Yeah.
Hello Monarch fans and welcome to the Hudson Homers podcast. We are coming to you after the Rutgers series in a game at UVA and looking forward to a midweek against number 11 East Carolina and then a weekend series at the Bud against Charlotte. Coming off a one in three week. able to salvage the game yesterday against Rutgers. But CB, how are you feeling today?
I mean, I feel great. Uh, a lot better than I think I would have felt if we didn't, win that game yesterday. Um, tough week, you know, when you go lose to number 14 UVA, it's like, all right, you know, number 14, that's, you lose to him, that's fine. Um, losing the series to Rutgers, that, that didn't feel great, especially the way they kind of lost, um, And halfway through, uh, the game Sunday, it was really not looking great for, uh, getting out of there with anything.
So it was a, it was a tough week.
You and I were standing behind the plate in the top of the first there and Rutgers was really squaring the baseball up and kind of looked at each other like, here we go again. This is going to be the saddest podcast of the year and in episode four.
But I got to say, I was Proud of the guys because it would have been really easy just to pack it in when you get down five nothing again You know, that was a theme of the weekend ruckers getting those early leads and ambushing us at the plate But they weren't having any of it the boys rallied came back for a nine to five win and You just have a totally different feel on how your week went after pulling out that sunday victory
Yeah. And, you know, and they started turning things around in that Saturday game with the, uh, the six run fifth inning. I think that was, it's, it's a real shame that they weren't able to, to get anything else across the rest of that game. Cause that really could have pushed some momentum. The bright side is they were able to do it two days in a row. It's not good to get down six, nothing and five, nothing.
Uh, but that they were able to on Sunday's game, mount the big comeback and they'll do it all in one inning and get from that, that, that takes a lot of heart. I mean, cause at that point, you know, after you've done it the day before you got down and had to scratch and claw. And then gave up a solo home run and lost the game that way, uh, to then have to do it again. You know, I mean, it's, it's very easy to just pack it in and be like, all right, it's not our week boys.
Um, so for them to fight and not stop and score a bunch of that thing and then keep scoring the rest of the game Yeah, that showed a lot. That's that's what you want to see that. That's kind of how you Start building towards something worth having
and there's a hundred different points In a three game series over the weekend that you could look at as, Oh, if we, if we did this, we could have won the series. If we could have done that, you really feel that on Saturday, one more hit with runners on base, or, you know, Tyser stepping up to the plate with the, the tying run on third, if he cranks one on top of the parking garage. We are sitting there winning two out of three and feeling really good about how the weekend went.
So baseball is funny like that, where those just little things can can get you. But I didn't make it down for the game on Friday with the delays and everything else going on. The weather looked miserable. And I feel like there's a distinct advantage when the weather is miserable.
If you're able to get a couple run lead, I feel like a lot of times you're able to hold onto that lead just because it's cold, it's windy, it's rainy, and a little tougher to get fired back up to, to get back into the game.
Yeah, I actually wasn't at that game either, which is rare for me. I'm, I'm, I rarely miss a game, uh, if I can avoid it. Um, but I, I was just convinced they weren't going to play. The weather was that bad and having talked to some folks that they were there that it's impossible. Maybe they shouldn't have played. Um, but they did and you said, I mean, it's, that's not fun conditions to play and to hit in. Um, it's just hard.
I heard that some of our pitchers were saying they had trouble really getting a good grip on the ball. Um, so it's just, it's a tough night. Up to that, up to the point about the fifth inning on Saturday, there really weren't hitting this week. Just not a lot of, putting the ball in play, which you got to do. I mean, that's one thing we saw Rutgers did. We saw last week with, George Washington, they were willing to put the ball in play. And we've got to do a lot more of that.
You know, we've got guys who do it. We got to do a lot more of just, putting some strong contact on the ball and not having to have to be over the fence. Otherwise not gonna have happy results. So we got the talent. We got the team we saw yesterday we saw in the fifth inning on saturday, you know, we saw What they can be and it's exciting. It's a fun brand of baseball.
It is, and speaking of strong contact, we do have to give you the Dollars for Dingers update. Uh, the Monarchs now stand at four after this weekend, with Kyle Edwards getting one out of the ballpark, and then Luke Waters getting one out on Sunday. So we are at four now, so make sure you're saving your Dollars for Dingers. We will, continue working on a catchy theme for CB's challenge here for steals.
the bucks for bags bucks for bags and hate Bucks for bags is up to 19 now guys, 19 through seven games. The boys are, are taking them. Um, Stephen Meyer can't be stopped. Uh, he's, he's six for six, Kyle Edwards, four for four and steals. I mean, these guys are, they're getting out there. They want, they want that donation. They say, look, we're not going to be the same kind of power team. We're going to bring some excitement, man. I mean Stephen Meyer yesterday had a perfect day at the plate.
Um, he first had bat hit a single. And then he got hit by a pitch three different times. I personally didn't think anyone looked that bad. I was also standing over there. Not the one getting hit but I will say steve It looks like the kind of guy who does not enjoy being hit by a baseball He did not seem pleased about it and he wanted to three times Um, and then they worked a walk in his last at bat So five plate appearances only, uh, one actual at bat but perfect day and had three steals.
I mean the kids Trying to make the bucks for bags happen. So, dollar for dinners were up to four and bucks for bags up to 19. So, you know, start, start saving up your money. Be willing to help out this program. We got, we got two avenues here.
I will definitely commit to that a dollar for every steal and we don't just have 19 steals. We are 19 for 19 Uh stealing bags this year. So when they go they're getting there safely. We talked about steven meyer yesterday just weird baseball oddity Two different innings yesterday. He was hit by a pitch then stole second Then scored on a hit from Luke Waters. So there was the home run or a single that, that just screams weird to me for baseball.
Like I'm sure it's happened before, but it's a weird one.
I liked about it too, it is, it is odd. I mean, it's stuff like that. It's any time the exact same thing happens, it'd be even more odd if Luke could hit a home run both times in a single both times. I was kind of hoping coming in after the game, Saturday coming to Sunday, I was hoping that Finney would switch up the lineup some, and he did that. He moved a few guys around, gave a couple of guys days off. And I like that he had Meyer up there toward the top of the order.
Um, it, it would not hurt my feelings to actually see him batting first and seeing, um, Kyle hitting, hitting second. But I do like the, you know, Kyle hits first and then. Steven can either, um, bunt him over or he can single him, you know, do whatever he needs to do. Um, but I like seeing him at the top of the order. And he's a guy who right now, he's right now he's leaving the team in average, uh, leading on base by a lot and getting those steals.
So having him more for the top of the order where he can cause some chaos is a good move. And I hope that continues.
And over the weekend, he was three for six. He got either six walks or was hit by a pitch, three steals. Three RBIs. Uh, so you go, you over the weekend hitting 500 with an out of this world on base percentage. I think that's someone you're going to have to keep at the top of the lineup.
If he continues his pace, you have to keep him up at the top of the lineup because he was a duck on the pond for Luke Waters, who also had a fantastic, uh, four RBI game yesterday, along with the home run, really the, the lineup shakeup. on, on Sunday, getting Meier to the top of the order, uh, getting some other guys in there.
And then Luke Waters being able to drive them home was huge and really propelled every time that top of the order came back through, we were getting guys on base once we hit that fourth inning.
Yeah, that, uh, going, uh, was Boucher? That's a pretty solid four in a row. Um, and, and they really did produce yesterday.
Yeah, absolutely. Luke ended up going two for three, drove in four runs, also drew two walks, Boucher with one for four, drove in two runs. He had a walk, uh, just felt like we had. Really strong plate appearances in the top half of that lineup yesterday. Uh, and we executed a perfect hit and run, uh, in that fourth inning as well with Nick Miller, send the runner to second short stops out of position. He pokes one through the left side into the outfield to keep that rally going.
So just a, a lot of really good small ball type things were showing up on Sunday.
And that at bat from, from Nick Miller was such a, that was so great to see because he's a guy, you know, I've only seen him since he's been here in the fall, um, as a juco kid from Texas, and he's one of those guys, he looks every time like he wants to take a swing to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Um, and he kind of has this, this swing that's, it's a very all or nothing. Um, and so seeing him.
Shortened up and just he the swing actually looked kind of awkward But it was really just because he was pulling his hands in And he had trying to get a good spot on the barrel and he that I mean that was just an excellent piece of hitting and so that was a guy who Went kind of against what his I think approach is at the plate To do what the team needed to do in that moment and that's fantastic to see. I mean, that's a really big deal
I think it'll be adjustment for some of the guys who probably coming up all through high school and travel ball were told elevate, elevate, elevate, get the ball up and now exit velocity, all of that. And that's still important for what we're trying to do. But I think we're a little more, how about a little more level swing, focus on contact, don't swing out of your shoes. So it's good to see guys that are able to make that adjustment.
I think some are making it a little bit quicker than others as well.
yeah, I mean it's such a you know, the modern baseball hitting philosophy it gets So misconstrued it gets misconstrued by fans and then pundits and so I know it gets misconstrued by People who are trying to teach it, the idea of Launch angle x velocity all that is the idea is to create a swing that creates the highest Exit velocity with the most optimal launch angle, you know launch angles I mean, so you always hear like all these guys these hall of fame type hitters, you know, um, Miguel
Cabrera is one that comes to the top of my mind. He's like, yeah, I don't care about exit velocity Miguel you do you absolutely care about it? You you you produce I know for a fact you can't have the amazing hall of fame career that guy had without caring about it He was every single day working his crap to make sure he was Having his swing in the exact perfect way to create this exact perfect result.
Now he might not have said, I'm trying to create a 23 degree launch angle or 26, whatever that perfect angle is. Uh, but he was doing the right things. And so at that you're right, it becomes. When it gets watered down and misconstrued, it becomes, well, elevate. Well, it's not elevate. It's, it's creative swing that creates that natural, again, 23 degrees. It's not a huge level of elevation. It's not a big Scott rocket up in the air.
It's a very natural, I mean, I think a chipper Jones, I think of that perfect, just level, even swing, hit the ball extremely hard at that perfect angle. And yeah, so it is frustrating. And you see it a lot with, you know, the more amateur baseball, you go down ,I got to see like a 12, you travel ball team and these kids are trying to, trying to elevate and celebrate. It's like, bro, you're, you're way above 10, like hit a line drive swing and the ball will, you know, the ball again.
I mean, you see, I'll say Freddie Freeman was a guy. I remember I saw Freddie Freeman. He was 18 years old. He was a, he was a six foot five skinny as a post. Um, and, but all he was trying to do was hit line drives. And because he, if somebody got to him and got smart and said, look, you're as big as you are, the older you get, the bigger you get, the more home runs are going to fall. And now the guy hits 30, 40 home runs regularly, no problem because he's always just focused on the swing.
So if you focus on the line drive, the rest happens. I think the guys that try to hit home runs, you're going to fail.
And the home runs we saw over the weekend were exactly what you're talking about. They are line drives that there are no doubters because they're hit so hard, but they are not those ones that are up there into the lights or anything like that. They're, you know what, if it's a little bit lower of a launch angle, it's going to pound off the wall and be a double.
Uh, but, but, you know, both Kyle and Luke were able to get them up and out of the ballpark and, and really, really sparked some things for us on Saturday and Sunday. But just to finish the conversation out about the game on Sunday, I know we've talked a lot about hitting, uh,
Oh, my goodness. I mean,
Really, strong pitching performers as Trent Buchanan started out a little bit shaky, after the game, coach Finwood was saying, didn't know if he was just tight or if it was the cold or what it was, but he really settled in after having a rough first couple outs there, getting that done, but he was able to lock it in. Uh, he was actually gonna bring Trent back out for additional innings is he only threw 66 pitches. But we had that long fourth inning. We had a longer fifth inning.
Uh, and coach Finwood just didn't want to take the chance of putting it back out there and letting him get hot. But who comes to the rescue? But you have Previous guest of the Hudson homers podcast, Jacob Gomez, and I'll let you talk all about Jacob. I know you're excited about him too.
I'm excited about both of them. I love, um, that, Trent, yeah, first inning was rough. Um, it was a four run to the first and not really, they didn't really hit the ball that hard. They were just kind of bleeding and it was kind of what was happening a lot of the week. Just a little, little. You know death by a thousand cuts. Um, so it was great to see him Fight back and fight through and then and again, I I commended the staff last week about this I commended this week.
They're letting guys fight through stuff and I I think it's how you develop pitchers It's how you develop guys who can win for you at the end of the year Is by letting them fight through stuff when it's early on Um, and so and then yeah, but jacob just came out and I mean the kid is he's dynamite, man He is on You're hard pressed to find somebody better and on and just talking trash the whole time as he's getting guys out. He is, um Electric to watch is again.
It's very hard as a pitcher to be someone who is not just your stuff is actually entertaining But to just be like a presence who is it was imposing and entertaining on the mound and Gomez He's worth the price of admission, uh for scoreless innings for strikeouts, uh, just one walk what three hits So he scattered a few hits here and there and again, they kept him out there I mean i'll tell you i'm over there in the bullpen. Nobody's warming up in the bullpen.
That was his game great to see just phenomenal pitching on, uh, the Sunday game.
And two of those four strikeouts were in the ninth inning and he was absolutely letting the batters hear about it when he struck them out, pumping up the dugout, pumping up the guys on the field as a team on Sunday. We only threw 126 pitches just for some reference. Rutgers threw 163. So it two pitchers combining for only 126 pitches, uh, to get you through a Sunday. That's pretty rare. Cause that's usually when you're rolling through some arms there in the bullpen.
Uh, so glad to see that bounce back. Uh, I know cause it was a rough early going for our pitchers on Friday and on Saturday.
No, it was, I mean, Sunday, obviously when you only win one game in a week, it's easy to have that be the most fun and most memorable best game, but there was a lot to love about the Sunday game as far as just the heart and fight the guy showed. And then like I said, they were, they showed us signs of it on Saturday.
So it's great to see that they were able to, even when they got down, push through because it's so easy to just be like, all right, well, you know what, full of invoice, that's fine. And then not doing that, that was huge.
Yeah, we've heard from players and coaches about how the chemistry of this team reminds them a lot of that 21 team, and that's all well and good, but what does that chemistry do when you face adversity when you go to UVA and you get shut out and you have a clunker of a game on a Friday to start the series and you come up just short and I'll come back Saturday like, You see that, that chemistry and that leadership within the team show up a little bit on Sunday when things are still not going well
and coming back to get that win. So I hope that's a good teachable moment for both the coaching staff, but also the leadership within the team there to say, look, if we keep doing what we're doing, keep working towards this, we can win ball games. Uh, and you know, don't let those moments drag you down too much to where, we're not able to come back, but love that resiliency.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We talked about the good game. We talked a lot about Sunday. We do need to talk about the other games as well. Just to make things pretty, pretty fair here. Uh, got
I mean, are we obligated, you know, it's, uh, all right, we'll talk, I mean, we'll talk about it because there are lessons to learn.
Yeah, and we got to talk about, you know, the game in Charlottesville, uh, during the week, you know, I, that game was, did not feel like an eight nothing game. They kind of stretched it out later on. Uh, I think the, the interesting thing there is we got 10 guys on base in that game and we left them all on base. So we had. opportunities with guys on base. We just needed that, that extra hit. We needed one more play here or there.
We needed to bounce to go our way to kind of get back in that game early because, you know, it's, it's still a two nothing ball game there in the fifth and we were neck and neck with them.
Yeah, we, we definitely were with them. It, that was one, you're right. It didn't feel like, like if you told me the final score of that game is eight to nothing, I was kind of surprised. It just kind of bled away a little bit there at the end, but we, We hung with them. Um, again, just not getting enough hits and timely spots. Um, and again, I think Finney's mentioned this. It just comes down to approach. It comes down to, you know, how you're attacking the at bats.
Um, a few of our guys are kind of very caught in between right now. It seems like they're kind of, it's like they want to work the count, but then when it's time to be aggressive, they're kind of stuck. And so there's a little bit of, um, I think right now would definitely be one to tell you, like he he's. He's kind of in between. It seems like he's not seeing the ball great now.
I looked like on the, he got, uh, I don't think I wanted that or two of bats on Sunday, but his last at bat that he had on Sunday, he was seeing the ball a lot better, had a really nice swing on it. Um, so hopefully he's getting out of it. Um, but yeah, definitely. Um, yeah, definitely an approach situation where it just weren't making it happen.
Virginia brought back a lot of their lineup. I think the question mark on them, at least in the preseason was what's their pitching going to look like. But this is a team that is I would guess would likely lead to ACC in scoring. They've got some dudes that can hit the ball. They square it up. They make you pay on mistakes, which is something else we saw from Rutgers over the weekend. But, they're going to be a legit good ball club. But I'm glad that we're getting two more shots at them.
Uh, one more in Charlottesville that one at Harbor park, unless, you know, that gets canceled for a lot of another third or fourth year in a row. Hopefully that, that holds up, but. I like our chances a little bit more catching them later here in the season, getting two more shots at them, uh, and seeing what we can do.
I'd love to get one, if not two of those games, For potential postseason purposes, but also just the confidence building of beating a team that's ranked and that, that got you pretty good early in the season.
There's no reason we can't beat them. It's just you gotta perform. Um, and hopefully, you know, we got some games coming up here this week. They'll get us ready for them next time. Yeah, I, I, you talk about their lineup. I love, um, Harrison did a wick of their, um, outfielder. Uh, he went to Western branch here in Chesapeake. Um, just, I've been watching him play since he was about a freshman in high school. And he's just a fantastic kid, fantastic ball player.
I kept trying to push him on ODU every time I saw him and I even, you know, knowing that he probably wasn't going to pick us compared to, uh, you know, people, they see the big power five school and they're not going to pick ODU, unfortunately, which, uh, but, clearly he shows you belong. So it's good to see. And then, The starter in that game for him was Cullen McKay from, uh, from Maury. And he, you know, great job kid had a Tommy John surgery in high schools.
It was great to see him performing well. So yeah, we got, you know, I don't like UVA in general, but I could root for some of their kids.
Yeah, pick, pick the ones you like. I mean, did awake was great. He started the scoring. He hit that solo home run, ended up having two hits on the day. Uh, but really just top to bottom with that lineup. They're in good shape, uh, in terms of the bats that they're bringing to the dish and just being able to turn that lineup over. And if, if Colin McKay is, is going to be their quote unquote, number four guy, they're. Likely going to be in good shape there as well.
But we will move on from that, that eight nothing game. And we'll, uh, we'll talk about UVA more later in the season.
Let's talk about. Steven Trone, though.
I mean, this is a guy, he's a sophomore, side armor, didn't get a lot of shots last year, but so far he's come in a couple games when things were, you know, we're, right now they kind of got him coming in games when they're out of hand, but Steven's been, you know, just throwing great in both, so I want to, he's a guy that doesn't get a lot of attention, so I want to make sure to give him a nod and say, hey, because if you look at the line of that game, he's about the only guy that really came
out of it unscathed. Um, other guys, you know, came in, got it out here or there, but he had a whole inning to end it and did great. So I want to give
Yeah. And he also threw really well on Friday coming in as the first arm out of the pen pitching, ending in the third, uh, no runs, two hits had three strikeouts. So he struck out half the batters that he faced. So he. Came in in a situation where we kind of need to stop the bleeding a little bit. And I think he did a great job there and then getting three strikeouts. Uh, another arm that I didn't want to talk about, you know, Lincoln ransom, uh, coming in on Friday, uh, he, he pitched as well.
Did end up giving up a couple of runs, uh, but he had three strikeouts in his first appearance as a pitcher for ODU.
And Kyle Finn had a great couple of innings at the end of the game Friday too. Even in some, some not great outcomes, there were some great
Yeah, and hopefully that's, experience that they're going to take forward with them into the next few weekends, but it was good to get some run from some of these other arms, I guess that's the one upside to, starters, maybe not staying in the game as long, but, Friday was, was really a tough one right from the jump Rutgers goes up to nothing in the first, by the end of the second, it's five, nothing. Uh, and really we, weren't in that game.
Kyle obviously hit the, this, The solo shot, uh, I'm sorry to run shot there on Friday, uh, to get us on the board, but, uh, tough, tough sledding on Friday.
Like I said, I was convinced they weren't going to play. I went home and actually just laid down and, uh, I fell asleep. And by the time I got up, the game was over. Uh, so I, I was, uh, sad that I missed it, but also not sad based on the
Yeah, I watched the game on the stream, uh, forced the wife to watch it as well. But it felt like Rutgers, they really came out there on that Friday, looking to ambush us. If there was anything remotely over the plate, they were putting it in play a lot of infield singles, getting some blue pits.
Uh, they were taking advantage of, Yeah, any, any ball that was down in the dirt trying to take an extra base, uh, Then we did have three errors in that game as well That led to some runs of the 10 runs that were scored only seven were earned Uh, so just this didn't feel like we could get an out there for a little while for one reason or another uh, so it just uh Just a game I think you kind of have to flush a little bit that that didn't go your way and you got beat by a good Team that brought
out a great starter and coppola, uh who pitched well had nine strikeouts and six innings. I mean, that's It's going to be tough to beat a Friday starter like that when they're throwing that well, and you just don't have anything going
yeah, I mean, you were mentioning the other day that, uh, Rutgers, the team is like you said, if there's a way you can bet on them for the future, they're, they're, uh, they're good looking team. They got some, some good pitchers and they got some really good hitters and that they're, they came in and showed themselves to be a very solid
We don't have a sports betting podcast yet in the Monarchist Podcast Network. If one of those companies wants to pay us, we're happy to do it. But, futures on Big Ten, uh, champion for Rutgers, probably be smart. Maybe take a little, uh, look at the odds for World Series, because I think that they're going to surprise a lot of teams in the Big Ten.
Yeah, I couldn't begin to tell you who's in the big 10, but it was at the Ohio state and Penn state. Some of the, some of the schools don't even have a baseball team, but I
Yeah, Indiana and Iowa, I think, are their two ranked teams in the Big Ten right now, and they're the odds on favorites to win it. Rutgers is a team that I feel like what they do is going to hold up well because they're doing a lot of the stuff we want to. Put the ball in play, they run well, they don't have a lot of big velo guys in their starting rotation. But they locate well. They have a lot of late break, a lot of late movement on their pitching.
Uh, it felt like anytime we did make good contact, we were just driving it right into the dirt in front of home plate. And it wasn't for a lack of a bad swing. It was just that those pitches were moving late. They've got some good potential there. We obviously talked to Bobby D. Uh, I think we settled up his tab a little bit and talked to him. But, Joey played a, pretty big role there on Saturday
Yeah, I mean, the outcome isn't what we as, as Monarch fans really want to see, but, um, you know, as Joey D is a kid again, kid I've known since he was in high school, since he was committed to ODU, um, and got to see him play for four years here, and he's just a great kid, his dad's a great guy, his uncle was there taking pictures, his uncle's a great guy too, just a whole good family, he came in in the ninth inning when they needed him. They were up by one run.
Um, he tried to give us a chance to me for a minute. There was looking like, you know, I mean, Joey had four years here. He really never got a chance to really establish himself in a strong way as a reliable guy, because he was, he was wild. You know, he had this, he had all this stuff in the world lefty that can probably hit 97, I think it really pumps it up there. Um, but wasn't always wild. And so he came and came out there in the, in the ninth inning and gave us opportunities.
We put some guys on base and, but he was able to shut the door. And I mean, he saw that video was going around all the different, Twitters and things were, were sharing it. He was pumped, and he deserved it. He came in and it was emotional for him and he celebrated. And I mean, I told him at the end of the game yesterday, I said, Hey man, that was awesome. I said, I'm sad that we lost the game, but it's just a baseball game.
Um, you know, at the end of the day, that was a, that was a big important moment for him and he showed up big and you get to celebrate and enjoy it.
and he has that established role at Rutgers too, where he's going to be the closer. Those are the situations that he's going to be coming into all season long. And I think that has helped build some confidence in him, but, there was a lot of pressure on him.
The Odu dugout, that was the loudest that they were all game is when he came in to pitch one run game in the bottom of the ninth, uh, doesn't get much more pressure packed than that, especially early in the season, playing the school that you were at for a long time. You know, a lot of those guys, uh, and it came down to it. I mean, he, he was going up against Tyser, our best power hitter, and he was able to strike him out and win that battle.
So obviously we're Odu fans first, and we wanted Odu to win that game, and I was hoping for, for Tyser to. To put one into the chemistry building
Oh, yeah.
you know, uh,
I was on that little perch that I like to stand for a walk off, you know, for like a walk off celebration. I was, I was in the spot. So I was, I was definitely hoping for it. I mean, I was like, I, I, I love Joey, but I want nothing more than for Tyson to hit. I, frankly, I wanted Tyson to hit a single and just tie the game up. Let's just keep playing it. That's fine too. But yeah, I was hoping he'd park one. Um, yeah, you're right.
I mean, obviously we're ODU fans, Joey's a great kid, love the guy, but I would have loved nothing better in that moment than for him to cough it up, but he didn't. And that's competition. You got to take your hat off to the kid. He competed, he won and say, okay, great, man. I love you, buddy. I'm not mad at you cause you
yeah, credit where credit is due to, to come through in a pressure pack situation for sure. I know that a lot of people there at ODU and including us will be keeping an eye on him and Rutgers throughout the year, I think we actually got an open invite to come up for a Rutgers series, uh, at some point. So, uh, you know, we'll, we'll see how that plays out here through the spring, but it was a good ending to the game, even though it had.
It started raining there in the eighth, the temperature had dropped again, uh, but the fans that did stay around were, were treated to a really entertaining end to the ball game. Uh, I went over to men's basketball after that senior night, crazy win. So it was just a day of soaking in a lot of ODU athletics.
Yeah. Oh, and, and since we're, you mentioned ODU basketball, congrats to Jeff Jones on his career. He was outstanding for us. He was everything, I think, that represents Old Dominion well. Um, and he did a good job of, you know, having his players and his team to represent Old Dominion well. And so, I mean, he's a guy who's always, always been a staple of the baseball games. Um, and just always just a wonderful human being. And so it's a, you know, again, congrats to him.
We appreciate everything he did for us.
Absolutely. He's one of the toughest human beings that exists on this planet. He has been through a lot. Uh, so wish him nothing but a healthy and happy retirement. Enjoy it. I know that he will still remain plugged into the ODU community. So love to see ODU fans go out and support him as he kind of continues down this journey but, more on that from, uh, some of the other shows on our network with Mike and Aaron on the,, The basketball show, uh, and a few other things.
And of course, we will keep you updated with everything we know about the coaching search and what's going through there, but I'll just say who,
Yeah, I'm sure that's all be like, all right, I guarantee that be unlikely that I know who and I saw somebody said drew williamson I'm, like I would know who he is. That's about it
well, if you've listened to rap music from the, the 2000s, you'll understand the reference of who and the name that comes after that. We'll see how everything plays out, but I've seen a lot of tweets mentioning a few names from some teams that are around here that think ODU fans will get excited about. But, back to baseball, drop the game Saturday. Come back to when it's Sunday. We we've talked about that. Let's take a look ahead.
Uh, you know, we've got to shake off the one in three week pretty quickly. There's no room for worrying about last week as you move forward with this crazy schedule we have. And it starts on Tuesday, number 11, East Carolina coming to the bud.
I didn't realize there were 11. I knew there were top 25 with 11. Okay, and ecu is always a challenge. They're always tough, um, they Travel well, so they have some there's always some fans They come in and want to act like ecu fans, which is not always to me the most pleasant thing to have around but their their teams always compete very well and they're fun to watch.
They're fun baseball to watch too because they're so Different because they have so many guys that will play the field and pitch So that's always really interesting to watch, you know, gotta go from third base to pitcher and then back to shortstop and the shortstop goes to center field and they I would I used to keep a box score when I watch games and I I think I would hate watching a ecu game doing that
Yeah. They've always been a tough team. They've hosted many, many regionals. So far this year, they are five and two to start the season. Uh, swept writer to start the season really just, I mean, absolutely destroyed writer that entire series, uh, turned around for their midweek after that. And that actually lost a game on the road at Campbell university is a one run game. It was a good ball game, but they are.
coming up to Norfolk after a three game set with UNC, where they went two and one, they dropped the game on Friday, came back to win Saturday, one on Sunday. Obviously North Carolina also ranked also another great baseball program. Maybe we catch them, sleeping a little bit after that. Maybe they're a little tired after the big emotional game against their in state rival there, but they were able to win that series.
Or maybe we should show up and play like. we can play and beat them I mean, this is one of those things like we don't need to catch anybody sleeping. We have an extremely deep Extremely talented team and they can just show up and play. Well, that's always one of the things to me that and i'm not Pick it on you gary because I know that's that's a very common kind of way to talk about things You know, we'll catch them sleep.
It's like oh, we'll just how about we'll just show up and play to our best of our ability We'll beat them because we're really good. That's all that's always gets
We've, beaten him plenty of times in the past. I'm not worried about that. I'm thinking, how do we cruise to like 12 to 2, 13 to 4, something like that is, is kind of,
that'd be fun.
Kind of what I'm thinking there, but it looks like they're going to start their, lefty Ethan Norby. He hasn't thrown a lot this season. He's only had two outings, two innings pitch, given up two earned runs. So I imagine that similar to what you're going to see on the ODU side, it's going to be primarily a staff day with a lot of guys coming out of the bullpen. Obviously it's a big one and we'll have a return trip down there to Greenville later in the year.
But, unfortunately this game is not going to be streaming on ESPN plus, and it is because the women's basketball team is home that day being streamed on ESPN plus. Uh, and that is part of the Sunbelt contract there. We can't do two games at once just yet, and they may run into each other. Uh, but you'll be able to follow on the live stats. I'm sure there'll be some other ways to follow along as well.
well. and the good news is, if you're in the area, the weather is beautiful. Um, now I personally, I'm about to work to a certain point, I'm gonna miss about half the game. Um, but the weather, it should be in the 60s. Uh, it should be a real nice day, so if you find yourself able to get over to ODU to watch the game, uh, go. And also, since, you know, you mentioned that they went to Campbell, they're coming here. Let's give ECU credit for being willing to go play teams.
Um, there's so many college programs. ECU has been very good for a while. I'm thinking about the last 10, 15 years, they've been a very good team consistently and they're willing to go places. Plenty of teams, if they had the equivalent to Campbell. In their state, they're not going to go play them right. And you see you that they don't, they don't have any problem with treating people well and have had built relationships with other teams, other programs and going and traveling.
And I think that's fantastic. They've, they've always been willing to come here and do those, the home and aways and play games here. And that's good, good on them for, for being what the sport's supposed to be about.
Absolutely. And I feel like that carries over to pretty much all their teams. We have a pretty long series with them and in football as well. But the big news for this game, that we broke on Sunday, afterwards in the post game, conversation with coach Finwood, Blake Morgan is going to get the start for old dominion.
The lefty will be back on the mound, likely only going two or three innings, but I am really excited that he is at the point where They feel comfortable putting them on the mound, giving them a couple of innings, and seeing what he's got, let him return to form because we've talked about it on all of our episodes. What a weapon to add in this season, especially as we get into conference play.
That's I mean, it's fantastic. And then in credit to Blake for working his butt off and, and frankly, just being lucky enough not to have any setbacks. Um, because I mean, that's the thing, no matter how hard you work, you can't have any control over. So, but it's, that's fantastic, man. I'm excited. I, again, I'll probably miss him getting, getting to see him pitch this time, uh, which is a shame, but at the same time, he doesn't need me to be there to pitch well. Um, yeah.
But so, so hopefully it comes out and again, just don't, I'm sure he'll be, you know, anxious trying to prove too much at once, but hopefully he can just settle in, relax, just be himself and just throw and hopefully have that, that confidence in his leg and his landing point. And uh, and just go out and perform.
Yeah. We're hoping it's the first of many starts that we get to see from Blake Morgan So you'll, you may miss the first one, but hopefully you're catching quite a few more, uh, the rest of the way. So big one on Tuesday against East Carolina over at the bud. Looking forward to the weekend. We've got a three game set with Charlotte. They're coming to town. They have a midweek with Wofford this week. Uh, but as of today, they are They've had an interesting schedule.
Uh, their trip to Norfolk will be their first away game of the season, but they dropped two out of three to Virginia tech at home. Uh, they played Davidson and beat Davidson 24 to one. Then they had a four game set with West Virginia where they played a doubleheader on Saturday. They lost the first two games that series, they won the last two, both of them by one run, but. Interesting to get names like that on your schedule and not have had to play a game away from your home ballpark yet.
I guess tech won't come play us, but they'll go play them That's all right. Whatever they want to do Good good for them. I i'll never understand the way tech and uva uh Do their programs, but that's me when
Yeah, we see a bleed over to some other sports as well. There's some, some,
I said their programs I meant like Athletics of the whole they they just I mean again, but then again that comes down to the whole ethos and attitude of those schools. They're very stuck up. No, they're not the hard working man. Like bill dominion
yeah, that is absolutely right. Well, we're going to have a pretty hardworking team coming to the bud this weekend. Charlotte, four and four, obviously that's been a good rivalry for us back from the conference USA days. And I'm glad it's continued into the non conference close team that is usually right on par with us with whatever they're doing. So it's a true measuring stick. One thing I'll say is they hit obviously more home runs for us.
I think they have 11 on the year through eight games Uh interesting stat for odu. We've actually only given up two home runs all season, which is very very interesting I think it was uva and then we gave up one to to ruckers there on saturday. Carson Bain is one to keep your eye on for Charlotte. He's already hit three home runs in 26 at bats. And then Thad Ector, he is, one of their outfielders, really good speed guy, puts a lot of balls in play,. So those are two of their better hitters.
They do have some other ones too, but, Carson Bain and Thad Ector are two names that you absolutely want to keep your eye on.
Charlotte is always there. They've been extremely competitive. Like I said, they've been a very good Measuring stick for us. They have been pretty even they tend to be um, uh litigious when you play them Woodard loves, going and talking to the umpires about things.
Um, so that's you know, that's just his style He likes to do some stuff, which we had some of that gamesmanship in our game yesterday So there that depends on the situation, you know, sometimes you got to do it Sometimes you got to tell the umpire like hey This guy's licking his fingers. Uh, that, that happened yesterday in the Rutgers game.
We made sure we kind of let him know and then that is certain that was that if you were watching the game or if you're at the game yesterday, the Rutgers, the one kid would not, the lefty would not stop licking his fingers. Um, the umpire finally had to yell at him and say, Hey, you cannot do that. It will be a block. And he was all out of sorts after that.
Um to the point where he did it again gave up a walk to hunter cold because of it And then had to come out of the game, I guess because he I don't know if he was saying I think he was bleeding or something. Whatever, He got in a bad habit of the moisture thing Um, but yes, but anyway, that's so that I would expect some kind of something along the way There'll be there will be some long break where the the unc head coach is uh, The unc I I I went to us.
I went to charlotte back in uh, like 99 to Oh two or so. So I still call it unc charlotte in my head because it was just The uncc is predating just calling it charlotte. So i'm old school on that one Um, but I graduated from ultimate. I love ultimate much more. Uh, so I will have no problem. There will be no issues here
I, uh, I, I just go in, uh, I think I call Charlotte now the scene of the famous toastery incident. I think I'm just going to leave it at that. Um, because that's, that's all that that was down there a couple months ago, but a couple of things I just want to see from ODU both. through East Carolina. No, we're gonna face a great team there and obviously a really good team with Charlotte over the weekend. We're only hitting about 2 16 as a team right now with a 3 47 on base percentage.
If we're gonna play the small ball, we absolutely have to see those numbers go up, have more games like Sunday and then say Friday and then the first part of the game on Saturday. 6 41 O. P. S. That needs to go up as well. Only have nine extra base hits on the season. Four home runs, five doubles. So I think a few more gappers, a few more balls into the outfield, uh, in terms of singles, doubles, triples. Uh, I would love to, to see some of those bats come together.
Some of those guys that have been scuffling a little bit to start the season. We'd love to see them get that opportunity to break out a little bit here in Charlotte with hopefully some better weather at home.
I was looking at the weather today for the next few weeks, we might let's enjoy tuesday Um, hopefully we'll just think happy thoughts because it was making me depressed looking at the weather forecast, but that's also, you know, things change. So hopefully we'll, hopefully we'll have a good time. And like I said, tomorrow should be great weather. And then hopefully for the weekend, we'll, we'll figure it
And I would encourage fans to. Definitely come to the bud this year. We've got a lot of home games, especially early in the season, because if the plans and the timeline stays the same, there will not be games at the bud. Next year, we're probably going to do a lot of road trips. Uh, we're going to be playing some at Harbor park over at war Memorial. So the bud may not be a place you get to go to next year. And we've been through that in 2020 with some sports where we've.
We're not able to go to games and it wasn't a whole lot of fun. Uh, so just keep that in mind, especially as the weather gets better. Get over the butt. If you can show the team, some support, head over to rally alley, see Liz, get some, get some beverages in you. It's a great environment to watch a baseball game.
Liz, I can now remember Liz's name of the day. I felt so bad. She's like the best person on the planet.
I'm hoping to have koozies available for her by the Northeastern series. If it's not that one, it will definitely be Georgia Southern, but we'll have some koozies to give away to all of our fans down there to come free with your beer. So definitely just. head over to the bud. I've had a blast getting down there a little bit more this year and enjoying some things, even if it means running off to to Chartway afterwards for a basketball game.
And I would also tell fans too, if you're staying in the Norfolk area after the baseball game, head over to Chartway. Women's basketball is playing Georgia Southern. They're in a spot where if they win. Uh, there'll be one of the top four seeds and they set up a game to decide the third seed on Friday against hated JMU. So a lot of good stuff going on with ODU sports right now on, on top of a big news day for ODU men's hoops.
Yeah, my plan, tomorrow and Friday is, uh, rush out of work as fast as I possibly can, catch the end of the baseball game, and then head over to the women's basketball. I've been going to women's basketball games with my parents for the last, you know, eight, ten years, and I love watching the women's team. They're extremely exciting. So, yeah, please watch it. Definitely come out of the book. This is the baseball podcast, but uh, go and support od women's basketball They've been phenomenal.
They're extremely exciting to watch
Yeah. And don't sell yourself short, Stevie. You've become a celebrity with the ODU women's basketball team because the pictures and some of the videos and stuff that you've gotten it, they show on the Jumbotron and get super hyped on for Instagram. So you're a local celebrity there for coach. Schmilton Jones's squad.
I did not know that but that's cool
Awesome. Well, did we miss anything CB? Like, I feel like we covered everything the best we could for a one in three weekend without getting too down in the dump. So hat tip to the boys for pulling
i'm, sure
do it
Yeah, I'm sure a parent will tell me at some point I missed something, but I, I, your, your child is great. I'm a big fan of all of them. No, I, I'm, you know, they're really good kids and, you know, it was a tough week, but we're going to get, they're going to get right back on the horse and they're going to fight. And, uh, we, we got a week here with opportunity.
We're going to play two really strong programs and hopefully come out of here and get some wins and, and have a good time and see some baseball. So I'm, I'm as always extremely excited to get to watch ODU baseball this week.
for us at the Hudson homers podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. Don't forget to tell your friends, like, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Go Monarchs.
Go Monarchs.