June 27, 2025 • 42 mins
Doug is joined by ESPN analyst Eduardo Pérez to break down all the action from Omaha and the 2025 College World Series.
Doug and Eduardo talk Cade Anderson's dominant run, Florida State's postseason highs and lows, Gage Wood's incredible no-hitter, and Cinderella runs from Coastal Carolina and Murray State. Plus, how LSU powered their way to another championship and what makes Omaha so special this time of the year.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome back everybody to the Dugout Podcast. I'm your host,
Doug Man Kaviage, the guy. Our guest this week needs
no introduction. Where do we start? Son of Tony Hall
of Famer Tony Perez grew up in the greatest era
of baseball in the clubhouse with some of the greatest
players to ever put spikes on. He's been a player,
(00:29):
he's been a coach, he's been a special assistant, go
on and on, started training things in Puerto Rico. First
rounder from the California Angels, and yes, I said that.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Right, Eddie and I go way back.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Eddie Perez Florida State, played rip for me obviously, always
watched every inning he ever played at Florida State. An
honor to have him on this podcast. He's the busiest
man that I know. If you're going one thing from Eddie,
you want his frequent flower miles because one minute he's
an Omaha in La and he's back to oh Ma, Eddie.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome to the Dougout, buddy.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I appreciate you, by the way. My daughters and my
wife take all of the points. By the way, I
just wanted to throw that out there, but now, look,
this is This is an honor, Dougy, to be able
to be on your show. And the reason I say
that is I don't do a lot of podcasts. If
you look out there, I don't do a lot, but
I do them for my friends. I do it for
the family members and you, being a null come on,
(01:27):
it's a no brainer one and two. I was always
wondering what was going to happen. I remember one time
Mike Martin eleven letting We're on a plane. We just
got eliminated from the World's College World Series and we're
on the plane. Draft is the next day. The draft
was the next day, and he goes, hey, Doggie, he
(01:48):
used to call me dog He goes, if you come back,
you got a fool ride. And I said, eleven, I
already know you got somebody else ready to take my spot,
so that's not going to happen. And he goes, I
got a pretty good one coming in, and little did
I know that it was gonna be you. So absolutely,
(02:09):
I'm all.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
In, brother, All that's funny. He gave me the same
speech in ninety five. He pulled up to our rental house.
He's like, I got a full partner for your partner,
and I'm like, I don't want one anymore. Like you know,
like you got trust me. There's a kid named JD.
Drew that hit behind me. He's gonna be just fine
without me. I promise you that. So also, you do
college baseball, you do Major League baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You know the ESPN deportest.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's it's amazing, Like how much and how much I
remember seeing you in the clubhouse when I was a
coach with the Twins and trying to get a.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Hold of you and try to get you for five minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I get it. I've always been that guy in baseball.
We're like, hey man, especially friends, I know how busy
you guys are. The lasting going to do his bug you,
but I thought, my gosh, what because you're a null
and because I know how much.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You you think of the way you think of.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Things, you help me get on the ACC network at
one point in time, which I'm forever and you know,
great for you for getting me a chance to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So that being said, I love listening to you, KP.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Burkie all those guys to do the College Bolls series
because I think you guys have a You've never forgotten
that level and understand the passionate we had as players
when we were there and that. Speaking of that, I
want to get your take on the shot of receding.
I had a show before Omaha about the positive and
(03:32):
negatives of receding after the regionals, maybe even after the supers.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Nice, want to get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's it's it's just really interesting. First and foremost you
mentioned JD Drew condulencens go out to the family. His
dad just passed away, and uh, you know, so thoughts
and prayers there for for the Drew family, all of them,
Steve and j D and and the rest. It's it's
just a you know, it's a it's a big loss
for for a femo, a fellow knowl So we're all
(04:00):
grieving with him.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
But to think about that, he's the only dad that
I know that had three first rounders. I texted J
J J last night and like I said, once, I
know always and know we're brothers to the end, and
I will definitely pass that along.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And you're definitely right, great, yeah, perfect, perfect for saying that.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, absolutely, I texted him as well, and you know,
so I get all that. Well, three first roundings, that's amazing.
That's amazing. It's it's to the point where with the
receiving at the college level, you know, you look at
it and you're you know, you hope you go back
and you see some of the games that that wee
(04:39):
as knowles I you know, and I say we because
you know, I still I still watch every game. I
still and I'm not able to I'm right there, you know,
feeling all the all the wins and losses that link
in the in the staff are going through. But it's
it's it's where the game is right now. Right you know,
when I played, it was just reach and that's it.
(05:01):
Now it's regional super regionals. It's changed. So we know
that the game continues to evolve. We've seen it evolved
with the transfer portals, with the NIL with everything I
just see right now. You know, I thought that if
we would have been able to play every game at
the house or yeah, we would have been in. We
would have been in. I thought that Florida State deserved
(05:22):
to have been in. And I seeing it through maybe
blurred lenses because I'm a semino. Absolutely, but there's definitely
a home field advantage when it comes to college and
the reseting is real. I think what we have to
look at is the RPI side of it. Do we
have to look in and reevaluate that as a whole.
(05:43):
And I think that's what the NCAA committee is going
to do more than anything is is look at the RPI,
see if it's if it's if it's right, because we see,
you know, the season of sixty game season where you
could play a team that has a strong RPI early
on but later on does not plays different. I know,
Oregon State not having a conference this year, they had
(06:06):
to play a lot of road games. They played nineteen
games at home, and they did that maybe to increase
the RPI by playing so many games on the road,
but at what price. And the price was an opportunity
to be able to play in Court Dallas, and that's
where we ended up having to go because of their
trek and their journey to get to one of the
top eight seeds.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I agreed.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I just look at I looked at you know, even
last year, last year's Omaha, this year's omaha. I mean,
I think everybody in the right mind thought that the
winner of the Arkansas LSU game out of the shoot
was going to be the one that represented that side,
and to me, if you rank them even without the
SEC and ACC bias, you would not have matched those
(06:48):
two teams up in opening day. Granted, I love the
comments that guys made about saying, well, well, we got to
beat them anyways at some point, might as well do
it now.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But at the same token, I looked at Oregon State
in Florida State as two teams that probably should have hosted,
especially after the regionals. We received no disrespect to Murray
State because I love this story. I did a podcast
on it. I love that, you know, the Duke Murray
State thing. Let's be real like, looking at it now,
there were a couple other teams that probably deserve to host.
(07:18):
And I get it that arguments or basketball doesn't do it.
Those are neutral sites. It's just a little bit different.
So either way, I think that's something that if we're
going to continue to evolve in this game as far
as safety and rules, this is something I think we
should look at. And I you know, the hit by
pitch rool things like that that we saw in Omaha
that can really change the outcome of a game or history,
(07:40):
and we saw that with my next thing, I'm talking about,
is gage would Arkansas, My goodness, gracious, a no hitter
with nineteen punch outs.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
People want to talk about his performance. Yes, don't get
me wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
No hitting anybody at any level, no matter how good
your team is and how bad the other team is
or vice versa, is a feat that is It's really
hard to do. Obviously, I was more impressed with his
postgame interview. I didn't I never really heard him speak,
and obviously watching the game, but hearing him speak, I
was like, this kid is a kid that I maybe
(08:14):
don't judge a book by its cover. It was adamant
on the mount about attacking guys and you can see
his demeanor. But to hear him speak in the respect
he gave his parents, his friend that he was on
the other team, the fact that he took accountability for
hitting the guy in the foot, and how he wanted
to win it for Van Horn, I thought in his school.
I thought, man, this kid just earned a fan in me,
and I just wanted to get your thoughts on that too.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah, gage Wood was just dominant, and he he was
able to slow it down after he threw the no hitter, right,
the opportunity of being able to celebrate with their teammates,
the opportunity of being able to celebrate with the young
shortstop from Murray State, Cunningham, and being able to go
(08:55):
to the dugout and you know, embrace him as well
and cansole him as well, understanding the empathy yet in
the middle of celebration was magnificent. The conversation that he
had with Danny Wexelman postgame on the field, understanding that
this is life changing, understanding that forever now, when we
(09:19):
do the College World Series, it is not only going
to be about LSU's walk off with Morris being able
to run the bases, but it's going to be gauge
Wood as well with the no hitter, something that we
probably won't see in our lifetime. And he understands that
that is life changing. He understands that when he goes
back to Omaha later on, if it's ten, fifteen, twenty
(09:40):
years from now, everybody will know who gauge Wood is.
That right there is fantastic. I feel bad for for yes,
the missed opportunity that we could have seen Arkansas and
LSU maybe in different brackets, to be able to see
them for a national Championship series. But we also had
(10:02):
the opportunity of seeing them for two games and possibly
a third. If the ground ball would have been thrown
for a double play the shortstop instead of you know, Ivan,
instead of going to third, he would have turned two.
Or if it would have been the cop fly ball,
or if it would have been the first baseman to
start off the ending after the strikeout, the second out, Doug,
(10:22):
you know just as well as I do. You see
that ball to your right, what's your first instinct? One
step to the right, go cover first. We get a
four to three, there's two outs. There's two outs. People
don't even talk about that one. They want to blame
it just on the left field. They're dropping the ball. Yes,
he dropped it ninety nine out of one hundred times.
He's catching it that one time. That's baseball. That's baseball, man.
(10:45):
And we've seen so much, you and I have seen
so much under pressure. We still forget that these guys
are young players and under pressure. Millions of people watching.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Exactly right.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I tweeted about it about everybody wants to exactly settlement
you just said. I said, but if first baseman breaks
to the bag and the second Baseman calls him off.
We're not having this discussion, and that ties into and
that ties into I know we're both seminals. We've made
it completely clear. I know when I hear Coach Martin
(11:18):
and I hear the accolades he receives, there's always a
butt and I take it personal I and it's not
because of what I didn't win. It it's because I
didn't provide a championship for the man that you know
gave me so much, and it hurts me and it
bothers me to the point of every time we hear
his name, it's always Buddy never won a championship, and
(11:43):
it's seventeen times. I think he was the number he
went where he came up empty. I look at it
two ways. He took a lot of teams that probably
shouldn't have went to Omaha and made it to Omaha.
That's not a negative, that's a positive. I go he
had his years, that you know, and it takes a
lot of luck up there too. And that tie into
the Arkansas thing.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
We saw them. You we can call it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I hate using the word choke because I don't think
that those kids didn't choke. They just didn't. They didn't execute.
That's a big difference of choking. I don't like using
the word choke with college players at all. I don't
like using them with athletes at all anyways, let alone
the college level. But you look at after they dropped
a pop up against Oregon State, they lost their national
championship at the time. I don't think it's fair, but
(12:25):
I think it's if you're going to keep the butt
with coach Martin, I think it's time to start adding
the butt to Van Horn too, because, in my opinion,
this year's Arkansas team was clearly better than everybody else
out there from top to bottom. You can say they
had ls, you had better arms, but it wasn't that
glaringly obvious. I thought Arkansas had was the most complete
(12:46):
team out there, and they just didn't. It just didn't
didn't work.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Out for them all right, So two m three they
beat Arkansas during the regular season, so at least mentally
they knew that they could beat them, right, And you
need luck. You're absolutely on that, you need that opportunity.
But it's I don't like to use the word choked either.
I know my wife made by she uses it all
the time. She's got broken English. It's a heavy accent,
(13:11):
which I love.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Is that too tall? Too tall?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I'm like, no, honey, let's use a different word. He said,
come to the pressure. I will say this, and I've
learned this throughout the years having been to Omaha, and
I'm excluding twenty twenty because there was no College World
Series there for the last ten years. I know that
I'm going to Omaha right to call these games. I've
seen what greatness looks like in the top eighteens getting
(13:36):
to the College World Series. I've seen cinderella teams like
Coastal Carolina when they want it in twenty sixteen. I've
seen them not as a Cinderella team, go in this
year and play like they belong. What I will say
is the team that goes and this is more advice
than anything else from now on for Arkansas and for
(13:57):
Florida State, because let's face we have yet to win
a national championship in baseball. Is if you're going when
you go to Omaha, don't play to try to win
Coach van Horn a national championship. Don't go and try
to win Link Jerrett a national championship or Florida State
(14:18):
national championship. Play for the guys around you, Play for
the guy to your left, play for the guy to
your right, Play together, because that'll take the pressure away.
The pressure is real when you start thinking, I gotta
get eleven a national championship, because I thought the same thing,
and that was nineteen eighty nine and nineteen ninety one.
(14:38):
I thought the same thing when it was going You know,
when we lost in Mississippi State in nineteen ninety Wow,
we just lost an opportunity to be able to get
eleven in national championship. And that is the same thing
that's going on right now with the Arkansas players trying
to get coach Dave van Horn his first national championship
in a program in Fayetteville that is unbelievable. For those
(15:03):
of you that have not been to Fayetteville and have
not been to that stadium, it is unreal. It is.
It is a great, great facility that he has built,
nothing to be ashamed of. He should be getting a
heck of a deal. And I am telling you the
Boem Stadium there in Fayetteville is is as elite as
(15:28):
a program, an elite facility that has nothing to envy
any other any other field but yes, they're missing that
national title. But if they continue to play for and
try to win one for coach Van Horn, I'm telling you,
the pressure continues to add up on each player that
comes in and starts wearing that uniform, that razorback uniform.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I mean, I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
You know, I've been in Boston right playing first base
in Boston. I mean, my gosh, being a defensive replacement
in Boston. You want to talk about, I know, the history.
Every ground ball was like life or death. I mean like,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna like everything's gonna be
one hundred and ten percent concentration on everything.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But I get what you're saying, and it ties into.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Man, you can see, yeah, Boston, it's.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
In the right place at the right time a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
But no, I you know, I watched these games for
you know, and trying to think along with Linco and
the guys and the coaching staff, and he almost wanted.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
To just exhale guys, like relax, like come on, you
got it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I looked at last year's team and they played Tennessee.
Last year's team. To me, any other year up against
that Tennessee team, any other to me, you put that
team in this field.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And we got a whole different ball game. And even
last year I called it.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I said, last year's to Tennessee Floria's state game was
the was the national championship game. Whoever's gonna win that
series come out of that bracket's gonna win the whole thing,
because my goodness, gracious, they could flat out hit that
kind of ties into going into like watching LSU, and
I don't mean any disrespect to LSU, but to me,
that was the worst offensive LSU National championship team that.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That they've ever had.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And they could do some things, Don't get me wrong,
because they've had some really good offenses, but goodness gracious,
look at the arms they had. Holy cow, when you
start running out one hundred out of the pen with
several guys. You know Kate Anderson talk about I saw
Jeff pass and said something about how much money that
gage would made. But gage Wood didn't just sneak up
(17:34):
on you with ninety eight and a breaking ball. You know,
his interview to me made him some money. But you
look at the year that Kate Anderson put together through
the whole year, that's making money for yourself. And then
to just to top it off, to go ahead, and
I don't care what team it is. When you win
twenty six in a row, you're getting after some things,
and you just went ahead and say, hang on a second,
(17:55):
I got this. Everybody else, take a seat. I got
us for the next nine innings. That kid made him
a ton of money. But those arms into me. It
kind of ties into whereas the year before, which makes college.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Baseball so great.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Right, one year you have the offensive just where you're
washing guys just bang all over the place. And then
the next year you have a team that comes around
and LSU just says, you know what I've got. We've
got arms upon arms upon arms when we have some
guys who can move the ball around. Don't get me wrong,
but we're going to score enough because I know that
(18:26):
my horses are going to shut people down. So that's
a different dynamic from year to year, which is so
intriguing about college baseball.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
It really is. I'll tell you this, though, kid Anderson
was money, wasn't he. I mean that hur ball, the
fastball to change up. He just had everything going for him.
I'm with you with uh with Wood just being able
to throw one pitch and I asked him, I said,
what was your favorite? He goes fastball middle. That's all
(18:53):
he would be able to hear in the pitch. Com
was fastball middle and the ride that it had Murray
State hit or it's head. Never seen that type of
arm before. But the reason at the college baseball state
right now, and I'm just focusing on baseball here, not
the other sports in college. The reason that I liked
that LSU won the national championship even though they did
(19:16):
not have their best offensive team and you can't compare
to what they had before right with all those guys,
But what they did do is they got the best
team at the college level. Might sound bad that money
can buy at that point, and it proved to everybody
else that approved to the programs and approved to the
boosters and approved to everyone that you need to invest,
(19:40):
You need to invest. Yeah, Murray State was a great story,
but they were an older team. They were an established
older team that could handle a lot of pressures and
did real well. You had Coaster Carolina. They didn't cut
any corners with even though they're not in the ACC,
even though they're not in the SEC. But what they
do have is they have great facilities, and they have
(20:02):
great outreach, and they do things well and they have
a really very solid program. But in these tournaments, depth matters,
and because it matters, we saw the bullpens come in.
They were in the winning bracket, so they even if
they went through the loser's bracket, they had so much
(20:22):
depth pitching wise, when you come out of the bullpen,
you have guys throwing over one hundred, not one, but
you have multiple guys being able to do it. They
have everybody in the bullpen throws ninety five or plus.
That's the best money can buy. And those guys will
develop and those ninety five freshmens are going to develop
into ninety eight ninety nine and hopefully they stay healthy
(20:44):
and they continue. But if you want to compete, they
just showed you how to win a national championship. You
sort of have purchase it.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
And also show too that like it's like it goes
back to the old adage of baseball for how many years,
If you have arms, you got a shot and you
don't need to spend a Yeah, everybody wants the glaring
offense to put butts in the seats, but the same token,
you know what if you like you got to return
on your investment you invested in arms because I think
(21:14):
with this whole college thing and the thirty four scholarships
and the cutting the roster of thirty four, it limits
your ability to withstand injury.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Because you start getting the midweek and you start building
that resume, and you lose a guy. You know, people
forget like flor Florida stick guy cam Leder was supposed
to be one and Arnold was supposed to be two.
You find me another one too, like that. They match
up with Arkansas and LSU of this year. So if
you lose a couple of guys, you're in trouble. But
(21:43):
to keep those guys keep coming. And to me offensively,
they caught it. They believed they kept grinding at backs.
But you know what, it's a nice feeling as an
offense when you know that if I score three or
four runs, this thing is over. And I also don't
want to touch on coastal like I love I love
the energy that Schnab brings them like goodness, gracious, Like
(22:06):
I love the fact that he never played like this
is Cinderella. This is not a Cinderella. We're a really
good team. He believed in his guys. Man, they could pitch.
Any team that wins twenty six in a row at
any level is doing something significantly well.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
And they run through. And my only take on my.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Whole thing of Omaha where that was frustrating, was like,
I look again, we talked about the no hitter, but
it didn't have to be against Murray State.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Here we are trying to build, like you know, just
you know.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Like the one time they get a chance to get
there the mid Major and we're pulling forward and then boom,
the SEC just says, oh yeah, hang on, here's a
no hitter.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
But they got there.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And to me, it's never been harder to make it
to Oma than it is in today's world. Just to
get to a super regional is not easy. To get
to Omaha is even harder. So, you know, kudos to
those guys, but I just feel like all the teams
that throw that no hitter against I was like, please
don't do it to Murray State, Please don't do it.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Overpowering stuff as well. Man, It was just like, here
comes see if you can hit it, let's go. And
I'm glad that they hit my pitch call earlier wasn't
a factor right into this whole thing, because I think
that would have tainted it in a way. But it
was just it was a great series. You know, a
(23:22):
lot of people complaining with you. Look at Kate Anderson
going out there throwing one hundred and thirty pitches. People
are like, what are you doing. I'm okay with it.
It's a national championship game, it's a college world series.
And oh, by the way, this is his last outing.
And even if it wasn't his last outing, you're playing
for a national championship man, and I get it. This
could be the one one overall. It could be even
(23:44):
Holiday in the draft. It could be Jamie Arnold in
the draft. We don't know yet because negotiations go behind
closed doors. That something could lead to another. But Kate.
Either way, college pitchers throw once a week. They throw
every seven days. Okay with Anderson doing the one hundred
and thirty pitches, I'm okay with LCU winning it. I'm
(24:06):
okay with having a Cinderella team in it where the
local fans cheer for them. And this happened to be
And I'm really okay with a no hitter because I
love seeing history happen in front of my.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Eyes, and especially when you're there, and that's pretty damn hole,
you know what I mean. And it's like it's a
couple of those moments we're like, where were you and
your kids? Hey, I remember sitting here and blah blah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I was there. I was in the booth.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I remember we were sitting here watching earning the tiki hut,
whatever it was. You remember things like that, and those
things are those It's funny you said about one hundred.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And thirty pitches too. You know.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
I enjoyed the fastball usage and today's in today's game.
I get the analytics, I get the data. I understand
it all. But at the end of the day, you
asked any qualified hitter what's the hardest pitch to hit,
and they're going to tell you a well located it fastball.
(25:01):
I don't care what anybody says. It doesn't matter if
you throw one hundred and your spin rates thirty three
hundred RPMs. If you just throw nothing but breaking balls,
it's not that great anymore. I used to have that
argument with Mark Redmond. Mark Redman was the first rounder
from ou. Like Mark An, he had a plus plus
change up. Amazing change up. I said, Mark, If we
(25:21):
throw your change up five times, it's not a change
up anymore. And you throw it five straight times, I go,
the more you hide it, the danger more dangerous it becomes.
And you can flip that on the fastball thing too,
But man, oh man, the easiest pitch to elevate, and
especially the luminum, is a breaking ball. I don't care
what anybody says you can. You don't have to do
everything right to lift the ball out of it all
(25:43):
of the fence with a luminum bat. With a breaking
ball fastball, you've got to do some things mechanically correct
to get it done. And I think it was long
and involved, but I love the fact that, like you
have two guys that were that attacked with fastballs, made
them commit to it, and then buried them with rake
and ball. So it was it was a fun like
(26:04):
if you had out a little bit of everything right.
You had some defense, you had some offense, you had
some timely hitting, you had some pitching.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And to me, that's what o Ma's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
And you look at that the eight teams that made it,
every one of them had an intriguing story and you
just don't get that. And to me, you don't get
that in the major leagues, you don't get that. You
don't get those same storylines as great.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You know, and look, little did we know that we
were going to be talking about gage Wood coming out
of the College World Series. Little did we know that
we're going to talk about even or know where Murray
State and know how many the population in the town
and Murray State in Kentucky was about. I think it's
(26:43):
it just tells you, and it shows you how baseball
can not only be internationalized at the professional level, but
also join and get communities together in just a national
shape championship setting. And this is why I love it.
(27:03):
I love the I love the regional aspect of it.
I love the super regional aspect of it. I still
wish we would have played at Florida State because the
attendance was great this year and I think the guys
played different there. But we had to go all the
way to Corvallos too. As Seminoles man, that was tough
to you know, And I remember I was texting Travis
(27:24):
the whole time he was calling the games out there.
He's like, man, this is in the middle of nowhere.
It's a great environment, and it's a tough call. I've
been in his position, and you know, so of you
you've been in the position where but the position that
he's in super regional. I know deep down inside he's
rooting for Florida State. But he's got to call it
right down the middle. That's a tough call for Travis.
(27:44):
And he did a nice job of being able to
do it. So Devin, give him a lot of credit
of being able to do all that stuff. And and
uh and and you know, just celebrate, celebrate the victories of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It ties back to the receding thing. I mean, here
you are.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
It's not that all those things about and you can
call us homers whatever you want, but to make the
nine seed go.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
All the way, it's not even it's the team they're playing.
They're damn good.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And then you're going to face great teams and really
good teams regardless of the stupers.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I just felt like and I and as a college
baseball fan, I would have much rather have seen that
matchup in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Call me a homer. That's an Omaha here.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Let's not forget that we have col and we have
Stanford in the ACC. Right, so Florida State went out
to cal earlier in the year. It's unfortunate that we
had to go all the way out there. But I think,
you know, you look back at the games and you
look back at the quote unquote RPI, and you look
back at the man, we should have won this gamer.
We should have you know, this should have, would have
(28:51):
could in all that it's I could have said the
same thing that I know you were watching, because I
suffered through Game one in Core Dallas, right, were sitting
pretty then all of a sudden we lose that game,
come back, win the second game, and lose the third
one because of you know, two crooked number innings, right,
the first and the third inning did us in in
(29:12):
Core Vallas. I still believe. I still believe that this
was a very good team this year. I love the
projections of where this team is going to go. I
love the players that they're going to have returning, and
hopefully we don't lose some to the portal. But overall
Link has done a fantastic job and he's building a
(29:35):
team that can win coast to coast, and I think
these are learning experiences of this is what happens if
you finish in the ninth seed, we might have to
go to Corvallis. Boy, was I rooting for the Beavers
to lose the regional though? After Game one?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
All right, almost football season, You're fine, No, I get it.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
And it's also like just the year had something to
do with it too, Like every year this are usually
you're going to have to go through a team like
Oregon State or Florida State, you know, and that's you know,
very rarely do you get the Duke Murray State, you know,
And hopefully it happens more often now because I think
college baseball has never been a more level playing field
(30:15):
than is now. Even with all the discrepancies you can
say about the SEC and the ACC, there's mediocre teams
in the SEC, too, So I look at it as
like what hurt us as AT's say a conference was
North Carolina. But that's a great story in Arizona too.
So just because you've never heard of them or never
see them very often doesn't mean they're not really good players.
(30:38):
And I think today this year's Omaha field shows that.
And you better be on point that night otherwise you
can be by anybody in the County.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Twenty rounds in Major League Draft have really affected the
dominance of SEC and ACC, and we're seeing some mid
majors get some players that are give them opportunity to
play that maybe they were quality SEC type players or ACC.
You know, now we're seeing we're seeing them go to
(31:09):
the Big twelve, we're seeing them go to the Big Ten,
We're seeing them go to some of the other conferences
that just would not have had the opportunity to get
older players that would have signed if it's in the
twenty fifth round where that's non existing anymore. I think
that has a lot to do with the parody as well,
(31:30):
and anything can happen when it comes to postseason play.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Absolutely, you look at not only the twenty rounds, but
you eliminate three levels of major of minor league baseball.
You don't have to fill those teams for thirty different teams.
So you're looking at basically a high a level down
age man playing with aluminum.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Bat in the ACC and the SEC.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
And that's why the game has got has ticked up
a notch because those spots were usually filled with guys
that you're watching play college ball now. And it's no
disrespect to them, it's just the Hey, they cut it back,
and that's why the game is and that's why I'm
okay with them making the money they do, because, hey,
a lot of these guys are losing their chance to
play pro ball if you're not an elite, elite guy
(32:17):
that you know used to be. We play with a
ton of them that were the guys in the minor
leagues that hey, those guys are pretty good too, but
they're not even getting an opportunity anymore.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And that trickles down to college.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But the college game, to me, is only getting better,
it's only becoming stronger, it's only becoming deeper. Again, kudos
to you guys for you know, I know the a
million of time I was there, I was like, man,
we need to get this back, because I think the
more we expose this, the more is on TV, the
bigger the audience will become because you get to see,
(32:48):
you know that there are places that are outside of
the big the big power for conferences that are places
are immaculate, and the facilities are amazing, and the coaching
staffs really are there for the kids and the players. Man,
it's a there's a lot of passion around the country
that you just don't see. And the more we can
expand it, the better off it's going to be for everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And and and look where they have. They have a
place that they can go into develop and the facilities
at the collegiate level, every year they're getting better and better.
The universities are putting more money into those facilities, and
they're and they're realizing that it is it is definitely
working to be able to develop. And Murray State they
(33:33):
brought a dream to the College World Series. It's not
only for them. They brought a dream to all the
other smaller schools that they can compete. They can compete
against the Dukes, they can compete against the Oklahoma States,
they can compete against the teams that are discarding them
completely from being able to win a regional or a
(33:56):
super regional and get to Omaha.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
I mean, you think back with Rights State.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
The kid was throwing a no hitter against Vanderbilt, who
was the number one seed in the regional. Then you
throw in the fact that the national champion LSU Tigers.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
At home, they were their butts off to get out
of their own region. It was we should remember little Rock.
I want to say this little and who had a
losing record.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
By the way, who had I think they only had
nineteen wins going into their going into their their conference
tournament ended up winning. So that alone tells you exactly
where the game is and where it's going. The fact
that it doesn't matter you better bring your a game
every night. Midweek games scare the crap out of me now,
like when we go play. That's why when Florida State
(34:41):
plays Florida doesn't bother me because I'd rather There's no
shame in dumping a game to Florida.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
There's no shame in that.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
As much as we can't stand it as as old
players and how much we despise our rivals, it's okay.
All of a sudden, man like you go roll into
someone that a like a mid major.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
That's scary. I'm as a player.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
When I was at Florida State playing Jacksonville, playing South Florida,
those games game that kept me edgy because I don't
want to jump this game and that was their season.
That was if they beat us one time, that pushed
them into the regional conversation. So I didn't like those games.
And I can see how when you get a chip
on your shoulders. And I am striving. I'm almost graduated.
(35:22):
I'm striving to become that. I would love to get
my hands on a program like that. Hey, where do
you want to go?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Son?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I want to play at Florida State. I want to
play at Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Hey, come to me for a couple of years, and
the day you're ready, and the day I think we
all agree that you were ready to go play there,
I'll be the first person that calls Link or Tony
V for you to get you there.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
But get let me get my hands on you.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Now, let me get you a place to play, and
let's do this together, and I'll send you on your way.
I'm gonna miss you. But that's how that's to me,
is how the mid majors are going to survive.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I think that's that has to be a game plan.
That has to be a game plan the game and
the mid majors also have to have that relationship with
the bigger schools of having a player, let's say a
freshman or a sophomore it's just not going to get
the opportunity to play but still has a skill set
at these lodge and look, you want an opportunity to
(36:17):
get drafted and play professionally. I think the best opportunity
for you is to go to a mid major and
these are the schools that could really continue to develop,
and we'll send you what we'll send them the information
that we have. I think it's going to have to happen.
I don't think it goes both ways. It goes both ways.
(36:37):
We've seen it go both ways. We've seen a lot
of former Florida State players. We've seen a lot of
Florida players UM players go to other schools and have
an opportunity to play if it's up north, if you
want to play, it's the way it does look. I'm
one of the guys that hosts the Puerto Rico Challenge
earlier this year. We had eight teams start off to
(36:59):
see in Puerto Rico, including Stetson. We had Penn State,
we had Yukon, we had Virginia there. So we had
some really good teams come in in Michigan and play
rice and continue to just evolve the game. Because I
wanted young Puerto Rican players that are in high school
(37:22):
there to understand that there are different routes to be
able to get to your dream and it's not only
by signing professional at the age of eighteen or seventeen
out of high school. You can develop in the collegiate level.
We saw it with Louis Hernandez, the LSU catcher who
started off in Indiana State. He didn't even catch it
(37:43):
Indiana State. He was known more for back first defense second,
but he had a really good defender ahead of him.
LSU was able to then take him from the transfer
portal put him there as a national championship catcher. It's happening.
It's going to continue to happen. We can complain about it,
or we can embrace it and try to then understand
(38:06):
how the portal is being used.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I mean, I would love to have if I'm a
mid major, I love to have a guy for four years.
I would love to I think I speak for everybody
in that regard. But the only the select few that
can really do that, can really almost afford to keep
a guy for four years. And hey, it's either adapter
or get left behind, and it's not, you know, and
that's it's a tough world. But at the same token,
if you're doing it, to my opinion, if you're doing
it for the right reasons. If you're a coach for
(38:29):
the right reasons, you're there to develop young men. And
the uniform, yes, we all have. If you take your
ego out of it, the uniform on the front really
doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
So when you went when you went to Florida State, right,
because I went there thinking I didn't know if I
was good enough or not to play professional when I
got there, and it was until my junior year that
I was able to develop. And all of a sudden
I got on the map because I wasn't on the
map going into my junior season. And my goal at
the time was, you know, hopefully I get to sign professionally.
(39:04):
But now the goal of that mid major kid is
how do I get myself to a How do I
get myself to the ACC, How do I get myself
to the SEC. How do I get myself to a powerhouse?
So maybe I can make some money and still get
my education. Right maybe you know it's and I owe money,
work my way there, and then if I showcase well
(39:28):
into that, then I'm going to have an opportunity to
get drafted. It's changed. It's it's we used to have
one step. It was getting to your college getting to
a university and then being drafted. They have and then
if not, I get my degree. The degree is always
going to be there as an opportunity, except now we
have a different step and in between, where it's if
(39:50):
you're a mid major, then get drafted. Then instead of
just going straight to the draft, you have an opportunity
of being able to get paid, going to a powerhouse
school and having an opportunity to get to Omaha.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
I do a recruiting service for kids now, and our
number one thing we tell our softball, baseball, golf, whatever
it is, go where you're wanted, Go where you're wanted,
and that where you're where you're going to play, is
better off than where you want to go. Just now,
you're going to be better off by playing early than
you are by sitting. Yes, you can learn from sitting too,
(40:29):
but the same token, the more you play, the better
you're going to be.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
And you say yourself, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I didn't I thought I thought Pro Bowl was so
far fetched before I went to Florida State.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
And then all of a sudden you start playing around.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Guys that get drafted high and you're like, well, heck, okay,
I can do this and that's a stepping so when
you said it perfectly, Hernandez didn't catch it Indiana State,
but he catches it. He's a hey's the starting catcher
for a national championship team. That's how quickly it's exactly.
And that's and like if you would look at on
paper and send me more people know about l s
(41:01):
U than Indiana State Baseball. Yes, of course. And there's
a guy that had to leave Indiana State to go
catch at LSU, whether what every year it was. So
there's again, there's so many things to this thing. And
like I said, the exposure to these kids are getting
I love it and I'm happy for him. And you know,
I'm looking forward to hopefully getting my hand in there
and and and and feel the grind with some of
(41:23):
these guys. I talked to J D.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
R T.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
A guy talked to you know, hey, these guys proud
of him for the job he did this year. These
guys don't they don't get much time off. And trust me,
like I said, that's it's it's not for the faint
of heart. And I'm looking forward to getting back in
there and doing it. So I want to be busy
like you how's that.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
I want to be busy the way.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
You first, I love to eat. Man, I stayed everywhere,
and I was like, wait a second. The first thing
you have to do is the eating part. But man,
buckle up, it's fun. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
I appreciate your time. And uh again, I can't.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I can't thank you enough for passing the torch to
guys like me, U for teaching us how to do
it right and to be not only great players, but
to be good humans and great fathers and and uh
and the list goes on and on. So I we'll
always to be brothers because because of the uniformy war.
And I I'm grateful the fact that you gave me
your time today.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Anytime, brother, anytime, I'm here for you
Welcome back everybody to the Dugout Podcast. I'm your host,
Doug Man Kaviage, the guy. Our guest this week needs
no introduction. Where do we start? Son of Tony Hall
of Famer Tony Perez grew up in the greatest era
of baseball in the clubhouse with some of the greatest
players to ever put spikes on. He's been a player,
(00:29):
he's been a coach, he's been a special assistant, go
on and on, started training things in Puerto Rico. First
rounder from the California Angels, and yes, I said that.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Right, Eddie and I go way back.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Eddie Perez Florida State, played rip for me obviously, always
watched every inning he ever played at Florida State. An
honor to have him on this podcast. He's the busiest
man that I know. If you're going one thing from Eddie,
you want his frequent flower miles because one minute he's
an Omaha in La and he's back to oh Ma, Eddie.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Welcome to the Dougout, buddy.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I appreciate you, by the way. My daughters and my
wife take all of the points. By the way, I
just wanted to throw that out there, but now, look,
this is This is an honor, Dougy, to be able
to be on your show. And the reason I say
that is I don't do a lot of podcasts. If
you look out there, I don't do a lot, but
I do them for my friends. I do it for
the family members and you, being a null come on,
(01:27):
it's a no brainer one and two. I was always
wondering what was going to happen. I remember one time
Mike Martin eleven letting We're on a plane. We just
got eliminated from the World's College World Series and we're
on the plane. Draft is the next day. The draft
was the next day, and he goes, hey, Doggie, he
(01:48):
used to call me dog He goes, if you come back,
you got a fool ride. And I said, eleven, I
already know you got somebody else ready to take my spot,
so that's not going to happen. And he goes, I
got a pretty good one coming in, and little did
I know that it was gonna be you. So absolutely,
(02:09):
I'm all.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
In, brother, All that's funny. He gave me the same
speech in ninety five. He pulled up to our rental house.
He's like, I got a full partner for your partner,
and I'm like, I don't want one anymore. Like you know,
like you got trust me. There's a kid named JD.
Drew that hit behind me. He's gonna be just fine
without me. I promise you that. So also, you do
college baseball, you do Major League baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
You know the ESPN deportest.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's it's amazing, Like how much and how much I
remember seeing you in the clubhouse when I was a
coach with the Twins and trying to get a.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Hold of you and try to get you for five minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I get it. I've always been that guy in baseball.
We're like, hey man, especially friends, I know how busy
you guys are. The lasting going to do his bug you,
but I thought, my gosh, what because you're a null
and because I know how much.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You you think of the way you think of.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Things, you help me get on the ACC network at
one point in time, which I'm forever and you know,
great for you for getting me a chance to do that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So that being said, I love listening to you, KP.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Burkie all those guys to do the College Bolls series
because I think you guys have a You've never forgotten
that level and understand the passionate we had as players
when we were there and that. Speaking of that, I
want to get your take on the shot of receding.
I had a show before Omaha about the positive and
(03:32):
negatives of receding after the regionals, maybe even after the supers.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Nice, want to get your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
It's it's it's just really interesting. First and foremost you
mentioned JD Drew condulencens go out to the family. His
dad just passed away, and uh, you know, so thoughts
and prayers there for for the Drew family, all of them,
Steve and j D and and the rest. It's it's
just a you know, it's a it's a big loss
for for a femo, a fellow knowl So we're all
(04:00):
grieving with him.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
But to think about that, he's the only dad that
I know that had three first rounders. I texted J
J J last night and like I said, once, I
know always and know we're brothers to the end, and
I will definitely pass that along.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And you're definitely right, great, yeah, perfect, perfect for saying that.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, absolutely, I texted him as well, and you know,
so I get all that. Well, three first roundings, that's amazing.
That's amazing. It's it's to the point where with the
receiving at the college level, you know, you look at
it and you're you know, you hope you go back
and you see some of the games that that wee
(04:39):
as knowles I you know, and I say we because
you know, I still I still watch every game. I
still and I'm not able to I'm right there, you know,
feeling all the all the wins and losses that link
in the in the staff are going through. But it's
it's it's where the game is right now. Right you know,
when I played, it was just reach and that's it.
(05:01):
Now it's regional super regionals. It's changed. So we know
that the game continues to evolve. We've seen it evolved
with the transfer portals, with the NIL with everything I
just see right now. You know, I thought that if
we would have been able to play every game at
the house or yeah, we would have been in. We
would have been in. I thought that Florida State deserved
(05:22):
to have been in. And I seeing it through maybe
blurred lenses because I'm a semino. Absolutely, but there's definitely
a home field advantage when it comes to college and
the reseting is real. I think what we have to
look at is the RPI side of it. Do we
have to look in and reevaluate that as a whole.
(05:43):
And I think that's what the NCAA committee is going
to do more than anything is is look at the RPI,
see if it's if it's if it's right, because we see,
you know, the season of sixty game season where you
could play a team that has a strong RPI early
on but later on does not plays different. I know,
Oregon State not having a conference this year, they had
(06:06):
to play a lot of road games. They played nineteen
games at home, and they did that maybe to increase
the RPI by playing so many games on the road,
but at what price. And the price was an opportunity
to be able to play in Court Dallas, and that's
where we ended up having to go because of their
trek and their journey to get to one of the
top eight seeds.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I agreed.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I just look at I looked at you know, even
last year, last year's Omaha, this year's omaha. I mean,
I think everybody in the right mind thought that the
winner of the Arkansas LSU game out of the shoot
was going to be the one that represented that side,
and to me, if you rank them even without the
SEC and ACC bias, you would not have matched those
(06:48):
two teams up in opening day. Granted, I love the
comments that guys made about saying, well, well, we got to
beat them anyways at some point, might as well do
it now.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
That's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
But at the same token, I looked at Oregon State
in Florida State as two teams that probably should have hosted,
especially after the regionals. We received no disrespect to Murray
State because I love this story. I did a podcast
on it. I love that, you know, the Duke Murray
State thing. Let's be real like, looking at it now,
there were a couple other teams that probably deserve to host.
(07:18):
And I get it that arguments or basketball doesn't do it.
Those are neutral sites. It's just a little bit different.
So either way, I think that's something that if we're
going to continue to evolve in this game as far
as safety and rules, this is something I think we
should look at. And I you know, the hit by
pitch rool things like that that we saw in Omaha
that can really change the outcome of a game or history,
(07:40):
and we saw that with my next thing, I'm talking about,
is gage would Arkansas, My goodness, gracious, a no hitter
with nineteen punch outs.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
People want to talk about his performance. Yes, don't get
me wrong.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
No hitting anybody at any level, no matter how good
your team is and how bad the other team is
or vice versa, is a feat that is It's really
hard to do. Obviously, I was more impressed with his
postgame interview. I didn't I never really heard him speak,
and obviously watching the game, but hearing him speak, I
was like, this kid is a kid that I maybe
(08:14):
don't judge a book by its cover. It was adamant
on the mount about attacking guys and you can see
his demeanor. But to hear him speak in the respect
he gave his parents, his friend that he was on
the other team, the fact that he took accountability for
hitting the guy in the foot, and how he wanted
to win it for Van Horn, I thought in his school.
I thought, man, this kid just earned a fan in me,
and I just wanted to get your thoughts on that too.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah, gage Wood was just dominant, and he he was
able to slow it down after he threw the no hitter, right,
the opportunity of being able to celebrate with their teammates,
the opportunity of being able to celebrate with the young
shortstop from Murray State, Cunningham, and being able to go
(08:55):
to the dugout and you know, embrace him as well
and cansole him as well, understanding the empathy yet in
the middle of celebration was magnificent. The conversation that he
had with Danny Wexelman postgame on the field, understanding that
this is life changing, understanding that forever now, when we
(09:19):
do the College World Series, it is not only going
to be about LSU's walk off with Morris being able
to run the bases, but it's going to be gauge
Wood as well with the no hitter, something that we
probably won't see in our lifetime. And he understands that
that is life changing. He understands that when he goes
back to Omaha later on, if it's ten, fifteen, twenty
(09:40):
years from now, everybody will know who gauge Wood is.
That right there is fantastic. I feel bad for for yes,
the missed opportunity that we could have seen Arkansas and
LSU maybe in different brackets, to be able to see
them for a national Championship series. But we also had
(10:02):
the opportunity of seeing them for two games and possibly
a third. If the ground ball would have been thrown
for a double play the shortstop instead of you know, Ivan,
instead of going to third, he would have turned two.
Or if it would have been the cop fly ball,
or if it would have been the first baseman to
start off the ending after the strikeout, the second out, Doug,
(10:22):
you know just as well as I do. You see
that ball to your right, what's your first instinct? One
step to the right, go cover first. We get a
four to three, there's two outs. There's two outs. People
don't even talk about that one. They want to blame
it just on the left field. They're dropping the ball. Yes,
he dropped it ninety nine out of one hundred times.
He's catching it that one time. That's baseball. That's baseball, man.
(10:45):
And we've seen so much, you and I have seen
so much under pressure. We still forget that these guys
are young players and under pressure. Millions of people watching.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Exactly right.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I tweeted about it about everybody wants to exactly settlement
you just said. I said, but if first baseman breaks
to the bag and the second Baseman calls him off.
We're not having this discussion, and that ties into and
that ties into I know we're both seminals. We've made
it completely clear. I know when I hear Coach Martin
(11:18):
and I hear the accolades he receives, there's always a
butt and I take it personal I and it's not
because of what I didn't win. It it's because I
didn't provide a championship for the man that you know
gave me so much, and it hurts me and it
bothers me to the point of every time we hear
his name, it's always Buddy never won a championship, and
(11:43):
it's seventeen times. I think he was the number he
went where he came up empty. I look at it
two ways. He took a lot of teams that probably
shouldn't have went to Omaha and made it to Omaha.
That's not a negative, that's a positive. I go he
had his years, that you know, and it takes a
lot of luck up there too. And that tie into
the Arkansas thing.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
We saw them. You we can call it.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
I hate using the word choke because I don't think
that those kids didn't choke. They just didn't. They didn't execute.
That's a big difference of choking. I don't like using
the word choke with college players at all. I don't
like using them with athletes at all anyways, let alone
the college level. But you look at after they dropped
a pop up against Oregon State, they lost their national
championship at the time. I don't think it's fair, but
(12:25):
I think it's if you're going to keep the butt
with coach Martin, I think it's time to start adding
the butt to Van Horn too, because, in my opinion,
this year's Arkansas team was clearly better than everybody else
out there from top to bottom. You can say they
had ls, you had better arms, but it wasn't that
glaringly obvious. I thought Arkansas had was the most complete
(12:46):
team out there, and they just didn't. It just didn't
didn't work.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Out for them all right, So two m three they
beat Arkansas during the regular season, so at least mentally
they knew that they could beat them, right, And you
need luck. You're absolutely on that, you need that opportunity.
But it's I don't like to use the word choked either.
I know my wife made by she uses it all
the time. She's got broken English. It's a heavy accent,
(13:11):
which I love.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Is that too tall? Too tall?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I'm like, no, honey, let's use a different word. He said,
come to the pressure. I will say this, and I've
learned this throughout the years having been to Omaha, and
I'm excluding twenty twenty because there was no College World
Series there for the last ten years. I know that
I'm going to Omaha right to call these games. I've
seen what greatness looks like in the top eighteens getting
(13:36):
to the College World Series. I've seen cinderella teams like
Coastal Carolina when they want it in twenty sixteen. I've
seen them not as a Cinderella team, go in this
year and play like they belong. What I will say
is the team that goes and this is more advice
than anything else from now on for Arkansas and for
(13:57):
Florida State, because let's face we have yet to win
a national championship in baseball. Is if you're going when
you go to Omaha, don't play to try to win
Coach van Horn a national championship. Don't go and try
to win Link Jerrett a national championship or Florida State
(14:18):
national championship. Play for the guys around you, Play for
the guy to your left, play for the guy to
your right, Play together, because that'll take the pressure away.
The pressure is real when you start thinking, I gotta
get eleven a national championship, because I thought the same thing,
and that was nineteen eighty nine and nineteen ninety one.
(14:38):
I thought the same thing when it was going You know,
when we lost in Mississippi State in nineteen ninety Wow,
we just lost an opportunity to be able to get
eleven in national championship. And that is the same thing
that's going on right now with the Arkansas players trying
to get coach Dave van Horn his first national championship
in a program in Fayetteville that is unbelievable. For those
(15:03):
of you that have not been to Fayetteville and have
not been to that stadium, it is unreal. It is.
It is a great, great facility that he has built,
nothing to be ashamed of. He should be getting a
heck of a deal. And I am telling you the
Boem Stadium there in Fayetteville is is as elite as
(15:28):
a program, an elite facility that has nothing to envy
any other any other field but yes, they're missing that
national title. But if they continue to play for and
try to win one for coach Van Horn, I'm telling you,
the pressure continues to add up on each player that
comes in and starts wearing that uniform, that razorback uniform.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I mean, I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
You know, I've been in Boston right playing first base
in Boston. I mean, my gosh, being a defensive replacement
in Boston. You want to talk about, I know, the history.
Every ground ball was like life or death. I mean like,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna like everything's gonna be
one hundred and ten percent concentration on everything.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
But I get what you're saying, and it ties into.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Man, you can see, yeah, Boston, it's.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
In the right place at the right time a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
But no, I you know, I watched these games for
you know, and trying to think along with Linco and
the guys and the coaching staff, and he almost wanted.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
To just exhale guys, like relax, like come on, you
got it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I looked at last year's team and they played Tennessee.
Last year's team. To me, any other year up against
that Tennessee team, any other to me, you put that
team in this field.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And we got a whole different ball game. And even
last year I called it.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I said, last year's to Tennessee Floria's state game was
the was the national championship game. Whoever's gonna win that
series come out of that bracket's gonna win the whole thing,
because my goodness, gracious, they could flat out hit that
kind of ties into going into like watching LSU, and
I don't mean any disrespect to LSU, but to me,
that was the worst offensive LSU National championship team that.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
That they've ever had.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And they could do some things, Don't get me wrong,
because they've had some really good offenses, but goodness gracious,
look at the arms they had. Holy cow, when you
start running out one hundred out of the pen with
several guys. You know Kate Anderson talk about I saw
Jeff pass and said something about how much money that
gage would made. But gage Wood didn't just sneak up
(17:34):
on you with ninety eight and a breaking ball. You know,
his interview to me made him some money. But you
look at the year that Kate Anderson put together through
the whole year, that's making money for yourself. And then
to just to top it off, to go ahead, and
I don't care what team it is. When you win
twenty six in a row, you're getting after some things,
and you just went ahead and say, hang on a second,
(17:55):
I got this. Everybody else, take a seat. I got
us for the next nine innings. That kid made him
a ton of money. But those arms into me. It
kind of ties into whereas the year before, which makes college.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Baseball so great.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Right, one year you have the offensive just where you're
washing guys just bang all over the place. And then
the next year you have a team that comes around
and LSU just says, you know what I've got. We've
got arms upon arms upon arms when we have some
guys who can move the ball around. Don't get me wrong,
but we're going to score enough because I know that
(18:26):
my horses are going to shut people down. So that's
a different dynamic from year to year, which is so
intriguing about college baseball.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
It really is. I'll tell you this, though, kid Anderson
was money, wasn't he. I mean that hur ball, the
fastball to change up. He just had everything going for him.
I'm with you with uh with Wood just being able
to throw one pitch and I asked him, I said,
what was your favorite? He goes fastball middle. That's all
(18:53):
he would be able to hear in the pitch. Com
was fastball middle and the ride that it had Murray
State hit or it's head. Never seen that type of
arm before. But the reason at the college baseball state
right now, and I'm just focusing on baseball here, not
the other sports in college. The reason that I liked
that LSU won the national championship even though they did
(19:16):
not have their best offensive team and you can't compare
to what they had before right with all those guys,
But what they did do is they got the best
team at the college level. Might sound bad that money
can buy at that point, and it proved to everybody
else that approved to the programs and approved to the
boosters and approved to everyone that you need to invest,
(19:40):
You need to invest. Yeah, Murray State was a great story,
but they were an older team. They were an established
older team that could handle a lot of pressures and
did real well. You had Coaster Carolina. They didn't cut
any corners with even though they're not in the ACC,
even though they're not in the SEC. But what they
do have is they have great facilities, and they have
(20:02):
great outreach, and they do things well and they have
a really very solid program. But in these tournaments, depth matters,
and because it matters, we saw the bullpens come in.
They were in the winning bracket, so they even if
they went through the loser's bracket, they had so much
(20:22):
depth pitching wise, when you come out of the bullpen,
you have guys throwing over one hundred, not one, but
you have multiple guys being able to do it. They
have everybody in the bullpen throws ninety five or plus.
That's the best money can buy. And those guys will
develop and those ninety five freshmens are going to develop
into ninety eight ninety nine and hopefully they stay healthy
(20:44):
and they continue. But if you want to compete, they
just showed you how to win a national championship. You
sort of have purchase it.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
And also show too that like it's like it goes
back to the old adage of baseball for how many years,
If you have arms, you got a shot and you
don't need to spend a Yeah, everybody wants the glaring
offense to put butts in the seats, but the same token,
you know what if you like you got to return
on your investment you invested in arms because I think
(21:14):
with this whole college thing and the thirty four scholarships
and the cutting the roster of thirty four, it limits
your ability to withstand injury.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Because you start getting the midweek and you start building
that resume, and you lose a guy. You know, people
forget like flor Florida stick guy cam Leder was supposed
to be one and Arnold was supposed to be two.
You find me another one too, like that. They match
up with Arkansas and LSU of this year. So if
you lose a couple of guys, you're in trouble. But
(21:43):
to keep those guys keep coming. And to me offensively,
they caught it. They believed they kept grinding at backs.
But you know what, it's a nice feeling as an
offense when you know that if I score three or
four runs, this thing is over. And I also don't
want to touch on coastal like I love I love
the energy that Schnab brings them like goodness, gracious, Like
(22:06):
I love the fact that he never played like this
is Cinderella. This is not a Cinderella. We're a really
good team. He believed in his guys. Man, they could pitch.
Any team that wins twenty six in a row at
any level is doing something significantly well.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
And they run through. And my only take on my.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Whole thing of Omaha where that was frustrating, was like,
I look again, we talked about the no hitter, but
it didn't have to be against Murray State.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Here we are trying to build, like you know, just
you know.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Like the one time they get a chance to get
there the mid Major and we're pulling forward and then boom,
the SEC just says, oh yeah, hang on, here's a
no hitter.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
But they got there.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And to me, it's never been harder to make it
to Oma than it is in today's world. Just to
get to a super regional is not easy. To get
to Omaha is even harder. So, you know, kudos to
those guys, but I just feel like all the teams
that throw that no hitter against I was like, please
don't do it to Murray State, Please don't do it.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Overpowering stuff as well. Man, It was just like, here
comes see if you can hit it, let's go. And
I'm glad that they hit my pitch call earlier wasn't
a factor right into this whole thing, because I think
that would have tainted it in a way. But it
was just it was a great series. You know, a
(23:22):
lot of people complaining with you. Look at Kate Anderson
going out there throwing one hundred and thirty pitches. People
are like, what are you doing. I'm okay with it.
It's a national championship game, it's a college world series.
And oh, by the way, this is his last outing.
And even if it wasn't his last outing, you're playing
for a national championship man, and I get it. This
could be the one one overall. It could be even
(23:44):
Holiday in the draft. It could be Jamie Arnold in
the draft. We don't know yet because negotiations go behind
closed doors. That something could lead to another. But Kate.
Either way, college pitchers throw once a week. They throw
every seven days. Okay with Anderson doing the one hundred
and thirty pitches, I'm okay with LCU winning it. I'm
(24:06):
okay with having a Cinderella team in it where the
local fans cheer for them. And this happened to be
And I'm really okay with a no hitter because I
love seeing history happen in front of my.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Eyes, and especially when you're there, and that's pretty damn hole,
you know what I mean. And it's like it's a
couple of those moments we're like, where were you and
your kids? Hey, I remember sitting here and blah blah.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
I was there. I was in the booth.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I remember we were sitting here watching earning the tiki hut,
whatever it was. You remember things like that, and those
things are those It's funny you said about one hundred.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And thirty pitches too. You know.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
I enjoyed the fastball usage and today's in today's game.
I get the analytics, I get the data. I understand
it all. But at the end of the day, you
asked any qualified hitter what's the hardest pitch to hit,
and they're going to tell you a well located it fastball.
(25:01):
I don't care what anybody says. It doesn't matter if
you throw one hundred and your spin rates thirty three
hundred RPMs. If you just throw nothing but breaking balls,
it's not that great anymore. I used to have that
argument with Mark Redmond. Mark Redman was the first rounder
from ou. Like Mark An, he had a plus plus
change up. Amazing change up. I said, Mark, If we
(25:21):
throw your change up five times, it's not a change
up anymore. And you throw it five straight times, I go,
the more you hide it, the danger more dangerous it becomes.
And you can flip that on the fastball thing too,
But man, oh man, the easiest pitch to elevate, and
especially the luminum, is a breaking ball. I don't care
what anybody says you can. You don't have to do
everything right to lift the ball out of it all
(25:43):
of the fence with a luminum bat. With a breaking
ball fastball, you've got to do some things mechanically correct
to get it done. And I think it was long
and involved, but I love the fact that, like you
have two guys that were that attacked with fastballs, made
them commit to it, and then buried them with rake
and ball. So it was it was a fun like
(26:04):
if you had out a little bit of everything right.
You had some defense, you had some offense, you had
some timely hitting, you had some pitching.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And to me, that's what o Ma's all about.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
And you look at that the eight teams that made it,
every one of them had an intriguing story and you
just don't get that. And to me, you don't get
that in the major leagues, you don't get that. You
don't get those same storylines as great.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You know, and look, little did we know that we
were going to be talking about gage Wood coming out
of the College World Series. Little did we know that
we're going to talk about even or know where Murray
State and know how many the population in the town
and Murray State in Kentucky was about. I think it's
(26:43):
it just tells you, and it shows you how baseball
can not only be internationalized at the professional level, but
also join and get communities together in just a national
shape championship setting. And this is why I love it.
(27:03):
I love the I love the regional aspect of it.
I love the super regional aspect of it. I still
wish we would have played at Florida State because the
attendance was great this year and I think the guys
played different there. But we had to go all the
way to Corvallos too. As Seminoles man, that was tough
to you know, And I remember I was texting Travis
(27:24):
the whole time he was calling the games out there.
He's like, man, this is in the middle of nowhere.
It's a great environment, and it's a tough call. I've
been in his position, and you know, so of you
you've been in the position where but the position that
he's in super regional. I know deep down inside he's
rooting for Florida State. But he's got to call it
right down the middle. That's a tough call for Travis.
(27:44):
And he did a nice job of being able to
do it. So Devin, give him a lot of credit
of being able to do all that stuff. And and
uh and and you know, just celebrate, celebrate the victories of.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It ties back to the receding thing. I mean, here
you are.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
It's not that all those things about and you can
call us homers whatever you want, but to make the
nine seed go.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
All the way, it's not even it's the team they're playing.
They're damn good.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
And then you're going to face great teams and really
good teams regardless of the stupers.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I just felt like and I and as a college
baseball fan, I would have much rather have seen that
matchup in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Call me a homer. That's an Omaha here.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Let's not forget that we have col and we have
Stanford in the ACC. Right, so Florida State went out
to cal earlier in the year. It's unfortunate that we
had to go all the way out there. But I think,
you know, you look back at the games and you
look back at the quote unquote RPI, and you look
back at the man, we should have won this gamer.
We should have you know, this should have, would have
(28:51):
could in all that it's I could have said the
same thing that I know you were watching, because I
suffered through Game one in Core Dallas, right, were sitting
pretty then all of a sudden we lose that game,
come back, win the second game, and lose the third
one because of you know, two crooked number innings, right,
the first and the third inning did us in in
(29:12):
Core Vallas. I still believe. I still believe that this
was a very good team this year. I love the
projections of where this team is going to go. I
love the players that they're going to have returning, and
hopefully we don't lose some to the portal. But overall
Link has done a fantastic job and he's building a
(29:35):
team that can win coast to coast, and I think
these are learning experiences of this is what happens if
you finish in the ninth seed, we might have to
go to Corvallis. Boy, was I rooting for the Beavers
to lose the regional though? After Game one?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
All right, almost football season, You're fine, No, I get it.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
And it's also like just the year had something to
do with it too, Like every year this are usually
you're going to have to go through a team like
Oregon State or Florida State, you know, and that's you know,
very rarely do you get the Duke Murray State, you know,
And hopefully it happens more often now because I think
college baseball has never been a more level playing field
(30:15):
than is now. Even with all the discrepancies you can
say about the SEC and the ACC, there's mediocre teams
in the SEC, too, So I look at it as
like what hurt us as AT's say a conference was
North Carolina. But that's a great story in Arizona too.
So just because you've never heard of them or never
see them very often doesn't mean they're not really good players.
(30:38):
And I think today this year's Omaha field shows that.
And you better be on point that night otherwise you
can be by anybody in the County.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Twenty rounds in Major League Draft have really affected the
dominance of SEC and ACC, and we're seeing some mid
majors get some players that are give them opportunity to
play that maybe they were quality SEC type players or ACC.
You know, now we're seeing we're seeing them go to
(31:09):
the Big twelve, we're seeing them go to the Big Ten,
We're seeing them go to some of the other conferences
that just would not have had the opportunity to get
older players that would have signed if it's in the
twenty fifth round where that's non existing anymore. I think
that has a lot to do with the parody as well,
(31:30):
and anything can happen when it comes to postseason play.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Absolutely, you look at not only the twenty rounds, but
you eliminate three levels of major of minor league baseball.
You don't have to fill those teams for thirty different teams.
So you're looking at basically a high a level down
age man playing with aluminum.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Bat in the ACC and the SEC.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
And that's why the game has got has ticked up
a notch because those spots were usually filled with guys
that you're watching play college ball now. And it's no
disrespect to them, it's just the Hey, they cut it back,
and that's why the game is and that's why I'm
okay with them making the money they do, because, hey,
a lot of these guys are losing their chance to
play pro ball if you're not an elite, elite guy
(32:17):
that you know used to be. We play with a
ton of them that were the guys in the minor
leagues that hey, those guys are pretty good too, but
they're not even getting an opportunity anymore.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And that trickles down to college.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
But the college game, to me, is only getting better,
it's only becoming stronger, it's only becoming deeper. Again, kudos
to you guys for you know, I know the a
million of time I was there, I was like, man,
we need to get this back, because I think the
more we expose this, the more is on TV, the
bigger the audience will become because you get to see,
(32:48):
you know that there are places that are outside of
the big the big power for conferences that are places
are immaculate, and the facilities are amazing, and the coaching
staffs really are there for the kids and the players. Man,
it's a there's a lot of passion around the country
that you just don't see. And the more we can
expand it, the better off it's going to be for everybody.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And and and look where they have. They have a
place that they can go into develop and the facilities
at the collegiate level, every year they're getting better and better.
The universities are putting more money into those facilities, and
they're and they're realizing that it is it is definitely
working to be able to develop. And Murray State they
(33:33):
brought a dream to the College World Series. It's not
only for them. They brought a dream to all the
other smaller schools that they can compete. They can compete
against the Dukes, they can compete against the Oklahoma States,
they can compete against the teams that are discarding them
completely from being able to win a regional or a
(33:56):
super regional and get to Omaha.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
I mean, you think back with Rights State.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
The kid was throwing a no hitter against Vanderbilt, who
was the number one seed in the regional. Then you
throw in the fact that the national champion LSU Tigers.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
At home, they were their butts off to get out
of their own region. It was we should remember little Rock.
I want to say this little and who had a
losing record.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
By the way, who had I think they only had
nineteen wins going into their going into their their conference
tournament ended up winning. So that alone tells you exactly
where the game is and where it's going. The fact
that it doesn't matter you better bring your a game
every night. Midweek games scare the crap out of me now,
like when we go play. That's why when Florida State
(34:41):
plays Florida doesn't bother me because I'd rather There's no
shame in dumping a game to Florida.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
There's no shame in that.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
As much as we can't stand it as as old
players and how much we despise our rivals, it's okay.
All of a sudden, man like you go roll into
someone that a like a mid major.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
That's scary. I'm as a player.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
When I was at Florida State playing Jacksonville, playing South Florida,
those games game that kept me edgy because I don't
want to jump this game and that was their season.
That was if they beat us one time, that pushed
them into the regional conversation. So I didn't like those games.
And I can see how when you get a chip
on your shoulders. And I am striving. I'm almost graduated.
(35:22):
I'm striving to become that. I would love to get
my hands on a program like that. Hey, where do
you want to go?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Son?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
I want to play at Florida State. I want to
play at Tennessee.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Hey, come to me for a couple of years, and
the day you're ready, and the day I think we
all agree that you were ready to go play there,
I'll be the first person that calls Link or Tony
V for you to get you there.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
But get let me get my hands on you.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Now, let me get you a place to play, and
let's do this together, and I'll send you on your way.
I'm gonna miss you. But that's how that's to me,
is how the mid majors are going to survive.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
I think that's that has to be a game plan.
That has to be a game plan the game and
the mid majors also have to have that relationship with
the bigger schools of having a player, let's say a
freshman or a sophomore it's just not going to get
the opportunity to play but still has a skill set
at these lodge and look, you want an opportunity to
(36:17):
get drafted and play professionally. I think the best opportunity
for you is to go to a mid major and
these are the schools that could really continue to develop,
and we'll send you what we'll send them the information
that we have. I think it's going to have to happen.
I don't think it goes both ways. It goes both ways.
(36:37):
We've seen it go both ways. We've seen a lot
of former Florida State players. We've seen a lot of
Florida players UM players go to other schools and have
an opportunity to play if it's up north, if you
want to play, it's the way it does look. I'm
one of the guys that hosts the Puerto Rico Challenge
earlier this year. We had eight teams start off to
(36:59):
see in Puerto Rico, including Stetson. We had Penn State,
we had Yukon, we had Virginia there. So we had
some really good teams come in in Michigan and play
rice and continue to just evolve the game. Because I
wanted young Puerto Rican players that are in high school
(37:22):
there to understand that there are different routes to be
able to get to your dream and it's not only
by signing professional at the age of eighteen or seventeen
out of high school. You can develop in the collegiate level.
We saw it with Louis Hernandez, the LSU catcher who
started off in Indiana State. He didn't even catch it
(37:43):
Indiana State. He was known more for back first defense second,
but he had a really good defender ahead of him.
LSU was able to then take him from the transfer
portal put him there as a national championship catcher. It's happening.
It's going to continue to happen. We can complain about it,
or we can embrace it and try to then understand
(38:06):
how the portal is being used.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I mean, I would love to have if I'm a
mid major, I love to have a guy for four years.
I would love to I think I speak for everybody
in that regard. But the only the select few that
can really do that, can really almost afford to keep
a guy for four years. And hey, it's either adapter
or get left behind, and it's not, you know, and
that's it's a tough world. But at the same token,
if you're doing it, to my opinion, if you're doing
it for the right reasons. If you're a coach for
(38:29):
the right reasons, you're there to develop young men. And
the uniform, yes, we all have. If you take your
ego out of it, the uniform on the front really
doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
So when you went when you went to Florida State, right,
because I went there thinking I didn't know if I
was good enough or not to play professional when I
got there, and it was until my junior year that
I was able to develop. And all of a sudden
I got on the map because I wasn't on the
map going into my junior season. And my goal at
the time was, you know, hopefully I get to sign professionally.
(39:04):
But now the goal of that mid major kid is
how do I get myself to a How do I
get myself to the ACC, How do I get myself
to the SEC. How do I get myself to a powerhouse?
So maybe I can make some money and still get
my education. Right maybe you know it's and I owe money,
work my way there, and then if I showcase well
(39:28):
into that, then I'm going to have an opportunity to
get drafted. It's changed. It's it's we used to have
one step. It was getting to your college getting to
a university and then being drafted. They have and then
if not, I get my degree. The degree is always
going to be there as an opportunity, except now we
have a different step and in between, where it's if
(39:50):
you're a mid major, then get drafted. Then instead of
just going straight to the draft, you have an opportunity
of being able to get paid, going to a powerhouse
school and having an opportunity to get to Omaha.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
I do a recruiting service for kids now, and our
number one thing we tell our softball, baseball, golf, whatever
it is, go where you're wanted, Go where you're wanted,
and that where you're where you're going to play, is
better off than where you want to go. Just now,
you're going to be better off by playing early than
you are by sitting. Yes, you can learn from sitting too,
(40:29):
but the same token, the more you play, the better
you're going to be.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
And you say yourself, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
I didn't I thought I thought Pro Bowl was so
far fetched before I went to Florida State.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
And then all of a sudden you start playing around.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Guys that get drafted high and you're like, well, heck, okay,
I can do this and that's a stepping so when
you said it perfectly, Hernandez didn't catch it Indiana State,
but he catches it. He's a hey's the starting catcher
for a national championship team. That's how quickly it's exactly.
And that's and like if you would look at on
paper and send me more people know about l s
(41:01):
U than Indiana State Baseball. Yes, of course. And there's
a guy that had to leave Indiana State to go
catch at LSU, whether what every year it was. So
there's again, there's so many things to this thing. And
like I said, the exposure to these kids are getting
I love it and I'm happy for him. And you know,
I'm looking forward to hopefully getting my hand in there
and and and and feel the grind with some of
(41:23):
these guys. I talked to J D.
Speaker 3 (41:24):
R T.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
A guy talked to you know, hey, these guys proud
of him for the job he did this year. These
guys don't they don't get much time off. And trust me,
like I said, that's it's it's not for the faint
of heart. And I'm looking forward to getting back in
there and doing it. So I want to be busy
like you how's that.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
I want to be busy the way.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
You first, I love to eat. Man, I stayed everywhere,
and I was like, wait a second. The first thing
you have to do is the eating part. But man,
buckle up, it's fun. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
I appreciate your time. And uh again, I can't.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I can't thank you enough for passing the torch to
guys like me, U for teaching us how to do
it right and to be not only great players, but
to be good humans and great fathers and and uh
and the list goes on and on. So I we'll
always to be brothers because because of the uniformy war.
And I I'm grateful the fact that you gave me
your time today.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Anytime, brother, anytime, I'm here for you
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