Welcome to the Big Blue Insider to Cabrie with you on a Tuesday edition of our program, abbreviated per usual for Kentucky Baseball. But we were going to go till seven forty five tonight with an eight o'clock start for UKU OFL, but they moved a game up in our because it is so blasted cold here in the spring. So it's a seven o'clock game now, which means six forty five pre game for Darren heddricks it. We'll step
out a little bit earlier then we anticipated. Coming up in a few minutes, a man, Doug Flynn, my broadcast partner on UK baseball streaming broadcasts on SEC Plus, will join us and we'll preview the series a little bit. We'll talk about what happened over the weekend and where
they are right now with Wildcat Baseball. Of course, you know by now that Florida Gators are the national champs in an incredible finish, playing Houston's game down the stretch, holding the Cougars with no scores in their last four possessions for Sint Houston to turn it over or missshots.
It was an ugly game. It was played just the way Houston needed it to be played, and in fact, the Cougars led it by twelve early in the second half, and somehow the Gators come back without Walter Clayton's junior dominating offensively. You know, he was scoreless for the longest time or held without a field goal at any rate until a crucial three point play late in the game.
But he made the plays. He made, assists, he made defensive players, made the defensive play of the game when the last guy with the ball for Houston trying to get off a three pointer and Clayton came flying at him, forced him to rethink it and drop the ball, and he couldn't go pick it up because it would have been a traveling violation. That's why it was a loose ball and a scrum at the end. Just an amazing finish.
And you know, Houston never gets off a shot nineteen seconds left and looked like it was playing for a three by as Jay Wright put it, Florida blitzed the ball handlers and Houston didn't have an answer. And I thought Houston would look for a three for you know, ten or twelve seconds and if it wasn't there, try for at least to two to get it to overtime,
but didn't happen. Congrats to the Gators. The SEC wins the national championship as most people predicted, but everybody, not everybody, but most people thought it would be Auburn until later in the season when Florida started playing the best basketball in the conference and Duke was playing better than Florida. But we all know what happened to Duke, and then a lot of people thought it was Houston's for the taking,
and it was. But now, for the seventh time, the Cougars have made the Final four and have not won the championship. So think about this, Florida thirty six and four on the season. Who did the Gators lose to? Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee good team and Kentucky. So least Wildcat fans can brag about that we own a win this year over
the defending national champs. Now, of course, what about next year? Well, ESPN and other agencies have their way too early top twenty five, espns Houston as the way too early favorite, then Purdue number two, Louisville number three, and they go
through projected lineups and all that. Yukon number four Michigan five, And how about the Kentucky Wildcats at number six, with a projected starting lineup per ESPN of Jalan Lowe, the kid from pitt Jasper Johnson, the freshman from Versailles, otega Oway, Brandon Garrison, and now Mohammed Diabate to transfer from Alabama. So in the way too early poll, ESPN's got Kentucky number six, followed closely by Arkansas with a lineup that includes DJ Wagner and Carter Knox who would have been
a Kentucky Wildcat. They got Duke eighth, Saint John's ninth, with Bryce Hopkins in the lineup former Wildcat who went through Providence, UCLA tenth, and a couple of SEC teams after that, Alabama eleven and Auburn twelve. ESPN dot COM's got it if you're interested in such a thing. One poll's got BYU in the top five. ESPN's got him sixteenth. So never too soon to look at that kind of stuff,
is it? No, it's not. By the way, as we signed off last night, we talked about the House Settlement, and that's the lawsuit named after the former Arizona swimmer. It was not decided yesterday by the judge out in Oakland, she declined to provide final approval of the deal. She directed the lawyers to address a short list of her
remaining concerns. Within one week. Now, four athletes testified against the settlement, one of them being Livy Done, the gymnast from LSU, who she claims is and you can back this up. She claims to be the highest earning female athlete since the NIL rules changed, and she believes she's going to be shortchanged by the settlement. She said, a settlement fails to acknowledge her true value. The settlement's going
to a lot x amount of dollars per athletes. She thinks she's going to basically lose money in the deal. Later on, a Planet's attorney said the gymnast would receive an updated allocation. But I thought that was interesting that Livy Done went as far as testifying against the settlement. So this may not be wrapped up again for another week. So we say goodbye to college basketball, and in doing so, we say hey to the Masters yep Masters, beginning this week.
As you know, Scotti Scheffler, according to the PGA Power Rankings, is the favorite defending champ followed by Rory McElroy, who lacks only the Masters to complete his career Grand Slam. He's got two wins this year, so maybe this is his year. Colin Morikawa third, John Ramis fourth, Brice and the Shambeau fifth, and Justin Thomas. The Kentuckian is sixth in the Power rankings. Had a solo second at the
vallast Bar Championship earlier this year. Two runner up. Finishes four top tens in his last seven starts, so apparently he is playing some of his best golf right now. Zero for two at the Masters, and he had two top tens among the top twenty fives prior. Also among the top ten. Brooks Koepka is ranked ninth. Xander Shotley just outside of top ten at number eleven, So keep
an eye on the Masters. We will help you keep an eye on it as well, but as we pre record, we really can't, you know, provide much in a way of expert commentary. A little bit of recruiting news from Kentucky football. This is for the class of twenty twenty seven. UK got to commit from a quarterback from Knoxville, Dj Hunter. He's the first for the Wildcats in the twenty twenty seven recruiting class, according to two four to seven Sports
and the Cats Pause. He is election in Native but is playing his high school football in Knoxville, recruited by bush Ham, Dan and Eric Walford. Before we get to the break and hear from my man Doug Flynn, I did want to mention the fact that once again I stayed up all the way through the coverage last night on CBS and thoroughly enjoyed one shining moment, and I bring that up and I tweeted this as well last night.
It's become kind of fashionable, kind of du riguur, if you will, for some people, mostly in my line of work. But those are the everybody's got a platform now, you know, on social media. But I don't know why people in my line of work think it's incumbent upon them to complain about really anything and everything. But I've seen more complaints about one shining moment, like you, oh, that's run
its core. So I'm so tired of that. Well, you know, to me, Well, for one thing, I'm biased because having worked in TV most of my career, I recognize and appreciate the amount of work that went into that production. The number of people with cameras on their shoulders shooting that low level video. That's the dramatic video, right, not the high white game stuff. It's the stuff that puts you right on the court with the players and the coaches and the cheerleaders and the dancers and the fans.
So to sift through miles and miles, hours and hours of that video to pull just the right clips and then edit it all together and update it in the in the minutes right after the game has ended, is an incredible amount of work, enormous and it always delivers. So, as I said last night on my late night tweet, if you're going to complain about it, just stop, turn
your TV off, and be done with it. Doug Flinn's next in six point thirty eight WLAP Welcome back to the Big Moonsider coming up Kentucky Baseball, the Cats and the Cardinals and joining me down the Celebrity hotline. Is a guy who spent much of the weekend dodging rain drops and calling baseball, Mister Doug Flynn, my broadcast partner on SEC Plus. That was a long weekend. Brother the double head Better and then the extra any game fun, but didn't go the right way, did it.
Well, it could have been a lot of fun in one to three, But you know, they were in every ball game. Every ball game went down to the last at bat, and there was a lot of really good things we saw from UK, but I think there was a lot of things that they haven't got better at as of yet. And you know, when you look at their record now, they've got a lot of losses just by one game, by one run and just a big hit away. So hopefully they'll figure it out.
Yeah. Well, you know, they go down, they win a game at Georgia, they were in the opener, kind of blown out in the third game. They dropped that series here at home against Auburn, and the two losses were both by eight to seven, Right, that could have been a sweep. And then they take two out of three at A and M. So clearly a team that's got talent but trying to figure things out.
Well, you know, I kind of use the analogy with you, which is kind of funny. I said, since I'm a fisherman, and I think with this ball club it's the same way. If you want to win a fishing tournament, you have to fish clean, right. It means that every bite you get you take advantage of it. You get that fish in the boat, you don't break any lines. Same when
you get playing baseball games. I think Kentucky because it's so balanced in this league that when you have a chance with the runner on third and less than two outs, you've got to find a way to get him home. If you are called to bunt, you have to get the bunt down. If there's a double play opportunity, you
have to turn the double play. And I think what we've seen from UK, I believe it was three times in the game they got beat yesterday or they got beat on Saturday, they have runners on second and third with one out, and not one time did they get them home. And that's not to say that you know they're playing hard, they're really trying. Was the pitching that
good man? You know, we saw a couple of really nice pitchers from Ole Miss, but we saw a couple I thought Kentucky for the handled a little better too. So it's just you know, you could say, when you're in a game and their one run game record, now it's not very good. If you could turn that around a little bit, I mean, they're gonna be right to hunt with these teams.
Yeah, you know when I mentioned in Georgia and the Auburn Series and A and M, and they gave up a lot of runs for different reasons. I thought the pitching against a good old miss team with a lot of pop, that was the first thing out of your mouth on the first game. How much power was in that lineup. I thought the pitching for Kentucky was just terrific.
I thought it was outstanding, by far, the best we've seen all year long. Everybody that came in did their job, pitched well, was effective, and we've got some good arms on this ball club. They're probably has been untimely walked or owen two base hits that they give up. You fix some of these things and these guys start commanding the plate. Missus ole miss. I would love to know the statistic on how many first pitch strikes they threw, because they were a bun double. If you can do that,
then it sets up all your other pitches. And I know that's what they practice at UK. But you've got a lot of different guys that they're throwing, got some younger guys throwing as well, But you hope the veterans will take charge of this pitching staff and the rest of the team will just kind of follow right in behind them.
Yeah. Talking to Doug Flynn of the SEC plus net work, he of course works alongside yours truly on the WILK at home games that you stream on your computer. And the Cat's coming off a really difficult weekend season dropping the series. We forget as well that Ole Miss picked to struggle this year, in fact, has been one of the pleasant surprises in the SEC. Ranked ninth in the country coming in this weekend again, power up and down the line. But you and I talked about this off
the air more than on. Wouldn't be proper to say it on the air. I thought Kentucky was every bit as good for the most part as All Miss which is a ninth rank team in the country.
And I know you did, yeah, absolutely, And Auburn came in, you know, which was supposed to be a little bit better. But I thought Kentucky was equally as good as Alburn was. It's just some of those teams have won those close ballgames. Kentucky has not as of yet, and they've got to beat those four games that were non conference games too, So you know, it's I don't know if it's a team that's still looking for an identity. It's not the same ball club as last year. Last year kind of
spoiled everybody. They had nine guys that could run, do everything, a great baseball IQ still trying to find some identity with this ball club, because when you look at them compared to what we've seen so far, they match up very evenly with each of these teams we've already seen in.
Terms of conference play. Now, look, they've lost a couple of non conference games that may come back and haunt them, but in terms of conference play, if they win one of those games they dropped against Ole Miss, I think they're right on schedule, especially given the fact, and I'm not making excuses, these are just facts that this is a team that from the Omaha team last year, lost
seven or six basically of the eight position players. James McCoy started most games, and right they got Devin Burg's back behind the plate. Otherwise, all News starters entire weekend rotation, the guys who pitched in the SEC games as starters, plus their best stopper and the guy who led them in relief appearances. How many programs have had to deal with that answer is not many. And yet they're in there banging around in the SEC. You know.
Yeah, if they win won more of those games this past weekend, they're five hundreds to conference. Yeah, and right on target, because it's gonna be guys beating each other up all year long. We've already seen that over the first couple.
Of weeks, that's right. And you've also got guys who are still trying to figure out how to compete in the SEC, Guys who have transferred in, Guys who are playing more regularly now than maybe they did at their last stop. But this is, you know, the conference right now, This is the league, isn't it.
Yeah? And there comes a point in time when you come over here, and I'm sure there's some doubts in some of the guys' minds. Well, you know, I've played at some smaller schools. We didn't see this kind of competition. But at some point in time you have to realize I belong here, I can contribute here. And we've seen I mean, we got guys that can hit home runs,
guys that can hit for power. The defense, if you get rid of the hares about the picture of the defenses right on target build in nine to eighty something. So it's the ball club that can't compete, just looking for that one big hit that going to turn it around.
Possibly, Yeah, FYI. What Doug's talking about is the fact that Kentucky's pitchers. Of the twenty five twenty six errors that the Wildcats have committed at least going into this weekend, seven or eight of them by pitchers throwing a ball. All kay. You know, they've got brand new middle infielders, and I know you like what you see in those guys, don't you?
Oh yeah, yeah, you got you know, Luke Lawrence came over from up North and Tyler Bell's a young freshman at shortstop. They both are playing really, really well. They're great kids. They play hard. You could tell they got a pretty good baseball IQ. But they're going to continue to get better and better. That has not been a problem for this team this year. To me, It's been
more some of the fundamental things like moving runners. You got a mantle second and nobody out trying to move that runner to score position, and then once you get him there. We just haven't had the guys that have been driving them in. Now. We were so close the other day the basis and Devin Burke hits the rocket court stop and always.
Took his glove off ended the game.
Yeah, and that was it right there. I mean, if his that ball goes through, uh, Kentucky wins. But Dad, it just about takes his glove off and uh, and then we had had two guys thrown out the plate on perfect throws. You know, right now, we've we've just seen other teams that, for whatever reason, playing against Kentucky, they have been uh, they played much better fundamentally and they've been doing things just a little bit better. I mean it's close because we've lost a lot of one run ball game.
Yeah, maddening. We'll talk more with Doug Flynn on the other side of the break here on six thirty w Al welcome back. We're talking with my broadcast partner on SEC Plus Doug Flynn, who of course won a Gold Glove in the Biggs played eleven years uh for a number of teams and part of the Big Red machine, but always a middle infielder. And we talked about the Kentucky middle infield prior to the break, and I know you had a chance, and we talked about this a
little bit on the broadcast over the weekend. One of them that you had a chance to have a conversation with those guys. You're not allowed to coach them, but you guys talked baseball and you said they were receptive, and that had to make you feel good. You know a little bit about playing in field.
Well, you know, there's a lot of things that I learned from other players, and most of it I didn't learn until like that's to the major leagues, and so I've just always felt that if possible, if it would help to just spread the knowledge around. These kids are so big and they're really talented, but there's just a few little things that you learn over the years that if you can, you know, relate that to them, it's
going to help them a little bit. Yeah, and Nick's always been open for things like that, and these kids they're very receptive, you know, whether it be releasing the ball or turning it, turning a double play, maybe how to position a guy where to cover the bag. There's just a lot of little things you can do that will enhance your game an awful lot. Of course, you know, every game you get scouts here, so you see some guys that are pretty good. Well, the record speaks for itself.
I mean, you guys have been drafted out this program.
Yeah, you're right. And you were telling me some of the things you shared with the middle infielders, and to me, it's fascinating because I mean, it's as much as you know one step or just where your body weight is, as you manipulate a throw coming in or leaving the base at second on a double play, things like that, and uh yeah, but that's that could be the difference.
It could look at me, plays that we see at first base that a bang bang, and they've got to be reviewed.
Yeah.
Well, you know, if you can do some little things that would get that ball to first base just a little bit quicker, it's gonna eliminate those close plays. And yeah, but you know I had to be reminded to. I mean even nineteen eighty one, I remember coming playing a ballgame. Chuck Cottie or was my coach, and he said, can I tell you something. I went, Yeah, he said, you get a little lazy with your feet on you on
your double plates. And I just had got so use to just going with my arm because my arm was pretty strong for second base. Yeah, and so I would just I wasn't moving my feet and I went, man, thanks, because you know you're getting sometimes you don't realize what you're doing. So I told those two guys, you got to feed off each other. You're got to help each other,
watch each other. If you see something that the other one's doing, don't be afraid to go over there and talk to him about it, because you know, you guys are the heart of the infield. You control everything that goes on. I mean, you're calling plays, you're talking to the pictures, you're going telling the outfield, you're doing all kinds of stuff. So you two be each other's best friend and watch each other and if you see something that you don't think, let's rite talk about it.
Yeah, and for all the plaudas coming out of high school, Tyler Bell's a freshman, you know, and then yeah, yeah, he could have gone to pro ball, But had he done that, he would have been playing against guy who are probably similar to the level of competition he's facing right now in the SEC. So he's got a lot to learn. Lawrence has played a lot of infield, but
didn't play much second base at Illinois State. And as you well know, because you played all over the infield, everything has its challenges.
Yes they do. But if you can play short stop, you can play second. Yeah, not necessarily the other way around. Yeah, but when you play short that you know you've got a good enough arm to play second base, which makes your arm look really good. So I just yeah, And it's fun talking to them, and it's fun watching them. Guys. You know how excited I get sometimes in the booth. Oh yeah, I would get frustrated. Yesterday the winds so bad and I know we do SEC plus and and
you're not talking a little bit. Are we supposed to be pro UK or not pro UK? Well, I'm sorry, I'm pro UK.
Everybody knows that, you know. And that kind of bubbled to the surface on SATURDA during the doubleheader, and then tonight, of course they played the Cardinals. Speaking of being pro UK, there will be Kentucky fans there whether they're permitting at the U of L game. And we talked before we went in the air. But last year's game when Ryan Nicholson got to go deep in his hometown. But last year's team, while it did have some new faces, like Ryan who had played it at UC the year before.
It had guys like Grant Smith in his second year of the program, Amelian Petrie in his third year, guys Nolan McCarthy, a veteran, Ryan Walshman, guys who had played multiple years in the UK and know they knew all about the U of L rival And trust me, it's the same in baseball. Maybe ain't stronger than it is in football. I don't know about basketball, but and football they're banging into each other. I know basketball there's a lot of trash talk, but there sure is in baseball,
and they'll hear it from the stands tonight. Those fans in that ballpark over U of L are right on top of them. So if they don't know already, they're gonna learn real quickly, aren't they.
Yeah, they really are. And you're right about the the rivalry right there and baseball. If folks had not been to a college baseball game, they have to realize or maybe understand, there's more mouthing and yelling and screaming going on than probably any other sport, from dugout to dugouts. To have the umpires on the field to the fans, I mean that is a mouth he sports these days.
Yeah, it really is. And in fact, during the Old Miss series, the played umpire won. I don't remember which game they all ran together. There were so many extra innings, but at one point when the play umpire had to walk over and tell each dugout to zip it. I don't know if they're yelling at him or each other.
And then there was some bad blood right after the game where the Old Miss reliever who struck out the last Kentucky batter made some gestures toward the Kentucky dugout and the Wildcats came out of the dugout and Devin Burks wanted a piece of that guy, you know, the fifth year senior. So it What is it about baseball, Doug, where things can get chippy. You're not banging into each other, you're not tackling each other.
Well, I think probably, you know, when you're banging into each other, you can settle it out there by just banging into each other. But when you can't throw inside and all that kind of stuff, and you kind of start your mouth and it's it's always been a little bit of mouthing. I think it's probably more so now because of the gyrations that guys go through after they get a basehead or a home run. Everybody's got every
little sigma. Well, I love what Mickey Mantle says when they asked he met when he hit a home run while he just lowered his head and ran around the basis, he said, I've already embarrassed the picture enough. I don't need to do it while I'm running around the basins.
That's pretty good.
And I think baseball it is classy, and I think we've lost a lot of that class in our game. Unfortunately.
I'm okay with the celebrations in the dugout, but as long as it's in the dugout. Although that rubbed a lot of teams the wrong way last year with Kentucky, to the point where coaches and players both many public comments. They were kind of shielded comments, but you knew what they were talking about. But before I let you go, one thing we saw, and it was in the middle of a tight game. Was in the middle of the
third game, the Saturday game, the rubber match. Mike Bianco, who's is as cool a guy as there is when it comes to, you know, just chatting talking baseball with him. The old miss coach got himself thrown out of the game arguing balls and strikes. I can't remember, Doug, the last time we have seen that happen in a UK baseball game. Uh. And you know, reviews have taken a lot of the the the arguing out of the game. But he came out of that dugout looking to protect
his picture. He knew he was gonna get run, didn't.
He Absolutely he did. And and sometimes, uh, you gotta feel because he's a former player, right, and there's got to be a chance or a time that he wants to let off some steam. And Joe Torrey told me that once when he went from playing the manager and he said, you know, somebody got to start a five. I got to get out on the field and do something, because you can't let that out when you're in a manager.
When you're a player, you can run it out, you can mount it out, you can have all kinds of ways to get rid of some of that pinched up pressure that's going on with you and some of that energy. When you're a manager today, with all the replays and stuff, it doesn't give them the opportunity to do that. So I'm saying he had in mind. I need a good little I got to get my blood going a little bit. So let's just we're in pretty good shape. We're tired.
If maybe if I get out of here somebody I'll do something.
Good well, and sadly for the Wildcats, that's the way it worked out, although as Doug mentioned, Kentucky had every opportunity, just couldn't quite push it across. But the Wildcats get another shot tonight against Ule l and then it's back on the road for Kentucky and every schedule is brutal. Actually, the Wildcats are home this year.
We got them Friday night.
With the Texas Longhorns, and then the SEC networks got him on Saturday and Sunday. So yeah, we'll be looking forward to calling it that one. For the first time. You and I have work games in Texas when we work minor league games, but this is the first time the Longhorns are coming coming to election and thank you, brother, and I see oh man, I am too. We'll see it at the ballpark, right Pardner. That's going to do it for now. Stay tuned now for Kentucky baseball, the
Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals. Darren Heddricks pre game is next. That said good night from the garage in Lexington.
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