O.
Hello Monarch fans and welcome to the Hudson Homer's podcast. I'm Gary and I'm joined as always by CB coming to you after a two and two week in a series win over James Madison University. CB, you gotta be feeling good after, uh, the weekend, right?
Feeling great, man. You, you love a series win. Uh, it's always better when you win on Sunday. That, that Sunday feeling after a series victory is just so nice. I mean, just the, the whole, the vibes after the game were fantastic. They had the families out there, kids were on the bases. They had, uh, autographs, which the way they had it set up was awesome. They had the players all just lined up in the dugout and a bunch of the kids just there getting autographs.
I mean, it's just a, just a wonderful atmosphere. And, uh, it just, it's just better after you went on Sunday.
I agree, and you're bringing up the post game festivities on Sunday. Really cool. It was Pack the Park Day, so no tickets required. A lot of people could come in. Uh, I don't know if it was as packed as Friday and Saturday, but there was still a great crowd there. Uh, but the players hanging around in the dugout, the kids getting to come up and give autographs. Really awesome.
Uh, Mike Langston, who is over on the Monarchist podcast and does the basketball show, uh, had his buddy with him, Nunu, who got to take all kinds of pictures and get autographs. And the guys really were enjoying it. They weren't just there to be there. They were enjoying it.
he said, all of us gave him a hat, gave Nuno a hat. I'm, I'm pretty sure I heard that. So that's just like, and Mike pointed out, he said, all those guys were just kind of helped being real great to him. And again, no prodding, just, just like, Hey, we're just good people, which, uh, is what I've been saying about our team for years. And it's especially true this year. They're just really good people. My mom doesn't like that. I call them kids.
Uh, so young men Uh, I was gonna say kids but young men that uh, they're just really great folks and you just want to root for them
Yeah, it was definitely a nice feather in the cap after a really nice weekend series of good weather, a lot of fans, a lot of JMU fans made the trip down there, uh, just a great environment at the Bud and what a way to cap it off to make those kids days getting things signed and gear going out and all kinds of fun stuff. Uh, also quite a few Luke Newcomb shirts floating around the ballpark this weekend.
We like that make make them some money our friend of the podcast luke newcomb Luke waters deserves some some cash go out and buy his shirts
So we go two and two over the week. But let's get you caught up on dollars for dingers first. Uh, hit a couple this week. Bumped our season total up to 32 dingers on the season. And then, bucks for bags, we are at 61 stolen bases. 61 for 76. Still looking really good with that ratio. Start saving your dollars for your dingers and your bucks for the bags. We will have that promotion again here at the end of the season working through ODAF.
Yeah, we love it. Stolen base numbers slowing down a little bit. We're still, we're still getting them. We're still catching them. And again, uh, Stephen Meyer got, he's got up to 19 now. I actually got caught for the first time of the season, uh, but that was on purpose so they could score a run at home. Uh, but he's at 19. I said, uh, the only guy I could find the last 20 years that even had 20 was Connor Myers at 21 years. So Stephen's right up there with the most anybody's had in a while.
Kind of nice when the only time you've been thrown out is when you intentionally did it with two outs to get a runner home from third in a tight ballgame. So heads up play by all involved there. Sorry to see the streak end, but 19 for 20 with an asterisk by the one is five.
Not too bad.
Let's jump into the week. Actually, we had four really good ball games. I thought over the
This was probably their best week overall, the way they played. I mean, going two and two, it's kind of surprising. I think they had a three and one week, you know, so it's, it's surprising to say it was your best week, but I, I think it was,
You start the week off at, I think East Carolina has jumped up to 15. Did I see that today? Maybe I'm
I saw him at nine earlier today on the baseball America poll. So who knows they're, they're high. They were 11. I think we played them on Tuesday.
We'll go with nine. We'll take one of the 5, 000 baseball polls that exist. Pick the highest number that looks best for us. And we'll go with a, with number nine, East Carolina and. But we were out of the gate with a bang in that one.
yeah. I mean, we, we, I really thought we had a shot in this one. Uh, we scored two runs right there in the first, uh, Boucher doubled in Kyle Edwards, Lavarie singled him in and you're off to a tune out the lead at their place, which is always good to get their fans to shut up a little bit.
They did come right back though in the bottom half, uh, ended up actually going ahead three to two on a RBI single, starting out looking at the first two innings. I mean, it's, four to four after two innings. And you're thinking, oh, this could be one of those nice record setting midweeks where everyone's in double digits, but kind of slowed down a good bit after that second inning, uh, with the RBI singles from Pullman and Stephen Meyer.
Uh, that put ODU on top four to three and then ECU got one of the bottom half to make it four, four,
Yeah, and then they didn't score again till the 5th and then, um, oddly enough, uh, Vincent Bechera maybe had his worst appearance of the year, ending in two thirds, uh, gave up two runs. I mean, if that's your worst one of the year, that's, that's telling me you're having a pretty good year. So, yeah, it's just one of those. They, they're just better, like realistically, they're, they're a top 25 team. They're a better team. And, you know, just, how do you crawl back in?
It was seven to five loss. Uh, but you know, if you lose seven to five to a top 10 team and you played really well in the game, I mean, you can't, you can't say much more about that. So look, they, they, they did their best. They. They played really hard. I mean, obviously there's always spots where you could have got something more here or there, but you got to feel really good about that game.
I mean, obviously the baseball season is more than just your two games head to head, but if you did just look at those two games in the vacuum, I mean, we won the first one at home, a tight game with a walk off hit by Stephen Meyer. And then you got a two run game down in East Carolina where you had the tying run, uh, up at the plate, actually on base at one point. Uh, so pretty evenly matched back and forth. I think that's why I liked those games. Cause.
They seem to always be evenly matched, but, uh, Ethan Norby, who came in from East Carolina out of the four and two thirds, uh, one run, three hits, two walks, 10 strikeouts really came in and dominated the back end of that game. And shut us down.
He was, he was filthy. He looked really, I don't know how he gave up a run. Honestly, he looks so good and his name may be familiar. Um, and yeah, obviously we saw his brother. Connor Norby a few years back playing for ECU, but he also, uh, the last two seasons has been playing for the Norfolk Tides, uh, right here, uh, in Norfolk. Uh, he, I think he led the international league in hits last season. So, um, this is his younger brother. He's only a freshman, so that's going to be a guy.
I mean, hopefully he'll be so good. He'll be on the weekends and we won't ever see him face out to you again.
The Norby name definitely sounds very, very familiar, but like you said, East Carolina is a great team. They've got plenty of hitters. They've got plenty of pitching. And I feel, you know, I want us to win every game, right? A loss is a loss, but. It wasn't like some of these midweeks we've had, say, against UVA, where just offensively, we can't get anything going.
That was not the case in this game, and it gave me a good bit of confidence going into the JMU weekend series that our hitting is there, we just scored five runs and we needed seven.
Yeah. And another one I want to point out in that game, Kellen Davis, he actually pitched a full inning in that game, uh, three strikeouts Only 16 pitches. He looked outstanding in that one inning.
Yeah, Kellen's gotten some work this week, had the full inning against East Carolina, and I believe you end up with a full inning over the weekend as well in some key spots for us, so. The Raptor is working.
Yeah. It was another, uh, there's a three hit day for Luke waters, uh, Alex Boucher, a couple of hits, a couple of walks. So he had a perfect day at the plate. Um, so yeah, you're right. I mean, it was, it was a very encouraging game.
It did make you feel really good going to the weekend, which turned out to be correct as ODU took two out of three, starting with the Friday game where the story of that game on Friday was dominant pitching, uh, Jay Cassidy started things out four innings, One hit, one walk, six strikeouts, just looked outstanding. John Holibets relieved him out of the bullpen, finished off the game, uh, with five innings.
Only gave up one run right there in the ninth inning, just kind of got a few cheap ones on him. Only three strikeouts, which for John is a very low amount. Uh, but he, he looked outstanding. Both of them as a pair, you could not have asked for more for a couple of guys coming out on the mound.
Absolutely. And John Hollibets is our guest this week. You'll hear from him in a little bit. But with Jay and John able to combine to take that whole game on Friday, that paid some dividends for us, especially on Sunday when you had Jacob Gomez who could go for longer. I thought Jay looked fantastic. Four innings was six strikeouts. Hollowbats go in the final five.
Uh, those guys just look comfortable up there and dominant is the right word because at no point in that game did I feel like JMU had a chance to win it.
No, I really, even when they finally scored around the ninth, I was, it was kind of amazing because it was like, they just didn't look like they had a chance to do anything. Um, and, and on top of that, our offense was outstanding that day, Maverick Stallings, started things off driving in, Alex Boucher, Evan Holman had a nice hit, drive in Kenny, uh, and TJ actually had a bunt single past the pitcher that scored Maverick in that same inning, uh, TJ Aiken.
So he was, so that was cool to see TJ Aiken hadn't played in a little while and he got the start in the left field all three games this weekend.
He did. And he went two for three on Friday. Uh, I think the only surprising thing for me on Friday was that nobody hit any home runs despite the wind blowing about 25 miles an hour straight out to right center. Like I could not believe. That someone didn't pop one up and it just ended up going out of
It is crazy. It didn't happen. I'm glad it didn't because that to me meant our guys were locked in and having really good at bats and they were focused on making good hard contact and they weren't worried about like, I gotta hit a pop fly in the air and get it out. So it's, it's good, but it is crazy, right? There wasn't just an accidental like fly ball to right field. Oh, it's out over because it got blown 20 feet further. Yeah, that, that was crazy. The wind was nuts on Friday night.
that three spot in the second to really kind of set the stage. And then we just kind of kept scratching off runs the rest of the way. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, we all scored one run. In the fifth was when Stephen Meyer was caught stealing. Kyle Edwards was on third. Uh, Stephen Meyer broke for second, basically stopped, stayed alive in the rundown long enough for Kyle to score. Uh, Jamie, you kind of fell for the oldest trick in the book that we've been doing successfully this season.
I was for nothing and kind of a cruise from there with some, uh, RBI single from Stallings later, and then, uh, Meyer with the sack fly, but I just love to see them kind of continue to pile on runs and play the small ball and not let missed opportunities bring them down because. You know, going to the ninth, seven, nothing looking pretty strong.
Friday was one of the best all around games. They played all season. I mean, just dominant pitching. And as you said, just that, I think of the way I said it, just that persistent offense, just with aggressive base running. I mean, it's just everything you want at every game.
Yeah. And the Monarchs only struck out six times. They drew four walks. Uh, so love seeing that ratio a little more in that neighborhood than what we've seen of like 11 and two from some of those Friday games that we've lost this season to start a weekend series.
So we moved to Saturday, uh, you know, Saturday. We did not get the win. Um, got down pretty solidly and kind of kept scratching back and couldn't quite make it despite scoring some runs of the ninth making something scary for him.
I thought there was a pivotal moment there in the bottom of the six. It was a four, two ball game at that point. And ODU had runners at second and third with nobody out and just, I think there's some, some bad luck hops and a bad read on a past ball. We ended up not scoring in that situation. And I kind of made a mental note of if we end up losing by two runs here, this ending is going to come back to haunt us not being able to get those runs in. And unfortunately that, that feeling was correct.
We lost by exactly two runs. Yeah. And that's also where, you know, you have guys come in here and there and you, you give away a couple extra runs in the, in the ninth inning. You know if we hadn't given away those couple extra runs of the ninth inning well We scored three in the bottom of ninth that and that'd be us them walking the game off, right? If we don't have that happen, so just like I said a little little missed opportunities here and there
And that's going to happen in baseball, especially when you're playing a team that I think we're pretty evenly matched with, uh, what I was excited to see though, is. We got it down as far as 7 to 2 going into the ninth, but the guys were still having really good at bats. We're staying focused. Stephen Meyer hit a two run home run that got out. Kenny LaVarie got an RBI single. Kind of kept, kept the game alive. Kept them in it, kept them engaged.
And I feel like that helped them carry some momentum into Sunday for a must win game to take the series. Um, just seeing that, that push at the end of the game was really important because we've had some games like this where we don't put up much of a fight in the ninth and that's kind of it and it impacts you the next day.
Yeah, I I agree. It was it was very good to see they they clearly This weekend and again, we talked about that last week. You said, you know, you got to ask yourselves. Who are you? Are you uh, like like you said, are you a bad hitting team who occasionally has a good day? Um Or you're a good kidding team who has not shown some consistency. And this weekend it looked like the whole mentality was, no, we are a good team.
We are going to show we're a good team and even if we lose it's going to be we're going down hard We're going down swinging and so yeah, you're right It definitely it showed the right attitude that you want to see
And from, from the pitching side, I mean, you give up six of those seven runs were earned. Blake Morgan gave up two over two and two thirds, had two walks, two strikeouts. Uh, not, not the cleanest outing we've seen from Blake. We know he's still trying to get right. Jamey really attacked him too, uh, early in counts. Uh, but I thought Ben Moore did a good job of kind of bridging things there because he had Uh, I think he had the 4th, 6th inning.
He only gave up one run on four hits and had four strikeouts. So I thought he did a good job of, of patching it together along with Vincent Bashara to keep us in that game and keep it from getting out of hand.
We talked about jmu having a lot of fans That was a game where uh, some of the reason for those fans a couple of local kids, fenwick tremble, from cox high school He had Two hits, two RBIs and Mason Dunaway from, uh, Hickory High School in Chesapeake. He had two hits, a walk and an RBI. And then Max Kuhl, uh, who is, from Ocean Lakes here at Virginia Beach. His brother, Aiden, uh, of course, plays with Old Dominion. He came in and had three really solid innings, uh, there at the end of the game.
Couldn't quite finish it off. He, he had a rough time in the ninth, uh, where we got some runs, but. He looked really good up until that ninth inning. So that was just a case of, uh, they played well and especially the guys were local played really well.
I thought Max pitched really well the first time through that order. And I think we kind of caught on to him, but. He had some pretty nasty breaking stuff that he was using to set up a fastball low and in. Uh, it looked almost exactly the same, so you didn't know if it was going to go diving down into the dirt or stay up in the zone for a strike and kind of caught some of our guys flat footed. Ended up with six strikeouts. Uh, but thought he, he looked pretty strong for JMU.
Uh, it was in the back of Rally Alley. There's a tent that's set up there and the Kuhl family actually rented that out, uh, for the weekend. So you saw a lot of people wearing split jerseys of JMU and ODU running around Rally Alley. Uh, that was for Max and Aiden. I thought that was a. Uh, pretty cool thing to do, when you've got your, your two kids playing on opposite teams together there, they had a pretty big party going. Uh, so cool to see that come together. And he pitched pretty well.
He was, two outs shy of getting a four inning save there.
Yeah, I mean, it was really neat. Uh, yeah, Mom and Grandma had a, had the jersey that had, both numbers and both teams. And I was able to get them both together after the game on Sunday, get a nice picture on the field with them. And so that's, that's one, you know, it's, and I was talking to Aiden and he said, we have never been on the same field at the same time. You know, they, he played at Cape Henry, Max played at Ocean Lakes.
And he's a couple of years old, Aiden's a couple of years older. And they just never played against each other and never were able to play on teams together growing up And have not faced each other in college. So this this was a literally a once in a lifetime experience for them
That's so awesome to hear, and I got to chat with quite a few of them during the games over the weekend, and they were just absolutely having a blast, so. I know the attendance on Sunday got announced at a higher,
Yeah,
Saturday is the busiest I have ever in my life seen rally alley. I mean, there was more beer going out than I've ever seen too.
I don't know how anybody moved like I looked over and i'm like It's like y'all are packed in like sardines. It was yeah the the i'm looking right here. The attendance is 858 For Saturday, I think it was listed at nine 50 for Sunday after six 18. So every single day we were setting a new, uh, high for the season. People hear those numbers. Like I had the, ECU number up here, they had like 4, 400 on a Tuesday, right?
They're just in a different, you know, we, we got to start growing the people to really understand how good of a deal ODU baseball is and weekends like this really do it, you know? And so. It was great to see those numbers again. I I agree.
I just those numbers are not and there's just limitations of How long you can keep somebody there counting people and and how many you know people come a little bit later Uh, but yeah, it was it was amazing to see the crowds all three days were fantastic And like I said just got better and better saturday was was a huge crowd
And there were a lot of people over at SB Ballard for the spring football game. And I followed several large groups of them over to the bud. So it was nice to see that football crowd coming out. seeing the, we'll call it a glorified practice that was going on there and then making their way over to the bud and getting engaged in that game. Uh, cause it was, it was a pretty fun one, uh, even though we did end up on the losing side of it, like it was exciting down to the last pitch.
I think that was the most because, you know, we've had years and years where they've had that. And I think moving the time so they could make that move. That was the most people I've ever seen transfer from the football game to the baseball game. It was very clear that was what was going on. It was great moves all around.
And that leads us to the game on Sunday, the rubber match, for ODU and JMU. And so happy to say that ODU came out with a victory there. Six to three, clinched the series. I think for a lot of Monarch fans that maybe pay more attention to other sports, felt really good to get a series win over JMU after, uh, the past two years.
Yeah, they've kind of been kicking our butt in all the sports. So it was nice to come out and, and say, You're not going to come to our house and do that. We started up on them, uh, pretty hard early, uh, big home run from Luke Waters, big two run Homer, uh, Maverick stalling had been, I mean, both those home runs were just absolute line shots. They, they both hit the crap out of those balls.
Um, and, uh, so that was great to see the pitching was really, you know, the, the pitching, it was interesting because, you know, Dylan Brown, he got a good, good first inning, came out, had some troubles. I think he loaded the bases with no outs. And then Trent Buchanan came in, picked him right up, got those outs, got out of it with no runs. Um, he had a little bit of issues, or in the third inning, had a little bit of issues.
Um, and then Kellen Davis comes out, gets two outs, gets him out of it. And then Jacob Gomez was able to come out and pitch the rest of the game. The last five ings, um, gave up three in the eighth, had some issues, but finished it off in the ninth. And there was a certain point in the game where I said, you know, every button that Fenwood is pressing today is working perfectly. It was just one of those games where everything they were doing was working right.
Um, all the moves they're making were going, going exactly how they should. It was just, just a great game.
Trent Buchanan coming in out of the pen right there in the second inning and putting a stop to what could have been a really big inning for JMU. That was so critical for the rest of the game. Because we didn't look great in our first at bats. Uh, kind of got those Sunday scaries of previous Sundays where we just don't hit and we don't score. Uh, but Trent coming in, getting out of that bases loaded jam without giving up runs. It fired the guys up. You could just see him coming off the mound.
You could see the dugout get into it. I think that just gave some confidence to the lineup of, alright, we can just go have our bats. We don't have to start pressing this early. It's still 0 0. Uh, and they end up, you know, getting one run there in the second. Uh, by putting some pressure on and putting the ball in play and Holman getting the first on an error.
Yeah. I mean, talking about the Sunday, I mean, Sunday has been an issue. They, if anybody noticed, they changed up the vibes yesterday. They wore the all white uniforms instead of the, the all Hudson blues. And so it was just one of those, Hey, we gotta, we gotta do something different. We gotta change things up again. Just those conversations. I'm sure that the players, the team, the coach that they're all having is like, we got it, we got to decide who we are.
We got to figure out how to be who we actually can be. I was talking to, a couple of the Jamie, you guys, they said, I think they said they haven't won a Sunday all season. Uh, which is, God, that's gotta be rough. I think the guy was saying is like, we'll win a series, but we'll lose on Sunday. And so the bus ride home sucks.
Yeah. The, the result on Sunday definitely changes your outlook on the entire week. I know we've talked about that a few times. JMU has struggled in general, away from home. Uh, they've kind of done for the most part of what you saw from this weekend where they're able to kind of steal one here, there, uh, but then end up losing the series on the road, but I mean, they, they've got some dudes and they, they put pressure on Jacob Gomez late.
I mean, he ended up pitching a five inning save, which I believe is a season high for him in innings, uh, gave up three runs, they were all there in the eighth inning, uh, but he had seven strikeouts and no walks and coach Finwood after the game. Said that Jacob Gomez is going to finish that game, whether we won or lost. He was not going to take that opportunity away from Jacob and Jacob wanted it. Uh, he came back out in the ninth, looked fine, got out of it real quick.
And it was handshakes and high fives from there.
Yeah. I mean, Jacob's a bulldog. He, he was, uh, furious about that eighth inning about how the way he pitched. Um, and it, so it was great to see him collect himself and come back and, and be the pitcher that he is and go out and throw that really good ninth inning. Point out the Fenwick Trimble from, from Cox hit a homer off of him in the, in the, uh, eighth inning there. So again, nice homecoming weekend for him.
And the reason you're able to use Jacob Gomez for five innings on a Sunday is because of the work that Jay and John put in on Friday to close that game out without having to have Jacob on the back end there. So. That was clutch. I kind of kept saying all weekend, like we, whether it was Saturday or Sunday, we just need to get the lead in the six or the seven and bring in Jacob Gomez and we will quench this series.
I was hoping that we would get to that point on Saturday, but I will take it on Sunday. A beautiful, it was like 78 degrees. I got nice and torched on my left side again. Uh, just a fun day at the ballpark and capping it off with a win to win the series and keep us in a, in a good spot in the Sunbelt.
Yeah, it was a great weekend. And, uh, you know, I pointed out, uh, TJ Akin got back in the lineup, played, uh, left field all three days. He went, uh, four for 10 on the weekend. Uh, so he doubled his hit total for the season. You know, he's a young kid, really great athlete. Um, still got, you can see as he plays outfield, he's got some work to do in the outfield still. again, we've been waiting for somebody to take over left field. Maybe it's TJ Hunter Cole keeps getting that bats.
Maybe it'll be Hunter. Uh, you know, you want to see somebody take it over, but TJ has got a really bright future, I think, at old dominion.
Absolutely. He has some things to work out, but he's well on, on his way of heading in the right direction. I also have to give a, just a big shout out to Evan Holman over the weekend. Didn't have the best offensive series.
But this was the first warm weather games that we've had and he still caught all three games and he was Really solid defensively back there throughout a couple base Steelers Uh, you know, that wear and tear is probably starting to kick in a little bit of as much catching as he's done, especially as the temperatures start increasing, uh, but he was just a beast back there, uh, then came through for us and some key spots throughout the weekend too.
Yeah. Evan is, he's just some kind of special guy, man. He is, you know, being able to, catchers are always, it's one of the toughest jobs and being willing to be back there every inning for an entire weekend and still doing all the little things every single play. I mean, you can't ask for more. I got a chance to meet his, uh, his parents this weekend and what a shocker. They're surprisingly great, amazing people. I would, yeah.
I could never believe that, uh, someone as wonderful as Evan would be raised by wonderful people also. What a, what a crazy coincidence.
Crazy thought, but we'll fit right in with the rest of the crew. I know I spent some time, uh, with the parents tailgating a little bit before the game on Sunday, had a blast, interacted with a ton of people. There were just so many people running around the ballpark, uh, this weekend. It was a fun, fun experience.
Uh, but just happy to get that series win sweep would have been great, but two out of three clinch the series, hold a key tiebreaker over someone that you're neck and neck with in the standings as well. And I don't know if you all have looked at the Sunbelt baseball standings. I know I put a tweet out yesterday from 11. 7. Uh, but there are three games separating the second place team and the 11th place team in the Sun Belt, Louisiana.
Uh, they did lose one game at some point, but they still have not lost in conference play. I think since the first weekend, they're 14 and 1. Uh, then you got a whole bunch of people between 9 and 6, 9 and 6 and 6 10. So, Sunbelt is still wide open, except the Cajuns may have, uh, I've done some work to solidify that one seed, but everything else is just wide.
Yeah, they'd have to really go on a terrible stretch to not be the number one going in. That's for sure.
Yeah. They're going to have to, I think, intentionally do some things, but you know, you got coastal Troy, Southern Miss, Georgia, Southern Georgia state. All of them are nine and six.
Uh, you got us and JMU at seven and eight and then App State South Alabama and Texas State at six and nine ULM and Marshall Uh, even Arkansas State sitting down there at four and eleven Still has the opportunity to bump up to get some pretty good seed and it's just a meat grinder It's the meat grinder of the Sunbelt
It really is well, and what it means hopefully at the end is you're going to have a really outstanding Tournament with a bunch of really evenly matched teams And whoever comes out of it, you know, however many teams we end up getting in the uh, the big tournament 64 They're going to be very battle tested and ready for some tough appearances.
You know, there are some of these Some of these leagues, they take, you know, multiple schools from, and they're not battle tested, they're not ready, and they go out and go 0 2 in the regionals, and that has not been the case with the Sun Belt teams. They go out and they compete really well.
Some tough teams. Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we get back, uh, you're going to hear from John Hollibets himself to talk a little bit about the weekend and just baseball in general, and then we'll give you a quick rundown of ODU schedule with UVA at Harbor park, and then a road trip up to Huntington, West Virginia to take on the Thundering Herd, we will be right back. Hello, Monarch fans and welcome back to the Hudson Homer's podcast.
I'm Gary and CB is with me and we're also joined by another special guest. John, thank you so much for hopping on with us today. How was your Monday?
No problem. It's good. It's good. Been hanging out all day. Went to the field. Got some stuff done. And uh, feel good. Ready to attack the week.
Awesome. Well, how's the team feeling after taking two out of three against JMU over the weekend at home?
It feels good. I mean uh, you know it's a big rivalry. The Royal Rivalry or whatever it's called. But um, It feels it always feels good to beat the dukes.
That's great. Yeah, I know. So you, uh, I mean, you had a great night on Friday, man. You were, you got out there, um, what, five innings in relief, one run. I don't think even have that many strikeouts compared to what you usually have, but how'd you feel about that outing?
Um, I felt good. Uh, I hit some spots early. I got ahead early. Um, I think I don't know the exact pitch count, but through three innings I was at like 20 some pitches. So, uh, I felt good. I just kept rolling. Uh, didn't I mean, Eddie made a great play to save me in the second or third inning I was pitching. That was awesome to watch. I mean, I thought for sure that was landing and Eddie just threw his glove out and caught it and turned two out of it. It was awesome.
What's it like having guys like him and Kenny behind you where, you know, they're going to make great plays?
I think I could just pitch with a little bit more freedom. Um, I don't have to worry about striking everybody out. Um, I can just pitch to my spots and induce weak contact.
Yeah, last year primarily came out of the pen. This year came in as the Friday starter, and now we've moved to this opener where typically Jay Cassidy starts the day on Friday. Potentially Kellen Davis, bringing the Raptor in to get out of an ending. And then you're coming in afterwards and Friday you finish the entire game and save some other arms for the rest of the week. What's that transition been like for you going from reliever starter to kind of reliever starter role?
Yeah, I mean, I've been a starter my whole life, uh, from high school, even a little bit at Radford my freshman year, and I always liked it. Um, I always considered myself as a starter, even when I came out of the pen. Um, but this year, I don't know why, but like mentally just wasn't there. When I came out, I kind of last year, I was just like, Hey, this is my game. I'm in for the for the long haul. And this year I was kind of just like focusing on each batter individually.
And that's just not my game. My game's to throw strikes as hard as I can and try and hit all my locations. Um, And just try and overpower hitters with either good stuff or good locations.
So you mentioned Radford, um, which I'm not sure a lot of people realize. I mean, you've been such a important part of the team that in for a couple years now, I think you kind of forget you started out at Radford. Um, tell us a little about how you ended up at Radford out of high school and then how that led to you ending up at ODU after your freshman year.
Yeah. So I don't know if you know, um, uh, he was a Radford alumni. He played baseball, I think in the Phillies organization, I think got up to like double or triple a his name's Danny van Pelt. He was my travel ball coach one summer when we went down to Georgia. And, uh, this was over COVID. So it was, uh, Restricted, uh, recruiting. And, uh, I, I pitched for him. I pitched against, I think like the 17th team in the country.
Uh, in terms of like travel ball, it was a bunch of LSU, Ole Miss commits, like power five guys. And I went like four innings, one hit one earned, like I shoved. And so he, he called coach Kays at Radford. And he was like, I think you need, need to like, look at this guy. And I was getting recruited by like Quinnipiac, Longwood. Um, Gardner web before that.
And so, on my way up from that tournament back home to Pennsylvania, we decided to just tours of these schools that were along the Southern Eastern shoreline. Um, so we went to Gardner web, Longwood, Radford, and, uh, I had a FaceTime call with Carl Kuhn. Um, and he pretty much offered me right there and I accepted. Um, but before I accepted anything, we drove home.
It was like a, I think it was an 11 hour drive from Atlanta to the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, and we, uh, Took a trip up north to Fairley Dickinson and Quinnipiac just to make sure that I was making the right choice at going to Radford and I decided to go to Radford and I loved it there for that year. And then, uh, there was a couple, um, scandals that, uh, affected coach Kays. And so he had to leave, um, and I decided to follow him cause I, I really liked him as a coach.
He told me that he wasn't going to get, he wasn't going to start coaching for a little bit. He was going to focus on his family. So I, uh, called Ryan Moore's dad. He pitched here a couple of years ago. He was my pitching coach back home. I called him. I was like, do you think, uh, coach Marin would be interested in ODU? And so, uh, he called coach Marin and he was like, Hey, if this kid enters the portal, do you think you'll give him a shot? And he said, yeah.
So I entered the portal and got a couple of phone calls from a different couple of different schools. And I ended up at ODU.
I remember it was fast because I know I think you, you actually pitched, I wasn't there for the game, but you actually pitched against the peninsula pilots, like the opening day. And then within like a week you were committed. I mean, it was, it was very fast kind of after the season. So yeah, you were, you were a hot commodity. There you go. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I remember getting the phone call, I think it was like a week before the school, like the school season ended. I was on the Martinsville Mustangs and, uh, I got a call from the head coach, Brandon Nani. And he's like, Hey, uh, just so you know, I, I'm going to pitch this guy at Tri City, uh, it's his home. Where he's from and next game's yours. It's the peninsula pilots home opener. I was like, all right, cool. Fire me up.
And, uh, my first inning went well, if I remember, but the second inning couple, like Just fluky hits and then, uh, gave up a home run and I got pulled.
Well, it all worked out though. That's all right.
And there's obviously a ton of talk about the transfer portal now, even several years ago when you were in it, it's, I think it's an even bigger thing now. What is that experience like as a player when you go and you put your name in the portal, like, is just your phone, your DMs going crazy or what is that like? And how do they come approach you?
Um, it's hard. It's hard to explain. You'll have some coaches reach out on Instagram, some guys on Twitter, and some guys will just randomly call you throughout the day. Um, I got a text message from a guy at, uh, UNC Asheville. He's like, Hey, when, when can I call you today? And I was in the middle of a game.
Um, so I was like, I mean, I was only in the portal for maybe three days, it's just a bunch of DMS from guys and phone calls and text messages from guys that you wouldn't expect to hear from.
They're just a full on attack. Once you get in that portal, it's anybody that knows anybody is sending you a message, trying to get you to jump on. It's pretty wild. And it's interesting to hear a lot of the stories coming out about the transfer port. You think about a lot of course for football and basketball, but baseball, there's almost just as much movement. Cause there's so many guys and so many teams. Ooh, yeah.
Yeah, it's, it's definitely a scary, uh, decision to make for athletes because like I went in knowing like I have schools interested in me, but one of my, one of my good buddies, he was also at Radford with me. He entered the portal and he didn't get looked at by But I don't even, I think he ended up going to a juco, but like, that was like before the, right after the school season started. So like he missed an entire year of baseball.
It's a roll of the dice sometimes going in there, but it's a, it'll be interesting to see how it keeps playing out. Uh, I know it's like football opens up, I think tomorrow the 16th and it's going to be. The wild west of transfer portals. I think
Yeah. Yeah.
So I was gonna ask you so how have you enjoyed it at od union? You've been here two years now. You're a junior. You're a veteran guy. How do you like everything at odu?
Oh, I love it. I love the city life. Um, it's not really a city really. It's kind of just like its own campus. And then there's downtown Norfolk, of course. And then there's a bunch of areas around like Suffolk and Chesapeake and all that. But I mean, I love around campus. I like the campus life. Um, and it's a great looking campus and a short walk everywhere you go.
Are you one of the guys, uh, you live one of the houses right there by the estate by the uh, by the bud?
Yep. Yep. I'm I'm right next to the corner house.
Okay You Perfect. Can't be bad, man.
Yeah, no.
Uh, I spent some time in that corner house, uh, Saturday before the game. It's a pretty, pretty good hangout spot for all of the parents. They may actually enjoy it more than you guys do. Cause you're actually out there working by the time they get in it.
Definitely, we definitely take that for granted. The distance for the baseball field and all that, because at Radford it's like a mile walk everywhere you go. From the freshman dorms or the new apartments down to the baseball field and the athletic facilities.
You just don't have an excuse to be late ever. So you can't say you got caught up in traffic. That's the only downside with a coach family cannot be late sitting that close.
Yeah.
Uh, so John, you're a, you're an extremely talented pitcher, uh, and you're a junior. So, this is kind of the time of year, every game I've seen you pitch, there's scouts watching you. Um, is that something that is kind of on your mind? Is that something that's creating some, you know, noise in the background? You know, where is that at for you?
Um, it definitely, it's something that I think about. I mean, you, it's impossible not to. Um, every game you're sitting there, you're trying to warm up for a game and you turn around and there's three guys just watching you. Um, and they're critiquing everything you do. You do and they're writing down the notebook and just want to know what they're talking about. But, um, I try and drown it out as much as possible by just focusing on the game.
Uh, and I, I kind of, I like the attention, um, not just for me, but for teammates that I think are definitely talented enough to get drafted like Eddie and Luke and Kenny and Tice. Um, if we just turn it around and we win a couple of games, who knows what happens?
I love that's such a great mentality. You don't hear enough guys say that, you know, the, the reality is, yeah, they're coming out to see you. But if they, those other guys show up and show out, man, that, that puts them on there too. Uh, that's, that's really cool, man.
Yeah.
I think about how many scouts have seen Jay Cassaday pitch this year because they're showing up on Friday and watching him work the first couple innings. And Friday was a great example of you two tag teaming and just snuffing a team out, like can't really get anything going. It's a great performance from both you Friday against JMU.
Yeah, it's, uh, yeah, no, Jay's a really good pitcher and I'm surprised that like he doesn't have as much attention on him right now because he's 89 to 91 and he's got a weird build and mechanics, but it just works for him.
Yeah, I've gotten to where I don't understand what pro teams are looking for anymore, to be honest. So I, I'm, I'm with you. What, why can you not use a guy like that? That's got unique delivery and good stuff.
yeah.
So speaking of, draft type stuff, you really put a good impression out for yourself last summer, playing up in the Cape, up in the Cape Cod league, which is of course pretty much the premier amateur league out there. I think I looked it up just a minute ago. You have like 630 innings scoreless, 10 strikeouts. I mean, I know you were telling me you didn't get to pitch a ton up there, but you did really well. How was that whole experience up there?
It was awesome. Uh, it was a little expensive. So if not very liquid, it's, it's a little tough to, to stay up there for more than like two week span, a three week span, but just the attention, all the atmospheres are insane. Even at Harwich, every single game was packed. Um, and it felt like a little league game because like, it just, everyone that just loves baseball and it's so old fashioned, just like gritty. It's just the gritty, League.
It's great.
I imagine your parents traveled up there as well, because I've seen them, I think, at almost every single home game I've been to this year. They've invited me to tailgates and all of that, but how, how do they like, uh, the Cape other than the cost?
Uh, I think my mom liked it. Uh, my mom was there for most of the trip cause I had a couple things. I had my, I was celebrating my 21st on July 31st that year. So we decided to, uh, plan a little vacation. And so I had an expired passport, so we needed to get a passport for me and had to get it expedited and everything. So my mom had to stay with me for most of it, but it was, it was fun. It was interesting.
No, I was just going to say, so John, we got about, well, we got two more home stands at the, the bud as it's constructed now. Um, and you know, obviously I don't think you're going to be around, uh, even next year, much less when the, when the new bud is, is available. So what, what's your pitch to people, why they got to come out and see you guys these last few weekends, they have a chance to see you at the bud.
Um, I think the budget is just a special place. Um, it's it shows what we've been through and what we're gonna get in the future, like, uh, the new upgraded stadiums, our future, and that's gonna be awesome for the program in terms of getting recruits and getting better players in general. But I mean, we're. Still going to be the gritty, tough nose, uh, players, uh, not willing to go down easy. Um, I think you said it last year on the podcast, uh, we drink out of the water hose.
Um, that's what we want to recruit. That's what we like. And I mean, we did a really good job of recruiting this past year and I hope we keep doing it in the future.
Yeah, I love that because I know I've talked to Finney about certain guys that we had committed, ended up changing their minds or going other places and things. And like, he just kind of takes the approach. Hey, look, I want guys who want to be here. And I'm, I'm with you. I think you're right. You get those guys. It's that tough mentality. I want to play at a place that want to play with a bunch of tough guys. I love hearing that, man.
So we've asked all the pitchers who have come on so far to tell us about something weird that the bullpen does, because I know sometimes you all have to occupy a lot of time. Uh, Jay told us about inducing the bounder and all of that fun stuff. So I think that's actually catching on a little bit in Rally Alley. I don't know if you caught it on Sunday or not, but, if it's inducing the boundary, you can tell us if there's something else you want to reveal.
That's like a weird quirk of this pitching staff, man.
this is just pitchers that do it, but, uh, we did it a lot last year and we're starting to do it again. We did it this past weekend. Um, whenever a hitter gets into a three, two count, uh, Gomez in the dugout yells, where's Ben? And then, because his last name's Moore, um, our thing is like when you get into two strike count, we always say one more. Uh, so he says, where's Ben? And then does this goofy voice and yells Ben Moore at the top of his lungs. And then everyone else goes, yeah.
Uh, and then if the hitter fights it off, we do it again and just keep going until the bat's over. I
Yeah, I was thinking I was looking through my pictures. You guys keep adding more and more things like we went from Thumbs up at first base and now it's a thumbs down and i've even seen thumbs down with the tongue out a few times So yeah, you guys just always are adding More and more nonsense, but I think it's great. You got to
mean, that's our jobs. Our jobs is to keep it. Entertaining for when we're not pitching.
You can definitely feel the energy coming out of the dugout, especially, I think really the last two home series. Like you've really been able to feel it. The crowd gets into it, uh, makes it a lot of fun. The other question that we're asking everyone that comes on is we know we're getting the college football video game back this summer. Uh, so hopefully at some point in the future, we get the college baseball game back in the future.
So what would you rate yourself if they came out with a college baseball video game again, and would you just dominate your teammates or how would that play out, uh, in those, uh, tournaments within the team?
That's that's tough, that's a tough question because I know I'm going to get clowned on it either no matter what I say. Um, so, I mean, I wouldn't play my teammates at all. I already do that too much. With inner squads and everything in the preseason. Uh, man, I don't, I don't know. I definitely know that I'd have not a lot of walks per nine. If we're doing show stats, my walks per nine will be very low.
So we'll call it high control number right,
Yes.
I think Luke said he would be 99 overall. He was pretty, pretty blunt about that one. Jay was. Like the sneaky 82, I think he said that just gets a lot of strikeouts. So, all right. So low, low K per night or a watch for nine. I like that.
Well, John, we appreciate you coming here, man. I've really, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch these last couple of years. And, uh, we got a little bit more, you can watch it here. And then I'm real excited to see you, uh, blast your way through the minor leagues into the big leagues in a few years.
And hopefully that happens, that'd be awesome.
I believe it, man.
We're definitely rooting for it. We'll be, uh, keeping a close eye on the team, uh, Tuesday, which is when this episode will come out at Harbor park against UVA, as long as we don't have any rain, and then of course you all are heading up. To Marshall to check out their new stadium over the weekend for a three game set. So, John, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time and good luck with the next four games.
No problem. It's been fun. Keep doing what you guys are doing.
Thanks, man.
Thank you. We had a great time talking with John Holobetz. A lot of really good insight there to the bullpen that I enjoyed. Uh, just an awesome, awesome person to talk to. Uh, I know CB, you've known him for a while now. I finally got to meet him over the weekend. Uh, awesome kid, awesome parents.
Yeah, John, he's a he's a great guy.
He's one of those guys the first time I met him I think I might have met him over the summer before the the School even started last year, but it was just one of those like, okay Here's another just really genuinely good kid Clearly loves being out here loves baseball and is gonna you know, he's just a really hard worker And so he's just one of those guys and and I fully believe he's going to be a pro player And give me one of those guys gonna really represent old dominion really well wherever
he goes
And as we talked about earlier, he pitched really well on Friday against JMU, kind of bouncing back after a bad start against Coastal, probably the worst of the season, I think by far, uh, to come back and secure that first win of the series and let the guys take it from there. And Do some weird stuff with saying Ben Moore in the bullpen.
Yeah, they're always yelling at me Like I mentioned the job, they keep adding. Stranger and stranger things. So it's always kind of fun to just be a spectator for that
And it's keep that energy up. Well, we're going to look ahead now to the game on Tuesday, which if you're listening on the day, this dropped out, it is today, uh, should be at Harbor Park, hopefully hasn't been canceled by the time that you're listening to this. But, uh, UVA, we just talked about them recently. We won't go too in depth here, but they are now at 28 and eight overall. They're 11 and seven in the ACC.
Uh, since we last saw them, they took two out of three from North Carolina, uh, beat VCU in a midweek. And then they took two out of three from Louisville, uh, on the road. And they put up some runs in that Louisville series. They won 21 to three, they lost 14 to 10 and they won 16 to seven. Uh, so no, the lineup has not cooled off yet for
But again, I still say the pitching is vulnerable if our guys can go out and hit the way they're capable of And our guys can pitch the way they're capable of we can very much beat Uva, um, they're they're not a team as I see their rank number 10 right now Um, they're not unbeatable. We we played them very well Two games now, uh, but we've not hit either one of those games. So hopefully now we get some, maybe we get a little bit of home cooking. Um, hopefully we'll have a huge crowd.
I really would love it. Hopefully, we can just pack the place, and, reset that record for the most people that ever watched a college game in Virginia. I think it was 7, 000 or thereabouts. And I think it's going to be a very exciting. Nice. Not going to be, not going to be super, super warm. Uh, but it's also not going to be cold or anything. So, wear a jacket, come on out and just, man, let's, let's pack the harbor park and
And Harvard park is such a cool stadium. And even if you're not really that interested in the tides of the Orioles organization, it's just a great place to go watch a ball game. It's right down there on the water. Around a lot of cool stuff, especially with waterside renovation and all that stuff going on. Uh, so definitely get down there. I'm jealous that I will not be able to be there in attendance, but I will be watching or listening one on.
UVA always has a good crowd, they would draw well when they come play here. ,I'll talk to a few people might not be an ODU fan. We got some local guys, right. Ethan Anderson from Cox high school, Harrison did awake from Western branch. And we got Cullen McKay from, uh, Maury right there in Norfolk. So hopefully, uh, their families account for like two or 3, 000 people and they can come out and help fill up the stadium. There's a lot of good reasons for this to be a really packed, great place.
I'm sure those guys are gonna really enjoy getting the chance to play back in Norfolk, uh, for the first time.
Yeah, excited for it. Fingers crossed for weather. Wish I could get down there, but everyone have a great time at Harbor Park. And then this Friday we hit the road again and we're going up to Huntington, West Virginia to take on Marshall and be playing in their brand new ballpark, which I have not been there yet. But every picture, every video I've seen just looks fantastic. Huge upgrade that
yeah, huge upgrade over playing at the YMCA or whatever they were doing over the last few years. So that, yeah, it looks great. Unfortunately their baseball hasn't looked great for them.
Yes, they are 12 and 22 overall. They are five and 10 in conference. So they are probably looking at this weekend as a make or break. Uh, but I'll tell you this, they're 10 and four at home. They're one in 14 on the road. So they are a different ball club at home. They have won so far anyway, won both of their home Sunbelt series. They were able to beat Arkansas state and Texas state took two out of three from both of them. So they've won both their Sunbelt series at home.
Uh, and then pretty recently they beat West Virginia, uh, which I don't know if necessarily West Virginia is that great of a ball club, but they are, definitely in the rankings of the power conferences and they won, uh, at home 3 to 2 and 11 innings. So obviously big rivalry with them. Then over this past weekend, they were just the raging Cajuns next victim. I kept it close. They lost 3 and 2 0. Uh, so they pitched pretty well against a good lineup, uh, for the Cajuns.
But, uh, it's gonna be tough sledding for anybody to go down to Louisiana and get a win this year.
I was, I'm looking at those scores and I mean, yeah, like I said, West Virginia, they're always a good team, whether or not they're nationally or whatever, but yeah, three to two. And then, like I said, very low scoring games against what we saw. We know firsthand an extremely good Louisiana team. So I, you know, you hate to go on four in a week, but man, you gotta feel pretty good about how you went on four, I guess.
They're gonna tune up a little bit. They're doing a home and home with Moorhead State on Tuesday and Wednesday. So they've got one more game than us, which is great since we are traveling. Uh, so we'll see how they, uh, They do in that one, with a quick turnaround time on the home and home, but then Friday, 6 PM, Saturday, 7 PM. So Saturday night game and then Sunday at 1 PM.
did not even notice that until just now that it's 7 p. m. So that's cool. That'd be nice, could hang out on a Saturday night, watch some, watch the game on ESPN Plus, enjoy ourselves.
Yeah. And if you are planning to make the trip to Huntington, West Virginia, uh, one of the perks of having a new ballpark is usually do a lot of really cool promotions. So they're doing decade days. For these games. So like Friday is eighties night, Saturday is nineties night, and then Sunday is two thousands night, which makes me feel incredibly old. If that's now for that throwback decade.
Yep, that's now an old decade, many, many, many moons ago.
Yeah, I don't really want to think about that. We're going to move on to some, uh, some key players here for, for Marshall. Uh, I look at them offensively and to some extent pitching as well. They're not that far off from us. They don't have a really high team batting average. I mean, they're hitting two 29 as a team. I think we're, we've exceeded that some over the past couple of games. Don't hit a lot of home runs there at 22 home runs on the season.
So they are definitely a small ball team need to get guys on base. And, you know, if you're able to get six, seven runs on them, I'm not sure that they have the offense to get back into games like that.
You know, and that's one of those things too, is you really, at this point, have no idea how their ballpark plays either. You just don't know enough about, it is a home run park, is it a pitcher park? Cause I also don't think their team is necessarily that good. I think it's going to take them a few years to kind of get back to being able to recruit really well, to be able to get, get some better players. Uh to be able to tell you so It's a question.
Yeah, is it just for all we know the ballpark was made and it's impossible to home run out of there That's how the bug was for a long time. Uh, but you're right There are some similarities. I when you said that it hurt my feelings because I'm looking at their stats. I'm like, maybe these guys kind of stink. Um, but you're right. Yeah. So that, that kind of, that hurt my heart. You have to admit it.
But I will say that our averages on the offensive side are on the upswing, which is good. And it seems like there's. They're kind of suffering from the same cage and hangover that we had. Uh, uh, Owen Ayers is someone I wanna point out on, on the offensive side, uh, hitting 2 87 with the 8 98 OPS six bombs, 14 doubles, only driven in 11 runs though, uh, but definitely a, a prominent hitter for them. Elijah Vogel song. He's one of their power hitters.
He's only hitting 2 0 7, but he's got six bombs.
Driven in 21 runs, uh, and then Cam Harthan, who I don't think has started a ton of games this year, maybe about half of their games, but he is hitting 313, uh, and intends to be able to get on base pretty well, so not a lot of big scary names to watch out for, like what we saw with, with JMU with like Finwick Trimble and some of those other guys, but they're just one of those lineups that if they can string together three or four hits, they're definitely going to put runs on the board.
Yeah. And then looking at the pitching side, there's probably a somewhere where it says who started when, but very clearly, uh, Bryce Blevins is one of their guys who he's got 56 innings, 44 strikeouts, 14 walks. Um, he's made 10 appearances, six starts. two complete games one shutout Um, so he's he's clearly a guy and as you saw over the weekend they were if they were holding louisiana down they're doing some things. Another guy also has 50.
I mean, we don't have anybody on odu that's even close to 15 So having a couple guys where they've they've clearly got some starters Which is different for us.
I think Bryce Glovans is typically their Friday starter and the strategy there is get him out of the game because he's good. Uh, he's far and away their best pitcher. He's the biggest arm you have to worry about. Um, and it looks like they've mixed some guys, um, in their starting rotation. It looks like Drew Harlow has had some starts. He's had a 4 7 8 ERA. Then Carter Lyles, he started nine games, 5 2 6 ERA. Nicholas, uh, Weyrich is, or Weyrich is probably their best reliever.
He's made 15 appearances, got a three flat ERA. 43 strikeouts, 19 walks. So they've got some arms for sure, but I don't know how deep they are, especially if you get into something funky on a Saturday or
Yeah. So they pitch well, they don't hit that well. So you hope our pitching continues to excel. This seems like a team we can really keep off the scoreboard. Um, and you know, if our guys can just go out and continue throwing up good at bats, continue being the hitters, they can be, this is a series, you know, it's not easy winning a series on the road. But I think they can win this series. And realistically, I think they can sweep this series. I don't know.
I do not think Marshall is that great of a team, but again, it's Sunbelt play. Any given weekend and they're playing at home. So our guys just got to go out and do what they can. And we should be able to come out of this feeling good about the weekend.
I've watched some of their games over the weekend series. They definitely draw a nice crowd that is loud. They're energetic. They get into it. It's similar to football of no matter how terrible they are, they're going to have a boatload of fans that show up for the football games. Same thing for baseball. They come out there, have a good time. Uh, if, if it's good weather, their crowd's going to even be a little bit rowdier, so it's no easy task to go up there and try and win this series.
But I think it's a series that we need to win to prove that we can win a series on the road. against a team that, you know, on paper, I think that we are, superior then. But I mean, it's a Sunbelt, man. No one else has been able to go up there yet and get a series win against them in Huntington. So hopefully we're treading some new ground there, but we just need to play our game the right way. Play some small ball, get guys on, get them in.
And I think if we can get up 345 runs Uh, our pitching versus their hitting is a matchup that we will win nine times out of 10.
Yeah. Got to set a record for that new ballpark. We got to etch it into the record books. The first, uh, visiting team to win a series. And so that's kind of this
Wouldn't hate that. Wouldn't hate to see some run records broken. Maybe, you know, some shutouts, some no hits, something like that. We're positioned well, our pitching versus their hitting. I think it's going to come down to, can we continue this consistent approach from our lineup that we've seen in the last four games where it's not this crazy rollercoaster of zero runs, 10 runs, zero runs, 10 runs. It's a much more consistent.
Run totals that we're putting up and that's going to be much more sustainable long term for this team.
So we are halfway through conference. We got to really continue this momentum because halfway through conference seven and eight, uh, you know a sub 500 team and 18 and 17 Overall a just above 500 team, this is not really where you want to be We want to again you're really hoping this weekend was a springboard to being who you can be Going out winning two out of three every weekend Taking some of these midweeks, especially, you know, again, I think we can beat UVA.
We just got to play really well. And then from then on, we're playing BCU. We got Richmond. We got teams that we can and I believe should beat on the weekdays. So you can start picking up, if you can go to them on the weekend, you go three in one of the week, all of a sudden you start racking up some wins, start feeling good, get that confidence. So this is again, we, I think they did what they needed to do this week, go out and play really hard, play really tough against really good teams.
Thanks. And keep that momentum going as now, you know, we're getting out of Once this tuesday rolls around we're kind of out of that real extremely tough stretch of the season And now we just have the regular tough rest of the season
I think you want to see the dividends of this tough schedule play out over the next three series. Cause your next three series are against teams that are actually behind you in the standings with Marshall, Louisiana, Monroe, and Texas state. Again, it's the Sunbelt. Nothing's going to be easy, but if you come out of those three series and you've won two out of every three.
You are going to be in prime position for one of the top four seeds in the conference tournament, which is where we want to be. It's going to set us up for success. So you're hoping that this crazy stretch of games against really good teams. Didn't just wear everybody out. Didn't seem that way on Sunday. Um, because you can use what you've learned there, your battle toughness. And go out and take, six of these next nine or seven of these next nine.
And if you just look at what that would do to you in the standings, that's going to put you basically behind Louisiana and that's it. And that's probably realistically what we need to look at here is getting somewhere between that two to four seed going into the tournament.
Yeah, so, you know as always I I think I probably a broken record, but every week I says i'm excited i'm excited about the end of the season here, you know, we got a little over a month left until the tournament Um, and so it's it's gonna be very exciting to see these guys continue to make these strides and some of these guys, you know It's a lot of games There's still a lot of games where guys who have not established themselves can might get a shot and establish themselves and Some guys who
are sitting there on the bench thinking no i'm never getting to play well, but i'm just gonna still keep working they might be in there, so it's uh Anything can happen and speaking of anything that happened, Alex Boucher. Pulled up a clearly had a hamstring issue. Uh, when he slid in the third yesterday, it was only the second inning. Um, and they pulled him out of the game, which immediately Jake Tyser came in after not having played first base all season, made three great plays in one inning.
But hopefully, hopefully, boo is good. I would guess he might not be playing in the game, uh, at Harbor Park tomorrow, but who knows? I'm not a doctor. I saw him at the game. He seemed like he was, Okay, at least he went like, you know wincing in pain and crying every time he walked
I will say this coaching staff has been pretty good. Uh, if there's even a remote chance of further injury, they're taking out of the game because one of our midweeks, what Stephen Meyer went down, somebody else went down like back to back innings. Uh, but they were fine and back for the rest of the game. So hopefully everything is. Is good there. Uh, he was going first to third on a single to right and got in safely.
So definitely a good hustle play for him, I'm looking forward to actually being at home this weekend for the first time. And I don't know how long I just able to watch the games up at Marshall. I think that's going to be a, going to be a fun one and hopefully really fun for ODU fans to enjoy.
I am also looking forward to watching the games. Um, and again, I appreciate I do get people Stop me here and there and tell me they really uh, are enjoying the podcast. That's that's always nice to hear. Hopefully That people are having the same excitement for od baseball that that I certainly have every single day
I hope so as well. So if you're listening to this and you have friends that aren't subscribed, go steal their phone from subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, whatever you want. Uh, let us continue sharing the story of ODU baseball this year and getting to hear from awesome players. Like we had John Holabatz on today. Uh, we want to keep that going. So thank you all for listening. We appreciate it.
Uh, if you did not get a koozie this weekend at the bud, we will have plenty in two weeks when ULM comes to town. That's also baseball alumni weekend. So we're going to have a special guest next week to promote some stuff that's going on, for that weekend. I think that'll do it. CB, anything else that I'm missing?
No, i'm just like hey, I think it's time to go monarchs this thing
Absolutely. Well, thank you all for listening. I'm Gary. Go Monarchs!
and i'm cb go monarchs