Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
James Rapine on the Bengals coming up in twenty minutes.
It's the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Thanks to our friends at michelob Ultra. You
can enjoy one of those on Friday afternoon if you're
a uc alum or a fan. On Friday, the Bearcats
will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time
since twenty nineteen. You see battles Wig Forest at one
(00:20):
o'clock in the Knoxville Regional of the NCAA Tournament. The
head coach of the Bearcats in his second season, our
friend Jordan Bischel. It's awesome to have you. When you
saw Cincinnati pop up on the screen, although I guess
it was spelled incorrectly, when you saw Cincinnati pop up
on the screen on the selection show yesterday, that had
to be gratifying.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
It was. You know, it was an interesting day because
I felt extremely confident that everything on our resume was
what the committee looks for, and really felt strongly that
it was kind of an opening shutcase. But you know,
there's sixteen regionals and fourteen had been checked off the ball,
so you knew you were running out of slots there,
(01:03):
So it was you know, when Katie and I moved
here two years ago, we knew it was gonna be
a really big challenge. Obviously, coaching changes are always difficult,
and then you're joining the Big twelve and and as
a Northern baseball school, we knew it was it was
gonna be tough. But we also thought there were enough
people that were invested and cared about it that it
was a hill we could climb and a fun challenge.
(01:24):
And obviously the job's not done. There's there's a lot
more things we can accomplish here, but this is this
is a big one to check off for our program
and so exciting for our kids. It's it's you know,
long lasting, lifelong memories they're making here, and it's it's
pretty exciting for them.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I chatted with you during fallball and then again right
before the season started, and you were you were optimistic
for how the season may play out. But what things
did you find out about your team as the season unfolded.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
You know what what was really challenging but fun with
this group is it was not an easy path. We
thought we had all the pieces in place to have
a a really successful season and play into the NCAA Tournament.
But you know, we had a stretch early where the
three starting infielders at the time, second base, shortstop, third base,
(02:11):
we're all injured and we're playing without our starting infield.
We had a weekend where our Friday and Saturday starters
we're both out with injury and illness. We basically every
key guy on the field missed time at some point,
and that led to a couple of little skids that
in our league, with how good the competition is, could
have led to long skids, and our ability to fight
back from those, battle back from those put ourselves back
(02:33):
in a positive, positive position was really what was impressive
with this group. There were just a couple of times
our coaches were like, man, this could go this can
go south in a hurry if we're not careful, and
our guys were really tough and we're able to grind
through that, and that was fun with this group.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So we talked about, you know, the feeling leading up
to yesterday and the announcement that you're headed to the
NCAA Tournament. You and I talked going into your last
series and I had mentioned, you know, looking at Baseball
America bracket till Gene trying to figure out where the
experts had you, guys, during the course of leading up
to the Big Twelve Tournament, in the immediate aftermatter of
the Big Twelve Tournament, were those the sort of things
(03:09):
you were paying attention to?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, I mean yes, because I know those publications pay
close attention to what the committee values, and so they
don't they don't pick who they think the best teams are.
They picked who they think is going to be in
and they spent a lot of time on it. And
so I've got a pretty good understanding of, hey, what
are what are the boxes we need to check? And
ultimately what really really helped our team was we won
(03:35):
a ton of games against NCAA tournament teams. We won
five series weekend series against NCAA tournament teams. That's actually
in the top I think eleven or twelve in the
country if there are only twelve programs that won five
or more series. We won fifteen total games against NCAA
tournament teams. And so that was the big one is
you know, it's great to schedule really really strong, but
(03:57):
then you got to go out and beat those teams. Too,
and our guys did a great job of beating a
lot of very very good teams. And what's exciting now
when you get there is because we've done that, there's
gonna be no off actor. Right, We're playing the type
of teams we've played all year, and we got out
and play good baseball.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, I was. I was talking about that on the
year last week, you know, at one point, and projections
are just projections. You were projected to be a two
seed that was going into the West Virginia game. And
I'm going if a team that finished an eighth in
the Big Twelve could be a two seed in the
NCAA Tournament, I'm not sure there's a bigger statement about
the quality of baseball in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, it's it's really good. And the standings were a
little funky because we played we actually so eight of
us are in. We played the other seven. You get
three teams you don't play in the league. But you know,
seven of our ten league weekends, I mean, that's pretty crazy.
Seven of our ten league weekends were against the NCAA
Tournament teams, and so I think we probably ended up
as you know, maybe the thirty third or thirty four team.
(04:56):
We were only a spot or two off that two line,
and again, to your point, went out and won just
over half our league games. And the NCAA teams that
puts he has one of the top thirty three to
thirty four teams in the country. That shows you what
we're playing against every week.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, no question. Jordan Bishell is with us the UC
baseball team playing in the NCAA tournament Friday at one
o'clock in Knoxville. Walk me through from I don't know,
mid afternoon yesterday, when you guys get done celebrating up
until first pitch on Friday, what does the calendar look like.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, I mean the calendar looks like wanting to prepare
to beat Wake, for us to be ready for whoever
we play in the second round. But unfortunately he's done.
Radio guys keep pulling you away from it and making
you talk to them. So you know that's the advantage.
You know, haven't been through this a few times in
a smaller market, the same type deal. When you get
in this situation, there's a million things pulling me in
a million directions. And what I've learned, haven't been in
(05:51):
a few of these is the fact that we have
just an amazing support staff, whether it's our coaches, whether
it's our administrators. You know, the coaches are doing a
great job prepping for the those games, administrators helping with
tickets and travel. It's it's a little bit of a
hectic zoo, but it's it's one you sign up for
every time, right. We're excited about it, and for our guys,
it's it's really let's try to make this thing pretty normal.
(06:12):
We'll practice early afternoon here today, We'll get a practice
in tomorrow morning. We'll take that four hour bus ride over,
We'll get in the weight room a little bit, we'll
get a practice on their field. Try to treat it
a little bit like a normal conference week and try
to get it regular for our guys because it's exciting
to be there. But my hope is they're not just
happy with the participation trophy. We want to go over
(06:33):
there and compete.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
What I know about Wake Forest Baseball is the Reds
keep drafting their pitchers, so you know, you don't have
to face Rat Louder or Chase Burns, but you're gonna
get some guys. What does you know at the major
league level, right, there's if you're gonna play a series
and you play everybody during the course of a season, obviously,
but there's there's reams of information, there's advanced scouts. What
does scouting look like at this level?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
It's changed dramatically in the last five or six years,
for sure. I mean, we've got you know, all of
our film. Video is uploaded. You have to have multi
camera angles at all of our games. It's all uploaded
to a common website, common app that's available, and it
will break down whatever you want to break down. If
you know what I want to know what a guy
(07:17):
hits against. You know, twenty one and a half year
olds that throw eighty seven and a half to eighty
eight and are left handed, and you know, have an
uncle named Pete. You can you can do a filter
and get that. So we've got just about everything you
can imagine at our fingertips. And that's part of the
challenge is you're trying to get ready for three different
teams in three days. You can only you know, disseminate
(07:39):
so much of it. So what's really important and how
much do you pass along to the guys? You know,
we can cloud their brains really, really quickly. If they
need to know every movement pattern of every pitch and
what they throw in two oz counts like they're going
to get paralyzed. So that's a big part of the
challenge is that's a big tool, but it can really
hinder you if you're not a little bit careful with it.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I think one of the things that's really cool about
the Big Twelve and and to a large degree, college
baseball as a whole. You know, it wasn't all that
long ago. If I wanted to follow the UC baseball team,
especially when you guys are not at home or in
a tournament, I would have to just follow along on
my phone. I was out last week and I look
up having dinner with my wife and there's your Friday
(08:22):
game against Kansas State on TV right, And and so
to be able to watch UC baseball on ESPN, plus
the Big Twelve tournament games, many of them were on ESPN.
You you know, this is more of a statement than
a question, I guess, but but that's that's really awesome,
and it's really awesome for your players.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It is it is, you know, number one, most our
most important thing is I really am working hard to
get a dim Mountain Dewe sponsorship. To my addiction, the
more things we get televised with that, the better my chance.
I haven't got the call yet, but so that is
That's why I push it. We need that sponsorship. But now, seriously,
it is it's huge. I don't think people totally recognize
(09:05):
the quality of baseball in our league, and less and
less guys are signing out of high school into pro
baseball like our this regional we play in, we'll have
multiple future big leaguers. And you mentioned the Wake Forest drafts,
but it's we've got three, four or five guys on
our roster that would not surprise me to play big
league baseball, and these other teams have the same thing.
So bringing that a little bit more visibility and attention,
(09:29):
I think is great because I think once people watch
us play, I think you realize, hey, we play a
really fun style. We're energetic, we play hard, we play aggressively.
But be you start noticing, like, oh my god, every
one of these starting pitchers is ninety two to ninety
five miles an hour and throw strikes, and these guys
can run and they hit home. We're like it, it's
pro style baseball and It helps bring exposure to those guys,
(09:53):
which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
You know, you referenced the draft and I remember not
too long ago the draft was going on while while
the NCAA tournament was happening. In fact, I remember going
to Omahon watching Jonathan India after he had been taken
by the Reds in in twenty eighteen or twenty seventeen.
Has that helped? Has moving it back to helped where
you guys could focus a little bit more on the
(10:15):
task at hand.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
That part is really really good. These guys don't have
to be you know, getting calls from advisors and scouts
twenty minutes before the game. That part has really really helped.
The downside of it is they moved it back so
far into July. That were a sport that has a
lot of draft uncertainty. Good teams might have three, four
or five guys that they're not sure if they're going
to be back with them, and so you know, you're
(10:38):
sitting there four weeks before school starts looking at your
us or saying do we have our you know, let's
you see's land in veteric who's eligible. Fourteen home runs,
thirty seven stolen bases, A month before school. You don't
know if he's your leadoff hitter or if he's you know,
the high a affiliate for the White Sox lead. I that's
pretty stressful, and I think it's hard on the kids
because you're you're trying to figure out do set their
(11:00):
scholarship aside. And so what would be great is if
we could find a happy media of let's hume drafting
guys the day before they're playing the biggest game of
their life. But let's also not wait until, you know,
three weeks before school starts to try to figure out
our rosters.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, makes sense. Well, you've got to figure out how
to advance this weekend. Congratulations on an awesome season and
the announcement yesterday. We'll be watching on Friday. Cannot wait.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I appreciate it, as I always thanks for having me on.
It's great building a relationship with you guys, and I'm
always happy to come on if you need to fill
some airtime.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
It's more than filling airtime, man, we love having you on.
Your fun to talk to you guys are fun to watch.
Go get to this weekend.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Thanks coach, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Have a good Day coach. Thank you so much. Jordan Bischel,
you see baseball coach. The Bearcats will play wig Forest
on Friday at one o'clock in the Knoxville Regional that
will also include the Miami RedHawks will battle Tennessee on
Friday night. If you miss Brian Smiley, the RedHawks coach.
That podcast available on the iHeartRadio and we'll put Jordan
Bishel up there as well sports headlines and a chat
(12:04):
with James Repayne. Next, this is the michelob Ultra five
o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.
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