Hello, Monarch fans, and welcome to the Hudson Homer's podcast. I am Gary, joined by my partner in crime, CB. CB, hell of a way to close the bud. But how are you feeling?
I, you know, better than I did during that game. I, at one point, I think the stress and the emotions and the excitement got to me, and probably being a warmer day and not drinking enough water, I really thought I was going to throw up at one point about the 11th, 10th, 11th inning. I had to Uh, I really did and then I got a little bit of water in me.
It felt a little better And then of course what an amazing way to set up the bug steven meyer just absolutely destroying a ball I didn't even bother looking at where the ball went because I was just taking pictures of him doing it I didn't realize he did a bad flip because again i'm losing my mind Uh, so what a what an amazing way to end this iteration of the bud.
He hit it right over Bud Metheny in right field.
perfect. I mean, that's amazing
How perfect is that? I mean, he hit it a good ways beyond the wall, but it went right over top of it. Epic bad flip. Sunday game. Typically not drinking any beers. Got to talk to Finney post game, drive back. But. Hell of a game to not have a couple beers in you. Cause yeah, it was, uh, it was a wild one.
That game was something that went from like well five nothing man we could we were on the bullpen doing a couple of the grounds crew and the Facility management guys and we're talking about like well, I know if you get 10 after 7 It's a you get to finish early But if you get I think if you get 15 after 5, especially on a sunday I think you actually can finish that i'm i'm not positive about that rule.
I was like i'm I think it is And then of course, you know, like an inning or two later, all of a sudden that's uh, we're behind
It, uh, it changed quickly, but we will definitely talk more about the final game at the bud later in the podcast. But first I want to get you caught up on dollars for dingers and bucks for bags. Uh, we added a couple this week. We're now at 48 home runs on the season and we are at 77 stolen bases. Uh, I am not a math major, but I believe that is 125. You should be socking away. Uh, for what's little bit is left of the season here for those campaigns.
Yeah, I mean, that's great. I'm glad we we gathered together doing both Uh, because you'll probably end up about what you would have been doing last couple years for dollars for dingers So yeah Uh, it's good, you know, we're getting some more home runs, weather heats up a little bit, guys are hitting them out and still stealing some bags.
I think we've now tied the amount of stolen bags we had on this team last year, so we should definitely finish with more than last year between the um, the, this coming weekend down in Georgia and then the tournament.
Yeah, absolutely keep stacking and racking, uh, on the home runs and the stolen bases, but the week started out in just awesome fashion, uh, ODU comes up 64 to the diamond to take on VCU, and despite it being a six run game in the final box score, once again, it was never that close. ODU controlled this game. Really from the third inning on, and it was great to roll in there and beat down the ramps.
Yeah, I mean it's, it's always great to beat VCU, uh, beat them twice in one year is great, because we kind of had this weird thing going where they would come down to Norfolk and win and we'd go up to Richmond and win, so once we got the win, In Norfolk, it was nice to be able to like, okay, no, we still own you in Richmond. 14 to eight victory. We just, it wasn't that close. Just a few garbage runs. They got there at the end, five hit day for Luke waters of three RBIs.
I mean, the top of the lineup TJ can two for five calibers, two for four Luke waters, five for six. I mean, that's hard to go wrong with your top three in the line. I'm doing that.
Yeah. And two through four. So Edwards waters and Kenny LaVarie each drove in three runs impressive for Kenny did not have a hit, still drove in three runs on Tuesday at the diamond. It was wild. It was, a lot of like RBI ground outs, putting the ball in play. I know he had a sack fly as well, but you know, if, if you can drive in three runs without getting hit, that's pretty impressive.
It's just a case of him being a team player I mean, that's a guy who is you know It's it's what we need out of every guy is like I want to do whatever I possibly can do To help my team win and I guarantee kenny if you ask him after the game Yeah, i'm sure he's like I wish I got a hit But he drove in three runs the team had a blowout win against a rival And i'm sure he felt great because that's exactly what you want to do So, I mean that's you couldn't ask for a better example from your veteran
leader the guy who um didn't realize within this next week is probably gonna Uh break the record for games played by I know to you monarch
He's definitely a staple for ODU baseball. What's, I think, is it, is it 2 23 or 224 now for
I will check on that while we're here talking but he's I he's definitely up there I think I think throughout if he plays all three on the weekend, I think the third game would be 227 Which would be the new record?
that is just, just amazing, uh, for one guy to contribute that much to our program. In the VCU game on Tuesday, ODU got ahead, uh, three to nothing. VCU was able to answer back and get three runs in the bottom of the second. But we just kept stacking runs. We got one in the third, three in the fourth, one in the sixth. Really blew this game open in the seventh inning and got to give a shout out to Jake Tyser.
Uh, he comes in and pinch hits in the seventh, ends up going two for two, but he doubles the left center. Uh, and that kind of starts a parade of walks, hit by pitches, singles, putting the ball in play. Uh, just a lot of that good small ball there in the seventh inning to plate five runs on three hits. And it was all over at that point. I will tell you the game was a bit of a slog. I think it was the longest game we had had so far this season.
It was just over four hours, maybe prior to Sunday's game. It was the longest, but the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, enough wind, not too much wind, no rain. It was a really just beautiful night at the diamond and made all that much better by putting up 14 runs on the rams
Yeah, it was a typical midweek, non conference game. Both teams used a ton of pitchers. There were all kinds of mid inning pitching changes. You got a lot of guys who haven't thrown a lot of innings, so they're, they're wild. Even if they do get an out, a lot of times they're throwing like a full count. Um, unfortunately for VCU, a couple of, uh, Hampton Roads local kids, James McGrady from Greenbrier Christian and Phil Forbes from Menchville, both had some rough outings.
Our pitching, you know, Dylan Brown did not have, again, another great start, but he, we'll talk about later, he did really have a, finished his week dynamite. Uh, kellen davis had one of his best performance of the year. He got picked up the win Hitting a third scoreless, uh really got out of a jam Bayley mattella came off the uh kind of injured squad.
He's had some shoulder issues been holding him back Um, he pitched for the first time in a month struck out the first two guys No problem next couple guys walked, um, and steven trone came in and did a pretty good job cleaning that up Lincoln Ransom pitched a great scoreless inning. Nick Slapizio pitched a great scoreless inning. Kyle Finn pitched another scoreless one. Uh, then Vincent Bechere came out and cleaned up a little bit of a mess there at the end.
So, so, you know, you give up eight runs, it doesn't sound like the pitching did great, but there was a lot of, there were a lot of really good individual performances in the midst of all that.
And I don't think kyle finn had thrown in almost two months I want to say the northeastern series was the last time we saw him He did walk two batters, but he got a strikeout no hits no runs Uh, so good to see him Just just get some action out there on the mound in the game that you know We had in hand but as we saw a little bit later had the potential to get out of hand Uh, but that they were able to to do what they needed to do to lock it down You And to win that game.
Jack Slater too, while we're, while we're talking about guys, Jack Slater with a couple of hits and a couple of rbis. Um, and he has not gotten a ton of chances this year as a backup catcher, especially with, uh, as many games as home was playing. But he, he's get got to play, you know, with, uh, midweek and with Evan getting a little banged up. So Jack came in there and did great. That was, that was really excellent to see.
yeah, I took the words right out of my mouth. Uh, you know, two for four. I think he was also hit by a pitch. He did a, a heck of a job stepping in there for Holman. I know him and tone of kind of split time when, when Holman's not been available, but I also thought he did a really great job behind the plate defensively. Uh, the diamond is a very weird ballpark, uh, both for outfielders and for catchers.
And I thought he did a really good job of, just keeping everything in front of them, uh, and, and keeping the pitchers on track through a. Long 4 hours down there on the field. I tweeted out earlier this week of you and I come on here and we talk a lot about just good people all throughout the O. D. U. Baseball program. And Tuesday was just a great example of that, uh, 7 year old nephew, Brought him to the game. He is baseball obsessed.
Reached out to John Holobetz and Luke Waters before the game. Asked like, hey, would you, you know, have a minute to meet him afterwards? They were like, oh, absolutely. So post game of a four hour game. Uh, they were looking for us in the stands. We found them down the field. Uh, they. Talk to my nephew got a little too shy to take a photo or anything, but they were happy to do that.
Uh, we were looking for a baseball and Bryce Jones was walking by, just happened to hear that we were looking for a baseball and they had already taken the buckets to the bus. So Bryce Jones, without any prompting started. Checking everyone's backpack who was walking by to find a baseball. I think eventually found one in Brandon Pond's backpack, made sure that we got it over there, uh, to him.
And, uh, you know, that, that made his day by the time he got to the concourse, he was not nearly as shy. And I think the way home and the next day, all I could talk about was how he got to meet a bunch of baseball players. So just, some off field stuff with our players that just makes you proud to be, somewhat barely affiliated with the program. Uh, just a lot of just great people doing some awesome stuff to make a kid's day.
I mean, I tell you that I've, I've said, I've been coming around to ODU baseball for, you know, I've been coming to games since the nineties when I was in high school and, you know, coming when I came back, uh, went to start going to Old Dominion in 2003. Five, uh, started coming to games and kind of started taking pictures in 2008. And, you know, and I've always really enjoyed it. It's always been, they've always really accepted me and been very, um, thankful and opening for me being there.
But ever since Chris Cohen showed up, uh, it's just been, it's been another level. It's just, you feel like a family. You feel like everyone's accepted. Everyone's invited. Um, and that's not a thing. I mean, I talked to some people, you know, I know guys who like, you know, go around and you see some other places and some other teams in different places. It's not like that. And so it's, we have a very special thing here. And I think that's a uniquely old Dominion story you told.
It's not, not to say other places don't take care of kids and talk to people. That's not all, but it's just the idea of, like you said, these guys. Like, yes, absolutely. Of course, we're looking for him. Bryce Jones, no idea what's going on. Just like, he's just, just a great kid. And just like, I'm going to find a ball because it's these guys wanted, the kid wants it. Uh, that, that, I love that story.
And that, that's kind of, you know, if it wasn't like that, you know, man, I'm old and tired. I wouldn't spend as much time hanging out and doing stuff. If it was a bunch of butt heads, you know, I'm not going to spend my time on people that aren't enjoyable to be around. So the, just the reality of how great they are. It's always, it's always fun to hear those.
Yeah, and Monarch fans had a great showing at the Diamond. I don't know if we outnumbered VCU fans because VCU fans actually brought a really big crowd there. It was all ODU from about the sixth inning
I was gonna say there's a lot of npcs at a certain point
Yeah, yeah, definitely. It was, it was heavy on the ODU side. I will say they were, once again, not prepared for the drinking habits of Old Dominion fans and grads and supporters. Uh, they have one concession stand open on the first base side. If you've been to the Diamond. Uh, on the first base side, fairly close to home plate, like the, maybe the second down aisle to the seats on the first base side.
At one point, the line was through the little queue snake all the way down the concourse to the end to the squirrels team store.
is like the other side it's going from like the first base Yeah, the no the third base side of home all the way back to down like basically first base, right? That's just saying like it's forever Too wasn't it?
It was dollar hot dog night. I think they had to cut those off in the fifth or the sixth inning. So I know the people in there were working hard, but, uh, they were not put in a position to go win that day. I'll put it, put it that way.
That's funny
I, I think it was like about a, about a two and a half to three inning weight to, to get anything to drink, but great showing by ODU fans. I know Kyle Cliff was there. We've met him and interacted with him quite a few times for football. So nice to see him out. Uh, and many, many others, uh, some old people I used to play baseball with back in the day, uh, including some guys that coached for Tri Cities, uh, a few other places were there, so it was a good night out at the Diamond.
Uh, wish we were getting another 8. 04 game, but we know as of this morning that the Richmond game scheduled for Tuesday, uh, was canceled because Tuesday is just gonna be a washout.
at least it's legitimate reasons this time. It's not just you know, like we're not ecu making stuff making up reasons Not to play vcu last week. It's it's it's actually going to rain Uh,
was an interesting scenario because VCU first put that tweet out as, uh, injuries within the ECU pitching staff. That was quickly deleted and put back with They could travel or weather concerns or something
okay, so they told the truth and then had to had to delete the truth. All right, that's fair, you know You know ecu is always want to be a big fish in a small pond and so it makes sense that they Are you know now that they've got a couple other fish in the pond that might be of some certain size They want to make sure they can protect themselves So, you know do what you gotta do
well, it's a good, it's a good thing. They didn't have that midweek because, you know, it's not like they got swept by two lane over the weekend or anything like that as a result. So,
Oh boy. Well, you know It had those injuries on the pitching staff. So that's
hey, maybe that was actually accurate. We'll put a bow on the VCU game, a season sweep of the Rams. I see it all the time. Beat your rivals. Baseball has done that this year. Very, very proud
We did we beat them to be vcu. Yeah, we're we we even uh took a took a split the uva Yeah, we're baseball did a great point baseball did a pretty great job this year
Yeah, I mean, JMU, VCU, those are the big two. Throw in a UVA game at Harbor Park. I mean, that is, that is all good stuff. Uh, but before we jump into the App State series this weekend, want to give you all a heads up. We have two guests for you today. Uh, Vincent Becerra and Trent Buchanan, uh, both came and joined us and had a great conversation. So we're excited to share that with you as well. Let's jump into the weekend series. Definitely not the overall outcome we were looking for.
Uh, but man, some good baseball games on Saturday and Sunday, uh, Friday got moved up from six to two because of some weather in the forecast, which I think was right on the money. It started raining out by the Norfolk airport at like 6 30. It was pouring down rain. So at least we got that game in, but we, we saw those Appalachian state bats early and often than that one.
Yeah, you know frustrating couldn't get out there, uh to see it because the game time but you're right it was the right move jay cassidy just uh didn't quite have uh, the best start, you know gave up three runs I think kellen gave up one of one of his runs too. He's done a lot of work. He's done great work. Um, he, you know, he did great work in the game, uh, Sunday. You're pitching the guy two, three times a week.
Uh, and so he's going to have the time every now and then where it just doesn't go perfectly and that's not his fault. Um, cause he, trust me, Kellan, Kellan's had a phenomenal year and he's a great kid. Um, and Jacob Gomez, pitch five innings. He only gave up two runs. You know, that's a great outing. And Lincoln Ransom came in and pitched really well. There Dan threw a scoreless inning.
Um, at the end of the day, the ODU pitching staff only gave up five runs to a team that averages like 10 runs a game. I mean, you can't really question how successful they were in that game.
We talked about it last week on the podcast that Appalachian States offense is amazing. I think they were 2nd in the Sunbelt at the time they were in the top 25 nationally and batting average and home runs and runs and all of those things. So, if you would have told me, hey, we're going to hold app state to 5 runs in the opener.
I'm telling you, we're probably winning that game, eight to five, nine to five, something like that, just because of, as good as they are hitting, they've been that bad pitching this year, but they really got some great pitching performances. Jackson Steensma was great, went six innings, gave up one run, eight hits, had six strikeouts. Uh, but we left nine guys on base.
Uh, we got some hits, we got runners on base, but it's something that we've seen before from this team of we get guys on, we get them in scoring position. We just don't have that next. Two out hit to bring him in and that's what we were really lacking on Friday was that next hit that would drive in those runs? Because I think if we would have gotten on Steensma earlier gotten him out of the game We probably would have been more successful against some of their arms coming out of the pen
Yeah, I mean, we know their, their pitching isn't great. I'm sure part of that is their, their, uh, altitude up there in the mountains. Um, but they look, they look good this weekend and yeah, you know, uh, Maverick song set a two hit game. Alex Boucher had a two hit game, nine hits overall, but like I said, just could not get them bunched and could not get them happening. At the same time. Friday was a frustrating one.
It's just one where at a certain point, it's like, you know, you pitched well enough, you just didn't score enough runs and they just beat you. There's no, you really can't say much about it. They, they just executed when they had to execute.
and we had a lot of deep fly Balls to the outfield on Friday the temperature dropped probably 20 to 25 degrees during the game Uh, wind was blowing in from right center. So it was tough to get something out. I was a St. Lauren, uh, for app state was able to get one out there in the eighth after the wind had died down a little bit, but he had hit a missile to get it out of there over the left field wall. Uh, but just the story of, of left on base and kind of some missed opportunities there.
It's just that there's a very fine line between winning and losing games in the Sun Belt. And unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of that line on Friday.
You know, and as you said, it's kind of been happening all season and it happened again on Saturday. You know, the same thing, the pitching staff held app state. They only gave up four runs. Ben Moore gave up a couple in his first two innings. Uh, and John Holabatze was. Phenomenal John Halibut's came in relief.
He had the best outing any of you pitchers had this year He threw seven inning his very first pitch was a home run gave up a home run And then from then on through seven scoreless innings only gave up one other hit no walks five strikeouts um, so again as a team you only give up four runs to a absolutely monster offense And just could not get the guys in when we had to get him in Jake ticer had a huge home run in the ninth inning that tied the game and sent it to extra innings Um, just absolute
blast bomb. I mean that ball was again. I didn't even watch it. I'm like a ball so far going um, but then he came up he actually came up in the 10th inning with a chance, uh to Either tie the game go ahead You Uh, and just couldn't get a ball to the outfield, couldn't get a ball, like a deep ground ball to second base, um, you know, so there's a case of the execute. And, you know, really, if you execute, uh, one at one every two times in baseball, you're amazing.
So it's, it's unfortunate that he just came up that situation the second time and couldn't quite make it happen. But it's not all on Tyson at one situation against the, as the whole team, you had 10 innings and only got three runs.
And I'm telling you, a quarter of an inch higher on the bat, he makes contact with that ball and it's a walk off Grand Slam. Because it was essentially the same pitch, same swing on it. He just got under it and it went kind of deep to second for fly out. And the runner couldn't tag up and score. Uh, but Tyser has been heating up lately.
I will tell you his exact this week in these four games He was 5 for 14 with a double and a home on a home run So 357 for the week for a guy who is still hitting Under 200. I actually looked back his last 50 at bats. He's 13 for 50, which is 260 not amazing But if you told me jake tyser all season was hitting 260 I guarantee you'd be having a lot better season. So he is heating up.
He is getting better at the right time You Um, it's unfortunate they got such a large hole and the numbers are never gonna look good, but you're right He's going in the right direction.
and that's a bat we're going to need in the lineup down the stretch here, both at Georgia state. And when we get into the conference tournament, because we're missing that. That pop and you saw the impact that he made, uh, on that game Saturday.
I mean, We, we out hit app state 10 to 5 in that game and attend any game we held in the five hits we had 10, uh, but we didn't break through until the eighth inning and that was a two out rally, Kyle Edwards hit a double off the wall and then Luke waters triples to bring the run ends. So it's 3 to 1, then we get there in the 9th and Tyser just absolutely clobbers a 1 0 pitch over the wall and right. I mean, a majestic.
Home run over the right field wall, but you think about all right If we don't have ticer in the lineup at that point, we lose that game three to one right there in the ninth So just having that extra bat that can put a charge into a ball Maybe be that two out hit for us is going to be huge So hope to see him continue to go in that direction.
He looks healthy He also looks like he is seeing the ball really well He had either an 11 or a 12 pitch at bat on Sunday where he drew a walk, just, I think things are starting to click for him and it's coming at the right time for us. Um, but we want to point out in that game, uh, Luke Waters and Kyle Edwards were both four for five in that game. So those guys accounted for eight of our 10 hits. Uh, Boucher had another one and then of course, Tyser's home run was the other.
Uh, not a lot of production from the lower parts of the lineup. And you know, I'll put that some on, on our hitting. But. Dante Chirico, who pitched for App State, had his best outing of the year. One run, seven hits over eight innings, had eight strikeouts, uh, no walks, didn't hit anybody. Uh, it's about the best you can ask for from your starter, who's probably your, your second best arm that you have in your whole staff.
Uh, because, you know, Zach Lewis comes in and he gives up the two run shot. The Tyser and Cody Little got himself into trouble, end up getting the save and not allowing a run. But, you know, he had bases loaded one out there in the bottom of the tent. So getting into that bullpen was something we needed to do. We just were not able to do it fast enough on Saturday.
Yeah, I so I want to add some stats you you uh, kyle and uh edwards and luke waters Who said a couple of great games on saturday? Uh waters this past week in those four games was nine for 19 What's funny about that is? He was over in two of those games. He had a five hit game and a four hit game that went five for 9 19, 9 for 19 for the week. Um, he's actually 12 for his last 27, so that's a 4 44 average over that span.
Um, Kyle Edwards, I didn't break it down, so I, I just keep kind of adding 'cause see, Kyle's been on a hot streak for a while. Um, Kyle is 20 for his last 52, so he's hitting 3 85 over that span. Couple of doubles and triple the home run. So those are a couple of guys who again, we've got some guys in the lineup who have been hot and got it going Um, we'll talk about maverick stallings in a minute because he's he's doing phenomenally Yeah,
Yeah, we'll, we'll definitely talk about him here in a little bit. Uh, I want to talk a little bit about Evan Holman. Uh, so we know that last weekend over at Texas state, uh, got injured in the Friday game. I, what I was told he was kind of hit with a pitch in the shoulder, may have bumped into the wall with the same shoulder. He did not play in the doubleheader. They had Saturday, did not play Tuesday at VCU, uh, came back and started Friday.
And this poor guy, I mean, he just got beat to hell back there. Every foul tip was hitting him. He took a rough one that came off the plate and right up into the cup. Basically dropped him there for a little bit. I mean, he got beat to hell Friday, got beat to hell all weekend, still came in. I believe later in the game is like a defensive replacement on Saturday. I we've said it a lot.
That dude is so freaking tough, man, like a mere mortals would not survive what he has been through in the last two weeks.
I mean you you can't say enough about what heaven is meant to this team I mean by i'm not even gonna wait to the end of the year We we have some like end of the year awards, but the guy is the defensive player of the year Uh, and what that means is being catcher is so important. He and he's just a He's just such a good guy. He's so focused on what he wants to do And he he's been a huge backbone to everything
Yeah, we actually saw all three of our catchers play on Saturday with Tone, Slater and Holman, they all got out there. So we were able to get a lot of guys in, Alex Boucher took one off the head on Saturday was going to stay in the game, but got pulled for a pinch runner and Jack Spite. So
I think that's still related to he had the kind of I was a hamstring or whatever he had going on that Maybe he pulled in that game where he was slotting in I missed about a week. And so I think that was more in that situation It was like let's put jack on even though jack's not super fast, but he's got a good bat and so He can run well enough and he ended up being the one that was on base when uh, They didn't need to run fast when ticer hits the ball 900 miles
no, he was able to go trot around and definitely you don't want Boucher trying to score on a double from first and end up injuring himself more for the rest of the weekend. So it's a smart call, but yeah, I think it was the first pitch of that a bat he got hit right in the helmet. Luckily it kind of deflected off. Wasn't a dead on shot, but, uh, it sounded loud standing behind home plate.
It looked bad because if anybody was uh, look at the pictures I shared There's there's one where you can see the bat kind of the helmet kind of flying off in the air I think he just angled it right and it just hit and the momentum took the helmet, but I don't think the actual Head of the helmet did, did much to him. Boo's got a, got a hard head. He's going to be fine. Got to love this new walk up song too. The little boo thing.
That's a, that's a great, I don't know what that song is, but it's, it's fun.
It was fitting for him, this big power hitting dude walking up there to your, my little boo thing, but app state took that one four to three, they got a solo shot in the top of the 10th. That was the difference. Yeah. I wasn't a bad pitch either. I mean, it was down and in, it might've even been out of the zone. Just, uh, made good contact with it and got it over the fence. I mean, just kind of have to tip your cap to.
A team that can hit the ball and they, they hit home runs in bunches and we were able to limit them for the most part, uh, this weekend, but so we're down two games, we've already lost the series, but man, that Sunday game, if you were looking at the standings was really important because if we would have lost that game, you know, going into it, not knowing the other results, there's a chance that ODU could be sitting in that 11th seeded out of the conference tournament.
But, uh, the Monarchs, I think as coach Finwood said afterwards, uh, they can battle, they don't know what else they've got, but they know that they can battle.
Sunday's game was insane. It was all the emotions. You've got senior days. You got all these guys and we were going to talk to Vincent Bechert. I didn't call him out for it, but I he looked pretty emotional there when he was walking out with his parents to the senior day plaque. Um, I I told you after we did our interview with him, I said I definitely cried just talking to him. So you've got all these emotions, you know, you got all these seniors and you got it's mother's day.
It's all the moms where you got family. And then it's all this hoopla, you know, cause it's, it's the last. Game at the bud before we they do the big renovation.
So it's you know, there's not gonna be eight games at On the old dominion campus next year So I mean it's just the games start out with all kinds of emotion and then you had we got up five nothing you think Okay, this game is over and then we're down and we have to keep fighting back and then we get ahead And then we blow the lead in the ninth and then you know We give up the lead again in the tenth and we have to you know, keep uh fighting and eventually Uh, steve and meyer just unleashes all
those emotions in this beautiful moment As you said the ball going right over, um, the bud nefini, picture in right field a perfect way to to finish out a place You know that I said i've been I mean we're coming up on 30 years I've been going to games of the bud. Uh, it might be 30 years now. It might be 30 seasons I've been seeing games there. What a wonderful way to end a weekend.
Yeah, I think every sports fan has those moments from their team that are seared into their brain. Like, some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some of them are awful. Uh, this is one of those really good ones that you'll never forget. Like, if you were there and you stayed through all 12 innings, uh, you got a memory for a lifetime. And it's a memory that no one else is going to be able to have.
It won't be recreated because the Buds are going to look so much different, uh, when they come back in 26. But man, yeah, how fitting Meier who we'll talk about some of the events of the game in a minute. Uh, but for him in that moment to hit that home run over the Bud Matheny picture to win it, walk it off, uh, just man, it. It's storybook almost
Yeah, I mean, you couldn't have written anything better. I hated it. I hated every moment of it. I wish we'd have just scored like five more runs when I was 5 0 and had be done in seven and just walked away happy that way. I wouldn't have felt so sick to my stomach. Into today, continue to today. Just to know I'm, I'm, this is the emotional baby I am about sports is that, uh, this thing was so important to me that it ruined my, my body chemistry for a full two days.
well, uh, Stephen Meyer also got the scoring going for us. He had a single through the right side. A welcomed base hit with runners and scoring position that drove in a run something we were not able to do the day before. And the Friday before, and then Maverick Stallings steps to the plate, did not have a good day on Saturday. I think it was over 5 Uh, he gets a 2 2 pitch and just hammers it over the left field wall.
Grand slam, 5 0. Uh, handshakes and high fives and we're thinking we're in, in pretty good shape because uh, I'll let you talk about Bash but Bash started and had one hell of an outing on the mountain for us.
Yeah, Vincent Bechere, the king of Norfolk, the mayor of Norfolk, the Mr. Monarch himself, he did win that award, uh, this year, he actually is Mr. Monarch, uh, he, he started, um, I don't think he realized how long they were willing to let him go. Um, he was after the first inning, you know, he knew Blake Morgan was going to come after him. He was kind of asking Blake, well, like, oh, so, you know, what did Marin tell you? And Blake's just kind of over there.
He's just kind of starting to stretch a little bit. He's like, I'm not throwing, am I? You don't see me, right? Like, just go out and do your thing. And so Batch, he threw five scoreless innings, uh, only gave up a few hits. Um, I mean, that was, that was the best performance of his college career, and he's had a very, very solid college career for a guy who was not thought of. I'm saying he wasn't well thought of. He just really wasn't thought of coming out of high school.
I mean, I don't know that he really had. I'm sure he could have gone other places, but I don't know that there really were anybody else that was really wanting to have him and he really wanted to come to ODU and we were, we were happy to make that happen. He had to work his butt off, uh, to be where he is. And he's been a very important part of this pitching staff the last three seasons. Um, and this was, this was a huge moment.
So it was, it was, it could not be more fitting to have your Norfolk native, a guy with a long family ties to the old Dominion and start this game in the last game at the bud and do so well again, storybook.
I mean it was fitting and of course prior to the game they did the uh, the first pitch with the moms of all the players so we had all the moms out there throwing a, a first pitch kind of in, in tandem. It was a lot of fun. It was, Really, really cool to see. Uh, but something interesting from Bash's start, uh, that was the first time an ODU starter had gone five innings and was in line for the win. Since February 25th against Rutgers. And that was our other guest today, Trent Buchanan.
I told you he did.
yep, he was the only other one. So I know we went to the open or not long after that, but for a starting pitcher to go five, and of course it's Vincent Becerra it's senior day. It's a must win game for ODU and he comes through in the clutch, but. App state wasn't exactly going to go down lightly on Sunday, unfortunately, and that's where the fun kind of began.
Yeah, Blake came in, uh, did not have his best stuff. Blake Morgan threw an inning, gave up a couple of runs, brought out Bailey Metella, then the seventh. Um, and again, he's kind of recovering from, he's still trying to work his way back. Uh, he didn't do that great. Um, he put a few guys on and then ended up with Lincoln Ransom pitching. And then we saw, uh, our second Grand Slam of the day, unfortunately.
Holder back for app state got one up and out over the left field wall. Uh, I think 3 of the 4 runs that came in were earned and it's 6 to 5 after the top of the 7th, but. Low and behold, bottom of the 7th, who comes to the plate? Mr. Maverick Stallings, solo shot over the wall and right to tie things back up at 6 6. And at this point, I think everyone's stomach is turned and last call has already happened at Rally Alley. There's no booze to get you through this.
You're just going to have to grit and bear it. Man, it was wild down those final few innings.
Yeah. And, Kellen came in, uh, after Lincoln gave up that granny and he got a few outs and then pitched another scoreless. And so Kellen had another, uh, really outstanding, uh, performance. So he said he pitched. Three times this week and two of them were outstanding and one of them was like just okay Not a bad week for the kid. Kellen has been a huge part of the pitching staff this year Um, yeah, odu was able to uh, get the lead back, right?
We we scored uh three runs at the bottom of the eight Um, which again, Stallings was a part of, he, he walked a run in, and then Bryce Jones was able to come up, who had to come at the game because, TJ Aiken and Stephen Meyer, had a collision in the outfield, which I do not understand how it didn't knock both of them out. I have a picture I haven't, uh, been able to share yet, but it looked like TJ basically speared the top of his head into the side of, Stephen Meyer's jaw.
Um, it looked like, uh, again, I'm not a doctor. I don't know anything. It looked to me like maybe TJ had a concussion. We'll have to see. That's the thing to look out for. It's, it's possible, especially at this point in the year, if he has a concussion, you might not get to play any more of the season. I don't know how, I don't ever want to fight or box Meyer in any way, shape, or form if he, that didn't knock him out. I don't know what would, you might be, he might be the incredible Hulk.
Like, yeah, that man is unhittable. Apparently, um, but so Bryce, uh, came up, he got a big, two run, Single. So then the Monarchs have a three run lead going into the top of the ninth.
I think the most impressive thing about the collision is first of all, it made me sick to my stomach because, you know, we've had TG on here. We've had steam. We've gotten to know both those guys. Like, my first thought is me like, Oh, my God, are they okay? Are they moving all of that stuff? Uh, but Stephen Meyer hung on to the ball and made the catch. I don't know how in the world he did that I mean, those two guys are probably two of the fastest guys on the team.
They were running full speed together and crashed. And Meyer held on the ball. I don't know how I think you're right. He's must be like a superhero in disguise. He's just playing it low key. Um, but yeah, made that catch and it was important to get out of there to not allow more runs because that was, you know, ending that had already gone.
South on, on ODU, but go in the ninth inning I don't want to say the wheels totally fell off, but they started getting a little bit shaky there with, you know, RBI single and then a runner advances on a throwing area, you know, not, not hitting the cut the way that you should, and you get a sacrifice fly and then. We're still up by one. Uh, you got runners on first and third hard hit ground ball into the shift to the right side, right to Kyle Edwards.
Uh, who's our, best fielder, like him and Kenny can go fight over who's, who's the best infielder, uh, from feeling perspective, but somehow the ball, it was hit hard and a lot of top spin ate him up a little bit. Runners safe at first time run scored. And we're just thinking, man. This is not our day. I think coach Finwood said the same thing post game when he saw that of her best defenders on making that it's just not our day, but the guys weren't done though.
I mean, app state got another run in the top of the 10th on a basis loaded walk, to Tali, who, if you saw any, his stats this weekend, he is an absolute monster of a baseball player. So maybe walking him was like the old Barry Bonds treatment of, we're not going to let you hit a grand slam or a three run double. Just going to give up the one.
You know, That was so tough because that was Marco Lovari started that inning, uh, which to go back to the ninth inning when, uh, they gave up the free runs, you know, Brandon pond who had given up the home run on Saturday to lose the game. They brought him back out with a three run lead the ninth to close the game on Sunday. And I, I know the thought process is like, you know, pond is good. Pond is one of our guys. We believe in him. We want to go out and get his confidence.
And so it's, it's so upsetting and frustrating that he, that he had a bad outing, I'm sure, I hope he's able to turn the page because I I'm with him. I believe Brandon Ponds, one of our guys, and we're not going to succeed. this weekend coming up and down the tournament unless Brandon believes in himself. Um, but Marco, a freshman, he hasn't pitched a ton to put him in, it's a tough spot coming into a tie game in the, uh, the 10th inning. He just did not have his stuff.
He was walking guys, hitting guys, um, uh, had a balk. Stephen Trone came in with no outs in the base of loaded. Got a couple of outs without giving up a run and then just, you know, for whatever reason, couldn't throw a strike to Tali. So, you know, he got the out after that. I honestly, to me, if you come into a game with no outs and bases loaded and only give up one run, you did your job. Um, so it's, Yeah, you know, it's, it's frustrating that he, he wasn't able to. Just shut it down.
But at the same time, it's like, Hey, you know I don't know what else I can ask for a guy. If I, if you, if you get me bases loaded, no outs, if you come up with one run, most times it'd be like, Hey man, great job. Congrats. So trones trones, uh, really come on really well as, as the season
Yeah, and then there in the bottom of the 10th, I mean, I think the story of that inning that allowed us to tie it and continue the game was the amazing at bats that we had to draw some walks like Evan Holman walked and I think, I think maybe he only saw seven pitches in his at bat, uh, Maverick Stallings gets a walk and you know that he's wanting to just swing away and try and hit that, that third home run, but he doesn't, he has an eight pitch at bat, draws a walk, there's a wild pitch that
gets runners to, to second and third, and then Bryce Jones, Bryce Jones. He had a 12 pitch at bat and drew a walk to load the bases, like a 12 pitch at bat for a guy who is coming in off the bench, did not start this game, uh, and then Kyle Evers with some redemption, hits it fly ball, the deep center field, Jack Slater scores, the game is tied again. So, I mean, just some, some craziness. We're talking about this being a gut wrenching game.
You're hanging on every single pitch and these super long at bats. Uh, and, and it was wild, uh, nothing happened in, in the 11th, but we got some magic, uh, in the bottom of the 11th that I think propelled us to do some good things in the 12th.
So, they they brought Dylan Brown in to pitch in the 11th inning. We said he started on Tuesday. Didn't do that great. His last few starts have not been great. I've been thinking for a while. Maybe just put him in the pen. He he seemed to do really well in one inning. Dylan came out. He pitched really well in his first inning. Um you know, had a I think he walked the guy. I had a couple of things here and there. Uh but pitched really well.
Because of some weird maneuvering in about the eighth inning, they had to pinch run for uh, Tyser right so hunter cole came in pinch run for tyser. Well, uh tyser was playing first base Finney made the choice to move alex boucher off the dh to play first base. Um, I personally would have just had hunter cole play first base, but I don't know what they know I don't know if hunter hurt in some way. I don't know if they just Have decided he's not a good enough first baseman.
I don't know what it is But whatever it was they decided to make uh, boucher the first baseman. So they lost the dh Well when you had a three run lead, it didn't seem as important it did when you came up in the bottom of the 11th Uh, and you had two outs and dylan brown had to come and hit Uh, dylan brown who I was not sure had ever hit and we had trent buchanan.
You'll hear him later Dylan brown is not is not a hitter He's not one of these guys you're like, oh, yeah, he could have done like, uh, dylan brown is also a six foot five giant Um, he came up to the plate. He looked like a he looked like a hitter Um took a couple hacks and he hit a extremely hard hit Uh line out. the center field that uh that really I for a second I was like did dylan just accidentally hit a hit a home run to win this game
Yeah, I mean, he squared that ball up and hit it to dead center and probably needed about another 20, 25 feet to either hit it off the wall or get it out. Um but you can almost see him relax a little bit after that and the pressure was off.
Uh, and came in there in the 12th and continue to pitch and he got, a ground out of fly out of a strikeout and nothing going for app state, uh, in the top of the 12th, which was great because if you're looking at the lineup, the last batter he struck out was their leadoff hitter, St Loren, who is amazing hitter. And he's followed by a bunch of really, really strong guys after that. So getting that strikeout was huge.
By the way, I want can we take a second to talk about how good their hitters are they're so good because they are just fighting on every pitch They foul off pitches They're they're constantly their whole goal is to put the ball in play I was telling talking about their parents up in the stands Uh during the game on sunday.
I was like I have thoroughly enjoyed watching these guys hit Because of their approach they just they are not willing to strike out We didn't get a lot of strikeouts the whole series Uh because these guys Want to put the ball in play?
They they will foul you off value off value off until finally you just get so frustrated that you have to give them something And they put the ball in I mean If if every team and every batter would approach hitting like this Man games would be long because there'd be a lot of fouled pitches,
Yeah, I was listening to Andy Mishaw on the call of the game as I was on my way down there. I didn't quite make it for first pitch, but they did the end game interview with App State's coach and he said, you know, we take the approach of death by a thousand cuts. And it's those little things of not striking out, getting the foul balls, you know, capitalizing on mistake pitches. And that's what they did. And they've done a great job. Their, their lineup is fantastic.
If you put that lineup with ODU's pitching, we're probably not losing many games. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah,
championship. Well, speaking of one of our good hitters, I said, I had some since we were kind of talking about good hitters, Maverick Stallings, uh, his last 10 games, which is basically the last three conference weekends and then a midweek against VCU, uh, 13 for 38, 342 average for homers, 11 RBIs. That's again, we have, we have some guys that are really trending in the right direction at the end of the season here when we need
he had been heating up for a few weeks, but man, he has just been busting out lately and much like Tyser. We're happy to see the power come back into the lineup, especially with Edwards and water's hot. Uh, you know, Kenny has cooled off a little bit, but he's still producing.
Uh, they just needed to connect, just have everybody click and hopefully, you know, it's, it's this weekend at Georgia state or it's the weekend after that, uh, down in Montgomery, but Stephen Meyer hitting that walk off one Oh, pitch just clobbered it. Uh, I think he got ejected and then un ejected because of the bad flip. We're not quite sure of how that all went down, but who cares? He hit the home run. It was gone. It was amazing. And it's a, uh, immortalized moment.
Or that rendition of the bud to go out that way. And it's a lot of fun postgame talking to those guys, uh, being on the field. Just, you can, you can feel that energy and those are the kinds of things that can propel you to do a lot of really, really cool stuff. Monarch fans stay tuned.
Uh, we're going to have the interview with Vincent Bechera quickly followed by the interview with Trent Buchanan, both awesome guys, you're going to love hearing their story and learning more about them, and Uh, and then we'll jump back in, give you a quick preview of Georgia state, which is a critical series. I mean, it doesn't get more critical than what we're going into this weekend.
We're gonna talk all about that, the Sunbelt standings, uh, and when we come back, so thank you all for listening and stay tuned. Hello, Monarch fans and welcome back to the Hudson homers podcast. We are joined by Vincent Bashera today at an awesome outing on Sunday, really a great season coming out of the bullpen and then starting yesterday for ODU baseball bash. Thanks so much for joining us today.
guys for having me.
Oh, want to ask you first about yesterday, getting the start going five innings, looking amazing out there. Uh, how did it feel yesterday knowing that senior day last game at the bud? What kind of fired you up for that performance?
It wasn't just for me, you know, it was for the whole team. That's history. That last game is history. Uh, last game at the original bud. Um, and then my family, you know, my mom, my dad, and my siblings and extended family, it's special to them, but knowing that I didn't have to put on some cape for yesterday, uh, going into that, I didn't have to do anything special. I just had to be me and be myself.
And I think that's what I've been good to be able to show, or I've been able to show over the past, uh, And I mean, past two years, uh, Nick Murray showed me how to express my own, like be myself on and off the field. Um, and that's what I've done. That's why you see me laughing and dancing up there on that mound.
You're always good for getting some reaction and coming off. I love the, um, I'm assuming it's kind of like you're you're swinging your, um, your pistols and putting them back in the holsters. Is that what that one is?
Yeah. That's my little thing. I don't know where that came from, but it kind of started last year and we ran with it and stuck with ever since. Kind of lost it this year. Stopped doing it, but it's been cool. That's my little thing. I did it yesterday. Originally it was just the pistols. I never put them back in the holster, but at JMU last year, uh, something happened where I was doing it.
I made eye contact with Marin and then something kind of, I guess bad happened and I put him back in the holster. I was like, Oh, not right now. So that's where that started. I know that.
Gotta put a put down my imaginary pistols before Maren gets upset at me. All right, that's fair. Since we're on the topic, you know, I, what I always find fun about you is you come up with a lot of you and it seems like Bryce Jones, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but y'all come up with a lot of nonsense words. Um, I think he was yesterday. You were trying to get Feynman to say, was it Wodica? And I've heard, I know Gleater was one Wobo. There's a lot. There's a whole like litany.
Okay. Over the years of ever changing nonsense words. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah. I gotta give a lot of credit to Kyle Edwards. Uh, kids, but us three, yeah, definitely come up with some interesting words. Uh, You know, you're going to sit here, you're going to sit here and ask me, what do they mean? What do they mean? I'm going to tell you, they mean nothing and you're not going to believe me, but no, they really mean nothing.
I fully
Uh, Wooticus Wooticus is what I was trying to get Feynman to say. Uh, it started from Wooty Woo. Uh, it's from my other teams doing all that Wooty Woo. I, I don't, I don't have an explanation for you, but. We don't want other guys being on that Wooticus Wooticus. Uh, Jay, Jay Cassidy has been a huge part of that. Um, just humor, you know. Uh, I think a lot of teams out there are like super serious, man. Like, we're a bunch of little kids out there that are playing that grown man sport.
Um, just having fun. I think that's what makes us good. Being able to go out there and have fun and do our own thing, you know. Um, Marin says it best. That's our stage out there and that's where we get to express ourselves. Wooticus Wooticus.
We had J on the podcast earlier this year, and he taught us about inducing the bounder. And we kind of realized that there's going to be some more shenanigans coming out of that bullpen group of. Inducing the boundary. And then the next game I started watching it and seeing it unfold there in the bullpen. So definitely seems like y'all are having a great time over there.
Hey man, I don't know if you saw yesterday, I was, some, a kid got on, and I put up two fingers at the dugout, I was, get ready for a two ball, we yelled, two ball! And uh, that's what I was doing out there on that mound, sure enough, rolled a double play, and Jay, Jay's definitely started that one, frugality, being able to be frugal.
That's a solid word. So bash, you have such a history with ODU, uh, between you and your family. Can you tell everyone a little bit about, you know, basically your, your family's history with ODU and how you ended up playing at ODU?
Yeah, uh, well my grandfather played baseball at ODU, Brian played baseball at ODU, Christina played soccer at ODU, my mom graduated from ODU. My dad graduated from Norfolk State. He's a Spartan. But, that led me to, um, ODU. And ODU's been my dream school. Uh, I was saying earlier, in my fourth grade journal, it was to build a boat and to be an ODU baseball player. And I did both of those things. And ODU, I was, I was kind of always a counted out kid.
Granted, like, I don't know if it was counted out or I was just 136 pounds. So I think if I was a coach, I would have counted me right out too, you know, uh, but with the help of Eric Potter, CB, I don't know if you remember Eric Potter, but he helped me through a lot of stuff, man. Like I was undersized and he helped me work hard and he gave me a spot to work out and it led me to ODU. Um, but Odie was always my dream school. Finney called my dad one day and said, Hey, I want to talk to Vincent.
And I got to go into Finney's office and he told me, Hey man, I got a roster spot for you. Uh, everything's earned. You got to work hard and earn everything. Nothing's going to be given to you. And Pauly Beticulario set that straight with me early anyway. So that was already ingrained in my head. You got to work. And everything's earned. And I mean, that drove me. Finney, it's funny. I was talking about, about today. There was a, a woman that it was pouring down rain outside and a woman came in.
I guess she was walking to the rec or something and it was pouring and she needed an umbrella and Finney just handed her an umbrella. And that's what being a monarch is all about. Helping people, integrity, having compassion for others and just dedication. Being there for others, serving others. And that's something Finney's ingrained in all of us. Uh, be a servant, be a leader, uh, find a way to help. You're not doing anything if you're not helping.
There's no, no way of being selfish on a no do baseball team.
And you, you can see that in almost every interaction between ODU baseball players and fans and members of the media and whoever else comes in, they just always feel welcomed and never feel like they're inconveniencing. So it's. Great to see that come through. Uh, I know you talk a little bit about being a leader and of course you are one of the key leaders of this team now and more specifically in pitching and this pitching staff has been unbelievable this year.
What have you done as a leader, maybe this year and last year to help grow those guys to one from a culture standpoint, but also to just your experience on the mound and what you've been able to pass along to them.
Um, you know, Jason Hartline and Brett Smith laid down a huge platform for me. Um, and Gomez, Jacob Gomez and Kenny LaVarie and Lincoln Ransom, but they've, those two men, they laid down a huge platform for us and showed us what to do and what not to do. And we watched them lead two teams into 80 wins in two seasons, well, 80, 80 plus wins. Uh, that's hard. That's real hard. And, and of course, last year we came up short, this year we've come up short.
But of 41 seasons, but I don't think anybody is questioning our leadership this year, uh, last year, there was some, I don't know how to describe last year, but it wasn't what we want it to be because of bad leadership and that's not through the coaches at all. By any means, that's because of us. Um, we had bad leadership because of the players, not because of the coaches by any means. Um, but this year we found a way to lead. And it's not only us. It's not only the older guys.
It's being able to find a way of everybody contributing. There's no hierarchy here at ODU, uh, where there has been in the past. And we showed that this year. And, you know, everybody's equal. Freshman's all about calling others up, um, and not putting people down. And that's been good, because everybody holds each other accountable, no matter what.
We got to get a recording and play it for, uh, recruits. I mean, who wouldn't want to suit up after hearing that? Goodness.
Yeah, man. Uh, that's what we preach. You know, our programs probably say that I didn't visit many. I came to ODU, but, uh, I'm sure a lot of programs, their hierarchies and who wants to be a part of that, you know, when I was a freshman, I wasn't put down, uh, heartline, Bret Smith showed me the way. And then they just slowly disappeared. Uh, during those two years and you look around, it's like, damn, I'm doing this by myself and nobody's telling me to do it, you know?
So they serve me, they come beside you and they help you pick up those baseballs, but then they're gone and you don't even notice. It's just like making your bed. There's nothing to it. And Finney does a good job of preaching that.
You had a huge moment earlier this year, playing against Virginia at Harbor Park. You come in to close out the game against, I think at the time they were the number 10 team in the country. Uh, tell us about that moment doing that in Harbor Park and how good it felt to, to finally close the books on that one and get a win against those guys
Yeah, man. Um, non conference. I mean, ECU and UVA, they have had my number, um, this year. I think those are the two teams that have got me, but nothing was more special this year than, well, I guess yesterday. But before that, nothing was special than being able to close that game out against, uh, UVA. Finney gave me that opportunity, another opportunity he gave me, um, to close that game out.
I know I didn't, I didn't give him a shutout, but I got the job done and we got the job done, you know, uh, with the help of my fielders. And then facing Ethan Anderson, a kid from Virginia Beach. A great, great player, hardworking kid, comes from a great family. Um, being able to strike him out and end that game and see the fans going crazy. My family and Finney smiling, Woodseal League smiling. It doesn't get much better than that.
So some people might realize you actually were a bat boy for ODU when your older brother, Brian was an infielder on the team.
Yeah. Uh, when I was, when I was younger, I ended up being a bat boy. Uh, I got a picture. It's Brian on the railing. Me picking up the bat before Josh Eldridge went up for that bat. Um, that was my thing, man. Uh, like I said yesterday, I wasn't that kid that was asking for baseballs and the other bullpen. I was that kid talking trash to them. I didn't want their signatures. I wanted, I wanted our guy's signature, man. I'm a monarch. And being a bad boy was just the icing on the cake.
That's some cool stuff right there. Looking back, I wish I mean, I wish we could do that again. Just have a bad boy. That's like not a manager, you know, have a little kid. I got that little kid, Henry, that sits above our dugout. His his mom brings him to every game. I mean, there's no better feeling than having a little kid look up to you. She sent me a text yesterday saying that he really looks up to me and I'm his role model.
And. That right there means the world to me because I was that kid. I had that feeling, you know, Josh, right. Josh, right. Used to come up to bat and I would go crazy. Uh, that guy, that, that was the guy. Well, of course, Brian, but Josh, right. When he came up to bat, I'll never his walk up song was kicking in the sticks. That came on. I ran from throwing the tennis ball and rally alley. Cause it was just a grass field then, uh, to run to that brick wall to watch Josh, right.
Um, Seeing Henry is like seeing myself, um, 15 years ago.
that's awesome. Yeah. Josh got to come to the plate a few more times than Brian did. So you got a little more excitement out of him. Yeah,
Yeah, a little bit.
Yeah, so I saw Josh couple weeks ago. He's doing great. He, people don't remember what a great ball player he was. Where do you, he had a really great four year career.
Yeah, man, I, uh, what game, what weekend was, was that?
Uh, it was like two weeks. It was like the alumni weekend.
Yeah, so, it was cool, because ULM, I, I closed, Brandon Pond got hurt, they hit the ball back at him. And when I went on the mound, Josh Wright and Chris Baker were standing out, uh, behind the backstop. So, That's some cool stuff. Chris Baker and our first baseman, uh, to pave the way for this program, you know? Those guys don't go forgotten.
I've known you since you were that little guy running around out there and, and getting to, you know, I remember seeing you, uh, as you probably about a sophomore in high school out there at a camp.
And it was like, Whoa, Vincent, all of a sudden is big and he's grown and seeing you over this couple of years, you know, develop and getting to watch you at Maury some, and then when y'all finally said you were going to be able to come play it over to you, man, it was, it was really neat watching that whole journey. It's, it's kind of crazy to be sitting here. Like you're, you're about to end your, uh, your college career. That's, that's, that's happened way too fast.
Yeah, definitely did happen way too fast. Looking back on it, uh, time flew by. You get caught up kind of in the moment of quote unquote, trying to work hard. I'll let others judge that, but it flies by quick, man. And everybody told me to take a deep breath and don't go too quick. And it, it went by quick. And that's why I say the, uh, the young guys, it's like. And so this stuff in you're getting blown out, you're blowing someone out. Don't, don't wish to leave that field.
If you don't feel good or don't wish to leave that field. Cause you don't want to take any of those opportunities for granted. That's what I got little Marco, um, Kenny's brother, have him in the bullpen. And I always find myself talking to him. Just man, soak this stuff in. May not get many opportunities this year, but if you soak this stuff in, like, you won't have any regrets later on.
got a big weekend series. That's really important coming up down to Georgia state. Y'all are going to go straight from there to Montgomery for the conference tournament, potentially games beyond that. But. When all this wraps up this season, what are you looking at to do after your time at ODU?
Um, look at Officer Kane at school. Uh, don't know if it's going to be the Marines or the Navy. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. My dad's kind of pushing for the Navy. I'm pushing towards the Marines. So we'll have to talk about that one. Um, Now he's a guy, he's gonna let me make my own decision, but he's definitely gonna, he's gonna try and convince me if some do something, but there won't be a lot of sitting around for me. Uh, kind of a go getter. I can self proclaim that myself.
You don't find me sitting in this room very often. Um, not even in my house. You know, I go to the boat shop every night. I help my dad work on boats. So I think it's going to be Officer K at school, something to climb a mountain. That's why I'm looking at that. I want to be able to climb a mountain. You know, I'm not. I don't know if I'm going to find a standard job of working in a cubicle. I don't know if that's going to be my thing, just because I've been so driven with baseball.
Um, I guess I'm a little wired differently. Like, my one brother Lawrence, uh, works for General Dynamics and he sits behind a computer. That's hard work, don't get me wrong.
But I just don't know if I could sit behind a computer and, I got bad ADHD, so I'm going to go into Officer Candidate School, hopefully, and hopefully that goes well, and we'll see where that goes, you know, some people say that they want to be in service for a career, and they end up being it for a few years, and some people say they want to do it for a few years, and it ends up being a great career for them.
I know, being at ODU, Uh, there's so many people that can help you find the right career path, whether it's coaches, faculty, you know, faculties, family, and fans, like guys like you, like y'all, like you guys help us out. Um, and that's, what's important people giving back. This is y'all's way of giving back and I'm going to find my way to give back one day and that's, what's important.
It's awesome to hear. And I think either one of those branches, Navy or Marines would be definitely lucky to have you. And is there a more Norfolk story than the way you came through ODU with all the family and everything, and then going Navy or Marine Corps? I mean, that's Norfolk in a nutshell right there.
Yeah. I think that'd be cool. And then after the officer can't school going to law, which my dad and my grandfather did, I think that would be awesome, but I'm looking forward to that and helping people and serving others.
I really love the, the idea that servant leadership, that servant mindset that just taking that. I mean, that's one thing I don't like in my job, which is, is nothing compared to, you know, working in the military. But, you know, that's one of the things I try to say every day is, you know, if you wake up every day and think about what you can do for others, your life is just gonna be better.
Yeah, man, look at, look at y'all. Um, nothing means more to us than people that support us on that field. Uh, there are 40 of us and we're all 18 to 23 year olds, 24 year olds that just constantly are battling the inner demons of. mental health of being a Division One athlete, a student athlete. It's hard, but being able to have people like y'all and other fans just constantly support us, you have no idea how much that means to us.
Getting your pictures, I mean, being able to express ourselves through social media is really important, and that's what, like, you play a huge role in that, and we all appreciate that, and I know everybody before us appreciates it, and That stuff's important, man. That's, that's what keeps smiles on our faces.
Well, Bash, I love you, buddy. I really, um, I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch you the last few years and I'm, I'm very excited for you and your future and love your whole family. And I just you know, I can't thank you enough for being a monarch and me getting to be a part of watching you
Yeah. I love you too, man. Uh, I know my family loves you. Your mom, mom makes the best cookies. I don't know if you know that.
She's also the best photographer
yeah, I was getting there. You beat me to it. But man, it's definitely a bittersweet feeling, uh, being done with this chapter of my life in a few weeks. Um, but. You know, it's not going like I was talking to Finney earlier. I said, my mom's gonna miss that chair. And he said, I hope she doesn't miss it. She's going to be right there back after this year, uh, after this year, after they build the stadium, but there'll be a chair for her. And that's important, man, coming back and support him.
I can't wait to be able to do that. Um, this chapter is kind of flown by, but. There's more. This is what is going to pay. This paves the way for the rest of my life and talk about that servant leadership. It's what Finney's preached for the past four years with me and my teammates. And I don't, I don't regret a thing. Um, um, maybe, uh, maybe living at home my freshman year, but other than that, I don't regret one thing. Um, it's been a great, great four years.
Well, it's been a ton of fun watching you. I know that we will stay in touch with. Whatever you decide to do going forward. Uh, and of course we'll be rooting like hell for you all to extend this thing. As long as you, you possibly can over this weekend and then going down the conference tournament and anything beyond that, but that actually really appreciate you coming on, chatting with us, giving us some of your time and, uh, good luck this weekend. We'll be cheering for you.
Hey man, I appreciate it. It's playoff time. We're going to go get some wins and hopefully we can keep on playing.
Absolutely. Thank you.
Thank y'all.
Welcome back Monarch fans to the Hudson homers podcast. We have a second guest for you today, joining us for a little while is Trent Buchanan pitcher for old dominion. Trent, how's it going?
It's going well, thanks for having me on.
Thanks so much for spending a few minutes out of your day before you all head down to Atlanta to chat with us. Uh, big, big weekend this past weekend. I know you walked out there with quite a few other seniors, had a lot of family in town. Uh, tell us a little bit about this weekend for you and then getting that official graduation out of the way.
Yeah, really cool weekend. Um, really cool way to end it, of course. Um, at the Bud, which is awesome. But, I think the biggest thing for me was having my family out there. They hadn't been able to come to a game, uh, the past two years. So it was the first series they were able to make it to, which was really cool. Um, only two of my siblings and my parents. So, um, it's still really fun to have them out and then you have to have the graduation complete. Um, it is huge.
I mean, you always think about getting to this point and then all of a sudden it's here and it's like, wow, that was really quick. Um, four years of high school and four years of college and it's like, it's done.
So for the people who don't know you you said only two your siblings. How many siblings do you have?
Yeah, so I got seven. I got an older sister. I have five younger brothers and then a younger sister. So seven total.
So two two out of eight or three out of eight there wasn't too bad for the family to get all the way across the country Yeah
no, not bad at all.
five younger brothers, what, what in the world was that? Like trying to corral five younger brothers growing up.
Man, uh, well, we got our fair share of squabbles, of course. Um, some fist to fist, some wrestling, but I mean, it's awesome. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Um, having all those different siblings, um, it's weird when you have that many family members. When one's gone, it's like you, you feel like you think you wouldn't miss anybody, but when one's gone, it feels like the house is empty.
It's like, we still got nine people, but because one's gone, it's like, it's a part of the family missing. And so the house was really quiet without them, which is really interesting, but it was awesome growing up, playing outside all different sports, playing in the woods. Um, it was fun
how young is the youngest?
at the moment. He is, I believe about to turn 11, I think in June,
Wow, no twins or anything in there. It was all just singles
twins. no,
right moms moms each row out there p rose Okay.
pretty much like clockwork too. They did every, every two years, basically, except for my, me and me and my sister, but Funny.
That's awesome. Tell us some about like your journey kind of from high school out in washington And then you went to junior college and ended up at old domain kind of tell us How all that transpired?
Well, I wasn't a big name going into high school or coming out of high school. I played baseball since I was eight, loved it, pitched and hit and I was just okay. I mean, I was 83 85 from my sophomore year to my freshman year of college, actually. So I wasn't that great. I was a ground ball pitcher, had a change of cutter curveball and it's okay. Fastball. Um, and then junior year hit had a really good year. Um, going to my senior year, we had high expectations for the team.
COVID hit, so no season, um, went in and had to convince a judo coach to take me. I was like, I had to tell him I didn't need the money they were offering because of the program I was in. So it was already given me for school. And he was like, okay, well, we'll take you then. And so, grinding through my first year there, pitched only eight innings, kind of all garbage innings. Again, it wasn't good, lost my cutter and my curveball, so it was a bad changeup.
That fastball pitcher, which, um, doesn't really do well. And then, um, a great pitching coach came in my sophomore year and I started throwing pilots for the first time. Um, I was always somewhat bigger. And so I knew I had the veal in me. I just didn't know how to get it out of me. And I jumped four miles per hour in the fall up to 89. And then I jumped three more that spring up to 92. Um, had a really good spring there with, um, Tacoma community college.
Gained a couple more over the summer up to 95. And then. Marin and Old Dominion took a shot and came over here to play for a bit, and uh, it's been awesome. Super thankful.
Okay.
Uh really was the only option for me. Um, I knew, haha,
awesome
I knew based on school locations, right, there's much more Division I's on the East Coast than there are on the West Coast. And so the odds I was gonna play baseball at the visual level is going to be out here. Um, my head coach at that junior college had a really has a bunch of good connections out here. Um, of course, with older me and with four or five players that have come from there, I think I'm the fifth. Um, and so they reached out. There was two other schools interested.
One of them was in a regional at that point. And the other one ghosted me after a bad outing. And so it was like Old Dominion and Old Dominion. So Old Dominion it was.
Well, good. I'm glad it worked out. I'm glad that goes to you. I'm sorry that the emotional pain of that moment that it worked out Yeah,
And you've had a great season this year. I mean, you've pretty much anytime you've come in, you've been able to shut the door. You've also come through clutch and some of our biggest and most important games. I think about like South Alabama, Coastal, JMU, uh, Marshall, uh, just really being able to, to come in.
Like, do you get more pumped up, uh, kind of knowing that you're usually coming in on Sundays and it's those Kind of a high leverage rubber match type games that we've experienced this year. Like, does that get you more fired up knowing that it's kind of a more important game for you?
Yeah. It, I mean, to an extent, I mean, it's fun to come into two important games. It's also hard because I'm already, I mean, I already get nervous pretty easily. And so, When you play it up in your own head, you get more nervous. Um, so for me, it's almost like downplaying it. It's like, well, Hey, we've done this before. We come in the middle of an inning, you know, let's throw hard. Let's hit our spots.
Um, so in the moment going in, that's what I'm thinking, but coming out, I mean, after the fact, when you reflect on it, it is really cool to be able to go into those situations, um, to contribute for the team, to know that, uh, you're helping them in any way you can. So it is really fun. I
You don't look nervous on the mound. I'll say that. Like, in fact, you're, you're pretty intimidating on the mound to, to be honest. Like, I know there's guys that are taller than you on the team, like the Jay Cassaday's and people like that, but you're out there on the mound. Like you feel like you're just going to get run over with a fastball. Like when I'm standing behind the backstop, that's, that's what it feels like. So you definitely don't look nervous out there.
appreciate that. That's, uh, that's, that's, that's the goal to look at. I
you have you definitely when you come off sometimes so you got like a big strikeout at the end You have a little bit of a psycho look to you on the way out. It's uh, it's true
hope they see the
Yeah, well, I know this year, you know, the, the pitching plan has been different and it's kind of out there in terms of what we're doing with opener and then starters coming in later, how has your experience been with that so far this season?
super interesting. Um, it's the first time I've been a part of a team like that. I know it's not the usual. Um, I've always, I mean, I've been a starter, so I'm used to that role. Then last year I was a reliever because I wasn't, um, I didn't earn a spot. I wasn't that great. Um, this year coming in, having the starting spot and then having the jam thumb, which took me out of that rotation sucked, but it provided me a good opportunity to reevaluate things, uh, in my mindset, uh, in my approach.
And really, it also gave me greater appreciation for the game because it was taken away from me, right. For that one week, however short it was, I was like, You know, in any spot that I get to go in from here on out, um, I'm not going to let the situation, the emotions dictate this opportunity that's rare and that's dwindling. I'm gonna go have fun and try to compete.
And so, having the role of opener and then reliever, um, I guess it's allowed me to, I mean, I get to go into a game that's already been started, right? So I'm rolling out the momentum from the guys before me. And I get to keep that going. And so it's a different mindset, but it has been very unique to be a part of a team like that, where it's, you know, openers and then a bunch of relievers.
Yeah, it's definitely unique. I mean, I know, um, you know, having the game where, okay, one guy give me, give me two, three innings and somebody else maybe give me, I mean, what, Halibut's pitch seven and really good at night, you know, it's, you really don't know what you're going to get.
No, that was a great outing though. Hats off to him. Pitched so well, dominated with multiple pitches. Dude's a good, he's a good pitcher. Yeah,
He's a very good pitcher. I think he'll be, uh, unfortunately not playing for Old Dominion next year, but fortunate for him, uh, could be close. So, uh, well, speaking of that, you know, unfortunately, also, you won't be playing for Old Dominion next year. Um, what are your, what are your plans now? You know, I mean, obviously, we got some more weeks of this. Hopefully, hopefully, we got a month of this.
Hopefully, y'all just run all the way and get a trophy in Omaha, but, um, what's the, the post ODU natural graduated plan?
Uh, well, there's a lot of thinking going into this. Um,
I was gonna say, it's not like, no, everybody isn't asking you this constantly. I'm sorry about that.
no, it's, it's good. It is a question to ask right now, so I get it. But, uh, my goal is to continue playing baseball, um, in some capacity. I don't know where exactly that will be or how I'll get there, but, um, when the summer hits, it's going to be, Train, rehab, and, um, look into, I mean, hopefully a deal I'd get a signing somewhere, um, be able to play some, some low a ball, but otherwise after that it's indie ball.
And then from there, I really don't know just a lot of unknowns at the moment. But I am still trying to play.
I, I think it's a very, I was actually, while you were sitting here talking, I was like, I see no reason why you couldn't play for Evolve. I mean, Uh, whether it's a player or play some indie until you get to it So i'm I think it's a great goal, man Go with it. So you're only going to be young and able to do it in a certain period So if you guys your family's willing to back you up and help support you and look out for you, man Go for it by all means
Yeah, try to play as long as you possibly can and start that with what we've got coming up with the big weekend series at Georgia State. It's going to be critical. I mean, you could finish in the sixth spot, you could finish in 11th if things go the other way. Um, I know that you all are gonna be heading down to Atlanta pretty soon. The Richmond game is canceled, so I, I don't know if that backed up your timeline or not. It's gonna be a pretty long road trip anyway. You slice it, you know.
How have the road trips so far been this season? I know you've technically Texas State was a huge one. There's been some other ones. What are those road trips like and, and bonding with the guys? Yeah.
Well, first of all, there's been not very many road trips this year, right? So we were home for a large, I mean, all of the first month, um, and then we didn't get our first road trip until a road series trip until, um, conference play. And that's, that was weird going into that and not having the road games like we did last year, but I personally enjoy traveling, um, because of the time where You have to spend with your teammates, right?
Whether good or bad, um, you have to spend with your teammates. And so I love that. I love the group of guys they get to hang out with, um, love going out to eat with each other, um, playing mafia on the bus, um, doing all the fun, random things, right? All the little things that get over overlooked when you look back are so important. Those are really fun, but road trips are tough because on the body, right? Time zones, um, food travel. It's all, it's really hard on the body.
I personally enjoy them because of the camaraderie.
We've had, several pitchers on this year telling us about different corks. I know Jay told us about inducing the er bash revealed a a couple things earlier today. Uh, it, anything else we're missing from that built bullpen crew and occupying time during games that you're willing to share anyway, I should say,
That's a good question. I mean, yeah, two ball. I don't know if that one was, has been said that's the game we play.
Oh yeah,
but I think those are the main ones. I mean, the, the boundary inducing dance. That's a, that's a key part of the team. Um, you gotta have that. And I think it's funny cause Jay's the one who kind of created it. And I think he might be the one who, one of the few that actually doesn't have a double play. Um, and so we're, we're, every time a guy gets on first, we're like, this is the moment. This is the moment. He's going to get a double play here. We're going to do it. Um, we're sorry.
I think we're still waiting for that, but. I mean, it's a cool thing to bring the team together.
now i'm on the edge. Now i've got extra investment in his Appearances now, this is that's fun to know
Yeah, we gotta get one
I get one before he's done. That's wild. I what while we're talking about stuff I I always think it's funny how invested you guys are in standing in your exact places along along the uh the fence Like seriously if somebody moves for a minute and somebody else takes it They will like literally physically move them out of the way Is that like a thing where you guys just like I have to be in this exact spot?
I mean, it's, it's part of being a baseball player, right? The superstition aspect. Um, most of it, most of it is just fun and games, right? Um, and the other part of it, some of it is some serious superstition, but it is, it's a fun game to play, right? Like, hey, spots are hot, right? We just got three straight hits, spots are hot, don't move. Um, you're trying to get back to your spot as soon as possible after high fiving the guy who just scored. Right.
Um, so it's, it's all part of it, but it is a fun game to play.
That's great.
definitely seems like you all have a great time down there picking up the morale of the dugout. Typically, I see all the bullpen guys are the ones getting the guys fired up and we're coming up to bat the pitchers leading the charge on that. So. It's, it's fun to see. And I'm happy to hear more stories about, I know our fans are happy to hear more stories about that and learn a little bit more about you all coming out of the pen.
I was speaking of that. How hype was everybody? Uh yesterday when dylan brown went to the plate
That was, I mean, that was one of the best moments I think of the year.
he put a charge to that ball He almost messed around and ended that game
did, I know. That, I mean, that was, that would have been insane if he would have, but even just getting a barrel on it, especially with two strikes, then right at the center fielder, like, that was insane. And he'd even hit in high school. He didn't hit in high school. He had like,
gonna ask so he didn't hit in high school either.
He was a PO in high school. And then he comes out here, and probably if you're going to pick a pitcher not to hit, he'd be, he'd be one of them, right? Like, you don't want him to hit. You gotta have one hit. And he goes out there and he barrels a ball. It's, it's insane. Absolutely
Yeah, because so many of you guys were like first basemen, outfielders, shortstops. Like, there's so many guys on the team I know of that were, but I'm not, I saw Troboff playing center field. I mean, all, all the kinds of guys. And so, so he was a PO. He looked like, he had the look, he had the, had the, uh, the elbow guard. I mean, he had, he had it going.
Yeah, and he's big too. Intimidating in there in the box.
That's funny
I mean, he was straight up in that box bat high, and that was the most square ball that was hit the entire weekend. Like, I mean, it was perfectly pieced dead straight to center. I mean, he gets another 20, 25 feet on that. It's, it's banging the wall or going over. That would have. Yeah, it was wild. It seemed, it definitely fired up the dugout, but I think it, yeah. Maybe shook some of the pressure off of him because he came out and had an amazing half inning right after that.
That's a really good point. Um, I mean, you would think that it's a different mindset going up to hit, but when you're a pitcher hitting, it's like, there's nothing to lose. Like, you're literally, you got in there because if somebody would have gone on base, I believe you would have pinch hit. But because no one got a base, he was in there for fun. And so shaking off, right.
The, the seriousness or the, the nerves that he might've had the previous inning and going back out there and settling in, I mean, that was huge. That's a really good point.
Yeah. He even had a little smile.
That's the key. We just get rid of the dh. We all we'd all the pictures of the better pictures
Yeah. Yeah. No,
already a very entertaining game, but when the DH got dropped in the eighth, it made it more entertaining because now it's like old school national league. The pitcher spots up, you're in extra innings. You have a chance to walk it off. Like who's coming off the bench, then who are you bringing in? And that exact situation of, all right, nobody on two outs, we'd probably need another ending from Dylan. What do we do? Let them go swing that thing. Have fun.
And that's, that's a situation that every pitcher dreams of, right. Where you get thrown into a situation where it's like, well, he has to hit. So I know I dream about it.
Oh man. If that would have gone over the wall,
I was gonna say because you actually do go so you're you were you're like meant more mentally prepared. You're like I could make this happen
I think I can make it happen.
we still got, we still got games left and you never know what can happen in the conference tournament. So
Absolutely.
get a, get a, get a couple of reps in the cage before you head down there.
Get some teamwork.
Awesome. Trent. Well, it was great chatting with you. Great getting to know you really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to come talk to us. I know you all have a big road trip ahead, but good luck at Georgia State and extend this thing is as long as y'all possibly can. We'll be rooting you on to do it.
Thank you. Thank you so much. That's the plan. Let's go. Monarchs.
Yeah, that's right really i've really enjoyed uh having you around the last couple years man, it's just great guy um Did not get I said didn't really get a chance to meet your family But I just know they're the best people in the world because how could it not be if they produce you? Uh, so so just thanks for being a monarch man.
Appreciate that CB. Appreciate that. It's been awesome knowing you and I'm sad they didn't get to meet you, but, um, I'm sure there'll be another, another point in some, sometime.
Absolutely.
Thanks so much. Trent. Welcome back, Monarch fans. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with Bash and with Trent Buchanan. It was just great talking to those guys. I mean, you learn so much about them as people and just what they've got in front of them and how hard they work. Uh, just, just awesome. And, you know, very interesting to hear Bash talk about going to officer candidate school.
I mean, I said when we were talking to him, but that's the most Norfolk thing ever, Navy or Marines take your pick.
love bash. Um, you know, I've known that kid since he was like nine years old. So I'm, I'm just a huge fan. And, uh, and, and Trent is just a wonderful, wonderful guy. Um, so I, yeah.
Really appreciate I appreciate all the guys who've joined us and all the guys that we still got a few episodes I appreciate all the guys who who will join us I just I appreciate old dominion baseball and we have a little bit of it left this year Uh started this weekend down at georgia state for a big series, which I was just looking here, uh, georgia state over the weekend Uh, they got rained out looks like on friday had to play a double header actually on sunday weirdly enough Uh, and they
ended up they lost the game saturday to coastal they won the first of the dh on sunday You And lost the second one, uh, which unfortunately would have helped some of it. They're going to be coastal frankly Uh, but so they have actually lost four straight Uh cusa series, so they're they're 12 and 15 on the season Usa
Sunbelt Series, Conference USA is still buried in
got to put it in a jar somewhere but in the cusa jar So it's only been like two years now. You think I would know?
Yes. Well, depending on what website you look at, you'll get Georgia State's record. Uh, we have them at 24 and 28 overall and 12 and 15 in the conference. I think their website says something a little bit different. Uh, they are scheduled to play a midweek this week. On the road against South Carolina upstate over in Spartanburg is be Tuesday at five so they will be playing one more game. That's a good number of games in a short period of time.
They're playing Saturday to Sunday than one on Tuesday. I imagine they will not be throwing any of their primary arms
I said, they are looking for every piece of, uh, little drop of rain they possibly could find on Tuesday in South Carolina. They are trying their best.
A little bull Durham style rain out over there. Someone's gonna go turn those sprinklers on and forget to cut them off. Something like that. It's a little bit different series, uh, this week because the conference tournament is the week after we're going to be playing Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So 6 p. m. Thursday, 6 p. m. Friday, 1 p. m. on Saturday. Uh, all of those games will be on ESPN plus, according to both websites, uh, shouldn't be any reason for them not to be broadcasting that.
Uh, so you should be able to tune in and watch all of those. Uh, but yeah, Georgia state, they, they were hot early in the season. They want a couple series. They had some momentum. They fallen off a good bit lately, but you know, they went and took a game from coastal Carolina on the road on a big weekend for coastal honoring their coach, Gary Gilmore. Uh, they're, they're a dangerous team and. You start looking at their hitting stats and you start having a little bit of flashbacks of app
I was gonna say their stats overall really looks a lot like app state doesn't it?
I mean, they, they can hit, they can definitely hit will Mize, uh, is, is one of the primary hitters in three 58, uh, he's got 16 bombs. He's driven in 58 runs. I mean, 150 total bases on the season. That dude is having himself a year. Uh, Brennan Hudson, uh, hitting three 22, only 10 home runs in driven in 28. Uh, runs there. Uh, but you know, they've got them up and down. It looks like they've got four guys hitting over 300. They got a couple more that are over, uh, 275.
They're going to be able to put up runs similar to what we saw at App State. And it's kind of come down to can our pitching limit them the way that they were able to limit App State on Friday and Saturday.
And in much the same way can our hitting take advantage of their pitching because when you look at Their numbers they also have an era over 714 much like app state came to ODU with so They don't have the excuse of the high elevation. I don't, I mean, Atlanta, I guess is, is a higher elevation actually. I mean, it's not as high as the mountains, but I remember at one point back before like the, uh, Dynamax and Rockies joined major league baseball, Atlanta actually had the highest elevation.
Um, but it's more like, you know, a thousand as opposed to three thousand Uh, so I don't know that they have that quite excuse for the pitching giving up seven runs a game uh see a few guys like rob evans seems to be one of their starters and he's got a 562 era and 48 innings and then They they kind of have the same thing Maybe he has where they they start a lot of different guys and i'm guessing a lot of might be performance based more than anything because there's only a few A couple of guys
with ERAs under four and they don't pitch much. So this is a team that our guys need to go out and take advantage of these pitchers.
I mean, they give up a good number of runs. They also have 320 walks to 431 strikeouts. So they give up some, some bases as well. Uh, but they really are scattered across the board. Like Bob Evans or Rob Evans that you mentioned, not Bob Evans, the
It might be Bob, who knows?
yeah, go give you some mashed potatoes and meatloaf with Bob Evans
Tell you sugar.
Uh, Yeah, but he's at 48 innings. I think the next highest beyond that is 34, but they've got a lot of guys and kind of that 20 to 32 range of innings pitch. So I think they're just trotting out the hot arm and trying to get out and hoping that they can just outscore teams with their lineup.
And that guy who wears number 99, you gotta love that. I love it.
I'm actually a huge fan of that number 99 Brady Jones. I mean, I bet he sprints out of the bullpen
to say leave the team and saves with two. He's got that five and one record It might be the new team and wins also. Okay, brady All right, 99 is killing this year. The 715 array is is hiding Uh some good stuff. He's got 28 walks and 34 innings Uh, so that's kind of how you end up with that. But I mean 99 is he's he's producing for him
As a team, they also have 96 home runs. Their pitching staff has allowed a 72. Look on the ODU side in terms of the number of home runs that we've given up and it's 30, uh, so we've given up, you know, half the number of home runs, but we've, hit about 50 less than them. So again, two contrasting styles, uh, going to be similar to that app state series and that's. Can you limit those guys? Can, can your pitching hold up for another weekend and get you a couple of wins?
Uh, cause we have to have one. If we win one, we will make the tournament. There is no doubt about it. If we are able to sweep them and do something we haven't been able to do all season in the most improbable of ways. If we sweep, there is a pathway to the five or the succeed. But it starts with us sweeping Georgia state. That's the only way it's possible.
I mean, you know, let's, let's do it and see what happens. That's all I can say about that. You'd love to see, um, I would love to see him sweep to say again, of not having a 500 records. I think if you sweep, you end up being 16 and 14. Um, but we know how hard that is, even with this team, it's, it's lost four straight. Series, which means they've lost a couple of home series in that span. Uh, it is not easy to win a series on the road. It's not easy to sweep a series on the road.
Um, but again, I think ODU's some brave momentum off this weekend. We got some hitters going the right direction. So, you know, go down, take some of those lessons. Hopefully you learn from App State about how to approach some at bats and, and go compete. Because you really want to get yourself in the best position you possibly can go in that tournament. I, you do not want to be that single game elimination. Uh, cause you know, I don't know, last week coastal was in 10th.
If you had to play coastal in one game, yeah, they've been bad lately, but we saw them, they're not bad. None of these teams are bad. Who seems to beat you in one game?
There's a couple of teams that could potentially fall out of the tournament, and that's Coastal, South Alabama, ODU, Texas State, and Georgia State. One of those teams is not making the conference tournament. We certainly don't want it to be Old Dominion.
Um, but if, if you want to, you, there's so many different scenarios that could play out with three games left and the standings being this tight, but if you're interested in things like possibly getting the fifth or sixth seed, You need to go root for Troy against JMU, which honestly you should be rooting for Troy against JMU anyway,
no problem.
that. And then you need to go pick up an app state hat that maybe got left in the dugout this weekend. And you need them to sweep Georgia Southern. If those things happen and we sweep Georgia State, there's a shot at five and six.
I Got no problem. App State, they seem like cool guys. Their fans were nice. No problem. I could root against JMU any day and twice on Sunday. I I'm all for all for Troy and all for App State this weekend. Go out and sweep and, and, and give us some some help and then hopefully we help ourselves. Would love to see it.
Yeah. And even just them winning two games is going to be helpful, but the only way to that five or six is going to be a sweep. But it all starts with us taking care of our business, plain and simple. We haven't swept anyone this entire season, even at home, even going four and one in our home series. We did not, we didn't sweep anybody. Uh, so we're going to have to kind of do the thing we haven't done all season.
But after watching that game Sunday, I, maybe I'm just clouded by the emotion of the game, but if we were able to pull off that shit show on Sunday and when, why not go to Atlanta and sweep them? Like, why not? Like what, what's stopping us?
Yeah, go. And like I said, then you have a winning conference record. You got your 30th win for the season, which is always a nice, uh, barometer to hit so, and you'll be rolling along. It's like all season that they hold their future in their own hands. It's all about how well they compete and how hard they're going after it. Um, if they're willing to go and, and, and grind out every single pitch and every single at bat, they can make it happen.
Um, if they're gonna just fold up and just accept things then, you know, they're gonna Maybe make the tournament and maybe not put up a fight there when they get there I believe these guys I you know, again, I I wouldn't spend all this time Uh watching this a team be terrible full of bad guys It's a group of great guys, and I think they're all really talented and I i'm excited to get up the espn plus I'm watching this weekend
Yeah. Same here. I'm excited for them. I want them to extend that conference tournament and anything beyond that as long as they can, because. I want to see a lot of those seniors that got recognized this weekend and graduated this weekend. I want to see them play one more game. I know they want to play one more game. They want to be with those guys one more. And that's, that's what I'm rooting for there. So, uh, you know, I'll, I'll definitely be able to catch the game on Thursday, Friday.
I might still be in a little, uh, post surgery haze, maybe on some good stuff. We'll see.
Might be the best way to. watch the game. Honestly, who knows a few of these games? I would love to have a haze on
oh, yes, that that would have been good to have the Hayes on Sunday. But, uh, yeah, we'll see. And then, of course, the, the final game there on Saturday afternoon. And then, uh, you know, those guys are going straight to Montgomery after that, um, hopefully carrying a 5 seed, but we're the underdogs, man. And why not? You gotta think about that mindset. You got to fight and claw for everything just like you have all year. So. Why not us?
Why not us? We're underdogs.
Well, we appreciate you all listening and tuning in. We got a loaded episode for you. I hope you all enjoyed it. We'll definitely be back, uh, here in another week, hopefully talking about some victories, but I'm Gary go Monarchs.
And I'm CB. Go Monarchs!