The Stakes are Higher

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
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 Wiederspiel.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good morning and welcome in. Thanks for being here, everybody.
It is good to be back. We took the week
off last week. I just came to the conclusion it's
going to be too difficult to put a show together
while I was on vacation, and I just we've pulled one,
so that breaks the streak. We had a cal Ripkin
like streak going. No joke, I don't even remember the
last time I hadn't done a Friday Free for All.
It might have been more than a year. I'm gonna

(00:41):
have to go back and look at it. But we
are glad. I am glad to be back with You've
got a great show lined up for you today. Got
a couple of guests joining us today. Of course, we
are deep into baseball regional and softball regional play now,
so very excited for that. We're gonna chat with Coming up,
We've got a special guest joining us for the first

(01:04):
time ever on the show. Really excited about this. Eli Brady,
who is a student but is also the play by
play voice of Fairmont's Senior Baseball. We're gonna chat with
Eli about what's been going on over at Fairmont's Senior
very excited to hear how they're doing. They are, of course,
getting set for their regional final against Brooke after winning

(01:28):
twenty one of twenty five games. They have a chance
to advance to the state high school baseball tournament if
they can take two out of three against Brook. We're
gonna talk with him. Coming up. We're gonna talk, of course,
with Chris George momentarily, or well not momentarily, that's wrong.
We're gonna talk with Chris George closer to the top
of the eight o'clock hour. So here's basically the note

(01:50):
we swapped Chris is Johnson and George today. Chris Johnson
is gonna be our first guest coming up in just
a moment. We're gonna take a few minutes, maybe more
than that. We're gonna take some time to basically set
all the major storylines around the state with my typical
co host and partner in crime, Chris Johnson of connect
Bridgeport and then Chris George is gonna come up. He's

(02:11):
gonna be the cleanup here and he's just gonna he's
gonna knock these out of the park. He's gonna knock
all the runs, all the base runners in and we're
gonna get all the details filled in with Chris George.
So that's all coming up. Looking forward to talking with
Eli and the Chris is here on the program today.
So those are our three guests for the Friday Free

(02:32):
for All today. We're only doing three today because just
packed a lot to talk about. We are going to
set the stage, by the way, for all the regional
games that are coming up during the next segment. And
I always want to note as well that you can
find all that information as well if you want to
follow along while we discuss it at wv metronews dot
com check out the high school Sports section. All right,

(02:55):
we're gonna go ahead and take that first break now,
and we're back right after this.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyota Wi GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan Cavat Toyota Buick GMC Alex Wheeterspiel here with
you and on the line now my typical co host
who's more of a correspondent during baseball season, Chris Johnson.
He'll be back in the studio with us before long
because I don't know if you guys know this, but
we're basically gonna be talking about high school football in
like just a couple of weeks when we start talking

(03:27):
about flex days. But we'll get to that. We'll get
to that. Chris, what's up man?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Oh? Not much? How are you man?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Doing good? It was good to get a little refresher,
get a little week off, and I used that week
to watch a show that I know both you and
I are quite fond of and Or, which we will
talk about at the end of at the end of
our segment here. I really really enjoyed that, And yeah,
just kind of relaxed. I was hoping to get out
on the golf course, but the weather was the weather stunk.

(03:55):
I don't know how else to put it. It was
really really good for the first four days, and all
four of those were days that I was home visiting
family in New Jersey for Mother's Day and that kind
of thing, So there was no chance to get out
on the golf course and then I came home and
it just didn't stop raining.

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Yeah, and it looks like there was going to be
some more wet weather the next couple of days.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So it's a good thing baseball regionals don't start till
next week, which we will talk about because yeah, this
weather is this is not good at all for baseball weather.
But we may as well, we may as well dive
into that regional play. We can start, of course with Bridgeport.
They are taking on Frankfurt in the one three. Frankfurt
really dispatched. RCB has actually really impressed again, coming up

(04:43):
from Class Double A from a year ago and you know,
obviously defending champs in Class Double A, but now up
in Triple A and this is going to be a
challenge for them, no question. But kudos to them for
taking down a pretty darn good RCB team that really
leveled up this year. And now Bridgeport, who has been
very Jekyll and Hide for much of this season. Uh,

(05:04):
they really need doctor Jekyll in this one.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Yeah. Uh, you know you mentioned Frankfort's defending state champions,
you know, so.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Uh that right there, you know, gives them a little
bit of confidence coming into this, plus you had in fact,
I mean, these two teams split in the regular season,
so Frankfort knows eight can beat Bridgeport.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
So with it being the best out of.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Three, you know, the first game will be in Bridgeport
on Tuesday, then we travel to Frankfort for a game two,
and then if there was need for a game three
will be back in Bridgeport. You know, that's your Bridgeport
gets the two home games being the number one seed.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
So, man, this is gonna be a fun, fun tournament.
I mean, and uh.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
Man, I I I have no prediction on how on
how it's going to play out. I really don't, because
it's two very very good baseball team.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, I feel like I could absolutely see this go
either way. I think the thing I would be most
surprised by at this point is if either of them swept.
I think I think I'm expecting this to to go
the distance, in which case I'm not. I'm not sure
who that You would think in theory that would that
would probably be an advantage for Bridgeport, But as Chris
George has pointed out, you know, there are some concerns

(06:20):
the deeper you get into that rotation. Uh, there are
some there are some concerns because they seem to not
be fully settled on who's number two, who's number three.
Uh so that that's that that is That's kind of
a tough question there. But I I I my mind
says that Bridgeport is maybe a very slight favorite going
into this series against Frankfort.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
And one thing we've talked about it seems like Bridge
Sports bats were striking struggling a little bit, uh coming
down this stretch run of the regular season, last couple
of games and under especially the regional tune up game
on Wednesday they went to Wheeling Park. Our bats are

(07:02):
really starting to wake up a little bit. And you know,
so that's encouraging because.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
You know that.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
You don't know exactly when he's going to be out
on the mound, but when they tried Jacobs Deavarcis out
there as a starting pitcher, they've got a good shot
to beat anybody. I don't care if it's Frankfurt or
Wheeling Park or Philip Barber or Jefferson. Uh, you know,
when Jacob's on the mound, Bridge Sports got a legitimate shot.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Of beating anybody. But that's one game. That's one game.
Out of three.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Ye got to do it twice, like you yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Like you hit it.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
They they've got to find some key pitching from from somebody,
you know. I know, before the seasons started, one guy
they were really counting on. And I believe Chris George
could probably could probably talk about this a lot better.
But I believe, you know, Justin Devall has been battling
injuries all year and I don't know if he's been

(07:56):
shut down completely.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
I know he hasn't played in several several games, but you.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Know, before the season started, I think he was, you know,
to clear cut number two or number three in that rotation,
and last year was such a valuable pitcher out of
the bullpen for them. Really had some some strong outings
as a junior. But like I said, I think injuries
are just kind of derailed a senior season.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
So let's go over. So here's the full list and
folks who can find this right now at wv metronews
dot com. The regional final matchups Wheeling Park and Morgantown
in Class Quadruple A, Jefferson and Hedgesville in Class Quadruple
A GW, and Saint Albans. So far, these are all
one versus two, and that remains the case in Region four,

(08:42):
where Hurricane is taking on Spring Valley in Class Triple
A Brook and Fairmont Senior, that's a one to two. Ripley,
Sissonville another one two point, pleasant Winfield a one two.
So in the top two classifications only one region and
that's the Bridgeport Frankfurt region when it against the Chalk,
so Frankfurt the number three gets. And then in Class

(09:03):
double A Wheeling Central Catholic Williamstown. We're going to talk
about this one quite a bit in just a moment.
Philip Barber South Harrison, Wyoming East James Monroe, Logan, Charleston
Catholic again all chalk. And then in Class single A
Madonna Cameron, Tigerts Valley, East Hardy, Greater Beckley, Christian Webster County,
and then Man Gilmer County. And in two of those

(09:24):
that went against the Chalk, East Hardy a three seed
advancing and Gilmer County a four seed advancing into the
regional final against Man by the way, who is a two.
So a little bit a little bit of chalk in there.
That one's a little bit different looking. It's not quite
a one to two or a one to three. It's
a two four, So that's the only one that's not

(09:44):
either a one two or a one three. But you
mentioned this. I mean, and we've talked about this AUP
a couple of times, how excited we were to see
the possibility of South Harrison and Philip Barber and you
and I mentioned this two weeks ago. I talked about
this with Greg Carry earlier this week. If you went
by that bracket, it was not a lock that this
one was going to be Chalk. South Harrison kind of

(10:05):
had so, you know, you look at the two of them.
Philip Barber had issues getting games in because of the weather,
and South Harrison had a real dip in the middle
of the season. Really strong start, really strong finish, but
a dip in the middle of the season. But the
Hawks are kind of red hot again at the moment,
and now they are right where they were a year ago.
They're one series away from getting to Charleston, which if

(10:28):
I recall correctly, they have never done. What better way
to do it than against a burgeoning border rival in
Philip Barber.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's an interesting point.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
I haven't thought whoever wins this, it's gonna be advancing
and Charleston for the first time in school history. As
far as like you need a school has ever been
in state baseball tournament in Charleston.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Not an easy tournament to make, as we.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Know, no, no, you know.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
And one of the things about Philip Barber, you know,
if we just you'll go back to Bridgeport for a second,
and we you know, Bridgeport, it seemed like every year
as a contender to be the last team standing and
still a strong contender for that to happen this year.
If Philip Barber's played Bridgeport twice this year, they beat

(11:18):
bridge Sports seven and nothing. And then just a couple
of days ago in a regional tune up game for
you for those who don't know, that downtime between the
first half of the region is being completed and when
they start the regional finals, you're allowed to pick up
games against other teams who are still alive. So Bridgeport

(11:39):
and Philip Barber played each other other day. Bridgeport won
four to three in ten innings. So they've lost by
one run in ten innings to Bridgeport and shut them
out seven to nothing.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
That right there, tell us me.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
I mean Philip Barber is another team like on any
given day can beat anybody in state.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
I think that's a good I think it's a great point.
It's gonna be I think especially with a kid like
Leyton Wagman on the mound, who has had some really
dominant performances this year, and a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
He has acted.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, he has acted as his own run support a
couple of times as well in games where the South
Harrison bats weren't really working. So that's a really exciting player.
These are two teams that both have pretty good pitching
at the top there. It's in a lot of ways,
you know, you kind of think this one feels like
it's likely going to come down to a third game,

(12:30):
more than likely. And I think that's gonna be true
of a lot of these series where you've got really
really good pitchers right at the top, because you're you're thinking,
you know, if you're a manager, I wonder how much
you're thinking. If I know I've got one really good guy,
I probably am gonna want to throw him opposite or
I'm sorry, I'm gonna want to throw him in the

(12:52):
other game where the other ace is not throwing to
guarantee myself one out of two wins.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great point. So so we'll
see there's there's a little bit of a chess match
that goes on between you know, the head coaches, you
know of all these teams that are still a lot
at this point, you know when to when to throw
your your your number one, you know, you know, you
know a lot of times that I've seen teams you

(13:20):
start out with their number one, get a big lead,
get their number one out so he can come.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Back and throw another inning, you know, you later.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
In the best right, So you know there's all kinds
of strategy, uh that comes into this, and yeah, so
it makes it so fun.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Right, Yeah, no, it's true and so also a lot
of fun. And again, I know there is some rain
in the forecast for Monday, but it doesn't look like
it's going to be horrible right now. It looks like, uh,
Memorial Day is probably going to be mostly overcast with
a with spurts of rain. So as far as the
series beginning, Gilmer and Man will start on Monday, so

(13:58):
will East, Hardy and Heigertz Valley that's in Class single A.
In Double A, James Monroe and Wyoming East will start
on Monday. In Triple A, Winfield and Point Pleasant will
start on Monday, and in Quadruple A, Spring Valley and
Hurricane will start on Monday. Every other series will open
on Tuesday. So the really big ones that you and

(14:19):
I are going to be paying attention to South Harrison,
Philip Barber, and well really the three big ones, because
the other one we haven't mentioned is Fairmont Senior and Brook.
But Bridgeport, Frankfort and then Fairmont Senior Brook those all
start on Tuesday, So those are really really big. And again,
whether permitting, we should theoretically have all of those decided
by next Friday when we get back on for the

(14:40):
next edition of the Free for All, which will give
us plenty of content to talk about, because I previewing
is fine, but I much prefer I much prefer reviewing
in many cases, and we'll get a chance to see
a lot of data here because this is this is
the fun stuff. This is what they've this is essentially
this in the previous round. This is what the whole
regular season was about. This is why when we talk

(15:03):
about the grueling schedules of South Harrison, the grueling schedules
of Bridgeport, of Philip Barber that they put together for themselves.
It's for this moment.

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah, and you know, I'm go ahead and create a
little segue for us. You know, we talked about, you know,
the excitement of South Harrison and Philip Barber never advanced
this to the state tournament.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
If we can fast.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Forward a year, both would be going right right, There's
big changes coming to the state baseball tournament set up.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
I'm very curious about your opinion on this. So for
those who are not aware, this was just announced on Wednesday,
a major shakeup to the state baseball tournament coming to
start next season. They are going to double the tournament
in size from four to eight in all four classifications
starting in twenty twenty six. So that is I mean,

(15:58):
that's major. And as you mentioned, and there are teams who,
like South Harrison a year ago, theoretically would have been in.
They were here on the doorstep a season ago. So
I'm curious your thoughts on this because it does kind
of shorten the regional round now and it gets rid
of the need for these regional finals. Where do you

(16:19):
stand on this?

Speaker 4 (16:23):
I like adding more teams, you know, I liked there
being eight teams to sort of four. My issues come
from more of a logistical standpoint that most people don't
even care about, and that's fine.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
You know, it creates a situation where.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
You go from the state baseball tournament being three days
to it being a week because the proposed brackets are
would actually start the Saturday for the title games with
the Class A quarterfinal games. Then they would come back
on Monday, play the Double A, play Trip A on Tuesday,

(17:10):
Quada on Wednesday, then come back on Thursday and have
the Class A and Double A semis. Friday would be
at the Triple A and Quade semis, and then the
four state title games Saturday.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
It's a week long. Now.

Speaker 4 (17:27):
We've already talked about the weather. You know, I just
like I don't know what the plane is. If there's
a day where rain is going to be a factor,
what the plane is, because you would already have four
games scheduled the next day. If you know, just say

(17:48):
that Monday that the Class A or Class Double a's
are supposed to play. If to those if even one
of them gets rainder, out let lane, all four of them,
when do we play them? Because you've already got four
games scheduled the next day. I'm sure there's been plans discussed,

(18:10):
uh before this least, I would hope so. And I
noticed in the S S a c's release and said
at the bottom they would have uh start taking bids
for where this State Baseball.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Tournament would take place.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
You know, it's been you know, in Charleston at I
can't even think, I mean the name of the field.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I think it's yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Okay, And that's a great place to have it.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
It's an incredible facility for State Baseball tournament.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
But it's also home to a minor league baseball team.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
So that's a big ask asking a team, you know,
because you can kind of work around their schedule like
when they may be on the road and stuff. But
to not be able to have their whole field for
a week compared to three days, I mean, that's an issue.
And that kind of leads me to think that there's

(19:05):
a good chance State Baseball Tournament is.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Going to be leaving Charleston.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah. But you know, the kind of the challenge there though,
is that it's the same thing in in Morgantown. They
have a they obviously it's a it's a it's a
draft league minor league team. But it's the same thing
in Morgantown. They have a they have a minor league
team there, and hypothetically, and it's not out of the
question that here here's here's a real wrench. And again,

(19:33):
I'm sure there are people who could answer this. What
if wvu's hosting a regional or a super regional in
theory and baseball. I don't know what the exact dates are,
but if I'm remembering correctly, when they went to UNC
last year, I'm after they won their regional. I believe
it's either a two or a three seed last year.
I don't remember where they were seated, but if they

(19:54):
were when they went to UNC, and I'm gonna look
this up right now, what those dates were. You know,
how would that like that? You know, they are sharing
that stadium with the Black Bears, so that could be
a challenge as well. And I don't really know what
other options there are at that point. When you eliminate
Morgantown and Charleston, do you say Huntington.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah, but you could potentially run into the same case
because Marshall has that amazing new baseball facility. But again,
that's Marshall's field, you know, and there's going to be
years where Marshall's still playing baseball this time of year.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Hey, by the way, so real quick, I looked up
the dates they were at Chapel Hill on June seventh,
So that would in theory, fall right in line with
the I'm bringing it back up right now, that would
fall right in line with when the state championships would
actually be because these semi finals and championships would be

(20:48):
June fifth through I'm sorry, Yeah, this year it's going
to be June fifth through seventh, So again right in
line with that. That's that's awfully tight on the margins,
as you're pointing out, if they're there's a weather problem,
that's tight.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Y, you know.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
And I'm not sure what if there's gotta be facilities
out there to have more than one baseball field, you know,
within close proximity.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
Maybe a place like.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
That would have an advantage when this comes up for bid,
because you know it, if you could get like a
rained out game played at a neighboring field, uh, you
know that that could potentially solve a lot of problems.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yeah, I don't know whether.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
Yeah, and like you said, there might be years where
the weather is fine for a week, but given springtime,
you know, late spring early summer in West Virginia ranged
generally a factor.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well, so they do have the benefit of Dale Miller
Field up there in Morgantown, So that could be that
could be a theory. But again we are talking about
and and look, I'm fully nowledging this that I'm I'm
not a logistics expert, but you are talking about literally theoretically.
Let's just say, I mean, we're using Morgantown as an example,
but if it's in Morgantown, you're then transporting one, like

(22:13):
an entire event from one facility to a different facility
because of weather concerns or because of weather delays. No,
that's that's a I think that's a really interesting point because, yeah,
if you like, if you look at the way the
schedule is done, if if it rains on that Monday
when Class double as one through eight game is supposed
to be and that's the last game of the day

(22:34):
and they can't get that in, do they try to
squeeze that in and do five games on Tuesday, or
do do they start just everything start getting bumped a
little bit and and all of a sudden now, because
I don't see how you're gonna pull that off like that,
Like that just seems like it almost seems like they
would need another day in there, where perhaps the semi

(22:54):
finals don't start till Friday rather than Thursday, and then
you do Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday is sort of
an off day they have built in there. Again, that's
asking a lot from the venue though, So I agree
with you. I like this in theory. I think this
is I think it's great. There are so many good
teams who get left at home, who don't get to
travel because of the way that the tournament has been

(23:15):
structured historically. But baseball is a weather dependent sport, so
I would definitely be I would be a little concerned.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Yeah, And like I said, I mean, the important thing
is there's four more schools.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
In East classification.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
We get a chance to participate in state baseball tournament,
and that's great.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
And I don't want to uh. I don't think if
one of us is trying to take the focus away
from that, it's just no.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
That rocks. That's why I just do.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
See potential logistical problems h adding that many and extending
the tournament, and you know, with with with the possible
sites and and and that's not even getting into you know,
the coverage aspect of It's like our good friends Greg
Carry and Joe Cauto, they bust their butts when it
comes to state tournament, tom uh and as talented and

(24:06):
as hard working as both of them are, it can't
be in two spots at once.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Uh. You know, so you would hope that we'd be able.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
To avoid having you know, you know, a game here
and you know, you know, in a game somewhere else.
You know, like that, I know, I know we make
it work with soccer, and you know as far as
having you know, multiple actual playing fields and softball, you know,
and and the state tennis tournament. You know, it's at

(24:36):
three different locations throughout Charleston. Uh, you know, so we
can make it work. It's just you know, it's just
can't create some logistical problems for people.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
You know, let's run down. Let's run down a couple
of other other quick stories on the list here, just
some quick headlines. Uh, we got a couple of football stories.
And you can tell it is that time of year
we are starting to hopefully sniff the air of the
grid iron. It is not that far away. When I

(25:07):
saw Brett Hathaway from South Harrison just you know, a
couple of weeks back and again, it was like there
was this realization, we are not that far away from
really getting into it and diving into another football season.
And on that note, Thursday, August twenty eighth is going
to be the season kickoff, the wv SSAC Kickoff presented
by the West Virginia Army National Guard, and hey, very

(25:32):
exciting at pony lewis Field, Morgantown and Parkersburg to open
up a contest that the Mohegans won twenty four thirteen
last season, though that game also included, which I'm sure
all of us will be hoping does not occur this time,
a two hour rain delay.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Talk about through the state's blue bloods. When it comes
to high school football kicking off the season.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
You know, it's a great choice. You need to kick off
the seat and you know statewide, So yeah, I mean
it's you.

Speaker 4 (26:07):
Think it's like, oh, you know, you know, getting ready
for graduation and state baseball tournament, and uh, you think, oh,
it's you know, in some ways football seems like, you know,
it's way down the road, but it really isn't uh
you know, so you know the news of that, and
then you know the North South rosters have been finalized.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Uh you know, and you.

Speaker 4 (26:32):
You know as well as I do. You're really good
football teams have been in the weight room. You're working
out since January. Uh, so we're gonna be coming up
on the flex days where they can actually get out
on the field and get some stuff done here real soon.
And we're just gonna start seeing the seven on seven tournaments.
So uh yeah it uh we may not be talking

(26:54):
about like regular season games for a few weeks, but uh,
in a lot of ways football seasons here man.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, it's it's fast approaching. So the North South All
Star Football class that coming up on July, is it
July fourteenth or June fourteenth? June fourteenth, June fourteenth, Okay,
so June fourteenth. And here here are the rosters. Noah
Hess from I mean, I'm only gonna go over the
locals because obviously there are kids from from Martinsburg and

(27:22):
some other areas. We're gonna go here the locals from
North Marion, Noah Hess from Morgan down, Aaron Thomas, and
Aiden Steyer from Fairmont Senior, Brody white Hair from Fairmont Senior,
Canon Dinger, Donovan Williams from Bridgeport, Aiden Rice from Lincoln.
That's a great choice. Cam Foley the quarterback from graft

(27:44):
another really good choice. Owen Accord from Lewis County, Hayden
Biggie from East Fairmont, Caleb Arbagast from Fairmont Senior, Maddox
Gillespie Lewis County, Akir Johnson, Morgan Down, Aiden Strayer, Richie County,
John McGhee, Philip Barber, Gabe Bland, North Marion, and Luke
given South Harrison. I think I got all the local

(28:06):
kids from the north central West Virginia region. Everybody else
is either from just outside the region or eastern Panhandle
on the North team, but that's a pretty good representation.
And then Dustin Coger Lewis County head coach of the
North squad.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
And I believe Nick Melee from Philip Barber is one
of his assistants. I'm not sure what the entire coaching
staff is, but I saw Nick posted that he was
happy to get to coach. You know, John mcgae one
more game, so I know he's on coach Coger's staff
for that game. And although the South is being coached

(28:47):
by a national good friend of mine.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
I went to Marshall with you, Clay County, said coach
Jason Nickle.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Pretty good coach too, by the way.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, man. And the North South games
are always a lot of fun.

Speaker 6 (28:58):
You know.

Speaker 3 (28:59):
It's it's one like final time.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
You know, to for these kids to get to play, uh,
you know, a high school contest because you know a
lot of them will be going off to college, you
to continue their careers. And I've always enjoyed, uh talking
to some of the kids throughout the years, like one
of the most enjoyable things they get out of these games.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
And it doesn't matter if it's football or basketball.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
It's like your teammates with with oftentimes you kids that
were your rivals you know at some point and you
get to go spend some time with them and play
with them, and you actually become friends with them.

Speaker 5 (29:42):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (29:42):
I know a lot of kids will will like trade stickers,
you know from the school, or the helmets or even
wear another school's you know helmet, you know, with their uniform.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
It's it's just that whole process of like, hey, this
kid that I couldn't stand because we played in the
regular season.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
He's actually a lot like me.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
We're actually good bodies now, So I think that's an
awesome aspect of these all star type events.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Real quick, before we before we wrap things up, here
are the last major story. The softball regionals are ongoing.
We do have some winners already. University actually swept Morgantown
that included an extra inning game. Now those were both
really tight. The cumulative score a six to three final
between two games, including one in extras, so very very tight.

(30:28):
At University wins them both. Jefferson swept Spring Mills. They
will advance. There is Saint Albans Is up one to
zero on Riverside right now. Cable Midlands swept Parkersburg South
in Class Triple A two tight ones, but Weird gets
the job done against Grafton, ending the Bearcats season. They

(30:48):
swept them for two and four nothing, so a two
oher series win. Frankfurt Identical eight nothing wins over Lincoln
to sweep Lincoln and end their season and advance. Oakland
beat Saintes took them out in a sweep two games
to none. Petersburg swept Doddridge County, Liberty Raleigh sweeps Wyoming East,

(31:09):
Logan sweeps Buffalo, Trinity over Magnolia, getting the sweep and
getting the job done. Pendleton County swept Tucker County to advance,
Greenbrier West swept Mount View to advance, and so on
so forth. There are also a couple of rainouts that
are getting made up. You guys can check all of
that out at the high school sports section of wv

(31:30):
metronews dot com. Any quick thoughts on softball just before
we jump over to the true, the true, main, main attraction,
the thing you and I have been waiting to talk
about for weeks.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
I guess cool as I can see Trinity, you know,
I get down there. You know that's the team is
you know, it's a.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
Program, was conentucking taking some bumps you know along the
way as that sports been built up in that program. So,
uh's kind of cool to get to see them, you know,
go play in the in state tournament.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
So before we go, Uh, we've been we've been teasing
this for weeks, but we have both finally finished. One
of the truly great contributions to the Star Wars universe,
and or was what did you think.

Speaker 4 (32:20):
I think it is one of the best television shows
I have ever.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Watched.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
It is my favorite within the Star Wars universe. And
I don't know about you. I've always been a Han
Solo guy. You know, you go back to when you
first get into Star Wars. It is like you're you're
a Han guy or you're a Loot guy. It's kind

(32:51):
of like the Beatles, you know.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Elvis thing.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
You know, you can like both, but if you know,
I was always a Han solo guy.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
Cassie and and Or has replaced Han Solo as my
all time favorite universe character.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
Yeah, that's that's pretty big.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Right, No, that's that's that's Hue. I will say I
have dressed as both Luke and Hahn and separate Halloweens.
I will say that, m hm, separate Halloweens.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
I mean you can.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
You can definitely like both of them, and there's a
lot to like about both of them.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Same thing with the with Elvis and the Beatles.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
But now I just I was just riveted by everything
that happened in and Or and the Court. You know,
people who aren't into Star Wars, this like leads like
right in like to within two days of what takes
place in the movie Rogue One, which leads right into

(33:46):
the original trilogy.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
With Luke and Han. Uh So.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
Uh as much as I like the whole universe is
just kind of getting lost in it.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
This is my favorite time frame anyway.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
And then you throw in you know, you even mentioned
it a couple of weeks ago about uh uh, it's
like a good spy series.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
It's like and you know, and I know.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
I've mentioned that it's got like a the War feel
to it, so you can buy my favorite era of
Star Wars with with spy movies and the war films.
I mean, it's just like it's just I mean, it's
just right in my wheelhouse, and uh it delivered to me.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
I I'm just.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
Part of me is sad that it's over, but I'm
also excited that this is going to be part of
like my Star Wars Cane and I can go back
and revisit every year.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Yeah. My only complaint, man, is I just wish they
had I get why they The original idea for folks
who are not familiar was to do five seasons, and
they only did two instead, And I wish that season
two was two s There's there's there's four sea seasons
worth of content in season two, and I think they
could have reasonably split it up into two seasons. And

(35:06):
the reason why they didn't is because actors age and
I and that's a that's a challenge that you gotta
you gotta deal with actors age. So it takes them
a really long time to shoot these because the combination
of of of real sets and practical effects and then
digital effects, it's a long long time. I think was

(35:26):
it three years or it was it was at least
two years between season one and season two. Uh, but
I was, I fully agree with you. It's it's a
it's a fantastic addition. You don't need to be a
Star Wars fan to enjoy it. Is great. It was
it lived up to the hype. Uh. And and considering
the fact that season one came out of nowhere right

(35:47):
like nobody was excited for this show. Nobody. I don't
think anybody was really looking forward to that show, and
and the direction that they they went with it was
just was just great. So I I uh, full kudos
to Tony Gilroy, the show runner, who has basically said
this is the only thing he's ever going to do
in the Star Wars universe and that he's done and
he made it count.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
Yeah, I agree. And you know, I mean, I love
like slow burn movies and television shows, and this has
a lot of those elements to it.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
Man. I was like, I love the slow build where.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
You let tension build up from scene the scene, from
episode to episode. And I think Tony Gilroy was just
it's a masterpiece, you know, in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Fully, fully, fully agree, and I highly recommend it to
everybody I know. Lots of lots of gushing. I'm not joking.
The only negative thing I can say about season two
is that I thought they overstuffed it because they wanted
to get all the ideas they had for this five
season TV show that they quickly realized wasn't realistic. They
probably overstuffed too much stuff into season two and it

(36:58):
might have been a little better as is two seasons
instead of instead of one. But overall, just a great
contribution and addition to uh uh and and in its
own right, forget the Star Wars Universe. It's just a
great TV show. That's that's the part that's so Yeah,
that's so interesting. I will say this, and I'm gonna
I'm gonna, I'm gonna die on this hill.

Speaker 7 (37:18):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Since Steve Earl got used in the trailer, we have
to canonize Steve Earl. It is he is now part
of the Star Wars universe. In my opinion, somewhere someone
needs to write Steve Earl somehow, some way into the
Star Wars universe.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
Hey, I'm all for it, and uh, I'm actually speaking
of Steve Earl. Me and my wife are gonna go
see him in concert and wheeling here in just a
couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
That's awesome. That's fantastic.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Uh, you gotta let me know how that show is.
That's that's that's great.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
Yeah, it's like a it's like a solo acoustic storyteller
type show.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, that's that sounds amazing. That sounds great. Hey, Chris,
thanks man, much appreciated for jumping on with me and
uh and spending so much time. Uh, we will let
you go. I've held you way longer than I meant
to and we'll talk with you next week. And counting down.
At this point, we can officially start counting down to

(38:10):
when we transition into football. Not that we don't enjoy
our baseball time as well. But boy, I'm excited for
I'm excited now that we're getting to slowly kind of
peek our head out and see that football is closing
in kind of. I'm getting excited about it. I'm very
very ready for it.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
Yeah, And as per usual, another great high school football
season for North Son for West Virginia is in the works.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
I truly believe that.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, I think we're going to have some really outstanding
teams this year. We'll obviously have plenty of time to
talk about it coming up. All that said, we'll go
ahead and take a break. Chris George is going to
join us. Coming up in just a moment. This is
the Friday Free for All, brought to you by Dan
Cavetzeota Buick GMC back after.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
This time for more high school sports. Gone that Dan
Cavatoyo w a g MC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Friday Free for All rolling on. Thanks again to Chris
Johnson for joining us during our opening segment. He set
the table for us. And now, as I said, Chris
George is joining us as sort of our clean up
hitter for today's episode. He's got the middle power of
the lineup spot to knock out all the storylines we
set up in the first segment, Chris, what's up man?

Speaker 6 (39:25):
Oh, just dancing to the rain drops?

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, how about getting baseball at in this weather. Fortunate
that the regionals have a couple of days. This has
been brutal.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
Yeah, it's been. It's been quite interesting the last two weeks. Really,
we end up stretching our cracket regional in Region two
out till Saturday. I know. The other the bottom bracket,
Bird and Frankfurt didn't get in. Didn't a final game
in on Friday. Sorry Monday, excuse Yeah, Monday, that's right.
And if Bird would have won, they had frank for

(39:58):
we had to come back. So Frankfort did take care
of business there on Monday fifteen to four. It's Bridgeport
and Frankfurt next Tuesday at seven, game one at Bridgeport.
So that'll be interesting. But I'm still looking around most
of the most of the brackets got completed earlier this week.
H So you know, a lot of not really any

(40:20):
sizes around the state that I've seen really to this point,
and some teams that you know, with the way we
had rain, praying, not everyone got thirty two games in
for regular season so you're seeing some game being played
this week against teams that are still alive and in
baseball right now. And Bridgeport picked up a couples this week.

(40:42):
The marathon game that went twelve and back on back
on Tuesday against Philip Barb. I mean, we can talk
about that later, but a marathon game in the when
last when last night up at Winnie Park twelve to five.
So that's where we're at right now.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah, let's let's start with these Bridgeford Indians. They've had
kind of a Jeckyll and Hyde season at times, but
lately it's been more Jeckyll than Hide, and certainly they
seem to have found their hitting a little bit. I
am curious though. One of the things you've talked about
is that they've when they're hitting, what they seem to
do is they manufacture a lot. They don't seem to
have a lot of power. What have they been I

(41:20):
guess how have they been doing on that front? Because
it feels like that's gonna be the biggest obstacle between
them and getting back to Charleston against Frankfort in this
series is can they keep up hitting wise?

Speaker 6 (41:32):
I'm not sure they ever got started to be honest
with you. I mean they've they've done a decent job
getting bunts down, moving runners over, manufacturing runs. One thing
I saw last week in the top regional bracket, Bridgeport
did a much better job getting hits with top's timely hits,
hitting behind runners of runners own base something. Shields has

(41:53):
been trying to pound and pound that this year. If
his God stop trying to lift everything up into the
air and all the fly balls. We'll talk about that
in a minute. But they did a good job last
week against Lincoln and Hampshire of doing just that, getting
two out of its critical hits when they need to
getting guys on base. I know in the Link game,

(42:13):
the first three batters all bunnant for hits in the
Hampshire game, and things got started a little bit slow there,
but then they picked it up there through the game
scored three runs of two outs. Little things. Look at.
That's how Robert Shields baseball teams win championships is is
doing stuff like that, hitting behind runners, hitting the ball

(42:35):
either on the ground the opposite way, or hitting the
line drive squaring off the top half of the baseball.
And of course I forget the good pitching and the
defense has been better. The defense back on Tuesday, and
that twelve nting marathon against Philip Barber had its ups
and downs. Philip Barber's defense had its ups and downs,
but boy neither could hit. That night. Bridgeport struggled against

(42:58):
freshmen Robbie Jones, who did nothing but throw strikes. He
went out there miss pitch as well and threw strikes
in and out kept Sport off balance. Bridgeport had another
double digit Fay flyball out. In fact, here's a stat
for you out back in the two games against Philip
Barbara this year, Bridgeport first off didn't score in fifteen

(43:22):
and two thirds innings against the colts pit okay, and
two games combined, they also had twenty three twenty three
flyball outs. Barbara pitching, I didn't think until maybe the
eighth inning walked more than three batters, and those two
games combined, Bridgeport was able to get a split. They

(43:44):
won in the bottom of the twelfth little controversy there
probably should have went to the thirtieth inning, but it
was a win. We'll talk about that as well. But
and one other thing you know, Bridgeport's also doing right
now is finding ways to win, and that's pretty cool
in the postseason, right, because every game is so important
and I think learning how to win. Bouncing back after

(44:07):
a three hour and forty five minute marathon, the next
take a trip up the wheeling and defeat William Park
twelve to five. Now I know Rolin Robb, the starting
pitcher for the Patriots, had seven walks and three and
a third that helped that total. Then Bridge Sports started
getting some hits after the fact, but still all runs
is exactly what they want. Bridgeport scores twelve runs, are
going to win most play. In fact that Bridge Sports

(44:29):
scores five or six runs, they got a great shot.
They got to get the five or six runs. That's
the question going forward. But interesting back to that Philip
Barber game, and I'll give you the situation. So we're
in the boom of the twelfth inning. The Indians had
a round third which was Shawn By, and we had
two outs with Michael Romano at the plate, and the

(44:51):
count was three balls, two strikes, and landing Carpenter was
the fourth Philip barbera pitcher of the evening, and he
went to throw the three two was a wild pitch
and a dirk got away right of the catcher. Urssust
and got to the backstop coming in. The score was
were one by and everyone celebrating. We thought, okay, game's

(45:13):
over and he and I took my eyes off Michael Romano,
who celebrating with his teammates that they as they rushed
the field, some of them, not all of them, and
all of a sudden, Philip Barber, I look over in
the corner of my mind, I looked the first paced umpire,
Mitch mill and I'm seeing him go out like whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hold everything. At that point, I'm not sure what was

(45:35):
going on because my eyes did not take me off
the runner to put the gout all four because to me,
at that point, the game's over. Because the winning run
came across wild pitch, Michael Romano did not assume first
base and did not carry out the play. The coach
Shields yelled, adding to get over there on the first base,
and he both coaches got together with the umpires and
he ended up keeping the final as it is for

(45:57):
three by rule UH that game, the game should have
went to the thirteenth and then I don't want to
get too deep in the leads of the rule book,
but there are some rules there in that situation of
two outs in the bottom of any half or the
top half of an inning with two outs like that,
you know, in that situation, you got to complete the
process of the play. You got to complete the walk.
You know, if you don't do that and that's an

(46:18):
aumatic out and the inning's over, you know, it's just
like a it's just like a drop. You've got to
complete that strikeout, throw to first, you know, situations of
a drop, third strike. So if both coaches, I think
at that point, were like, let's just get this over
with no deal, and then Bridgeport went on to beat
Winning Park, but a great f Philip Barber, I mean,

(46:39):
my goodness, gracious Philip Barber. You know, a little bit
of a little bit of a slide there. Last week
of the regular season, picked it up in the top
half of the bracket. Last week we'll talk about that.
Colts are definitely for real.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
It feels like if that game had mattered, obviously just
a tune up game, if that game had mattered to
the win loss record, if it had mattered for regionals,
haven't mattered for anything. It feels like that game's going
to the thirteenth then.

Speaker 6 (47:04):
Yeah, I think it would have. I really do, and
I think both has understood that, and it was just
an you can't really look I mean emotional play. You
play three hours and forty five minutes, kids will be kids, right,
and even the coaches at that point you lose focus,
and honestly, it happens. It's a crazy way for it
to happen. In the rule book it says that that

(47:24):
game can end is if is if people storm in
the field, and after the guy cross the plate, people's
storm and field. You're getting the heck out of dodge.
I didn't happen, just some of the players short and
short and again these two teamers know each other quite well,
their friends off the field, a lot of these guys.
It was a very competitive rivaly good two game little
series this year, and that'd being two games was a

(47:44):
schedule to be won conference game, which Philip Barbara won
at home seven to nothing. I enjoyed it. John Carker's
done the heck of a job. We'll talk about Philip
Barbara hearing a little bit, but great job of them.
And I believe they're ready as well for the posts
there next week and they're super regionals.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, uh, Bridgeport pitching. Where are we at as far
as how confident are you feeling going into a best
of three? Because now this is this is that moment
you're looking. You know they've got the ace. What's behind Stevracus, Well,
we have a.

Speaker 6 (48:15):
Bunch of arms behind Stevaccus, but will be whoever depth
steps up. I mean right now, if you go back
to the top racket of the regional here last week
we know st. Vaccus pished him against Lincoln and after
that Stephen Lee got to start. It's okay with about
one time through the lineup. The second time we started
in a little bit of trouble, but he did able

(48:37):
to get out. He gave us four things, give up
two runs. Not bad. But they went to freshman eight
and done. And here's a young man that has team
out of nowhere this year and we've we've heard him
coming up through the youth system.

Speaker 4 (48:50):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (48:51):
And that's thing athlete, we're wise beyond his years it
compared to spirit. Nothing fazes him as far as pressure
or nerves. He just goes out there and throws. He's
got a fastball. It's about eighty two miles an hours,
eighty two eighty one eighty three tops but mixed in
with the slider curve. He's got the pitches okay, and

(49:12):
he goes them for strikes and he's a competitor, he's
a gamer. He came right open against Hampshire and just
lit things up, struck out four five. I don't think
gave up a hit. If he did, it was just
one hit. I think maybe he walked one but struck
out like five or six. And I think coach Heals
is very comfortable with Aiden Dunn going forward. He was

(49:35):
this year. Aiden pitched some big games for Bridgeport, really
only had one bad outing all spring. So I think
if you go to a game too right now, you're
looking at maybe a commation Steven Lee as senior, a
guy that can get maybe through the line of definitely
one time sometimes too. If not, you've got to leave there.

(49:55):
And Aiden Dunne, that's kind of what you want to do.
We want to combo this thing up, right, You got
all these arms, and you may not feel comfortable with
getting through a lineup two times or three. Combo it up.
And then last night Guy Avolio struggled early against Winnie
Park and then Bridgeport had that big inning in the
fourth and then guy Bolio settled down the rest away

(50:15):
and they spaked.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Is he that?

Speaker 6 (50:18):
Is he a guy that's a candidate for number three?
Potentially also Blake Butcher. I mean, we've been talking about
Blake Pitcher for a couple of years. He probably has
as much good pure stuff as any made on the staff.
He's one of the hardest throwers. I'm saying he's the
hardest thrower, but he comes from the left side, and
he has had issues with his mechanics in command all year,

(50:41):
bringing off an armed soreness type injury, and he had
pitched more than two innings, and then he given time
this spring and all of a sudden, Coach Corey Lakatos
deserves a ton of credit. Worked and worked and worked.
I could see it from the press box. His arms
drag him behind. But there was more to it than that.

(51:01):
They got it fit. He came out there and pitch
five and one third innings and shut out Paul against
Philip Barber. Now he ended up striking out seven. He
did talk seven, but he did heat of those seven
walks the final two guys he faced walks. See he
went five plus innings. Great baseball and that's as best
as he's pitched all year. He looked like the Blake Butcher.

(51:22):
Remember from the past, we saw Butcher a little bit
as a freshman, so i'm some last year as a sophomore.
But he's another guy that they could maybe combo things
up with. Let's say a guy a Folio a Carson
Curry can go out there and give you two innings.
So I think for game two, in Game three, it's
gonna be a combination of pitchers for both games, you know,
because I don't think you're gonna have in one single

(51:42):
guy that's gonna go out there and give you a
seven complete game. And there's though they're wrong with that.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
You got the arms, so you're thinking this is probably
going three.

Speaker 6 (51:53):
I think it's the Bridgeports at Vatti's four to go three.
I really do think Bridge Sports got a shock to
witness in three with the depth of the pitch staff.
I think they have more depth within their pitching staff
than Frankfort does. Frankfort he really good strength at the
top with Ordorf and he and Hair has already beating
Bridgeport once this year. The difference is the Frankfurt bats.

(52:14):
I mean, these guys are as good as hitters as
anybody in this class triple a.

Speaker 5 (52:19):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
Here, for example, Jacob Nefing against Robert C. Byrd back
on Monday, five for six, three double. The Jacob's kid
to shortstop just tears to cover the baseball. The Orndorf
kid hits the ball fairly well for a lead on
hit or plus he's their number one pitcher. Guy throws
eighty five to eighty seven with a nicey spidder. And

(52:39):
then the hair kid you know, doesn't quote throw quite
as hard as as what Orndorf does, but he gives
you a little a breaking ball, more of that combination
stuff that kind of gives bridge Port a little bit
of trouble. I think it's the bridge Ports and Vanni's
for this to go three. I'm sure love to win
it too, but if you asked my opinion, it's going three,
and I'm not going to say Bridgeport's going to win

(53:01):
it because right now Frankfurt's is playing baseball right now
the two. But if it goes three, Bridgeport's got a
the experience they got to picnic Staff. But here's the deal,
all that being that it comes down to one thing
and one thing only. I don't care what level of baseball,
you have to hit the ball and score some runs
in the postseason. You ge't do to that, you are

(53:22):
not going to advance. That's simple.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
So that series is starting on Tuesday. There are a
couple of series starting on Monday. Most of the series
across the state will start Tuesday, May twenty seventh. A
couple of ones that listeners may find of interest. Morgantown
and Wheeling Park. That's the one to two Wheeling Park one,
Morgantown two in clash Quadruple A. In Triple A, of course,

(53:45):
we talked about Bridgeport and Frankfurt, Fairmont Senior number two
taking on Brook number one. Little bit odd there that
Fairmont Senior the number two seed. Of course we've talked
a little bit about that. Our surprised about that last
two weeks ago, I should say not last week, but
two weeks ago when the regional seedings first came out.
In Class Double A, it's Chalk South Harrison number two

(54:08):
taking on number one. Philip Barber really excited for that one.
That's exciting, and I believe Chris Johnson pointed out that
would be a first opportunity for either of those teams
to ever get to Charleston elsewhere in the region. Tigerts
Valley the number one seed in Class Single A Region two.
They take on three seed East Hardy, so they got
away from the chalk a little bit. In Class Single

(54:28):
A as well, with Gilmer County who advances as a
four seed. They'll take on number two man. A lot
of exciting, a lot of exciting matchups there, but I
think it's fair to say few are as exciting as
Fairmont Senior and Brook. Where Fairmont Senior has a real
shot here. I mean, they hit the ball just as well,

(54:48):
about as well as anybody, and we're going to talk
a bit about that coming up in the next segment
with a special guest that I know you hooked me
up with, Chris and much appreciated on that front. But
Fairmont Senior has been hitting the skin off the ball
this season and they go up against a Brook team
and obviously they've got that challenge. But you know, if
they can take game one and bring it back home,
they're in. They're gonna be sitting pretty.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (55:10):
And Henry Anderson for Brook, is a really good pitcher too.
He's their number one pitcher. A chance to see him
last summer play for Williams one who won the state championship,
and was Anderson who pitched Inn in that state championship
game against Morgantown. A very good pitch. He was young
last year, but I saw he's got a nice big frame,
throws well, he's probably eighty four eighty five with good mix,

(55:34):
and it's gonna be hard to deal with. He's been
really good all year. But Fior has to have an
advantage year. I mean, they got to be going in
there a lot of disrespect because they're thinking, how in
the heck do we get a two seed at seventeen
and four at a time, And Brooke, who got the
one seed, had thirteen loses. Now, the two teams didn't
play each other this year, but that's how it went.

(55:55):
James took care of business. Brook defeated a good North
Marian team twice, and My Senior likewise did the same
on their side taking care of business. And uh yeah,
I think Fairmont Senior has the advantage cheer. I think
Fairmont's a little better pitching. I think with their two
you know, with the two starters. The Gorby kid, I
mean he's really pitched well. May not get the ball

(56:18):
Game one, he may get. At Game two, we'll sit.
But those two pitchers they have at the top of
the rotation for Letty, you know, look out, I think uh,
I think Fairmont has there. Plus you just said it.
Faramont's going to score some runs when he runs. In
the postseason, you win baseball games.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Let's talk a little bit about South Harrison Philip Barber.
This one might be the most intriguing matchup in the regions,
and so, of course it does involve two local teams.
It's a border war between Southern Harrison County UH and
UH Barber County UH. And these are two schools that
you would have thought would be bigger rivals than they are,
but they haven't typically been classified together. But in the

(56:57):
new four classification system, they're both class and this feels
like potentially the start of something here, not just in baseball,
but throughout all the other sports as well. But here
we go. This one is for a shot to Charleston,
and Philip Barber had a fantastic start to the season.
Beat South Harrison earlier this season, and of course you
saw them beat Bridgeport earlier this season.

Speaker 6 (57:19):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
They've been they've been phenomenal uh, Philip barber all year
only lost five games. And then for South Harrison kind
of a Jekyl and Hyde story as well. Great start
to the season, not as good in the middle, and
then a great finish to the season including five straight
wins and a lot of that on the arm of
Leyton Wageman, who has just been pitching exceptionally well for
the Hawks. This is a great This is a great series.

(57:39):
It's a shame someone's gonna have to lose this one.
But what do you like about this one?

Speaker 6 (57:44):
Big Solderson has to get Game one here. I think
for them to win this series, you have to win
the first game. Easier said than done. Philip Barber is
has the has the deeper pitching here. That does mean,
it does mean the series is going to end up
that way I'm saying going into it. Philip Barbara has
three really good pitchers that can go out there. And
we saw Robbie Jones, well he did again Bridgeport, and

(58:06):
he's not even the top three. In fact, he would
probably be number He probably four or five. But you're
gonna see cal Wolf get the ball in game and
I would imagine and Grant Harris in Game two and
the combination and the Carpenter, Nick Gonzalez or Robbie Jones
in Game three, depending on how much Land and Cartner
can be used in the first two because Carpenter serves

(58:27):
as the closer as well. These two games they played
during the season where Philip Barbara won them both and
cal Wolf. You know, young man, I saw him a
little bit. We saw him in relief back on Tuesday.
He's not the same relief as he is on the mouth.
As a starter, you know, there's a starting pitcher. He
got a chance to get loose, get yourself warmed up,
and you can got a different mindset. You know, I'm

(58:48):
not saying he can't do that, but he's better as
a starter. But man, Philip, and here's the thing about
these two teams, they both put the ball in play.
Both these teams are really good because they got good pitching.
You mentioned that with Loggaman and Watts for South Harrison
Tate also can throw, but they both can put the
baseball in play, and that's been a difference in this year.

(59:09):
They're not your normal double A teams or one through five.
He knows good. Six through nine are like those are
guys you can get out one through nine, and both
these teams lineups are all capable of putting the ball
into play. It's gonna be a good series in double A.
Whoever wins this series is going to down to the
state tournament. I know Winning Central is the favorite to
win this really good I mean, Willing Central is probably

(59:31):
the best team in Wheeling. However, out out of Winning Central,
South Harrison Philip Barber both have a chance to go
to Charles some damage because they have the pitching, they
have the hitting to do it.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Yeah. Really exciting, really exciting series here, especially locally. All right,
let's uh, let's do one last high school story before
we shift focus a little bit.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
And I was talking about this with Chris Johnson in
the previous segment, and one of the things Chris pointed
out one of his concerns is bet the logistics of
a new expanded state high school baseball tournament. Excited for
more teams to be in it, because there are a
lot of really good teams who get left at home
at this because this tournament's only four teams, but he

(01:00:13):
had some serious concerns about the logistics of how they
could pull this off, especially when you talk about the
usage of stadiums and and that type of thing. If
there's a rainout, you know, one game could really impact
the entire schedule. Does this concern you at all?

Speaker 6 (01:00:31):
I hate everything about it. I love everything about it.
I'm just gonna be honest, you know me, I shoot straight.
I hate everything about this because you brought up a
very good point. I do think they have the stadium
reserved for speaks, and if they don't, they better they
better get a hold of Rick White, commissioner of the league,
who was an unbelievable great guy, Rick White, I know,

(01:00:53):
personally excellent guy. He's the commissioner of the Atlantic League
and in MLB partner league, and uh, get a hold
of him, hold of the dirty Birds, and get this
second week reserve. Because there is no way ever they're
gonna get this done. I know it's gonna start on Saturday,
the Sunday off, which you shouldn't do. You got to
get approval to play on Sunday. They've done it before

(01:01:14):
in the state Baseball tournament many times because of rain. Anyways,
you're gonna start on Saturday, they're gonna pick back up
on Monday and go all the way till next Saturday.
No way they're gonna get this in Because you've got lightning.
It's gonna push things back. You're four games a day,
you've got weather. I know you're on turf on a
poor rain, you still gotta gotta be careful. You can
only play so much. Even on turk. You can back

(01:01:36):
on there after it stops, But you don't want to
start a game eleven o'clock at night on a Wednesday night.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Everything are they even? I don't even know if they're
even able to. They'd have to probably get a waiver
to do that in advance, right like Double A they
can't typically. I guess I should say I don't keep
up with the NCAA rules that closely, But as I
understood it, NAA rules were something like, I think after
nine to forty five, you cannot start an outdoor sporting
event if it's been in rain delay or lightning delay.

(01:02:02):
So I would be curious. I would think there'd be
something similar in there for high school baseball, for high
school sports in general.

Speaker 6 (01:02:08):
Could be. And here's the thing. Triple A and Quada
don't start to winsday, so who ens this is gonna
play three games in four days? If we don't have
any ring. That's a lot to ask on pitching, especially
at these two levels. I know there's more those levels
because the bigger schools. That's a lot to ask for
at the end of your season. Okay, I'm not sure

(01:02:30):
that you're gonna get your best team out of this.
When it's all sait done. I think the team that
wins this is going to be whoever survives the marathon,
whoever has the deepest pitching staff. Fine, you're going to
get a winner. And I saw finding it's not double elimination,
it's single elimination too, so I plays part of it
as well. Look to me, you have you team state

(01:02:52):
tournament for decades upon decades. It was an honor to
get there. You know, the more more you give access
to more teams, it's almost like a participation trip. Oh
here's your you're the eighth seed. You get to go
to Charleston. Great, the chances of winning this or as
slim as slim can get. Okay, baseball is different than basketball.

(01:03:13):
It's different than football. I mean, you see in football,
who plays for state title. It's one it's whoever the
final two teams are Charleston. You're not sending eight teams
down to the Laateley Field over a three week period
to play this thing. Basketball totally different basketball? Does it
d right way baseball? I know a lot of people
threed with this, there were some that didn't. I am

(01:03:36):
totally against this. I don't know how they and we've
got to figure out how they're going to determine. I'm
assuming they're going to do is you're going to play
it off like they are now, Whoever wins the top
half of your brackets are going to be automatically advancing
into the state tournament or baseball, So they better extend
the regular season. They have to in the regular season,
but at least a week to give these teams a

(01:03:56):
chance to play more games. You got to let them
play thirty five or thirty six games now. If they
can do that, CAF kicks in the regular season now,
because you're going to cough a little bit here just
for the state tournaments right now it's scheduled for one week.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Yeah, I feel like it comes from a good place.
But you could say this is a solution looking for
a problem, and it's definitely I was unexpected. I was
I was not even a little bit on my radar
and it popped out there.

Speaker 6 (01:04:22):
So that's it's it's going to be expensive too, because
I'll be honest with you. Baseball draws well when the
weather's nice. Okay. Basketball is going to draw well no
matter what, because you're inside. It's a spectacle. It's there's
a history there. Football is football. It draws well no
matter what. It's number one doing sport out there. I

(01:04:43):
know what it's like to run a team tournament over
four or five days. I do it in Legion every
year and we get good crowds. But I'm telling you
what the price is for just four days or five
days with umpires, hosting teams and motels. This is going
to be as expensive as anybody can even figure. I mean,

(01:05:05):
this is going to be expensive. No one has no idea,
any idea how much is going to be. I'm not
going to give figures. I know how much it's going
to be. In people that have run these tournaments at
the Legion level and other levels in other states undand
this totally. Now they're going to do it. I'm going
to be sitting back watching it. I'm going to be
excited for it. I don't like it. That doesn't anything

(01:05:26):
I have nothing to do with. That's just my personal opinion.
It's what these kids and these teams and these administrators want.
That's fine with me. But there's no way they can
get a ton of a week. It's just impossible. So
I hope they get three. Hope they get it reserved
for another week. Yeah, I'm sure they did.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
And that's one of the things we talked about though,
is that if you look at so for example, WU baseball,
which this is a great segue. We're going to talk
about that in a moment, but WVU baseball last year
when they went to the super Regional in Chapel Hill,
that those dates actually did coincide with the state high
school baseball tournament. Let's say that a future tournament was
in Morgantown, right, Let's say a future tournament was in

(01:06:04):
Morgantown and Wu's hosting a super regional. What do you do?
What do you do? Then? Logistically, it's just again I know,
it's a lot of what ifs, and they'll have a
lot of stuff to work out. And I'm not saying
they can't work it out. I'm just saying that was
the prime concern, and it makes a lot of sense
to me that that you and Chris Johnson have both

(01:06:25):
laid out excellent cases against this.

Speaker 6 (01:06:28):
So going forward, this is going to be bid out
after this year, Okay, And that doesn't mean Charleston will
they can win it again. You have to play this
on turf. You have to play it on turf. You
have to have to be able to have the motels available,
which isn't easy. I'm telling you, these motels are unbelievable
when it comes to setting things aside. I'm telling you,

(01:06:50):
work with one motel with four or five teams is
a pain. I do it all, understand it. Now to
do it for what is it?

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (01:07:00):
Now you're not gonna have them all down there, just
triple A and four a's not gonna get there to Winsay, Man,
this is you have to have three or four motels
booked off just for teams. And then you find you
know places, and we're not talking to boys bat boys
and girls tournament. That's too through Saturday, and as you know,
as you get to Friday and Saturday, it starts to
really thin out. Man. You're talking Saturday to Saturday here

(01:07:24):
and a whole new group of teams is coming in
halfway through the week after a bunch just believing this
is gonna be I'm telling you why, whoever Charleston, luck
to you, all power to you, and this is gonna
be a yeomans. This is gonna be a big time effort.
It's gonna be yeomans work to get this done. And
they have the personality, they know what they're doing down there.
It's gonna be great. It'll be fun. But I really
think I don't think, uh, with this, with this formatch,

(01:07:48):
you're going to get a true champion of it. I
think whoever wins this is gonna be the survival of
the fittest, whoever ever has the most pitching in this
thing every year. And that's and that's also gonna tell
you could have the most pitchings still have the best team.
But I know, to me, I just wish there was
a way to do it where you didn't play three
and four because the winner is going to have to
play three and four in those scenarios. But hey, playas fall.

(01:08:10):
See what it's like. Baseball's the games meant to be
played every day and we'll see. But again, with this
being said, I'll wrap this up here. You better regular
season a little bit here, because you're gonna you need
to play some games. These stitchers are going to want
to play some games. They don't want to be down,
you know, time after the season, be down a full
week before the No. No, it's like they're doing now

(01:08:32):
the teams that are still live. So instead of just
for that, extend the Red season one more week and
then play the regions.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
Yeah all right, So on that note, we were talking
with Little WU Baseball real quick before I let you
get out of here, Chris. The Mountaineers get a big
win on Thursday, ten to three over Cincinnati, and I
describe this as both This was both an emotional like
needed to win this game for their own emotional and
mental well being. This was also a really good tactical

(01:08:58):
win because not only did they see themselves hitting the ball,
they got a complete game performance from Griffin Current through
one hundred and twenty nine pitches. But it meant that
for a team that has been short on arms in
the bullpen, they did not have to go to the
bullpen once in the first game.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
SOS.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
They get set to take on a much better Arizona
team today in this semi final. I think it's single elimination,
but in this semi final of the Big twelve Conference
championship tournament, that's huge because you got to again, they've
had bullpen issues the entire last twelve, thirteen to fourteen
games of the season. They've got to reserve some of

(01:09:34):
those arms as best they can if they want to
win this thing and have any shot at reclaiming a
chance to host a regional, which does not happen unless
they win this tournament, and even then not a lock.

Speaker 6 (01:09:45):
This was a baseball team. It was a flatting sauce
down the stretch. It was a baseball team. It wasn't deep.
You look at the bullpen, it was the same three
or four guys almost every week, and plus they had
to use them during the mid weeks as well the
pitching staff as starters. He two guys doing really good.
One there, Carstona's he added that number two guy to

(01:10:05):
the rotation. Griffin Karran did all your He's a Darry
Clark of this year especially. He's also left handed, by
the way, so they were exhausted, and I think the
best thing that they did was they give the guys
off a little bit of time off after that to sweep.
They said, get away from here. I don't want to
see you in the facility. Get out of here. And I
would have told them the same thing. I want to
stay home. I don't want to see it for at

(01:10:27):
least two days for go home refresh. And this is
a message to people want to want that want to
be college baseball players. I'm telling him a lot of
people think I have Baseball is not of contact sport.
They tell you something ball. You're playing fifty six games
during the regular season from February to May. You have
to be in the best shape possible and you to

(01:10:50):
take care of your body and your arm like a baby.
And if you don't do that, you've got no chance
to make it through the year. And I think coach
Sabers learned a little bit of a lesson this year
that they probably if he had to do it over again,
would have developed a little bit more of ching staff
in the mid weeks. And now early on this season

(01:11:10):
did this, but as the season dot gone, they started
winning games and they just use it and again it
didn't get And maybe it's because they didn't have enough
pictures to do development. That's also possibly so I don't
want to put on sabins. Now that you're in the postseason,
you got the big win, huge win. Griffthurn did what
he did that you needed that and him going one
hundred and twenty nine pitches. He's a type of pitcher

(01:11:33):
he can do that once a week. He's fine. These
pictures like him. Used to do that in major leagues.
Every five starts every days. Now this isn't Nolan Ryan
out there, This isn't Aleca. Okay, this is this is
Griffin kurrent Dery Clark did the same thing last year.
Their rubber arm carstonis I am surell get the ball

(01:11:53):
today and he's going to have to pitch. And it's
good because Arizona didn't see him except for the first
time we played them. I think West Virginia has an advantage,
I really do. And the bullpen, I don't know what
you're going to get out of the bullpen going forward.
You got some guys down there. I know Ben McDougall,

(01:12:15):
the Bridgeports standout, has done wonderful this year. He'll give
you three innings, maybe four, at least two for sure.
But this bullpen's got to find it. They got to
dig down deep. You would hope carlstona give them seven
innings today and then get that w and they go
to the championship and I don't know who'll pitch. It
may be Johnny Alstadt will probably be a pitcher every inning,

(01:12:36):
and that may not be a bad IDEA. Give them
a different every inning and take your shot for a championship.
The only way West Virginia has any shot. I think
they're out as a hoast. It would be a shame
that the Big Twelve season champion and the Big Twelve
tournament champion if West Virginia can achieve that. That's easier
said than done. If they won't host the regional, but
they didn't do them myself any favors down to stretch

(01:12:58):
in a non conference schedule. So if they want to
have any shot any outside of the host the regional,
they have to win the Big Twelve championship period and
I hope they.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
And as pointed out, you know a couple of times
by a bunch of different folks. It's also worth noting
this is a team who one of the things that
they really struggled with at the end when we talked
about that bullpen, they had a bunch of fifty to
fifty games that were not fifty to fifty games were
it not for collapse of the pitching at the end
of the game. The pit one comes to mind. I

(01:13:31):
believe there was the first game of the Kansas State series.
They had a big lead. Let that one get away
from them. You had those two wins in we might
be having a very different conversation. Those are two games
that probably in April they win, so that I'm excited
to see what happens today. I think they clearly got
a good mental reset. They talked about that reset with

(01:13:52):
the media after getting swept by Kansas, but winning the
Big twelve championship outright, but they talked about that, and
they looked good in the first game against Cincinnati. Real quick,
before I let you get out of here, just one
quick note. What on earth is going on with the
Pittsburgh Pirates. They pitch as well as seemingly anybody in
Major League Baseball, but they can't hit worth a lick.
What's going on with the Buckos.

Speaker 6 (01:14:13):
It's been an organization under Ben Sherington now for six
years that has struggled to develop position players in the
lower levels. They have struggled to scout and draft or
on these guys out of the Dominican Republic International signing
period last from last to full year. And you know

(01:14:35):
they signs some guys they like, but they but they've
missed a lot. They're Italian on evaluators have missed. The
development has been more and you're seeing it now and
right now O'Neil Cruz, who's spent years and years work
on Now he developed a hitter somewhat, he's not anywhere
close for he could be as a hitter. As a shortstop,

(01:14:58):
they spent all sorts of time with him, and everybody
in the world knew that he wasn't gonna be a
major league shortstop for the long run, and they moved in,
which the right thing to do. Now they got a shortstop,
got you got Connor Fleffer playing short He was a
second basement on twenty nine other major league teams. And
I got nothing against Connor flef He's a major league player.
But this fits thirteen is what it is. You know,
they're not going to get any better until they figure

(01:15:20):
out a way to develop position players into my because
you know the owner's not going to go out and
buy very many, which he can he can expand that
budget by twenty million. He could if he really wanted to,
but he's not going to general manager has made terrible
trades when he's you know, they did get Spencer Horror,
he didn't get much. I mean, he's a platoon first baseman.

(01:15:42):
So to me, if the season's over with, you're gonna
have to clean house and you're gonna have to hit
the reset button and hire some baseball centric people, not
ethy driven people. There's one thing right now, Baltimore just
find their manager for the same reason Pittsburgh fired Shell.

(01:16:03):
Baltimore's will the same analytical craps the Pittsburgh's going through.
You have baseball people. Why do you think the Saint
Louis Cardinals went every year? Why do you think St.
Louis Cardinals developed? The Cleveland Indians developed. These are mid
to market teams. I could go on Tampa Bay on
and on on Minnesota, Oakland for well. Formerly noticed now

(01:16:25):
this the Athletics. They know how to scout, they know
how to develop, and they know how to do that
and win at the best. The Camp Detroit Tiger's best
team in baseball because they have developed some unbelievable position
players and pitchers. Now, on the positive note, Pittsburgh does
a job of evaluating pitching. They've done a great job
with that. They developed pretty well. And you just can't

(01:16:49):
win games three to one every day you do it,
and that's why they've went. Now, what is it, t
five games in a row without score more than four runs?

Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
That is wild wild, wildwide.

Speaker 6 (01:17:00):
All right, very good, I'll be there Friday. I'll be there,
by the way, I'm going up tonight. Nice going up
tonight to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
Yeah, hopefully some decent weather for that. Hey, remind folks
where they can hear the upcoming Bridgeport series.

Speaker 6 (01:17:13):
Okay, so pay attention to schedule is a little bit different.
So on Tuesday, on Tuesday May twenty seven, fort will
host Frankfurt at seven pm on one O three point
three WKMS the station right here and of course on
the Bridge Sports Sport Radio app as well. And then
on Wednesday, game two at frank same station, same app,

(01:17:35):
all year long, all sport, Bridgeport obviously six pm start
if necesary. On Thursday, the twinine back at Bridgeport pm start,
So seven on Tuesday and six six.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
All right, good stuff. Chris George play by play, voice
of the Bridgeport Indians and just are all around baseball
expert across multiple different levels. We appreciate it. Thanks Chris.
We got to take a break and we're going to
talk to Fairmont Senior. Coming up with a special guest
next here on the Friday Free for All brought to
you by Dan Cavateo to Buick GMC. We're back in
a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
Now back to the Dan Cavatoyota you Ack GMC Friday
Free for All on one O three three w kmz.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
This is the Friday Free for All brought to you
by Dan Cavateota, Buick GMC, Alex Wheeterspiel back in the
studio with you. And for the first time this season,
we've got a new guest. And now that I now
that I know that he's been doing this, we're gonna
have to get him on again. Eli Brady is doing uh,
doing games across a number of sports for Fairmont's Senior

(01:18:37):
Uh and uh he's been doing baseball this season. So Eli,
first of all, thanks for doing the show.

Speaker 5 (01:18:41):
Today, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (01:18:44):
Uh. So I gotta ask because I'm fascinating you are
actually a student at Fairmont Senior.

Speaker 5 (01:18:49):
Correct, I'm a senior.

Speaker 2 (01:18:50):
You're a senior, So how how did you Cause I went,
you know what, we were talking a little bit earlier,
and I told you this is actually how I got
into broadcasting as well. Was I started doing it for
my high school when I was This is a million
years ago now, when I was in high school in
New Jersey, But I am curious, what was the initial
thing that got you before we dive into the Fairmont
Senior baseball talk? What got you into doing this? Like

(01:19:11):
what was the hook for you where you were like,
you know, that sounds pretty cool.

Speaker 7 (01:19:15):
So it was freshman year I was asked to be
a manager for the football team, and what I would
do is I would just film the games uploaded to
huddle so the team could watch film in the off
season between my freshman and sophomore years. So between twenty
twenty one and twenty twenty two, I wanted to like
be able to put that film out for people to
watch it. So I kind of figured out my own

(01:19:37):
way to make my own broadcast and it was a
huge success in twenty twenty two, and that's really what
kicked everything off.

Speaker 5 (01:19:43):
We did basketball that year as well.

Speaker 7 (01:19:46):
We didn't do baseball yet we hadn't figured that out
quite yet. But then the next year twenty twenty three,
we started doing football.

Speaker 5 (01:19:53):
We started expanding more sports that way.

Speaker 2 (01:19:56):
It's fantastic. So list off again all the sports that
you do for Fairmont Senior.

Speaker 7 (01:20:02):
So I do football, boys and girls basketball, baseball.

Speaker 5 (01:20:06):
And then boys and girls lacrosse.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
You have a favorite.

Speaker 5 (01:20:12):
It's hard to beat Friday night lights. It really is.

Speaker 2 (01:20:15):
Yeah, I know, I get it. I totally do all right,
So we are here to talk a little Fairmont Senior baseball.
I've been woefully neglecting them on the show for much
of this season, but that's sort of the point of
what we do. We kind of go around the horn
as much as we can and try to tag them all.
So Fairmont Senior twenty one and four getting except for

(01:20:35):
their baseball regional final next week, which I believe their
series is actually starting on Tuesday. That's right against Brooke,
And I know there was a little bit of there's
a little bit of confusion there between Brooke being the
one seed at seventeen and thirteen Fairmont Senior being the
two seed at twenty one and four. There was definitely
some surprise there. But either way, Fairmont Senior is gonna

(01:20:57):
get a chance to do the job. And why don't
you introduce a little bit too, this polar Bear squad,
this team. What should we be looking out for.

Speaker 7 (01:21:04):
Yeah, if there's anything that you know, Fairmont Senior is
gonna it's hitting the ball, putting it in play. We've
got a bunch of dangerous hitters. And I always say
when I'm doing the games. Last year around this time,
we had one batter over four hundred, four hundred batting average.

Speaker 5 (01:21:20):
This year we have six at this moment.

Speaker 7 (01:21:22):
So I really don't think we're gonna see a team
where it's gonna be like, oh, we're going to struggle
to get on base this game, because we're just really
good from the plate and that's our strength.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
Has there been any game like that, or any any
pitcher like that where you've been surprised at all? Or
is it generally been the same that if you're gonna
beat Fairmont Senior, you got outscore Fairmont Senior?

Speaker 6 (01:21:43):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:21:44):
We had actually a tune up game a couple of
days ago against Wheeling Park, and the kid they started
was by far the best pitcher I've seen live this year,
and we were able.

Speaker 5 (01:21:55):
To hit him a couple of times.

Speaker 7 (01:21:56):
I think we had two or three hits off of them,
but it was hard to score and then our defense
didn't play that well. We ended up losing that game
eight to three, and we also lost to a walk
off to Morgantown yesterday. The two tune up games this
week before going into the regional championship, how.

Speaker 2 (01:22:13):
Helpful do you think those tune up games are gonna be?
I know it's a real big deal for teams, but
specifically for Fairmont Senior. How helpful do you think it'll be? Obviously,
losing both it is what it is, but do you
think it'll be helpful to keep them warm as they
move forward and move on into this big series against.

Speaker 7 (01:22:28):
Brook Right, Yeah, anytime you can go against the team
and keep the bats going like a game style simulation
type thing, especially against two teams like Wheeling Park and
Morgantown that are both Quada schools. You know, losing the game,
we were in it till the end against Morgantown, and
we made a run at the end against Wheeling Park.

Speaker 5 (01:22:47):
And those are two teams.

Speaker 7 (01:22:48):
You know, we don't have to face in the postseason,
and they are loaded as well. So I think just
seeing that is going to prepare us greatly going into
the Brooks Series.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
How would you describe the Fairmont Senior offense in terms
of how they're managing to create production. Is this a
group of guys who are going to hit for average
and ultimately string together these big ten and twelve run
games like they've been having lately, or is there some
pop in the bat? Is there some power in the
lineup as well?

Speaker 7 (01:23:17):
So I think this year we got a little bit
of both. We start off the lineup is just, you know,
get on base, get a couple runners on. Then we
go to our three and four hitters, Trevor Bigelow and
Matt Masters, and those two are threats to hit it
out of the park at any time. Matt Masters had
a Grand Slam against Grafton that turn of that game
upside down. Trevor Bigelow has seven home runs this season,

(01:23:38):
leads the team in RBIs. And then you go back
to the fifth and sixth spot with Gorbi and Martin.
It's right back to get on base, you know, get
the runs, keep them going.

Speaker 5 (01:23:48):
And another thing that.

Speaker 7 (01:23:49):
Helps is we've kept virtually the exact same order one
through nine almost the entire season. I think there's only
been one switch from maybe two switches from the first
game till now, and I think everyone's kind of gotten
used to where they bat, who they come after, and
I think that's the real advantage that you know, teams
usually don't see very much.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
Would you just go, is there a lot of patients
in the lineup when you start seeing run totals like
the like the Polar Bears have put up this season,
Is there a lot of patients in the lineup? Or
do these guys they see it they swing.

Speaker 5 (01:24:21):
Well.

Speaker 7 (01:24:22):
You know, if you watched our games, and if you
listeners have watched our games, you know we don't start
off very fast. There's a lot of games where we
go down one or two nothing first two innings, and
that second time when we come back through the order,
that's where we really turn it on. And I feel
like if we can start off on fire and keep
that going, we're going to be really hard to beat.

(01:24:43):
But sometimes at first and two innings it's a little patient.
Then when we get back through it's that's when we
turn it up.

Speaker 2 (01:24:49):
Have you had a chance to study this Brook team
at all, know what they're all about?

Speaker 5 (01:24:54):
I haven't, but I know they can put the ball
in play.

Speaker 7 (01:24:57):
And you know, any team we're gonna face from here
on out, if we do happen to beat Brooke and
we go to the Final four in Charleston, they're going
to be able to hit the ball. They're going to
be able to put it in play. Our defense, they've
been a little iffy on the season. We are actually
twenty and one in games where we have under three errors,

(01:25:18):
and we're one and five in games where we have
three or more. So I think it's not really the
other teams beating us, but our defense. Sometimes they can
get in the way and we can beat ourselves a
little bit. And we've seen that throughout the season, especially
when we went to play Bridgeport that one. That one
was a rough one. That's our only loss to a
Triple A school this year.

Speaker 2 (01:25:36):
That's a that's a massive statistic. That's huge. So I'm curious,
is there is there a preferred path into Charleston for
you guys as far as if Fairmont Senior beats Brook
do you think we really want another shot at Bridgeport
because we're you know that the team's upset with the
way that one went down. With the number of errors
or does it, does it even not matter? Just hey,
we just want to get there and and and play

(01:25:57):
for it all.

Speaker 7 (01:25:58):
Yeah, I really don't think think it matters. There's not
like someone we're aiming after. We actually we've got seventy
state championships at Fairmont Senior across every sport and we
have yet to get one for baseball, and it really
feels like if we're going to get one for baseball,
it's going to be this year.

Speaker 5 (01:26:16):
This is a special crew.

Speaker 7 (01:26:17):
We're zero to ten in state championship games in baseball,
and if we're able to get back there this year,
I know these guys, whoever we play, whoever, whatever the
path is, they're going to be hungry to get that
first ring.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
So obviously we know Fairmont Senior can hit, and it's
gonna be interesting to see if anybody can keep up
with them should they make it to Charleston. The thing
I'm curious about though, going into the Brooks series then
looking ahead potentially at Charleston as well. And we have
Eli Brady on with us right now, who is a
play by play voice for Fairmont Senior Athletics. I am
curious though about the pitching because they talk about it

(01:26:51):
all the time, how important it is, especially in a
short series. You gotta have a pitcher when you get
to Charleston, it's really important. Obviously, you got to have
that ace right in the whole so you can get
on to the next round. But talk a little bit
about the pitching depth on this team, both in the
rotation and in the bullpen.

Speaker 7 (01:27:06):
I think this year our pitching depth is deeper than
we've had in years past, and I think if anything's
gonna get us over the hump, it's that it's led
by Braden Gorbia Junior. And Gorby's a one sport athlete.
Baseball is his thing. He trains all year round and
his improvement that he's made from last year to this
year is just tremendous. He's the favorite to win Big

(01:27:27):
Ten Pitcher of the Year. He's six to zero on
the season with a point eight ERA, has only allowed
more than one earned run in one game all season long,
and he's a fun pitcher to watch. He gets in
his rhythm and he is hard to hit. And we
have Logan Canfield as well that's right up there with him.
Really good control on his pitches. He is one where

(01:27:49):
he has to find his rhythm first. Once he's in it,
he's hard to knock out. Wheeling Park was able to
kind of shake that up a little bit. Logan never
found his rhythm. They were able to hit him. He's
always ready to go in. So between those two pitchers,
you know, those are going to be our main starters
going deeper into the postseason. And then we got great
depth behind that with Trevor Bigelow and Matt Masters as well,

(01:28:11):
So we have four really solid pitchers going into this.

Speaker 2 (01:28:14):
Yeah, that's that's critical. Pitching depth matters a whole bunch
this time of year. What's the most dangerous part of
Gorby's game?

Speaker 7 (01:28:21):
Uh, the most dangerous part of Gorby's game is just
he is able to control and really fool you between
his off speed pitches and his fastball, and like I said,
he puts it where he wants it, and it's really
hard to hit off of That is not he's not
the fastest pitcher in the world, but when he switches
from that fastball to curveball, he's got a lot of

(01:28:43):
movement on it, and like I said, it's just really
hard to hit him.

Speaker 2 (01:28:47):
Yeah, that's that's it. Who is the most of all
the teams that you saw this year? Fairmont Senior played
a really challenging schedule, which we've been talking about this
on the show all day to day where it seems
to be one of the common the common threads between
all the really really good teams who seem to have
made it, uh to this point, is they all just
scheduled these these really really difficult groups over the course

(01:29:09):
of the season. Who do you think was the most
impressive team that you saw over the course of the season.

Speaker 5 (01:29:14):
Uh, it's got to be Bridgeport.

Speaker 7 (01:29:15):
Honestly, the Bridgeport kind of did with us what we
were doing to other teams. Start off slow and then
you get back through that lineup the second time and
we couldn't stop them. They scored, batted through the lineup twice,
ended up putting eight runs on us, and we couldn't
catch up.

Speaker 5 (01:29:31):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:29:32):
Obviously they're a really good team. It was a shame
we didn't get to play Frankfurt this year. That was
a game I was really looking forward to play, playing
for our guys to play, And honestly, that Bridgeport Frankfurt
series next week is going to be I think the
one to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
Yeah, there are a lot of really great, great regional
series in class Triple A for sure, that's Bridgeport Frankfort.
And of course this is the you're in good, You're
you're you're, you're gonna be well liked here as this
is the flagship station to Bridgeport Athletics. Uh So that's
that's a good pick on your part. I didn't even
tell him that before that, guys, I don't even know
if he knew that. I didn't tell him that this
was the flagship station at Bridgeport Athletics. So that's a

(01:30:09):
that's that's that's a that's a good call.

Speaker 6 (01:30:11):
Eli.

Speaker 2 (01:30:11):
Hey, So before before I let you go, I I
just I just I got to ask, so, what's the
most exciting thing? So you're a young broadcaster, and I
remember being in your shoes, So I'm gonna ask what's
the most exciting thing that you have called so far
h as a as a young guy, because you you've
gotten a ton of reps in by doing all the
sports that you're doing at a pretty young age, which

(01:30:33):
is is the thing to do because you just want
to get better at it. What's the most exciting thing
that's happened for you that you have actually gotten a call.

Speaker 7 (01:30:42):
See, I would probably say this year our game against
Grafton at Mary Lee Retton Park, so at our home field.
We were down two nothing the whole game and it
we went to the bottom of the seventh and we rallied.
We had Matt Masters hit a two RBI single to
tie it at two. Aden Gorby comes up to the
plate walks it off right after that. That was actually

(01:31:03):
one of two walkoffs I got to call this year.
The other one was a season opener against Elkins. Trevor
Bigelow had to walk off that game. So it's always
fun when you get down bottom of the seventh inning,
game on the line and your team's able to walk
it off.

Speaker 5 (01:31:17):
Those are always memorable games to call.

Speaker 7 (01:31:19):
And then you know plays as well, Like I said,
Matt Masters had a grand Slam against Grafton. That that
one was a fun one. Just one play, one moment
in the game that's up there as well.

Speaker 2 (01:31:30):
Yeah, I was gonna say, you don't get a lot
of walkoff calls when the team is regularly scoring sixteen, seventeen, nineteen,
even a couple of times exceeding twenty runs in the games.
That's those would definitely be memorable and would stand out
to me. Eli really appreciate it, Man, And I know
you're you're headed to WVU next so and from what
I understand, you're gonna come work for You're gonna come

(01:31:50):
work for the big dogs at Metro. So we're looking
forward to hearing what's next for you. Very very good
work on the show today.

Speaker 5 (01:31:58):
Thanks Man, well, thanks Alex, thank you for having me on.

Speaker 2 (01:32:01):
Absolutely, we're gonna go ahead and use this opportunity to
take a break. This is the Friday Free for All.
We're gonna wrap the show up. Our show brought to
you by Dan Cavatouta Buick GMC. We're back after this.

Speaker 1 (01:32:11):
Time for more high school sports talk on the Dan
Cavatoyo Wick GMC Friday Free for All.

Speaker 2 (01:32:18):
And a special thanks to all of our guests today
as we are back in just to wrap the show.
This is the Friday Free for All, brought to you
by Dan Cavatoda Buick GMC. I'm Alex Weederspiel and we
thank Eli Brady, We thank Chris George, We thank Chris
Johnson all giving fantastic breakdowns today of everything that we've covered.

(01:32:39):
If you missed the show. Catch it in podcast form
the Friday Free for All. He's available on the speaker
app that's its home base. You can also catch it
embedded at wkmznews dot com or just go to your
preferred podcasting platform. We will of course be back next
week to break down all the regional action and hopefully,

(01:32:59):
weather permitting, gotten through all of it by this time
next week. Of course, see how that goes with the
way the weather has been this spring. It has been
a very wet and rainy spring, but we'll hope for
the best. Thanks again to all of our guests, and
we'll see you guys next Friday. Coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:33:24):
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 three three WKMZ

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