October 4, 2024 • 34 mins
On this edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball we chat with Kentucky pitchers Evan Byers and Jackson Nove. The guys share stories of the College World Series and preview the upcoming season.
Hosted by Darren Headrick and Darren Williams.
Hosted by Darren Headrick and Darren Williams.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's a big Blue Nation. Welcome back to Behind Kentucky Baseball.
I'm Darren Hedrick with my co host Darren Williams. He
is the guy let's see second to my Ryan if
you're watching the stream. And in between, we've got a
couple of South Paul's with us today. We got Evan Byers,
we got Jackson Noviy. Guys, welcome back to the show.
I think I'm pretty sure we had both of y
on last year, So welcome back, Sarah. It's going to
(00:22):
be back this summer. What has it been like? First
of all, Evan, let's start with you walking around Lexington
after a run to the College World Series.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Got that chest out a little more around town now.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, it's definitely pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I mean just now, people that I've known and family
friends they see me for like it's been a while
and they always bring it up like, how's omaha, how's omaha?
You kind of getting the full rundown. Everybody is like
super proud of what we've done. Here is just like
being a local kid super cool. You know, I'm wearing
my baseball stuff out in public. You'll get some comments
here and there, and everybody just saying like Hey, we
(00:54):
love falling along. So it just means a ton just
be like recognized by the community.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's pretty pretty.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Cool, Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Once the dust settled, how long did it take for
the magnitude of what the team accomplished last year to
hit and everything really come into focus for you?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Wow, I would say a while.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
I mean I was still in shock when we got
back here, just as a team, you know, hanging out
for a couple of days that we all had before.
You know, everyone you know, heads their separate ways, just
ready for summer ball, gets ready for the draft. You know,
obviously a group of us stayed here and worked out
this summer, but just trying to enjoy the last moments
we had. Obviously, you know, not going out on the
note that we wanted to, but obviously, you know, you
(01:35):
have to look at the whole season as just another
great accomplishment, you know, everything that we got to accomplish
together as a group.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Tried to soak in every moment, whether it's you know,
just hanging out on the couch, just shooting stuff, just
talking with everyone. It was it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So both these guys were members of the College World Series, Wildcats,
and uh, before I handed over to Darren, I'm sure
he wants to ask you guys some stuff going back
to it in the moment. As players, obviously you're getting
ready as relievers. You know your name could be called
in any minute. So you guys are into these games,
you're into the scouts. But while you were in Omaha,
(02:13):
were there seconds or minutes here and there you could
steal away and kind of like he was talking about,
soak it in, soak in the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean we heard from many people that just go
there and soak it all in because a lot of
people just get caught up and sped.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Up in the moment. And I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Like the first like a few days we were there,
Johnny Helmel, my roommate, we get back into the our room,
It's like, dude, I feel like this is the only
time I can really like decompress.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Like everything's going on.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
There's so much interaction, live music, tons of people walking around.
It's like I really just need to like sit down
and just like take it all in. And so I
think it was like the first game against NC State,
you know, we probably got sitting down at Ben around
like the fourth and I'd say, yeah, and that's kind
of where I took my moment and just kind of
like looked around and took it all in, but just
kind of staying like being aware of my surroundings just
(03:02):
because you know, your name could be called at any
moment and then that next game it was, and so
it was just trying to stay locked in but also
just take it in.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, Jackson, what about you? What were some things you
did to try to soak in the moment when you could.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Yeah, I would definitely say practice the day before. I
think we practiced on Friday. That was a really good
tool just to use, you know, just to get kind
of acclimated with the environment. Obviously it's a little bit
different when there's not twenty four twenty five thousand people there,
but just you know, just getting used to the bullpen
on the flow of that, I would say that was
a big thing. And for me, just obviously the first
(03:35):
opportunity I got to pitch in the NC State game,
just running in, I told myself, don't look up until
you get to the mound. Tried to stay as most
like even peel as I could, just like trying to
stay focused on my job at hand obviously, and you know,
got through the warm up and then kind of took
my deep breath and kind of just had to take
a peek take a peek up. It's kind of a
(03:56):
selfish moment. I told coach Binch about it too. He
was like, did you feel nervous you've I was like no,
I was like, it felt good. I was like, obviously,
like there were two weekends before our regional atmosphere was
awesome like one and like once in a lifetime opportunity
that I got to pitch in front of here. So
I would say, you know, that environment kind of got us. Obviously,
you got seventy four hundred Kentucky fans pulling for you.
(04:17):
It's a little bit different there. You know, you got
different teams and all over the place. But it was
just a really cool experience to get to obviously hold
in those moments but then also get to play.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But the city of Omaha embraced you guys. You were
their team. Yeah. That helps, Yeah, it.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Helps a lot. I mean, there was a lot of
ways to get distracted out there. We had a lot
of fun, you know, off the field. But going back
to what you were saying, No, VI, you know, you
get the practice the day before, you get thirty minutes
an hour. Yep, it's not even close to the same
than twenty five thousand people screaming and yelling. So what
did you do in the practice, you know, before you
(04:54):
go out there for the NC State game? And how
did that prepare you? And was it totally night and
day different when you actually got out there on the mounta
twenty five thousand people for your situation.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
I mean, I think Evan could probably attest to this too.
But I feel like one of the things that I
enjoyed the most about Kentucky in general is the day before.
You know, whether it's a series here on a Thursday
or you know, no matter what, I feel like, our
day before practice is always the same. So it's been
really easy to like get in a routine and stay
(05:23):
on the routine. We did a really good job of
obviously in Omaha or the time was shortened obviously, don't
get near you have like an hour out there.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it was about an hour.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
So just like really just hitting on our routine, doing
all the stuff that we need to do as pictures,
you know, obviously get warmed up get our throwing in
and then do whatever PfP circuit coach Rozel would take
us through. And then kind of that last like ten
to fifteen minutes we had time and all the pictures
got on the mound, we took a picture, kind of
soaked it all in. I would say, like moments like
that kind of helped us get ready for the moment
(05:53):
on the mound, I would say, but Evan can probably
tell more too.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, me for sure. I think that was last ten
minutes where we do it in every way game we
get down there in that mound. Was on that mount,
you get in there, you go with through your dry
report to and you just kind of feel your surroundings,
see how because I mean in different stadiums, like Plate
feels closer and further away.
Speaker 6 (06:14):
Just be on a face on the sea. I stopped,
Tennessee is so close together. Here's a little bigger out there,
John enormous.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, well I thought it felt good though, Like I
thought it was a good a good looking distance, but
like you know, just going there and putting yourself through,
you know, maybe like just a few pitches and kind
of envisioning yourself on that mount in front of all
those people. But I will say, like preparing for that,
and then you get up there and this is like
twenty five thousand text A and M fans just yelling
the ball chant week.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Right, Well, no, we could prepare because he had that
happen to him too. Yeah, he was he was ready.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I was lucky enough to experience that. Thanks for bringing
that up.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
Right When I saw that when we went down there
in twenty two, I was like, Ah, that's a freshman
getting chanting at him. That's a rough situation.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
It's not even the ball four, ball five chant that hurts.
It's when you get three to zero and you know
that it's comment.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Well, you all can speak to that a little more
because we the schedule did come out last week, and
you guys do have a trip down to College Station
this year. Hopefully I'll be able to join Darren Hendrick
because I love all College Station. That's the spot. How
do you and this can leads into the twenty twenty
five team a little bit. Have you spoke to you know,
the new guys that transfers the freshman how to deal
(07:34):
with those crazy environments and is that something that whole
new team that's not been in the sec before. Is
that something where you two is older guys, you know,
speak on and prepare them for more.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I think it's definitely something that we're going to eventually
talk about.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Right now, we're just trying to get it by on
the same page to kind of carry over that culture
that we had built last year and the year before that.
So we're just trying to build relationships off the field
right now. You know, Nov does a good job. He
has some fresh and over each week and cook's for
him and we make somes on the smash Burgers yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Smash burg Yeah, on the Blackstone, on the black Stone.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
So so we're just trying to really focus on that
now and then I eventually like will eventually like cover that,
But right now, we're just trying to focus on way right,
coming together as a team because we got what thirty
new guys.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
There's a lot of guys.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Everybody's name in the locker room yet yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, we gotta we gotta know.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
We actually had a challenge that like if you don't
nobody's name, we get a six a M. So like
men should just call out a random person and be like, hey,
name their first and last name.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Who was the random person they got called out.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
There's been like Bradley Ferrell has been called out. I
think no Vy volunteered one day to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Got to get the two gear growing early.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Yeah, camaraderie come playing Grays though still rocking the playing
great cotton shirt.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, hopefully they'll be uh mixed in.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I do like that in practice, probably not many fans
knowing you guys, this coaching staff makes you earn it.
I mean in terms of the gear and everything, and
and talk how that builds the team culture and that
chemistry because you guys have to compete to win your
your caps and your shirts and everything like that.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Yeah, I would say coming in as a freshman, it
was definitely a different dynamic of something you kind of
had to learn. But obviously being an older guy now
it's just like I look at it as just holding
everyone accountable, Like there's goals each day, whether Rozelle gives
has a challenge or you know, Menjel do the team
challenge and you know, give us an opportunity for gear.
I feel like it just gives kids coming into the
(09:36):
program for the first time, whether you're a transfer, you know,
a first year guy, it just gives you like a
sense of like you have to accomplish something to earn it,
you know what I mean, nothing's given to you. Everything's
earned here. So I feel like, I guess that just
puts us on a good path just you know, to
be grateful for everything. We would have obviously amazing fan group,
you know, just the facilities, everything. Just be grateful for
(09:58):
what we have. Nothing's it's going, everything's earned. What about
for you?
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean, kind of going back to what he says,
I think it. I think it's it mainly plays for
the freshmen because we get a lot of these transfers
guys coming in and there.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Like why I like, dude, y'all get so much stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Oh yeah, and so like so like they're obviously grateful,
but some of these freshmen they're coming in and like,
you know, we came in as freshmen, like we were
the same way.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So that for them to earn their gear and be
able to like actually.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Have to accomplish something to get it it, it kind
of makes it it means even more to you when
you get like, oh man, I worked hard for this,
Like I kind of like this. More people will become
the freshman will come in like night times after they
put the stuff in the cup, even coming get their
like in the morning.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
I think it was twenty twenty three. We were we
were on a skid or something, and we were like,
all right, we're lifting in the gray T shirts like
this is in May. It's like we need to fire
the boys up. We're all throwing gray T shirts on
going okay, dude, something like that last year practice. Did
it for a team practice last ye You gotta you
gotta get the juices flowing somehow.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Yeah, didn't tell didn't tell men or anything. I think
it was actually after the first time all year we
lost back to back series. We got back from the
road trip from South Carolina. Just just needed a little revamp,
you know what I mean, just weren't playing the best baseball.
We knew we were better than what we played, and
we just I think we just got a locker for
that day. We're just like, screw it, let's do it
like shirts shirts.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Playing black hats. We all got out there and Minch
loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Minch just kind of hesitant at first.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
He's like, all right, guys, I really like what we're
doing here with the Grays, but like we're not we'll
just getting.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Back to our room.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
By this point, we got like sixty years all right, Yeah,
speaking speak about the little bit of the grind. I mean,
you guys have been through it now, you know. Yeah,
these two have made fun of me an awful lot
back in the day. I'll be in the old guy
and now here we are and here we are, just
do it the old heads in the locker room. Speak
a little bit about the grind of season because week
(12:01):
one is not like Week fourteen, and now that you
all have seen, you know, Week eighteen, Week nineteen and
Omaha in one hundred degree weather, you know, speak on
the grind because it's a whole another month after extended
season to play in the postseason as long as you
all did.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, it's definitely a grind. Your body is definitely feeling it.
I mean my arm was just hanging by the end
of the season. But uh, it's just part of being
a reliever and gritty. But the good thing is like
the postseason kind of like feels like a whole new
season to us. So like we're always just like super
amped to play a single game. It's just like opening
day every single day, and so like your body might
(12:39):
feel tired and stuff, but your mind just telling, like
telling you to go, go, go, because this is the
time of your life.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
And so hey, whatever you all did Origional and Super
it worked fine. You know what quick work of it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It's funny you bring that up, because it felt like
going into game two against Oregon State and the Super Regionals,
you guys rep one to nothing, so you had cushion
in case things didn't go your way. But there was
a sense that I got being around the team and
batting practice, it almost felt like a must win. You
guys were wanting to finish the job in game two,
and I thought that made a huge difference because you
(13:11):
knew Oregon State was going to come back from that
night before, and you guys met them blow for blow
and we were able to take care of business.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I would just say just kind of the same process
we've kept all year, you know, not making one game
bigger than the next. You know, obviously the night before,
obviously you have you played just as than near perfect
as a baseball game as you probably could have asked
for in Game one of a Super for the first
game ever in Kentucky Proud Park. But you know, just
looking back at the same thing we did week one
against you know, Upstate. You know, you win game one,
(13:41):
but that doesn't matter if you don't win game two.
You know, you're trying to win a series every weekend.
Obviously you're trying to get three, but you're obviously trying
to win the series, and you know, doing that on
the road is that much harder. Obviously playing a good opponent.
You knew there were a good team coming into it.
You just had to, you know, just keep it, just
keep focused. Obviously, the crowd running out I don't know
whatever time it was, seven, seven fifteen, it's like, you know,
(14:03):
you're them running Yeah, you know you're usually starting the
game then and then now it's like you're running out
there seven thirty, you know, an hour before the game
and it is packed to the brim. I mean it's
nine o'clock on a Sunday and they did not care.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah at all.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
That was awesome. That was a rocking, rocking atmosphere. I
went eazy. I did a lap yo. I mean, you'll
you'll understand this when you come back to games, if
you're done playing and just being around. I mean, these
games are long. You gotta got it. You gotta get up.
You gotta take your lap man, And I'm just that's
super regional. You take a lap, it's like four or
(14:39):
five deep in the outfield, like over on the corners,
four or five deep. I mean as packed as this
place to get a lot of people dap me up
said they love the podcast. So appreciate you guys you
know out there. But I want to talk about two
three in the morning after we win the Super two.
Oh how many messages and notifications did y'all have?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
On a lot?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
A lot of it was just more so just friends,
friends and family for me, like reaching out to my parents,
you know, just saying like how proud they were of me,
and you know, obviously the team in general too, and
just you know, being able to accomplish something that had
never been done before, you know, obviously getting to a
program and being a part of a program that got
to do everything we did for the first time ever.
(15:22):
You know, most total wins, you know, winning the SEC,
making it to Omaha, winning a Super, you know, hosting
a Super for the first time. It's like you get
caught up in the grind of the season and sometimes
you know, don't exactly remember all the accomplishments you had,
but just like getting to experience that and just all
my buddies back home just blowing me up, just saying.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh my gosh, this is so awesome, which they could
have been hard. Yeah, Iowa, oh yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Was awesome right there.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Games, you have a ton of people on Yeah. Game one,
it was like probably thirty or thirty five people.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Wow. Yeah, sure. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
One of the best parts of the and of all
the clips we got, obviously minch Day's walk off Grand
Slam or walk off home run to win it an
extras And I actually had like a cheering section or
a bunch of my buddies and some of their friends
and family out and left. And every time the every
time the ball lands, I can see like a little
a little speckle if I'm out there going crazy, and.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That's just yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
The bullpen too, Oh yeah, hey, you.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Tell us about that moment.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Tenth inning, two outs, nobody gone, Daily's up. They've got
their number one reliever, their closers, slider specialists up there,
and all of a sudden, here comes the ball right
at you.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Guys. Just take me through that moment.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Well you got you gotta go back to Ryan Nicholson's
first Yeah in the night and the ninth. So, I
mean we were sitting there and uh, I was sitting
on the bench right by the cooler, and they can
see it coming.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
You're like, well that's coming out.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
N lived me last year, Ry Nicholson lived with me,
and sometimes he would get so amped up he'd forget
to like show love to the bullpen like you're supposed
to do, and so we would always give him a
hard time. I'm like, so every time you get home run,
I got to make it like a point for him
to like shut up.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I saw over the fence. I climbed up to the
top and was like give him, making sure he.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Gave it back.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
But yeah, the mixed Dailey home run, you were you
were in the dugout, weren't you?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I was in the dugout.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Sadly enough, I didn't even see it, to be completely honest, Like,
he's probably the snack man I was.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I was not.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I was not in a snack man. Smaller story, was
not in a snack man. We have what we call
pit crew. So between innings, if Devin's up, obviously was
catching all the time. So when Devin was up obviously
trying to take a little bit of the load off him.
So me and Hogan would be putting on his putting
(17:43):
on his shins, handing him his you know, chest protector,
giving him everything, and.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was obviously facing away.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Devon was sitting on the bench and he was like,
oh my god, Oh my god. I turned around and
I just see the ball flying. I was like, so
that I kind of ran up there and caught up
with everyone, But I didn't see it off the bat,
but we.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Knew which knew was coming, like once the way that
ball was carrying that day, because that was the second
or third home run hit that day over there. I
want to say, I want to say mcarthy home run
up there too. So like the way it was off
the bat, were oh, that's going out. So like that
gate like gets stuck and we were like trying to
like rattle it open, trying to get there. Yeah, we
(18:29):
finally we finally got out.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That's what we got.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
There was like Daily's touching the place, so I'm like,
I guess I'm gonna grab the cooler.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I got the cooler.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Reported The best part of the home run was it
hit right underneath the Kentucky signe and the bullpen.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I thought that was like, you couldn't aim it better?
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Yes, I mean I had a feeling that Ron was
going to hit that. I don't know, we needed a
run in the ninth. He was locked, he was on fire.
I just had a feeling, By god, he did. What
a talent? What a talent? I mean you you can
talk about the last couple of first basements we had here. Yeah,
Who's who's gonna be the first basement that hits twenty
bombs this year?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
That's a hard ass yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Record here.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
So, I mean I think we got we got Hudson
Brown and Dylan kids over there, Cable transfer red shirt
freshman from here last year. So like they're gonna battle
it out. But that's they got some big shoes. If
they all the day they do so, it's it's gonna
be different. But there, I'm sure they'll do great.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
How do you guys, as the old guys try to
calm down the pressure of a lot of shoes to
feel you all had the best team in the history
of the program four months ago here and now it's like, okay,
we got to find a whole new team. We got
every like encore, Yeah, what's the encore?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
You know?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Like, so how do you transition to be like, Okay, hey,
don't be Ryan Nicholson, be yourself exactly, don't be be yourself,
don't be Mason more, be yourself. How do you guys,
you know, work through these new guys mindsets of that?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I mean, I think what you said, like Shoe, I
don't really think it's just as a fella, you know, it's
a whole new team. You got to see like what
dynamic works works well for that. I think that we
just need to focus on what we're good at and
kind of just be great at what we're good at,
and I think all the pieces will fall into place.
But right now we're just you know, we're supposed to
have our first inner squad to day rain, so like
we haven't really had any like full on team stuff
(20:21):
to see people like competing and stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So like we're still trying to grasp and like who
does what, like who can play here and there?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So we're just trying to like let every buy do
their thing and kind of like see how the pieces
fall into place and just constantly encourage each other. And
at the end of the day, like I think that
coach men has done a great job, you know, finding
the people that not only work in this program as players,
but as people. And whenever you have people that really
buy into like his philosophy and culture, like, it goes
like a long way. And I think that once you
(20:51):
get that mentality going and people really buying in, it's
just like it's something special because I think last year
we were not the most talented team in the sect.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
In and played every game like those game seven exactly
in so.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Focused off that a little bit. Jackson.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You've got an exhibition game coming up against Wright State.
I think it's a week from Sunday. How important are
those fall exhibition games against an opponent just to kind
of learn everybody and just get the team out there
and see it perform in live ball action.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Yeah, I think it's it's really important. Obviously freshman year,
obviously all three years I've gotten the chance to throw
in those games, and I think it's more so just
an opportunity to just show that what you've been working
on obviously from a personal level, you know, just show
the development you've been working with pitches, doing the stuff
you have with coach Rozell, but just kind of getting us,
getting us away from you know, the back and forth
(21:45):
kind of battle we have right now between pitchers and headers.
Obviously all pitchers are cheering for all pitchers, all headers
are cheering for all headers. You know, when we're doing
inner squads downside downstairs in the cages today, just getting
us all on the same squad. You know, everyone's fighting
for one for one goal one And I think last
year at PRESCO was awesome, small dugout, everyone travels all
(22:05):
on top of each other, just going ham and just
getting the new guys, you know, a sense of you know,
how the game atmosphere works. That's one thing that I
think really translate well to the spring necessarily where you know,
not necessarily that first game is you know, all what
do I need to be doing in the bullpen?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
What do I need to be doing here?
Speaker 5 (22:22):
You know, it gives you you know the run throughs
of you know, BP stretch, you know how everything works
with timing and the bullpen. Just small things like that
that you don't necessarily think of that will come up,
but just make a big difference when you get to springtime.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And real quick, just because we don't know when our
listeners might hear this podcast. We're talking about an exhibition
against Wright State October fifth at noon. That'll be at
Presco Park in Mason, Ohio. So then at the end
of the month that they could get more hits State
here at home. So two critical exhibition games in.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
The fall, short porch out there at prest some high
scoring games out there ground boffs.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Hopefully the winds blowing in.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
It ain't o kpp out there. Yeah, let's uh okay.
So you get home from Omaha. Evan Barters's arm is shot.
He was tired.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
What we don't do tired.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
But what does July and August look like like? What
has your rollest development been like for these last three
or four months, you know, since coming off that.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
So me and Noby basically kind of spent the summer together.
So we worked with coach Jones, our strength coach here
and shut down for a little bit, just really focused
on trying to move more explosive in the weight room,
trying to move things faster. For me, it's not really
a strength thing, it's just about moving things faster, so
kind of really focus on that. We did a lot
of sprint work this summer. Unfortunately it was for the better,
(23:42):
but it was not fun. Six am A little bit
is okay, So yeah, we would do that and then
eventually we started to throw a little bit. So Neb
took a hiatus till Iowa. I'm not really sure what
he did there, but he left me for two weeks.
So I threw some of the freshmen, trying to get
acclimated with them, and so we were working out and throwing.
(24:02):
So it was it was good to have a little
bit break. You know, I played summer ball the past
three years, and it was about time I needed a break.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Like I really wanted to go play summer ball.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
But you've been going. Yeah, you've been going since December.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, it's just a constant grind.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And I tell you what, like I'm throwing the fall
right now, like barm feels way better than it's ever.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
So it needed it needed a went home. I bet
he was doing chores. It was folks. How many acres
your your parents have the farm is?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Yeah, my dad and my grandpa farm probably roughly about
three thousand windmills on them. No, dude, no, that's more
like talking about the central Iowa, not in Eustern.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
To get to draw your whole state.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Oh, plenty of them.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I saw twenty thousand. Yeah, a lot of grass and windmills.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Three thousand acres though. Wow.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
But yeah, to add on to out on evis part
about the summer, I thought it was really good. Obviously,
you know, playing summer ball in the two summers past.
You know, one, getting that break for your arm was
obviously really really cool. But obviously, you know, we had
probably about seven to a maybe ten pitchers, slush positional
players that were here over the summer. So just you know,
(25:18):
building that connection with them early on in the summer
just made this transition to the fall. This one's easier,
you know, just not having to learn you know, thirty
new guys, you know, you know, it's more so like twenty.
So you know, building those connections early was really nice.
You know, having some of those guys over to our
house occasionally, just you know, trying to build those foundations early,
trying to build a culture with them so you know
they can help, you know, the freshman just as much
(25:39):
as we do. But yeah, also getting to go home
and you know, spend some time with friends and family
that I haven't necessarily gotten to do the past two summers.
So it was a good break, but excited to be
back here at school and nice.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
It's nice to have a breather after working like that
for six seven months straight, pitching two times a week. Really, yeah,
something to break Kumbaya, calm down.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
You know they don't do tired, but that was a
good tired at the end.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
All right, let's talk about this year's pitching staff.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I know there's still a lot to be uh sorted out,
and that's what the fall is for. But what excites
you most about this group? The new faces, the guys
coming back. What excites you most about this staff?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I'd say, like, I feel like we have quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Of experience from different leagues and different avenues of college baseball.
We have another seventh year, Dub's little friend over here,
another seventh years from South Dakota State, Nick McKay. Just
a guy that really goes about his business the right way.
He gets here super early in the morning because he
said his body takes a while to warm up, probably
(26:47):
because it's his seventh year of college.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
But yeah, I mean he looks really good. He's a starter.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
We got you know, Cole Henchel Scottie, and honestly, I
think we have some really all as freshmen this year.
From being in the program five years, I've seen some
good freshmen and some bad freshmen. It's just part of,
you know, the learning curve. But I got some. I
see some freshmen that can you know, contribute to the
staff this year, and I'm excited about that to see
how well they have already progressed as being that young,
because I can tell you when I came in here
(27:16):
as a freshman, I looks terrible, like it was bad.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
So they look great.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
That's a big jump to the sec Yeah, and it's
you can definitely see when they get out there sometimes
the nerves get the best of them. But I'm like, hey, man,
just in their squad, just an their squad. It's easy
for me and w to say because this is like
an inner squad.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
We thrown it the people and having buds so nice.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Yeah, to add on to's part, obviously, the experience is good,
but I would say, just like the like diversification that
we have within pictures, I feel like a lot of
guys have a different a lot of different stuff, a
lot of different strengths and just honestly just I feel like,
for the most part, All the new guys have been
really open minded about the new process. Obviously, you know,
being in a program for three four years, like some
(28:03):
of these you know, transfers have been in. You know,
it's different learning from Coach Rozel. You know, he coaches
a different way. But they've been really respectful and they've
been really good at asking questions, you know, to us,
you know, how does this work?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
What do we need to do about this.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
I feel like everyone's just done a really good job
of just you know, buying into the new culture and
buying into like how we navigate the pitching staff and
how Coach Roseel does you know, the stuff that he does.
So I feel like I feel like we've not necessarily
I feel like in years past, like it's taken a
little bit for the pitchers to get there. But I
feel like this year we've somewhat hit the ground running
(28:37):
and I'm excited to.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
It's such a different philosophy in the spring versus the
full trying to win. Yeah, like all the only word
the matter is when you know, But in the fall, man,
it's all about developing.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
And you know you've got to get better. You got
to you got to learn something every day, and you
speak about those freshman pictures like you've got to develop
a lot in four months here in the fall if
you're gonna help in the spring. Yeah, So like what
specific things are you all working on on developing right
about now?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I mean right now, everybody's just trying to get their
legs underneath them because they're just like we do a
lot as pitching staff. We're trying to get in the
best shapes of our life. I think that development wise,
I mean Salo and Fits are doing a great job
of helping coach Rozelle navigate the pitching staff. They give
us plenty of like water bag and medball stuff to
do right now, which is kind of like been added in.
(29:30):
Like probably last year was when we really added in.
We didn't do much that twenty three. Yeah we got them, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:36):
We got it wasn't but we didn't do the like
what not.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
So like we have an implemented plan, like you have
personal stuff that like Coach Salo will like look at
and implement in for you and he'll he'll kind of
like walk you through it and watch.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And stuff, and Coach fitzwill too.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
So Coach Ze really manages like that pitching and like
watching your catch play and stuff and be able to
critique there.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
But he kind of like gives.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
The reins to them with Salo having such a big
background and ball and then fits just seeing like all
the places that he's been and they combine their knowledge
and they're really helping just the young guys being able
to just move their bodies in a in a more
efficient way. And it's really cool to see because like
I benefit from it more than anybody, and I'm a
fifth year, you know, So it's it's cool to see
(30:18):
that having new perspective on things and like new eyes
can help so much because it's just it's just all
compounds together with all their knowledge.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So it's awsome.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
If any of our listeners are, like, you know, diehard
baseball fanatics, you can look up a real quick video
on the Internet of those water bags and those drills
and things that you know, I've seen pictures, big leagues
do them, you guys do them. I've seen high schoolers
do them. What exactly is that, you know, the next
phase of development when it comes to a picture using
those water bags, because that's that what I think, like
(30:50):
when I was in high school, that one of thing. Yeah,
you know what do you see the benefit out of us?
Speaker 4 (30:55):
It promotes like to really key your muscles on keeping
you balance and like staf like it really works those
small muscles because you really think about it, it might
like for the one I use a lot, it's like
a tube with water in it, but it's only halfway full,
so like the water is gonna shift back and forth,
so like you're constantly fighting the movement of that water bag,
so like you're kind of over correcting like what you're
(31:16):
really trying to work on. And so whenever you get
in game and like that you adrenaline, a competition starts going,
like your body automatically starts to like really sync up,
and like instead of over correcting, your body thinks it's
over correcting, but it's not. It's like if you really
focus on over correcting it in the bullpen, you're probably
just gonna.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Do it normal on the game mound instead of like
a bad habit.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Right.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
I mean, I'm gonna have to come and watch practice too,
because I thought that that just interests me to learn
more about it. See what Salo and Fit's gotten there.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Postseason for Major League Baseball starts next week. Who you
guys got give me a World Series prediction?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh, I'm not good at this. That's nov that's all
a nov.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Ummm. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
I feel like for the most part, like usually teams
are like really dominant. I feel like in the last
couple of years, I feel like in baseball there's just
been fluctuation where that's like necessarily.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Like football, it feels like the Chiefs are.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Just dominating every year. I mean like they might be
ten to seven, but once that postseason play hits, like
my Homes just turns it on and wins. But I
feel like baseball has done a really good job of
like just fluctuating the winners. I know, the last couple
of years, there's been no back to backs. There's been
like five or six years in a row where new
teams are winning it, and it seems like teams just
get hot at the right time. And I feel like
(32:34):
that's kind of where we were at last year, you
know what I mean, just like getting hot at the
right time, you know, staying hot, figure out how to
ride that wave in the right way, you know, not
get too high and never get too low. So I
don't know, I'm not a Yankees. Guy, by any means,
I don't like the Yankees. I think the Yankees got
a good team. Cole Henchel is going to love that,
even though I hope they lose. Really, I don't know
(32:57):
in the World Series, Yeah, like that would Dodgers would
get people's moneys worth.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
I'm gonna go Phillies. Zach Wheeler in the playoffs is insane, okay,
and Philly is tough to play.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
They've been one of the best teams all year.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
I'll give Phillies and the l Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
The hot team's winning again.
Speaker 6 (33:18):
Like you ain't beating Screwball or whatever his name. I mean,
he's gross, gross, he's too lefty to to throw like that.
And they're on fire. My boy trying plays short stop
for you. We're going to go Tigers, Phillies, Phillies.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Winning all What about Dodgers does? Is Zach log still
up in the Bigs and.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Daughters right now? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, come on, you gotta pull for a fellow wild cut.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
I can't root for the Dodgers. It's been like four
times the amount of money the Reds. Dude, come Yankees,
Dodgers can't.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Do it all right, guys, Well, thanks for coming on
the show with us and have a great We'll see
you in the spring.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
All right, sounds good, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
It's Jackson. He's having buyers for Darren Williams. I'm Darren Headrick.
Join us next week right here on behind Kentucky Baseball.
This is the UK Sports Network.
What's a big Blue Nation. Welcome back to Behind Kentucky Baseball.
I'm Darren Hedrick with my co host Darren Williams. He
is the guy let's see second to my Ryan if
you're watching the stream. And in between, we've got a
couple of South Paul's with us today. We got Evan Byers,
we got Jackson Noviy. Guys, welcome back to the show.
I think I'm pretty sure we had both of y
on last year, So welcome back, Sarah. It's going to
(00:22):
be back this summer. What has it been like? First
of all, Evan, let's start with you walking around Lexington
after a run to the College World Series.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Got that chest out a little more around town now.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, it's definitely pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I mean just now, people that I've known and family
friends they see me for like it's been a while
and they always bring it up like, how's omaha, how's omaha?
You kind of getting the full rundown. Everybody is like
super proud of what we've done. Here is just like
being a local kid super cool. You know, I'm wearing
my baseball stuff out in public. You'll get some comments
here and there, and everybody just saying like Hey, we
(00:54):
love falling along. So it just means a ton just
be like recognized by the community.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It's pretty pretty.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Cool, Jackson.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Once the dust settled, how long did it take for
the magnitude of what the team accomplished last year to
hit and everything really come into focus for you?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Wow, I would say a while.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
I mean I was still in shock when we got
back here, just as a team, you know, hanging out
for a couple of days that we all had before.
You know, everyone you know, heads their separate ways, just
ready for summer ball, gets ready for the draft. You know,
obviously a group of us stayed here and worked out
this summer, but just trying to enjoy the last moments
we had. Obviously, you know, not going out on the
note that we wanted to, but obviously, you know, you
(01:35):
have to look at the whole season as just another
great accomplishment, you know, everything that we got to accomplish
together as a group.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So it was awesome.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Tried to soak in every moment, whether it's you know,
just hanging out on the couch, just shooting stuff, just
talking with everyone. It was it was a blast.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So both these guys were members of the College World Series, Wildcats,
and uh, before I handed over to Darren, I'm sure
he wants to ask you guys some stuff going back
to it in the moment. As players, obviously you're getting
ready as relievers. You know your name could be called
in any minute. So you guys are into these games,
you're into the scouts. But while you were in Omaha,
(02:13):
were there seconds or minutes here and there you could
steal away and kind of like he was talking about,
soak it in, soak in the moment.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I mean we heard from many people that just go
there and soak it all in because a lot of
people just get caught up and sped.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Up in the moment. And I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Like the first like a few days we were there,
Johnny Helmel, my roommate, we get back into the our room,
It's like, dude, I feel like this is the only
time I can really like decompress.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Like everything's going on.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
There's so much interaction, live music, tons of people walking around.
It's like I really just need to like sit down
and just like take it all in. And so I
think it was like the first game against NC State,
you know, we probably got sitting down at Ben around
like the fourth and I'd say, yeah, and that's kind
of where I took my moment and just kind of
like looked around and took it all in, but just
kind of staying like being aware of my surroundings just
(03:02):
because you know, your name could be called at any
moment and then that next game it was, and so
it was just trying to stay locked in but also
just take it in.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, Jackson, what about you? What were some things you
did to try to soak in the moment when you could.
Speaker 5 (03:14):
Yeah, I would definitely say practice the day before. I
think we practiced on Friday. That was a really good
tool just to use, you know, just to get kind
of acclimated with the environment. Obviously it's a little bit
different when there's not twenty four twenty five thousand people there,
but just you know, just getting used to the bullpen
on the flow of that, I would say that was
a big thing. And for me, just obviously the first
(03:35):
opportunity I got to pitch in the NC State game,
just running in, I told myself, don't look up until
you get to the mound. Tried to stay as most
like even peel as I could, just like trying to
stay focused on my job at hand obviously, and you know,
got through the warm up and then kind of took
my deep breath and kind of just had to take
a peek take a peek up. It's kind of a
(03:56):
selfish moment. I told coach Binch about it too. He
was like, did you feel nervous you've I was like no,
I was like, it felt good. I was like, obviously,
like there were two weekends before our regional atmosphere was
awesome like one and like once in a lifetime opportunity
that I got to pitch in front of here. So
I would say, you know, that environment kind of got us. Obviously,
you got seventy four hundred Kentucky fans pulling for you.
(04:17):
It's a little bit different there. You know, you got
different teams and all over the place. But it was
just a really cool experience to get to obviously hold
in those moments but then also get to play.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But the city of Omaha embraced you guys. You were
their team. Yeah. That helps, Yeah, it.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Helps a lot. I mean, there was a lot of
ways to get distracted out there. We had a lot
of fun, you know, off the field. But going back
to what you were saying, No, VI, you know, you
get the practice the day before, you get thirty minutes
an hour. Yep, it's not even close to the same
than twenty five thousand people screaming and yelling. So what
did you do in the practice, you know, before you
(04:54):
go out there for the NC State game? And how
did that prepare you? And was it totally night and
day different when you actually got out there on the mounta
twenty five thousand people for your situation.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
I mean, I think Evan could probably attest to this too.
But I feel like one of the things that I
enjoyed the most about Kentucky in general is the day before.
You know, whether it's a series here on a Thursday
or you know, no matter what, I feel like, our
day before practice is always the same. So it's been
really easy to like get in a routine and stay
(05:23):
on the routine. We did a really good job of
obviously in Omaha or the time was shortened obviously, don't
get near you have like an hour out there.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, it was about an hour.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
So just like really just hitting on our routine, doing
all the stuff that we need to do as pictures,
you know, obviously get warmed up get our throwing in
and then do whatever PfP circuit coach Rozel would take
us through. And then kind of that last like ten
to fifteen minutes we had time and all the pictures
got on the mound, we took a picture, kind of
soaked it all in. I would say, like moments like
that kind of helped us get ready for the moment
(05:53):
on the mound, I would say, but Evan can probably
tell more too.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, me for sure. I think that was last ten
minutes where we do it in every way game we
get down there in that mound. Was on that mount,
you get in there, you go with through your dry
report to and you just kind of feel your surroundings,
see how because I mean in different stadiums, like Plate
feels closer and further away.
Speaker 6 (06:14):
Just be on a face on the sea. I stopped,
Tennessee is so close together. Here's a little bigger out there,
John enormous.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, well I thought it felt good though, Like I
thought it was a good a good looking distance, but
like you know, just going there and putting yourself through,
you know, maybe like just a few pitches and kind
of envisioning yourself on that mount in front of all
those people. But I will say, like preparing for that,
and then you get up there and this is like
twenty five thousand text A and M fans just yelling
the ball chant week.
Speaker 6 (06:40):
Right, Well, no, we could prepare because he had that
happen to him too. Yeah, he was he was ready.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I was lucky enough to experience that. Thanks for bringing
that up.
Speaker 6 (06:53):
Right When I saw that when we went down there
in twenty two, I was like, Ah, that's a freshman
getting chanting at him. That's a rough situation.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
It's not even the ball four, ball five chant that hurts.
It's when you get three to zero and you know
that it's comment.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Well, you all can speak to that a little more
because we the schedule did come out last week, and
you guys do have a trip down to College Station
this year. Hopefully I'll be able to join Darren Hendrick
because I love all College Station. That's the spot. How
do you and this can leads into the twenty twenty
five team a little bit. Have you spoke to you know,
the new guys that transfers the freshman how to deal
(07:34):
with those crazy environments and is that something that whole
new team that's not been in the sec before. Is
that something where you two is older guys, you know,
speak on and prepare them for more.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I think it's definitely something that we're going to eventually
talk about.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Right now, we're just trying to get it by on
the same page to kind of carry over that culture
that we had built last year and the year before that.
So we're just trying to build relationships off the field
right now. You know, Nov does a good job. He
has some fresh and over each week and cook's for
him and we make somes on the smash Burgers yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Smash burg Yeah, on the Blackstone, on the black Stone.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
So so we're just trying to really focus on that
now and then I eventually like will eventually like cover that,
But right now, we're just trying to focus on way right,
coming together as a team because we got what thirty
new guys.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
There's a lot of guys.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Everybody's name in the locker room yet yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, we gotta we gotta know.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
We actually had a challenge that like if you don't
nobody's name, we get a six a M. So like
men should just call out a random person and be like, hey,
name their first and last name.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
Who was the random person they got called out.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
There's been like Bradley Ferrell has been called out. I
think no Vy volunteered one day to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Got to get the two gear growing early.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
Yeah, camaraderie come playing Grays though still rocking the playing
great cotton shirt.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, hopefully they'll be uh mixed in.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I do like that in practice, probably not many fans
knowing you guys, this coaching staff makes you earn it.
I mean in terms of the gear and everything, and
and talk how that builds the team culture and that
chemistry because you guys have to compete to win your
your caps and your shirts and everything like that.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
Yeah, I would say coming in as a freshman, it
was definitely a different dynamic of something you kind of
had to learn. But obviously being an older guy now
it's just like I look at it as just holding
everyone accountable, Like there's goals each day, whether Rozelle gives
has a challenge or you know, Menjel do the team
challenge and you know, give us an opportunity for gear.
I feel like it just gives kids coming into the
(09:36):
program for the first time, whether you're a transfer, you know,
a first year guy, it just gives you like a
sense of like you have to accomplish something to earn it,
you know what I mean, nothing's given to you. Everything's
earned here. So I feel like, I guess that just
puts us on a good path just you know, to
be grateful for everything. We would have obviously amazing fan group,
you know, just the facilities, everything. Just be grateful for
(09:58):
what we have. Nothing's it's going, everything's earned. What about
for you?
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Yeah, I mean, kind of going back to what he says,
I think it. I think it's it mainly plays for
the freshmen because we get a lot of these transfers
guys coming in and there.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Like why I like, dude, y'all get so much stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Oh yeah, and so like so like they're obviously grateful,
but some of these freshmen they're coming in and like,
you know, we came in as freshmen, like we were
the same way.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So that for them to earn their gear and be
able to like actually.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Have to accomplish something to get it it, it kind
of makes it it means even more to you when
you get like, oh man, I worked hard for this,
Like I kind of like this. More people will become
the freshman will come in like night times after they
put the stuff in the cup, even coming get their
like in the morning.
Speaker 6 (10:42):
I think it was twenty twenty three. We were we
were on a skid or something, and we were like,
all right, we're lifting in the gray T shirts like
this is in May. It's like we need to fire
the boys up. We're all throwing gray T shirts on
going okay, dude, something like that last year practice. Did
it for a team practice last ye You gotta you
gotta get the juices flowing somehow.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Yeah, didn't tell didn't tell men or anything. I think
it was actually after the first time all year we
lost back to back series. We got back from the
road trip from South Carolina. Just just needed a little revamp,
you know what I mean, just weren't playing the best baseball.
We knew we were better than what we played, and
we just I think we just got a locker for
that day. We're just like, screw it, let's do it
like shirts shirts.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Playing black hats. We all got out there and Minch
loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Minch just kind of hesitant at first.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
He's like, all right, guys, I really like what we're
doing here with the Grays, but like we're not we'll
just getting.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Back to our room.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
By this point, we got like sixty years all right, Yeah,
speaking speak about the little bit of the grind. I mean,
you guys have been through it now, you know. Yeah,
these two have made fun of me an awful lot
back in the day. I'll be in the old guy
and now here we are and here we are, just
do it the old heads in the locker room. Speak
a little bit about the grind of season because week
(12:01):
one is not like Week fourteen, and now that you
all have seen, you know, Week eighteen, Week nineteen and
Omaha in one hundred degree weather, you know, speak on
the grind because it's a whole another month after extended
season to play in the postseason as long as you
all did.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, it's definitely a grind. Your body is definitely feeling it.
I mean my arm was just hanging by the end
of the season. But uh, it's just part of being
a reliever and gritty. But the good thing is like
the postseason kind of like feels like a whole new
season to us. So like we're always just like super
amped to play a single game. It's just like opening
day every single day, and so like your body might
(12:39):
feel tired and stuff, but your mind just telling, like
telling you to go, go, go, because this is the
time of your life.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
And so hey, whatever you all did Origional and Super
it worked fine. You know what quick work of it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It's funny you bring that up, because it felt like
going into game two against Oregon State and the Super Regionals,
you guys rep one to nothing, so you had cushion
in case things didn't go your way. But there was
a sense that I got being around the team and
batting practice, it almost felt like a must win. You
guys were wanting to finish the job in game two,
and I thought that made a huge difference because you
(13:11):
knew Oregon State was going to come back from that
night before, and you guys met them blow for blow
and we were able to take care of business.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I would just say just kind of the same process
we've kept all year, you know, not making one game
bigger than the next. You know, obviously the night before,
obviously you have you played just as than near perfect
as a baseball game as you probably could have asked
for in Game one of a Super for the first
game ever in Kentucky Proud Park. But you know, just
looking back at the same thing we did week one
against you know, Upstate. You know, you win game one,
(13:41):
but that doesn't matter if you don't win game two.
You know, you're trying to win a series every weekend.
Obviously you're trying to get three, but you're obviously trying
to win the series, and you know, doing that on
the road is that much harder. Obviously playing a good opponent.
You knew there were a good team coming into it.
You just had to, you know, just keep it, just
keep focused. Obviously, the crowd running out I don't know
whatever time it was, seven, seven fifteen, it's like, you know,
(14:03):
you're them running Yeah, you know you're usually starting the
game then and then now it's like you're running out
there seven thirty, you know, an hour before the game
and it is packed to the brim. I mean it's
nine o'clock on a Sunday and they did not care.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah at all.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
That was awesome. That was a rocking, rocking atmosphere. I
went eazy. I did a lap yo. I mean, you'll
you'll understand this when you come back to games, if
you're done playing and just being around. I mean, these
games are long. You gotta got it. You gotta get up.
You gotta take your lap man, And I'm just that's
super regional. You take a lap, it's like four or
(14:39):
five deep in the outfield, like over on the corners,
four or five deep. I mean as packed as this
place to get a lot of people dap me up
said they love the podcast. So appreciate you guys you
know out there. But I want to talk about two
three in the morning after we win the Super two.
Oh how many messages and notifications did y'all have?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
On a lot?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
A lot of it was just more so just friends,
friends and family for me, like reaching out to my parents,
you know, just saying like how proud they were of me,
and you know, obviously the team in general too, and
just you know, being able to accomplish something that had
never been done before, you know, obviously getting to a
program and being a part of a program that got
to do everything we did for the first time ever.
(15:22):
You know, most total wins, you know, winning the SEC,
making it to Omaha, winning a Super, you know, hosting
a Super for the first time. It's like you get
caught up in the grind of the season and sometimes
you know, don't exactly remember all the accomplishments you had,
but just like getting to experience that and just all
my buddies back home just blowing me up, just saying.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Oh my gosh, this is so awesome, which they could
have been hard. Yeah, Iowa, oh yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Was awesome right there.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Games, you have a ton of people on Yeah. Game one,
it was like probably thirty or thirty five people.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Wow. Yeah, sure. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
One of the best parts of the and of all
the clips we got, obviously minch Day's walk off Grand
Slam or walk off home run to win it an
extras And I actually had like a cheering section or
a bunch of my buddies and some of their friends
and family out and left. And every time the every
time the ball lands, I can see like a little
a little speckle if I'm out there going crazy, and.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
That's just yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
The bullpen too, Oh yeah, hey, you.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Tell us about that moment.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Tenth inning, two outs, nobody gone, Daily's up. They've got
their number one reliever, their closers, slider specialists up there,
and all of a sudden, here comes the ball right
at you.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Guys. Just take me through that moment.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Well you got you gotta go back to Ryan Nicholson's
first Yeah in the night and the ninth. So, I
mean we were sitting there and uh, I was sitting
on the bench right by the cooler, and they can
see it coming.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
You're like, well that's coming out.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
N lived me last year, Ry Nicholson lived with me,
and sometimes he would get so amped up he'd forget
to like show love to the bullpen like you're supposed
to do, and so we would always give him a
hard time. I'm like, so every time you get home run,
I got to make it like a point for him
to like shut up.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I saw over the fence. I climbed up to the
top and was like give him, making sure he.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Gave it back.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
But yeah, the mixed Dailey home run, you were you
were in the dugout, weren't you?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I was in the dugout.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Sadly enough, I didn't even see it, to be completely honest, Like,
he's probably the snack man I was.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I was not.
Speaker 5 (17:23):
I was not in a snack man. Smaller story, was
not in a snack man. We have what we call
pit crew. So between innings, if Devin's up, obviously was
catching all the time. So when Devin was up obviously
trying to take a little bit of the load off him.
So me and Hogan would be putting on his putting
(17:43):
on his shins, handing him his you know, chest protector,
giving him everything, and.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I was obviously facing away.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Devon was sitting on the bench and he was like,
oh my god, Oh my god. I turned around and
I just see the ball flying. I was like, so
that I kind of ran up there and caught up
with everyone, But I didn't see it off the bat,
but we.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Knew which knew was coming, like once the way that
ball was carrying that day, because that was the second
or third home run hit that day over there. I
want to say, I want to say mcarthy home run
up there too. So like the way it was off
the bat, were oh, that's going out. So like that
gate like gets stuck and we were like trying to
like rattle it open, trying to get there. Yeah, we
(18:29):
finally we finally got out.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That's what we got.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
There was like Daily's touching the place, so I'm like,
I guess I'm gonna grab the cooler.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I got the cooler.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Reported The best part of the home run was it
hit right underneath the Kentucky signe and the bullpen.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I thought that was like, you couldn't aim it better?
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Yes, I mean I had a feeling that Ron was
going to hit that. I don't know, we needed a
run in the ninth. He was locked, he was on fire.
I just had a feeling, By god, he did. What
a talent? What a talent? I mean you you can
talk about the last couple of first basements we had here. Yeah,
Who's who's gonna be the first basement that hits twenty
bombs this year?
Speaker 3 (19:03):
That's a hard ass yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Record here.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
So, I mean I think we got we got Hudson
Brown and Dylan kids over there, Cable transfer red shirt
freshman from here last year. So like they're gonna battle
it out. But that's they got some big shoes. If
they all the day they do so, it's it's gonna
be different. But there, I'm sure they'll do great.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
How do you guys, as the old guys try to
calm down the pressure of a lot of shoes to
feel you all had the best team in the history
of the program four months ago here and now it's like, okay,
we got to find a whole new team. We got
every like encore, Yeah, what's the encore?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
You know?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Like, so how do you transition to be like, Okay, hey,
don't be Ryan Nicholson, be yourself exactly, don't be be yourself,
don't be Mason more, be yourself. How do you guys,
you know, work through these new guys mindsets of that?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I mean, I think what you said, like Shoe, I
don't really think it's just as a fella, you know, it's
a whole new team. You got to see like what
dynamic works works well for that. I think that we
just need to focus on what we're good at and
kind of just be great at what we're good at,
and I think all the pieces will fall into place.
But right now we're just you know, we're supposed to
have our first inner squad to day rain, so like
we haven't really had any like full on team stuff
(20:21):
to see people like competing and stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
So like we're still trying to grasp and like who
does what, like who can play here and there?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
So we're just trying to like let every buy do
their thing and kind of like see how the pieces
fall into place and just constantly encourage each other. And
at the end of the day, like I think that
coach men has done a great job, you know, finding
the people that not only work in this program as players,
but as people. And whenever you have people that really
buy into like his philosophy and culture, like, it goes
like a long way. And I think that once you
(20:51):
get that mentality going and people really buying in, it's
just like it's something special because I think last year
we were not the most talented team in the sect.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
In and played every game like those game seven exactly
in so.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Focused off that a little bit. Jackson.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
You've got an exhibition game coming up against Wright State.
I think it's a week from Sunday. How important are
those fall exhibition games against an opponent just to kind
of learn everybody and just get the team out there
and see it perform in live ball action.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Yeah, I think it's it's really important. Obviously freshman year,
obviously all three years I've gotten the chance to throw
in those games, and I think it's more so just
an opportunity to just show that what you've been working
on obviously from a personal level, you know, just show
the development you've been working with pitches, doing the stuff
you have with coach Rozell, but just kind of getting us,
getting us away from you know, the back and forth
(21:45):
kind of battle we have right now between pitchers and headers.
Obviously all pitchers are cheering for all pitchers, all headers
are cheering for all headers. You know, when we're doing
inner squads downside downstairs in the cages today, just getting
us all on the same squad. You know, everyone's fighting
for one for one goal one And I think last
year at PRESCO was awesome, small dugout, everyone travels all
(22:05):
on top of each other, just going ham and just
getting the new guys, you know, a sense of you know,
how the game atmosphere works. That's one thing that I
think really translate well to the spring necessarily where you know,
not necessarily that first game is you know, all what
do I need to be doing in the bullpen?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
What do I need to be doing here?
Speaker 5 (22:22):
You know, it gives you you know the run throughs
of you know, BP stretch, you know how everything works
with timing and the bullpen. Just small things like that
that you don't necessarily think of that will come up,
but just make a big difference when you get to springtime.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And real quick, just because we don't know when our
listeners might hear this podcast. We're talking about an exhibition
against Wright State October fifth at noon. That'll be at
Presco Park in Mason, Ohio. So then at the end
of the month that they could get more hits State
here at home. So two critical exhibition games in.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
The fall, short porch out there at prest some high
scoring games out there ground boffs.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Hopefully the winds blowing in.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
It ain't o kpp out there. Yeah, let's uh okay.
So you get home from Omaha. Evan Barters's arm is shot.
He was tired.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
What we don't do tired.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
But what does July and August look like like? What
has your rollest development been like for these last three
or four months, you know, since coming off that.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
So me and Noby basically kind of spent the summer together.
So we worked with coach Jones, our strength coach here
and shut down for a little bit, just really focused
on trying to move more explosive in the weight room,
trying to move things faster. For me, it's not really
a strength thing, it's just about moving things faster, so
kind of really focus on that. We did a lot
of sprint work this summer. Unfortunately it was for the better,
(23:42):
but it was not fun. Six am A little bit
is okay, So yeah, we would do that and then
eventually we started to throw a little bit. So Neb
took a hiatus till Iowa. I'm not really sure what
he did there, but he left me for two weeks.
So I threw some of the freshmen, trying to get
acclimated with them, and so we were working out and throwing.
(24:02):
So it was it was good to have a little
bit break. You know, I played summer ball the past
three years, and it was about time I needed a break.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Like I really wanted to go play summer ball.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
But you've been going. Yeah, you've been going since December.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, it's just a constant grind.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And I tell you what, like I'm throwing the fall
right now, like barm feels way better than it's ever.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
So it needed it needed a went home. I bet
he was doing chores. It was folks. How many acres
your your parents have the farm is?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Yeah, my dad and my grandpa farm probably roughly about
three thousand windmills on them. No, dude, no, that's more
like talking about the central Iowa, not in Eustern.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
To get to draw your whole state.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Oh, plenty of them.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I saw twenty thousand. Yeah, a lot of grass and windmills.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Three thousand acres though. Wow.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
But yeah, to add on to out on evis part
about the summer, I thought it was really good. Obviously,
you know, playing summer ball in the two summers past.
You know, one, getting that break for your arm was
obviously really really cool. But obviously, you know, we had
probably about seven to a maybe ten pitchers, slush positional
players that were here over the summer. So just you know,
(25:18):
building that connection with them early on in the summer
just made this transition to the fall. This one's easier,
you know, just not having to learn you know, thirty
new guys, you know, you know, it's more so like twenty.
So you know, building those connections early was really nice.
You know, having some of those guys over to our
house occasionally, just you know, trying to build those foundations early,
trying to build a culture with them so you know
they can help, you know, the freshman just as much
(25:39):
as we do. But yeah, also getting to go home
and you know, spend some time with friends and family
that I haven't necessarily gotten to do the past two summers.
So it was a good break, but excited to be
back here at school and nice.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
It's nice to have a breather after working like that
for six seven months straight, pitching two times a week. Really, yeah,
something to break Kumbaya, calm down.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
You know they don't do tired, but that was a
good tired at the end.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
All right, let's talk about this year's pitching staff.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I know there's still a lot to be uh sorted out,
and that's what the fall is for. But what excites
you most about this group? The new faces, the guys
coming back. What excites you most about this staff?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I'd say, like, I feel like we have quite a bit.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Of experience from different leagues and different avenues of college baseball.
We have another seventh year, Dub's little friend over here,
another seventh years from South Dakota State, Nick McKay. Just
a guy that really goes about his business the right way.
He gets here super early in the morning because he
said his body takes a while to warm up, probably
(26:47):
because it's his seventh year of college.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
But yeah, I mean he looks really good. He's a starter.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
We got you know, Cole Henchel Scottie, and honestly, I
think we have some really all as freshmen this year.
From being in the program five years, I've seen some
good freshmen and some bad freshmen. It's just part of,
you know, the learning curve. But I got some. I
see some freshmen that can you know, contribute to the
staff this year, and I'm excited about that to see
how well they have already progressed as being that young,
because I can tell you when I came in here
(27:16):
as a freshman, I looks terrible, like it was bad.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
So they look great.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
That's a big jump to the sec Yeah, and it's
you can definitely see when they get out there sometimes
the nerves get the best of them. But I'm like, hey, man,
just in their squad, just an their squad. It's easy
for me and w to say because this is like
an inner squad.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
We thrown it the people and having buds so nice.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Yeah, to add on to's part, obviously, the experience is good,
but I would say, just like the like diversification that
we have within pictures, I feel like a lot of
guys have a different a lot of different stuff, a
lot of different strengths and just honestly just I feel like,
for the most part, All the new guys have been
really open minded about the new process. Obviously, you know,
being in a program for three four years, like some
(28:03):
of these you know, transfers have been in. You know,
it's different learning from Coach Rozel. You know, he coaches
a different way. But they've been really respectful and they've
been really good at asking questions, you know, to us,
you know, how does this work?
Speaker 2 (28:15):
What do we need to do about this.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
I feel like everyone's just done a really good job
of just you know, buying into the new culture and
buying into like how we navigate the pitching staff and
how Coach Roseel does you know, the stuff that he does.
So I feel like I feel like we've not necessarily
I feel like in years past, like it's taken a
little bit for the pitchers to get there. But I
feel like this year we've somewhat hit the ground running
(28:37):
and I'm excited to.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
It's such a different philosophy in the spring versus the
full trying to win. Yeah, like all the only word
the matter is when you know, But in the fall, man,
it's all about developing.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (28:51):
And you know you've got to get better. You got
to you got to learn something every day, and you
speak about those freshman pictures like you've got to develop
a lot in four months here in the fall if
you're gonna help in the spring. Yeah, So like what
specific things are you all working on on developing right
about now?
Speaker 4 (29:09):
I mean right now, everybody's just trying to get their
legs underneath them because they're just like we do a
lot as pitching staff. We're trying to get in the
best shapes of our life. I think that development wise,
I mean Salo and Fits are doing a great job
of helping coach Rozelle navigate the pitching staff. They give
us plenty of like water bag and medball stuff to
do right now, which is kind of like been added in.
(29:30):
Like probably last year was when we really added in.
We didn't do much that twenty three. Yeah we got them, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (29:36):
We got it wasn't but we didn't do the like
what not.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
So like we have an implemented plan, like you have
personal stuff that like Coach Salo will like look at
and implement in for you and he'll he'll kind of
like walk you through it and watch.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
And stuff, and Coach fitzwill too.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
So Coach Ze really manages like that pitching and like
watching your catch play and stuff and be able to
critique there.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
But he kind of like gives.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
The reins to them with Salo having such a big
background and ball and then fits just seeing like all
the places that he's been and they combine their knowledge
and they're really helping just the young guys being able
to just move their bodies in a in a more
efficient way. And it's really cool to see because like
I benefit from it more than anybody, and I'm a
fifth year, you know, So it's it's cool to see
(30:18):
that having new perspective on things and like new eyes
can help so much because it's just it's just all
compounds together with all their knowledge.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
So it's awsome.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
If any of our listeners are, like, you know, diehard
baseball fanatics, you can look up a real quick video
on the Internet of those water bags and those drills
and things that you know, I've seen pictures, big leagues
do them, you guys do them. I've seen high schoolers
do them. What exactly is that, you know, the next
phase of development when it comes to a picture using
those water bags, because that's that what I think, like
(30:50):
when I was in high school, that one of thing. Yeah,
you know what do you see the benefit out of us?
Speaker 4 (30:55):
It promotes like to really key your muscles on keeping
you balance and like staf like it really works those
small muscles because you really think about it, it might
like for the one I use a lot, it's like
a tube with water in it, but it's only halfway full,
so like the water is gonna shift back and forth,
so like you're constantly fighting the movement of that water bag,
so like you're kind of over correcting like what you're
(31:16):
really trying to work on. And so whenever you get
in game and like that you adrenaline, a competition starts going,
like your body automatically starts to like really sync up,
and like instead of over correcting, your body thinks it's
over correcting, but it's not. It's like if you really
focus on over correcting it in the bullpen, you're probably
just gonna.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Do it normal on the game mound instead of like
a bad habit.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Right.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
I mean, I'm gonna have to come and watch practice too,
because I thought that that just interests me to learn
more about it. See what Salo and Fit's gotten there.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Postseason for Major League Baseball starts next week. Who you
guys got give me a World Series prediction?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Oh, I'm not good at this. That's nov that's all
a nov.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Ummm. I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
I feel like for the most part, like usually teams
are like really dominant. I feel like in the last
couple of years, I feel like in baseball there's just
been fluctuation where that's like necessarily.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Like football, it feels like the Chiefs are.
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Just dominating every year. I mean like they might be
ten to seven, but once that postseason play hits, like
my Homes just turns it on and wins. But I
feel like baseball has done a really good job of
like just fluctuating the winners. I know, the last couple
of years, there's been no back to backs. There's been
like five or six years in a row where new
teams are winning it, and it seems like teams just
get hot at the right time. And I feel like
(32:34):
that's kind of where we were at last year, you
know what I mean, just like getting hot at the
right time, you know, staying hot, figure out how to
ride that wave in the right way, you know, not
get too high and never get too low. So I
don't know, I'm not a Yankees. Guy, by any means,
I don't like the Yankees. I think the Yankees got
a good team. Cole Henchel is going to love that,
even though I hope they lose. Really, I don't know
(32:57):
in the World Series, Yeah, like that would Dodgers would
get people's moneys worth.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
I'm gonna go Phillies. Zach Wheeler in the playoffs is insane, okay,
and Philly is tough to play.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
They've been one of the best teams all year.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
I'll give Phillies and the l Detroit Tigers.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
The hot team's winning again.
Speaker 6 (33:18):
Like you ain't beating Screwball or whatever his name. I mean,
he's gross, gross, he's too lefty to to throw like that.
And they're on fire. My boy trying plays short stop
for you. We're going to go Tigers, Phillies, Phillies.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Winning all What about Dodgers does? Is Zach log still
up in the Bigs and.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Daughters right now? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, come on, you gotta pull for a fellow wild cut.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
I can't root for the Dodgers. It's been like four
times the amount of money the Reds. Dude, come Yankees,
Dodgers can't.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Do it all right, guys, Well, thanks for coming on
the show with us and have a great We'll see
you in the spring.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
All right, sounds good, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
It's Jackson. He's having buyers for Darren Williams. I'm Darren Headrick.
Join us next week right here on behind Kentucky Baseball.
This is the UK Sports Network.
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