? Was it Casey? I thought it was Casey. We'll take that out. Uh well blah blah blah blah blah. Uh Western Carolina's got a better RPI. I mean, this their RPI is so high, it's 53 versus 98. I mean, do we really put that much in a in a factor if it's that high? Um yeah, I'll take Western Carolina here to one. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Okay. Okay. I'm gonna go against the grain. I'm gonna go Walford at home. 2-1. Little Terrier action. Walford's on a four-game losing streak after getting swept at Mercer last week. You had mentioned them a little bit. Mercer's leading the conference in home runs. They also lost against Gardner Webb on Tuesday. They had won 16 of 18 prior, Kenny. And I believe they're gonna get back on track this weekend. I think Wafford Walford needs a good new good series win to bounce back. The RPI's sitting at 93. You mentioned Western Carolina's at 53. So Western uh Western Carolina's looking pretty good in the RPIs. Uh, but Wafford's 9-6 in quad three games. Uh Wafford's uh Western Carolina's 5-6 in quad 2, so that's what that matchup is gonna look like this weekend. But Walford's got a strong pitching staff. They're tops in SoCon and ERA whip and FIP, and second and walks behind walk percentage by WCU. So Western Carolina pitches more to contact, avoiding less less strikeouts on the team. Uh, but they're one of the worst in hits allowed, but one of the best in BB per nine, so that lowers their whip, you know, as a pitching staff. So, you know, that's what's going to carry them, is their their opportunities to hey, we're gonna limit the guys on base as much as possible, but they got to lower the amount of hits they're giving up. So they do well against the walks, not as great against the hits. Uh, WCU's allowed uh has hit 70 home runs on the year, and Wafford's only hit 43. So, but Wafford also is the lowest in home runs allowed. So this is gonna be a big matchup for Carolina. They're kind of led by their home runs, and so this is an opportunity for Wafford's pitching staff to kind of shut them down on the on the home runs. Uh, don't give up as many long balls, and that's gonna be an opportunity for Wafford to take over in this series. Uh Wafford's led by Logan Triple. Uh Senior, who's leading the conference and on base percentage, second and average. He's hitting a 406, 523, 516 slug uh slash. Uh so he's not a big power guy, but he gets on base, he's leading the team in steals.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I think that's what matters the most, getting on base.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Yeah, and and they got four other hitters that are hitting over 330 for for Wafford. So I think that's gonna be the edge for them against uh Western Carolina's pitching. And uh we'll see, Kenny. But Waffert's got two starters on Friday and Saturday. Cullen Condon, uh who's sophomore right hander, and Alec Bouchard, right hander, uh junior right-hander, both under 1.8 ERA. So I think these are gonna be the opportunities where they're gonna get ahead. Walford's gonna get those two wins, and then they go mostly like Holstaff in the series finale, is what I've seen in the in the recent weeks. And so I think that might be the game that Western Carolina takes. So I'm gonna go 2-1 Walford.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

This is what what is what this is this is Socon, right? SoCon. Yep, Socon. I'm trying to figure out who they have. I'm looking at D1, who they got. Okay, so D1 actually has wow, okay. We'll we'll hit on this really quick. D1's got Western Carolina in the Coastal Carolina, Tennessee regional as a three-seed. You know who they have as their fourth seeds, one of the people that we love talking about. Campbell. Oh so my gosh. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm a bit surprised at that. I think Campbell might be better than people better than a four seed, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

So I'm I'm thinking about something on the other side, right? Let's say Western Carolina. Don't win the SOCON. Wafford hasn't Wafford just was last there in 2024. WCU hasn't been there since 2016. Let's say they don't win the conference. Kenny, do they still get in? Because sometimes the three seed goes to a good good at-large. Maybe Western Carolina with their RPI, they're sitting there at 50 something. Like that might be worth a three-seed, but let's say they don't win the conference tournament. Do they do they get left off? That's the tough part.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Uh I think they will because of house because they're all over conference school.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

And I mean, I feel like it is what it is. It's one of those just brutal outcomes that that that's the lovely game of baseball. Yeah. Anyway, that wraps things up. Look, we'll bring in our trivia question from last week. Jason, um, any ideas of what that question was? And before we go, uh this team has made 24 trips to the College World Series and has had zero national titles. Jason, any ideas?

SPEAKER_01 45:06

So we had talked about it. So I don't want to act like I got it on first note, but I did ask you if it was a West Coast team, and you said no. Nope. And so I did some thinking and I came up with Florida State.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

And Florida State was the answer. Florida, that's pretty crazy to me. And I and for the for the historical program they had to not have a single one is kind of mind-bottling.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

The reason I thought about Florida State was Mike Martin was there for 40 years. And I mean, they were great every season. 40 years, never lost less than 40 games, advanced to the postseason every season, and they uh and he went to the uh college world series um 17 times, Kenny. So it's like I knew that they hadn't won one under him, and I knew he had gotten there a lot. So that when I didn't think West Coast, because I was like, all right, it's got to be somewhere else. That was what led me to Florida State, and you know, Mike Martin, great, one of the best man in baseball college baseball managers of all time. Um, so good to see uh good to see Florida State doing really well this year, you know, in our new regime.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Yeah, so well Jason, pretty big week, pretty busy, busy week. Um, but we're really excited. Thank y'all for watching. Uh, make sure y'all like, share, subscribe again. Um, we will be dropping a uh Field of 64 uh episode. Make sure y'all tune in. I think we've been working pretty hard on it, uh making sure it looks all good and ready to go. But uh thank y'all for watching. Peace out. Go tigers, go tigers, even though we suck, I'll take it.