May 30, 2024 • 27 mins
Grant Smith and Trey Pooser join us to preview the NCAA Tournament, look back at the SEC Season and share some of their journey to Kentucky.
Hosted by Darren Headrick and Darren Williams
Presented by Assured Partners
Hosted by Darren Headrick and Darren Williams
Presented by Assured Partners
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
From Kentucky Proud Park. We welcomeyou into another edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball.
We're brought to you by Assured Partners. If you need a conversation about
your insurance, give them a calltoday or you can visit their website www
dot Assured Partners dot com. I'mDarren Hedrick alongside my co host is always
Darren Williams. Everybody knows him asDub and here we are. We're done
(00:20):
with the sec for a little while. NCAA Tournament. The brackets have been
announced the regional pairings. Kentucky's anumber two seed for the first time in
program history. Now it's time torock and roll. The child's plays over
right now the real season begins.Man, We've been talking about this really
since August, you know, havingconversations just me and you and the guys
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on the team. And I'm pumpedto finally be here. You know,
we've been talking about it. Wewant to get back to right where we're
at and now it's go time.So I'm pumped up to watch it this
weekend. Our show. This week'sa couple of days late for some unforeseen
circumstances. My fault, but we'refinally on. But hey, that's all
right because these guys that are withus today have had a chance to kind
of the bracket and the pairings andkind of understand what you got in front
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of you. Now we're joined byTrey Pooser and we've also got shortstopped Grant
Smith with us and champions. Firstof all, guys, congratulations co SEC
champs. So Trey, how doesit feel to come into this league and
win a championship? First thing?Oh, it's awesome. Didn't expect it
at all. I mean, obviouslywe did it and it's pretty cool.
First year in the SEC. Yeah, Grant, I got to ask you,
man, because you were on lastyear's team that made it to a
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super to come back this year andtake it a step further and win an
SEC regular season championship, maybe evendo more over the next couple of weeks,
what did it mean to you toget that crown? Yeah? I
was special. I think last year'steam laid the foundation and everything we were
able to accomplish last year kind ofset the framework for the new guys and
us returning guys to be able tothink that we could do it and you
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know, believe in ourselves and withtheir support and everything we did last year,
guys did a lot of work inthe regular season. You won eight
of your ten SEC Series, firstteam in program history to do that,
So congratulations, eight of ten SECSeries one made a lot of hay.
So what did you take away fromthe SEC Tournament? Just three more games
against conference opponents? What could youguys take away from that? Well,
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I mean, the SEC is thebest conference in America in my opinion,
I think a lot of others,and you know, just playing that schedule
throughout the whole season prepares you forthese moments. Uh. I think a
lot of situations that will be innow are similar, if not even a
little bit more relaxed than situations we'vebeen in throughout the season. So there's
nothing that can compare to that.I gotta ask Trey because obviously I started
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the SEC Tournament game last year wasa night game. How hot was it
at nine in the morning in Hooverpitching? It actually was pretty hot.
I mean I was midway through mywarm up, just like stretching and stuff,
and I was dripping sweat. Ohyeah. And then after the first
in I came back in and Imean, my whole body was just soaked.
It was just no dry area onme. No. The only thing
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like I remember from that is likeyou get twenty five thirty minutes to warm
up, and it took me likefifteen, Like you already lose. Yeah,
already loose, just walking out thereso hot, and you got a
love plan this time of the yearbecause of that reason, for sure,
all feels so much better during Yeah, So to walk us through your sec
start. Obviously it was against Arkansas, really good team. You only threw
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like seventy six pitches, I think, saving you a little bit of rest
for the big one this week.What'd you take away from that? Because
there's a really another really good outingfor the boys. Uh, I mean,
just trusting my defense behind me,I think, I I mean,
I I think I only got threek's, but I mean the defense was
just making plays. I mean itwas getting I mean they were just all
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all over the field for me.I mean Nolan and center that was God,
that was freaking awesome. And thenI mean p D and Grant and
then Mitch was making good plays.I mean everybody. I mean it was
awesome. You know, the mediais always asked me like, what's it
like with this defense behind you?Because again, last year we had an
amazing defense. Dude, it's agreat feeling. Hit the ball to twelve.
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I was gonna say, who wasyour short stop? Yeah, I
sell I was telling all the pictures, like, the only reason we're able
to make those plays is because you'rein and around the zone often. You
know, you're always anticipating something,so when it comes, it's so much
easier to make it. But youknow, when there's a guy on the
mound that isn't throwing a lot ofstrikes and you're kind of like sitting back
on your heels and then all ofa sudden you've got to go make a
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good play, it's much harder.So kudos to them. And so that
means you love playing behind Trey Boozer. Man, what have you seen from
this guy this year? He's beenreally impressive, just to stud just even
killed you know, every outing.You know what you're gonna get from him.
Just a veteran guy who mixes threepitches, three pitches right, three
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pitches in the zone all the time, not gonna get phased by big moments.
So you know it's nice when he'son the mountain. Did you take
him deep? In January? No, I didn't take him deep. I
think my first hit back from surgerywas actually off him because I remember hagging
out yelling from the dugout. I'mnot even mad. That's the only reason
I remember. We'll take it,man, anything to get the boys going.
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I want to go back to Nolan'scatch because sometimes those early games like
that, it takes a big playto snap a team into it. How
much did that catch lift the wholeteam in the dugout, because it felt
that way from all the way upin the booth. What was it like
in the dugout then, I mean, I don't know. I just remember
coming in there, but it wasjust, oh my god. I looked
over at the dug I watched overthe game and I looked in the dugout
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in there was up on the railand giving them hat throwing their hats up.
All the coaches were just like,thank God. I know I was
freaking out. I'll just like,thank Jesus, man. If you didn't
catch that, that's just a wholeanother ball game. Yeah, that was
one of the best plays like I'veseen, and like Nolan's made some really
good plays, but that's the bestplay that kid as ever was all he
got up in the air to catchthat, Like I didn't know a white
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dude could jump that. Impressive stuff. Man. Guys, I wanted to
talk a little bit about your journeysbecause I think one of the great and
Dub is a part of this too. Guys that have used the transfer portal
to go from the mid majors tothe Southeastern Conference coming to Kentucky Grant,
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I want to come back to youthe journey of deciding really that you wanted
to go from the Southwest all theway to a whole new region of the
country and come to Lexington. Whathas that been like to come out here
and kind of see the way it'splayed out. Yeah, you know,
I think coming to this school inthis environment, it's easy because it's everything
you dream of. The people hereare awesome, like the facilities are.
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You couldn't ask for anything more.So I don't think there's really anything that
you couldn't want while you're here.But you know, the time I spent
in San Antonio at a mid majorschool and then entering the portal, it
was tough. At first. Ididn't know what the transfer portal was going
to be like, I didn't knowhow many calls I was going to get,
if I was going to get any, if I was gonna kind of
be stranded out there. I don'tknow if you felt like that too,
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exactly. Yeah, it's a scaryfeeling. But you know, once I
talked to coach manage and everything andjust fell in love with this place and
I'm glad I came here. Trey, how nervous were you when you got
the call from Kentucky And it's like, man, I got a chance to
go pitch at Kentucky and being theSEC was it nervous excitement? I guess
yeah, I'd say it was likejust like relief, like just knowing just
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all like the bigger teams that reachedout, just like knowing that there was
actually people out there, and causeI mean, like Grant was saying,
like right before I entered it,it was just like, oh God,
like if I like as soon asI enter, I mean, I'm just
out to dry. I mean,if nobody picks me up, I'm just
kind of basically screwed. And noother way to put it. But yeah,
once Amo reached out, Coach Amoreached out. I mean it was
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like smooth sailing from there, Roseille, just talking all them and then getting
on the phone with men's I mean, it's just they make you feel like
you want to be there. Theyshow you all the facilities obviously, and
then just talking to them just ingeneral was awesome. W you can speak
on this a little bit because there'sa seismic shift coming in college athletics.
Part of that has been the transferportal that we've already seen, and I
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want all three of you to commenton maybe a message that you might send
to other guys at the mid majorsthinking about betting on themselves and jumping in,
because that's the great part of thetransfer portal is maybe guys that didn't
get noticed out of high school orthey're late bloomers, and they suddenly their
talent emerges in college. This hasgiven them opportunities to get to the next
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level and show their abilities, andit's been big for these guys and you
too, all three of us.Yeah, I agree with that statement,
right, and it's I'm glad thatCoachminge and this staff have bought into that
because I'm not going to say anynames, but there are schools out there
that are scared to death to getinto that transfer portal and dip into it
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because they think all the kids thatare in the transfer portal are bad kids.
They've quit on their team. They'renot kids. We wanting to dugout
with us. Man, some ofthe transfers that I played with and some
that are on this team or someof the best dudes in the country.
And that's why Kentucky's number two nationalseed right So betting on yourself great,
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there's no other place in the worldthat can compete with Kentucky. Like the
like Grant was saying, the peoplehere unbelievable. You have one of the
best facilities in the country. Youhave every tool, you know, so
many people helping you out. I'mexcited because obviously we're playing postseason baseball,
but over the next month we're alsogetting the next batch of transfers in for
next year's team. And you know, we're focused on Omaha right now and
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winning a national championship, but we'llbe diving into that this ball, I'm
sure on the podcast, but that'sthe beauty of it, Like that's this
time of the year. Another guyI just thought of is Roan Walt Schmidt,
and I mean, look what he'sdone. Sin's coming here. Yeah,
So you know, I will say, like I think this is why
Kentucky is good. Yeah. Ithink the transfer portal brings in a lot
of guys like me and Trey whohave maybe not been like big names before.
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You come into a program with alot of a lot to prove.
You know, we have a bunchof guys on the team. We call
it stacking chips, you know,stack chips on your shoulder. If people
people don't believe in you, youknow, you got to believe in yourself.
And I think we have a lotof people in this program now for
sure, on this team that havecome from those mid majors that are trying
to prove themselves. And you know, obviously playing in the SEC, you
play a lot of a lot ofguys that have huge names and have had
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huge names their whole lives, andthe teams you play have huge names,
and you know, I don't thinkthat really compares to the guys on our
team that have something to prove andthey come here for that reason. So
you know, if my advice,like you asked for somebody, yeah,
would be to bet on themselves,but also just to come here with something
to prove, because you're going toplay really good competition, but you got
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to believe in yourself first to playoff that a little bit. The culture.
I've heard it repeated over and over, the culture. And when you
think about all these guys coming fromdifferent parts. You coming from Albuquerque or
incarnate words, You've come from Collegeof Charleston, everybody coming from all over,
and yet it jails so quickly andyou guys are pulling the rope in
the same direction. How does thisprogram build that culture so fast? I
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think just how much time we've beentogether off the field on the field,
and then I mean, Men's justkind of lets it coach. Men's just
kind of lets us have free ranin the locker room, just measure ourselves
together. I mean, like hesays that the coaches don't win the games.
We win the games. So weneed to be as close as possible
and just have that trust in eachother to go out there and play the
game every day. I love that, men That's something I said last year.
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Men's does truly let the players policethe locker room, and it's it's
your all's team, right you alltake ownership, Trey. I want to
get into your story with coach Rozelle. Obviously you all built an amazing relationship
for the SEC when when you allclinch the regular season, I saw you
give him a huge Bearhoe just talkabout the kind of coach that he's been
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so far for you, you're all'srelationship and what things that he's tweaked in
your game over the past year.Yeah, I mean, I like,
like, I mean, just beingable to go in there anytime you want
talk to him. I mean,whether it's watching video or just sitting down
and talking to him and just havingthe open relationship is awesome. And then
on like way he's just like howhe he changed kind of how I look
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at the game. Like me andsomebody were talking like I will never look
at baseball the same, just playinghere, because you look at the littlest
stuff. You look at every smallthing and you're like, oh, well,
we could have done that better.Why didn't we do this? But
yeah, he I mean going overvideo in the fall, working on my
mechanics and just small things I didn'teven think coming in here, like I
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thought it was fine. I thoughtmy mechanics were perfect. To say,
I mean, not necessarily perfect,but just where I needed to be and
it definitely wasn't and he got meright, got me where I needed to
be, and just completely helped meoverall. Yeah. I love that.
I've heard Robert Hogan talk about CoachTrozell and the pitching lab when you guys
do your bullpen sessions and they letyou guys kind of come up with your
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own ideas or maybe think of differentways, whether it's grips or what have
you, and then he's kind ofthe filter. He's the quality control.
How has he helped you in termsof that of maybe thinking of different grips
or alternate ways or adjusting your pitch. But at the same time he's like,
nah, you just need to focuson this. Yeah. So in
the fall, I mean I changedone of my change up grips and then
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was working on was definitely working ona curveball because I don't really have one
coming in and he kind of letme. At first. It was just
kind of hard on you about it, just like we need to make sure
you're doing this, make sure you'redoing this and getting out front of it,
like just all the little things.And then in your mind, You're
like, dude, like I justwant to like try to throw it,
like I just want to try tofeel it myself. But in reality,
I mean, he helps you getinto your mind just thinking about that stuff,
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and then as you go throughout thefall, it just kind of becomes
muscle memory and then it's just itjust all falls into place, and I
think think him just being there tolet you also like hear your own thoughts.
Like I was talking to him aboutmy change up. I was like,
well, I mean I like tofeel this when I'm here, and
then he'll just sit there listen toyou, let you throw it a couple
of times, and then after thathe'll be like, well, how about
we try this, let me knowhow you feel, and then we'll keep
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working on that. And it's evenin catch play like before games, like
just throwing with him helped tremendously becauseyou're you're just sitting there thinking I just
need to just get loose or whatever, and he just is steadily just working
on stuff with you as you're comingin. It's it's awesome. One of
the best in the business man.He really really good. He really has
an ability to see your mechanics andfind little things, don't you. Yeah.
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Uh, we got two pitchers here, so I don't want to leave
out our one position player, GrantSmith with us alongside Trey Pooser here on
behind Kentucky Baseball. Uh. Interms of working with Nick Amaratti, you've
come in here, you were anexperienced hitter right off the bat because you'd
played in plenty of college games.How has he helped you continue to get
better as not only a hitter,but as an overall player. Yeah,
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geez, where do I start?I don't know that, man. I
have never met a more knowledgeable manabout hitting guy in baseball about hitting.
I'm glad I came across him inmy baseball career. But as dubbing,
you know, Tray can attest toHe's he's not going to be the loudest
guy in the room, but whenyou take the time to see what he
(15:00):
has to say, you're gonna learnsomething every time he talks, and you
know, just picking his brain aboutdifferent things. From the time I came
came in because I had talked tothe guys about Ammo and they were like,
if you want to be really good, talk to Amo. So just
from the start, just picking hisbrain on everything. There's so much to
the swing that you can learn,and working with him every day has obviously
(15:20):
gotten me a lot better. Let'stack a quick time out and remind folks
about our sponsor here on behind KentuckyBaseball. We're brought to you by Assured
Partners. When the unexpected happens inbusiness, your insurance coverage is the real
MVP. Assured Partners and their partnerFrank and both insurance our true team players.
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(15:45):
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them at Assured Partners dot com.That's www dot Assured Partners dot com.
We're visiting with Grant Smith and TreyPooser here on behind Kentucky Baseball, and
guys were you're prepping now for theNCAA Regionals. First of all, let's
just get your quick reaction when yousaw the bracket. Obviously the focus is
(16:07):
on Western Michigan, but overall,when you saw the bracket tray, what
was your thoughts when you saw itplay out? I mean, I don't
know. I'm just glad to evenbe in it, to be honest with
you, I mean, just havingthat first look at it all was cool.
But I mean just being able tobe on the actual live screen instead
of sitting on my couch at homewatching it was I mean obviously awesome.
I mean, I think they're goingto be some good teams coming in here.
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By me, I think we'll farejust fine and we'll put it together.
Being a two CE grant. Whatdid that mean to you? Yeah,
it was awesome. Last year hostingthe regional was cool. It's even
better when you can look up andif you win the regional, host of
super Regional, you know, justthat feeling of playing at home is awesome.
And all the work we did throughoutthe season, and like I said,
last year, just to be ableto see yourself so high on the
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list is really cool. As you'vepracticed this week getting ready for the game
against Western Michigan, they've been puttingup the banners they get getting the ballpark
ready to host this regional. Andyou see the NCAA regional banners up the
Lexington Regional. How cool is itto kind of see this ballpark shape up
into an NCAA tournament stadium for thisweekend. Awesome, man, I mean,
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look at those bleachers out there.We were talking about them earlier.
For those of listening, if youcome by the field and check those out,
it's pretty awesome. Yeah, leftcenter, Yeah, just incredible.
Man, this field's awesome. Likewe talked about the facilities, I don't
if you're a high school kid lookingfor a place to play, that doesn't
get better than this. And youknow, I think this is just such
a program on the rise and started, you know when coach Minch guy here
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and everything we did last year andthis year it's just gonna be up from
here. So I gotta get youralls. Take Grant, obviously you were
here. What what do you rememberabout that last out in that dog pile
last year? Did you just blackout? Like Yeah, I kind of
blacked out just because I was soin the moment about the game and then
all of a sudden it was overand it was like time to celebrate,
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right. I remember dog piling forsure, because I had that ankle thing
and I was worried about people jumpingon it too much because I was like
we still kind of cod Super Regional. But now I'm hoping to do that
again this year. Troy, didyou watch the Lexington Regional at all last
year? Soon you remember it?I don't remember if I watched. I
was just watching all types of games, but just seeing the videos, especially
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when I was like committing here.I was just watching everything about UK and
I watched. I mean, Ithink I've seen that video twenty plus times.
I mean, everyone, it's awesome. It's awesome to see. I
mean, we always always give Masoncrap for his celebration at the end and
just give him stuff about that.But I mean it's it looked fun,
looks how much of you and youcan include all the older guys who were
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on the team last year. Grantspoke about that feeling, that pressure that
comes with playing a regional at homelike we did last year. Yeah,
we've talked about it a lot.I mean, just the feeling of hosting
regional was awesome. And when youcan play at home, it gives you
that much more of an advantage,especially you know, with the crowds that
we have lately. And it startedlast year towards the end of the year
(19:07):
for sure, and then in theregional. That home field advantage is just
so huge, and that's kind ofwhy when you're a top eight seed,
it just it means that much morebecause you have the opportunity to get to
homho it's gonna be a nice failingto play a Super Regional. I was
just about to ask, after seeingthe way Baton rouge that atmosphere, the
way it was for a super lastyear, does that motivate you guys a
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little bit more to have that thisyear, to potentially have a super here?
Yeah, for sure. Last yeargoing to the super Regional was awesome.
You know, we respect everybody,fear nobody, but that's not a
great team to get matched up withina super you know, the eventual national
champions maybe one of the greatest collegebaseball teams ever simbled but uh and three
(19:51):
Yeah, guy already pound the majors. Yeah, so you know, that's
just a tough draw. And Ithink this year when you when you work
so hard all season, and that'ssomething that I made sure of to tell
guys early in the season when we'replaying SEC games, especially when we had
already won the series. You know, I said multiple times to the team,
like it doesn't matter that we've wonthis series. We're playing to win
this game to host a super regionalso that we don't have to go somewhere
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in a harsh environment like that andmake it that much easier. And you
know, I think we did sucha good job of that that we need
to enjoy and take advantage of thisopportunity. I got to take advantage of
it, There's no doubt about it. How have you guys been using the
practice time this week? Has itbeen the normal thing or has Coach kind
of mixed it up a little bitmore with some extra time now, Yeah,
he's kind of just talked about Ijust picture him doing this with his
finger, just chiseling off everything,fine tuning all the details. And you
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know, obviously we'reas prepared as wereit will ever be right now with the
whole season behind us, but justthis week of practice making fine, fine
adjustments to our game to prepare usas much as both of you. I
know we lost the first game inHoover last year, but just the two
days of extra rest. You know, it's been a long season. I
know I've been in your allest seatthat you all have been going non stop
since January, so a couple ofdays of rest. It's big time for
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the boys. I mean, youcan talk a little bit about that tray
a little smaller routing pitch wise thantwo weeks ago against Vandy, plus the
two extra days. How you how'sthe body feeling as we get rolling into
the week. So much better?Yeah, so much better. I mean,
especially only throwing seventy three pitches.Seventy however many it was was,
yeah, we're no, we're closeto one hundred. It was awesome.
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Just let my body just rest andhaving that full almost well, I don't
think it's what I think. Iget eight days of recovery now, and
it's so I mean, the bodyis just feeling flushed. It's when you
Yeah, when you got the ball, I was like, all right,
well, Tray's going one hundred pitcheswhatever, try to win. And then
you got taken out and I waslike, that's actually the best thing in
the world. Seventy pitches, he'spitched great, get him off the field.
(21:48):
We're getting ready for next week,no doubt. How do you utilize
the cold tub very much? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I hate to
do hot tub. Hot tub firstand then go sit in the cold tub.
Full body, like at least oncea week if not. Just put
my legs in there. I loveit, dude. So many people hit
on the cold tub man, butthe cold tub makes you feel money.
It's just because at first minute ortwo in there, it sucks. Sucks,
(22:11):
It's tough. Yeah, Grant yourpsycho. I was about to just
ask Grant, because you guys playa physical style of baseball, man,
how do you keep the body freshto get into May and do what you
need to do? Yeah. Ithink as I've gotten older, I've kind
of learned different ways to like takeit easy. You know, in practice,
you don't need to be going atone hundred percent of the time.
I kind of learned that from Pete. Actually, sometimes, like during the
(22:33):
season, in practice, he doesn'teven wear his spikes during practice, and
you know, he says it saveshis legs a little bit, just a
little bit lighter load, and hebikes on the turf. He's really good
about just being smart. He's areally smart baseball player and just doing everything
you can to prepare for those momentsbecause in our league, you know,
every one of them matters. Yougot to be ready. Speak about your
little brother, Pete a little bitbecause he last time we had John the
(22:56):
podcast, he was right beside you. You had to say nothing but thanks.
I doubt he's gonna listen to thepodcast episode you ever know of the
game? You never know though,So it's just, man, the growth
that we've seen that kid in thelast two years. You've been vital to
that. You've been right there withhim every day. Speak about your little
brother a little bit. Yeah,I'm glad you called him my little bro.
Yeah, I'll be sure to playthat little snippet. I'm just kidding.
(23:21):
Uh no, if he's a specialdude, man, But he really
has changed a lot the last twoyears. I know when I came in
he was quiet. You guys saidhe's even more quiet young for that,
and I think me and him haveprobably hung out every day for the last
like two years, probably, Butjust the maturity he's grown, He's grown
up a lot. To see himturn into, you know, obviously the
amazing baseball player that we all thoughthe's gonna be, and we see him
(23:45):
having a long career, but youknow, just personally, he's he's definitely
a new dude. Bro. Ilove watching our middle infield play so I'm
excited for this weekend, Deren,I don't know about you, I don't
know about these guys. I'm firedup to watch it. We're gonna bring
it home with and dog pile andthen do it again the next weekend and
keep doing it. Maybe. Yeah, can we need a new video to
play everything minutes? Yeah? Iremember being more excited for a weekend to
(24:08):
be honest. Really, yeah,is it the I mean, I'm sure
that's the whole you know group though, Like you all have known you've been
hosting a regional since in the Marchstart. Yeah, your start was insane.
Yeah, so you've known this weekend'scoming. Yeah, for sure,
you got all gotta be pumped up. Oh yeah, yeah. A fifteen
and one start to SEC play normallylock Center Regional. Pretty ridiculous. Speaking
(24:33):
of the SEC, and you guystouched on this a little bit earlier in
the podcast, playing that kind ofgauntlet, How does that get you ready
to face all sorts of teams nowin a regional? I mean I feel
like, I mean, like we'vesaid, and Waldy says all the time,
I mean, everybody says it.It's every game, every single game
that we played since we take itone game at a time is literally like
a omahall game, Like if we'retrying to win a championship, that game,
(24:56):
I mean, that's it. Andjust seeing the competition and then who
we're going to be playing, Idon't think we can really I don't know,
I don't know the best way toput it. But you've kind of
seen it all, right, Yeah, like you're not You're not going to
be surprised by anybody coming in here. Whenever we if we go to Omaha,
hopefully we go to Hall. Whenwe go to Omaha, we don't
really see we won't really see anybodyanything that we haven't seen and be able
(25:18):
to just fall back to our levelof training and do what we've been doing.
Yeah, what's that like this timeof year, Grant as a hitter,
when you've just about seen every kindof pitch, every arm angle,
every kind of velocity, you've seenit all at this point in the year.
Yeah, definitely. I Mean,like I said earlier, we were
never going to be more prepared thanwe are right now. You know,
that's a good feeling going into thisweekend. There's nothing that we're going to
(25:42):
see that we haven't seen. Before, and you know, I think that's
a really freating feeling. Well,guys, we don't want to keep you
too long. We appreciate the time. We know this team's hard at work
getting ready to go. Thanks somuch for stopping by. Congratulations on a
great season this point, and bestof luck in the regionals. One last
thing I got to ask pre gameor Thursday night, what's the dinner gonna
(26:04):
be? But what's the routine?What's the dinner night before reach? I
can tell you what pooser is gonnaget. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Canes. Sometimes at the beginning ofthe season, I did get a lot
of canes, but it's just soclose, so accessible. Uh No,
(26:26):
I've been going, uh, burgerand fries from I mean anywhere. It
could be Windy's, it could beDrakes, I mean any any burger and
fry that's normally what I go to. I mean I like that. I'm
probably gonna try to get some likepasta or something. You know, the
stereotypical pregame. Really surprised you didn'tsay Chipotle. I thought about Chipotle.
I did Grant Smith and his Chipotledude living with that guy last year.
(26:48):
He bet Chipotle in the trash everysingle game I Chipotle and il Man.
Come on, somebody reach out toChipotle for the boys. Well, we
all know his secret to home run, so hopefully he does that. He's
got it. Hey, man,come on, get some bombs this weekend.
No pressure, shout out, shoutout Hunter Gil. Yes, absolutely,
the captain gets a shout out.All right, guys, thanks so
(27:11):
much for joining us. We're gonnawe're gonna wrap it up before somebody gets
in trouble. All right, thanksfor joining us, and hey, we'll
be back with another episode soon ofBehind Kentucky Baseball, where brought to you
by Assured Partners, proud to offerFrankenmuth Insurance. Frankly speaking, when you
need them, they'll be there.Call them at eight five nine, five
(27:32):
four three one seven one six todayfor Trey Pooser, Grant Smith, our
co host Darren Williams. I'm DarrenHedrick. We'll talk to you next time
here on Behind Kentucky Baseball. Thishas been the UK Sports Network
From Kentucky Proud Park. We welcomeyou into another edition of Behind Kentucky Baseball.
We're brought to you by Assured Partners. If you need a conversation about
your insurance, give them a calltoday or you can visit their website www
dot Assured Partners dot com. I'mDarren Hedrick alongside my co host is always
Darren Williams. Everybody knows him asDub and here we are. We're done
(00:20):
with the sec for a little while. NCAA Tournament. The brackets have been
announced the regional pairings. Kentucky's anumber two seed for the first time in
program history. Now it's time torock and roll. The child's plays over
right now the real season begins.Man, We've been talking about this really
since August, you know, havingconversations just me and you and the guys
(00:40):
on the team. And I'm pumpedto finally be here. You know,
we've been talking about it. Wewant to get back to right where we're
at and now it's go time.So I'm pumped up to watch it this
weekend. Our show. This week'sa couple of days late for some unforeseen
circumstances. My fault, but we'refinally on. But hey, that's all
right because these guys that are withus today have had a chance to kind
of the bracket and the pairings andkind of understand what you got in front
(01:03):
of you. Now we're joined byTrey Pooser and we've also got shortstopped Grant
Smith with us and champions. Firstof all, guys, congratulations co SEC
champs. So Trey, how doesit feel to come into this league and
win a championship? First thing?Oh, it's awesome. Didn't expect it
at all. I mean, obviouslywe did it and it's pretty cool.
First year in the SEC. Yeah, Grant, I got to ask you,
man, because you were on lastyear's team that made it to a
(01:26):
super to come back this year andtake it a step further and win an
SEC regular season championship, maybe evendo more over the next couple of weeks,
what did it mean to you toget that crown? Yeah? I
was special. I think last year'steam laid the foundation and everything we were
able to accomplish last year kind ofset the framework for the new guys and
us returning guys to be able tothink that we could do it and you
(01:49):
know, believe in ourselves and withtheir support and everything we did last year,
guys did a lot of work inthe regular season. You won eight
of your ten SEC Series, firstteam in program history to do that,
So congratulations, eight of ten SECSeries one made a lot of hay.
So what did you take away fromthe SEC Tournament? Just three more games
against conference opponents? What could youguys take away from that? Well,
(02:10):
I mean, the SEC is thebest conference in America in my opinion,
I think a lot of others,and you know, just playing that schedule
throughout the whole season prepares you forthese moments. Uh. I think a
lot of situations that will be innow are similar, if not even a
little bit more relaxed than situations we'vebeen in throughout the season. So there's
nothing that can compare to that.I gotta ask Trey because obviously I started
(02:34):
the SEC Tournament game last year wasa night game. How hot was it
at nine in the morning in Hooverpitching? It actually was pretty hot.
I mean I was midway through mywarm up, just like stretching and stuff,
and I was dripping sweat. Ohyeah. And then after the first
in I came back in and Imean, my whole body was just soaked.
It was just no dry area onme. No. The only thing
(02:55):
like I remember from that is likeyou get twenty five thirty minutes to warm
up, and it took me likefifteen, Like you already lose. Yeah,
already loose, just walking out thereso hot, and you got a
love plan this time of the yearbecause of that reason, for sure,
all feels so much better during Yeah, So to walk us through your sec
start. Obviously it was against Arkansas, really good team. You only threw
(03:17):
like seventy six pitches, I think, saving you a little bit of rest
for the big one this week.What'd you take away from that? Because
there's a really another really good outingfor the boys. Uh, I mean,
just trusting my defense behind me,I think, I I mean,
I I think I only got threek's, but I mean the defense was
just making plays. I mean itwas getting I mean they were just all
(03:39):
all over the field for me.I mean Nolan and center that was God,
that was freaking awesome. And thenI mean p D and Grant and
then Mitch was making good plays.I mean everybody. I mean it was
awesome. You know, the mediais always asked me like, what's it
like with this defense behind you?Because again, last year we had an
amazing defense. Dude, it's agreat feeling. Hit the ball to twelve.
(04:00):
I was gonna say, who wasyour short stop? Yeah, I
sell I was telling all the pictures, like, the only reason we're able
to make those plays is because you'rein and around the zone often. You
know, you're always anticipating something,so when it comes, it's so much
easier to make it. But youknow, when there's a guy on the
mound that isn't throwing a lot ofstrikes and you're kind of like sitting back
on your heels and then all ofa sudden you've got to go make a
(04:21):
good play, it's much harder.So kudos to them. And so that
means you love playing behind Trey Boozer. Man, what have you seen from
this guy this year? He's beenreally impressive, just to stud just even
killed you know, every outing.You know what you're gonna get from him.
Just a veteran guy who mixes threepitches, three pitches right, three
(04:42):
pitches in the zone all the time, not gonna get phased by big moments.
So you know it's nice when he'son the mountain. Did you take
him deep? In January? No, I didn't take him deep. I
think my first hit back from surgerywas actually off him because I remember hagging
out yelling from the dugout. I'mnot even mad. That's the only reason
I remember. We'll take it,man, anything to get the boys going.
(05:04):
I want to go back to Nolan'scatch because sometimes those early games like
that, it takes a big playto snap a team into it. How
much did that catch lift the wholeteam in the dugout, because it felt
that way from all the way upin the booth. What was it like
in the dugout then, I mean, I don't know. I just remember
coming in there, but it wasjust, oh my god. I looked
over at the dug I watched overthe game and I looked in the dugout
(05:28):
in there was up on the railand giving them hat throwing their hats up.
All the coaches were just like,thank God. I know I was
freaking out. I'll just like,thank Jesus, man. If you didn't
catch that, that's just a wholeanother ball game. Yeah, that was
one of the best plays like I'veseen, and like Nolan's made some really
good plays, but that's the bestplay that kid as ever was all he
got up in the air to catchthat, Like I didn't know a white
(05:50):
dude could jump that. Impressive stuff. Man. Guys, I wanted to
talk a little bit about your journeysbecause I think one of the great and
Dub is a part of this too. Guys that have used the transfer portal
to go from the mid majors tothe Southeastern Conference coming to Kentucky Grant,
(06:11):
I want to come back to youthe journey of deciding really that you wanted
to go from the Southwest all theway to a whole new region of the
country and come to Lexington. Whathas that been like to come out here
and kind of see the way it'splayed out. Yeah, you know,
I think coming to this school inthis environment, it's easy because it's everything
you dream of. The people hereare awesome, like the facilities are.
(06:34):
You couldn't ask for anything more.So I don't think there's really anything that
you couldn't want while you're here.But you know, the time I spent
in San Antonio at a mid majorschool and then entering the portal, it
was tough. At first. Ididn't know what the transfer portal was going
to be like, I didn't knowhow many calls I was going to get,
if I was going to get any, if I was gonna kind of
be stranded out there. I don'tknow if you felt like that too,
(06:54):
exactly. Yeah, it's a scaryfeeling. But you know, once I
talked to coach manage and everything andjust fell in love with this place and
I'm glad I came here. Trey, how nervous were you when you got
the call from Kentucky And it's like, man, I got a chance to
go pitch at Kentucky and being theSEC was it nervous excitement? I guess
yeah, I'd say it was likejust like relief, like just knowing just
(07:15):
all like the bigger teams that reachedout, just like knowing that there was
actually people out there, and causeI mean, like Grant was saying,
like right before I entered it,it was just like, oh God,
like if I like as soon asI enter, I mean, I'm just
out to dry. I mean,if nobody picks me up, I'm just
kind of basically screwed. And noother way to put it. But yeah,
once Amo reached out, Coach Amoreached out. I mean it was
(07:36):
like smooth sailing from there, Roseille, just talking all them and then getting
on the phone with men's I mean, it's just they make you feel like
you want to be there. Theyshow you all the facilities obviously, and
then just talking to them just ingeneral was awesome. W you can speak
on this a little bit because there'sa seismic shift coming in college athletics.
Part of that has been the transferportal that we've already seen, and I
(07:59):
want all three of you to commenton maybe a message that you might send
to other guys at the mid majorsthinking about betting on themselves and jumping in,
because that's the great part of thetransfer portal is maybe guys that didn't
get noticed out of high school orthey're late bloomers, and they suddenly their
talent emerges in college. This hasgiven them opportunities to get to the next
(08:20):
level and show their abilities, andit's been big for these guys and you
too, all three of us.Yeah, I agree with that statement,
right, and it's I'm glad thatCoachminge and this staff have bought into that
because I'm not going to say anynames, but there are schools out there
that are scared to death to getinto that transfer portal and dip into it
(08:41):
because they think all the kids thatare in the transfer portal are bad kids.
They've quit on their team. They'renot kids. We wanting to dugout
with us. Man, some ofthe transfers that I played with and some
that are on this team or someof the best dudes in the country.
And that's why Kentucky's number two nationalseed right So betting on yourself great,
(09:01):
there's no other place in the worldthat can compete with Kentucky. Like the
like Grant was saying, the peoplehere unbelievable. You have one of the
best facilities in the country. Youhave every tool, you know, so
many people helping you out. I'mexcited because obviously we're playing postseason baseball,
but over the next month we're alsogetting the next batch of transfers in for
next year's team. And you know, we're focused on Omaha right now and
(09:24):
winning a national championship, but we'llbe diving into that this ball, I'm
sure on the podcast, but that'sthe beauty of it, Like that's this
time of the year. Another guyI just thought of is Roan Walt Schmidt,
and I mean, look what he'sdone. Sin's coming here. Yeah,
So you know, I will say, like I think this is why
Kentucky is good. Yeah. Ithink the transfer portal brings in a lot
of guys like me and Trey whohave maybe not been like big names before.
(09:48):
You come into a program with alot of a lot to prove.
You know, we have a bunchof guys on the team. We call
it stacking chips, you know,stack chips on your shoulder. If people
people don't believe in you, youknow, you got to believe in yourself.
And I think we have a lotof people in this program now for
sure, on this team that havecome from those mid majors that are trying
to prove themselves. And you know, obviously playing in the SEC, you
play a lot of a lot ofguys that have huge names and have had
(10:11):
huge names their whole lives, andthe teams you play have huge names,
and you know, I don't thinkthat really compares to the guys on our
team that have something to prove andthey come here for that reason. So
you know, if my advice,like you asked for somebody, yeah,
would be to bet on themselves,but also just to come here with something
to prove, because you're going toplay really good competition, but you got
(10:31):
to believe in yourself first to playoff that a little bit. The culture.
I've heard it repeated over and over, the culture. And when you
think about all these guys coming fromdifferent parts. You coming from Albuquerque or
incarnate words, You've come from Collegeof Charleston, everybody coming from all over,
and yet it jails so quickly andyou guys are pulling the rope in
the same direction. How does thisprogram build that culture so fast? I
(10:56):
think just how much time we've beentogether off the field on the field,
and then I mean, Men's justkind of lets it coach. Men's just
kind of lets us have free ranin the locker room, just measure ourselves
together. I mean, like hesays that the coaches don't win the games.
We win the games. So weneed to be as close as possible
and just have that trust in eachother to go out there and play the
game every day. I love that, men That's something I said last year.
(11:18):
Men's does truly let the players policethe locker room, and it's it's
your all's team, right you alltake ownership, Trey. I want to
get into your story with coach Rozelle. Obviously you all built an amazing relationship
for the SEC when when you allclinch the regular season, I saw you
give him a huge Bearhoe just talkabout the kind of coach that he's been
(11:39):
so far for you, you're all'srelationship and what things that he's tweaked in
your game over the past year.Yeah, I mean, I like,
like, I mean, just beingable to go in there anytime you want
talk to him. I mean,whether it's watching video or just sitting down
and talking to him and just havingthe open relationship is awesome. And then
on like way he's just like howhe he changed kind of how I look
(12:03):
at the game. Like me andsomebody were talking like I will never look
at baseball the same, just playinghere, because you look at the littlest
stuff. You look at every smallthing and you're like, oh, well,
we could have done that better.Why didn't we do this? But
yeah, he I mean going overvideo in the fall, working on my
mechanics and just small things I didn'teven think coming in here, like I
(12:24):
thought it was fine. I thoughtmy mechanics were perfect. To say,
I mean, not necessarily perfect,but just where I needed to be and
it definitely wasn't and he got meright, got me where I needed to
be, and just completely helped meoverall. Yeah. I love that.
I've heard Robert Hogan talk about CoachTrozell and the pitching lab when you guys
do your bullpen sessions and they letyou guys kind of come up with your
(12:48):
own ideas or maybe think of differentways, whether it's grips or what have
you, and then he's kind ofthe filter. He's the quality control.
How has he helped you in termsof that of maybe thinking of different grips
or alternate ways or adjusting your pitch. But at the same time he's like,
nah, you just need to focuson this. Yeah. So in
the fall, I mean I changedone of my change up grips and then
(13:09):
was working on was definitely working ona curveball because I don't really have one
coming in and he kind of letme. At first. It was just
kind of hard on you about it, just like we need to make sure
you're doing this, make sure you'redoing this and getting out front of it,
like just all the little things.And then in your mind, You're
like, dude, like I justwant to like try to throw it,
like I just want to try tofeel it myself. But in reality,
I mean, he helps you getinto your mind just thinking about that stuff,
(13:33):
and then as you go throughout thefall, it just kind of becomes
muscle memory and then it's just itjust all falls into place, and I
think think him just being there tolet you also like hear your own thoughts.
Like I was talking to him aboutmy change up. I was like,
well, I mean I like tofeel this when I'm here, and
then he'll just sit there listen toyou, let you throw it a couple
of times, and then after thathe'll be like, well, how about
we try this, let me knowhow you feel, and then we'll keep
(13:54):
working on that. And it's evenin catch play like before games, like
just throwing with him helped tremendously becauseyou're you're just sitting there thinking I just
need to just get loose or whatever, and he just is steadily just working
on stuff with you as you're comingin. It's it's awesome. One of
the best in the business man.He really really good. He really has
an ability to see your mechanics andfind little things, don't you. Yeah.
(14:18):
Uh, we got two pitchers here, so I don't want to leave
out our one position player, GrantSmith with us alongside Trey Pooser here on
behind Kentucky Baseball. Uh. Interms of working with Nick Amaratti, you've
come in here, you were anexperienced hitter right off the bat because you'd
played in plenty of college games.How has he helped you continue to get
better as not only a hitter,but as an overall player. Yeah,
(14:39):
geez, where do I start?I don't know that, man. I
have never met a more knowledgeable manabout hitting guy in baseball about hitting.
I'm glad I came across him inmy baseball career. But as dubbing,
you know, Tray can attest toHe's he's not going to be the loudest
guy in the room, but whenyou take the time to see what he
(15:00):
has to say, you're gonna learnsomething every time he talks, and you
know, just picking his brain aboutdifferent things. From the time I came
came in because I had talked tothe guys about Ammo and they were like,
if you want to be really good, talk to Amo. So just
from the start, just picking hisbrain on everything. There's so much to
the swing that you can learn,and working with him every day has obviously
(15:20):
gotten me a lot better. Let'stack a quick time out and remind folks
about our sponsor here on behind KentuckyBaseball. We're brought to you by Assured
Partners. When the unexpected happens inbusiness, your insurance coverage is the real
MVP. Assured Partners and their partnerFrank and both insurance our true team players.
They provide unique coverage to face riskshead on so you can stay in
the game. Let's get Frank aboutyour business insurance. Call Assured Partners today
(15:45):
at eight five nine, five fourthree one seven one six, or visit
them at Assured Partners dot com.That's www dot Assured Partners dot com.
We're visiting with Grant Smith and TreyPooser here on behind Kentucky Baseball, and
guys were you're prepping now for theNCAA Regionals. First of all, let's
just get your quick reaction when yousaw the bracket. Obviously the focus is
(16:07):
on Western Michigan, but overall,when you saw the bracket tray, what
was your thoughts when you saw itplay out? I mean, I don't
know. I'm just glad to evenbe in it, to be honest with
you, I mean, just havingthat first look at it all was cool.
But I mean just being able tobe on the actual live screen instead
of sitting on my couch at homewatching it was I mean obviously awesome.
I mean, I think they're goingto be some good teams coming in here.
(16:30):
By me, I think we'll farejust fine and we'll put it together.
Being a two CE grant. Whatdid that mean to you? Yeah,
it was awesome. Last year hostingthe regional was cool. It's even
better when you can look up andif you win the regional, host of
super Regional, you know, justthat feeling of playing at home is awesome.
And all the work we did throughoutthe season, and like I said,
last year, just to be ableto see yourself so high on the
(16:52):
list is really cool. As you'vepracticed this week getting ready for the game
against Western Michigan, they've been puttingup the banners they get getting the ballpark
ready to host this regional. Andyou see the NCAA regional banners up the
Lexington Regional. How cool is itto kind of see this ballpark shape up
into an NCAA tournament stadium for thisweekend. Awesome, man, I mean,
(17:17):
look at those bleachers out there.We were talking about them earlier.
For those of listening, if youcome by the field and check those out,
it's pretty awesome. Yeah, leftcenter, Yeah, just incredible.
Man, this field's awesome. Likewe talked about the facilities, I don't
if you're a high school kid lookingfor a place to play, that doesn't
get better than this. And youknow, I think this is just such
a program on the rise and started, you know when coach Minch guy here
(17:40):
and everything we did last year andthis year it's just gonna be up from
here. So I gotta get youralls. Take Grant, obviously you were
here. What what do you rememberabout that last out in that dog pile
last year? Did you just blackout? Like Yeah, I kind of
blacked out just because I was soin the moment about the game and then
all of a sudden it was overand it was like time to celebrate,
(18:02):
right. I remember dog piling forsure, because I had that ankle thing
and I was worried about people jumpingon it too much because I was like
we still kind of cod Super Regional. But now I'm hoping to do that
again this year. Troy, didyou watch the Lexington Regional at all last
year? Soon you remember it?I don't remember if I watched. I
was just watching all types of games, but just seeing the videos, especially
(18:23):
when I was like committing here.I was just watching everything about UK and
I watched. I mean, Ithink I've seen that video twenty plus times.
I mean, everyone, it's awesome. It's awesome to see. I
mean, we always always give Masoncrap for his celebration at the end and
just give him stuff about that.But I mean it's it looked fun,
looks how much of you and youcan include all the older guys who were
(18:45):
on the team last year. Grantspoke about that feeling, that pressure that
comes with playing a regional at homelike we did last year. Yeah,
we've talked about it a lot.I mean, just the feeling of hosting
regional was awesome. And when youcan play at home, it gives you
that much more of an advantage,especially you know, with the crowds that
we have lately. And it startedlast year towards the end of the year
(19:07):
for sure, and then in theregional. That home field advantage is just
so huge, and that's kind ofwhy when you're a top eight seed,
it just it means that much morebecause you have the opportunity to get to
homho it's gonna be a nice failingto play a Super Regional. I was
just about to ask, after seeingthe way Baton rouge that atmosphere, the
way it was for a super lastyear, does that motivate you guys a
(19:29):
little bit more to have that thisyear, to potentially have a super here?
Yeah, for sure. Last yeargoing to the super Regional was awesome.
You know, we respect everybody,fear nobody, but that's not a
great team to get matched up withina super you know, the eventual national
champions maybe one of the greatest collegebaseball teams ever simbled but uh and three
(19:51):
Yeah, guy already pound the majors. Yeah, so you know, that's
just a tough draw. And Ithink this year when you when you work
so hard all season, and that'ssomething that I made sure of to tell
guys early in the season when we'replaying SEC games, especially when we had
already won the series. You know, I said multiple times to the team,
like it doesn't matter that we've wonthis series. We're playing to win
this game to host a super regionalso that we don't have to go somewhere
(20:14):
in a harsh environment like that andmake it that much easier. And you
know, I think we did sucha good job of that that we need
to enjoy and take advantage of thisopportunity. I got to take advantage of
it, There's no doubt about it. How have you guys been using the
practice time this week? Has itbeen the normal thing or has Coach kind
of mixed it up a little bitmore with some extra time now, Yeah,
he's kind of just talked about Ijust picture him doing this with his
finger, just chiseling off everything,fine tuning all the details. And you
(20:40):
know, obviously we'reas prepared as wereit will ever be right now with the
whole season behind us, but justthis week of practice making fine, fine
adjustments to our game to prepare usas much as both of you. I
know we lost the first game inHoover last year, but just the two
days of extra rest. You know, it's been a long season. I
know I've been in your allest seatthat you all have been going non stop
since January, so a couple ofdays of rest. It's big time for
(21:03):
the boys. I mean, youcan talk a little bit about that tray
a little smaller routing pitch wise thantwo weeks ago against Vandy, plus the
two extra days. How you how'sthe body feeling as we get rolling into
the week. So much better?Yeah, so much better. I mean,
especially only throwing seventy three pitches.Seventy however many it was was,
yeah, we're no, we're closeto one hundred. It was awesome.
(21:25):
Just let my body just rest andhaving that full almost well, I don't
think it's what I think. Iget eight days of recovery now, and
it's so I mean, the bodyis just feeling flushed. It's when you
Yeah, when you got the ball, I was like, all right,
well, Tray's going one hundred pitcheswhatever, try to win. And then
you got taken out and I waslike, that's actually the best thing in
the world. Seventy pitches, he'spitched great, get him off the field.
(21:48):
We're getting ready for next week,no doubt. How do you utilize
the cold tub very much? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I hate to
do hot tub. Hot tub firstand then go sit in the cold tub.
Full body, like at least oncea week if not. Just put
my legs in there. I loveit, dude. So many people hit
on the cold tub man, butthe cold tub makes you feel money.
It's just because at first minute ortwo in there, it sucks. Sucks,
(22:11):
It's tough. Yeah, Grant yourpsycho. I was about to just
ask Grant, because you guys playa physical style of baseball, man,
how do you keep the body freshto get into May and do what you
need to do? Yeah. Ithink as I've gotten older, I've kind
of learned different ways to like takeit easy. You know, in practice,
you don't need to be going atone hundred percent of the time.
I kind of learned that from Pete. Actually, sometimes, like during the
(22:33):
season, in practice, he doesn'teven wear his spikes during practice, and
you know, he says it saveshis legs a little bit, just a
little bit lighter load, and hebikes on the turf. He's really good
about just being smart. He's areally smart baseball player and just doing everything
you can to prepare for those momentsbecause in our league, you know,
every one of them matters. Yougot to be ready. Speak about your
little brother, Pete a little bitbecause he last time we had John the
(22:56):
podcast, he was right beside you. You had to say nothing but thanks.
I doubt he's gonna listen to thepodcast episode you ever know of the
game? You never know though,So it's just, man, the growth
that we've seen that kid in thelast two years. You've been vital to
that. You've been right there withhim every day. Speak about your little
brother a little bit. Yeah,I'm glad you called him my little bro.
Yeah, I'll be sure to playthat little snippet. I'm just kidding.
(23:21):
Uh no, if he's a specialdude, man, But he really
has changed a lot the last twoyears. I know when I came in
he was quiet. You guys saidhe's even more quiet young for that,
and I think me and him haveprobably hung out every day for the last
like two years, probably, Butjust the maturity he's grown, He's grown
up a lot. To see himturn into, you know, obviously the
amazing baseball player that we all thoughthe's gonna be, and we see him
(23:45):
having a long career, but youknow, just personally, he's he's definitely
a new dude. Bro. Ilove watching our middle infield play so I'm
excited for this weekend, Deren,I don't know about you, I don't
know about these guys. I'm firedup to watch it. We're gonna bring
it home with and dog pile andthen do it again the next weekend and
keep doing it. Maybe. Yeah, can we need a new video to
play everything minutes? Yeah? Iremember being more excited for a weekend to
(24:08):
be honest. Really, yeah,is it the I mean, I'm sure
that's the whole you know group though, Like you all have known you've been
hosting a regional since in the Marchstart. Yeah, your start was insane.
Yeah, so you've known this weekend'scoming. Yeah, for sure,
you got all gotta be pumped up. Oh yeah, yeah. A fifteen
and one start to SEC play normallylock Center Regional. Pretty ridiculous. Speaking
(24:33):
of the SEC, and you guystouched on this a little bit earlier in
the podcast, playing that kind ofgauntlet, How does that get you ready
to face all sorts of teams nowin a regional? I mean I feel
like, I mean, like we'vesaid, and Waldy says all the time,
I mean, everybody says it.It's every game, every single game
that we played since we take itone game at a time is literally like
a omahall game, Like if we'retrying to win a championship, that game,
(24:56):
I mean, that's it. Andjust seeing the competition and then who
we're going to be playing, Idon't think we can really I don't know,
I don't know the best way toput it. But you've kind of
seen it all, right, Yeah, like you're not You're not going to
be surprised by anybody coming in here. Whenever we if we go to Omaha,
hopefully we go to Hall. Whenwe go to Omaha, we don't
really see we won't really see anybodyanything that we haven't seen and be able
(25:18):
to just fall back to our levelof training and do what we've been doing.
Yeah, what's that like this timeof year, Grant as a hitter,
when you've just about seen every kindof pitch, every arm angle,
every kind of velocity, you've seenit all at this point in the year.
Yeah, definitely. I Mean,like I said earlier, we were
never going to be more prepared thanwe are right now. You know,
that's a good feeling going into thisweekend. There's nothing that we're going to
(25:42):
see that we haven't seen. Before, and you know, I think that's
a really freating feeling. Well,guys, we don't want to keep you
too long. We appreciate the time. We know this team's hard at work
getting ready to go. Thanks somuch for stopping by. Congratulations on a
great season this point, and bestof luck in the regionals. One last
thing I got to ask pre gameor Thursday night, what's the dinner gonna
(26:04):
be? But what's the routine?What's the dinner night before reach? I
can tell you what pooser is gonnaget. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Canes. Sometimes at the beginning ofthe season, I did get a lot
of canes, but it's just soclose, so accessible. Uh No,
(26:26):
I've been going, uh, burgerand fries from I mean anywhere. It
could be Windy's, it could beDrakes, I mean any any burger and
fry that's normally what I go to. I mean I like that. I'm
probably gonna try to get some likepasta or something. You know, the
stereotypical pregame. Really surprised you didn'tsay Chipotle. I thought about Chipotle.
I did Grant Smith and his Chipotledude living with that guy last year.
(26:48):
He bet Chipotle in the trash everysingle game I Chipotle and il Man.
Come on, somebody reach out toChipotle for the boys. Well, we
all know his secret to home run, so hopefully he does that. He's
got it. Hey, man,come on, get some bombs this weekend.
No pressure, shout out, shoutout Hunter Gil. Yes, absolutely,
the captain gets a shout out.All right, guys, thanks so
(27:11):
much for joining us. We're gonnawe're gonna wrap it up before somebody gets
in trouble. All right, thanksfor joining us, and hey, we'll
be back with another episode soon ofBehind Kentucky Baseball, where brought to you
by Assured Partners, proud to offerFrankenmuth Insurance. Frankly speaking, when you
need them, they'll be there.Call them at eight five nine, five
(27:32):
four three one seven one six todayfor Trey Pooser, Grant Smith, our
co host Darren Williams. I'm DarrenHedrick. We'll talk to you next time
here on Behind Kentucky Baseball. Thishas been the UK Sports Network
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