[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast. And now here's your host, Matt Jones. Hey, welcome in. We're going to talk Razorback baseball today. They've got Auburn coming up tonight on the plains. Want to tell you that the podcast brought to you by H and R Tire and auto. They're a third generation family owned business serving northwest Arkansas since 1976. Just like great baseball programs, H and R is built on consistency, trust and doing things the right way. No shortcuts and no gimmicks. At H and R Tire and Auto. We're also brought to you by Eglins Best. When it comes to your game day, you want the best in your lineup. That includes your eggs. Eglins Best delivers more of the nutrition you need. With six times more vitamin D and 25% less saturated fat than ordinary eggs. You can score now with Eglins Best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. Visit eglinsbest.com for more information. Also brought to you by Southern Loft. They believe your home should reflect your unique personality. That's why they offer a wide variety of stylish furniture pieces that are perfect for any taste. Just like this chair that Bubba's sitting in over here. Whether you're looking for a new sofa for the living room, a sleek dining table for your kitchen, they've got just what you need. When you're looking for that piece of furniture that reflects you, visit Southern loft at 3155 North College Avenue in Fayetteville. Or call 479-85681 or I'm sorry, 856-6100.
So the Razorbacks lose at Missouri State Tuesday night. I went up there, Bubba. I'm still feeling the effects of this thing. That is. I'll tell you what, you get a four hour game on a Tuesday night and then you got to totally rewrite the story because it ends, you know, chaotically.
And then you got a two plus hour drive home. It was, it was a late night.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: So you already wrote the story?
Well, I had.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: I mean, you're, it's 10 o' clock at night. It's close to 10 when the game ended. So you gotta have, you gotta have something working.
And so there was a lot of kind of, you know, play by play, you know, these were the big plays. But yeah, you gotta, you gotta rewrite those top, you know, nine or ten paragraphs or so.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I've heard of a broadcaster's jinx. Is there a thing, a sportswriter's jinx?
[00:02:06] Speaker A: I don't think so you don't think. I don't think so. I mean, maybe, but I guess maybe I should have.
I could have written some stories about Florida. Maybe those would have turned around quickly.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't get to. I was at the facility.
I listened to Phil though, listen to the game and Yeah, I mean, I love the way the team kept fighting back. I mean you got to love that.
Love Koshals at bat, you know, gets a couple breaking ball, gets a fastball. He knows. I think he's got a pretty good idea he's getting another breaking ball. He stayed on it, hit it center field, grand slam.
There are a lot of good at bats in the game and I did. I like the way we fought back.
I'll tell you the thing that I didn't like.
I don't like a first pitch fastball. And look, you can sit there and baseball is a game, you can sit there and second guess I call it the what if game.
I don't think you throw three hole hitter in the 10th inning and their best prospect, their best hitter from first pitch fastball in the 10th inning.
I played a lot of baseball games. If I come up in the 10th inning, I'm looking for a first pitch fastball. I can do damage in. That's what I'm. That's what you're doing. Anyone that says, oh, I was just looking for a good pitch. Trying to budget bull. You are trying to drive a ball, you want to walk it off right there. Especially if you're their best hitter. That's what he's looking to do. And you know, Peyton Lee's laid one in there now. I'm sure he wasn't trying to throw it down the middle, but man, I go, I go, slide to there I go, first pitch changeup, I go, anything but a first pitch fastball. Too many things can go wrong if you miss your spot.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: I was listening to Keith Gutton on a radio show on Tuesday morning up in Springfield, longtime Missouri State coach for people who don't know. And he was talking about how Joey Hawkins, their coach now who played for him at Missouri State and he coached under him, how, you know, he's kind of just continued that philosophy that Gutten had, which was they were really, what they wanted to do was they wanted to swing at the first pitch if it was in the zone. They were swinging and seeing what they could do. And I felt like you saw that some on Tuesday night. I mean they were very aggressive early in counts and it's two games in a row where Arkansas really got hammered. 14 hits by Missouri State.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: So it's when I'm not at a game. So when they're on the road, the always, you know, I watch the game. You know, if I can. If I can, I listen to Phil. But I always go back and look at the. The play by play and I read the play by play. And what stood out to me is exactly what you said. A lot of OO balls hit hard or put in play, base hits a lot early in the count. And I think they know that it's a. It's a Razorback pitching staff that's struggling a little bit to those strikes.
I think they know that we're trying to get ahead of the hitters and they're ready for it and they ambushed us and they did it. You can tip your hat. They did a really good job. They've been scoring a lot of runs. They're good. They're a good team.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah, they are a good team. I mean, they're six and three in their conference.
You know, I was just looking at the rpi. Had Arkansas won that game, it would have really helped Arkansas's rpi. And I want to talk more about RPI here in a minute, but Missouri State right Now is number 10 nationally in RPI. So if you win a road game, doesn't matter if it's on a Tuesday, it's. They all count the same. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, whatever. That would have been huge for Arkansas to win that game. I think Missouri State is probably better than people give them credit for because I think a lot of people, not just here, but, you know, it's like there are a few teams, Coastal Carolina being one. Oregon State doesn't have a conference right now. Like, they command respect, I think, from kind of the college baseball audience at large. But these teams like Missouri State or Arkansas State is having a pretty good year.
It's kind of hard, I think, for some people to understand that, hey, they can play really good baseball. You don't have to be in a power conference to do it.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: And I think it helps that it was Arkansas coming to town.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Oh, God.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: That.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: That.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: I heard it was rowdy.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: It was as rowdy a road environment as I think I may have ever been at.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Don't you think there's a hatred there for Arkansas?
[00:06:14] Speaker A: There is, very much so, yeah.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: I think it goes back to some of the regional games in the past.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: You know, back in you. Back in the day.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: I think really one of the things that it 2015, when they're the number eight national seed, and they don't get to host at their ballpark because they share it with the Cardinals. And the Cardinals were in town, and the NCAA's got these crazy rules about how they've got to have control of the ballpark. I think that's where it really goes back to. I mean, that might have been the best team they've ever had.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: Number eight national seed. I think they won over 50 games, and they didn't get to host a super regional in their ballpark. And I'd be pretty pissed, too, if it was me. And then you got to go to Arkansas. Who is kind of like your closest. Arkansas and Missouri and Oklahoma State. Those are your schools that are the closest to you. But there's a real. I mean, there's a real history there between Arkansas and Missouri State. And I don't think it's a nasty rivalry in terms of. I think Van Horn has really good respect for Keith Gutten. I know Joey Hawkins, who's their coach now. I mean, he talked glowingly about Nate Thompson, and he said, nate Thompson's the reason that I wanted to get into coaching. And Keith Gutton and Norm De Bruyne, I mean, Norm De Bryan's son Todd, I think, went to go play for Keith Gutten at Missouri State. So there's a. You know, I mean, there's. There's a real history there between them. And I think there's a.
I don't know if friendship's the right word, but I think there's an appreciation for what those programs have done. I tell you what, the Missouri State fans do not like Arkansas.
And it was. I think it's the equivalent on a Tuesday night of what Arkansas would step into if they went to Knoxville on a Friday night. Right now, it wasn't a packed ballpark, but there were a lot of people there, 6,500.
And they were loud, and they were into it. And Arkansas kind of stepped into a hornet's nest a little bit.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. And I think on the flip side, we don't view Missouri State with the hatred that they view us.
And I think, you know, I think it showed the way they played and the way the. The crowd was there, the way the crowd was into it.
But once again, I think that's a good. A good test for us on the road. I think we learned a lot. You know, we lost the game.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: They go into. I mean, they go into two road environments now. I mean, I bet it's going to be a pretty, you know, packed house. Against Auburn tonight.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Yeah, but I like the way some the freshman stepped up. I thought Rudin Bar had a good game, missed the fly ball in left field, but that's a tough ball. The ball's going to come back on you and it came back on him
[00:08:37] Speaker A: and he's out of position.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Ye.
And you know, I thought Christian Turner had a good game.
I've always liked him, though. I was the very first game I went to in the spring, a spring scrimmage. He went backside home run. And then he had a double to right center on a ball that should have been a single. He just outran it, got a double on it. So I've always been. I've been like in his fan club there. I think he's going to be a really good player down the road. Well, he already is.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: And he's going to have a lot of chance to get better here over the next month with Damian Ruiz being out. I looked at the SEC availability report. Mike Anu is not on there for tonight's game, which leads me to believe that he's going to be available to play against Auburn tonight. That was why you had Rutenbar in left field to begin with on Tuesday night, because Mike Anu, he traveled. But Dave Van Horn said that he made him wear a mask on the bus and on the plane because he had strep throat and so he couldn't play Tuesday night. They put Rutenbar in left, they put Turner in center. I fully expect that once new is okay, he's going to go back to center. They'll put Turner and left. And that's going to be what they do until Damian Ruiz is back. And it's going to be about a month. A patellar tender, patella, tendon injury with him, I would think. Rutenbar goes to DH for Kuhio Aloy.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Aloy.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Just. I mean, it's like. It's like with him, it's like one step forward, two, three steps back. Like, I thought he was taking a step forward. After the Florida game, after the Florida series, you know, he looked really in sync on that home run that he hit. I was watching him real close on that at bat, and it was like that. That looks like really good mechanics from him. Goes to Missouri State. Strikes out five times, including a couple of times where there were multiple base runners and less than two outs.
Just.
It's. It's. It's really. I don't know, it's hard to put your finger on what's going on with him, but I don't know how you play him over Carter Rutenbar, who's giving you such really competitive at bats. And with Ruiz out, he's doing it at the top of the lineup where you need that.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the thing about Rutenbar is he never gives away an at bat. Like he grinds out every bat. Like a lot of times you'll see a guy go up there and they swing in a first pitch, change up and roll it over and they make an out.
I haven't seen him have a bat at bat. I guess you could go back to South Carolina. The pinch hit, I thought he, that was a breaking ball at the top of the zone. He took for strike three. You know, I don't consider that a bat at bat really. He did take a fastball down the middle. He probably should have hit, but.
But he called it a bat at bat.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: He said it pissed him off. Well, and he said that's, that's kind. I think that that at bat's kind of been what's motivating him over the last week or so.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Well, he's fun to watch. I love watching him hit. You know, he had another bat where he had nine or 10 pitches. Gets a base hit.
I just, look, I like watching a good hitter go up there and battle at the plate. You don't have to hit the first pitch.
It could be the last pitch is the best one you get. The key is to survive until the pitch.
At some point the pitcher is going to make a mistake.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: I think he went to a three ball count again in all but one or maybe two of his at bats. The other night he hit into a double play, but he had an 11 pitch at bat. You know, he had the 10 pitch at bat against Florida. Now he followed. He's got an 11 pitch at bat against Missouri State. Walked a time or two.
Man, he really is a lot of fun to watch. And I have to believe that if you're a pitcher and doesn't matter where you see him, I mean, it doesn't matter if it's like the first batter of the game or he comes up and you know, maybe somebody's walked in front of him. Like, that's got to be really frustrating and he's got to be a real irritant to an opposing pitcher. Because if nothing else, Even if that 11 pitch at bat doesn't end in a single, that's still a really good at bat and it's a good team at bat.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, especially if you're starting off a game, you know, and you, you see 10 pitches first at bat and get a base hit. I mean the pitcher's like out there. All right, I'm 10 pitches in, I still have an out, you know, so it's, it's, it's fun to watch him go out there and battle. Hopefully he'll continue to, to do that. And then, you know, I don't know. I haven't figured out what his weakness is yet. You know, all hitters have a weakness, so I haven't really figured out what it is yet. He's, he just has a knack for falling off pitchers pitches until he gets one he likes.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: And I say that, you know, he would play over a loy at dh. They could still play him at first base like they've done and put Reese Robinette at third or maybe play TJ Pompey at third and give Robinette a day off. He didn't have a great game against Missouri State. Even though I thought he hit pretty well against Florida over the weekend. I just, I feel like they're at a point where they need to have the best defensive alignment they can get on the field. And I feel like Pompey at third and Robinette at first give you that. And I thought Pompey had a pretty good game. You've got the stats there against Missouri State. I think he got on base what, three times, four times in that game, walked a couple of times.
It was again, it was, I thought the whole team, Bubba, with the exception of that hole where you had Robinette and Aloy and I think Robinette walked twice.
I thought that, you know, for the most part the team did a really good job of passing the bat and getting to the next guy. Like a lot of really good team at bats that, you know, kept them rolling on a night when the pitching wasn't going well.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I like a lot of two strike hits, like two out runs.
Those are the things that's kind of a dagger to the other teams. So yeah, it's good to see. Hopefully we'll take that into Auburn. Of course the pitch is going to be a little bit better this weekend. I don't know what, couldn't really tell what Missouri State was throwing up there, but it's not going to be what we're going to see this weekend at Auburn.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah, they didn't have, they didn't have radar guns in there.
Well, I mean I'm sure they have radar guns in there, but they didn't have one visible on their scoreboard and then on the, at least on the broadcast that was on in the press box, I couldn't see any pitching velocity. So I don't know, you know, what they were throwing.
They're going to see better pitching against Auburn. I'm certain of that. I mean, I'm at an Auburn team that's. I think they're number two nationally in ERA, number two and Whip, I think they're 11th in strikeouts per nine. I mean, that's a, that's a team that can really pitch. And so I feel like Arkansas, it's going to be interesting, you know, to see this good hitting beat good pitching, because I do think Arkansas, if you. If what maybe the last three innings against Florida, I thought they looked pretty good at the plate. Then you've got, you know, most of 10 innings against Missouri State where they look good at the plate. So they come in with a little bit of confidence from an offensive perspective. What's the old Earl Weaver quote? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Only as good as the next day's starting pitcher.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: This guy from Auburn, he could totally, he could totally change that tonight. We'll see.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Yeah. And I'll be interested to see. He's got really good numbers, but he hasn't faced an Arkansas lineup. He's been a Tuesday guy, so be interesting to see how he does. Looks like he throws a lot of strikes. He's around the zone, so he's been getting some strikeouts. His last outing, I think he went seven innings. His last outing. Most of his outings have been around 5 innings, so. But, you know, we'll see. I, I think we're going to go in there, Matt, and do well. I really do. I feel like that the, the guys understand where they're at right now and they're going to go in there hungry, foaming at the mouth, and I think they're going to get it done.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: It's two desperate teams because Auburn's kind of in the same boat that Arkansas is in. They're 1 and 6 in their last seven.
They've lost their last five SEC games. They lost two in a row to Texas after they won the opener. And then they got swept last week against Alabama. I think it's two teams. And then they lost to Georgia Tech on Tuesday night in a midweek game over in Atlanta. It's two teams that I think, you know, like, this is, this is a gut check weekend for them. And. But I do think that, you know, you look at Auburn, if Arkansas can bounce back on the mound, and I really, I want to go Back to Missouri State for a second before I get to talking about Auburn, because I thought that, you know, with it being such a short turnaround and with the bullpen having to be relied on so much against Florida, and then you go in there against the Missouri State team, that's a pretty good hitting team, it felt like just kind of a bad situation Tuesday night because, you know, Jackson Kircher, he comes out and he puts the fire out in the second inning when Missouri State scored six. He gets them into the dugout really quick in the third. And like, the game is turning at that point because Missouri State scores six, Arkansas comes back, scores four, makes it a six to five game. They go 1, 2, 3 against Kircher in the bottom of the third. Arkansas scores two in the top of the fourth. It's like, okay, now you think they might be rolling now they win. Well, then you got to take Kercher out because you got to save them for the weekend.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Right?
[00:17:00] Speaker A: And there were a lot of, you know, I don't think anybody threw more than 37 pitches.
And so when you had a guy, and there weren't many of them who were pitching great on Tuesday night, but when you did have a guy who was having success, you didn't get to leave him in there very long. And I thought Cooper Dossett threw really well in the seventh and the eighth innings. Am I getting this right? Yeah, the seventh and the eighth. Yeah, he comes back out in the ninth, lead off single. But then he gets a guy out, and then he gives up the home run.
And, you know, I kind of felt like at that point, because Kozal had hit the grand slam, Dawson was pitching well. It felt okay. I think they might have this, and it just kind of fell apart on him at the end. And I think that might have been the longest they've asked Cooper Dosset to go this year.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought Cooper looked great. I went back and watched the highlights.
He just threw one bad cutter. Looked like the cutter just kind of backed up into the guy's barrel.
Other than that, though, he looked great. It looked like he mixed in a different breaking ball. I don't know if he went more to his slider or more to the, you know, the.
Not really a 126 breaking ball, but the slower breaking ball to complement the cutter. It looked like, to me, thought it was a good pitch. He got a couple strikeouts on that, but, I mean, that's good to see. That's encouraging.
I think the disappointing one was Brissy, you know, another bad outing for Brissy. Because, you know, he's had a good outing, then a bad outing, then a good outing and then this was back to another disappointing out. He just, just didn't have it. And you know, he's a guy that I'm really high on. He's a freshman. You're going to have your ups and downs, but you know, we're, we're getting to that part of the year where you're not really a freshman anymore. You've been in here since the fall. And so yeah, we need him to be a little more consistent because he's a guy I like and I think he's going to be a big piece. I think he's a guy that we're going to need in that bullpen.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Coyle I thought he pitched pretty well. He had some tough luck because he's the one who threw that pitch that Rutenbar dropped in left field that should be the last out of the inning. I mean, that's always the tough thing. It shows here. They gave up three runs and I know none of them were earned, but he made the pitch that he needed to make to get out of that situation and then it just didn't happen behind him. Next guy comes up, hits a home run, game totally changes again.
Yeah, it's, you know, I think if you look at it from Tuesday night, Eaves, you're disappointed with what happened with him.
Dukramer didn't go well. Kercher, good outing. Brissy, not a good outing. Coyle, I would say pretty good. Cooper Dossett, I would say pretty good. And then, you know, Peyton Lee had the one pitch that I know he'd like to have back. Although give Peyton Lee some credit. He did come out in the ninth and you know, get him back into the dugout for the 10th. I mean, because they the way that Missouri State like the feeling in that ballpark felt in the ninth inning, like, hey, this thing could end right here after they hit that game tying home run. And he did do a good job of getting them into the dugout, I think pretty quickly, like in four or five pitches.
But they have got to at Auburn get one of these starting pitchers and we know Gabe is going to throw tonight. Gackle, I assume Hunter Dietz is going to start one of the other two games even though they've gone tba, tba.
They've got to get one of these starting pitchers to put the team on his back and say I gotcha and save their bullpen a little bit because the bullpen's tired Right now.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: Well, I think this is a good weekend to get our staff going just based off of the numbers that the Auburn offense has been putting up. I mean, they're not scoring many runs. If you look their last in runs scored, last in home runs, last in slugging percentage, you know, almost Last in batting average,211 batting average. Now I'm just going SEC only. Once we get nine games in, I throw all the other stuff out. I just go SEC only. That's all I care about is what teams are doing against sec. And they've been, they've been struggling. Now you got to say, okay, they faced Alabama's pitching good. They faced Texas pitching, which was really good, and Florida.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: So they, they have played a Georgia Tech team on a Tuesday and they,
[00:21:07] Speaker B: yeah, so they faced, you know, if you look at these SEC numbers, I mean, they have faced three really good pitching staff. I was so impressed with Florida's. I really was. I, I don't know how Florida could get swept with, with some of the pitchers they ran out there. Yeah, I don't, I don't get that. But yeah, so Auburn, I mean, their numbers might be a little deflated because of that, but they, they're struggling to score runs. It is what it is. You look at their numbers and it's
[00:21:32] Speaker A: just, well, during these last seven games when they've gone 1 and 6, they're averaging three runs and six hits a game. And in that time they've got a 10 run, 12 hit game against South Alabama. That's propping those bad numbers up a little.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Take that one out.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: You take that out. And like during the losses it's been, you know, really poor.
And I know Butch Thompson, you know, you and I both listened to his press conference from yesterday.
He said there's not a Nike Irish in this lineup.
You know, they're going to have to fight that a little bit this year. They're a great pitching team. And that's always the case with Auburn. Like, I think Butch Thompson's one of the best pitching coaches in the country. And I've thought that for a long time. I thought it when he was at Georgia, thought it when he was at Mississippi State. And he just continues, everywhere he goes, the pitching performs at a real high level. But at Auburn, that's always kind of been their problem. They'll have a year or two where they can swing the bat better. Like I thought they were pretty good offensively last year.
Then you lose Irish, you lose another player or two in the lineup and they just haven't replaced them real well this year. That's why I think that this is maybe not a terrible setup for Arkansas this weekend. I don't know if they'll win the series, but I think they're going in there and they're going to play a team that's just not swinging the bat as well as Florida was. Like, Florida's offensive numbers weren't great coming to Fayetteville. But if you look at. And it goes back to what I was saying about how Arkansas has kind of gotten hot a little bit offensively the last 13 innings or so, like Florida on that last day against Alabama, they lost. They scored seven runs.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: And then they went to Florida State and they won. Or they played them in Jacksonville and they beat Florida State. And then they come in here and they're feeling confident offensively. And you, you know, I mean, you saw it last weekend. They were really good at the plate. I wonder if Arkansas maybe can keep. Can. Can have a little bit of that happen, you know, this week, even though they haven't won the games, offense has been performing at a higher level.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Right. Hey, I did want to go back. One more thing about Missouri State.
We were talking about Coyle. You know, the ball that got hit out, the home run. I don't know if you saw from your vantage point. That was his cutter in. And it looked like guy just cheated to it. Like the guy knew it was coming. Like he's, he had a good idea of that. You know, he likes to go in with that pitch to varieties. And the guy just cheated and hit that out. I wanted to get that in there because it wasn't a bad pitch, at least from my vantage point. It looked like it was inside. And the guy just. The guy just cheated and got to it.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Was that the home run that almost caused the, the scuffle on the field? I think it was Logan Fife. Yeah.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Where he was mouthing at. It looked like he was mouthing at Hel. Right.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: That's what it looked. I mean, that's what the team. You know, from where the TV camera is, you can't see if, if Helic is saying something to him too.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: And of course, doesn't do that.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: I don't think he does.
But I was talking to somebody in the Missouri State press box. I go, now, this is what I've been told. He goes, and keep in mind, this is one side of the story. But on the TV broadcast, yeah, he was chirping at Helfrich. He crossed the plate. Then he turned around and said, something to him. And then everybody got warned and both of the coaches came out and the crowd got even more amped up. And I'm telling you, man, it was a, it was a wild environment. Like you don't, you don't see that for a Tuesday night game. You really don't.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Well, when it comes to something like that, you know, I, I still say the game used to be way better. I need to quit living in the past. But back in the day, I would have never chirped to the catcher like that on a home run because I know the guy behind me is going to get one in the ear hole and you don't want to do that to your teammates. So, you know, I didn't care if I got hit, but I didn't want my teammate behind me to get hit but you because of me running my mouth. So I wish, I wish some of that stuff wasn't there. You can get excited without showing up the other team and just being an all around turd, I guess. But I get it. It's a big home run, but celebrate it. You know, do your thing, but do it towards your dugout. Don't do it at our dugout. So I don't know, just me. I'm old school.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: Reminder, our baseball podcast brought to you by H and R Tire and Auto. They're a local shop that's been family owned for three gener.
They built their reputation on taking care of customers the right way. And that kind of longevity doesn't happen by accident. So we know, like we said, Gackel's going to go game one, game two, game three, TBA and tba. I have a theory. I may be totally off. I think that they're going to. I think that maybe the result of tonight's game is going to tell them when to throw. Hundred deets say if they lose tonight, maybe they go deets tomorrow because he's their best option in a starting role. If they win tonight, maybe you can save him for Saturday and let him pitch on a full week's rest.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: And then you got Gibler too. I think, I think it's going to determine when Gibler throws based on where we're at tonight. When Gackel comes out of the game.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: It feels like tonight is such a crucial game for Arkansas. And I don't want to diminish this number four starter, Andreas Alvarez for Auburn, because you look at his numbers, they're really good. I mean, it's a.085 ERA, a.099 WHIP, but like you said he has not faced an SEC lineup. This is the first time that he's started an SEC game. Like, I mean, if you're Gabe Gackel and you want to be the number one starter and you think you've got number one starting stuff, this is a, this is a game where you've really got to go out there and match what Alvarez is going to do for Auburn, if not exceed it.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. And, and it's not going to get much easier than the next day. I mean, the next day starters is really good for all.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Jake Marciano, he's a left hander. He's their number one guy.
[00:27:08] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm looking back at his numbers. He pitched really well against Texas.
Not so well the next start.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: He's got a 13 era and a.068 whip. That's, that's pretty good numbers.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: It's pretty good.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: Especially as a Friday guy in the sec.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
So I think tonight, I think we got to win tonight. I think Dave's going to do whatever it takes to win this game. And speaking of the, you know, talking about, Butch Thompson thought it was funny, the question that one of the reporters asked about, is it time to put the names in a hat and just draw the lineup out of the hat? I played for Trey Hillman back in the day and Trey was, Trey was awesome. And there was a time we were struggling, it was kind of the dog days of August and we were in a little bit of a funk. And he did that. He put all our names in a hat. We drew our, drew the lineup out of the hat. And you know what, we scored a ton of runs that game and then kind of got on a roll. So sometimes you got to do something a little, a little different to get things rolling.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Who do you think they start game three? Because I don't think it's going to be Colin Fisher.
And it may just depend on who they have available. I understand that.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's. I think in a perfect world, we go out tonight, Gackel has a good start, we score some runs, we get a lead. We don't have to go to Gibler. I think, I think if we don't have to use Cole in one of these first two games, I think we start Cole or It could be McIlvain, he could be a guy that gets that start in game three. I think a lot of it's just going to depend on how game one and game two goes. I think if they need Gibler tonight, you'll see Gibler tonight. If you need him tomorrow, you'll see him tomorrow.
If not, I think he could be the guy that starts in a perfect world. We don't have to use him till Sunday. I don't know if that's going to happen, though.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Somebody texted me the other day. They said that they felt like it was telling me that Cole Gibler threw 85 pitches.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: Like maybe they're trying to lengthen him out for a potential starting role.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: He's earned a starting role.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: I think he's been their best pitcher in SEC play.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so.
He's definitely earned it.
But, you know, I just know how Dave is, and I feel like if Dave has a chance to get a win tonight, you go for it. Yeah, you go for it. And. But he did throw. So Sunday. He threw. It was Sunday. He threw. What day did he throw?
[00:29:23] Speaker A: A Gibbler threw Friday.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Friday. Okay. So he's. He's good. He's good. What was I thinking? I knew he didn't throw Sunday.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: Moment.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
So, you know, if they need him tonight, you. I think you'll see Cole out there, and if things get. Go bad early and it's not looking good, I don't think you'll see him. I think you'll. I think Dave will go to other people, but I think you made a good point.
All the innings that our bullpen had to throw over the weekend, you know, when. When your starter goes an inning in a third on Friday, you know, I think it. It showed on a Tuesday. I think it really did.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Van Horn said something on the pregame show Tuesday night. He said that he didn't think the bullpen. I'm trying to. I don't. I don't want to misquote what he said, but the, the point, kind of the, the gist of what he said was that the short starts, not just by gackle, but, you know, it puts stress on the bullpen. And he didn't think the bullpen was really up for that challenge against a team that was swinging the bat as well as Florida did.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Okay, well. And I know it was kind of a perfect storm of things. You go to. You go Tuesday to Missouri State, and we have a short week, so that makes it. There's guys you can't use. If we were playing on a Friday, I think we'd have seen a few different guys in there, and I think that game would have played out totally different. And I'm not knocking the guys that we threw.
I just think. I think that we would have been Able to use a few different guys. But I think it's a great sign that Dawson threw well, and I still think Coyle do well. You know, I'm worried about eavesdropping. You know, I think you and I were talking about it might have been me and Phil. I thought Steel Leaves was more effective when he was throwing 91, 92, and getting a little more depth on that two seamer. A lot of times you start throwing 95, 96, you're not getting as much sink on that pitch, and it starts to ride up in the zone and gets hit. I know as a hitter, I'd definitely rather face 96 here than 91 or 92 sinking at the bottom of the zone.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: Go back to something you said.
This was Van Horn's quote after the game Tuesday night. He said, that's what you have to do when you really can't go to any more guys talking about pitching. He said we had to save them for Thursday.
If we played Friday, it'd be different, but we played Thursday.
These Thursday turnarounds are tough when you've got a midweek game.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: I'll tell you what's tough, and I feel for you is some of the questions you have to ask DVH after a game like that, after a loss. I feel for you.
It's gotta be.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Can I.
I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. Tuesday night, it was.
I don't know how to explain. It was just a total blur. Those last, you know, inning, inning and a half. I have to get down to the field. I'm not used to that field, and I don't know where to get on the field. And so I finally figure out how to get on the field, get out there. And then, you know, here comes the coach and you're going to talk to him.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: And.
[00:32:32] Speaker A: And they're playing their music so loud, like if you. If you listen to the post game. I mean, I think we're sharing royalties with DJ Khaled because it was so loud. And so you're kind of disoriented by that. Well, I'll tell you the other thing. I didn't have a box score until about halfway through the interview. And I'm, like, sitting there, I'm like. I'm blanking. And I'm thinking, I got to get this story filed. I got to drive back to Fayetteville. And I can't remember a doggone thing that happened right before the ninth inning for, you know, for like a split second. And it was.
It was a tough little Post game.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: So it was Oliver's fault. Dang.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: Just. It was a confluence of bad events. I got a trivia question for you.
Okay. I meant to ask you this off the top. Okay, so the trivia question is this. Springfield is 152 miles from Fayetteville.
Okay. That's gonna tell me if you've been reading my stories, by the way, because this was in a story the other day.
There are. That's the second closest ballpark to Baum Walker Stadium. Division one ballpark. Okay, I got two trivia questions for you. Number one, what is the closest?
[00:33:38] Speaker B: Would it be Oral Roberts?
[00:33:41] Speaker A: That's it. That's number one. Now here's the rest of the trivia question.
There are nine ballparks. This is what's kind of crazy. There are nine that are closer to bomb than Arkansas State.
Can you name. So you got ORU, you got Missouri State. Can you name the other seven?
[00:33:59] Speaker B: Just ballparks.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: Yeah. D1 ballparks that are closer to balm than Arkansas State and Jonesboro.
So. Or use.
[00:34:07] Speaker B: Can I phone a friend?
[00:34:09] Speaker A: We don't have that capability here. I'm sorry.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Just.
Just tell me before I.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Here we go. Here we go. This is. This is kind of interesting to me.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: I'm working. I'm sweating. I got a lather here.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Number three is UCA in Conway at 157 miles. Number four is. Is O' Brien Stadium in Stillwater, which. I love that stadium. Absolutely. You went over there in 2022.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Yes. That's awesome.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: It's number four, 186 miles. Just slightly closer than Gary Hogan field at Little Rock. 188. Then you got UAPB at 229 miles, OU at 240. And then these were the two that I think would probably throw people off.
KU in Lawrence at 269 miles, in Wichita State X Stadium at 275 miles. A little bit closer than Arkansas State.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: That's some great research.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: You play up at Wichita State. Yeah. You would have played up there multiple times. You guys, that was a lot. That was like the Arkansas. Missouri State in your day.
[00:35:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Back in the day, that was a huge rivalry. What was the coach, Gene Stevenson.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Stevens.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Who could forget?
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a huge rivalry. And.
And a lot of those guys end up playing in the big leagues. And so, you know, they had some really good teams back in the day.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: They were awesome.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: And that was a hard place to play. The win there was kind of like Bomb Walker. It was always that right to left win the Ball carried out to left field there like crazy. And we lost a few games on just wall scrapers that any other field's probably not a home run.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: They had a long winning streak there. That a team.
I don't know if you were on the team, but it would have been right there in the early 90s that Arkansas went up there and snapped a long winning streak like I don't know, 50 something games or something in a row at home. Had to be right. Yeah, you hit the, you hit the game winning home run.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: Probably. Yeah.
No, but that was, it was a good ride. But that's a great comparison that versus Missouri State now because I know they didn't like us and we didn't like them at all.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: I don't know. There are a lot of people who like Gene Stevens.
He was kind of, he's still alive, but I feel like he was not the most.
He was a little prickly.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, he was. I never had to talk to him, but yeah, we didn't like anything about him.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: So these next two weekends are I think the two most important series that Arkansas is going to play the rest of this year in terms of rpi. Rpi. I've been talking about this for like two or three weeks. Yeah, it is really concerning what Arkansas is doing in this RPI right now. They go into the weekend number 66 in the country in RPI. They got the number 48, strength of schedule. But you look at these two games they're going to or these two series are going to play the next week and I mentioned they could have done something for their RPI that beat Missouri State. But Alabama's got the number three rpi. Auburn, who they play tonight, has got the number four rpi. If you could go like, like if they could go 3 and 3 on this sec road trip, it would do wonders for their rpi. I don't think Arkansas, like, I don't think they're hosting this year. I think that they would basically have to go on the mother of all runs at the end of the year to host based on how they've been playing, who they've got left on their schedule. I don't think that's going to happen. And well, I'll say this in a second, but I don't think they're going to host. But this is a way to like make you feel a little bit better about your postseason resume. Because I tell you, man, I'm worried that if they, if they don't get this turned around in the next three Weeks they play Auburn, Alabama, and then Georgia, who very well could be the best team in the sec. I think they're right there with Texas and Mississippi State. In that conversation, they come into bomb. You got a little rock team coming in Tuesday night that I think could be a little bit of a tricky game. Like, it's one of those things where if you don't get it turned around, you could look up in three weeks and you're staring at your overall record being around.500, your SEC record being about five games below.500 or so, and really wondering what you got to do to make the NCAA tournament at the end of the year. I don't think they're at that point, but I think they got to do something in the next two weeks to really helped this postseason resume. Yeah.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: And I think it starts this weekend. I. I think we're going to go in there and win the series now. We're going to sweep them, and I think we can.
Look, I still, Matt, I. I still like this team. I get asked everywhere I go, what's wrong with up Razorbacks? And I'm like, well, you know, we're just. We're. We're in a little bit of a funk right now. We're. When the offense is there, the pitching's not, and. And when the pitching's there, we don't score.
But I still look at it and I see talent and I see a lot of possibilities.
So I'm still in. But I think you're right. I think we got to go three and three, and I don't think that's out of the question. We might even do better than that.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: They could win both of these series and it'd be. It'd be a hard ask.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't still know how good Alabama is. I mean, they look good.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Swept Auburn and Florida, but they also got swept by Kentucky at Kentucky, and that's a. That's a tricky place to play.
[00:39:17] Speaker B: They didn't score much against Auburn, though. I mean, those were close games with. The last two games were low scoring games. First game they. They hit around the starter a little bit. The Friday guy, they hit him around a little bit. They were the first, really the only team to hit him around. But the next two days they didn't do much. I don't remember the scores.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: I don't remember the scores, but they weren't.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: They were like a one, nothing.
[00:39:39] Speaker A: And I think they walked them off on three Saturday.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So they were close, close games. So, you know, still not sure how good Alabama is. But I mean, we can't worry about them right now. We got to worry about this weekend.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Just one more thing on. On potential postseason. The other thing that stands out to me is if Arkansas is the number two seed somewhere, I think they're going a long way away from home because there's nowhere around here. I, I think Southern Miss would like. Based on. Based on everything right now. Southern Miss, I think, would be the. In Hattiesburg would be the closest regional site to Fayetteville and, you know, but I mean, you're looking at like some of the other teams that I think are in the. A lot of the west coast teams are really good this year. Like USC can pitch. Oregon State's pretty good.
Oregon is good.
You know, there's some teams on the east coast like Virginia, where you could potentially. Like, I think that this is a year where if Arkansas is the number two seed, they're getting sent a long, long way from home for a regional because they can't go to an SEC school in the regional round.
[00:40:42] Speaker B: Would there be a scenario where. Well, no, Missouri State can't host?
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Because even if they could host, I don't think they're going to have the resume to do that.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: I don't think so. I'm just saying, hypothetically, would it be funny if they were to host and then they have to come here? Because I want to say the, the Cardinal teams in town, the double A teams in town that weekend.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: I don't know.
Yeah, it's just. Just something to keep an eye on. Like West Virginia, they're having a pretty good year out. You know, Far east. I mean, it's like, it's. UNC is another team that's kind of projected right now, but Florida State, Georgia Tech. So like a West coast school or an ACC school, like, those are kind of the ones that. I'm thinking that if Arkansas is a two or a three seed somewhere, they're going to be sent there for the postseason. Just something to keep on your. On your radar.
Maybe flying.
You can charter the flight for you and me.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Oh, I want to be able to drive. Let's please stay within driving distance.
But you know what? If we had to go out the west coast, we can beat up on some west coast teams. I'm not scared.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Just something to keep an eye on.
[00:41:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but look, we're. That's. We got a lot of baseball left to play.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Got a lot of stuff. They got to do a lot of stuff to be able to get to that point.
[00:42:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you're Right.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: I mean, it's not a given that you're Arkansas and you're just going to make the NCAA tournament because you've got a. Whatever record.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: I mean, look at Tennessee. They're talking about Tennessee potentially being one of the last teams in the field as of right now.
And they've had a ton of success lately. So you can't, you can't just sit there and kind of rest on the logo, so to speak.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: So what was Ole miss's record in 22 when they, they were the last team in?
[00:42:29] Speaker A: It was better than Florida in 24 when Florida was the last team in and they got on the run because Florida was like, I think 27 and 26, like, and you have to have a winning record. So Florida, I mean, they lost one of those SEC tournament games. They wouldn't even been able to make the NCAAs and go on that run. Ole Miss was better than that. I don't remember exactly what they were, but I think they were prob six or seven games above.500.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: Yeah, but weren't they the last. He managed. But I do remember that lineup, though. I remember when they came to town, I looked at the lineup like, how is this team not winning? Because, I mean, they were loaded.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: I mean, a bunch of veteran dudes and they were just scuffling. So. And then they came together at the right time and that's, that's the key, you know.
[00:43:11] Speaker A: Okay, so I wanted to mention this story that I wrote because I've been talking to you about this, this.
So I've, I've always, I'd say always for the last four or five years, I've been tracking how Arkansas is ranked every week, and they're always ranked really high. Most weeks, like, I think before this week, they fell to number 16 and they had been ranked in the top 10 for 82 of the last 85 weeks in the coaches poll, which is the poll that we use as our rankings.
And I've always wondered how this run, because it's 132 weeks now in a row of being ranked compares to other teams.
And so a couple of things to keep in mind is number one, that the USA Today Baseball coaches poll, they've only had weekly rankings, I think since 2004, and they're only archived online since 2007. So you can't go further back than 2007 to look up the weekly rankings. Before that, there were like most polls, they were an end of the year poll. You know, top eight teams that are In Omaha. Those are going to be your one through eight national champions. Number one, you vote on a top 25 at the end of the year. So here's what the research shows, bubba. Arkansas at 132 consecutive weeks is.
And again, this is only over the last 20 seasons. Like, nobody else has been ranked for that long consecutively.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Do you know who number two is?
[00:44:38] Speaker A: I do. I've got. I've got the top 10 right here. Actually, I've got more than top 10, but I'm gonna give you the top 10. Arkansas 132 is number one. Number two, Florida State under Mike Martin from 2009-17.
And then there's a huge drop off. Number three, 102 consecutive weeks. So almost two full years shorter than what Arkansas is right now. Texas Tech under Tim Tadlock from 2016-23. And the only other team that's had over 100 or more is LSU, right at 100 under Monary, 2012-18.
After that, Tennessee, who just fell out of the poll this week, 89 weeks in a row up until this week from 2020.
Then, you know, before that, you got 82 by South Carolina under Ray Tanner and Chad Holbrook, 82 for Louisville under Dan McDonald. Arizona State had 77 consecutive weeks under Pat Murphy in like 2007-11.
Arkansas, again, this was the one that kind of surprised me. They were in the poll 77 weeks in a row from 09 to 13. Made a couple of World Series during that time. And then Florida had 76 weeks in a row from 14 to 19 under Kevin O'. Sullivan. Like, what this tells me is what we have said a lot, which is don't take for granted this run that Arkansas has been on and how rare it is to see a team that has been so consistent. I know they're not consistent this year, but has been so consistent year to year to year and won at such a high level. I think that that's what this illustrates.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's incredible. I mean, just the. Just the track record and Phil and I'll have the debate a lot. Would you trade a national championship like an Ole Miss when they won it, and then they were irrelevant. They didn't even make the SEC tournament
[00:46:31] Speaker A: for a couple years. Or Mississippi State.
[00:46:33] Speaker B: Yeah, they. They win it and then they're just, they're just in the gutter. Would you trade that for consistency?
Like, we've had some people would, you know.
Well, yeah, but those are people that, that judge everything. Like, you know, I listened to one guy on the radio around here talk about blue blood programs. We're not a blue blood program because we've never won a national championship. I think it's a bunch of crap. If you Google blue blood program in baseball, it's. It's us, it's Razorbacks.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Well, here's the thing. It's like, who cares? Like, like, what does being a blue blood really mean to trying to figure out how to get your way out of a four game losing streak?
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it means nothing.
[00:47:14] Speaker A: Get yourself to the NCAA tournament this year. It doesn't mean anything.
Too often people get caught up in those types of debates.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: I think so too. And you know the debate like, well, we've lost, you know, this many games here, our records so much against this team. It doesn't matter because this year's team's not last year's team. It changes constantly.
So.
But I think that is incredible, the numbers. That's good. That's good research.
[00:47:40] Speaker A: I think you can win a national championship and not necessarily be a great program. Hell yeah. Remember Fresno State's national championship? You realize, and I looked this up again, looking over the last. Fresno State's finished ranked one time in the last 20 years, in 2008, when they won the national championship as a number four seed. And they just got hot. And you can never take that away from them.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: It's a great run. But are you telling me that you'd rather have Fresno State's one year or, you know, Coastal Carolina had that year where they won a national championship, but then they really kind of fell off for a little bit relative to where they had been.
Are you telling me you'd rather have that and you'll go through two or three years or four years like Mississippi State went through, as opposed to. Yeah, it doesn't end well for you, but you do have a lot of, you know, enjoyment, satisfaction, fulfillment out of watching a team that wins, you know, a majority of the time? I, again, it's for every person to decide, but for me, and I guess that maybe this is just because it's like, for me, it's like, would I rather have like this one really high time in my life? I'm talking about like my personal life. I'd rather have this one time or would I rather like really enjoy this 5, 6, 7, 8 years where everything is kind of, you know, the same? I don't know.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: No, that's a great comparison. I like that. And I'd rather, you know, just be good every day. Yeah.
Than b. Then be there's really something really good for one, one year and then in the gutter for.
[00:49:13] Speaker A: For five, in the bottle for like three years.
You know, there's something to be said for just being consistent.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:20] Speaker A: And whether you're talking about as a person or as a team or whatever the case might be. And I just. I think that consistency is really.
It's admirable.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: I do, too. And I think people take.
I think they take Dave and this program for granted.
[00:49:39] Speaker A: Here's what I've told people. I said, Arkansas baseball is great because of Dave Van Horn, not the other way around.
[00:49:48] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: Remember what Arkansas baseball was when he got here? Wasn't bad, but they weren't winning like they win now.
[00:49:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: Norm laid the foundation, did a lot of really good things in his last 10 years to get them up to a level that they could be competitive in the sec.
But they weren't like, you know, and I mean, even Dave, his first 10 years wasn't anywhere near what the last 10 years have been like. I mean, I think that there's been a tremendous amount of growth because of the work that he and his coaching staff have done. By the way, none of Arkansas's assistant coaches have ever coached an unranked team. How about that?
And here's some more fun little nuggets. The freshmen like Rutenbar and Turner, they were in fourth grade the last time the Ranger Becks played as an unranked team. Pretty amazing when you start thinking about things that way.
[00:50:33] Speaker B: That's like some Rain man stuff you
[00:50:35] Speaker A: got going on over there. Well, appreciate that. I do appreciate that.
Here's a few more little nuggets before we get out of here. Arkansas, 132 weeks in a row. The next closest team among active rankings is Oregon State at 45 weeks.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:50:50] Speaker A: They got into the poll six years after Arkansas Re entered the poll. Six years after Arkansas. After that, North Carolina at 39 weeks, Florida State at 37, and Georgia, coached by Wes Johnson at 31. Those are the top five among active teams. You may keep going, or should I just.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: Oh, I think. I mean, you're. You're on a roll.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: I will say one other thing here because I don't know, I had fun looking all this up. Houston basketball has got the longest basketball streak right now, 125 weeks in a row. So shorter than Razorback baseball. And then Alabama football has got the second longest streak ever in the AP Top 25 football poll of 295 weeks.
[00:51:31] Speaker B: What about women's tennis? Who's got that?
[00:51:33] Speaker A: I Don't know that. But women's basketball, that's the one that's never going to be broken because UConn has been ranked every week since 1994. Think about that.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: That's crazy.
[00:51:43] Speaker A: And they probably both like in the top five for 500 plus of those weeks. If you really think about it. I think it's like 635 weeks in a row they've been ranked.
[00:51:52] Speaker B: What about softball? Would it be ou?
[00:51:54] Speaker A: It would be ou. I actually looked that up. But the softball rankings are kind of like the baseball rankings in that it's really inconsistent. There's not a whole lot of week to week rankings that can be found online. There's a lot of end of year rankings and OU's been, you know, in that pretty much every year under Patty Gasso. But yeah, we have a.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: We have a girl that trains at our facility that's an OU commit and she's incredible. Hit, pitch. She'd probably strike our whole lineup out. I know she'd strike you out. She'd strike me out. Well, not underhand. Okay. But she throws gas.
[00:52:27] Speaker A: You should do that. Could we like bring a video crew in there and you stand in the box against this OU softball commit?
[00:52:33] Speaker B: Hell no. She'd carve me up. I've watched her pitch before.
[00:52:38] Speaker A: I know it's gonna strike me out. No doubt about that.
I might just strike out.
[00:52:44] Speaker B: You know what I'd get in there for, just for the fun of it and take my hacks. But I think she carved me up.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: All right, so Arkansas, Auburn, it's a 6 o' clock game tonight, 6 o' clock tomorrow, 2 o' clock on Saturday. I think just like here, there's some weather that might play with that. So, you know, make sure to look and make sure that the games are going to start on time. Feels like a good weekend for Arkansas to have a chance to go and get some of this bad taste out of the mouth. We'll see if they can do it. Certainly. You know, the thing is, both of these teams want to win. Only one of them is going to be able to win. Somebody's going to come out feeling better about themselves. Somebody's going to come out really scuffling and the noise is going to be loud around them. And that's. That's the unfortunate part, I guess. Unless maybe game three gets rained out and they both go one and one and. Yeah, that's the body wants that.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: I tell you, I feel really good about it, Matt. I think DVH is going to have his troops read.
Hobbs is going to have the pitchers ready. Nate's going to have the hitters ready. I think. I think we're going to take care of business. I really do feel good.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: We'll have coverage all weekend@whole hogsports.com One more reminder. Our baseball podcast brought to you by H and R Tire and Auto. They're a local shop that's been family owned for three generations. They've built their reputation on taking care of customers the right way. That kind of longevity doesn't happen by accident. You can learn more or schedule service at H and R Tire and Auto.
Bub, appreciate you being here. He'll be back here on Monday. As we look back at the Arkansas Auburn series. Hope that we see you on our website
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