Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey. Welcome in Razorback baseball with a big win over the weekend series sweep of Alabama down in Tuscaloosa. We'll talk about it all today with Bubba Carpenter here in studio. I want to tell you that today's 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. Also brought to you by Eglin's 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. For more information, visit eglinsbest.com we're 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. 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 479-856-6100.
It was a wild week in the SEC.
The number of sweeps that are piling up in this conference really are kind of amazing. Bubba, I looked this up this morning. There have been 13 teams that have already had a sweep in conference play this year.
We're only five weeks into the conference season. There have been 13 teams that have been swept. There are 10 teams that have both swept and been swept. There's this huge logjam in the middle of the SEC right now. 8 and 7 and 7. 8. There are nine teams that are either 8 and 7 or 7 and 8. You know, Georgia, they lost two or three over the weekend to Florida.
They're still in the lead in the SEC by a couple of games. But, you know, it feels like this is kind of anybody's conference to take by the horns here in the next few weeks.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Yeah, it really is. I think the one that shocked me the most was the Tennessee sweep over Mississippi State.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: I mean, that's, that's two weeks in two weekends in a row that Mississippi State's been Swept there. Mississippi State. You realize Arkansas is the only series where they did not either sweep or get swept. They're very much kind of feast or famine, it feels like with them because, you know, like they left here and they went back down and they, they swept Vanderbilt. I think they swept Ole Miss and Oxford. And that's two weekends in a row that they've been swept at Dudy Noble by Georgia and Tennessee.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: I mean, it's crazy. It's like you said, it's life in the sec. You just don't know. I think the margin for error, I mean, everything is the plane. Everyone's so equal. You know, I think you got teams like Florida have the back end of their bullpen is kind of the separator with them. And I think Florida's been hot. I mean, you know, they're, they're a team that you don't want to play, you know, when it comes post season time. And we'll see what happens with Georgia this weekend when they come into town. I'm excited about this weekend. Hopefully the weather will straighten up. Looks like there's some rain, but yeah, I'm looking forward to this weekend. I want to see, you know, kind of how good that Georgia team is.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Well, we'll talk about Georgia on, on Thursday show. Let's talk Arkansas, Alabama right now. I mean, we thought Arkansas had a chance to win the series this weekend. Like we talked last Thursday.
Alabama, their pitching staff doesn't have the same swing and miss stuff that Auburn or Florida had. And I said this on Thursday, I said I thought they were going to have more opportunity to put the ball in play.
It's just a matter of, you know, are the hits. And they were, I mean, they hit the ball really well this weekend. And the other thing, you know, I still think Alabama is a good team, but I think that team's going to struggle some because of the way they field the baseball. There were, you know, Arkansas took advantage of a lot of mistakes that Alabama made in the field over the weekend.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: I mean, they did, they, they booted some routine plays. There were some plays they didn't make that they probably should have even in the outfield, you know. And every time, every time they made a mistake, though, we took advantage of it. And that, that was good to see. I mean, you look into the LeBron era. Yeah. Error he made on Friday night, that was huge. You know, he not only booted it, then he threw it away. Two run score. I mean, that was huge right there. And then Pompey comes up, of Course. But yeah, I mean, that. That error was big. And then there was another time where they had the infield in.
We were going down angle helfer kid. A hard ball, kind of a weird hop in between. Hop. Look, I caught him in the. Between the legs in a bad spot there. I don't know what we're allowed to say on the airs. I just won't even say it. But yeah, and run scored there. But that's a play that, you know, if you're most shortstops, you make that play. I think, you know, we talk about, you know, good infielders creating their own hop. You kind of got caught in between right there. I think he was trying to decide, am I going to go home or am I going to go to first?
But yeah, they didn't make some of those plays. But, man, I'm proud. I'm proud of the guys, Matt. I mean, you think about it, we were one in six. Yeah. In our last, last six conference games going in. And it'll be really easy for the guys to kind of let go of the rope. The season could have gone either way.
But. But I mean, you gotta, you know, the staff, you know, DVH and the staff, you know, keeping the guys together. You know, Dave and. And Hobbs, you know, they made a few changes in the lineup, the rotation, and, you know, we always talk about. DVH has that ability to push all the right buttons. Yeah, I think he was. He was dead on this week and he was spot on. Everything he did worked.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: I think Van Horn would be a good horse trainer. Like, horse trainers, like. Like they're able to like, just kind of tell like, hey. When to push it and when to pull off. I think he. I really think that's one of the kind of the hallmarks of a good coach. And, you know, I mean, he even said something.
I forget when. If it was at Swatter's club or if it was after one of these games, but, you know, like, hey, they got after the players pretty good in practice, I think, on Monday, you know, in terms of, like, really pushing them in practice. And then a lot of conversations were had last week about, you know, kind of where they were, but also just about playing better situational baseball. And I thought that. That you could see that in Alabama.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah, there were times that we had a runner at second. We were able to move him over. I know Rutenbar had one really good at bat. There was leadoff double.
He's able to get the runner over. Then he scores on sac fly.
You know, Plays like that, just little things that we did. It was just good to see. And I like the way the veteran guys responded. You know, I think DVH kind of challenged some of the veteran guys. You look, Kozil had a good weekend. Pompey a really good weekend. Aloy had some big hits. You know, guys like that that, you know, have been kind of struggling. SEC play came through for us.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: I mean, he challenged them publicly last week. He. At the, at the Swatters Club. He said point blank, they've got to. They've got to hit better for us to have the success that we're going to have. In particular, Kozal and Aloy. I mean, you think about the two of them, they were all SEC players last year. Aloy was an All American. Kozal might have been, too. I can't remember if he got an All America honor or not, but I know that.
And you look at what they hit in the SEC last year, it was 333 and 291. Well, going into Alabama and those numbers are up now. I don't have the updated ones here in front of me, but it was like 167 and 140. 147. You knew that there was a lot more in the tank from those two than what they had shown. And with Kozal, how about you realize in the eighth inning of every game, he had one of the hits. He had the leadoff home run in game one. That kind of gave him a little bit more of life.
Game two had the leadoff double. They kind of sparked that inning. And then yesterday had the big RBI hit that scored the game winning run.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah, they say, I say all the time, it's not what you hit, it's when you hit. And if you look at Kozil's number right here, I mean, if you go SEC only, he's only hitting 194, but he's had some huge hits.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: But that's 27 points higher than it was going into the series.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. And new. Same with. New, same with. Same with Pompey. Of course, Pompey's hitting 3. 333.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: He had a monster weekend.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yeah, he had a good weekend.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: It's like, it's it. We've seen this with him, too. Like early in SEC play when he gets locked in, you can really see the potential that's there with his bat. He is a little bit inconsistent, though, with the defense. Had a couple of throwaways this weekend.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, there were a couple plays and you know, but once again we, we were able to pitch through it. I mean, if maybe gave up one run. But I felt like this weekend more than any when, when we made a mistake on defense, the pitchers bowed their neck and got us out of it, you know, or when Alabama made a mistake, our hitters bowed up and they took advantage of the mistake. And man, that's what good teams do. It was, it was fun watching it.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: I thought Gabe Gackel getting out of the seventh inning jam yesterday was probably the, that was probably the sequence of the weekend, to be honest with you. I know Arkansas had already won the series.
Like there's, there's a big difference of going out of there, you know, two and one with a Sunday loss and, you know, having Alabama tack on a couple at the end of the game versus getting out of there with the sweep and if it felt inevitable, almost like Alabama was about to score there and regain the lead right after Arkansas had worked so hard to get the game tied.
And boy, I just. And he did that against the heart of the Alabama order. I mean, I think that was maybe 4, 5, 6 or 5, 6, 7 that he did that against to get out of that jam or maybe 5, 6, 7, 8, because somebody got on with a, with a walk to load the bases. But man, just real, real impressive from, from Gabe.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Well, so the runner's second and third, nobody out. He strikes out the next two and then he walks somebody and then he gets behind the next hitter. I think 2, 0, I think so. And I'm thinking, oh no, here we go. And then, you know, he made a real good pitch and he threw a fastball, but it had a little extra life on it and got a pop up, I think. Pop up to left field, I believe. But yeah, it was good to see because that could have gone, that could have gone really bad.
And I think from there on, I mean the guys were like, hey, we, we got this.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: It looked to me, and I may be wrong about this. The. I think the Alabama pinch hitter said, wtf? As he swung at that last cutter by Gackle. Did you, did you see his lips?
[00:10:09] Speaker B: No.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's what it looked like to me. I mean, obviously I can't say that, but I think everybody gets the point.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: What does that mean?
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Yeah, what the. Frank.
But no, I mean that cutter, that was, that was his go to pitch right there in that inning. It was, that was as good as it's looked, I think probably all year.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's good to see because he
[00:10:27] Speaker A: hadn't had a ton of swing and miss stuff this year.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: You know, the one thing I still wish you'd do, I don't want to be negative. I wish he would. I wish Gackle would use the top of the zone more. I really do. He's.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: It was there for the taking yesterday. I mean, big strike zone that looked like an umpire who had a plane to catch.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And McIlvaine took advantage of it. Yep. But, you know, I, I, I say this all the time. I view our, our pitching staff from the batter's box, and I always picture if I'm in the box, you know, I think the, the pitch that I would struggle with Gackle with would be the, the high fastball because of his lower release point. He's got some carries.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Almost looks like a rise ball.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Yeah. And I just wish he would use the top of the zone a little more. I, I want to ask, I want to ask Hobbs one day, you know, Know, and maybe it's just something they see. They, they got access to all the analytics. Maybe the analytics say, hey, no, when he elevates it, it gets hit hard, I don't know. But to me, it looks like if he used the top of the zone a little bit more, that would open up the zone to go to the bottom of the zone with that slider or cutter fastball or change up whatever else he wants to throw. But just, just my observation, I was
[00:11:32] Speaker A: really curious to see how McElveen's outing was going to go yesterday because he didn't look, he didn't look bad, but he didn't look great on Friday either. I mean, like, I think he threw, hit a guy with a couple of two strike pitches, Right. And one's in the eighth, one's in the ninth. I think they were leadoff batters, too, in both of those cases.
And, you know, honestly, we just haven't seen him recycle real fast this year. Like, we haven't seen them really try that with him. He might pitch on Saturday or Sunday and it might, you know, he might come back out like on a Tuesday or a Wednesday or something.
But he looked really good. The fastball that first inning that he pitched was probably as good as that fastball has looked all year. And then again, like you said, he was taking advantage of that, that high strike that David Savage, the plate umpire, was giving him.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Well, what did Dave say in the post game interview? He told him, he told him that that won't happen again.
Yeah, yeah. Something to the effect of, you know, that won't happen again or you won't see that again.
That's a guy that I want on the mound. Yeah, anyone that tells me that I want him, I want him on the mound. We were, we were in a tournament this weekend and I had a guy come up and tell me I want that team.
And you know, I just, I want to hear that out of a guy. So. And boy, he came in and got it done. It was good to see. And you know he threw 30 pitches on, on Friday and I don't think he was available on Saturday. But Sunday, boy looked really good.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean that's again, you're kind of learning a little bit about the team.
Okay. Now, you know McIlvaine, he's showing you he can pitch on Friday, he can come back and he can pitch on Sunday. And I'm sure the coaches probably knew that, you know, that he had that in him. But it's really the first time that I think we have seen it.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: But you know, I think one of the biggest pitches of the weekend was Parker Coyle coming in, striking out Hines with the cutter. O2 cutter down and in. I mean just a perfect location, perfect location on that pitch. Kind of back legged it.
It's a strike all the way to the plate and like the last three feet, it's not a strike.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: And I thought that was an awesome pitch because that dude, you make a mistake with him and we got a tie ball game.
I thought that was a great pitch.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: I'm trying to find this quote here because Van Horn and Rob Vaughn, the Alabama coach, they both had comments about it. Van Horn said it was as good of a located cutter as you can have for a lefty to a right handed hitter. And then Vaughn called those pitches disgusting cutters and said he made some good pitches in a big spot. And Parker came back in yesterday and pitched well too.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: Think about, think about that pitch on Friday though.
Do you remember the pitch that Hines hit out against Dietz? It was a cutter that ran right into his barrel and hit it a mile.
So if, if that's just the confidence to throw that pitch there because if that pitch is just a little bit higher, if you miss your spot, it's a home run because it's the way that dude swings that that cutter plays right into his barrel. So you gotta make sure you get it below the barrel. If you get it right here, I don't know if people can see it on camera, but if you get it right here, his barrel runs right into it. Just like the Deets Cutter did.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: He's powerful too.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah, he is.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: He looks like he's got a lot of. It was funny, the timing. I think it was Alan Dunn, who was the color analyst who used to be LSU's pitching coach and played at Alabama. But I think like right before he swung, he was comparing Hines to Albert Bell. And then lo and behold, he hits like a 430 foot shot over the scoreboard. I was like, whoa, maybe.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Right, well, it's a good comparison. I mean, he's a big strong dude. He's a freshman. He's going to be really good.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Albert Bell's kind of crazy in college, right? I know. He's kind of crazy in the pros too.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Crazy his whole career.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Did he get kicked off of the team at lsu? Am I right about that?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: I don't know if he did or not.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: I think he might have.
I think he might have.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: There's so many things I think about with Albert Bell, but the one thing that stands out is the double play ball where I don't remember. I can't remember who the second baseman was, but he was standing in the base path and he was trying to tag Albert or he was trying to tag him and then throw to first and he just, he just like forearm shoved him and like knocked him backwards 10ft. And so that's the thing I remember about Bell.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Yeah, he was, he went by Joey Bell when he was at lsu and yeah, he got, he got, I guess he got suspended at the SEC tournament and that kept him out of the College World Series. And then he went pro, so.
But Hines, he looks really good. I thought getting Damian Ruiz back, number one. What a surprise this weekend because on Monday Van Horn said that, he reiterated he's going to be out for a month. And now all of a sudden here he is playing on Saturday. I was surprised to see that.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And, and I think Damian gave, you know, a big shout out to, to Dr. Reeves.
Corey Wood gave him a big shout out. I thought that was really cool. But I mean, think about it. I mean, that's the strain, the patella strain. And all of a sudden, two weeks later you're back in a lineup and they thought it was going to be over a month. That's, that's crazy.
So it was good to see, but I think it kind of gave us a little spark. You know, he played really, played really well too, so I thought it was good seeing him back in there. But all those little things, you know, baseball's so mental. You get a guy Back in a lineup like that, and you're like, yes, you know, we got our dude back. And so I thought he did a good job.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: And he didn't look rusty at all.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: No, I mean, you take a couple weeks off like that, it's. It's hard to take two weeks off and then all of a sudden you're back in there and, I mean, he didn't miss a beat.
[00:17:12] Speaker A: It feels almost.
I don't know if inevitable is the right word. It feels he'll be back in the leadoff spot before too long.
Rudin Barr got thrown out at home plate. And. And, you know, I think during game one, during a. It was one one at that time, I don't know if he ran through a stop sign. I don't know if they sent him. I don't know what happened there. But he doesn't have the. He does not have the speed on the base pads that Ruiz has. And, you know, I mean, if Ruiz has given him competitive at bats, Rudmar is still going to give you competitive at bats if you drop him down in the order. Yeah. And maybe there's some RBI opportunities there for him. It just. It feels like with Ruiz's speed, it's probably just a matter of time before he's back in the leadoff role.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Right. You know, so we're watching a game and my son said, how in the world he get thrown out there? And the thing. The thing I noticed is lebron made that throw.
So on a ball to right center, typically your shortstops, the trailer there, they've got him in front. Because I think Holt. Holt doesn't have a very good arm.
So I think anyone but LeBron probably doesn't, though. He's got a cannon. Anything. Anyone but LeBron probably didn't throw him out at the plate there. It was perfect throw, perfect relay in. But, yeah, you know, Rudenbar doesn't have the speed and he's not. He's not slow. But on a play like that, you're like, come on, get there. He looks slow on that, even though he's not slow. But.
But, yeah, it was. It was just. I think if you played that over a few times, he beats it and he's safe. But, yeah, that one time, it was a perfect relay.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: I was like somebody that said they don't think that he was an option quarterback in high school. Like. Like, you hear all this talk about he was just, you know, he was a quarterback for, I think, Midlothian heritage.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: But, yeah, he just didn't have the speed, I think, that you're looking for, he's got the, he's got the bat control. Even though it didn't go well for him yesterday, I thought yesterday was probably the worst day we've seen from him at the plate over five. But he's got the bat control typically at the plate where he's going to fight off those pitches. But there is that second element of wanting somebody who's got really elite speed in that leadoff role. And Ruiz has that. Even if he was only 85, 90%, I mean, that's still better than 100 for most guys, I feel like.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. But I'm still impressed. I know Ruben Barton. Have a good day yesterday. I thought they made some good pitches on him, but I love his at bats. I love how he goes up there and grinds out at bats. And you know, there was one at bat, I don't remember which one it was, and the pitcher threw him a change up and fooled him, came back with the same pitch and he smoked it to right field for a base hit. And for a freshman to be able to make adjustments like that in, during the at bat, I like that. And he's going to be, he's going to be a special hitter.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Reminder, our baseball podcast sponsored by H and R Tire and Auto. They're a local shop that's been family owned for three generations. They built their reputation on taking care of customers the right way. And that kind of longevity doesn't happen by accident.
Perfect segue here. Just got an email that TJ Pompey is the SEC Player of the Week. Good boy.
Let's kind of drill down on him for a second. What do you see different in his swing because Van Horn was talking about during the series? He's really liked what he's seen from him recently in batting practice and felt like that was going to carry over to the games and it certainly did.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: Well, good hitters are defined by what they don't swing at. He's not chasing that slider down and away off the plate. He's taking, he's laying off of it and then getting pitches in the zone and crushing them. You know, it's like that one. I want to say he got back to back sliders. You know, he saw the first one, then the next one, he hammered it to left field.
And once again, that's what good hitters do. And boy, you, you watch him play and he's got so much ability, you just, you, you hope he figures it out and you hope he Keeps going, keeps building on this and getting better. But In SEC, he's hitting.333 in SEC games. And so he's been getting it done. He's had some really big hits for us in SEC games.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: Like. Like, you look at his sec, like, if you're looking at, like, a be a bell graph where, like, it's like, up here and then it goes down here, and then it's back up here, it's just going to be interesting to see if he can keep this up.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: But. But you did say it. I don't think Alabama, their bullpen, they got good starters.
They're bullpens. And by the way, we didn't even really talk about fade.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: Can we say one thing? The home run he hit in game one, that was off their best reliever. That was their closer.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: Yeah, that was the one. I think it was a fastball in. He pulled his hands in and got to it. That was a tough pitch.
When I saw that swing, I'm like, I was talking to Dalton, my son. I' man, you see that? And they wouldn't let me replay it. For some reason. I wanted to rewind it and look at it, but the station wouldn't let you, and. But I wanted to go back and look at that swing, but, boy, it looked like it was a fastball in. And he really, you know, I always say the. The backside delivers a barrel, and. And I really thought he got his hands inside and just hammered that ball because it was actually a really good pitch.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: He may have the quickest hands on the team. Like, in terms of what you see
[00:22:02] Speaker B: at the plate, I think him and Micah New is super quick through the plate, and sometimes it. It's a detriment because he's in and out of the zone so much so quick that it, you know, he kind of pulls off some balls, but boy, yeah, both of them are really quick, electric at the plate. So you get guys like that going. And New, I think about the ball that New hit the right field, the sac fly, I don't know what it was hit off the bat, but that ball was smoked.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: That's a home run. Yeah, the wind was blowing in probably 10, 15 miles an hour.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: Yesterday ended being a sac fly, but that ball, if you hit that at Bomb Walker, it probably hit Stave's office.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Same thing goes for Helfrich yesterday. I mean, the triple, that's probably a home run. And then he looked like he had a home run taken away in the first inning because it got blown down at the warning track. That looked like a home run off the bat. I thought we talked about him being a tough luck hitter. I thought there were three different times that he got robbed of a hit by that middle infield. And LeBron, you know, he's, he's really inconsistent, but man, he's got like, like he just oozes potential. I feel like, you know, I didn't have time to ask it yesterday, but I really wanted to ask Van Horn, like, you know, like, how much of a handful was that guy? Because when he's on at the plate, he's really good. He had a couple of doubles yesterday. When he gets on base, he can really move. He had three stolen bases this weekend. Leads the SEC, I think, with 28.
And then defensively, we saw him boot the balls a couple three times, but they also made about you know, four or five plays where it's like there aren't very many other guys in the country, maybe like a Rock Chalaski or somebody like that, who are making those type of plays from shortstop.
[00:23:37] Speaker B: But think about it though. Great players make the routine play. I feel like he missed a couple of routine plays that ended up being huge.
Look at our shortstop. He makes the routine play.
He may not make that spectacular play up the middle, it may not get to that ball, but I'll take that routine play every time.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: I thought Nolan Sousa made some really good plays in second base defensively.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Yeah, he looked great, so. And I think his arm, he's getting more confident with his arm. So Nolan, Nolan.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: It's almost like you don't even notice the arm anymore with him.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: No, you don't. But he really did made some good plays going up the middle, came and got a few balls, made some good plays. So I think it was good to see.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: And I thought he had one of the best hits of the weekend. I forget which day it was, but, you know, got a two strike curveball and just fisted it the other way and you know, against the shift and just a really good piece of hitting.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it was like a curveball up and in. He pulled his hands in and just kind of kind of shot it down. I don't even want to say shot because it wasn't a shot, but kind of, kind of dribbled it down the left field line. But I mean, swings like that are huge. You know, just the ability to. It have been really easy for him to swing underneath that ball and strike out, you know, but he was able to get his hands aside and they're shifting on him, so just shoot it Right down that third baseline. You know those. And Dave talks about it all the time. And I hate strikeouts. I absolutely hate strikeouts. You know, sometimes there's a strikeout that's not as big, you know, it's an out. And out. You know, a lot of people say, well, an out's an out, but boy, just the value of just putting the ball in play. And I thought we had some really good at bats over the weekend, and I thought we battled through some adversity. You know, you look at the. The inning where, you know, the fly ball to right Schaefer comes in, it's a tough play. I think he was kind of caught in between. Am I going to dive or not? Dive. And it hits off his glove.
Then the next ball gets hit to him and, you know, he bobbles it and a guy takes an extra base. You know, things could have gone wrong right there. But then that's one of those situations where our pitchers stepped up, made. Made good pitches, got out of the inning.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: All right. So speaking of pitchers, Hunter Dietz, to me, what he's done the last. And I know that against Auburn, it was. It was game two, but it was against their guy.
Two weeks in a row he's battled, you know, the guy from the other team, and he's held his own. He's gotten deep into the game. Six innings the other night, two runs, three hits, three walks, which is kind of high for him. He's not really walking a whole lot of batteries this year.
Nine strikeouts, 107 pitches.
You know, it just. It goes to show you how valuable it is to have somebody that can go deep on a Friday night and really save the bullpen and set you up, you know, for the rest of the weekend. Because, you know, you hear coaches talk about this all the time, like everything matters, you know, even. Even if it doesn't necessarily play a role in that game, like there's this trickle down effect throughout the weekend. And I feel like more often than not, you're getting really good starting pitching out of him.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I love the way he pitches. He just looks calm, under control.
And the thing is, is if he doesn't have, you know, I think there for a little bit, he lost his curveball. He didn't have it.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: I didn't have it till the fourth inning.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah, then he gets his curveball and he kind of kind of lost his cutter. But he's able to maneuver through when he doesn't have his, you know, one or two pitches. And I remember guys like, like Blaine Knight, you know, Years ago, being able to do that. He didn't have one pitch, he could lean on another pitch. And that's, that's the way Hunter Dietz is. And you know, Vol else fails. He's got a 96, 97 mile an hour fastball that you can. You're not going to hang a 97 mile an hour fastball. So, yeah, you can rely on that sometimes too.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: I think it was Bryce Fowler who he was, he was really missing his fastball, pulling it over to his glove side and goes to 3, 2. And he's got enough trust in the fastball to go back to it. And he catches the outside corner, gets a big strikeout.
Can't remember exactly what happened in the next at bat, but got out of that inning. And it felt like that was a big moment in the game where he was again. It was. It kind of lost the feel of the fastball, but still trusted it enough to go back to it.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Yeah, and I mean, that's what the good pitchers do. I mean, you've got to trust your stuff. I go back to the Parker Coyle Cutter Inn.
You know, that's a dangerous pitch if you make a mistake, but if you trust your pitch and if you're committed to that pitch, you'll execute it.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Cole Gibler, I thought he pitched okay, wasn't great.
I don't know that I really, I don't know what I expected out of him in that game to start. But you know, he gets him fairly deep into the game. What do you go about four and two third innings? Is that right?
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Four and a third.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Four and a third. So you know, he gets him into the fifth inning and Van Horn said the next day that he thought it was a good learning experience for him so that he thought he would be better the next time out because of some of the things that talk about holding runners and things like that, you know, that he thought that that was going to be a good something that's going to pay off for him in the future.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: I think so. I think, you know, speaking of holding runners, I think that's his one weakness. I don't know if he's doing something to tip when he's picking or when he's not picking or maybe it's just Alabama being really aggressive and I know they stole still third a couple times on him, still, you know, stole second. I don't know if there's something there. But, but you know, you. He'll. He'll get better. He'll. You'll get better at that. But I thought it, I thought he went out there and battled through some really good pitches. Although his breaking ball looked really good.
You know, he didn't really have command of his fastball here and there, but, but I thought he did a good job of just maneuvering through the lineup and doing a pretty good job.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: I want to ask you about something Rob Vaughn said yesterday. He said he thought Arkansas sole third more than this weekend than they have probably in the last five years.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Did it stand out to you?
[00:29:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it did. And it ended up being huge a couple times. You know, was it, was it Pompey that stole and they threw the ball
[00:29:30] Speaker A: away and he steal with Pompey and I think Robinette and Pompey scored.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
So I mean, just, you know, taking advantage. If they're going to give it to you pitchers and I watch it from the booth a lot, Matt. You'll watch guys, they get into a rut, whether they're a one look guy or a two look guy. It doesn't matter. Two look guys, the same as a one look guy. He's going to look, look back, look, look back and then go to the plate.
And I think our base runners are doing a good job of taking advantage of that. Third's easy to steal. If your pitcher's going to give it to you, it's an easier base to steal than second.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: We talked about Gackel. I thought it was, you know, I think they were disappointed that he couldn't go further on Friday night. Now I think in the long run ended up helping him because they were able to go back to him in a tough moment on Sunday. But I thought the fact that Colin Fisher was able to get through those last three innings, and I know he had a big lead, but he looked a lot better.
Maybe if he got a nine run lead whenever he's starting, things would have gone better for him as a starter. But I thought that that was a good performance by him. I mean, it's a couple of runs, but, you know, it's kind of.
He's pitching in a unique situation at that point.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: But think about when Dave brought him in.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: It was a closer game, five four
[00:30:46] Speaker B: in the seventh inning. And honestly I don't, I don't ever second guess Dave, but I'm sitting there thinking, ooh, is this a good move, Dave?
And you know, but that just shows the confidence. And look, as a player, when, when a coach shows confidence in you to put you out there, it gives you a little bit of extra, you know, a little Bit extra, bows your neck a little bit. And.
And I thought he stepped up and did a good job.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Everything we've seen, it feels like a lot of what we've seen or what we think we know about this team from a pitching perspective has changed in the last couple of weeks just because the roles have changed.
Dietz is no longer the number two. He's the number one. Gackel's no longer a starter. Fischer's no longer a starter. Gibbler's no Longer a reliever. McIlvaine's the closer. Now I wonder how it worked this weekend. I wonder how sustainable that is.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: Well, I think it is. And one more thing on Fischer, think about. You just said everything matters. Those three innings that he was able to throw, first of all, it helped that we tacked on, you know, five and eight. Five and a ninth helped. But the fact that he was able to go three innings and close that game out saved some dudes for the next day. And I thought that was, I thought it was huge for him to be able to take do that.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: How big of a weekend? Well, maybe, obviously it's a big weekend.
How much do you think now what they did this weekend can transfer down the stretch in the sec? And do you think this is a turning point for the team, that we're going to see something totally different over the last five weeks than we did for most of the first five?
[00:32:30] Speaker B: You know, I think it's a tough question. I think you will know more after this weekend.
Now, if we can repeat it again against Georgia and win the series against Georgia, you know, a sweep, who knows? But just win the series against Georgia coming into town, I think we'll know then if it's something because the rest of the schedule looks, looks a little better for us. Of course, you know, you talk about Ole Miss. Ole Miss has been playing really well, so who knows? They swept. Who? They swept LSU this weekend.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Yeah, so.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: So, I mean, they're playing good baseball, so I mean, there's not an easy series in the sec. But I think we'll know more, you know, in this weekend. But I think, I think we're playing with a little swag right now. We got a little swagger to us. I think. I think offensively guys are feeling good at the plate.
You know, the pitchers are coming in and I thought Sunday was the big test for the, the bullpen. And I thought they did a really good job of just saying, hey, you guys, we got you. Offensively, we're not scoring any runs, but we got you today we're not, we're not going to give anything up today.
I thought that was really good to
[00:33:38] Speaker A: see the wind blowing in made a difference. But the expectation, I think, by both coaches was that they were going to score a lot of runs to win Game 3, and that ended up being the lowest scoring game of the weekend.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think the win, I think.
But if you look at the balls we hit, so, so I'm coaching on Sunday and I've got Phil on in my pocket. I'm trying to coach with him going on. And there were several times that I'm, I'm like, okay, wait, I want to, I want to coach, but I want to. Let me hear what Phil says before I call this pitch or give this sign.
But yeah, I think, I think the wind played a role in that. There were probably several balls that would have been hit out any other day, but I think we hit more balls hard today. They did.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: So they've got UAPB tomorrow night. You know, one thing that I, and I'm gonna write about this today, but one thing that I've noticed, remember in 2022 when they played all four of the in state teams twice? They beat them all, but they were all like, all of them had pretty bad records that year.
You turn the corner now to this season, UCA doesn't have the greatest record, but uapb, they're one of the best teams in their conference. Arkansas State. We saw, and, you know, we've talked about them plenty, that they're competitive in the Sun Belt now. Little Rock, one of the best teams in the ovc. It's like these games against these in state teams. And I fully expect Arkansas to be able to beat UAPB tomorrow night. But I feel like they're a lot more competitive than maybe what we were accustomed to seeing three or four years ago.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Oh, without a doubt. Even UAPB's better this year. I mean, I think there's midweek games. I mean, just look at the Tuesday scores. Every Tuesday, there's upsets all over the sec, all over the country, really.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: But I mean, UCA beat Vanderbilt this year.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's different in baseball right now, college baseball. I mean, there's good players all over the place. So, you know, I'm not really worried about, you know, Tuesday's game. We tend to not play real well when we go to Little Rock.
Plus, you know, we got a short week with the game starting on Thursday against Georgia, you know, so we're going to need some guys to step up, but I mean there's plenty of guys we can go to. You know, we got Cooper Dawson, you got Brissy, Peyton Lee, you've got, you know, Luke Cornelius and I mean we got guys we can go to.
But there will be some guys I'm sure that'll be off limits tomorrow night just because of the Thursday start or
[00:36:12] Speaker A: if they're not off limits. Well, I'm sure there's gonna be some that are off limits and I'm sure there's gonna be some others who maybe they pitch but they're not going more than an inning.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. So, you know, I think what you don't want is to go down there to. And I don't think we will. Dave won't let it happen. But go down there. We're coming off a huge emotional sweep. We're looking for looking ahead to Georgia. We don't want that to affect the way we play Tuesday night in Little Rock.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: That ballpark is a graveyard. You talk about the wind in Tuscaloosa. I was looking at the weather for tomorrow night. Talking about maybe about a 20 mile an hour wind out of the south coming off the river like, like whoever built that stadium, they did it for aesthetic.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: So you could see the Little Rock skyline out past the outfield. They didn't do it because they wanted a high scoring baseball team because that is a tough, tough park to hit in.
[00:37:02] Speaker B: Yeah. I always say it's a good day to be a hitter in that ballpark. I don't know if it's a good day to be a hitter on most days. Yeah, it's a big yard.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: It's carry. It's like what, 330 down one line? I think 332 down another. It's only 400 to center field, which is kind typical. But boy, it's hard. It's like in the alleys and down the lines it is hard to get the ball out. And again the wind plays a huge, huge factor when you play there. And that's why I think it's one of the reasons why I think you just see when they go there, it's a lot of low scoring games.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that favors uapb, you know, definitely.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Plus you also see when Arkansas plays these teams like UAPB or Grambling, a lot of these SWAC teams where the velocity from the pitchers is not as high. You know, they're. We call it the Bugs Bunny change up that they're, they're dealing with a lot of times and, you know, it's like you might see a pitch that's. Wait, did I say 68?
You know, it's just. It's just. It's just different. And it can take a couple, you know, maybe a time through the batting order to. To get accustomed to.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I say all the time when you're facing slow pitching, you should preload because you get so accustomed to loading at a certain time.
You load, you stride, and then the pitch still isn't there.
I have my guys when they're facing slower pitching, they preload so that part of the swing is already out of the way. You preload, you wait, wait, wait. You step and hit, and that helps you stay back on slower pitching.
But I think we'll be fine.
I'm just looking forward to the. I know we're not talking about Georgia yet, but I think this would be a really fun three games.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: I think it's going to be interesting to see who Arkansas pitches tomorrow night because, you know, they started McGuire on Tuesday last week. Well, he started the Sunday game, so I would suspect they're not going to start him again, you know, through 50 pitches. Maybe he can pitch again. Who knows? I don't know what kind of, you know, rebound he has, but I'm very interested to see who all pitches in this game and in particular, who goes out there and, you know, tries to.
Well, number one, are you starting somebody, hoping they can go four or five innings, or are you starting somebody, you know, hoping they're going to give you kind of like an opening, you know, a couple innings, maybe three, and it's a bullpen night.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: I think it'll be more that. Oh, and someone else. Brumball is another guy we might see.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: That's a good point.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: And he's a guy that can run it up there a little bit. Got good secondary pitches, so he might be a guy we see tomorrow night.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: It seems like whenever they play down there, they try to get pitchers who are from that area. An opportunity to get in the game doesn't always happen. Like Will McIntyre. He didn't get into the game last season, but, you know, you think about Steel Eaves, he's from Lonoke, a little bit away.
He's pretty durable. He didn't pitch yesterday, so you wonder, you know, maybe. Does he get in there? Peyton Lee is from Maumelle.
Possibly. He gets in and gets a chance to pitch. I'm not sure if there's others on the staff I haven't, you know, Taken a look, but you know, the full Central Arkansas list of players. But I kind of suspect you might see both of them based on where they're from, but also how they've used them in midweeks in the, you know, the past.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. I think you might see Peyton Lee start. He started a few Tuesday games. They might.
[00:40:17] Speaker A: Haven't seen James Decrimer in a little while.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: That could be.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: That's another one who hasn't gone well for him. Sometimes when he's pitched. I know he's been dealing with. That was a calf injury, but, you know, that's a. I guess that's another possibility.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: Yeah, he could be one that could start, but I think it'd be more of like an opener.
Go as far as you can and go to the next guy. But we got enough arms. There's a bunch of. We got some dudes in there that, that can come out and get some outs for you.
[00:40:43] Speaker A: I did want to mention a couple things about RPI before we get out of here.
Remember, we said a couple of weeks ago that it felt like they needed to go three or three or three and three or better.
Auburn and Alabama, well, they went four and two on the road and you really saw the RPI shoot up this weekend.
Let's look and see what the, the RPI is right now. It was about 57, I think, before they went down there. And it moves every day up to 35 right now. So it's still not quite, I think, where you want it, but it's, they've. I feel like what the Alabama series did it almost like in some ways it erased a bad weekend somewhere else. I don't know if that bad weekend was Stetson. I don't know if that bad weekend was getting swept by Florida at bomb. But it kind of like, okay, now you've, you've, you've got a response here on the road that's made up for some of the struggles that you've had at home.
Now, what can you do with it? It's at 35. It's in a good spot. You know, they played Georgia this weekend. If you win a game or the series against Georgia, it's probably going to help it out a little bit.
Ole Miss and Oklahoma, those are both high RPI teams. I'll tell you one that's kind of sneaky. Under the radar. Missouri State, you know, they're 16 RPI. I still contend that letting that game get away in Springfield was a huge missed opportunity for the rpi. They go To Kentucky at the end of the year. Kentucky's a high RPI team. Really?
[00:42:06] Speaker B: The one.
[00:42:07] Speaker A: The landmines, if you will. UAPB tomorrow night in Little Rock.
You gotta. You gotta avoid that one.
Northwestern State comes here in a couple of weeks for a double midweek. That's an RPI landmine. And then they go to Missouri and, you know, I mean, Missouri is just.
They're Missouri.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Yeah. Missouri got swept by South Carolina. They did all right.
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: That's not good baseball right there.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: No, and I think it was in.
It'd be easy to say it was in Columbia because both of them are in Columbia, but I think it was. I think it was at Mizzou, South Carolina, one, or they swept on the road.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's funny you call it a landmine.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: That's what they are, they're landmines. You step on one of those right now and it can blow up your rpi.
[00:42:47] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. Well, that's why I think we had. We got to be careful tomorrow night and go out with the right mindset, which I know we will, but, I mean, you're, You're. When you come off a big weekend like this weekend, and then you get on a bus and drive to Little Rock, it always seems like kind of a trap game.
But I think we'll be all right.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: It's a lot of travel. Yeah, a lot of travel they've had. I mean, you think about going back a couple of weeks now.
Drove to Springfield, flew to Auburn, didn't get in until about 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning at Auburn.
Then, you know, they come home.
Then they go to Alabama, they fly back last night, get back, you know, fairly late, and then they're going to get on a bus, go down to Little Rock tomorrow. It's just, it's. That can take a toll, I think, on you as a player.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. I think. I think a lot of it's more mental than physical.
So you just gotta be able to flip that switch. When game time starts tomorrow night on. What time is the game tomorrow night?
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Six o'. Clock.
[00:43:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they'll flip that switch. They'll be ready to go. That place will be packed out. No tickets are hard to come by down there.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: They're hard to come by and nobody's ever in their seat because they're always at the beer garden. Yeah, I mean, like the line to get a beer at that ballpark is. I don't know. I mean, I may be over maybe 5,000 people deep at all times. It is insane. It is crazy.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: But, you know, in closing on my part, I'm. I'm proud of the team. I really. I felt good about going to Alabama. Remember I said it last week. I felt really good about it, but I'm proud of the team. The way we responded, you know, I thought they went down there and took care of business. I think. I think. I think Dave and.
And Hobbs and Toms Wernicke, I think they had the guys ready to go.
The scouting report, I just think everything about the weekend, I think, was good. I think it was really good for this team to go down there and show what they're capable of doing. And, you know, a lot of it is believing in yourselves. And I think we were kind of teetering on, are we a good team or are we not a good team? And I think now they're like, hey, we're.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: We're good. If nothing else. If nothing else, it gives them confidence moving forward. And I think that. I mean, you know, this. That's as big as if you're not confident you're gonna play good.
[00:45:01] Speaker B: No, you're not.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: I'm not surprised they won the series. I'm surprised they swept.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: Because Alabama won 18 in a row at home, and they were 8 and 1 in their. Last night. You talked about Arkansas being 1 and 6. Alabama was 8 and 1. It was like. I mean, as. I think as surprising as Tennessee sweeping at Mississippi State was, I might even say Arkansas sweeping at Alabama was a little bit more surprising given what the, you know, kind of what the track records had been the last two or three weeks.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: Well, and you look at how Sunday's game started out, you know, we got behind two nothing. We made a couple of errors. Things just didn't look like they were going our way. And then we found a way to win a game when I don't think we played that great.
And once again, that's what the good teams do. They find a way to win.
And we were able to do that one more time.
[00:45:47] Speaker A: Our baseball podcast brought to you by H and R Tire and Auto. They're proudly family owned since 1976. Trusted across northwest Arkansas, committed to keeping you safe on the road all season long. You can learn more or schedule service at H and r Tire and Auto.com. i'll be in North Little Rock tomorrow to cover the Razorback baseball game. Christina Long's going to be in here for the podcast. Hope that we see it on our website, WholeHogsports.com and Bubba will be back Thursday as we look back at UAPB and look ahead to Georgia. Hope to see you then.
