July 31, 2023 • 12 mins
Coach talks to Bill Rich, Lyman Hall HS Baseball Coach
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm the coach, George Demail.This podcast of the Saturday morning sports show
The Best of Oh by the Way, is brought to you by Flanagan Associates.
Ah Yes, Flanagan associatets my manCharlie Flannagan the number one best,
no question about it, hands down, the number one insurance man in the
(00:20):
country. He knows the answers tothe questions before you even finished asking him
because he's been doing it for overthirty years. He's my man, Charlie
Flanning. And he's now a memberof the World Insurance Group, which means
that you can find him now onthe web at world Insurance dot Com.
That's World Insurance dot Com. Hisphone number two oh three two three nine
(00:43):
five one seven one. Why notgive him accall and you know what he'll
do. You can get out andsee him at twelve Peck Street in North
Aven or give him accall and youknow what he'll do for you. He'll
do a free risk assessment of yourcurrent plan. That's right. And I
know one thing about Charlie Flannigan.We've been friends for many year. He
doesn't mince any words. He'll tellyou right off to hop if your plan
(01:03):
is good, bad and what coverageyou need? That's right. It's a
free risk assessment. And you knowwhat he'll do out there. You go
see Challie Flanagan or you give hima call at two oh three two three
nine five one seven one, andI guarantee you after you're done there at
Flanagan Associates, you'll have better coverageat a lower price. You know what
I said, Better coverage at alower price. My man Challie Flanagan and
(01:27):
doing it for over thirty years.He'll design a program that's best for you,
your family or even your business.Flanagan Associates again now part of the
World Insurance Group again. Check himout at World Insurance dot com or give
him a call two oh three twothree nine five one seven one, or
go see him at twelve Peck Streetin North Haven. The best insurance man
(01:49):
in the country, my man,the only insurance man. Flanagan Associates,
Peck Street, North Haven. Heis the boys baseball coach at Lime Hall
trou Jens and his name is BillRich. Good morning coach, Good morning
how you doing. I'm doing greatrecord of eight wins four you have already
(02:10):
h since the spot in the CIECState Tournament, which always makes things a
lot nicer. Um now trying tobecome one of the eight teams that maybe
makes the SEC tournament as well.I have to wait and see on that.
Uh but eight and four right now, so do me if that bill
is this? What years is foryou as head coach? This is my
(02:35):
fifth year, fourth season though,remember we lost the Sea right Hi?
All right, but and coaches comeon, they'll say, well, I
don't know if it's my this year, that year, I don't account it,
don't count it I have that's agreat, great question anyway, fifth
overall, that's fine and assessed ifyou would your first I know it lost
(03:00):
yesterday too, would you lousy yesterday? Hand three to two? Overall eight
and four, assess the first twelvegames? What's your assessment of an overall
I'm happy with where we're sitting rightnow. As you said, we you
know, we punched our ticket tothe state tournament. This is the second
half of our second half of theyear now that we our season that we
started, So it's going to bea tough go from here. But you
(03:22):
know, being seven and three forthe first half, getting a bunch of
wins on under our belt took alot of pressure off of us, but
nonetheless, we still got to wingames, and we still got to prepare
for that state tournament, because that'swhat it's all about, just getting better
each day and improving well on whichin other words, you know, between
(03:44):
scoring runs. I'm looking at someof the scores here, and most of
your games have been, you know, pretty good. Are the things you'd
need to work on? You thinkoffensively executing or on the defensive side,
I would say offensively pitching and defensehas been there for elevens of the twelve
games we've been put playing really greatdefense and getting good pitching. Yeah,
(04:08):
the hitting is a little bit frustratingat times. We're up and down.
Yeah, we're up and down.I'm trying to trying to get my players
to put together some good at bathand be tough out. At this point
right now, we're just we're justeasy outs. That's what I keep saying.
We're easy outs one, two,three pitches, And that's that's a
little frustrating right now. But hopefullywe get that out of our system now
(04:30):
earlier then later. Oh yeah,this week you have Jonathan Law on Monday,
that's at Law Wednesday, East havingaway. You got two away games
and then return home Friday at patWall and I guess he was awaiting the
Hampden Green Dragons will be coming tocolland having a great year as well.
(04:51):
Uh so what about the SEC thisyear? Overall? Bill, what do
you think it's It's it's up anddown. There's there's a bunch of teams
fighting for those eight spots, andI think they're up for grabs. Um,
if you look at the records,Uh, maybe maybe two teams are
kind of like running away with it. I guess you could say. But
(05:13):
the competition is pretty even. Thisweek is gonna be a big week for
us. We face two divisional teamsin Law and East Avens. So those
are two big games for us.If we want to assure that we're gonna
make that SEC tournament, we gottawin those games. That's that's gonna be
helpful. Um. But our countinggames are overall games, we're doing pretty
(05:33):
well. Um, not too Ithink we're uh man, I want to
say eight and three or something likethat in counting games games. All right,
Okay, yeah, so we're offto a good start there too.
But you know. Nonetheless, wegotta we gotta continue to play hard.
(05:53):
We gotta play, you know,play each game like it's the most important
game of the season. And Ithink that's how you gotta take it.
You're right, but that's kind ofI found that kind of interesting when you
said, boys, we can't beeasy outs here. This is that's not
right. No, right, youwant to you want to get up there
a hack? And um, doesBill Ridge play small ball at all this
(06:19):
year? We do at times absolutely. Um yeah, when I'm when I'm
when I'm sensing the game is uh, is when we're not we're not coming
up with that that big hit,or some of my guys are maybe struggling
at the play. We we needto push a run or two across.
We need to move guys over.I will definitely do that. Yesterday we
(06:40):
took advantage of a nice situation wherewe remove the guy over on a sack
butunt he ended up scoring. Itwas a close game. Uh. The
other night we got a contribution fromone of my hitters on a sack fly
that was an important run and Iwent against she in. So yeah that
those are very still I still stressthe importance of a small ball, especially
at the high school level. Wedon't have guys like uh, Aaron Judge
(07:03):
up there who can hit a youknow, four run home run, run
home run the crack of the bat. We've got one home run on the
season, So I try to Itry to stress that a lot with my
players. We don't have home runhitters on the team. We have we
have base hits and line drive kindof guys. Yeah, but you know
what, that'll win games too,you know, Oh absolutely, Hey,
(07:24):
I can beat you with a fewa couple of singles, double, a
couple of singles, I get someruns. I don't have to hit the
ball over the fence. You're absolutelyright, And uh yeah, I think
sometimes that's the way. But I'mjust you know, I'm thinking of situations
where some coaches may not play that, but I'm I always give the situation
one one sixth thinning and you,as you said, if runs are at
(07:45):
the premium and hits, you gottamove those guys over. Gotta do it
right, you have to. Imean, is it something you you work
on though with practice? Absolutely absolutely. M I yeah, I'm five years
into this, uh, this venture, but I've been told a lot about
(08:05):
coach to mayover in North Haven onhow he with bunt all the time.
Bunted all the time is what I'mtold. And you know what he said
to his kids before the season.And I had a coach who was the
same way when I played for WhiteyPerrick and Westaban when we took back in
practice every day and worked on bunting, you bunted first and you didn't get
(08:26):
to hit unless you got your buntsdown. Period. Yeah. But Bob
de Mayo used to tell his teameverybody learns on a bunt one through nine.
That's that's simple, one through nine. Yeah, yeah, I believe.
I believe that, and I runthe same I do the same thing
in practice. We've got the machinegoing and they're seeing, they're seeing the
ball coming in about seventy five eightymiles per hour, and they had a
(08:50):
buntet. They had a buntet offof that. That's what they're going to
see in the game. Exactly,if I'm gonna ask my players a bunch
in the game, I'm gonna makesure they're prepared. In the least I
feel better no than it came theopportunity prepared. Exactly how many seniors on
the team this year, Bill,I've got four four starting seniors. Yeah,
(09:11):
four starters. Very good. Um. But as you know, in
this in baseball, softball, ring, it's all about pitching. You got
a picture h throwing the strikes.I mean, that's that's all you needed.
Obviously you you've been doing that.And again, looking at your scores,
you know, I'm looking at yourwins six three four nothing, six
(09:35):
five five two. I'll put itthis way, they're all close games.
Yeah, nine seven, four toone. Beat my alma mater. Wait
a minute, now, Bill,you beat Myma west staying four to one.
What we're doing here? Umily,then you bet your scores. It
runs again, Shelton, and thenshe and the other day, right five
(09:56):
one lose it close? When yesterdayto hand three to two? Um,
but again good ship, and againwhat a big difference, right when you
get that eighth win and say,you know what, Now we'll build upon
the eight wins to get a betterposition in the state tournament. But at
least you know you're in even ifthere's a bump along the road in the
(10:18):
game. You know what I mean, right, right? Yeah, So
I'm telling my guys, listen,let's let's play each week like it's a
series. We got three games,if we've got yeah, if we've got
three games this week, let's wintwo out of three, if not all
of them. I definitely want toset us up so that we have home
(10:39):
field advantage the least one game.Two games would be nice going into the
state tournament. Uh. Pat Wallis our is our home field. I
love playing at pat Wall like itmyself. I happen to like that field
myself. Yes, I yeah,so you know that gives us an advantage,
I believe. Um. So that'swhat I'm telling my guys. Let's
let's uh, let's try to workto to you know, finish this season
(11:03):
out so that we can have ahome field advantage. Who calls the pictures
during the game? Bill, Ihave my pitching coach, Dan Kennedy calling
the pitches, but at times weleave it up to the to our pitcher
and catchers. Um we let Ilet my you know, sometimes let my
picture. I go with what hefeels comfortable with, okay, um.
(11:24):
Or or there's times where I mightgive Dan my advice and what I think,
uh you know, might be helpfulor something that I saw in a
batter. I might give him alittle bit of advice, but Dan Dan
usually causes the games. Does agood job, Well, i'll tell you
what you're doing a good job,and so is your staff. And this
line an all Trojan team. Yougotta say a load of Steve Baker when
(11:46):
you see him next time. Forme, okay, I haven't live in
a while, I haven't talked tohim. I love talking to him.
Uh So Jonathan law on Monday atJohnny Lawyer plan on the turf on Monday,
um mister Red and then at Easttaven on Wednesday, and then Friday
home with Hampden as we want toget into the second half of the season.
(12:07):
But hey, eight and four andalready in the Cise State Tournament.
Good for you. Built upon that. Keep it going, Keep it going,
Bill rich out in Trojan Land.We'll do. That's the plan.
I like the plan you have.You have a great week next week and
we'll talk. Thanks so much.Jo
I'm the coach, George Demail.This podcast of the Saturday morning sports show
The Best of Oh by the Way, is brought to you by Flanagan Associates.
Ah Yes, Flanagan associatets my manCharlie Flannagan the number one best,
no question about it, hands down, the number one insurance man in the
(00:20):
country. He knows the answers tothe questions before you even finished asking him
because he's been doing it for overthirty years. He's my man, Charlie
Flanning. And he's now a memberof the World Insurance Group, which means
that you can find him now onthe web at world Insurance dot Com.
That's World Insurance dot Com. Hisphone number two oh three two three nine
(00:43):
five one seven one. Why notgive him accall and you know what he'll
do. You can get out andsee him at twelve Peck Street in North
Aven or give him accall and youknow what he'll do for you. He'll
do a free risk assessment of yourcurrent plan. That's right. And I
know one thing about Charlie Flannigan.We've been friends for many year. He
doesn't mince any words. He'll tellyou right off to hop if your plan
(01:03):
is good, bad and what coverageyou need? That's right. It's a
free risk assessment. And you knowwhat he'll do out there. You go
see Challie Flanagan or you give hima call at two oh three two three
nine five one seven one, andI guarantee you after you're done there at
Flanagan Associates, you'll have better coverageat a lower price. You know what
I said, Better coverage at alower price. My man Challie Flanagan and
(01:27):
doing it for over thirty years.He'll design a program that's best for you,
your family or even your business.Flanagan Associates again now part of the
World Insurance Group again. Check himout at World Insurance dot com or give
him a call two oh three twothree nine five one seven one, or
go see him at twelve Peck Streetin North Haven. The best insurance man
(01:49):
in the country, my man,the only insurance man. Flanagan Associates,
Peck Street, North Haven. Heis the boys baseball coach at Lime Hall
trou Jens and his name is BillRich. Good morning coach, Good morning
how you doing. I'm doing greatrecord of eight wins four you have already
(02:10):
h since the spot in the CIECState Tournament, which always makes things a
lot nicer. Um now trying tobecome one of the eight teams that maybe
makes the SEC tournament as well.I have to wait and see on that.
Uh but eight and four right now, so do me if that bill
is this? What years is foryou as head coach? This is my
(02:35):
fifth year, fourth season though,remember we lost the Sea right Hi?
All right, but and coaches comeon, they'll say, well, I
don't know if it's my this year, that year, I don't account it,
don't count it I have that's agreat, great question anyway, fifth
overall, that's fine and assessed ifyou would your first I know it lost
(03:00):
yesterday too, would you lousy yesterday? Hand three to two? Overall eight
and four, assess the first twelvegames? What's your assessment of an overall
I'm happy with where we're sitting rightnow. As you said, we you
know, we punched our ticket tothe state tournament. This is the second
half of our second half of theyear now that we our season that we
started, So it's going to bea tough go from here. But you
(03:22):
know, being seven and three forthe first half, getting a bunch of
wins on under our belt took alot of pressure off of us, but
nonetheless, we still got to wingames, and we still got to prepare
for that state tournament, because that'swhat it's all about, just getting better
each day and improving well on whichin other words, you know, between
(03:44):
scoring runs. I'm looking at someof the scores here, and most of
your games have been, you know, pretty good. Are the things you'd
need to work on? You thinkoffensively executing or on the defensive side,
I would say offensively pitching and defensehas been there for elevens of the twelve
games we've been put playing really greatdefense and getting good pitching. Yeah,
(04:08):
the hitting is a little bit frustratingat times. We're up and down.
Yeah, we're up and down.I'm trying to trying to get my players
to put together some good at bathand be tough out. At this point
right now, we're just we're justeasy outs. That's what I keep saying.
We're easy outs one, two,three pitches, And that's that's a
little frustrating right now. But hopefullywe get that out of our system now
(04:30):
earlier then later. Oh yeah,this week you have Jonathan Law on Monday,
that's at Law Wednesday, East havingaway. You got two away games
and then return home Friday at patWall and I guess he was awaiting the
Hampden Green Dragons will be coming tocolland having a great year as well.
(04:51):
Uh so what about the SEC thisyear? Overall? Bill, what do
you think it's It's it's up anddown. There's there's a bunch of teams
fighting for those eight spots, andI think they're up for grabs. Um,
if you look at the records,Uh, maybe maybe two teams are
kind of like running away with it. I guess you could say. But
(05:13):
the competition is pretty even. Thisweek is gonna be a big week for
us. We face two divisional teamsin Law and East Avens. So those
are two big games for us.If we want to assure that we're gonna
make that SEC tournament, we gottawin those games. That's that's gonna be
helpful. Um. But our countinggames are overall games, we're doing pretty
(05:33):
well. Um, not too Ithink we're uh man, I want to
say eight and three or something likethat in counting games games. All right,
Okay, yeah, so we're offto a good start there too.
But you know. Nonetheless, wegotta we gotta continue to play hard.
(05:53):
We gotta play, you know,play each game like it's the most important
game of the season. And Ithink that's how you gotta take it.
You're right, but that's kind ofI found that kind of interesting when you
said, boys, we can't beeasy outs here. This is that's not
right. No, right, youwant to you want to get up there
a hack? And um, doesBill Ridge play small ball at all this
(06:19):
year? We do at times absolutely. Um yeah, when I'm when I'm
when I'm sensing the game is uh, is when we're not we're not coming
up with that that big hit,or some of my guys are maybe struggling
at the play. We we needto push a run or two across.
We need to move guys over.I will definitely do that. Yesterday we
(06:40):
took advantage of a nice situation wherewe remove the guy over on a sack
butunt he ended up scoring. Itwas a close game. Uh. The
other night we got a contribution fromone of my hitters on a sack fly
that was an important run and Iwent against she in. So yeah that
those are very still I still stressthe importance of a small ball, especially
at the high school level. Wedon't have guys like uh, Aaron Judge
(07:03):
up there who can hit a youknow, four run home run, run
home run the crack of the bat. We've got one home run on the
season, So I try to Itry to stress that a lot with my
players. We don't have home runhitters on the team. We have we
have base hits and line drive kindof guys. Yeah, but you know
what, that'll win games too,you know, Oh absolutely, Hey,
(07:24):
I can beat you with a fewa couple of singles, double, a
couple of singles, I get someruns. I don't have to hit the
ball over the fence. You're absolutelyright, And uh yeah, I think
sometimes that's the way. But I'mjust you know, I'm thinking of situations
where some coaches may not play that, but I'm I always give the situation
one one sixth thinning and you,as you said, if runs are at
(07:45):
the premium and hits, you gottamove those guys over. Gotta do it
right, you have to. Imean, is it something you you work
on though with practice? Absolutely absolutely. M I yeah, I'm five years
into this, uh, this venture, but I've been told a lot about
(08:05):
coach to mayover in North Haven onhow he with bunt all the time.
Bunted all the time is what I'mtold. And you know what he said
to his kids before the season.And I had a coach who was the
same way when I played for WhiteyPerrick and Westaban when we took back in
practice every day and worked on bunting, you bunted first and you didn't get
(08:26):
to hit unless you got your buntsdown. Period. Yeah. But Bob
de Mayo used to tell his teameverybody learns on a bunt one through nine.
That's that's simple, one through nine. Yeah, yeah, I believe.
I believe that, and I runthe same I do the same thing
in practice. We've got the machinegoing and they're seeing, they're seeing the
ball coming in about seventy five eightymiles per hour, and they had a
(08:50):
buntet. They had a buntet offof that. That's what they're going to
see in the game. Exactly,if I'm gonna ask my players a bunch
in the game, I'm gonna makesure they're prepared. In the least I
feel better no than it came theopportunity prepared. Exactly how many seniors on
the team this year, Bill,I've got four four starting seniors. Yeah,
(09:11):
four starters. Very good. Um. But as you know, in
this in baseball, softball, ring, it's all about pitching. You got
a picture h throwing the strikes.I mean, that's that's all you needed.
Obviously you you've been doing that.And again, looking at your scores,
you know, I'm looking at yourwins six three four nothing, six
(09:35):
five five two. I'll put itthis way, they're all close games.
Yeah, nine seven, four toone. Beat my alma mater. Wait
a minute, now, Bill,you beat Myma west staying four to one.
What we're doing here? Umily,then you bet your scores. It
runs again, Shelton, and thenshe and the other day, right five
(09:56):
one lose it close? When yesterdayto hand three to two? Um,
but again good ship, and againwhat a big difference, right when you
get that eighth win and say,you know what, Now we'll build upon
the eight wins to get a betterposition in the state tournament. But at
least you know you're in even ifthere's a bump along the road in the
(10:18):
game. You know what I mean, right, right? Yeah, So
I'm telling my guys, listen,let's let's play each week like it's a
series. We got three games,if we've got yeah, if we've got
three games this week, let's wintwo out of three, if not all
of them. I definitely want toset us up so that we have home
(10:39):
field advantage the least one game.Two games would be nice going into the
state tournament. Uh. Pat Wallis our is our home field. I
love playing at pat Wall like itmyself. I happen to like that field
myself. Yes, I yeah,so you know that gives us an advantage,
I believe. Um. So that'swhat I'm telling my guys. Let's
let's uh, let's try to workto to you know, finish this season
(11:03):
out so that we can have ahome field advantage. Who calls the pictures
during the game? Bill, Ihave my pitching coach, Dan Kennedy calling
the pitches, but at times weleave it up to the to our pitcher
and catchers. Um we let Ilet my you know, sometimes let my
picture. I go with what hefeels comfortable with, okay, um.
(11:24):
Or or there's times where I mightgive Dan my advice and what I think,
uh you know, might be helpfulor something that I saw in a
batter. I might give him alittle bit of advice, but Dan Dan
usually causes the games. Does agood job, Well, i'll tell you
what you're doing a good job,and so is your staff. And this
line an all Trojan team. Yougotta say a load of Steve Baker when
(11:46):
you see him next time. Forme, okay, I haven't live in
a while, I haven't talked tohim. I love talking to him.
Uh So Jonathan law on Monday atJohnny Lawyer plan on the turf on Monday,
um mister Red and then at Easttaven on Wednesday, and then Friday
home with Hampden as we want toget into the second half of the season.
(12:07):
But hey, eight and four andalready in the Cise State Tournament.
Good for you. Built upon that. Keep it going, Keep it going,
Bill rich out in Trojan Land.We'll do. That's the plan.
I like the plan you have.You have a great week next week and
we'll talk. Thanks so much.Jo
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