Bridgeport Bounces Back

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Sports fans, it's time for the Friday Free for All.
Over the next two hours, we'll bring you all the
latest from across the region in high school and college sports.
Now Here are your hosts, Chris Johnson and Alex Wheederspield.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome in and welcome all. This is the Friday Free
for All. Good morning, folks, and Happy Friday to you.
Happy baseball season to you, Happy NFL Draft season to you,
Happy playoff hockey and basketball season to you. It is
what a time. What a time, folks, Great time for
sports lots to get to on the show today, First

(00:43):
and foremost, we're gonna hear from Chris Johnson, Greg Carey,
and Chris George. Today are going to be covering a
wide variety of topics from high school ball around the
region to w baseball. We're also going to tap on
some of the North South roster stuff that came out
with Johnson that coming up a little bit later in
the show. Also, we are going to re air coming

(01:05):
up about the top of the next hour, We're going
to re air the Zach Bart interview from earlier this month.
So I had some technical issues and I think from
what I could tell, everything went fine with the Zach
Bart interview. As we were doing it on the air,
where it did not go so well as in podcast form.

(01:25):
We had some issues. So I have corrected the issues.
That episode had to be unpublished as a result, and
it is what it is. Nothing I can do. A
tech issue that was well beyond my control, and we're
going to reair it now and get it into this
episode of the pod so that folks can actually hear it.
And again, my apologies for that. So that is why

(01:47):
we are re airing the Zach Bart interview. I don't
want to get into the entirety, the entire craziness of it.
It was a strange. It was a strange thing that
went down, very very weird tech thing that I have
not experienced before. But all that being said, folks, this
is the Friday Free for All. We're gonna get to
your first break right off the hop and then get
to Chris George and break down what's going on in

(02:08):
the region, of course, starting with Bridgeport, who has been
red hot after slowing down about two weeks ago. Man,
they have been on a roll. We're back after this
on the Friday Free for All, brought to you by
Dankvitz are to Big GMC.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyo w a GMC Friday free for all.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Now, as we are leading off the show with Chris George,
of course, of the Bridgeport Indians play by play and
kind of jumps around and talks and analyzes a little
bit of everything around the region and the state for us. Chris,
what's up man, how are you?

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Just getting a ton of baseball games in? It's good
to say we've had good weather. We had a couple
of days here and there. It's been right. I know
Monday we had a game rained out on Monday, but
overall Bridgport baseball's going strong and around the state as well.
Everyone's getting games in. It's good to see.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Weather's been phenomenal. And I know we're going to have
a couple of storms showers popping around today and tomorrow,
but weather's been great. Bridgeport has also been great. They've
now won nine of their last ten. They are fifteen
and five and after a little bit of a stumble
about a week and a half ago, things have really

(03:21):
started to turn around. The McDonald's Classic, they were really good.
They took three out of four, which is probably where
we'll start. But they also picked up a couple of
really pig wins this week as well. But why don't
we start back over the weekend Bridgeport takes three out
of four games at the McDonald's Classic.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, what's picking up for Bridgeport here? You know in
the last week and a half two weeks has been
the offense. They're starting to hit the ball a little better,
but they're starting to manufacture runs better. A lot of
small ball, and Bridgeport has the athletes and they have
the speed to play small ball. They've got kids that
can lay down the bun they got kids that can
steal bases, they can play tricks on the bases with ns.

(04:00):
What they've done, they've mixed in some hits there and
there from Milli the order, guys like Cason Bond and
Jacobs Stebraccis. It's an interesting story because this Bridgeport team
isn't healthy. They've been battling minor injuries all year, injuries
that aren't season ending injuries, but injury just kept guys out,

(04:21):
like Carson Curry's been out since April fourteenth with the
concussion he suffering a Buchanic game he should be back
today in the game against Philip Barber, and they need
him back. He's one of their top pitchers, one of
their top hitters, and defensive players at third. They've also
got some owen Son Drinkers had a little bit of
an arm issue. He's been playing every day, but he

(04:43):
hasn't pitched yet for a while. They got to get
him back. Luke Rory reinjured his shoulder towards Abraham. He's
d h in the rest of the year and he's
not gonna be able to play the field, which he's
one of the better outfielders, but they can still run.
He's going to give it a go with the play
and so far, so good. And they're just getting Blake
Butcher back, a guy's missed all year. He's only had

(05:04):
two appearances, but he's not quite where he needs to be.
He's kind of in March form right now, so they
got to get him going, you know. And some other
bumps and bruises here and there as well. So in
the meantime, some younger guys have gotten some experience and
it's helped build depth, something they need. And I think
the difference, you know, in these last two weeks has

(05:24):
been the offense and being able to manufacture and score
runs via the small ball and some hits and timely hits.

Speaker 5 (05:33):
You know.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
For example, back on Tuesday, they finished the completion of
their game that was suspended back on April fifteenth at
East Faremont. They were trailing seven to nothing in the
second inning when the rains hit. They picked that game
up on Tuesday and Bridgeport rally for ten runs in
the fifth, sixth, and seventh to win the game ten
to seven. They hold East Fairmont zero runs over the
final six innings, so big a good job there for

(05:56):
Bridgeport and it was their offense, you know, a lot
of patients to play joan base on balls, small ball
and then some big hits as well, and they carried
over to University. They had a big win on Tuesday
nine eleven to four against the Hawks. The team has
been really playing well and that carried over to you know,
we'll talk about this a little bit, the heck of
a game on Thursday at twelve o'clock high noon game

(06:18):
with Robert C. Bird. But overall before we talk about that,
just a good job of Robert Shields and his team.
They're fifteen and five they're starting to play a little
bit to their potential, way more so than what they
were what they were earlier in the year, and all
this doesn't surprise me because this is kind of what
they are, and this is the program they built, and
this is the coach that Robert Shields is, and they
always find a way to play their best games when

(06:40):
it counts towards the end. And really it's you know,
it's it's something that I thought was going to happen
this year, and I'm glad that it is, but still
plenty of time to go. There's still some flaws in
this team. We saw that a little bit yesterday against
Robert c Birds. So they're not flight wor coach Shields

(07:02):
wants them. But I think he's happier today and he
was two weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I would imagine so, especially so as you alluded to,
the high noon game was part of quite a run
for the Bridgeport Bats that had really started to come alive.
Twenty three runs in their last two games, both of course,
were wins, and none bigger obviously than a thirteen to
twelve narrow win over RCB, which I know you mentioned.
Bridgeport's a little banged up at the moment. But I

(07:29):
think that honestly says as much about the resilience of
this experienced Bridgeport team as it does about how strong
this young RCB is coming on late now.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
Yeah, and this game was a three hour and ten
minute marathon. And Robert C. Byrd and I had a
chance to talk to both Derek Bowen and Chris Carey
there before the game, and they've done an excellent job.
And I told them, I said, you guys kind of realize,
you guys have more struggles. You're in a better spot
today than you were at any time last year. But
what helped was a lot of these players them like

(08:01):
the Xavier Carvilli's, the Ashton Schaffers, the Owen o'maras and
Saverio Destito's, JD Ford and all those guys. The reason
they're better is because those kids got a viable experience
as youngsters last year and then a little bit as
freshman two years ago. And now you bring in a
solid coaching staff led by Bowen and Kerry and you know,
and it's Basil Lucas as well. Can't forget about him.

(08:23):
He's the boys basketball coach. He serves an assistant base
Spot's a very good coaching staff, and you can see
it on the field. They're much more structured, much more disciplined.
They know what they're doing, and they battle, they fight,
you know, and that's something I haven't seen out of
them for quite some time. And they all played well together.
I thought that's an their key thing I liked is
how well they played together. All in all. Very impressed

(08:43):
with them. And that was a heck of a game yesterday.
Bridgeport jumped out to an eight to three lead and
all of a sudden bang. You know, Robert C. Bird
has a nine run, nine run fifth inning, A lot
of walks, a lot of singles here and there, three
different pictures for Bridgeport pitched in the fifth inning. And
they went up to a twelve eight league. And then

(09:03):
Bridgeport to start chipping away like to normally do. They
scored a running the six or running the fifth, two
in the sixth, and a couple in another run or
a couple or three in the six I should say,
and one more in the seventh and they wanted to
win the game thirteen twelve thanks to a Guy Avolio
fielder's choice round out that scored a run from third
to give him that thirteenth run, and Jacob Stervakis came

(09:26):
into the game and just kind of hammered things down late.
He entered into fifth a little shakey, just wasn't this
wasn't loose. He didn't have enough time to warm up.
He was playing third base. But once he got that
out of the way the sixth and seventh inning, he
just looked really good and held Bird off the board.
But what a game that was yesterday. Outstand the game,
wild game. Here's a stat for you. These two teams

(09:50):
combined for twenty four free passes. Bridge four pitchers combined
to walk eleven and hit three. Roberts C. Bird pitchers
combined to walk nine and hit one. Rigeport out hit
Robert C. Bird eleven to seven, but twenty four free passes.
So you think about that, you look at the score,
thirteen twelve. It makes sense. Honestly, it probably should have

(10:10):
been more than thirteen to twelve for both teams. Probably
should have been eighteen to seventy or something like that.
But you know the thing is, you know, the rivalry's
gone in football. Bridgeport's dominated the football side. Basketball it
still lives. Baseball it's back and it's good to see baseball.
You know, a couple of years ago they pulled one
over Bridgeport. The rivalries back in baseball, and I think

(10:33):
it's good for Harrison County baseball that burd and Bridgeport
baseball both are both good and they're both factors in
Region two right now as it sits, I would call
them the top two siege in Region two of Frankfort
being a third. Now that's my opinion. We'll see how
the rest of the year plays out, but that's good
to see.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So before we jump around to the rest of the
Big ten and the rest of the region, Bridgeport's got
a couple of really tough games coming up on the docket.
The next couple of days, I've got Robert I'm sorry,
the next couple of days, I've got Philip Barber, Fairmont
Senior Morgantown as their next three games leading into next

(11:11):
week when we actually basically get to the month of May,
which is it feels kind of hard to believe, but
that's where we'll be this time next week. Big, big
couple of games this week, as Bridgeport's probably at this point,
you've got to imagine, want to keep this, keep this
momentum going as they get closer and closer to postseason play.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yeah, big stretch coming up. Philip Barber got a big
win last night against Petersburg and we'll talk about that
a little bit. But they're thirteen and two and that's
not going to be easy later on today, whether permitting
at Philip Barber, that's gonna be a tough one. Philip
Barber much improved team. It can score runs. And then
you mentioned that Fairmont Senior having a great start of
the year. Right now, it's a battle for first the

(11:51):
Big ten between US two, Fairmont Senior Bridgeport. That should
be fun on Tuesday in Morgantown, I mean Morgantown Bridgeport.
We can say every time they play in any sport
it's gonna be a battle. Two very well coached teams.
So these next three games are tough, and I think,
and I can't speak for the rest of the teams
in the region, but Bridgeport's schedule has to play a

(12:12):
factor when it comes down to the end of the
regular season when the seeds are coming out for who
gets first, second, and third in Region two, Bridgeport plays
by far by far, And I'm not being a homer
on this by any means whatsoever. They have the toughest
schedule of a team and class Triple A by far.
They play a ton of Quad A schools. They already
played Jefferson twice. You're gona pay Morgan tom twice, University twice,

(12:33):
Winning Park three times. They played George Washington, they played
Saint Albans, they played Spring Valley. Mean, I go on,
probably not. I better stop there because it's gonna get
people dizzy. Yes, they play a tough schedule, but you
still got to finish strong, and they're gonna have to
get some WS at East next three. Philip Barbers capable.
I'm telling you, if Bridgeport played like they did yesterday afternoon,
Philip barbera's got a golden opportunity to get a W

(12:55):
on Friday, but was half to wait and soon.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Why don't we take an opportunity here to jump over
to Philip Barber. We already did talk a little bit
about RCB. They're obviously playing really well right now. I
know you have a really high opinion of that group.
Let's talk about Philip Barber. Though obviously they have struggled
to get games in. That has been the hardest thing
for them having only played I think you mentioned fifteen games,
but they've been pretty consistently right near the top of

(13:18):
the power rankings and Class Double A, and of course
they had that big undefeated run to start the season.
What do you think of this Philip Barber team and
what would be the biggest thing if you're talking to
these Bridgeport kids tomorrow, what's the biggest thing that you're
telling them they've got to be ready for.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
They put the ball in play, and they really do.
They did a good job. You look at kill Wolf,
Landon Carpenter, Tyler, Sison, and kit row In and just same.
A few of those guys put the ball in play.
And that's what I've noticed by this Philip Barber team,
more so than any Philip Barber team last few years,

(13:55):
is they really put the ball in play, and you're
not going to go up there and get easy out
of the strike cut. Now, maybe in the bottom part
of the order you have some guys down there that
you might be able to get some outs in, but
really one through six, seven, eight, they all put the
ball on play. Tyler system since that, heck, he has
had a heck of year. Kill Wolf. Here's the MVP

(14:17):
so far for them. We knew kill Wolf was a
great outfielder and a good hitter, but what he's done
on the mound, I don't think anybody's expected right now.
He's been stellar on the mount. In fact, yesterday and
that big Region two win over or Class triple at
double a reason two win over Petersburg. What a game.
Wolf had a complete game against Petersburg who was undefeated
at twelve and zero. And Wolf gets a complete game,

(14:40):
seven innings, a lot of only four hits, one run,
two walks in five strikeouts. He's emerged as the number
one pitcher of this staff, and that kind of came
out of nowhere. He was the guy that pitched a
little bit in the past, but never showed that they
could go out there and face lineups three or four
times through and do what he's done. He's done an
excellent job. He's been really the MVP. Him and Tyler system.

(15:01):
Of course, Landon Carpenter. That's Jokin's son at shortstop, Philip
Barber's poise to do big things, and that's gonna be
a big matchup. I hope it gets in later today,
whether permitting. There are some thunderstorms in the forecast. But
that's gonna be fun.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, that is a that is a concern. Today we
had a nice, really nice run of weather here, but
today and tomorrow not looking as promising. Let's bounce around
a little bit. The Grafton Bearcats had a kind of
a rough week, bounced back with win over Elkins on
Thursday at ten run win, and they are gonna wind
up going up against Fairmont Senior later today. Why don't

(15:38):
we do a two for one here Grafton and Fairmont Senior.
What do you like in this one?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Well, Grafton what a year. I mean, I tell you
twelve and eleven and John Goose has done a heck
of a job there. They have some talent, but really
it's what the he's done there. I mean, he's found
a way to get twelve wins out of these guys.
They're not really deep in pitch. They do have a
couple guys here and there. Grayson Ramazon has really been

(16:04):
hitting the ball well for them. But man, they found
a way to scratch out twelve ns and I give
them credit. And they've had some big wins this year.
You know, they got a big win over Robert C.
Byrd earlier and a couple others as well, and they
won won here at Elpins last night thirteen three. That
game was over and five. And I think what I
like about Brafton is that they've done a good job

(16:25):
of batting batting back. It wasn't just but a you know,
last week they were in a little bits of losing street.
They from April first to April to twelfth, they lost
five in a row and then they battled back to
win two in a row. If the big win over
Robert c Byrd on April the twelfth or April the fifteenth,
nine to eight, and they had a big win of

(16:46):
Reech Fairmont the next night, and then they lost to
Bridgeport twelve nothing. And we saw that they just didn't
have their best pitching for Bridgeport that day, and Bridgeport
put on the pretty good. But then they came back
and beat Lewis County and Dowbridge County wet thin. Guess
Doddridge County was impressed to daughtery having a good year
as well, so grafted way above expectations. A young team
and a great job there. You mentioned Faaramont senior right now.

(17:09):
The polar Bear was really playing well. Twelve and two
their schedule is kind of spaced out to where Logan Canfield,
who's their number one pitcher, you know, has done a
great job, you know in a number one spot. But
then Braden Gorby has stepped in as the number two
pitcher and he has probably been their best pitcher here
as the last two or three weeks. He entered the

(17:31):
game in relief and got a big win over across
the town rival East Fairmont, and then he's compaintly won
on a tear after that. In fact, against Robert c Byrd,
he threw a complete game for nothing in the victory there,
so I didn't see that coming. He's done a good job.
And Trevor Bigelow, what can you say Bigelow on the season,
we know about his football powers and how good he

(17:52):
is Trevor Bigelow bat in four thirty six on the air.
But get this, he's already got He's got two home runs,
two in the same game. But he leads a team
in RBIs And also Matt Masters has also done a
great job. He currently leads a team with an average
at five point twenty two. So you knew coming in
a couple guys had to pick up Cole Peschel Logan, Camfield,

(18:13):
Matt Masters, Trevor Bigelow are the guys that stepped up.
A couple of those played last year. Most of them
were in secondary roles because they lost a lot of seniors.
So this Fairmont Senior team at twelve and two had
a bad loss to University and the McDonald's Classic, but
no shame there. It's going to be a big matchup
coming up Tuesday, Fairmont Senior Bridgeport at Bridgeport.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Let's jump over to another team where we've had the
coach on the show. I want to talk a little
bit about the Lincoln Cougars. They've got a good one today,
they're at Kaiser and then their schedule doesn't get much easier. Gilmour,
Lewis Preston, Grafton, Doddridge. How there is in Philip Barber

(18:55):
to end the season. Kind of a kind of a
tough gauntlet there for them.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah, look at Lincoln, they remind me of graft Two
teams that no one expected a lot of this year,
kind of kind of rebound Marie rebounding, but two teams
that have good coaches, good young coaches. John of course
John Goose is my age, but you know Greg Davis
era at Lincoln. I mean, just an outstanding job he's done.

(19:19):
And uh, you take a look at him eleven and
ten and I think coming in no a great Smith.
I should say not Craig Davis, my apologist, Greg Smith.
I should know that he's a former Bridgeport Indian. I misspoke,
so I've got to correct myself there, Alex. But anyways,
what a job they've done, you know, in that stretch,
you know, eleven and ten. I don't think anyone thought
they would win eleven. They've done much better than they

(19:40):
did a year ago. And they've got some good wins
in here. That beat a good East Starry team into
McDonald's classic thirteen to two. I know that's a single
a school, and then came back and beat Preston thirteen
and eight. That's a Preston team was currently ran around
five hundred and a big win on Wednesday. O'reefe Fairmont
seven to one after losing a heartbreaker the night before
to Robert C. Bird five to four. So you see

(20:00):
they're eleven and ten. You take a look at their losses,
lost to Lensley four to three. That's a very good
school up and willing as a boarding school, a private school.
So you look at some of these losses, Alex, A
lot of them are one run losses. They could have
easily been wins. So that yes, they're eleven and ten,
but this team could easily have fourteen or fifteen wins
right now. What a job Greg Smith is doing it like.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
No kidding. Let's talk about another manager doing a great
job of Frank Tate with South Harrison. The Hawks dropped
two tight ones here since we last spoke. They dropped
one by a single run against East Hardy and another
one by a run against Frankfurt. Bounced back with a
win Thursday over Saint Mary's and then they are going
to get set for Petersburg coming up this weekend, and

(20:43):
they are also fast approaching the end of their season,
of their regular season. If you can believe that, what
do you like about the Hawks right now?

Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yeah, that's a big win, a big game come up,
excuse me, against Petersburg. That'll tell a lot there. And
that's also a regional game that'll be for seeding in
that region. Philip Barbara's leg up there. If wins over
South Harrison and Petersburg. Already, of course they kind of
base that over throughout the entire schedule. I just had
to head. But South Harrison is similar to Lincoln and Grafton.

(21:11):
I mean, here's a team that's you know, finds out
they're thirty. You got thirteen wins right now, nine losses.
You know, they've done a good job of winning games
early and they face some adversity there. You know, they played
a good university team to a six three loss, No
shame in that to a Class four A school, did
lose one late to East Tardy, let that get away
ten to nine, but then played Frankfurt tough and got

(21:32):
a big win over Saint Mary's and Moorefield this week.
So I think that Petersburg game comeing up's really gonna
be interested and see how that plays out. And that's
a huge game for both schools and we'll see how
South Harrison does. But I'm very impressed with them. Again,
I made the comment about South Harrison, you have to
beat them. Okay, They're just not going to hand runs

(21:53):
over to you. They're not going to have pitchers go
out there and throw a ball after after ball. You
have got to beat them and execute and the gay
of baseball. That's not the easiest thing. To do because
their pitching's been decent this year is continued to go
for me. It really only won bad loss for South
Harrison here in the last couple of weeks. That was
the Robert C. Bird eighteen to eight at de Beat
earlier in the year three to two.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
That was a weird game too, that RCB game. That
one was tight for a while and then the Flying
Eagles exploded in the back half of that game. I
want to say it was the fifth of the sixth
inning and their bats just totally came to life and
the wheels fell off all right. A couple others that
I wanted to touch on really quickly. Doddridge County, who's
right behind South Harrison in the Double A power rankings,

(22:36):
sitting at number ten right now. And if you look
at what's coming up for them, Philip Barber still on
the schedule, Grafton still on the schedule, Lincoln still on
the schedule as well.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
For the Bulldogs.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, dol Rich County. You know, coming into the year,
they lost some good personnel from a year ago, but
I thought they had enough back to make a run
and they've done that. Tough loss back yesterday against Faramont
Senior sixteen to four. But Paramount's a pretty good team
to kind of throw that out, remember Dobdbridge's double A.
But you know, overall, you know this team has done

(23:11):
a good job of finding ways to win. So you
look at kind a couple of new kids into the
program this year, Caleb Hall, Brody Brock him in, a
couple of new kids. But the guy that's kind of
been the mainstay, Caleb Sutton. I mean, here's the guy
that's been around for a while and he really hits
the ball well, does a lot for this team, both
on the mound and at the plate. Josh Toa. Haven
had a big complete game win over Elkins in Grafton

(23:32):
back on Saturday. So you know you're looking at some guys.
How about the Liberty transfer landing clevenger I no nonsense
type player, just goes up there and hits the baseball
and he's been a big product there. So they've had
some transfers come in, a couple from South Harrison, one
from Liberty, and a couple of others, and then you've
had some mainstays like good old Caleb Sutton, who's got
family roots in the program. His father and everybody else,

(23:55):
he just hits the ball. His brother was there a
year ago. Now Caleb kind of running things now, just
doing what he does. This is Doddridge County team. Now
that's going to be a factor in their region. Come
up in May and we'll keep it out on this team.
And you know what, the facilities at Doddridge County High
School has helped all sports. You look at the football program,

(24:16):
you look at the basketball program with their new gym,
and you look at the baseball and softball as well
if you want to throw them in there. The new
facilities have done a good job there. Players are transferring there,
students are transferring there just to get on the fields
and play there. And you look at it. The newest
rankings coming out, they're too over the limit to be
DOUBLEA next year. And I know they don't like that,

(24:36):
they like the big single A, but I think honestly
that tuoes will become twenty or thirty here in the
next few years. So they're going to keep growing. Hey,
you build it, they will come. And that's exactly what's
going on in Doddridge County. And what a great job
they've done so far.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Chris George dropping an excellent reference. I was actually just
watching Field of Dreams not that long ago, when I
was in particularly nasty cold weather and I was dreaming
of spring, and I thought, you know what, let's watch
some Field of Dreams before I let you go.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
I feel like you just do come true.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Remember absolutely, I think about I think about that line.
People will come ray, people will most definitely come all
right before I let you go. Though, I figure it'd
be remiss if we didn't talk a little mountain near baseball.
They did finally lose. I wasn't sure that was something
they were ever going to do again. They by the skin,
by the skin of their teeth AUP a couple of
times since we last talked. Actually, okay, the Marshall game

(25:29):
occurred before like last time we talked. But they had
a really tight one against Cincinnati that they were able
to pull out. They got progressively better as that series
went on. They nearly came from behind against Penn State
on the road. Right now, d one baseball dot Com
thinks that they will be hosting a regional here in
Morgantown as the fourteen seed in the field. The fourteenth

(25:52):
overall seed in the field. For those who are not
familiar with how it works. And of course last year
when WV went on the road, I want to say
UNC was the I want to say they were the
sixth seed, but I have to go back and double
check that point, being though they seed the top sixteen
for those who are not familiar, but Mountaineers, uh, they've
got a chance to do some special stuff. They could
they could beat the program record for wins just in

(26:14):
the regular season, and which would be incredibly impressive. They
doesn't even speak about what they could do with the postseason.
A lot going right for this team. Obviously they're coming
off this one game losing streak, but with a big
series coming up starting today in Orlando. How do you
like where the Mountaineers are at, finally having broken that
big winning streak.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Well, first thing, if the if the Mountaineers can find
a way to win the Big twelve regular season outright,
they've won. They want to share of it a few
years back that they can win it outright. It almost should.
I'm not well saying it will, but it should in
my mind. Give them one of the top sixteen seats
to host the regional That's my opinion only. However, we'll

(26:54):
see they almost they got away two out of three
and every series so Wes Array, sure, you'd love to
sweep it.

Speaker 5 (27:00):
Be hard.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
UF's a program. It's really playing well. As of two
out of three against TCU last weekend. It's a good
TCU team, which West Virginia doesn't face this year. And
then you look at it, Texas Tech coming to Morgantown.
You got to take at least two out of three there,
and then you finished year at Kansas State and Home
of Kansas all three game series, those last two have
been saying it all year long. Those last two three

(27:22):
game series are the most important of any series on
the schedule. You saw it come and you saw the
back end, and you can really throw Texas Tech in
there now if you want to be honest with you,
go ahead and throw UCF. These last four conference serieses
are big. West Virginia has to find a way to
win two out of three in each one of these
series if they want to win the Big twelve outright

(27:43):
and be in position to host the Penn State game.
You know, tough loss. I didn't think the team played.
I mean, they played okay, but this didn't seem like
they had the energy we have seen from them. Baseball
is a funny game, man. It's the ebbs and flows
of the long season. They're in the dog days of
the regular season. That was going wind down here into
the postseason with three or four weeks left, and they

(28:07):
went into a little bit of I'm not gonna say
a slump. They went to a little bit of a
little bit of a slide at the play. Saw it
in the Marshall game a week ago. Yeah, they took
three from Cincinnati, but really Saturday and Friday's games were tight,
not a lot of runs scored. A good pitching from Cincinnati,
you know better from West Virginia to get those wins,
and the bats did okay against Penn State, but they

(28:28):
didn't capitalized on opportunities. I was, you know, the sacrifice
but there in the in the top of the night
to get a runner over down a run and giving
up and out kind of puzzled me. But who am
I to argue Steve Sabans what he's done this year.
I'm just kind of, you know, throwing that out there,
because that's being real. I just couldn't get clutch hits

(28:49):
back on Tuesday against Penn State, couldn't get the clutch hits.
Spencer Barnett hit a home run. It hasn't landed yet.
That's good to see. But they're gonna have to rebound.
I think it's good to get the lost now because
you know, fourteen wins in our own baseball that's hard.
That's hard, especially in the game of baseball. Get the
loss now, rebound, go down to Orlando and take at
least two out of three for the nights. If you

(29:10):
want to sweep them, that's fine with us. But the
bat's got to get going again. I think they will
hear soon.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
That's as good a time as any to tease. By
the way, folks, that coming up in the next segment,
we're going to be airing a conversation I had with
Greg Carey of Metro News from earlier this week, taking
a very deep dive into WVU baseball. So, Chris, George,
nice little segue work there as well, from high school
to college ball. That'll be coming up in the next segment. Chris,

(29:37):
tell the folks you've got coming up on the schedule
for Bridgeport baseball and I'll let you get out of here.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Okay, Well, coming up today four o'clock, whether they're permitting
exclusively on the Bridgeports Sports Radio app. That's a free download.
If you don't have the app, please get that. It's
a wonderful app. And that's a schedule on there, and
it's got links to all of our past games. That
a record on our South Soundclouds account and all the

(30:02):
Bridge four games can be heard there as well. Four
o'clock today at Philip Barber against the thirteen and two Colts.
Bryn Kimball has got teachers meetings down in Charleston, so
he will not He wasn't with me yesterday, will not
be with me tonight. So just being made and then
right now they're off Saturday and then they'll come back
and action on Tuesday. They were supposed to play Liberty Monday,

(30:22):
beaus we know Liberty doesn't have a team this year.
So the tribe as it sits today and I say
that tongue in cheek because at any time they could
get a game in. So right now you may not
play Monday, but that can always change come Bunday. So
that's to wait to see. But Tuesday's big with Fairmont
Senior and then Morgantown on Wednesday, and then two big
games back of the week. Will have one of these

(30:43):
games weather permitting, and that's the game at Frankfurt next
Friday night and Winning Park next Thursday night. We will
not have that, but that's who they play. How about
that road trip? Get you go to Winning Park to
play at five o'clock next Thursday and then turn around
and go to the Eastern Panhandle the Short Gap and

(31:04):
take on Frankfurt Friday at seven.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
Yeah, that's rough.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Oh daddy, that's.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
That's probably with short straw there. That's rough.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
You probably should have had that this week when they're
on spring break. But that'll be tough, so it'll be
a good schedule. We will have the Frankfurt game next
Friday if it doesn't rain. They don't have a press box.
They have done some modifications to their facility. If there's
rain in the forecast, it's a likely chance we won't
go because we just don't have any cover there. I

(31:32):
can't get all that nice equipment with That would be
a bad thing, wasn't it. So? But that's the play
in the air of the game today, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday next week.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Fantastic, All right, Chris Bunch appreciated. Man, We're gonna go
ahead and step aside, take a break. This is the
Friday Free for All, brought to you by Dan Cabato
to be a GMC. We are back after.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
This time for more high school sports talk on the
Dan Cavatoyo w at GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
We're back here on the Friday Free for All. Wanted
to take a moment to talk a little WVU baseball,
which is exactly what we're going to do. I caught
up with Greg carry earlier this week. We talked before
the Penn State game, but we talked a lot about
what's to come in Big twelve play for this team.
And so without further ado, here's Greg Carey. Wanted to
take some time to reconvene on WVU baseball. What a seasons.

(32:27):
It's hard to put this into words, and I've seen
a lot of funny tweets about this. I kind of had.
I thought a pretty funny one got a response out
of a player's player's dad. I believe it was Grant
Hussey's dad. But the team is now thirty four and four.
They've won fourteen straight games. They're thirteen and three in
conference play. They are an astonishing nineteen and one away

(32:48):
from Morgantown. And I wanted to bring Greg carry and
analyze this a little bit because this is it's getting
to the point now where I said yesterday I thought
that their record looked like a typo. I was like,
so in such disbelief, they are looking like they might
shatter the program record for wins, which is sitting at forty.
And I wanted to bring Greg in one to talk
a little bit about the postseason, because it's clear there's

(33:09):
going to be one for this team, and two to
provide some context because this is wild. Man, this is
a really wild season for West Virginia. They just will
not stop winning.

Speaker 7 (33:20):
Yeah, we're we are thirty eight games into this thing.
West Virginia already has separate win streaks of thirteen to
start the season and now fourteen ongoing.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
So I mean that kind of tells you that where
they're at.

Speaker 7 (33:33):
I mean, even if you know the other fourteen fifteen
games on the schedule were five hundred, you know at
that point, which they're not, they're still over five hundred there,
you know, they'd be seven and four in those remaining
eleven games. But you know, even if they were say
four and seven, you know, they'd still have an outstanding
overall record. They're playing with a lot of confidence and
that was on display throughout the series. This weekend, I

(33:56):
saw every game covered, every game between the Mountaineers and Sinatti.
Not an overwhelmingly good Bearcats team, but not the easiest
team to play against. They play a lot of small ball,
They have a lot of energy, you know, maybe try
to make up for what they lack in some areas
of talent with you know, by by playing a certain style.
And West Virginia really just didn't allow them to do

(34:17):
that by getting excellent starting pitching. They you know, hit
the ball better as the series went on, hit home
runs at a high rate. And I think the most
impressive part of this entire season to me, you know,
if I had to just pick one aspect, is how
well West Virginia has handled success. And last week they
get a big scare at Marshall rivalry game.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
We know West Virginia had a good team.

Speaker 7 (34:41):
Last year that lost in Huntingdon last season, so you know,
we know that happens from time to time, especially in
a sport like baseball. West Virginia's trailing throughout the game
comes back, wins in pretty remarkable fashion with Chase Swain
stealing home plate in the ninth inning off of a
right handed pitcher at that but you know that's two
days after you get ranked. Everybody's kind of amongst a

(35:04):
fan base. You know, some of the media asking Steve Sabins,
you know about the rankings, does that irk you? We
know it doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, but obviously
publicity wise and just you know, for being recognized for
your achievements. You know, teams like to sit in the
top twenty five and it's quite an honor. And West
Virginia is at twenty four. I said after last week
they're going to move into the top twenties. Like you know,

(35:26):
today they're at seventeen, so obviously heading more towards about
a number that you know, if the fan base will
not necessarily, you know, lose its mind over to put
it kindly, but it's just been remarkable the way this
team has won. And they'll come back the next day
and they'll do the exact same thing, play the exact
same style. Basically, they're very they've been very, very consistent

(35:47):
in a game where it's hard to produce consistency. You
know it's not easy to there's a reason that the
best baseball players fail seven out of ten times, as
you know, as they say, and this team has handled
success so well. Last week, as I mentioned, you know,
the rivalry spot, the letdown spot against Marshall fresh off
the ranking, they didn't even play very well, but they
found a way to win. And then they came back

(36:07):
and played at a higher level in that weekend series
against Cincinnati to.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Keep this thing going.

Speaker 7 (36:12):
And I think to differentiate a little bit on the
win streaks thirteen in a row against non Power Conference
opponents to start the year, twelve of the fourteen during
this win streak against Power Conference.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Opponents, Yeah almost. I guess you'd say more impressive of
late with those fourteen straight wins. And part of that
is coming off the heels of a guy and I
know you wrote a story about him, so remind folks
to go check that out over at wv metronews dot com.
Jack cartsonis who has kind of jumped into a new
role as the season has gone on, who is pitching more,

(36:46):
started off in the bullpen and is now actually looking
more like he's gonna get some starts in there.

Speaker 7 (36:54):
Yeah, he's a guy I think West Virginia had a
plan all along for him. A lot of it was
based around his health. That's been the big issue throughout
his college career. It hasn't necessarily been production, you know,
from a standpoint of when he's available. It's just the
lack of availability has plagued him, particularly over a couple
seasons at ken State when he lost one full year

(37:14):
and part of another. But he's a guy that has
the makeup of what I think would be you know,
if you were in one today, your number two starter
in a regional series. You know, I know he started
the third game of the series each of the last
couple of weeks. But he's been as good as you
can be, essentially, and that doesn't that's not going to lie.
You know, he's not going to just give up no

(37:35):
run nowhere runs and you know, three hits and thirteen
innings consistence, because with consistency, obviously that's asking too much.
But he's a guy that has the makeup of someone
that you know can take that ball and go five, six,
seven innings, you know, thirteen innings in his two starts
to this point. I think it's impressive how he made
a very significant jump.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
It's not like he had a couple outings. Even with
sixty five seventy pitches.

Speaker 7 (37:59):
He went from forty into the nineties to one hundred
and two last week in Cincinnati. So a guy who
has certainly built up that arm strength. He's using it
along with the sinker that he said he'd really discovered
when he came to West Virginia after he had a
couple offseason procedures.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Credited a lot of the resources in the program.

Speaker 7 (38:17):
You know, they have the TrackMan devices and that new
center out and right field where you know, the players
are allowed to get work in and obviously have a
lot of things to help with recovery and nutrition and.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
All those aspects.

Speaker 7 (38:27):
But he's a guy that really has experience. He's older,
you know, I think Steve Savans is very comfortable handing
him the ball in a big spot right now.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
No kidding, Let's talk a little bit about what the
postseason could look like for this group. It feels like,
for the first time in a while that I don't
think there's any real thought about is there a fair
bit of meaning behind the Big twelve tournament. It's not
feeling like that right now. Is they're going to walk
in as a one see that the Big Twelve Tournament
is going to be a huge pivotal moment for them

(38:58):
this season, that they might be looking well beyond that
at this point.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (39:02):
The only thing I would say to that is for
the guys particularly that have been the program for a
few years, West Virginia, despite some successful seasons, has been
you know, I think they'd be the first to tell
you Randy Maze and some of the players you know
from the past, they have not played very well. They
have not performed very well or fared very well in
that Big twelve tournament. So for some of the guys,
you know, key players Sam White or Logan Saves, Chase Meyer,

(39:25):
and a couple of the guys that have really you know,
kind of stuck this thing out and been around here,
Skyler King obviously, and several of those Grand Hussey you know,
would come to mind. Those guys probably, you know, do
maybe take it a little more personal in terms.

Speaker 3 (39:39):
Of not wanting to, you know, have another poor showing there.

Speaker 7 (39:42):
I would say, is fair, you know, is West Virginia
going to be playing for their tournament lives there? Absolutely
not unless something you know, catastrophic were to happen to
the Mountaineers probably have to be something to the degree of,
you know, a three and fifteen ish type finish over
the rest of the regular season, maybe four and fourteen
and you know, you're sweating a little bit. But otherwise,
I think this is a team that is clearly primed

(40:05):
for the postseason, and now it's a question of how
much you know. That Big Twelve Tournament also could matter
in terms of seeding if you're going to host, you know,
if you go out early, I don't I'm not exactly
sure how much the committee would value that, but wouldn't
help your cause any you know, winning the Big Twelve
and or at least playing maybe in a championship and
winning a couple of games out there I think could

(40:26):
potentially go a long way for West Virginia, But a
lot of that is going to bote on how they
fare up until that point over these final eighteen regular
season games.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Right, that's a good point. And of course, last year
North Carolina, who they wound up traveling to, was a
four seed in the entire tournament. Where are you getting
the idea or not? Let me rephrase that question, where
are you kind of seeing them right now as far
as when you when you look at everything, you look
at what d one baseball dot com, what those guys
are saying, when you look at the rankings, when you

(40:55):
look at RPI, is there a feel right now of
just high like if again we're talking about if something
catastrophic happens, I mean, if they continue at this pace
and they win, you know, something wild here, like bordering
on fifty games. How close are they going to get
to the top of an of the of the tournament
here in terms of where they could be seated.

Speaker 7 (41:17):
Yeah, it's you know, it's a matter of that. I
don't think it's necessarily realistic to expect this team to
be able to win nine out of ten games throughout
the season. But then again, did we expect them to
win nine out of ten games for essentially a forty
game stretch? You know, I'm not sure. You know, now,
would you be shocked? I guess yes, potentially you could

(41:41):
say you'd be very surprised. But I think one thing
that will ultimately probably lead to a couple more losses
but also could help West Virginia in a weird way,
is they're pretty much done with your quote unquote, you know,
lesser poor RPI teams that kind of hurt the Mountaineers
strength the schedule regardless of the result, to which we

(42:03):
know at this point, West Virginia by and large has
handled almost every single team that it was expected to beat.
It's done that, maybe with the exception of one loss
to Kennessas State. So you know, it's a team that
I think there's something to be said for winning, winning
consistently regardless of the opponent. But as it stands today,

(42:23):
you're fourteenth in the RPI. You jump six spots. You've
got Penn State this week. That's not going to help
you very much, but you know, winning won't hurt you
any They're a top one hundred RPI team, but not
a team that is likely heading, you know, for the postseason,
beyond the Big Ten tournament, unless they have a kind
of a drastic change. And then this week in West
Virginia hits the road, they'll head to UCF likely to

(42:44):
play you know, a warm weather climate series, which they
had some warm weather games at home last week, had
some particularly warm games a weekend before in Houston, some
games that reached up into the well into the eighties,
So maybe that helps West Virginia UCF a formidable team,
you know, sixtieth in the RP right now, so probably
fairly comparable to Cincinnati, which was sixty seventh coming to

(43:05):
Morgantown this weekend and obviously got swept, so you know,
took a pretty big hit in terms of the Big
twelve standings and their overall record in that regard. But
you know, West Virginia is just they're gonna have a
pretty strong case to host if they continue to win series.
I know it sounds maybe simple, but you win that
first game, you know, you're you're giving yourself two chances
to essentially win a series, and they've done an outstanding

(43:27):
job of that. And then on occasion, like when they
went to BYU they lost Game one, they were able
to respond with two wins and still win, you know,
win the series. That's a dangerous theory and you know,
formula to live by, but that's really the only time
it's happened this year to the Mountaineers, and I think
if they're able to end that regular season with about
forty four forty five wins, they're going to have a

(43:50):
pretty strong case. You know, maybe it takes forty six
or forty seven. It's hard to say because you never
really know what else is going to happen around you.
You know, all matters how these teams that are basically
anywhere between one and thirty, I would think at this point,
you know that have legitimate aspirations of hosting, and how
they fare down the stretch and where the numbers, you know,

(44:10):
ultimately wind up. But you got the best record in
the country, you get the best road record in the country,
and with the weekend sweep of Sincy, you've now moved up.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
Six spots from twenty to fourteen. Pretty significant jump.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
The thing is that forty four almost seems conservative for
this conversation right now, And I get why you're saying
that number, because it is unrealistic to expect, like there
has to be some level of regression in your mind,
just from a statistical perspective, thirty four out of thirty
eight is a lot. And the pace they're on you
mentioned it is this sort of nine out of every ten.
It's an outrageous, absurd pace. And yet at the same time,

(44:46):
you know, we talk about that, you got to think, boy,
forty four, forty four would almost be a disappointment. At
this point. And I mean that as a joke, but
forty four would be a little bit of a letdown
from where they are because that would be what doing
the quick math, that'd be ten out of out of eighteen,
So that's basically that's barely five hundred, barely better than
five hundred to end the season here. I guess the
fair question here is what's what's realistic when you look

(45:07):
at what's left of the regular season schedule in your mind,
what's realistic? And that's probably where we can wrap this thing,
is what's realistic in these final eighteen.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Yeah, I think I actually misspoke early.

Speaker 7 (45:19):
I think it's actually fifteen that depending on the outcome
of what happens with that Oklahoma State series. West Virginia's
got four Big Twelve series left because they don't play
every team in the Big Twelve. For example, they don't
have a series with TCU scheduled this year.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
But there's going to be some you know, some lamb mines,
some challenges.

Speaker 7 (45:35):
So you know, when I said forty four, that would
be take essentially taking into kind of ten and five
finish to the regular season. Marshall is really the only
team outside of the top one hundred RPI that's left.
You know, Kansas and Kansas State are both having successful seasons.
They can post significant challenges to West Virginia, and then
the Mountaineers won't be home again until May, at which
point May second they'll welcome Texas Tech for the first

(45:56):
to three. That'll be very pivotal. So you know, I
think if you're the Mountaineers, if you can win eight
of the remaining twelve in the Big Twelve, you know
that that's not going to be an easy ask whatsoever.
But if you go eight four in the Big twelve,
you maybe win at least two out of those three
non conference tilts that you've got left. Pitt You know,
West Virginia handled in Morgantown earlier this year, but they're

(46:18):
not having a bad season. They play in a good league,
so you know, their RPI is very comparable to where
you know, the Cincinnatis and ucfs are. I think it's
up in the top sixty at this point. So you know,
a team that if you're able to go win that
game on the road, could be another quote unquote quality victory,
a quad one win since it's a road game. And
then you know the Chips kind of fall where they are,

(46:38):
you know. I mean, I don't think you're going to
be able to necessarily afford to go zero to two
in Big twelve play, But if you can win ten
out of these final fifteen eleven, you know, maybe at
least final fifteen, I think you're going to be pretty
safe going to the Big twelve tournament as long as
you don't lose both games and then you know, some
things maybe happen that don't work in your favor and

(47:00):
all of a sudden you're kind of sweating it out.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
One last thing you mentioned the Oklahoma State and good
catch there. I did go back and you're you're right
on the money with fifteen. One quick question on that.
So those two games that were lost because the wildfires
that were going on in still Water, any idea if
those are going to get made up, and if so,
how would they be made up?

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Yeah, that's the question.

Speaker 7 (47:19):
You know, I have not heard much in a way
of the likelihood of it, So at this point I
would think it's probably more geared towards not because I'm
not sure that there's necessarily time.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
And if you know the thing.

Speaker 7 (47:29):
About it is, if you try to squeeze it in
before the Big Twelve tournament per se to work out
seating well, that significantly puts both teams at a disadvantage
with their pitching staffs unless they're just gonna you know,
they can't go afford to go out and throw tenth
and eleventh and twelve guys and what's still an important
conference game, you know, if they were to play, so
I would think at this point it's probably more likely

(47:50):
a no than yes. But then again, if it really
has a big impact, and you know, you look at
unfair you know, in balanced schedules already in play, and
now you have an imbalance number of games and you're
squarely going off winning percentage. If it could come into play,
you know, you would think that they would want to.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Settle it the fairest way possible. So remains to be seen.

Speaker 7 (48:11):
You could maybe even depend on some of the results
of these other games. You know, if West Virginia keeps
winning and they're in a spot where even if they
were to lose both those games, they'd be the outright
Big Twelve champion. I'm not sure that it's going to
hold a ton of significance. You know, maybe for Oklahoma
State it does because that could be an opportunity for
them to enhance their postseason resume. And the Cowboys have
been disappointing, and they were the preseason pick to win

(48:33):
the Big Twelve, and they are, you know, below five
hundred in the league and have not excelled this year,
but obviously still a lot of baseball play for them
to be able to turn this thing around.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Worth noting. Yeah, they're fifth from the bottom right now
in the standings. I was curious about that, And you're
right on the money that WBU is flirting with the possibility.
They've got three teams hot on their tail, including a
Kansas team who they're going to play at the end
of the season, but right on their tail at twelve
and six. They're thirteen and three, So obviously there is

(49:03):
a possibility that those games lost from the schedule could
mean something, but I guess it's kind of a wait
and see. So Greg, much appreciated man, and I look
forward to reading more of your work. The Carsonis article
was great. You've been doing great work on this team
all year, and again just wild to me. I remember
I distinctly remember covering this team in college. This was

(49:24):
they were good. They were never like this. This is
a this is a totally different beast that the Mountaineer
fans are getting right now out of this wu a
baseball school. That's I think the takeaway.

Speaker 7 (49:35):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's been fun to cover, you know,
it's fun to experience some of these atmospheres. And we'll
see how things shake out down the stretch. But if
nothing else, certainly gonna be a lot of meaningful baseball ahead.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Awesome, Thanks, Greg.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Appreciate it, Have a good one. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
That was Greg Carrey from wv Metronews dot com. Check
out his work there. Follow the Mountaineers, follow him out
in your baseball all season long. All right, here's what's
coming up next. So we had some technical issues I
found with the interview that we did with Zach Bart,
the new South Harrison head basketball coach, a couple of
weeks ago. So we're going to use this next segment

(50:09):
as an opportunity to re air the Zach Bart interview
and make sure there are no technical issues with it.
So we're gonna do that. On the other side of
this break, this is the Friday Free for All, brought
to you by Dan Cavato to Buick GMC. Don't forget
Chris Johnson going to join us close to the bottom
of the hour.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Now back to the Dan Cavatoyota you at GMC Friday
Free for All on one O three three w kmz.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan Kavatoa to Buick GMC. I am joined now
by the new head coach of South Harrison Boys Basketball
and fellow sports video games psycho. I'm glad to know
I'm in good company. Zach Bart is here with me.
Congratulations on the job, first and foremost, and I'll let
you open up there before we dive into everything else.

(50:54):
But at Scott to feel pretty good to be able
to jump into another role so quickly and obviously one
where it's a pretty talented Hawk squad and they're very
very young and played pretty well all things considered.

Speaker 6 (51:08):
Happy to be here the spring edition. Usually the basketball
guys aren't on here on the spring edition, so it's
glad to be on the free for again. I'm excited
for the opportunity just to continue to coach. About a
month or so ago, I had no you know, there
were no doors open, and this one eventually opened, So
it's good to get ready to build another program. As

(51:32):
far as South Harrison and their roster and the talent
you speak of. I literally met with the guys for
the first time today and I acknowledged, like, how great
of the season they had for as young as they
were to win ten basketball games is I don't care
who you are, where you're at. That's an accomplishment and
I applaud them and hopefully we can keep building on that.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Yeah, it's worth noting when you took over Liberty, you
guys were coming off a one win granted in an
abbreviation season because of COVID, but you're coming off a
one win season, so a little bit different second time around.
And I'm kind of curious, are there things that you
can pull from your first goal around taking over kind
of a rebuilding program, which you guys did. You rebuilt

(52:15):
into a from one win the year before you got
there to sixteen wins by your third season and arguably
fighting hard for a spot in the tournament two seasons ago.
I guess what can you take lesson wise from that
period at Liberty that you can bring with you to
South Harrison.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
Oh Man, I could go on for days.

Speaker 5 (52:34):
Good, right, go for it.

Speaker 6 (52:36):
The big thing is one with technology in so many
games being streamed nowadays. I like when I told the
guys when I met with I'm like, everybody just assumes
the new coach gets in and you get this clean
sheet to prove yourself. I've watched these guys play so
many times that they have no idea. I know what
I know. Whereas when I went to Liberty at the time,

(52:58):
everything was fresh and new and kind of went into
it blind, but especially with South Harrison being on her
schedule the last two years as well, I have a
pretty good familiarity with what to expect out of these
guys and what needs improved on, and then the rebuilding thing.
I think Liberty and compared to where Liberty was, where

(53:20):
this program is just two different animals. Liberty was coming
off with literally two decades of losing records and basic irrelevance,
So just trying to create a belief that we could
stay in games and compete in the Big ten was
one thing, Whereas I feel like South Harrison's had some
success just two years removed off Tommy Sears and that

(53:40):
crew with Corey Bolden in their couple year run and then,
like I said, last year's cruise not a one win team.
These guys won basketball games with a young nucleus and
really graduated. Nobody that played last year, so high expectations
over in West Milford right now did not.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Actually there was nobody honored at SENE. That was the
I know this is gonna sound odd because I've only
done this for three years with South Harrison, but it
still felt so strange to me to see that because
even even the year before that, when you know, they
had even a very young team two years ago, there
were still a couple of seniors on that roster. But
that's how young this group was. No seniors, all underclassmen

(54:22):
starting and only a couple of juniors even getting time
off the bench. So yeah, there's, uh, there's a lot
of infrastructure already there. But I also imagine, you know,
for a coach, there there are gonna be some challenges
that come with that as well. Right where now they've
got to you know, they know that that they've got
to adapt because they don't really have a choice, right
and that's I imagine there's some friction there when uh,

(54:43):
when something like that.

Speaker 6 (54:44):
Occurs, Uh, yeah, the natural cycle of a high school
basketball roster is you have balance in your classes, and
then there's a progression of you know, the older guys
play and contribute why the younger guys develop. You get
a roster structure like this for many freshmen played this
year and some sophomores. It can kind of create a

(55:04):
log gym in your program and you can get some
backlash as far as you know, the older guys could
create some resentment and not play. And then you got
incoming kids, you know, incoming freshman next year and the
year behind that. When's there? When do they get their
varsity opportunity down the road. So it's a it provides

(55:25):
some interesting issues that the normal cycle doesn't present. But
one thing about it, if you're in a cycle like this,
it means you have some talent to work with, and
I'll take talent any day.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah, I'm it's it's a kind of a good problem
to have, even if it is even if it is
a problem for South Harrison fans out there. I know
they're starting to get to know you a little bit,
but do you want to describe if they didn't get
a chance to see liberty and granted South Harrison and
Liberty actually played a couple of times these last few seasons.
But if they didn't get a chance to see Liberty,
or they're not overly familiar with the Zach Bart style

(55:57):
of coaching or Zach Bart's style of play, can you
describe what it is you're going to be expecting or
asking from these players moving forward.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
It's gonna be a little intense. We're going to play
with an edge, and I think that starts on the
defensive end. I think that's where these guys can take
the biggest step, and at any level in sports, usually
defenses the slowest for young kids to learn. We have
to get better at playing man to man defense, and
that's kind of going to be the off season emphasis
and these kids will continue to grow. The one good

(56:28):
thing about this roster construction that I'm going into is
you got a lot of players that fit traditional positions.
You have your point guards, you have your wings, you
have your bigs. In a lot of situations you're trying
to piece together. I know at Liberty we were really
struggled to rebound the basketball because we never had size.
We should not have that problem going forward these next
few years. The one thing the similarities with Liberty and

(56:51):
South Harrison is. At Liberty, we were the smallest team
in the trip Away classification in the Big Ten, South
Harrison with the release yesterday, will be the second smallest
and Douboys, So that's something I'm familiar with. And we
competed with a chip on our shoulders at Liberty, and
we'll do the same at South Ayerson.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
So now I've got to Now I gotta ask the question.
I got two questions here. I'll save the WVU related
one for after. You probably know where I'm going with this,
But you mentioned how hard it is for young kids
to pick up defense, and I wonder do you think
is that a physical thing or is that a mental thing?
Because when I think about my mindset both as just
one as an athlete, and again I was not a
high level athlete by any stretch of the imagination. But

(57:30):
as an athlete, you know, I played soccer and I
was a defender, and so I had a real defensive mindset.
But I also think about every other sport that I
have followed over the course of the years. I was
all about. I always loved watching offense, and as I've
aged into my thirties, what I've realized, is I actually
much more enjoy watching good defense, really good. Whether it's basketball,

(57:51):
whether it's football, whether it's hockey. I really enjoy watching
great defensivety, good pitching performances. And I think the thing
about that is because especially with a baseball for a second,
since the defense is putting the ball in play. When
you think about basketball, you think about hockey in particular,
as soccer is another good example. Those are sports where
the defense to offense transition is quite literally the pipeline

(58:11):
to scoring points. And it's not something that I realized
when I was a teenager. It's not something I even
realized much in my twenties. So is that one of
the reasons it's so difficult for young kids to pick
up on that because they're not thinking about how defense
can actually create offense for them at that point in
their I guess, in their cycle as a growing player.

Speaker 6 (58:34):
I think the biggest thing defensively that challenges anybody, especially
young kids, is to be good at a team sport. Defensively,
everybody has to be connected. On the offensive side, you
can be disconnected, but have a player or two with
some talent that can carry you even if you're poorly
spaced and get by. But one guy makes a mental
or physical wearer on the defensive men and everybody suffers.

(58:56):
And I think that's the big issue. And then, like
you said, defense to offense, if you look traditionally at
the highest scoring teams in the state of West Virginia
every year, they're also your best defensive teams, and it
translates defense to offense, tempo pressure, it all correlates. I know,
in the off season, realistically, all we can do is
coaches is get guys in the weight room and watch

(59:17):
YouTube and get the x's and o's, you know, fresh
off the NCAA tournament. But it really comes down to defense.
The best teams in the state can play defense. You
look at Bridge Sport, you look at Willing Central last year,
Spring Mills, and then on the other side of it, yeah,
you want to be schematically really sound, but it comes
down to athletes. Can you contain the basketball? Do you

(59:39):
have guys that can rebound it? Everybody will be yelling
a box out, balks out when you're getting out rebounded.
Sometimes it's you're just physically outmanned and there's nothing you
can do. And that's another reason defense to offenses can
you rebound the basketball clean? And again, hopefully we'll be
able to do that with the guys that we have
on this roster, and hopefully we'll be able to be

(59:59):
a little more entertaining for you this year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
So now I gotta ask that it sounds to me
just listening to you you talk about your style. I
get the feeling. Is Zach Barter Ross Hodge guy? How
you feel about Ross Hodge?

Speaker 6 (01:00:12):
I do not have enough familiarity with him to really, like,
you know, give you an honest opinion. I'm more of
a balanced guy, so I really understand the Freeze's concepts.
They lost a really good basketball coach. I know people
are better about that, but he's really good at what

(01:00:32):
he does. Hodge seems to be a little more on
the defensive mind decided things much more like Huggins. I
have a prediction that they will not be as entertaining
to watch with him. So that's gonna be an issue
because that puts people in the seats. So if he
doesn't win games with this defensive mindset, if you're not
gonna win, you better at least be fun to watch.

(01:00:54):
So that's one thing you can say about the freezes
teams where they were fun to watch this.

Speaker 8 (01:00:57):
Year until they were pim will teil time will tell Yeah,
just a little curve curveball in there, talking a little
bit about your your defensive acumen and physical acumen as
well as far as the.

Speaker 6 (01:01:10):
I will throw this one out there. We do have
my defensive systems kind of a hybrid between a couple
different types of systems. Roth Hodge comes from a no
middle system and there are some similarities there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
I'll give you that, Okay, all right, all right, well,
well well we're gonna put a pin in that. We're
gonna circle back to that when the actual season comes around. So,
I mean, you're you're pretty young guy. I obviously it
helps that you have, you know, four years or so
as a head coach under your belt. Do you feel
like more prepared now than you would have been four

(01:01:44):
years ago if you were taking this job just from
the benefit of having that experience, Yes.

Speaker 6 (01:01:49):
I can't. I can't elaborate. The next year will be
my sixteenth year on the sidelines coaching basketball in Harrison County,
But but it'll be my fifth years they head high
school basketball coach. And it's not the basket. I can't.
I can't express how the coaching basketball is the easiest
part of being a basketball coach. It's dealing with the program,

(01:02:13):
dealing with the finances, dealing with parents, and how you
handle kids, making sure kids are good students, good people,
making the right decisions. That's really, realistically the stuff that
makes or breaks you at this level. And like you said,
having those four years under at Liberty and being able
to go into this and kind of known what to

(01:02:34):
expect this.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
Time around.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Very very exciting. I know South Harrison fans are excited
from what I've heard from them early on, excited to
have you and excited looking forward to seeing what the
team looks like next year. But I can't let you
go yet because before you and I jumped on the call,
we were having a an absolutely psychotic conversation about about

(01:02:57):
sports video games. And I'm glad to know that Zach
Bart is a fellow sports video game psycho like me.
So the question that I have for you, though, if
there is one change that you could make to any
sports video game out there right now or even in
the past, what would the one change be.

Speaker 6 (01:03:17):
Yeah, I'm soute different than everybody else. I want the
full ability to edit the structure of the dynasty format
and the franchises, and the ability to the stuff that
the AI creates for you. I want the ability to
edit that to make it more realistic. When they have
flaws and no and everyone doubt there are going to

(01:03:39):
be like you lost me. But that's just I can't
and to add to this, like if everybody's going to
have their opinion of coaches and whatever, anybody's opinion is
of me, my strategy background. The reason I feel like
it's just it's a I don't know strength is because
of sport Fit video games. The conversation we just had

(01:04:02):
about you know, how realistic we try to make these
games and run these franchises and handle personnel. I've been
doing that since I was like nine years old. I
wasn't the guy. I wasn't the kid playing NBA GM
and create my own team and beat everybody by one hundred.
I'm playing. I'm running two minute drills and orchestrating transactions

(01:04:23):
like I'm running a billion dollar you know, a multi
billion dollar franchise, and it really shows up at the
end of these basketball games. I can't like, if we
ever got a shot clock in high school basketball, which
is a different argument in its own. You know, you
know me two for ones and how many shot clocks
and time management situations I've managed on video games in

(01:04:43):
the last twenty years of my existence. Like so when
these guys who don't play video games, like and they said, oh,
you just want to go play video games, Well, do
you know how many how many times this situation you've
got to manage five times that I've managed five hundred times?
Like this is all right? So I just played this
like ten years ago at the Brooklyn Nets and the Lakers,
Like we should do this right here.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
How do you think how do you think students that
you've coached in the past would react to the way
that you play sports?

Speaker 6 (01:05:09):
Video games can't have a conversation. It's not audio in
a conversation. I'm a dinosaur. I don't exist anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
I love it. I love it again, Coach Zach bart new,
head coach of South Harrison High School. Really appreciate your time, man.

Speaker 6 (01:05:26):
Yep, I appreciate you having me as always. Can't wait
for next year.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Yeah, very excited and that will probably be our only
basketball segment I imagine of the spring. So, guys, we're
gonna take a break. This is the Friday Free for
All brought to you by Dan Cavatore to you a
GMC back after.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
This time for more high school sports talk on the
Dan Cavatoyo Wick GMC Friday Free for.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
All, now joined by my partner in crime, the Man,
the Myth, the Legend. It is Chris Johnson of connect Bridgeport,
also a leader of the Rebel Alliance.

Speaker 5 (01:05:59):
What's up, Chris and what's going on? Man?

Speaker 4 (01:06:02):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Not much. I'm I'm enjoying, really enjoying the weather we
got most of this week, and it looks like I
gonna continue getting after a couple of showers coming through
this way this weekend. But uh, it finally feels legitimately
like spring has sprung. The I'm hoping that the forty
degree days are officially done because that's that's always my

(01:06:25):
least favorite part of spring, which is the part where
it's not quite winter but the weather's not nice.

Speaker 8 (01:06:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:06:30):
Yeah, you know, there's days were like the first trip
where you take the dog outside, you know, I have
a sweatshirt on. Then the next time it's like it's
like blistering outside. So well, yeah, now I'm glad the
warmer weather is here. We've had a couple of interesting
situations at the Johnson household with the warm weather. You know,

(01:06:53):
at air conditioner going out. Oh no, but we're a
lawnmower literally catching on fire.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Oh no.

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
Oh yeah. So yeah, it's been an eventful few days.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
That's a good reminder. That's a good reminder about the
transition from from cold weather to warm weather. And uh,
we need to check those because we did start the
ac for the first time this week and everything seemed
to be okay with it. The one thing that we
did do so we have a push a manual push mower,
and the blades need to be sharpened. So I tore
my hands up trying to uh mow the backyard because

(01:07:28):
the blades were so dull and the grass was so long.
So I took it to the shop. It's getting I
don't know how to sharpened blades, but it's getting it's
getting sharpened. It's everything's moving in the right direction. But
in the meantime, the front yard is very, very long
because we we only got to one side because I
was like, I can't, I can't possibly, I can't do
any more damage to my hands. This is so gonna

(01:07:50):
get that. Hopefully get that done this weekend. Maybe on
Sunday when the weather's.

Speaker 9 (01:07:53):
A little bit nicer, hopefully I can get caught up
with the yardwork. Uh here with a nice scuple. I mean,
you know how it is. It doesn't matter if you
have a big yard, medium yard, small yard. If you
let it get ahead of you, you're just playing catchup
all summer.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
The start of I think this time of year is
when theoretically you have your most yard work that you're
gonna do, because you never know when to actually start,
at least if you're me. Because I couldn't believe how
tall my grass was, and I realized, okay, I should
have I should have mowed this, you know, weeks ago.
But then I'm thinking to myself, Yeah, it's been cold
and rainy. Who's gonna moudde when it's cold and rainy.
So anyway, it is baseball weather, though, and that's that's perfect.

(01:08:32):
One quick note before I before I jump into some
of the high school stuff. So I did my final
broadcast of the I guess you'd call it the academic
school year. And so I did like a short season.
I did twelve total broadcasts for Salem doing softball and baseball,
little combo of each and first of all a ton

(01:08:53):
of fun. Second of all, Salem baseball pretty good. Salem
softball not bad, though they struggled the last couple of
games I saw them. Sales baseball pretty good. I was
actually I was actually really impressed. But they they won
thirty games, thirty two games last season, and this season
they were off to a really hot start. They took
three out of four from Fairmont State and they've just
been playing really really well since they got into even

(01:09:13):
though they're not technically in the NEC they're in they
play a Mountainee schedule. But so it was very impressed,
and lots of local kids on on these teams. Salem's
got some of the younger kids, so they're not really
playing like Aiden Eddie from Doddridge County is on Salem,
and then Fairmont State may as well be they they
may as well be Bridgeport, you know part two, You
know what I mean, Like a lot of Bridgeport kids

(01:09:35):
on that Fairmont State baseball team.

Speaker 9 (01:09:37):
Yeah, Quinton Reap, as far as I know, he's having really, really,
really good season for the Falcons.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
So yeah, he had a great series and Salem in
obviously a losing effort, but he had a he had
a great series, so very talented family, the reaps as
I understand it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
Yeah, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
Yeah, So I just wanted to make that note. And
I'm excited to have a This feels like the start
of summer in a way, because now the weather is nice,
you have the NFL Draft this week. Uh, it's just
this is great. This is a great this, this is
I don't have a game broadcast. As much as I
love doing it, four and a half months without a
game broadcast is a nice treat.

Speaker 4 (01:10:15):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
And we don't really have any football to talk about yet,
though I'm sure we will. Uh. So let's let's jump
even over to baseball. Better week from Bridgeport. Uh, they
improved their record to fifteen and five. That included a
thirteen to twelve victory over our CB Thursday afternoon. Uh,
that's a that's a wild game off script for Bridgeport there.

Speaker 5 (01:10:35):
Huh.

Speaker 9 (01:10:36):
Well, you know Roberts, well, you know we've talked about it.
You know, you know the spring we have Robert C.
Burns pretty good and uh, you know, I think that's
probably a game they felt like they maybe let get
away from from themselves. I mean, you know, I think
they had a nine run fifth inning, you know, took
a you know, pretty sizable lead, and you know, but
you know, just baseball is for one of those games

(01:10:58):
man with without that tome clock. I mean, it's not
over until that third out is recorded. And uh, you know,
you know, Bridge Sports had a couple of dramatic you know,
your wins the season. You know, the last game in
the McDonald's classes where they knocked off Cable Midland was
in walk off.

Speaker 2 (01:11:13):
Fash And so how about the bats coming alive the
last two games, I think they have twenty four runs.
So the yeah, I mean that was a real concern
when the season started was they got the pitching, but
where are the bats? And the bats seem to have
come alive.

Speaker 9 (01:11:26):
Yeah, uh, you know, and I know Jacob Starracas, Uh,
he's probably their best starting pitcher, came in in relief
and kind of closed the door on Bird, you know,
in that thirteen twelve game. But talking about you know,
someone stepping it up offensively, I mean last night checked,
I mean, he's leading the team in RBIs and he's
getting a little more you know, play appearances.

Speaker 5 (01:11:48):
This year. You didn't you know, what he has previously
in his career.

Speaker 9 (01:11:52):
So it's getting getting the job done on on at
bat and on the.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
Mount and wild to think we're now two weeks away,
basically two weeks away from the start of the postseason.

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
It flew, It really flew. And I'm just glad the
weather's been a little bit better of late.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:12:11):
I actually I saw some, not all, of the softball regional.

Speaker 5 (01:12:17):
Pairings uh today, you know, you know, from down south.

Speaker 9 (01:12:20):
So I'm sure the ones you know in our immediate
area or being worked on or you know, close to
being finalized, and we should know them here if I
had to guess, you know, probably by you before the weekends.

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
Yeah. Yeah, that's man, that's crazy. That's that feels so fast.
And yet you know, baseball is of these, you know,
of the sports, it really does have the abbreviated uh season.
Real quick, before we get into some other stuff, I
just want to I want to wrap baseball with the
power rankings that came out uh most recently this week.
Uh and in class quadruple A obviously, I mean people,

(01:12:59):
folks have Jefferson a lot, and guess what folks, they
are a top unanimously. Class Quadruple A right now with
ten first place votes. Bridgeport number two this week, Fairmont
Senior three, both getting first place votes, Bridgeport getting four
out of ten, Fairmont Senior one out of ten, Ripley

(01:13:19):
getting five out of ten, RCB at six and then
looks like East Fairmont receiving votes after that. In Double A,
Philip Barber's lost a couple now that they finally started
playing again, they dropped down to four. Still having a
really good season there. South Harrison and Doddridge County hold
study at nine and ten. In Class Double A, Gilmer
County number one now though it's close, Gilmour and Man

(01:13:43):
each splitting four first place votes. Madonna with two. That's
your one two three. In single A, Clay Btel at
number eight. Tigerts Valley having a really nice season. They're
at six. Notre Dame is receiving votes still but is
not in the top ten those year boys' rankings so far,
and Bridgeport a good bounce back week though we talked

(01:14:04):
about it, but they bounce back in these rankings as well,
from four to two.

Speaker 9 (01:14:07):
Chris, Yeah, you know, I don't let me ask your
opinion on this does this seem like there's more parody
both locally and at the state level and baseball than
what we've seen in basketball and football this year.

Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
That's exactly what in every ranking I feel like we've
seen this year, there's always been a pretty clear number
one for the most part, and certainly I think that's
been the case in basketball, and more on the girls
side than on the boys side than anything else. But yeah,
in baseball, I mean you look at it, there are
clearly folks are divided on what they think, and now

(01:14:46):
theoretically that could make for a pretty good tournament coming up. Now,
I will say this, I think it was a Class
Double A and Class quadruple are the ones where it's unanimous.
But I think the amount of parody in Single A
and Triple A more than make up for that because
in trip and you know, in both of those classifications
you have three teams receiving first place votes. You've had
some weeks where four teams have received first place.

Speaker 9 (01:15:07):
Votes, right right, you know, and uh, you know, I
mean you look at Jefferson being number one in Quad A.
I mean, that's such a traditional powerhouse when it comes
to baseball in the state. You know, Bridge that's two
bridge Sports losses, but you know, both games. I mean,
bridge Ford was right there. You know, Jefferson had to
you know, find a way to pull out victorism of
those so uh you know, I mean at the end
of the day you look down at the schedule, you know,

(01:15:29):
losses a loss, but uh, you know, I mean, you know,
Bridge Ford has nothing to hang their heads about, you know,
you know from the two times they've seen Jefferson, which
is starting to look like you know, a lot of
people's you know, best team in state.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Let's move over really quickly to the coaches pull rankings
for softball. University coming in at number three in class
Quadruple A, and to your point three teams receiving first
place votes. University not among them, Hurricane, Cavill Midland, Parkersburg
South all getting first place votes. Over there, Morgantown at
number seven. By the way, in Triple A, Grafton coming

(01:16:07):
in at number ten, Lewis County and Lincoln both receiving
votes there, and then in double A Doddridge County at
number five, they are receiving a first place vote. They
got a really nice win this week, come from behind
win over Wahama, Richie County at number eight. Philip Barber
is receiving votes. We know they obviously have been dangerous

(01:16:28):
in the past. Gilmer County at number four in Class
Single A, Trinity at number nine, and that'll pretty much
round out all of north central West Virginia in the
softball rankings. Nothing too surprising there. But if you want,
you know, to your point, how about this one in
Class Triple A in softball. This is your top three
And I've never quite seen this before. Herbert Hoover with

(01:16:50):
five first place votes and sitting in the one spot,
Winfield with two first place votes and sitting in the
two spot. Frankfurt with five first place votes but sitting
in the east spot, and they were undefeated at the
time the poll was taken, So a little wild there.
You don't often see that where a team with more
first place votes is behind. So I think what that
also probably tells you is there's a lot of disparity

(01:17:12):
on what Frankfurt softball is right now.

Speaker 9 (01:17:14):
Yeah, yeah, you know, uh, I haven't seen them yet,
but you know you they're going to be involved with
a lot of teams in our area. When you when
we get to postseason play in that region. Uh when
you with reshuffling it took place this year, so yeah,
I mean, you know, you know, that's always an issue,
and I was I'm finally curious that the teams that

(01:17:36):
are able to navigate that well, because you know, it's
kind of put you know, a little bit of a
chip on your shoulder. I mean, you know, we tell
kids and not pay attention to stuff like that, but
you know they do. You know, you know, I mean,
you know, how do you respond? You know, do you
like you know, you know, you have to take attitudes.
It's like, well, let's go out there and let's show
people they're wrong for the way to vote in US

(01:17:59):
or you know.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
So yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:02):
I mean I look forward to I think those postseason
games are going to be super interesting. I look forward
to seeing them and hopefully you'll get a chance to
cover one of those games, depending on obviously who they play.

Speaker 9 (01:18:14):
But hey, what a spring for Dodgers. County baseball and
softball teams are both really good. And I think this
is a school up until you know, maybe the past
three or four years. I mean, this is a track
school when it comes to spring sports season because they've
been so dominant, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:18:29):
At that sport.

Speaker 9 (01:18:29):
It's still very good this year too, but you know,
baseball and softball joining in with some of that spring
success for the Bulldogs.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
Let's we're gonna switch gear. I know this is crazy,
crazy to switch gears to basketball, but the annual North
South Game is coming up in June. The All Star
rosters have now been announced. In addition to obviously we
talked a little bit about the coaches who had been
announced last week. We're going to start on the girls side.
North All Stars announced pretty good roster At no surprise

(01:18:58):
there alyssa Abel from Buchannan Upsher, Maddy Beelin from Elkins,
obviously a really good player, Caitlin Blake from Wheeling Central Killa,
Dandridge from Spring Mills, Addie Davis from Saint Mary's, Ali
Ellison who just coming off a phenomenal season for Gilmour County,
Raven Matthews who's been great for Tucker Macy Neely from Cameron,
Faith Pickens from Williamstown, Hannah s Temple from University, Avery

(01:19:21):
Townsend from Pendleton County, and last, but certainly not least
on this list, only last alphabetically is Selena Wilson from
right here in Clarksburg Notre Dame High School. Congratulations to
her nice looking roster there. Obviously it's not necessarily about winning,
but that's a pretty good group.

Speaker 9 (01:19:40):
Yeah, I would take that group into into any matchup.

Speaker 5 (01:19:47):
A lot of talent you know on that North for
astar for sure.

Speaker 9 (01:19:51):
So yeah, and like you said, hats off to you know,
Selena Wilson from from getting in you for not to Dame,
so you know, because you know, I know it made
the state tournament this year, but you know, she really
kind of flew under the radar.

Speaker 5 (01:20:08):
Last year.

Speaker 9 (01:20:09):
Any people who saw her like, whoa, it's someone to
keep Nile one. But it's nice to see her get
a little state wide attention.

Speaker 2 (01:20:17):
So yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. On the boy's side, North
all stars include Trevin Bonner from Tucker County, Boston Bowers
from Liberty, Harrison Jade and Bryant from Williamstown, Cashawn Creek
from Martinsburg, Ladanian Cumberledge from Fairmont, Navier Hewitt from Parkersburg,
South Cruise Icily from Williamstown, Marty Johnson from Morgantown, Preston

(01:20:39):
Lozader coming off a great season from Clay Bateel, Benjamin
Putnam from Lewis County, Parker Shram from Williamstown, and surprise, surprise,
also only alphabetically last, Phoenix Sickles, the class Triple A
All State captain made the roster as well. Of course,
very familiar with the coaches there as well. We talked
about that last week with UH with with the Dave

(01:21:01):
Marshall and Zach Bart coaching that team, and they've got
a pretty good group they'll take with them to that game.

Speaker 3 (01:21:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:21:07):
You know what I really like about you know that
North Boys lineup is and there's a lot of of length.
There's a lot of kids who got some height, but
some athletics says them to go along with it. It
should be really fun to watch, you know, and you know,
good to see Phoenix and you know, coach Marshall getting
you know, one more game together. And speaking of Phoenix,

(01:21:28):
you know, news just came out, you know a few
days ago. You know he's uh committed to Fork Union,
you know, which is yeah, that tremendous basketball program, you know,
and you know he will then you know, reclassify, you
know for the class of twenty twenty six. So there's
a lot of great basketball players have chosen that path

(01:21:48):
and it's started out very very well for him. So uh,
you know, so you know, congratulations to Phoenix, you know,
on that decision for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
Yeah, and Phoenix Sicals season numbers are just phenomenal. Twelve
point three points per game, seven and a half rebounds
per game, three point three assists per game, two point
one steals per game for the Class Triple A state champs,
part of obviously just an outstanding group for Bridgeport this year.
A couple of other things of note, Chris, before we

(01:22:16):
let you get out of here, Carter Zuliai making surprise surprise,
a multi sport star making news once again this week.

Speaker 9 (01:22:25):
Yeah, that the school record in the discus. I believe
it was the first meeting season, but he broke his
own record last week. We'll i'll throw over one hundred
and fifty feet, so from the best I can tell,
it's the second best throw in the state this year.
But you know, I obviously you know, school record for Bridgeport.

(01:22:48):
So tell you, man, he's gonna be contention here to
win this thing when it comes statement Tom in Charleston,
you know, and at this point, would anybody be surprised
see you know, Carter Zuliani, you know, win a state
championship and track and field.

Speaker 5 (01:23:04):
I mean he might as well. I mean after the
year he's had, right, I feel.

Speaker 2 (01:23:08):
Like it's not gonna be that long, Chris. Before there's
gonna be like a there's gonna be a game with
a national crew coming to town and Carter Zuliani is.
They're gonna be doing prep work, prep work on him,
and they're gonna be scouring the connect Bridgeport website for
everything Carter Zuliani did as a high school kid. They're like,
this kid was how many sports did this kid play?
And make a little call to Chris Johnson, I need

(01:23:28):
all you all you got, or to Travis Jones, I
need all you got on Carter Zuliani. Uh for tonight's
ESPN Thursday night game between West Virginia and Baylor. I'm
telling you we're not that far from that happening.

Speaker 9 (01:23:40):
Yeah, and we got plenty of information, right you know,
you know that's not even getting into the whole uh
zules lemonade, you know phenomenon, because you know, I mean,
you know, as great as Carter is, I mean, Zul's
lemonade may be more popular or more successful than him.

Speaker 2 (01:23:59):
For now, now, I will admit I've actually never had Zools.
So the next chance I get, I'm gonna have to
I'm gonna have to stop and get some.

Speaker 9 (01:24:06):
You gotta get well, man, And I'm telling you stay tracked.
Met especially, that's like a lot of people's like, you know,
like treat. It's like, Okay, we're getting near the end
of day two. It's ten thousand degrees down here on
the turf. I'm gonna go get a Zools lemonade.

Speaker 7 (01:24:24):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:24:24):
They're they're they're really good, really really good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:27):
So what what a great what a great time of year.
This is a great time for for spring sports. The
obviously students are getting ready to finish up the school year.
I mean, the the WVU students really are wrapping up.
I had I had kids telling me this week that
they're they're not even gonna have any finals. Some of
the kids I still keep in touch with over at
the university from the college radio station that there their

(01:24:47):
finals are occurring so early now that during actual finals
week they don't have any finals. And I just thought
to myself, where was this one? I was in college?

Speaker 5 (01:24:58):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
How often? How often you have two finals on the
same day, and it's like, all right, I gotta I
gotta decide which one am I cramming for overnight?

Speaker 9 (01:25:06):
Yeah, oh, you know, way too often. But yeah, you're right.
I mean, you know we're closing. I mean I'm starting
to see people you get, making making new series plans
for graduation and and prom Uh. I mean you know,
the social media tomlines are like flooded with like, you know,

(01:25:26):
people trying to sell or found problem you know, apparel
right now. So yeah, man, you know it's that time
of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Yeah, before we go, So I will tell you. I'll
be up front. I haven't watched and Or yet. That
is the plan this weekend. But before I can get
to that on Sunday, I do have Or maybe tonight.
I might do tonight, but before I can get to
and Or. And we are going to get to Andor
in a second, but before I can get to it.
I've heard great things so far about season two. But

(01:25:55):
I did want to throw a quick shout out to
South Harrison Football. I'm looking forward to seeing the coaches
and hopefully some players and fans this weekend. There is
an elimination dinner in Lost Creek. Uh, and they're raising
some money for South Harrison Football. So I that's what
I'm gonna be doing this weekend. And it's crazy to
think it's it's late April, but this will be officially

(01:26:17):
for me. I will be thinking about I'm going to
think of this as the first football event of the year.
That's how I'm doing it is the first football event
of twenty twenty five, and thus football season begins sort
of for me this weekend.

Speaker 5 (01:26:32):
Hey, there you go.

Speaker 9 (01:26:33):
You know, we talked about stuff like problem and graduation
coming out, and you're right over the eels that is,
you know, the flex days exactly exactly, and then before
we know it, we're you know, talking about camp opening
in August, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:26:46):
And so yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:26:48):
Man, it's just every year I get older, man, the
time seems to fly bys.

Speaker 5 (01:26:52):
You know, football will be here before we know what.

Speaker 4 (01:26:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26:56):
So, okay, have you watched and or yet I.

Speaker 5 (01:26:58):
Have not either?

Speaker 2 (01:26:59):
Okay, all right, all right now I feel better about that. Now.

Speaker 9 (01:27:04):
Do you find it becoming more and more difficult to
avoid spoilers? I mean, yeah, it's corners of the Internet.

Speaker 2 (01:27:14):
Yeah, No, it's it's basically no, man, it's basically it's impossible.
It's impossible to avoid I mean, there's no, there's no
avoiding it. And and especially because like I don't know
if you're like me, but like I'm not. Obviously, I
think folks will realize this when it comes to any show,
not just this one. I'm not. I don't need to
rush to watch it, you know what I mean? Like
I'm good with waiting a little bit, and and I

(01:27:36):
don't need to watch it at midnight. You know, I've
been disappointed at midnight plenty of times in my life.

Speaker 5 (01:27:41):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:27:42):
I don't need to wait or wait around and wait
up at midnight and be tired watching the first episode
of a show. But no, you're you're one hundred percent right,
because the downside of that is, yeah, you're gonna you're
gonna hit some spoilers.

Speaker 5 (01:27:54):
Yeah no, I you know I'm the same way.

Speaker 9 (01:27:57):
Like you know, I want to say, its not a
block of time where I can actually like watch it
and enjoy it, you know, you know I I I
I don't ever want to be the type of person
to watch something just to avoid.

Speaker 5 (01:28:09):
Being spoiled on it.

Speaker 9 (01:28:10):
But uh uh, you know, it just seems like you know,
it's getting more difficult and all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
You know, uh no, there's no question about it. The
real question is this is I haven't had this. No
one spoiled this, probably because it's not a thing until
we make it a thing. But I want to start
a campaign. We got to get Steve Earle canonically in
the Star Wars universe. You can't use his song and
the trailer and then not not let Steve Earl just

(01:28:36):
become Steve Earl's got to be like he's got to
be like, I don't know, like a like a colonel
who also you know, he's like a hard edged colonel.
Everybody thinks is like a total total b a but
or a band for whatever. But as it turns out,
he's got a softer side and he plays music and
plays like Star Wars guitar and uh and that's that's
that's his character, is that he's actually he's a musician
who joined the joined the Resistance, joined the Rebel Alliance.

(01:28:58):
I need a canonical Earl in the Star Wars universe.
That's that's that's my thing.

Speaker 5 (01:29:04):
Yeah, shoot man, now I'm thinking. I mean, it's like
you can easily see.

Speaker 9 (01:29:08):
Him being you know, like you like in the house
Bain at that at that bar where Han and Luke
you first met.

Speaker 5 (01:29:15):
You know, that seems right up Steve Earle's alley.

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Right, Yeah, he was scouting musical talent when they recruited
him to join the Rebel Alliance. Steve Earl all right,
I've officially I have. I've gone ahead and derailed our
entire conversation, Chris, anything fun coming up this week before
I let you go?

Speaker 9 (01:29:31):
Ah h well, actually, me and my daughter are going
to meet uh Brett hit Me and Heart on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (01:29:41):
Oh, pretty big name from the wrestling word.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
Yes, No, I have a Okay, so I have I
have a I have a tertiary story. So it's Brett, right,
b r E T T I think just one t okay, Okay,
so either way, but it's so it's Brett. So and
I was in college when I was at WVU, there
was a player on the club hockey team and we

(01:30:05):
used to broadcast their games named Brent Heart. And so
one of our other broadcasters there, because I'm not a
big wrestling guy, but one of our other ones, who
was a huge wrestling fan, decided he was going to
start calling Brent Hart Brent the hit Man Heart. And
Brent was pretty good by the way, he was a
pretty good, pretty good club hockey player, scored a couple

(01:30:27):
of big goals, and that just kind of stuck one
of my one of my best calls, one of my
best goal calls was him scoring a goal and it
was it was Brent the Hitman Heart. So yeah, that
was that. I don't know enough about the actual Brett Hart,
but I I do know we had we had his
his doppel ganger. Brent Hart played hockey for WVU in

(01:30:48):
the in the late two thousands. There you go, very good. Well,
enjoy that, Chris and I will talk with you in
a week. Brother.

Speaker 5 (01:30:56):
All right, man, sounds good.

Speaker 2 (01:30:57):
All right, We're gonna take a break, frolks. This is
the day Free for All, brought to you by Dan
cavitsho to be a GMC. We're back right after this.

Speaker 1 (01:31:05):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyo WAGMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (01:31:11):
That'll do it for the Friday Free for All today, folks,
thanks for being part of our show. I'll leave you
on this word. If you're not watching the Stanley Cup playoffs,
I don't know what you're doing with your life at
this point. Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA playoffs, We've got great
high school baseball action. It's just a fantastic time for sports.
This is an amazing time of year, all right. But

(01:31:32):
all that being said, thanks to our guests today Chris George,
Chris Johnson, and catching up earlier this week with Greg
Kerry and Zach Bart re airing that interview. Thanks to
him as well. Again, good interview. Don't know what happened
that caused the podcast version to get ruined, but we
will put this one up instead and all will be well.

(01:31:52):
That said, thanks for listening, and don't forget if you
ever missed one of our shows live en podcast ast
form at the speaker app or your perfer podcasting platform.
Just lfs like, follow, or subscribe, depending on what the
nomenclature of your preferred podcasting platform is, and just follow
the Friday Free for All. All right, folks, we'll see
you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:32:22):
You've been listening to the Dan cavatoyot of you at
GMC Friday Free for All. Be sure to tune in
every Friday as we review and preview local high school sports.
This has been a special presentation of WVRC Media and
one O three three wkmz

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