Hello, Monarch fans, and welcome to the Hudson Homer's podcast to steal a line from my friend, Aaron Zielinski, the best and only ODU baseball podcast. I am joined as always by CB. CB, pretty awesome week here. How are you
Pretty great week, man. I mean, it went 3 1. Frankly, I'll be honest, uh, a little disappointed we didn't win on Friday also, but that was just me being greedy. Like, uh, I think you said on Twitter, uh, it's not easy to win a road series in the Sun Belt, so we, we gotta be happy with, uh, taking the series win there at Marshall. And of course, Tuesday at Harbor Park, Uh beating uva 7 to 4 score wasn't anywhere near that close.
They got a few cheap runs at the end That was just a phenomenal night
Yeah, that was a fun one. And we're going to talk more about that here in a little bit. We've got a jam packed episode for you. Kyle Edwards is going to be hopping on with us. To talk about the games this past week and how he got his nickname Batman. Uh, then we're also gonna have Mike McCue, who played for ODU, uh, from 85 to 87. They're having a ODU Baseball Alumni Weekend out at the Buds. Some good opportunities to meet some alum that are gonna be out there. We've got all that for you.
But I think first we gotta do dollars for dingers and bucks for bags. We hit a few this week, not a ton, but we are up to 35 for dollars for dingers. And on the bucks for bag side, we are at 63 stolen bases, 63 for 80 on the season. So if you haven't started already, start putting your dollar bills in a jar or a savings account or something, because, uh, boys are gonna help drive some donations to help the program moving forward with, dollars for dingers and bucks for bags.
Yeah, because we got what is it four more weekends, uh, and then conference play So they can they can add a little damage here for in the year. They can they can up those numbers We're we're get respectable slowly inching numbers, you know, again, we're not trying to do too much of anything, but they're uh, They're doing all right on both Yeah,
It's crazy to think of where we're at in the season and how many games that we have already played. And yeah, I mean, we got two home Sunbelt series left. That's it. We've got ULM this weekend and then App State in two weeks. And that's it for the bud.
there are only seven games left at what is currently constructed as the bud. Yeah, that is a kind of crazy.
It's a little scary when you think about how quickly time flies, but let's talk about the game over at Harbor park on Tuesday. You, you hit the nail on the head. It was not even as close as the score indicated.
Yeah, it was 7 to 1. I mean, they, they came out three runs of the first inning, got another run of the second, and, and frankly, UVA really never looked like they had a shot in the game. Um, yeah, they got a few runs there in the ninth. Honestly, you know Lincoln Ransom had pitched a really great eighth inning. I didn't really agree with him coming back out for the ninth inning. Uh, I think it should have been Vincent Becherra the whole time.
Uh, if nothing else just because you know Bash, he's a senior. He's from Norfolk. He's one of the few kids who's actually from Norfolk. For him playing at Heartland Park was a big deal. I know he went over and thanked Finney at the end of the game for letting him get the pitch in the game. And so he having Bash come out and be able to close out the end of the game.
Was a big and yeah, they scored a few runs, but it really and you know, they had big hitters up and a chance I mean, I think it was uh, ethan anderson came up with a chance to tie the game I still really wasn't worried about it. Uh, despite knowing ethan anderson from cox high school is a phenomenal baseball player He's been killing it for uva all year. I wasn't worried about it. Uh, so What a night what a wonderful fun night
It was a great night and yeah, when bash came in, I figured, all right, UVA is probably going to put up a couple of runs, but I think bash is going to get us out of it. Um, I didn't feel as confident early on because I've seen this UVA team put up a boatload of runs and we've talked about it here about how they're probably the best, if not the top three, uh, best offenses in the country, but we just kept kind of stacking some runs. You get three in the first.
Come back, get another one there in the second, adding a couple more in the fourth and the fifth, and, you know, being up seven to one, they're going into the ninth was definitely a little bit of a relief. And I imagine for the guys on this team to come out and score early, probably gave them a boatload of confidence. The rest of the game that they were going to win,
Yeah, maybe it's because I was there and I was like in the dugout I mean, so when I take pictures usually You You know, I'm right, I'm kind of in our bullpen if I'm on the ODU side. And so I'm there, I'm with the players, but it's not quite the same as this time. I'm actually, I was in the dugout. Like I was standing on the steps in the dugout. It's, it is a very different, you know, you're high fiving guys and they're coming in and out of the dugout, you know, so it's a very different feel.
And I. I was never worried. Uh, Brandon Pond started the game two and two thirds, gave up one run. Uh, he was exactly what we needed to start the game. Steven Trone came in. He's been killing it lately. Our side arming, uh, sophomore righty, two in the third scoreless looked outstanding. And then Nick Slopezio, our freshmen, two scoreless innings, no walks, two hits, four strikeouts.
I mean, those three guys just, you know, Set the tone and just dominated the first, uh, what, seven innings of the game.
Nick had some nasty stuff on the mound. I mean, striking out four of the eight batters that he faced. Uh, I mean, he had some pretty filthy stuff and that's the kind of things you want to look for in these midweeks that these guys who are maybe trying to crack into the weekend, they're setting themselves up for next year, just a great performance from the pitching staff in general against one of the best offenses in the country, being able to shut them down like that was really impressive.
And the offense had their back this time.
Yeah. And it was great. And, and of course, like you said, the offense, we got off to a great start. Um, you know, we, we had three runs there in the first inning. Uh, Kyle drove Edwards drove in a run. Uh, who else drove in the first candle of already drove in a run. Tyser had a couple of great hits and, and, you know, he, He looked really good. He looked locked in, just hitting nice hard line drives. He even stole a base, uh, which was incredibly fun to see, uh, Tyser.
They were in that same kind of attempting to, um, steal second game to make the throw so our guy could steal home. They didn't bite. So Tyser just took second and got to do the kind of, uh, rev up, vroom, vroom celebration they do on second base, which is very fun. Um, you know, it was just a really good night. I mean, it was, our guys were on the ball. The energy was through the roof. Um, and a bunch of UVA fans left sad, which is just very enjoyable.
I think the crowd was over 4, 000. I mean, I imagine the energy in there was, was just electric for those guys. And hopefully that's sign of things to come when the new bud is built and we start getting bigger crowds at the bud on a regular basis, but Tyser getting a stolen base was not something I had on my bingo card for Tuesday, but we'll gladly take it and put another dollar in the jar for bucks for
The best part wasn't the stolen base. It was that he went from second to home on not a like easy play I don't think there was a throw ended up but he He went on the next the next batter got a hit and I think it was maybe maverick It was either maverick or evan holman. I'm not i'm off the top of my head right now, but um, Tyser went second to home and looked great doing it.
So, I mean, typically when he runs, he looks like he's in pain the whole time, which I, I really relate to as I am in pain the whole time whenever I run. Uh, and Jake's a much bigger, uh, stronger man than I am. So, but it was, you know, it was a great night and it was very fun. I saw, I probably didn't see everybody. I saw a ton of our alumni.
Um, a lot of our recent guys for the last 10 years or so were out there watching the game, uh, So I saw some of their families and so it was just that was just overall just uh, it's it's always great When we play at harvard park, it's a shame that it's been so long and hopefully we don't have any issues to prevent this from happening Uh every year because it's just such a fun time. It's a great venue
It is and with their ranking, it helps boost our RPI a little bit. It helps boost the conference RPI, which is already in pretty great shape. But last I checked, we were the 3rd best conference by RPI. And I want to say, if they were picking the team of 64, just based on the RPI ranking, there would be 9 teams from the Sunbelt to make the tournament, which is just freaking ridiculous.
Uh, so just another boost for the team when you talk about anything that could happen in the postseason and then also boosting up your conference as well. Uh, cause that was a good day in general for the Sunbelt. Coastal went to UNC and beat them and did their really long home winning streak. So great day for ODU, great day for the conference and. What we all hope is going to be a lot of Sunbelt teams getting in that post season tournament this year.
You know and that really speaks to what we've been kind of saying about this odu team is they are a very good team And that when they have a day like this so they go out and hit like they can hit It And the pitching is doing exactly what it's been doing all year being outstanding They can beat anybody here. They are beating the number 10 team in the country.
Probably the best offense in the country Um, and then went in had a good weekend finally got a road series win against marshall We have some not super strong teams I mean again, i'll say every weekend in the conference is is a tough weekend But the teams they're playing the last four they've got three of them are below So Oh, do you and the standings, they could really get on a little run here, have some great momentum going into the conference tournament, you'd be going to conference
tournament, if you make a lot of noise, as you said, the Sunbelt is a great conference. You end up being, if you're the runner up and the Sunbelt tournament, you're probably going to go. To the NCAA tournament. So they, the season is really still in ODU's hands, even though as we sit here, what is it, 21 and 18, nine and nine in conference, you see that not super impressive, right?
But again, the context of what those numbers are and the fact that they're in a great spot to really do some damage here in the last month of the season.
Absolutely. And I felt going into this Marshall series that this was a series that we had to win. If we wanted to be in any kind of serious contention for the Sunbelt tournament in terms of seeding. Uh, cause I felt like this was a team that on paper, we should go beat. They had been really tough to beat at home. This is the first time they've lost a series at home in the new ballpark. And. Didn't quite get off to the best start, losing 4 2 in that Friday opener.
But there's a lot more to that story than the live stats and very fun radio broadcasts we all got to listen
Yeah, man, I, you know, we all gotta start somewhere. I guess that's what I'm gonna say about that.
You know, if you listen to the Marshall stream this weekend, um, I guess apparently much like ODU, they can only, uh, do this video streaming of one, uh, Game at a time they chose to go with softball because softball is more competitive for them uh, I guess there's some karma in the fact that uh, Costa carolina went up and beat the softball in their weekend series, uh, but the the stream was pretty terrible I mean, I think the uh, it was a case of you know Nothing wrong again.
You we all have to break in somewhere I would have rather had maybe someone with some experience and then have the person with less experience kind of be there as, as a extra. Uh, it just sounded like, like I said, I said one day, it sounded like they went to the frat house and said, who's sober enough to drive and somebody mumbled me and they just grabbed him and put them in a booth, uh, the guy.
It was, I think it was a different guy doing the, the color commentary or whatever, being the second guy in the booth in the game on Sunday, I don't think he'd ever seen a baseball game before, if I'm being honest, he kept saying points, he kept saying that Marshall had a three point deficit. And I was like, I don't, are they going to do a, are you going to shoot from the arc? What are we doing here?
Uh, so that that was a I mean at one point I was like Is this actually better than just looking at the live stats? I'm not i'm not positive that it is.
It was somewhat helpful on Saturday, except they missed an entire bat in the ninth inning. And then Sunday they went to commercial and then just didn't come back to the game for at least ten minutes and I turned it off. I will say they have some incredibly nostalgic radio ads. Cause I'm guessing it's a local station. They probably don't have a lot of ads, but it was all like old PSAs and like funny kind of hacky radio bit stuff.
That was pretty entertaining, but it, it looped through about four times before I realized they're never going to go back to the game. So I just kind of stopped listening, but. There's a, there, there's a reason that Pierce didn't put that radio link in the, uh, pregame social media.
I mean they're you know, and I can't even blame them for you know, if you just have technical difficulties again I'm assuming whoever is doing the producing is probably a student also and it's it was very clearly a student radio um, and yeah, I did have the wonderful like terrible acting and there there was a uh, a nostalgia field to it, but I mean I Appreciate it I hope they get better. I hope they get the practice helps because boy it was it was hard to listen to I'm glad we won.
If we, if we, if all that was happening and we were losing the games, I really would have had a bad weekend.
That would have made it tougher, but we did drop the game on Friday. But what you probably didn't know from the radio or the live stats is the guys were hitting the ball hard. Anyone I talked to who was at the game, even some of the players will tell you they were lighting the ball up with over a hundred mile an hour exit velocities. They were just hitting it. Right at people. And then on the other side, Marshall really wasn't getting a lot of great contact, but they were finding holes.
They were dropping the ball in and. At the end of the day, a loss is a loss. They lost that game. But after hearing that from some of the parents that this wasn't just completely inept lineup that we have seen sometimes from ODU this season, especially in road series, I felt much better going into Saturday. But, uh, you know, I thought we were in great shape on Friday, TJ Aiken, leading that thing off with a solo home run was pretty nice.
Yeah. TJ, you know, he's a big kid. Um, he's, he's kind of played with kind of that athletic fast guy, you know, bunt singles and things, but he, he's every bit of six, two, six, three. He's, he's a, when he puts some. When we get him here and get some muscle on him throughout the year He's gonna be a guy that's gonna hit some home runs for us.
It was nice to see him Uh a little surprising, but again, once you really take a second think about who he actually is Yeah, it was great to see him hit a home run good for him.
Kenny LaVarie drove in the other run with the solo shot himself there in the seventh. Uh, just couldn't really string enough hits together and find those gaps in that game. But I don't think that our pitching was bad at all. I mean, Jay Kass, he got up two runs and three in the third inning, four hits, had three strikeouts. Callan Davis came in, uh, he did give up a run, uh, but he had a, had a strikeout. And then John Holobetz.
four and a third of show of no earned runs, four hits, four strikeouts. Uh, you know, from, from all accounts, he threw the ball really well. Uh, just one of those games where baseball kind of sucks sometimes where the bleeders become hits and the things that you smoke are outs.
Yeah, and again john halibut's, uh friend of the podcast fan of the podcast. Love that guy Uh another fantastic relief outing for him these these long friday relief outings Just looking great Uh, you know, they said four and a third, four strikeouts, the one unearned and Jay Cassidy, you know, that's, I mean, really two runs and three and a third, that's what you want out of them. I, again, the pitching was good.
If you give up four runs at a college baseball game, that's going to give you a pretty good shot to win. So it just, as you said, apparently unfortunate luck on the hitting side that night.
And I will give some credit to Marshall's pitching. I thought that they threw the ball pretty well. Drew Harlow is their starter. He went seven, gave up two runs on four hits. No walks, nine strikeouts. Uh, Nicholas Weyrich came in, in relief, got the last two innings, had two strikeouts, didn't give up a hit or a run. I think the, the big thing I've noticed from this game, Marshall Pitching had 11 strikeouts. They only had one walk and they hit two batters.
Uh, so they were throwing the ball in the zone and Harlow was just pumping strikes, uh, through seven innings, only through 102 pitches through a boatload of strikes in the zone to go challenge hitter. So. They did a good job on their end and that's what Marshall had done recently. I mean, they limited, uh, a really good Louisiana offense, uh, to very few runs. They just couldn't score. Uh, so we got through two of their three best pitchers on Friday and ended up coming out with a loss, but.
The fortunes changed the rest of the weekend and I have to give some credit here to Ginger Holman. Uh, and then also Angie Holobets, who forwarded the picture. Um, I guess Ginger has been sacrificing rubber chickens after we lose games so that we'll win the next one. Uh, and before the game on Saturday, she put one under a lawnmower going into Saturday and that, uh, apparently propelled us to some, some voodoo victory.
I mean, if she's doing after losses, we haven't had many losing streaks. We haven't lost two in a row often. So it's working. Keep, keep it going.
I ended up seeing some of the older pictures. There was one that was hooked up to, it looked like, like medical leads for like an AED or something. And another one, there was a rubber chicken in a pot of boiling water. So there's some, uh, some serious superstition on the parent group
Hey, whatever works. Cause like I said, we got the Saturday win three to one. Um, again, you know, didn't score enough runs, but scored more than them. You know, I, I would argue three runs is not going to win you most games, but as we saw this weekend or heard this weekend, or maybe didn't hear this weekend, you know, I think Marshall isn't. Their pitcher did great though. Bryce Blevins, he pitched eight innings, gave up three runs. Only one of them was earned. He threw 120 pitches.
That's, that's one thing Marshall has kind of consistently done year after year. They, they throw their starters a lot. Um, which for us as a team has not really been the case, but he pitched great. Just, you know, was on the wrong end of things. Cause Blake Morgan. Great start. Four innings. Uh, only one run a walk for strikeouts. Uh, Ben Moore was outstanding in the middle of the game. Uh, three innings, two strikeouts, only one hit.
And then Jacob Gomez, he only needed 16 pitches to pitch two scoreless innings and two strikeouts. I mean, that was, frankly, usually he throws more pitches, he usually gets more strikeouts. I mean, that was just, our pitching looked, I mean, again, I didn't get to see it, but our pitching, uh, was dominant on Saturday, which was great to see.
I thought the pitching was great all weekend. Definitely on Saturday. But we were kind of in a funk early. We really weren't hitting the ball well. Blevins, for Marshall was really, I mean, he was dominating. It was a similar approach that we saw on Friday where he was pumping a lot of strikes into the zone. And kind of the, the strategy on him for a lot of teams is try to run up the pitch count and get him out of the game. 'cause he is one of their best pitchers.
I think by statistically he was the best. Uh, but we, we didn't look real great at the plate in, in terms of what we were seeing and what we were hearing. Uh, but Jake Tyser coming through and breaking the seal with a solo home run to right to get us going, end up getting two more runs in that inning because we got guys on base, because we increased pressure. Uh, I think the final scoring on those last two runs was a passed ball and then a throwing error on the catcher.
So both of the runs were unearned, but we got runners home from second and third on one pass ball. And that was it for the offense. But that was enough with the way that our pitching was
Yeah, and you know, that's a case of, you know, Marshall, unfortunately at this point, I mean, what are they? They're 13 and 26. They're 6 and 12 in the Sun Belt. You know, they're, they're not a good team. I mean, let's just be real. They played enough season. I think you, it's fair to say that. Um, and the sign of not a good team is you kicked the ball around on defense. They had four errors. The pass ball didn't count as part of your errors.
So it's, it's just a case of, You know, when you're not good, those are the kind of mistakes you make. Now, hopefully, with the new stadium and being in the Sun Belt, a very competitive, uh, conference, hopefully they can start recruiting better and getting some better teams in there and becoming much more competitive in the Sun Belt in the next few years. I think that's kind of been what's holding them back for the last several years.
So, hopefully, in the future, we'll see a lot more competitive martial teams.
Absolutely. Well, the finale, the rubber match on Sunday was definitely not a competitive game, but for all the right reasons, if you're an ODU fan.
we, we run ruled them as I like to say, even though, um, it was a run rule in, in nine innings. Uh, but yeah, I mean, that was one, uh, again, if you're in the Marshall team, I'm sure they've just had a lot of this this year, even though they said the Louisiana series, they held them close, even though they got swept, but this was just a case of, uh, ODU just dominated them like right from the jump, they just scored a ton of runs, didn't stop scoring, just kept it going
Yeah, put up those 12 runs and somehow did not manage to hit a home run. So I think that's the offense we've kind of been waiting for of truly small ball, singles, doubles, getting guys over sack flies a whole lot of that. Uh, you know, if you're going through our, our lineup here, Bryce Jones actually started in left TJ Aiken was the D H on Sunday. Bryce goes two for four drives in three runs. Uh, Evan Holman went two for three at the dish and had a walk.
Uh, and then Kyle Edwards, who is going to be on here in just a little bit, went two for four and drove in five runs. Uh, so really just up and down. The lineup on Sunday, you have production. I think everyone had at least a hit or an RBI who came in the game. And that is what you want to see when you're trying to play this small ball type of offense is production one through nine. And we got it Sunday.
and again, Marshall, you know, making. Mistakes, you know, we we scored 12 runs on 10 hits They marshal walked eight guys. They hit five guys They didn't actually make any errors, but they just put so many guys on base That at a certain point you you just can't stop guys from scoring Um the number of times I mean, oh do you I mean we're the left on base We had we had 10 guys left on base.
So I mean there were even more chances to score Uh, so it was just a case of, like I said, I mean, I love seeing Bryce Jones come out, have a great game. Uh, it's been very nice to see, again, a kid I've been watching since he was probably 15 or 16 years old. Um, and he's a guy, you know, we don't think about him necessarily being a veteran on this team, but he is, it is his third year on the team.
He was a, he was a red shirt and then I saw as last year as a, as a red shirts freshman, didn't play much, didn't get to play much into this year, but he's. He's kind of showing himself as someone who has been around is a little more mature and getting those chances. Uh, it's great to see and Evan Holman. He's we've talked about his defense over and over again. Evan is phenomenal. He threw a guy out in the uva game. Um, he's always great behind the dish and he's such a Good sneaky hitter.
I mean again two for three in this game of the walk just a great offensive day
We've talked about a lot like left field had kind of been up for grabs, left field had been up for grabs. Uh, we kind of threw a new wrinkle into the mix this weekend with Alex Boucher not playing. Uh, he came up with a, what I think is a hamstring injury in the final game against JMU. Did not play against UVA, did not play in this series. So, Jake Tyser got, you know, inserted there at first base. Uh, I think he had a little bit of a rough go of it on Friday, but settled in nicely.
For Saturday and Sunday, but that allowed Coach Fenwood to keep TJ Aiken's bat in the lineup while kind of having a little bit of a defensive upgrade by putting Bryce Jones in left. And then everything pays off by both guys hitting, both guys having graded bats and just adding some more depth to this lineup despite missing one of your better hitters. Alex Boucher.
that should be a thing that these guys should really take out of this weekend and feel great about The fact that they were able to beat uva to win a conference series on the road Without one of their best hitters in the lineup I mean that that's a big accomplishment because if you can hit and compete and do this well And then also, again, I don't know if it'll happen tomorrow against BCU, if it'll happen later against ULM, or if it's going to be another week, you know, hamstring injuries are,
are tricky. Who knows exactly when Alex is going to come back, but if you can go out and compete this well without one of your best players, that says a lot about the, you know, the heart these guys are showing, which is what you like, the grit to go out and compete that way.
Absolutely. And want to take a look at the Sunbelt standings here. Uh, didn't get a ton of separation this week with the series that were going on. Louisiana, uh, did lose their series at coastal Carolinas. They're 15 and three in conference. Now, uh, you got coastal Troy and Southern miss and a three way tie for second at 11 and seven. Uh, JMU, Georgia state at 10 and eight. And we're with Georgia Southern at nine and nine. Uh, unfortunately we had.
The ugliest thing that can happen in a college baseball season, App state in Arkansas state tied. So you have this ugly eight, nine, and one for app state right behind us, which is going to make it a whole lot of fun for tiebreakers, uh, going down the stretch, but we are two games out of the two seed. Uh, and that would be tied for the number one seed in the east with coastal. So I know they have a tiebreaker on us, but things didn't really shake out as much as I think some people were hoping.
Got a little separation, but not a ton.
Yeah, I don't think it's going to, I think you're going to have to wait until maybe the last weekend of the year to see too much separation. Cause I mean, it's like, oh, do you even go. Two in one. I mean, okay, then you're right at nine and nine. Um, so they're gonna have to sweep App State. That's what I'm getting out of that, just to keep that ugly, weird tie from being, because Arkansas State, they're not coming back. I know if they win the last 12 of the season, I'd be shocked.
Uh, they're at the bottom.
They're going to have a tough ride down there at four 13 and one, ugh, saying one after it.
Do we know how that happened? The tie? Would they just run out of time on Sunday or what?
I don't know. I would, I would guess it's either time or weather. I'm trying to think. I think the weather was clear in both of those locations on Sunday. So it might have been a getaway day timing issue. But either way, uh, ties don't belong in baseball. I hate seeing them in the standings. I hated it when I was doing SID work and had to try to figure out tie breakers with a, uh, a one in the tie column.
Uh, so it's not fun, but ODU still has everything right there in front of them to go up and get one of those top seeds. And I think their schedule moving forward can kind of create some opportunities.
And you know, we talked about, you know, I think the first podcast of our season, you know, before we hit this, uh, before we even played the games, we, we talked about this kind of buzzsaw here in the middle of the season, right? You know, we were going to play, I've got my schedule coming up, making sure I have all the, all the names correct. But we played, uh, at UVA, played three games at Coastal. We played at ECU. Had JMU to home for three games and then played UVA at Harbor Park.
So that was a nine game stretch. Uh, if I told you before the year that ODU went four and five and a nine game stretch playing three top 25 teams, will we feel okay about that prior to the season?
know that I would, cause I was thinking three and six is probably the most likely outcome, but. uh, they've exceeded my expectations through that tough
Yeah. I mean, I, I feel, again, I think walking away, I think they could have won more. I think we could have beat UVA in both those games. We lost UVA. I think we could have beat ECU. Yeah. I think we could have won another one against Coastal. So I I think we could have won more but I think walking out of there Facing three top 25 teams in a nine game stretch Winning a conference series and going four and five overall Not too bad.
And again, I think it speaks to As we now go to where there's four conference weekends left, three of those teams are below ODU in the standings. I think this team is poised to maybe go out and really dominate their competition, uh, and get themselves in a much better spot going into the tournament, make themselves a much better hot street going into the tournament and feeling good heading down there.
Yep. Definitely a lot of opportunity. Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll have our interview with Kyle Edwards, and then quickly followed by our conversation with Mike McHugh about ODU baseball alumni weekend. So stay tuned and thank you so much for listening. Hello, Monarch fans, and welcome back to the Hudson Homer's podcast. Uh, we have a special guest for you today. We are joined by ODU baseball starting shortstop, Kyle Edwards, Kyle.
Thanks so much for hopping on with us today.
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it.
I think first and foremost, like how is the team feeling coming off of another series when this time on the road and also knocking off a pretty good and ranked UVA team, I
Uh, we're feeling pretty good. Um, the game on, um, I think it was, no, Tuesday, right?
think it was two great.
Um, that was, it was fun. I mean, we had 4, 000 fans out there and, you know, we don't, we don't get that type atmosphere at the bud, we get, you know, good, a good amount, like for, for us, but 4, 000 was, was pretty big and it was just a fun environment to be around playing a good opponent and, uh, we just had a lot of energy and fed off the fans. And, uh, we came out swinging and we're ready to go. And then, uh, we got on the bus and.
Went to, uh, West Virginia, play Marshall and, uh, it was, it was an all around good weekend, you know, Friday, uh, we hit, we hit some balls pretty hard, you know, all around the yard and, uh, we only got two runs. We played some good baseball. Um, they had their best guy and one of their best guys out there. And, uh, You know, we had him around and it just didn't go our way that day. But then we came back on Saturday and, uh, that guy had a pretty good ERA and he'd been pitching well all year.
And we just kind of found some ways to, to get some runs in and, uh, maneuver that went around and that was a good day at the energy was high and, uh, Sunday was just an all around great day. Like from the jump, we started off with a bunch of walks, getting the bases loaded in the first inning, scoring two runs, um, and then we just kept them coming from there and it was just an all around great day. It was somewhere on a good day for the team and good weekend.
How good did it feel in that first inning against UVA to finally break through and score on those guys after two shutouts going up to Charlottesville?
It felt pretty good. Uh, they have a good pitching staff. So, um, just getting to them, I mean, third time's the charm and, uh, we've played those guys since I've been here pretty well, uh, you know, they got the best of us when we went up there twice, but that's how it is sometimes.
And just to get that win, especially with them being number 10 and just to break through was just fun and just watching all the energy, all the pitchers and all the headers, just, Kind of mess together and being in a fun environment was, was really, really cool.
Yeah, how big of a deal was that? I know, I think you told me you had played at Harbor Park, uh, in high school. But, you know, obviously since you've been at ODU, it's been five years since they were able to play a game of Harbor Park. Nobody on the team was able to play. I think John Keane, who is now one of our coaches, he was on the team last time we played there. Even the coaching staff, only Chris Finwood and Mike Marin are still there. So it's the thing that really nobody had experienced.
So how was that getting to play there in a college game? Like you said, 4, 000 people, that atmosphere. What was that really like?
Uh, it's a lot different than high school. Cause high school, you know, there's not many fans out there. There's, you know, your parents and then some, some spectators that just come and watch and in a high school, like it feels like you can't get out of the infield. Um, but the college atmosphere is, is pretty crazy. And, uh, just a bunch of good ball players being on the field at once. And it just felt like, you know, it felt like a day you were just like in the big leagues.
It's a big park, um, got a big scoreboard, got 4, 000 fans filling the stadium a little bit and it, it was just fun. There's not really much else to say other than it was just a great day. Great place to play that day and that night. And it, you know, turned out in our favor.
Yeah, my favorite part was I think about the fifth inning. I turned to um, whoever was standing around me and I said, you know, the best part is all these UVA fans are about to leave. Uh, and then you look up in the seventh inning and there were like three orange shirts left in the whole stadium. Like, it was great.
Yeah. That was, that was, that's pretty cool. Always when you get the other team's fans to leave early.
You got to play against Ethan Anderson, who you were teammates with at Cox. You guys won a state championship together at Cox. Is that cool getting to get to play against him there?
Yeah. It's always good playing against him. He's a really good player
Yeah, it is.
he's had a good season and still having a good season, obviously. And, um, it was just, it's just always cool, especially with me playing in Charlottesville the last two summers. So I know a good amount of those guys. Um, so it's always fun just connecting with past teammates and, you know, lifelong friends and it's just always a good time.
Friday up at Marshall, you know, we, we weren't able to watch, they weren't streaming the game. So we had this janky radio broadcast and live stats. But from everyone I talked to who was actually at the game, it sounds like you all were hitting the ball hard, right? Just right at him and kind of Marshall was getting almost. Just finding little holes, blooping things in, taking advantage of stuff.
To me, it didn't feel like it was, you know, a, a bad game, just kind of a bad luck kind of situation there.
Yeah. I mean, they had, I think they had maybe eight hits and we had like four or five, but, uh, we were barreling some balls up. I mean, Luke, who's been, uh, been tremendous this season. He, I mean, he had one of the most unlucky days I I've seen in a while. I mean, he hit four or five balls, I mean, right at every outfielder at a hundred miles an hour.
And I mean, up and down the lineup, we were, if we were probably playing at the bud, who knows, probably would've had seven homers, but you know, we weren't playing at the bud. So we were playing in West Virginia and it's a new park. It was a cool little park. Um, there's nothing really around it, but it was a nice little park to play at. And it just, you know, she wasn't going our way. They were.
They were swinging, they were swinging the bats and they were just, you know, blooping them between, uh, the infield and our outfielders and through some holes. And it's just how, how the game is sometimes. And, you know, you just gotta, you can't change anything about it. It's just how it goes.
You know, when you talk about getting through some holes, you and Kenny don't let a lot get by you on that side of the infield. I know we had Kenny on, we talked about how much pride you guys take. Um, a lot of trash talking you guys do about how good you are. Like, talk to me about, about that, about the pride you take in your defense.
Um, I, I take, I know I take a lot of pride. I love defense. That's probably one of my favorite things to do, um, on a baseball field. Uh, it's just always been fun for me no matter where I'm at. That's just kind of, that's just kind of like my bread and butter. And, uh, I think, uh, I've played with Kenny obviously for three years. This is the third year now. Um, and I think this year Kenny has really like found a, found a love for defense.
Like he's, he's always been good at it, but I think he's really found a passion for it. And especially with like being next to him, like we're always like, man, this left side, you might as well just, Hit it somewhere else. Cause it's not really going to get through here. Like, so hitters just unlucky kind of being up there and that's just kind of how we take it in every day. Like if you want to hit it to the left side, then, you know, you're going to be in a bad mood all game.
I mean, it is like that. You see a, you see a ball hit there where it is, it's at the point where it's surprising if a ball gets through. So, I mean, that's impressive that you guys do that.
yeah.
I think Kenny said that if you hit the ball to the left side, you might as well not even run to first. I think that was his exact words on the podcast a few weeks ago.
Yeah. That's, that's what we talked about all the time.
And you know, what I think was even more impressive here is I've been watching you play ball since you're about like 14 or so. So I've always known you're outstanding defender. Uh, but last year when you came in, uh, kind of the second half of the year, you played a lot of outfield and didn't miss a beat. I mean, you were phenomenal out there for, I think you were telling me you hadn't played hardly any outfield and you were outstanding at it.
So I mean, it's just one of those, it's very impressive to see that the athleticism and that baseball intelligence just goes everywhere.
Yeah. Uh, the, honestly, I actually really liked the outfield. Um, if I had a chance to play outfield, I would love to do it. And I would treat it just like shortstop. The last time I played the outfield other than last year was my freshman year high school, uh, in the fall league, uh, when I was at Salem, and I was actually playing center field and I was using an infield mid out there. And, uh, then I got to college and use an outfield mitt obviously.
And it was like, uh, it was, it felt just different out there because felt like you had a mega mitt, like when you go to Omaha and you try on that mega mitt, that's what it, that's what it kind of felt like last year. But I actually, as much as I love the infield and shortstop, I actually really like the outfield. And, um, if one day I was asked by outfield, I would do it with the shortstop. No regret and no questions. Cause I would love to do it and it's fun.
Yeah. I mean, whoever would choose to put you out there, they wouldn't be making a mistake, man. You would, you would hunt them down. That's for sure. And the arm, I mean, the arm plays out there too. So that's great to see, man.
Yeah. It's all it's, it's, it's cool. Like watching, like when, when an outfitter throws somebody out, like. I love to see it. Cause it like, I've been out there before and when you throw somebody out, it's like the best feeling in the world. Cause it's like, you feel like you have an absolute bazooka.
Yeah. That's one of the few things I ever was able to do halfway decently in baseball was throw from the outfield. So I definitely understand that feeling. It's, there's nothing better than getting somebody from, you feel like you're a mile away and you get them out. It's like, that's, that's pretty great feeling.
Yeah,
Something about seeing that throw come from your hand and one hop perfectly to the catcher and they turn and get the tag. There's just something very satisfying about it.
there is no doubt.
Your nickname is Batman. A lot of people call you Batman. I think CB even calls that when we hopped on here. What is the origin story of that nickname? Like, when did you pick that up? Who gave it to you? And how does it just keep catching on with no matter who you get teamed up with?
Um, so it started last year. Uh, I wasn't really on the field much like, uh, throughout the first half of the season. And then we played Princeton in a midweek and I don't really know, like, I don't really know if there's like a specific backstory to it, but I remember just the night before Princeton. Uh, I was watching, uh, one of the Batman movie and like, I came out the next day and I didn't start, but I got in the game and I hit like a double and a Homer.
And I was just like, I just took like, obviously a bat and then a man. And I called myself Batman. And I just started just talking to myself that way and making it like a positive thing. And then like, when I got in the lineup, like I would go up to the plate and I'd be like, all right, Batman, here you go.
And then it kind of, I feel like that carried me a little bit in the, like how my mentality was and just like being able to swing the bat because Batman, like you always look at him, he's always like the hero and he's always like, he's always defeating other people and he's just like the man of the hour. And like, that's like kind of how I took my approach in and just like felt like that I could just do anything when I just said that to myself.
I love that. The origin is literally you going, Batman. Fantastic.
Oh, awesome. Well, I wanted to ask you, you've been with the team for a bit. You've been around a lot of different guys. Yeah. What are some of the odd, like new traditions and superstitions that the team is doing this year? We, we always ask the pitchers what they do in the bullpen. Uh, so we've got to ask the position players, like what are some of those pregame rituals and traditions you all have adopted this year?
Um, I don't know if there's anything really that has changed, um, like from what we do. And, you know, it's just, we show up when we need to stretch and stretch and take BP and, uh, BP's great. And then we kind of just all go in the locker room and bond a little bit. And I don't really know if there's any like superstition, we don't really have like any team superstitions, I would say.
But. Uh, something that is a little different and started this weekend is this the first time since I've been here. We wore white pants on the road. We wore white pants with Hudson blue tops on Sunday because we won with them at Harvard Park. And played really well. And then we just happened to play really well too on Sunday. And so you'll be seeing probably a lot of white pant Hudson tops on the road from here on out.
So I think that's, that's new, but other than that, I really, I don't think there's really many superstitions. We have this like hitters, like before the game, like as a team, like some people have their own obviously, but I think like as a collective group, there isn't really one that I can point out on the top of my head,
So it's just the bullpen being weirdos.
You guys gotta get TJ, TJ Aiken on board with the thumbs down. Cause he, every time he gets a hit, y'all are in there in the dugout. Like, give me your thumbs and TJ's does not pay. We gotta, we gotta lock this freshman up. You know, we gotta, you're an upperclassman Kyle. You gotta take care of this kid.
Yeah, TJ needs to start doing that for sure. I actually didn't notice that. So next time he, I don't know if he'll listen to this, but next time he does that. So starting tomorrow, he gets a single and he doesn't do that. I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to, uh, get him straight.
Yeah, he's getting in there. I told him the other day, I said, left field's yours, man. Just take it. And, but he's, he's getting all these hits and just leaving those guys hanging in the dugout. We can't, we gotta be a team. We can't do that.
Yeah, that is true.
So you've been hitting, uh, you've hit a little bit all over the lineup, right? You were leading off some, you've hit the two hole, three hole cleanup. Um, and you know, going back to other years, obviously you've hit down lower in the order too. Where do you feel works best for you or does it even matter to you?
I don't think there's really a, a specific spot that works best for me, I think. And I don't think there's like, as long as I'm, to me, as long as I'm hitting in the lineup. Like, I feel like it doesn't really matter where I am, but I think that the way that our lineup is now has been like very, very good and very consistent from, for the last couple weeks. And so I, you know, I was, I like leading off, like I've usually let off throughout my whole life.
Um, but I don't really think I have a specific spot that. Um, that is like, I need to be here. That's the comfort level. Like whether I'm in the nine, I'm in the four, the one, two, three, seven, matter what, I think just being able to compete and win from any spot lineup is what's honestly what works for me.
Yeah, I like hearing you say that because I mean when I when I watch it bad I don't think it really matters because you are you have a very versatile bat You know, you can hit for some power when you sometimes you can hit for you know You're a great line drive hitter and I think when you're able to Go direct to the ball and use that lever because I mean, you know, you're not a you're not a real tall guy But you are, you know six foot six one. I'm not sure where you're at.
But and you know, you're a skinny kid But you're strong. Um, and the times I see where you know, sometimes I think you get a little You know Where you're kind of trying to coil and kind of explode. And occasionally, so maybe your head kind of going up and down and that's where I've seen you struggle some, but when you like to let this past week, it was very clear, like no head still, you're just going straight to the ball.
And it's like, man, you are a dangerous hitter when you got everything going in the right direction.
Yeah, that is true. Was at a luncheon the other day over at the chart way. And, uh, it was just a bunch of like people that fund our scholarships here. And the one guy, he was at the game. He was sitting, sitting at my table and he goes, be honest with me. When the bases were loaded with two outs at Harbor park, were you trying to hit that thing over the fence? And, uh, I just was honest with him. I was just like, yeah, like those first few pitches, man. I was just trying to let one eat.
Like, there's really nothing loose. We had a good lead at that time. And, uh, I mean, sometimes I can, like, if there's a spot like that and, you know, we have a decent lead and I, I like hitting with runners on like early in the count, I'll try and really just explode on one. And sometimes that gets me into trouble and, you know, sometimes it works out, but I think when I just stay very calm and like, don't try and do too much is when everything starts going in the right direction,
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. I'm I'm with you in the right situation. Yeah, you got a big lead and basic juice, man Take your hats go for it. Why not? But like you said then you get once you get two strikes like alright Now we're back more controlled swing So it's it's just that kind of thought process is great to hear because I meant just probably shows the you've always again You've always been a high IQ ball player to me But just think like that probably a couple years ago.
You might not have that same thought process. That's good to hear
All right, Kyle, we got one more question for you, and it's one that we've asked everyone who's come on the show so far. Uh, we know we're getting the college football video game back this summer. I'm personally hoping that leads to the college baseball game eventually coming back as well. They make a college baseball game and you're in it. What is your overall rating? And are you going to absolutely dominate your teammates while playing against them with yourself?
I mean, personally, I would say my rating is a 99. But, uh, I have some pretty good teammates who are good at like, uh, and we'll be the show, as you know. Um, so there'd be some good matchups. I think, uh, I would dominate some people and some people would dominate me, but, uh, in the long run, I'm going to be competitive and it's going to be a, it's going to be a good game. Cause that's just, I'm not, I don't want to lose anybody.
Don't ever want to lose anybody, but, uh, you know, you can't really win them all, but. I'm going to try and win them all.
So I think you and Luke are in the 99 overall bucket. So the two of you hitting together there at 99 would be pretty solid. We had a couple guys that went like the humble route with like 82 and things like that, but glad to, glad to hear the 99.
I love it. I think as a hitter, you got to believe like you, you fail so much as a hitter. You got to believe you're a 99. Otherwise you'd never succeed. That's great, man.
Yeah. I mean, I think, I think just off that, like, like you said, like, you got to believe her the best one up there. Cause, um, I mean, for me, like personally, like from my freshman year to last year to this year, like, you know, I've been at the top of the world and I've been at the bottom of the world, like the difference between the two years is just going out there thinking that, You're, you're better than everybody else. And you're that 99 overall rating.
So I think, you know, obviously like when you say, when, when I say 99 overall, like, I'm not trying to be like, Oh, I'm the best player like to ever walk this earth, but it's just like trying to, you know, tell yourself that you're a great player and hitting is already hard enough. So you gotta, you gotta just tell yourself you're the best one there. And, um, then it'll lead to good things.
Nah, man. Don't back off it. You're a 99 pal. We got you, but we know what you meant. You're 99. We're believing it.
Well Kyle, thanks so much for spending a few minutes of your day with us. Uh, good luck against VCU on Tuesday and then of course this weekend at the bud against Louisiana Monroe. Thank you so much, Kyle.
Thank you.
Thanks Kyle. Appreciate it.
Welcome back to the Hudson Homer's podcast. CB and I are joined by a second special guest for today's episode, Mike McHugh, who is a ODU baseball alumni and is going to be hosting some really awesome ODU baseball alumni events this weekend against Louisiana Monroe. Mike, thanks so much for hopping on with us.
Hey guys, it's great to be with you. And again, you guys do an awesome job keeping us, uh, keeping us informed. We appreciate it. And I'm really. Uh, thankful to you guys for having me on to be able to talk about some of this good stuff we got going on and Monarch baseball, baby.
Oh yeah. Well, thank you so much for the kind words there, Mike. We definitely are hoping to support your group in any way you can, but I know you were at ODU from 85 to 87. Uh, tell us about your time playing at the Bud, any cool people you played with, played for, and then, uh, what was life like for you after ODU?
Yeah, it was, uh, you know what, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change it for, uh, for anything. And it was, uh, you really look back and you look back at how you were impacted by those people and the time, you know, and the times that you spent there. Um, you know, I played for Newman for Mark Newman. And he was a tough coach to play for, but many, many years later, you know, I found myself, uh, really, you know, reiterating things that I learned from him, not baseball related either.
You know what I mean? So as you get into the business world and, and things like that, um, I really appreciated what he, to me in, in that, in that respect. And I think a lot of guys that we had, you know, and like I said, he was tough, tough guy, but, uh, new baseball and, uh, prepared us just for, for everything beyond baseball. And, um, so that was, yes, back in the eighties. And so I spent, uh, three years there.
That's a long time ago, but you know, I spent three years there and, uh, wound up signing, uh, after that. I signed after my junior year out of the, I played in the valley for a couple of years and, uh, signed with the Dodgers, uh, played with the Dodgers organization, uh, for a couple of years. And then, uh, Dr. Jobe took care of the rest of that and I had Tommy John and I was kind of done. But, uh, yeah, then after that, I went on, I coached for a while.
Uh, I coached actually, uh, Bunch of different places, uh, started out in, you know, just some local smaller schools up here in Jersey. Um, and, uh, then I eventually went out to, uh, Kansas State. I was pitching coach out of Kansas state and then, uh, actually to back, back home, back East to one of our, uh, one of our old nemesis is, uh, Charlotte. I was a pitching coach at Charlotte for, uh, for a while.
So, and then, uh, then I grew up and realized I needed to, uh, I needed to get a real job. So, uh, I got into, uh, I get into the mortgage business and, and then like, I always say, you know, now, now what I'm doing, I'm selling pharmaceuticals and, um, now, so, uh, uh, You know, it's been a, it's been a rollercoaster, but, uh, I kind of done a lot of stuff and, um, you know what, I, I look back fondly on, um, on my time there at Old Dominion, and it's, uh, it was a great fit for me.
And, uh, I love, I love how the program has grown and, and the school itself. I mean, it was quite a bit different, as you can imagine back then. So, there you go. There's me in a nutshell.
Now, am I correct? You played with, uh, when Wiley Lee was playing there?
Yes, sir. I uh, yep. I played with Wiley. I played with a bunch of good Nick. I don't know if you guys know Nick Booth. Uh, he was there my freshman year. Um, Sean O'Hare, Kevin Burris. Great left handed pitcher Tommy West Like I said Wiley Oh God Tommy Bell senior So Tommy's dad Terry was already gone Terry had left before I got there, but Jimmy Martin Rodney Imes, there's just a couple to name, to name a few. We had a good, we had a good, we had a good year.
86, we had a really good, or 85, we had a really good year. Yeah, we were, uh, seventh in the country, I think, at some, at one point, and then, uh, yeah, we ran into a buzzsaw down in South Carolina. Seems to be, seems to happen, doesn't it?
it does. South Carolina has not been friendly to us. But yeah, you got the 85 team, that whole group of guys, they're one that if you look back through the ODE record books, you see that year and those names a lot. So that's, what was it like getting to play on a team like that? Was that prominent?
it was, uh, it was tough to get in the lineup, I'll tell you that. Um, but, uh, yeah, I was, I was a relief pitcher and, um, and I always see, I always joke with Tommy Bell senior and he'll tell you this, uh, cause Tommy was, you know, Tommy was like a fifth year senior at the time when we, and we actually won, we were actually a Sunbelt back then, the old Sunbelt. And, um, we had, we actually at that point in time, believe it or not, you know what we did, we hosted a tournament. At the bud.
So, um, I know that's kind of a sticky subject, right? But, uh, hopefully not for too long. But, uh, um, yeah. So we hosted the Sun Belt tournament and, uh, we were in our, in the last game of the tournament. It was, you know, pretty good. Packed crowd and I think we went, I know it was extra innings. It was, it was late, you know, and, um, Tommy bell had come into the game because Jimmy Martin got hurt.
Our third baseman got hurt and T bell didn't play a whole lot, you know, but you know what, he was always ready, stayed ready and he gets a, you know, To end the game, he gets like a hundred hopper in the middle, you know, in the middle infield, we score the winning run, walk off, place goes crazy. And I always, I, cause now we're in the 14th inning or whatever it was 13th inning, and I was ready, I was in the bullpen ready to come in.
And I just tell him every time I see him, thank you for getting that hit because I, cause I was next. And, uh, I don't know if I was ready for that. So, but that was great playing with all those guys. Um, and they'll all be there this weekend. You know, let's, uh, we get a good turnout and, um, It's, uh, it's great seeing them and great, uh, reminiscing, you know, we'll tell the same stories over and over again, but it's all great. And, uh, hopefully we'll get some more people.
We'll get some of the young, the young old timers coming out too. So, but, uh, yeah, it was great.
Yeah, I saw a few of the young old timers, uh, this past Tuesday at Harbor Parks. Um, I'm sure a few of them are going to be out there, uh, to see you.
Well, I hope they are. Like I was telling Gary, I was like, you know, the alumni. thing. We actually do the alumni weekend. They do the whole alumni golf tournament and stuff in the fall. We try to get down for that. And this is kind of, I kind of try to, uh, market this a little different. This is more like, you know, kind of a baseball thing. It's more of an old old timers weekend. So, um, hopefully that will kind of stick, you know, but, uh, the O. D. A. F. They do a great job. Java lines.
Um, He's stepped up and really helped us a lot. I don't know if you guys know John, but he's a great guy. Um, and, uh, he stepped up and they've stepped in and, and really kind of, um, taking the ride with us, you know, and, and, and gotten this thing to where it is now we're in our fourth year of doing it now. Um, so, um, we're kind of hoping that it's going to get bigger and bigger. So hopefully this will help,
yeah, absolutely. Anything we can do to spread the word on this to our baseball alumni that are out there Um, you know, what, what events do you have going on? And like, what's the best way that fans can help support what you all are doing?
yeah, that's great. We, uh, we actually, you know, we got a whole weekend plan. We got, you know, and like I said, this thing kind of, kind of started very organically, you know what I mean? It was during COVID, we're all sitting there, everybody's doing their own thing, not going out, not doing anything. And eventually I just started a text group and said, what's going on out there, Monarch? So, you know, who's around, who's doing what?
And you know, we're all sitting by ourselves doing the same thing, drinking alone. Um, and, uh, that started and then that started, Hey, we got to get together. And of course we couldn't do it. That was like the, the April of 2020. So that was like right at the beginning of it. So of course we couldn't, there was no season that year. So then the following season we, we planned it for 2021 and we, it was great. You know, that was the first time we had seen a lot of guys in 35 something years.
Um, And then, uh, at that, you know, during that time, that's when Newman had passed, Mark Newman had passed away. Um, so we, we kind of did a tribute to him. Um, and we had a bunch of guys come back and it was great, but so we do the, the ODAF, they'll have a, um, a tent set up for us down on Rally Alley. Um, and they put on a nice spread for us and drinks and, you know, food and stuff. And, uh, so this year we got, we got that going.
That's going to be, I guess the game time's at four, I believe. I was just texting back and forth with John. And, um, so the, the, the game is at four rally alley picnic, you know, old timers picnic is going to be at, um, three 30. So, you know, between 30, that'll be going on. Come down and see us. We'll have some, uh, stuff, you know, we'll have some merch going on. Some nice stuff. I don't know if you can see the sweatshirt I got on.
This is a, one of the things, it's a nice lightweight pullover. and what any money we raise from, you know, we try to get people to kind of give, you know, and give back, we give it right to the right to John and right to the, the foundation for the, for the baseball program. So we got that going on. We got the, um, The rally alley cookout and that's the main day. You know, that's the main day. Well, a bunch of us are playing golf on Friday at Cypress point, but that's not expected.
If you want to play, tell them to reach out to me. However, they on Facebook, um, we've got a Facebook page too, if that would be the best way to get any information. It's ODU baseball alumni. So if they, if they can go on there, they'll get all the information they need. And then after the game on Saturday, we have a private room over at Max Barge. Um, over on Cali. So we got a, uh, we got a private room, live entertainment, food, And we're not paying for your drinks.
You got to pay, but they're giving us a break on drinks. So, uh, they're giving us, you know, happy hour pricing on drinks and stuff. So that'll go from like six to nine, something like that. So it's kind of a good, uh, good way to kind of get together. And then, uh, you know, and then Sunday we kind of wrap it up and some will stay for the game and some will go home, but, uh, and then we'll do it well, hopefully we'll do it next year, but, uh, this is, uh, you know, this is a good one.
So hopefully we'll get some people out there.
That, that sounds like a pretty fun schedule of stuff that's going on. Uh, and you know, for fans, if you were at the series last weekend, uh, the cool family kind of did the same thing where they had that tent in the back rally alley, rented out, uh, and there's a good gathering of, of people. So. Even if you just have regular tickets, you can still go back there and say hello and definitely check out the merch tables.
And I know just like when you're, you're buying stuff from, from our site, all the money is going back into the program. So that is a, that's really, really awesome to hear.
Yeah, it's great. And, um, if they, if anybody wants to, if you want to take part in the, um, in the rally alley cookout, I don't, I think you got time just to, if you can just email John the lines, Just email him and say, Hey, we're coming to the picnic at, uh, at Rally Alley and I got two people or whatever. So that would be, uh, just so he's got it, just so we can get a head count.
I definitely would suggest anyone go down there and talk to our alumni, talk to the guys, listen to like, as you said, telling those same old stories, go down and listen to those same old stories. I'm personally, I love, talk to them. Hearing people tell baseball stories.
There's nothing more fun than somebody talking about, you know, this thing that happened 30 years ago You can tell they've told the story 40 times Uh, probably the last Month, but it's still just I I like hearing old baseball stories So if nothing else, you know get down there hang out see some alumni. Here's some great stories
Yeah. And like I said, there's going to be some good players, some, some good ex players down there too. Like I, yeah, you know, you got, you guys know James Williams, right? He's got the ODU page. He'll be there, of course. It's wall to wall ex players and, you know, and some, like I said, some, some really good ones too. You know, Terry Bell will be there and, uh, Biersie. I hope Finney gets, comes down. I go, I think about the years, how the years have gone by.
And, uh, you'd ask me about, you know, back in the day, um, Back when I was, you know, when I was first coaching back in the 90s early, God, early 90s. That's I know Finney from way back when You know, we used to work, we used to work the camps at Old Dominion when Mac was here. Pat McMahon and Newman. Um, but Finney was, I think maybe in his first year at, uh, at VMI at the time. Also on that, I wanted to mention something else too, if I could, guys.
We're gonna do a little, uh, a little shout out too, it's kind of a, uh, remembrance of, uh, Tim Parenton. Tim was a, he was a, uh, assistant coach here, um, with. with pat mcmahon. I never played with him, but I worked for him for some camps. He was a wonderful guy and he went down to, he was head coach at north florida, I believe. And uh, he recently, he just passed away this past year. And um, so we're gonna, we're gonna honor him.
Just to let them know we're thinking about them and, uh, you know, let them know they had an impact on some of us. So that'd be great if we could get some of some of those guys, you know, that actually played for him and I'm sure there'll be some of them there. So I encourage them to come up and talk to me.
Well, Mike. We're just going to push the fans that go hang out at Rally Alley, uh, in the back there, say hello, uh, pick up some, some merch and know your support in the program. I'll likely be down there on Saturday myself, so I'll be down there. I'm sure with a box full of koozies I'm trying to get rid of. Uh, so we'll, uh, we'll add that to your collection as well for a free giveaway. Uh, but Mike, really appreciate you coming on and promoting this.
Uh, we'll put it out with all the social media links, uh, and of course onto your Facebook page as well. So that way everyone can, can get the word out there, but thanks so much for joining us
Hey, anytime guys. And again, thank you guys for all you're doing and, um, keep it up and, uh, we'll be talking soon and make sure you come down and see me on Saturday.
Welcome back Monarch fans. I hope you enjoyed the conversations with Kyle Edwards and Mike McHugh. Kyle was awesome. Gave us a lot of really great info there. Just an awesome kid to finally have here on the program. What do you think, CB?
I love Kyle. I've been, I've been watching him. I think he committed to ODU when he was a freshman in high school, which I don't think you can't even do that anymore. They can't even talk to you that early. Uh, and so I've been able to watch him probably since he was about 14 years old and I've always just been such a big fan. He is, he's Always been a phenomenal, uh, defender. He was a great hitter in high school when he came to ODU. He struggled as a hitter.
I think he kind of forgot who he was for a while. And so it was wonderful last year to see him take over the second half of the year and really be who he is. And he's been, you know, consistent force in the lineup and on the field for us this year. So it's seeing a kid From Hampton Roads play at ODU for me as a kid from Hampton Roads who went to ODU is always a great thing. And so I'm always, those guys are always gonna have a special place in my heart.
Also enjoyed talking to Mike. It sounds like they're going to have some pretty cool things set up over the weekend, so can't encourage you enough to One, get out to the bud because we only have a few games left in the bud and it's current configuration and you're going to miss it next year. I promise you to get to the bud, pop over to rally alley, uh, you know, go to the back there where that 10 is set up and, and get to meet some really cool baseball. I'm excited to meet an awesome crowd there.
I pick up some merge, help support the program because we kind of have the same mission with what we're doing for the monarchists and what they're doing with their alumni group. They just want to support the program and get as many people involved in helping the program as possible.
Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there'll be guys from all different eras, but even if you just talk to some of the guys on the teams Mike played with, uh, the 85 team, they were ridiculous. If you go look through the, the ODU media guide at any point, the 85 team is all over it. I think Wiley Lee and Todd Azar both played for team USA. I mean, they were, they were some ballplayers. They were some dudes.
Yeah, definitely. I think, what would you say? 51 and 11 was their record was
it was 50 and 11. Yeah, I think, like I said, I think they were up to number seven in the country and that's back when the Bud was, was one of the best, uh, places in all of college baseball. Uh, as you look at it today, almost 40 years later, it seems shocking, but it was, it was a premier place.
Well, we will very hopefully be getting back to that kind of status here in the next two years. There's so much excitement around rebuilding the bud and getting all those, those cool features. And most importantly, allowing us to host regionals and super regional. So at the end of the day, that's where we want to be pretty much every season. If we can.
Yeah, I mean, that's the goal. That's the hope is that you, you know, we, we all want that 2021 season to happen every year. I mean, that was such a special year for anybody who was a part of it. And, um, there was that bittersweetness of not being able to get to host the conference series, get to host the regional that you earned.
Yeah. And that's one of the things I think that's as special as that whole season will be will always be there will always be that kind of memory at the end that kind of like, ah, that's such a shame that we didn't get to do what every every team should get to do
I've, I've always been the mindset of, we need to make sure we're rewarding the teams that win a lot for us. Baseball is one of them and women's soccer. They want a lot. And I have to give a shout out to ODU men's tennis, who just won their second consecutive Sunbelt title. They are going to the big dance for tennis. Congratulations to that team on just continuing to be an elite program for us. It's in the school.
tennis school. Yeah, and I'll be honest, I, you know, I know our tennis team has always been good. I really before this year, I hadn't been out to see a tennis match and I went and I saw the men and women both playing the same day. It was a it was a great time. I wish I'd have gone more frankly. They have those 10 a. m. starts and sometimes on a Saturday, uh, 10 a. m. is a little too, uh, early for me to start if they would do the more like a 1 a 1 1 p. m. or even at noon.
I think I, but that's that's my fault for not going out supporting them as strong as I should have. But I, I really enjoyed, uh, Give me watch both the men's and women's tennis teams. I got to take some pictures and it was a fun time.
Um, so it definitely, I hope they go down and man, I'd love to see them make a strong run down in the, uh, and so they'll be tournament and good luck to the women's tennis, uh, this week they have the conference tournament and I, I fully expect they're going to go and dominate. They, they have not had much competition for them. There are some really good tennis players.
They are dominant. They won their second consecutive regular season title in the Sunbelt looking for their second straight Sunbelt title. Uh, so good luck to them, uh, for sure. But let's turn our attention back to the fun slate that we have this week for ODU baseball. And we get to start with, you know, those guys down the road for me here. VCU coming to the bud on Tuesday
It is always a good time and you get to beat VCU. I mean, it just, it just really, and, and we, we tend to, I don't know, I, maybe I'm wrong. It feels like we beat them more often than we lose to them in baseball. Um, but they, I mean, I do, uh, I do enjoy VCU. They always have, they're always good people. Um, know a few of guys. I got a kid. Um. James McCready, uh, who is from Greenbrier Christian.
He was a teammate of Bailey Mattel in high school, uh, Phil Forbes, the fifth, he played up in Newport news. Um, and they got cam knuckles who played for the peninsula pilots. Um, looking at their stats, it looks like those guys don't play a ton, but maybe because it's a mini week, maybe they'll get in there. Maybe they'll throw them in there. Um, but, uh, they're, you know, EC, uh, VCU is always a good team.
Uh, just looking up here, Brandon Ikey, speaking of the pilots, he plays for the Tri City, uh, Chili Peppers, which has had some of the most fun uniforms you'll ever see. Um, and he, he dominated all summer and I see here he is hitting three 40 with 19 doubles, eight homers, 40 RBIs. So he's just dominating all season. He is their third baseman. He is a phenomenal hitter guy is just strong
VCU so far this season, they're 25 and 14, they're 7 and 4 in the A 10, which has them tied with Dayton for second. They're similar to the tie scenario that we saw in the Sun Belt, they actually had their final game against Dayton cancelled, so they have one less game than everyone else.
St. Louis is in first in the 8 10 at 8 4, Richmond is 7 5, along with Fordham right behind them, so a little logjam there in the 8 10, but, I mean, they, I feel like they just always have a solid program, like, they're never a team you're gonna go in and steamroll. Uh, you were talking about, like, historically, uh, according to ODU's records, uh, we are 32 28 against them all time, so pretty damn competitive series. Um, we're actually have a losing record against them at home.
We're 12 and 14 or 19 and 13 against them up at the diamond. Uh, I know from my days of being in school from Oh five to Oh nine. This was always a big one for us when it came to conference play, because we were all in the CIA together. We hated VCU for a number of reasons, mainly basketball. Uh, but it was always just a good environment. Uh, so expecting it to be a fun one. We get the return trip up here to Richmond in a couple of weeks, but.
Yeah. Uh, 6 p. m. game on Tuesday at the Bud weather forecast looks amazing for some evening baseball.
Yeah, I know you're right. We actually need to feel Uh strongly against them towards basketball now because they think they're too good to play us Um, so that's another reason to really hate vcu. Uh, I am excited my buddy will flanders. Uh, he's a student coach with them Uh, so i'm very excited to see is one of my really good friends I talked to him all the time about baseball stuff. He was uh at paul d camp Uh, last year when they helped them go to the, uh, the junior college world series.
Um, and so it's exciting to see him. He chose to go to VCU over coming to coach with ODU. So, I mean, you know, I'm just gonna we need to make him show him that he made some bad choices. We were talking the other day about how disgusting their uniforms look. Um, so need to make sure to to give will a hard time about wearing that gross stuff
Well, if, if he survived a season with my buddy, Daniel Rollins down at Pauldy camp, uh, I guess we can give him the excuse for the uniforms, but shout out to, uh, to Daniel Rollins and Pauldy camp. I think they're having a pretty damn good season down there again, uh, and hopefully pipeline and a couple of guys, uh, our way.
Yeah, he survived a few years there with rollins, man. Rollins is a good guy He's it's really it's neat to see what they've been able to build down there
yeah, I know far too much about that guy from playing a lot of baseball with him over the years, but, uh, glad that their program is doing well. Glad to see him be successful. Uh, maybe convince him to carry his butt up across the river and, come to an ODU game. But, uh, yeah, so going to be a great night for baseball Tuesday night. So head over to the bud, enjoy it. I'm going to be jealous while I'm stuck somewhere in DC for work, but, uh, I will be coming down this weekend at some point.
For a very important series against Louisiana Monroe, the fighting Warhawks. I think is what,
Warhawk sure why not?
yes,
That's a name. I'm a lot of warhawks down in louisiana. All right
they're, they are all about it. Well, Louisiana Monroe, they are 1821 overall. They are six and 12 in the Sunbelt. Haven't had a whole lot of good luck lately. Uh, they went and went on the road to Southern Miss, uh, lost two out of three, but they were able to salvage that Sunday game. So maybe they're feeling a little bit better. They got run ruled on Friday. And on Saturday, uh, before that they lost a midweek to Louisiana tech. Who's who's pretty good.
Uh, but they did take two out of three against Texas state at home prior to that. So, like we always say on paper, we should sweep them, but in reality, this is the Sunbelt and you're going to have to scratch and claw to get every game that you can from this one.
Yeah, and like I said, it really is a series that We gotta, just go out Friday night, do what you gotta do, take it pitch by pitch, at bat by at bat, win that game, do the exact same thing on Saturday, win that game, do the exact same thing on Sunday, don't, you can't look ahead, yeah, yes, I agree, we absolutely should sweep this team, this is a team, and this is, these are, these are Three conference wins we can walk away with.
Uh, but again, it comes down to just, you got to focus on the exact moment you're in. If you're sitting there on Friday night, thinking about we got to win the whole weekend, that's never going to work. They, you got to focus on, we, I got to win this pitch. Uh, and I believe, you know, we've seen our guys, they're, they're figuring out how to win as a team, but figuring out how to have these strong at bats.
So it all looks like it's moving in the right direction for that kind of thing to happen.
And Louisiana Monroe, they've got some hitters. They are not going to come in and just lay down. Bryce Blazer is without a doubt their best hitter. Hitting 357 with a 940 OPS. Two home runs, 21 RBIs. And then
blazing?
he's
is blazing.
I hope he had a good weekend. Maybe that's why they lost, because it
he should have played at UAB. He could have been blazer on the blazers
Oh, that would have been too perfect. I wonder how much eligibility he has. He can hop in the transfer portal and make that dream a reality.
Did they even get their did they even get their baseball? I think they did get their baseball team back Didn't they like they were gonna they stopped for like a year and then had to restart it. They did something stupid
I know they did that with football. I'm not sure what happened with baseball.
Who knows
One of the other key hitters, Eason Winfield, he's hitting 331 with a 984 OPS. Uh, he's got eight home runs and 23 RBIs. He's also stolen 13 bags. Yeah. So there's a couple other guys that are hitting above 300 as well. Cody Lunsford is one, uh, Sean Dalton Weatherby. So they've got some dudes that can hit. They've been able to put the ball in play. And it's going to be working around those guys to get to other softer spots in the lineup.
And just making sure, if we pitch the way that we have been, we should have some pretty good success against this
yeah, they got a guy here. It looks like he's coming on late He he's got less at bats and other guys, but he he's probably getting them now and I I hope i'm saying his name correctly because it looks like michelle i'm which i'm, you know, Depending on where he's from it could be your uh his name, but it looks like michelle artzenberger Hitting 361 11 doubles three homers 28 rbis.
He looks like he's putting in some great work there I forgot what position he plays, but I hope I'm saying his name correct. I apologize though I'm not, I'm just, I believe it's either that or it's Michael with a really weird pronunciation.
It could be either way, probably not someone you want to throw a lot of center cut fastballs to with that 1. 046 OPS. Uh, so yeah, they've got some dudes that could hit and, you know, we're just gonna have to be able to answer with that. And it's interesting over on the pitching side. They seem to take a similar approach that we have adopted with using openers and not stretching your starting guys out and throwing a lot of different guys because.
They only have two pitchers that have 33 or more innings this year, and like one is exactly 33, and the other one is 33 and two thirds, so they spread it out, but they've got some relievers with some, some pretty damn good numbers, some sub three ERAs out there, a lot of strikeouts, not a ton of walks, Dalton hit, which I don't know how much he throws, he's only got 11 innings, but he's holding opponents to a 0 8 8 batting average, so, They may not be as bad as that 6 record indicates.
Yeah, they got, I just counted, they've got 21 different pitchers that appeared in a game. Um, I haven't counted, maybe ODU has the same amount, I just thought their, their list of pitchers seemed extremely large. Um, so yeah, you're right. I mean, they have several guys who are throwing up good seasons, but again, in the aggregate, they have a six 13 TMR team. They are raised. So this is a team you should score some runs against.
This is a team that, you know, they've given up, they've given up some runs. Um, they've got some are under and runs, right? They've got over. About 23 unearned runs. So this is a team that again We could go out we compete against yeah, they hit a little bit Uh, but this is these are some guys that you should be able to go out and beat again They just got they got run ruled twice this past weekend od. You can absolutely do that to somebody
And if you're a team that's not super clean defensively, you're playing right into our strategy, right? We want to get guys on base. We want to steal. We want to put guys in motion, but all of those things. And you saw it with Marshall on Saturday, when we were able to do those things, put a ton of pressure on them, we were rewarded with, with runs. I won't say points like the guys in the radio broadcast. Uh, but those are the kinds of things you can do.
And it's, it's just going to take that effort of putting the ball in play and allowing yourselves to put pressure on a team that has not been very sound defensively.
Oh, and and now that since i'm looking at the roster here, uh barham white, uh, another peninsula pilot. He is not He's only been four, four games for him. So I don't, I doubt he'll get to play. I don't know if they can be there this weekend, but another, another, uh, peninsula pilot, it's always nice to see those guys around.
It's amazing how many guys in the Sunbelt have come through like the Pilots or Charlottesville or somewhere where we're seeing them in summer ball. It's pretty cool.
Yeah, it's pretty neat. I know. I know ULM has a kid that's going to play for the pilots again this summer. Henry Garcia, very good outfielder. Um, I know, uh, They were looking at him with ODU, but there were some questions about, you know, whether or not he could get into school or not. Who knows? Uh, but he, so he'll be a good ballplayer for him next couple of years.
Well, three good ones at home. The forecast, keep your fingers crossed, looks great all three days, all four days if you throw in Tuesday against VCU, but it's going to be six o'clock Friday, four o'clock on Saturday, one o'clock on Sunday, and it's, uh, Sunday is youth day and kids are on the bases. So Probably be a lot of good opportunities to potentially get some more autographs and at least, very least get down on the field, let the kids run the bases a little bit.
So hoping to see a big crowd out there. Um, I think I might make Saturday, Sunday, we will see, but a great weekend for baseball in Norfolk and second to last Sunbelt series, which is crazy to
Yeah. I mean, you got to soak them in. I mean, so we've only, there's only four weekends that you're guaranteed, you know, obviously the team's in position to be in the tournament, uh, but you only got. You know, four weekends and was a three more midweeks. So, you know, it's about 15 games left in your season. So now's the time to get that crunch down. You know, again, I was, I've been looking at, you know, looking at the stats kind of after every week and they don't move a lot.
They're kind of, you're deep enough in the year now where guys numbers don't really change a lot. So you kind of are who you are, but make the best of that. You know, you can still move things a little bit and just get some wins, move things the right way. Like I said, I really believe this team is poised to. Add to their win total to really be strong going into the tournament.
And as we pointed out with as good as the Sun Belt is if you do well in the tournament You could all of a sudden find yourself playing in the big tournament
And I'll point this out to ODU's won five of their last seven. They won their last two conference series. If you think about where this team is right now and what the pathway is in front of them versus last season, where we were starting to really slide the wrong direction and bad things just got worse. Uh, the, the upside here is huge for ODU. They just need to go out and take it.
And you know, it's a great point you bring that up because the guys that are still here That were here last year are the guys who are good people who want to be here and want to play ball and want to compete and the lessons they had to have learned from What happened in the last year where you had some bad people who didn't want to compete Bringing things down. It can only help them this year.
Building that toughness and mainly mental toughness. If you listen to the extra fendings podcast, which Fenway talked about that a lot. In the last episode and this team appears to have it, they have the resiliency. They are battle tested is about as well as you can be at this point in the season. And all starts Tuesday, go beat VCU. Got to beat your rivals.
Yeah, that's one that matters. Like I said, it matters beating uva even though It's hard to call it a rivalry because they definitely don't consider us that and i don't blame them But vcu for sure is a rivalry. Let's go out take the first one Uh, so we can go beat them in their place where we played pretty well.
Absolutely. Well, I think that does it for us. Hope you enjoyed the episode today. The guests we brought on, we really appreciate you listening.
Let's go score some points this weekend
Let's score some points because down with the pitch. Here we go. It's a
Down with the pitch. Oh
Down the pitch.
Terrible
All right. Well, thank you all so much for listening. I'm Gary. Go
and i'm cb go monarchs