Streaming live. I mean, iHeartRadio WAPP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Robera and Jake and Salez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to Winne the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta. Jay is out today. We've got Matt reynoldson former of KBA, and then we have Henry's breaking news. All right, so the first breaking news we got. Arizona softball left fielder Dakota Kennedy won the Gold Glove and
was also named a Third team and NFCA All American. And she becomes the second Arizona player in the last years when the Gold Glove, as Ali Skaggs also won it last year. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm sure you saw a few games. Yeah. They were very good defensively, and that's proven kind of with the awards and stuff. Put their pitching wasn't as good as that needed to be to get further on. No, had they had a
couple of pitching injuries. I think that hurt them throughout the years. Silva was, you know, never sposed to be the number one pitcher on this roster, and you know she filled her role very well and up a ton of innings. This year had some great outings, but you know, had some ones that were a little tough kind of throughout. Miranda Sotddard had her
lumps and was, you know, very good. I think they were just a little bit inconsistent from pitching that showed last weekend in the Super Regionals against Oklahoma State. But this was a nice bounce back yere. Overall, we love staff. I mean, after missing the tournament for the first time in thirty five years, for them to bounce back and be right where they are supposed to be and a top sixteen team in the country at the end of the season in the super Regionals. I know this is a proud program.
I know fans have really high expectations for Arizona softball. But when you have injuries like that and you still finish and the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, that is a successful season and they have so much to build on. Yeah, no question. In fact, I hope Vic calls me one day here at the show again because she would have got into a last time.
But we're gonna go there with you in a bit. After breaking news, go ahead, next breaking news the Timberwolves survive elimination and force game five versus the Maverts. Anthony Verards had twenty nine and karl Anton Town's at twenty five. This series should end anytime soon. So the Mavericks have been crazy good. Yeah, but they finally the Timberwolves finally closed out a game. Felt
like the mass Gamelosers. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. We'll see what happens with with the Mavericks. At some point they might lose another game or two, but it should be a good series. Boston. I'm already good. I already have them be into the final. It's exciting. So we finally do have the two best teams and Awston's caked walked through there. Yeah, the final still doesn't start for another weeks yet, but the series
doesn't untill like July fifth, I'm joking about. Next. Breaking news, it was announced that the Tucson Roadrunners will be playing at least thirty games next season at the Tucson Arena, and the team will still be based and practice in Tucson and will only play six games in the tempt Yeah. That's a that's big news. That's big news, huge, And you went to I'm
sure you covered a few of those games. I know your former station did a lot of stuff last night with it because it's one of Arizona's last professional sports things and it's pretty popular. This is so exciting for me and a very full circle thing for me, because you know, I was right on top of the breaking news when Alex Morello made the decision to sell the Arizona Coyotes to the Salt Lake City based Smith Entertainment Group and all the fallout that
came with the Roadrunners of that. I remember interviewing Roadrunners head coach Steve Poppman at about ten oh five before I had to be back in studio at ten
at and down at the TCC. And you know that was after Morello had his radio appearance on ninety eight seven Arizona Sports in Phoenix and made that announcement that he kept the Roadrunners and that he was going to move them to Tempe, and you know, the entire mess of all of that, and to see the petition come out to keep the Roadrunners at Tucson, to see how much better they fit here than they do it molit Arena, who will host the Suns G League team next year, I think This is just a win
for all parties. And it's okay if they lose five or six home games to Muller Arena, you know, that's fine. I mean it just maybe maybe make a midweek games. I don't care. But the fact that they are keeping thirty home games means this professional sports franchise stays in Tucson. And if you were at the white out for those playoff games, this matters to the community and I'm so excited to see them stay. So so you've you've
been here a few months. The one thing about TWU song fans, if you're winning, they will go, and they were winning playoffs, so they went that. They just ran to a wall of a goaltender for Calgary. So that was just such a tough series. But man, fun playoff atmosphere down there, and I'm sure there will be plenty more, especially with the guys they have coming down the pipe in this franchise. Yeah, okay. Next out of breaking news, Caitlin Clark had our first thirty point game in
the WNBA last night. But they lost. Yeah, the one and seven and seven, so I think Arian McDonald had twenty one point. They played who did they play? La? It was yeah, Lly, so Aeran McDonald who who played here obviously had a pretty good game with twenty one points. So Kitlyn's won and seven. I just saw something that I guess that the the Fever of their coaches kind of lost the locker room, which is not a surprise if that's true given the Caitlin status. And then they're not
winning. Yeah, I mean the Fever had a number one draft pick for a reason that there are a lot of exciting book point this season in the WNBA. I mean, you look on the other side of that matchup, obviously airy with the Arizona connection, but we saw Cameron Drink play here and dominate the Arizona back January. They won by thirty. McHale, she what does she do? Because she's leading the league. I believe in blocks right
now. She's a stellar player. I mean, you have Angel Ree for the Chicago Sky, a number of other strong players that made deep tournament runs. So I think this is a really good turning point for professional women's basketball with this rookie class, and then paying attention to some of the veterans as well, Asia Wilson with the Las Vegas Aces. So many of these other
stellar players. The New York Liberty is loaded. I think it will just be a fun season and a fun summer, especially as more people grow a general interest in the women's had no point in my lifetime has this been that relevant. And I remember going to Phoenix to cover the opening games with Tim's and all that. This twenty five years ago whatever was and now it's talked
about a lot. Yeah, you know, the Cat and Clark factor or whatever, But the other rookies that are in the league and the change that's being made, it's fantastic, absolutely, And you see him around all sorts of franchises, Phoenix as a stellar rookie, and Sophie Cunningham, Seattle Ast stellar rookie, and Nika Mule. I mean, these these players are obviously the ones that have built this league to what it is. Are the veterans in the league now one of the greatest of all time, Dana Tarassi still
playing in Phoenix. But you know, this league is really becoming mainstream, and I think that's so important for the growth of the game. And you
know, we saw charter flights implemented for the first time this year. I'd love to see it continue to grow because I think it's great for women's sports in general as it continues to evolve into you know, maybe a more equal playing field as far as interest goes and as far as TV rights goes, especially because we know in both college and professional sports that drives the bus. I was just gonna add Cameron brink A twenty wow wow stellar, just so
good for Stanford last year. And I hope it's not cyclical, because sometimes it is. I guess we'll know after this next year or so. But uh, and then and then the thing about it, the w w NBA players are there now don't want to lose their jobs to the rookies now, and the rosters aren't that big. They're not and that's part of the problem because the rookies, who may be very very good, some of them don't
make the teams that get drafted. Yeah, we saw both as Mary Martinez and Atlanta Pueo from the University of Arizona get cut from rookie rosters this year. There was pretty second second round draft picks, and both had stellar careers and uh, pretty good training camps from all from all accounts, but really hard to beat out these veterans with those small rosters. Right, and then
the last thing I have it's kind of Arizona related. Uh, Brownie James declined workouts with every team besides the Lakers, and the song right right, and he's not gonna be he got him, he put he's keeping his name yet in the dress, so he's not taking it out, and we'll see what happens. It's smoke screens, James Jones or James Jones and Matt Ashbia just kind of playing puppet master here, trying to get the Lakers to trade up to twenty two, maybe take Beale's contract off of them. I don't
know. I'll just figure out some sort of flexibility because this team is really really jammed up against free agency, jammed up against the second apron of that salad and the luxury tax for next year. I mean it feels like, look, there could be likes to this. They could want to draft Brownie. At the times I saw him, I thought he was a pretty good player. You know, he moves and sees the floor well, and you really only see that from that baseline level as opposed to be a team broadcast
exactly exactly. So I think he's gonna be a good player. But I think part of this could just be a maybe a long term play, maybe a long term Domino's played by James Jones and Matt Eshbia for the Phoenix Suns. We'll see because it is interesting with him specifically because obviously his dad, he was prolonging his career and see where he goes. Maybe it's a ployed to get Brinnie to get to Phoenix. Maybe, So who knows. I heard that one as well. Let me ask you something because I say this
every now and again to journalists or whatever. I used to be in the newspaper business for a long time. So you get here, and just by your tone from a previous question, uh, you get here. No ties to Arizona, right, you know, I don't ties. You didn't go to school here, You're from somewhere else, a little bit of family ties.
And so I've been a fan for a long time. So did you notice and even did you notice anything when you were at the press conversation that it was the media here watching the games asking the questions were a little bit pro team, you know. I think that's pretty standard in a college market a lot of times. And I grew up and got my teeth media wise
in Lincoln, Nebraska. So when it comes from where you went to school, where you went to school, yep, and your probably were in the house or the college coming from in the house ye because you covered it from inside the house exactly. And there's a when it comes to football there which drives the bus for the entire state. You know, you'll get game days, you'll get spring games, you'll get practices that have sixty media members at
them, and you know you can't just be in that environment. You can't
just be a homer. It just doesn't work. But there is always sort of a slanted objectivity when it comes to covering college programs because you just don't treat student athletes the same way that you treat professionals because it's just, I mean, they have a lot, a lot of other stuff going on, and you know, you are there's almost a responsibility to some extent to not protect them but also just not tear them down as they continue to develop as
individuals and as athletes. Okay, so you think that will change? You think that'll change given now the climate of the money the nil. Yeah.
Yeah, I think it already has to some extent. But I think the difference with college programs and professional sports, which I covered extensively in Wisconsin, is that there is there's somewhat of they it's still hesitation to really push the buttons when it comes to college sports because these are communications professionals and other people that you're going to have to see on a day to day, day to
day basis. Again, and your credential can be pulled. And if your credentials pulled in the NFL, then the Writers Union and other troople are going to come after the teams. But we also saw, and I think this would happen more often than not, what happened in LA with the with the USC guy with the Orange Kenny Register who they didn't like what he was asking, they didn't ask what he was writing, like what he was writing, and they tried to limit his access, and that blew up in their face.
Exactly a day or so later, it was revote. You know, they said sorrykoplah blah blah blah. But I think that's more. I think the threat of being pulled is more of just the threat of being pulled, right, It's just a threat. It's it's not the reality of because there's too much negativity, negativity if they would actually do it. And I've seen it more at the pro level than I have at the college. But I
think it's it's the implication of the possibility of that. And I think for the bigger thing for local media is we don't necessarily maybe push as hard as some people nationally do. I mean, you've been in press conferences where people
nationally come in and just throw fireballs. Sure, and I know your reaction to that has been you know, Okay, maybe those questions needed to be asked, but maybe they didn't do it in the most respectful way, whereas us with relationships with these people are asking it in maybe more respectable way without question because the one they're just flying and flying out they don't have to deal
with on the day to day basis. You talked about that, I've seen it for thirty some years now where and those guys to the national level are the ones that cat parachute in and kind of throw the bombs, like you said, to throw the bombs and get the goods, if that makes any sense, Or maybe the locals have the goods, they just don't act on
the goods exactly. And I mean we've we've covered things and we've had sources on certain things and sat on those sources because the bigger thing is is you want to be right and you want to be fair and they so it's I'm not making any example out of Pete Famil, but he is the biggest name in college football reporting right now, and he's a fantastic reporter and rarely,
if ever wrong. But if he is wrong, I mean, does he really face as many repercussions from an individual program as somebody at the local level would. That's kind of the assertion I'm making is that he can go with things with one source, whereas we may have to check three or four different things because we have to see somebody tomorrow that used to be journalism one on one back in the days, right a lot, because he just gets the inside of and people trust him just like they trust you or I. But
it's how we use the information. But my point was my point initially was you come in and you feel that I don't not urge or whatever to be kind to the locals, right right, because you kind of have to. But I'm part of the community too, and that's that was important to me coming in was not just I'm going to do my job and be a journalist here. But I love being here. I love being part of this community.
I'm on TV and talking to you like I'm in your living room, like I live here, and I'm invested in the same things that you are. So while I may not be, you know, donning the A and rooting for the same things in the same way, because I'm covering the team and being an objective observer, I have interest in this team doing well, in these programs doing well, and these athletes continuing to develop as humans and being part of the community. Like I tell Jay all the time, it's
easier to cover winning team than it is to cover a losing team. I covered a lot of them in the in the world. Just to go into a locker room that's a winners yep. It's tough to go into a losing locker Okay. With that, we're going to take a break, gonna get with Randia Seta here on the other side, The Windows Depot is more than a Windows store. The Windows Depot is a one soft warehouse with everything you
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southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. Hey Tucson, it's getting hot out there, which means it's time for the coolest charity run in town. Randy A Setta here inviting you to join us for the TMCE Meet Me Downtown five k Night Running Walk, coming up on Saturday night, June first, and featuring the free Raising Caines High School Mile, a free Kids Mile, and rock and roll on
the main stage. This is Tucson's biggest running party. Seerun Tucson dot net for all the details. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez sound Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio w app just Surgery I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to One on the Ball. Here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve ROVERO. Jay is up today. We have our guy, mister Matt Reynoldson from FORMERINGI of KBA and Henry. Now we have Randy you set that from run
Tucson. Randy. How are you, Steve? I'm good. Thanks for having me today. Yep. Yes, we just saw your commercial. I heard your commercial. A big deal going on this weekend of Saturday. How many years now? It is the eighteenth annual, eighteenth year right, and through the years, I'm assuming you've had at least maybe twenty thousand people run it over the years, Yeah, something like that. This year we have seventeen hundred and ninety one signed up at this moment. Back in two thousand
and sixteen, I was doing some history. It was our biggest year with almost three thousand people signed up with COVID, and now we're climbing back. So what was the big deal in twenty sixteen? Was it like a tenth year or something of that anniversary? I tried to do something cool. Actually, we did a Friday night what we called a Friday Night Festival of Miles, and we put up about four thousand dollars in prize money, and then
Saturday we had the run. Because the run is on a nighttime, Saturday night, most of these ratess, as your listeners probably know, are early in the morning, so this is the only night we run in town. That year. We did a Friday night and a Saturday night, and we put a bunch of prize money up, and now we're just back to Saturday night. Randy matt here, and you know that heat kind of hangs in the air on Saturday nights, but especially in the evenings this time of year,
after those one hundred degree days. Yeah, I think one of the big things that I'm wondering is just how do you recommend that people just stay hydrated, stay locked into being healthy with this and not going with some of the or not risking some of those heat related injuries that sometimes come with the
events. That's a great question. The mile start at six pm, right, It's still sunny then, so we have an open mile with about forty people, and we have a high school mile, and then a whole bunch of kids, about two hundred little kids are doing a free mile at six point thirty. So for those people, we definitely suggest water. We've got a company called Scratch Labs, which is a Gatorade type thing, and they'll
be out giving pre rag drinks with electro lights. But then the five K with all the people is at seven pm and it's getting dark at that point, so it should be a little bit cooler. But to be more specific answering your actual question, if people hydrate during the day and on Friday the day before, that cuts down the core temperature. So drink four to six ounces every two to three hours throughout the day with a extra lights, and
you should be well hydrated for the event. So last year I was at the event, obviously with TJ, so I was I don't know if I was surprised or I should have been surprised about the money. You guys dole
out some money. You know. I used to be not a very fast runner, but an okay runner, and I made some money in my day, and I always appreciated people giving money for local heroes, regional heroes, and so over the years we've put up about four thousand dollars a year and more in prize money with the hope of bringing people to Tucson supporting local speezers. We've had Olympians, a run Olympic trials athletes, and it's just a way to give back, give back to people who are trying to be good
at something. So is this more of a competition or actually you're out running and enjoying the night and being athletic with it. Everything in between, Steve. We have people who will walk it in about twenty to thirty minutes a mile. There's a group in town called Achilles Track Club. They go by and it's mostly blind and visually impaired, with people leading guiding them. And
so they'll be walking or jogging at fifteen to twenty minutes a mile. And then we'll have people who are trying to make the Olympic team next month and they'll be running four and a half minutes a mile. So everything in between. Wow, yeah, Randy, how with this run? Obviously this is one of the good events to promote recreation in southern Arizona, to promote it
in the greater Tucson area. But you know, outdoor activities and you know in health and recreation are such a big part of living in this community. How do you see your part in the larger grand scheme of that, especially because you know it's the time of year, maybe more in the mornings and the evenings that people get out on the trails and really embrace recreation heading into these summer months before it gets to the one tens, you know, you
ask really good questions. We found run Tuson with the idea of making our hometowns better through running, so you ask, like, how do we see ourselves sitting in We try to put on races in super cool locations downtown, Sawaro National Park, Old Tucson, the Biosphere up at a mountain, and we just want to invite people to come exercise again, walk run, but just come on out. We all have a beer garden and an after party at Hotel Congress. Just come on out, have fun and then go have
fun. That's the whole point of all this stuff. And a band plays during the run. They're called Legion of Mario and they play uh uh Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia cover cover band and they're pretty cool actually. So they'll be at the stage in front of the children's damn friends of mine. We're on the Tucton Mariachi festival and they're putting a mariachi together. Uh one of the high schools. But I don't know which one yet over at five points,
so we'll have Mariachi's out on the course. We'll have a band at the finish. Fine. Yeah, So I just want to let Matt You'll never be invited back. You never overshadowed the host with those questions, so you know this is your last and over the day. Yere yes, Steve, Steve, you're doing You're doing great. I'm just trying to learn from you every minute. All right, what's the average age and what's the average
stage? When did you when did you, guys realize, given your long term with all this running, did you did you realize that you had something going? You know, I'll tell you this. Eighteen years ago. I came up with the idea for this race. In February. I had taken my girlfriend at the time out on a date in downtown and there was nothing to do, and I'm like, well, downtown sucks, let's go do something. And I figured the only thing I was good at is throwing parties.
So I came up with this idea, like, put on a running race and we'll throw a party. And we did it at old La Placita and we got We advertised it for about two months and we had six hundred people and I'm like, dude, this is a good idea. Let's keep doing this and so right away. But eighteen years ago, the woman that I went on a date with it worked out, okay, we ended up getting married, having a couple of kids. I got a head off to
a soccer game. You might have seen in the paper today. There's a women's pro league in down semi pro league and my daughter plays a point and she's on this team. So we got to go watch that a little bit. That's Tucson, Right's tson. No, she is with RSL okay, so she was must be very good, Yeah, very good. Yeah, and your wife and your wife still loves you and she's still with you.
I you know, it's funny that we're talking about this today. For some reason, I got to be in uponnet and looked up the average length of marriage in America and it's eight point two years. And uh, we've more than doubled that. So I'm feeling pretty good about my should get a cash prize just for that. I know, go ahead, Matt, give him one of your great questions. Oh gosh, well, this one's h this one's not gonna be too hard, but actually, you know what, it
is going to be a little bit in the weeds. How'd you pick the path through downtown? I mean, there's so many great spots down there, especially with Rio Nuevo and and what they've done with Congres Street in the downtown area. How did you pick the path through there? And what did you want to showcase with that? So, yeah, that is good. Another good question. You got to keep this guy, I'll stick I'll sticker out.
You got to tell Jay then I'm okay with it. The first three or four years, we did it at lave Plessy, the village, and I wanted to go through that Court Street area. We went in front of El Chardo and around and remember the foot break that goes over Congress and Broadway, went back and forth on that and around the convention center, and that was a disaster once we had six seven, eight hundred people, And so
then I tried to do it on Congress and Broadway. But back then we put on one race that went right down Congress and under Fourth Avenue, but then they did we now have that streetcar right, so you can't put a race on on that. So the best I could do was Armory Park Children's Museum. And then you just go ride a bicycle around and measure cause it's got to be perfectly measured. So that was the best I could do with there's a wheel that you that you and I'm not good at this. I
hire people to help me with it. And we rode around and we found this big basically a big m shape down Fifth Avenue and back six and out Stone and Convent. You know what, I've always kind of envisioned people measuring out a racetrack and doing it just step by step, like you put one foot in front of the other, just walking. And it takes like seven hours to do a five You have to do it by bicycle, and you need I'm going to make this up, but it's close to true. You
need two people to measure the same course two times. And then if some form of really good record is set, like a national record, you got to go back and measure it again afterwards. Interesting. Interesting, Let me ask you you you run a five k in a mile a couple of times with a few groups. Uh, do you think that part of the success is it's not a it's not a grueling ten mile, it's not a groeling twenty five mile. You know what I'm saying, it's it's a greasy thing.
This is the most popular. We call it road rays. Right, it's on read race in town, and it's because everybody could do it. You could. We have all those little kids and parents and grandparents. This's very cumbersome phrase, Steve. I was really trying to promote what I called, uh intergenerational exercise, which really doesn't help as much as bring your grandparents and your kids out and I'll go run. But yeah, everybody can do it between the mile and the five k. So tell us, So tell
us, how can people still join? Can they still join? Yeah? We we have an online registration platform and people can find that link at our website, which is run Tucson dot net. But the next two evenings we're going to do in person registration at one of the local stores in town called the Running Shop over on Campbell between Glenn and Fort Lowell the Running Shop and people can swing down there to register, or at the Children's Museum Saturday night,
and real quick, we got a minute or show. You're also connected to el Tour and we'll talk about that, right race real quick, But do you have something in between now and then oh yeah, we have a Sawarrow Labor Day run over at Swarrow National Park, another run over at Pima College, and then an a Mountain half marathon. We go up to the Grand Canyon to do put on a race up there, and then we got El Tour, the El Tour five k run on Saturday, November twenty third.
I think this year. Yeah right, okay, well you're gonna be you can't wait for that. Keep running, keep being married, continue to break that record. And I got to get rid of my guy Mattie. Thank you, Randy. I appreciate you. Hey, Steve mad it's been a pleasure. I have a great night, Yeah very much. Yeah, well that was fun. That was great fun. Hey, let's go because we're gonna come back, and we're gonna come back and get ahold of Chip
Hail and talk to him about this weekend's games. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters
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or a second income. Come be a part of a winning team. The A Team apply online today at a Team security dot net. Steve Rivera and Jacob Salmas they have their Eye on the Ball on Tucson's sports stag chat Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to my I on the Ball here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. I have Matt Reynoldson in today, got Henry with us, and now we have Chip Hale, coach of the Miracles. How are you, coach from the Arizona baseball program.
How you doing? I'm good? Thanks for having me guys. Well, we had ancona on yesterday and I'm very impressed with your what you're doing at the school and what you're doing with the guys, and he says, you know, you come to a point where there's good things happen and it becomes contagious, where things happen and things happen for a reason. Do you feel that, Oh, yeah, no doubt about it. People. I think that was asked in the media the other day. You know, I have
you ever seen that before? And I saw it a lot when we won the World Series in twenty nineteen with the Nationals. It's just, you know, you find a way to win games, and all of a sudden, guys get confident at it. And you know, we talk about it today. It's like, you don't want to always depend on winning in the ninth inning, but it's a good feeling when you feel like you're gonna win the night right on. One of the big things about winning in the ninth inning
is you're pitching staff keeping things down. And Kevin Vance told us earlier in the spring that his philosophy was two one, two or die, trying your guys throw a lot of strikes. I mean, how much has that been a key to this run late in the season. After that, you know, eleven game pack, twelve win streak and just kind of turning things around
at that midway point of the season. Yeah, that that was everything and has been everything, because, yeah, we haven't started off great, you know with our offensive late, and those guys really held him down and giving us give us a chance to score runs late in the game. So without that you kind of get buried. We've had some games in Torgan State where you know, we didn't start hot. They they kind of increased to lead
me at a hard time. So as long as they can keep it close, I think our guys feel really good about the last three or four innings. Yeah, the one thing that they can't say about this team that you guys are gritty against USC. You got their starter out and then you guys made that come back and that's not a surprise. What eight walkoffs. You must be feeling good about that too, Yeah, no doubt. And yeah that you know, he had thrown a great game coming on short rest.
I had no hitter for six innings, so obviously we weren't seeing him very well and we finally got him out of the game and good things started to happen. But again it would not have happened without Cam Walkon, you know, holding it down for us. Yeah, well, Cam, Cam's gonna be a big part of this weekend for you guys. Clark candy Otti is also going to be one as well. He's you made the decision today he's going to start the Friday night game against Grant Canyon. He'll face GCU sophomore
left handed Grant Richardson. What are you seeing with that pitching matchup and what made the decision to move Candiyatti from his usual Saturday role to start a regional for you guys, Yeah, I mean he was he'll be on regular rests because he pitched last Friday. You know, he's just been He and Cam
have just been really good of late. And and you know, Jackson has not been where he's been in the past, and he's having a little more time now two more days to work on some stuff and throw an extra bullpen and we feel comfortable with him throwing the third game of the of the regional. So you know, you got to go with your hot hands, whether it's offense or defense. And uh, we feel at this point Clark's our best matchup with with Grand Canyon. That's gonna happen Friday night. We've got
something we want some people to go see. You guys play at six o'clock. Did you deep down a chip, real realistic. Do you think that you're going to host? I did. I really did feel it was it was it was a good possibility if we won the tournament. Now, after we lost to Cow in the second game, I was like, wow, we got to win these next two to give ourselves a chance. But it's so hard. You know, we're a Pac twelve champion both regular season and
tournament. I just think it was really hard for the committee not to do it. And you know, Oregon State, another really really good team from our league, got the host. Now you know Oregon was the only other team. It just seems it seems odd that we only had three teams from such a great baseball conference over all these years to make the regionals. You know, I've got California that deserved to make it. I thought UFC the
way their late run could have been something like we did last year. But the three of us will get in there and we'll do our best to show the Pac twelve is power conference. You know this last year and absolutely the conference deserved to regional hosts, and as you mentioned, Cal probably definitely deserve
to get in. But you know, there is there is a little bit maybe that the committee is maybe not watching as many West Coast games, but now they will be because you guys got loaded up with a great regional, a regional that really reflects your non conference schedule as well. You guys have the number one non conference strength of schedule, and of course that included a couple of teams you guys will see this weekend in GCU and Dallas Baptist.
What did you learn in February and March about this team facing all of those good teams, even starting off with a team like Northeastern that's a perennial regional contender. That taught That taught you that these guys could evolve to this point and play postseason baseball when the margins are so tight. Yeah, we're hoping that that helps us. That's why we do it. You know, there's
a couple of reasons. Somebody asked the other day, We're gonna always play the best non conference schedule week in schedule, just because these kids come for the experience of having a great experience as a student athlete and to go to the tournaments we go to to go to play really in tough environments. I think will help us in conference play number one, and then this should help us in the postseason. So it'll be interesting. I mean, we saw
Dallas Baptists at their best. We played them. You know, it was a one run game. I believe you saw West Virginia last year. They came in here, They're very dynamic, they have one of the best players in the country in weather Hole at second base. And then Grand Canyon has given us fits all year. So it's going to be as I know a lot of people have said it's the toughest regional going. Well, you know, Coach Lopez talked to the team earlier in the year and he said,
hey, you got to punch the bully. So it's time for us to punch this bully, all these bullies and come out swinging. Because if we're going to win it and go where we want to be, you have to beat the best team. Yeah, no question. In fact, if give me the advantage of playing in Tucson compared to going somewhere else, and I say that because if you went somewhere else, you'd find ways to drum up some philosophy about winning that. But what's the advantage here, Well, obviously
our crowd is going to help us one hundred percent. Our weather. You know, people were playing a big ball park. I know West Virginia's seen it. They were here last year, so they're used to it. But the other Grand Canyon obviously seen it. But Dallas Baptists will be new for them. There's a lot of room in the outfield and different most college parks you go to, you guys prioritize midweek games, maybe unlike some other programs
do. And I know that you guys quote unquote lost the season series against GCU this year, but it felt like you guys got the win against the Lopes at the time when you needed it most, at the time when that midweek game was going to spark you guys to a really good pack twelve run Now you lost one at the end of a win streak. That was a really tight game up there in Phoenix. And then you know, obviously the twenty four run game was you know, maybe a little bit of a black
mark on the schedule. But what'd you learn from your team and those three very different points of the season that that could maybe give you a glimpse of how your guys are going to approach GCU on Friday night. I think you know, we're kind of stuck here with the midweeks that you didn't obviously unbelievable midweek challenge for us playing him three times a year. This year we played him twice once uh Phoenix, and next year will be the opposite, So
there aren't a whole lot of teams we get a chance to play. You know, we've added New Mexico State going over there, which is a tough trip for us, and they're just getting better also of the program, so it's tough. You know, you get a lot of your your pitchers that don't get the pitch on the weekend, you get to look at them a little bit. We get to starpen up our relievers, so they're important.
But it's tough to get teams to come down here at Tucson. I'm sure you've got asked this question, and we didn't have a chance to Jan and I earlier. But winning the league obviously, and then winning the tournament and becoming the first player to to ever win Player of the Year and Coach of the Year what does that mean to you? Well, obviously it's an honor and it's a staff. It's a staff for our staff, Kevin and John of the Pigeon in Toby with a hitting a trip. Obviously with the recruiting,
it's it's it's an honor for me to to win it. You know, we our team earned it and players earned it. But also the staff members did such a great job of preparing this team every day. So obviously the player of the year and then now the coach of the year, that's pretty cool. I have to be honest with you, I think that's that's neat and I'm excited about it. But I'll be more excited about it if we can take this thing to Omaha. Well, gives you a reason to
tell the kids that you coach. You know kids, I used to be pretty good for this game back in the day. Yeah, you know, no good congratulations and it's gonna be fun this weekend. I hope people get out there. They we're gonna have, We're gonna have. I know we're gonna have great crowds and I'm super excited to see everybody out here. And let's make a high Sea rock. Steve and I'll be out there certainly as well, get into ten watching you guys some win some games. Chip,
thank you very much, Thank you guys. Good luck. Good look man, uh Chip Hale, Chip and the Miracles. What happens to Cardiac Cats as we'd like to call them, eight walk offs on the year. At one point they had it like four out of the last six game. I had board of a six game stretch at High Corbett where they walked it off. Yeah, when they win, it sounds good, feels good. But when you're watching the game as a fan, you're thinking, another time,
come on, give us a break here. Yeah exactly. I'm not that guy, but I haven't seen very many games, but the two I watched they were fantastically good held up. But for the fans, I'm not sure they can take it anymore. That Oregon State game regular season, now, it was just an absolute roller coaster. I mean they were down one going into the bottom of the ninth, down one or two going into the bottom
of the ninth, and came back, tied it, won it. There was that walk off against Louisiana Tech where they scored five in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, and then the sixth to walk it off. It's just on the very next pitch. I mean, this team has some magic. As you talked about with Tino yesterday, and as you talked about with Chip there, there's something about a baseball team that has a little magic going into June. You know what. I think it happens more in baseball
than it does in football or basketball. And Chip has seen this before he was the coach that he was on the Nationals coaching stuff. They were like nineteen and thirty the yeah on the world. Yes. And it's weird how baseball is different than the other sports because once you catch fireing baseball, and I don't believe the momentum. I know you, I don't know if you listen to me and Jay, I don't believe in it because every game is
a season. But baseball is just different this way because once you get some confidence and you get some pitching, timely hitting, it just kind of all of what sudden steam rolls. It is. It's a it's a ball rolling downhill. And that's the big thing about baseball is it's there's a reason why they're superstitious because they feel the trends too. It's very unique sport, very
unique, especially at the college level. You know, I think one of the unique things about it is that these guys have the emotional swings maybe that we do as the fans, where maybe in Major League Baseball you don't within one hundred with a one hundred and sixty two game season. College baseball,
it's every weekend your season's on the line. And this weekend, Arizona's season is definitely on the line because it's regional baseball time, regional baseball in Tucson for the first time since twenty twenty one, and they'll hope they get a similar result against GCU as they did in the twenty one opener in that too. You know, did we want to did you have some breaking news we talked about? So we're going to talk about Arizona landed USC defensive line transfer
Stanley Taufu. Yeah. Defensive line, right, yep. That's huge to build a depth for that group because when you lost Bill Norton uh in the spring, and you know, he went to an opportunity that probably better fits him at Texas being a stop gap defensive tackle. Uh. Now you have somebody that can fill that gap as well. They brought in a couple defensive
line transfers in the post spring time. I think that was a big question coming into the summer with this Arizona football team, is would they be able to hold up on the defensive line as they did as well as they did last year, especially with all the departures both in the winter and in the spring portal period. And I think they've done a nice job to fill those gaps. But now it comes down to fall camp. How much coaching chops
does this new group have. They built a lot of equity in the spring, but what kind of true coaching chops does this group have, especially on the defensive side. Does Duyna Keina still have his fastball? Does d line coach jos Omalo? Is he ready to build this quickly and get them to ingratiate themselves into this defensive system and into this culture so they can be a dominant defensive team like they were a year ago. I believe a top twenty
five unit in the entire country. Yeah, yeah, I was gonna ask you something, so you'll be here tomorrow maybe yes, yeah, absolutely, Okay, course talk more sports. There was also something else, and you'll have to get used to this because I forget stuff, Jay, and I forget stuff all the time. It's the end of the show. We're running on tangent at this point, playing Oh, so this is your first year, and I know you're not gonna finish out the year, but you've been
here long enough. How would you rate the rate the overall UA athletic department, how it did athletically? Gosh, nine, I mean, this is I think that's about right now, but it wasn't there until recently because of
what's going on. I just think the consistency across all sports. I mean you look at the you look at the rankings, you look at the Capitol One Cup standings or Director's Cup standings or whatever they call it now, and you look at the consistency throughout the athletic programs for these teams, I think they really stepped into stride with how well balanced the rest of the PAC twelve programs are, because what do you know about the Pac twelve? Right For
most of my life it has been post USC's run. It has been disappointing on the football field, and it has been great in everything else. I mean, really stellar in women's sports, really stellar in Olympic sports. I think that's going to be a long term legacy of the PA of the last two decades of the Pac twelve is just being stellar in those Olympic sports, being well rounded athletic programs, and I think Arizona reflected that very well this
year. I think Dave Hickey, you know, unfortunately he got let go, but he did a great job, you know, getting those programs up to snuff. And I think Desiree Reed Francois is stepping into a great situation. I think she's a fantastic leader for these programs and will continue to give
the coaches and the student athletes the tools they need to succeed. I think it's you know, I think the athletic department is well financed, good facilities, great fan support, elite fans support, some of the best in the country. So I think we you have all of those pieces in sort of that holy trinity, you can continue to be successful in every sport. If football has momentum, football rises all tides in an athletic department. I'm googling
Holy Trinity just so the hell you're talking about Triangle three. No, No, I agree with you. It's it's one of the better years or seasons they've had in twenty some years back. We talk about this thirty almost thirty years yea, in the nineties when best, when basketball, football, everything's all the stars aligned, right, it just kind of worked, you know. I mean, like women's basketball, they were playing most of the season
with seven players and they that was unbelievable. Yeah, with three freshman starters, and you find a way in the NCAA Tournament win a game. I mean, baseball was dead in the water halfway through the season. Now they're hosting a regional first. And then the football came back and did well, like you said earlier, but for basketball, women's basketball, you're thinking, what the hell's going on with the program? You know, there's people leaving,
they're unhappy, reportedly this, reportedly that. And then she gets this group of seven to on the brink of beating USC not once but twice, and USC is good enough to get to the final four, right or that close? Were that close? And we had we had coach on Barnes and we're thinking, what are you doing? How did you pull this off? And they blew a late lead against Syracuse in the NAA Tournament, but Syracuse almost knocked off Yukon, which went to the final four. You know,
see this is the time, this is the time. And I asked you this a month being giddy because I don't people know that in the show. I don't get giddy. I just don't. I've been here too long. I'm too jaded. Even Keel even try to be at least, but you gotta have at least some really high respect for what's been done. Says they've done a heck of a good job for straight n SNUAA tournaments, for women's basketball program. And I mean I think next year they're going to be good.
That team in two years, that's a bona fide Final four contender. If the keep the rosterga. You know in this business, you give me cars business. You sold me eight cars this month. Guess what you gotta do next month? Sixteen? Sell be more, double it, double it double next week. We'll see what happens. Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, Matt, absolutely here. You're not back. No next week, next week? Okay. Cool, A good show today, Thanks everybody for for
listening, Thank you Gabe for calling in. And we'll try to do this again tomorrow