[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now, here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Happy Thursday to you. We've got a full show lined up. We've got new Arkansas women's basketball coach Kelsey Music on the show. Also, Bubba Carpenter will be in studio with me a little bit later. We'll talk about this Razorback baseball series against Missouri that's coming up this weekend, if the rain will hold off. The rain gonna be a big factor this weekend for this baseball series. But we go to coach, just announced here in the last couple of weeks. Coach, I wonder, what are your days like right now?
[00:00:37] Speaker C: They're long, but they're great. It's a huge opportunity, huge blessing, but days are long right now, but we wouldn't have it any. Any other way.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Is this a deal where it's like before sunup and then obviously, you know, after sundown?
[00:00:51] Speaker C: I. Pretty much. Most of the day. Most of the time, I don't know what day it is or what time it is. We're just. We're in the grind right now. Obviously, the portal's open, lots to learn as far as camp, you know, all the. All the things, basically, but the biggest thing is recruiting and that portal right now. So it's. It's definitely a grind, but it's fun even in the midst of a really long days.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: You've been through this a few times, whether it be starting out at Southwest Oklahoma State or at oru. Just. Just.
[00:01:22] Speaker D: What.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: What are the. Maybe The. The building blocks that you have to put in place early on when you take a new job like this?
[00:01:31] Speaker C: You know, I think obviously we have to assess our current roster and working on that as well in the midst of the recruiting realm, but just establishing our culture, our expectations, the changes that will be made, the structure in which we will run our program, and then obviously in recruiting, just, you know, trying to make those relationships with the portal open, you have to really. You have to really work fast. You got to be making sure you're talking to all the right people as quickly as possible because, you know, sometimes girls are making decisions extremely quick. Sometimes they'll. They'll give you a little bit of time to kind of get to know them. But. But at the same time, we're trying to fill our roster as quickly as possible, but making sure it's. It's the right fit that. That they really, you know, are all in. They want to be a Razorback and they want to be a part of our program and. And the direction in which it will go. So you know, those are kind of the foundations again, culture. Our pillars are faith, family, and fearless. And those things are important as we move forward.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: I saw a video that they put on social media here in the last week or so. You talked about the faith family and just kind of go into detail like you did in that video, if you would, just what those mean, you know.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: A family type atmosphere. You know, I want our women's basketball players to understand that they are a part of a family. The coaching staff, the players, our support staff, everyone is on the same page. Everyone is all in. And we want to run it like a family. We want them to know that we care about them in all aspects of their life, on and off the court.
We want to help mold them for their future, whatever that might be, to help them be ready to face the world in the workforce or if they have professional aspirations in basketball, whatever. Those are fearless. I think it's extremely important to help build our players confidence. We want them to, to take the court and be fearless. We want them to really hone in on their individual skills. So I think player development is extremely important. It will help build their confidence as well as helping them understand our offensive system and defensive system in order to be confident when they take the floor. And then, you know, faith. You know, I want them to have faith in their coaches, faith in their teammates, faith in themselves. I think that's extremely important. That faith aspect is, is, you know, there's a multitude of ways you can, you can take faith, but faith, faith is extremely important in the way we'll run our program.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Your history has been, I guess, almost all in Oklahoma, right? I mean, you grew up there. You, I think you played there, Southwestern, Oklahoma State, or you does in this day where, you know, portal is such a big deal in terms of how you recruit, the ability to recruit a certain region, is that still important?
[00:04:20] Speaker C: I think it is. Because obviously you want to work on your retainment too. I mean, once we, once we get our players and our roster filled, our goal is to try to keep them. I get the Portal is a huge factor, but as we build our roster, we would like to try to retain them. So I think regionally does matter to a certain extent. There's obviously, you know, there's times that that's not going to be the case. We have some girls from other countries on our roster, so those things are important as well. But if you can recruit a little bit regionally, I think it helps with your retainment and especially, you know, when they have the chance to play in front of their family and friends a little bit. I think that that still matters. But at the same time we have to be ready to get in the portal, get someone from another country, get someone from another state, all of those things. The nationwide recruiting is imperative, but you know, I think also recruiting to the system, so there is that regional aspect, but at the same time I think the right fit and making sure that those players want to be here is also still important.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Okay, so you've said Lacey Goldwire is going to be back as an assistant coach for you. Are there any others that you've added or that you've retained?
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Yeah, Nick Bradford is staying and Amber Dobo is staying as well. So we do have a couple that are, that are staying, that are currently on staff and we're working on filling a couple of other positions actually currently. So.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: So Amber Shirey, who you're mentioning there, director of basketball operations, she's been through a lot of different staffs at Arkansas. I wonder how much does it help having someone who just has such an institutional feel as you try to get your feel for this new job.
[00:05:56] Speaker C: And Amber's amazing. Like you said, not only has she been through multiple coaches, but she was a Razorback and she loves the university. I just think that the fact that she's so deeply rooted within the university, from her playing days to coaching and being in the role in which she is, I just think it's huge. She knows everyone, they know her and it just makes the transition even better. And she's just such a high character person with a phenomenal basketball iq. Just, I'm just excited that she's staying with me.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: And then Nick Bradford, for those who don't know, he's a Fayetteville High school grad, was a great basketball player here, went to KU and played. And then he's been coaching women's basketball for a while, was at Wichita State before he came to Arkansas. What was it about him that you wanted to retain?
[00:06:47] Speaker C: I think he's got some really good connections recruiting wise, but also, you know, on the court. He is from Fayetteville. I think that that's also important to have, have someone that's local that can get out into the, you know, the AU and the summer basketball programs. He has those connections with some high school coaches, but just his on the circuit is extremely important. And the fact that he has been to a few different places, I think his recruiting can reach a little bit deeper now. And I definitely think his on the court basketball IQ was definitely going to help us as we mold our players, help them understand my system and then just. Just help them grow as individual players. I think that player development portion is really important, and I think that that's something that really excites him, too. And I think it'll be. It'll be good for our program.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: No one has publicly committed that I know about. Doesn't mean there hasn't been commits. I wonder, how has recruiting gone? What's the reaction been like from those that you've talked to over the last couple of weeks?
[00:07:46] Speaker C: It's been good. I mean, I think that they're excited. We've had some really good conversations. Obviously, retaining the freshmen that we've signed has been extremely important. Working on our current roster is important, but being in that portal, making those relationships, setting up those visits. So it's been extremely important. And, you know, obviously there's this little dead period right here, so we can't have anyone on campus. So that's going to put kind of a halt to some things. But next week will be another big week for us, you know, getting some girls on campus as we continue to build this roster.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: You know, as you. You talk about roster retention, have you got a ballpark estimate about how many players you're going to need to add during this portal cycle?
[00:08:25] Speaker C: You know, I think ideally we're going to have to add anywhere from, I'd say six, maybe seven, I think, total. So I'd say five to seven is probably a better estimate. So right around there is probably where we're going to need to land as we move forward.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: You really had ORU going in a good direction. You had a program there in that conference that's obviously a real tough one to deal with. But why was Arkansas the right fit for you right now, making this step at this point in your career?
[00:08:57] Speaker C: I think the opportunity permitted itself and I mean, who wouldn't want to coach in the sec?
I also love that it is close to Oklahoma, so, you know, the majority of my family is still in Western Oklahoma. My parents, my grandma. And so just being able to still be within a decent radius of where I'm from is important to me, especially with my children and raising them. And so just I think that Arkansas is a phenomenal university.
I think the Razorback fans are extremely passionate and loyal, and so that excites me as well. And just the opportunity to further my career at Arkansas was extremely important. And I think we can build something really special.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Having coached here, having just kind of seen things up close. When you brought ORU over, did that help at all in your decision making?
[00:09:45] Speaker C: Definitely. And once I got to talk to the administration a little bit deeper, I love the, the direction in which they want the program to go. And I think that that was important too, that our visions do align and the support is there. And that's extremely important as I made my decision as well.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Tell me about growing up in Canton, Oklahoma.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Well, there's about 500 people in my hometown.
It was definitely a blessing to be able to grow up in a small town. Both sets of my grandparents lived there. My parents graduated from Canton High School, and there wasn't much to do but play basketball. I grew up on a farm and I spent most of my days playing basketball. And it was just a great place to be. There's no fast food restaurants, no stoplights, but everybody knows your name. And it's pretty much a tight knit family with the whole town, so I wouldn't change it for anything.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: What kind of farm are we talking about?
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Cattle and wheat. So my dad still runs cattle to this day, and he does a little bit of wheat, but growing up, he lot a lot more wheat, but he's still, like I said, he runs a lot of cattle as well.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: You played at Cameron University. Basketball, college basketball.
You're pretty good there. I mean, you just got inducted into their, their athletic hall of fame, what, in the last six, seven months? Tell me about February. Yeah, so just tell me about playing there and what the college experience was like for you.
[00:11:17] Speaker C: Just, it was a great experience. You know, I think that's honestly where the rebuild started. When I first got to Cameron, we weren't. We weren't very good, to be honest. We had 12 true freshmen on our RO.
And it taught me, it humbled me a lot. You know, we were really good at Canton High School. We won a lot of games, and that's just what we did. So it was humbling to get there and to really have to figure out how to build something and be a part of something that was bigger than yourself and, you know, buy in and put that value in. And so I think that that was kind of where the rebuild started. By my senior year, we made it to the national tournament for the first time in school history.
You know, up until, I guess a couple years ago, we were the only team that ever made it to the national tournament there. So I thought that that's kind of where the foundation and the process of learning how to rebuild a program started for me. And to be a part of something and knowing that you left it a lot better than where you found it meant something.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Now, was your mom your high school head coach? Is this right?
[00:12:15] Speaker C: She was my coach and she wasn't, she coached me when I was younger, but once I got into junior high, she kind of stepped away to help raise us and she, she just taught school for a while. She got back into coaching later, but she, she kind of stepped away to let me and my sister, you know, be coached by someone else.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Is that where your, your, your influence, your basketball influence, you know, philosophically? Is that where that comes from? From your mom, or are there others that have influenced this?
[00:12:40] Speaker C: I think a lot. My mom definitely was a start because she was a coach and I lived in a gym. I think my high school coach, Mrs. Gore, she really did teach us the game of basketball. We ran a true motion offense where you had to read and react. And I think my IQ really grew at a young age. I also think that that's, that's one of the blessings God gave me as far as, you know, my basketball mind. But she really did help instill that hard work, the discipline.
And she was, she was tough, real tough. I don't know that she ever even told me, good job. So she was, she was a different breed, but it was good. I would, I'd do it all over again. Her toughness, her mental toughness that she gave us was extremely important. And then in college, I obviously learned from a couple of different coaches, but as far as the dribble drive, I learned it when I was coaching at Fresno State. Fresno City's coach, Brian Tesler came in and showed us and helped us implement that offense. And that's where I got it. We wanted, we won a, you know, the WAC championship back then, and then that's when I got the job at swasu, when I took it with me there. So the dribble drive is kind of, we got it when I was in California, so I definitely have to give credit to them.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: So, I mean, there's so much to talk about, your offense and how many points ORU has scored defensively. What's the philosophy?
[00:13:59] Speaker C: You know, we want to be hard nosed defenders. We want to mainly man to man, but I'm not scared to mix it up. Throw a little zone in there, here and there. But if, if the opportunity permits, we can get the roster where we need it. I also love to press. I love to, I love to be a little chaotic on defense and sporadically, you know, trap and do some different things. You know, my goal is to try to make the offense the Opponent uncomfortable to the best of our ability and make sure that, you know, we have a mentality where we're going to be hard nosed defenders and we want to force some turnovers. When we force some turnovers with some full court press, that helps our transition, helps us get some easy buckets and helps us keep those, keep those points growing on the board.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: You mentioned knowing how to rebuild. I mean, you've been a part of this. Like you said as a player, you've done it a couple of times as a coach. How much do you think that helps as you come in here to Arkansas?
[00:14:49] Speaker C: I think it helps significantly. I think that that's kind of where we're at with this program. I think that that's one reason that I was blessed with this opportunity. So the rebuild, I understand, I understand that it is hard. It's grueling, but it's worth it. You know, I always tell my players that, you know, most things in life are hard, but what's on the other side of hard is usually something really good. So as you build a program, you build anything in life, it's going to take time. It's going to take some grit, some effort, some hard work, a lot of faith and belief and trust. But once it's built, it's something to be proud of. And I hope that my players feel that way as well.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: I'm a big believer that if you can coach, you can coach any level. Now, obviously there are different factors in there about players you can get and everything, but you've gotten this job. You were Division 2 coach, you got Kim Caldwell at Tennessee was the D2 coach. Molly Miller just got the job at Arizona State and she coaches up at Drury.
What do you think it is right now about maybe the, the opportunities that coaches are getting from smaller levels to, to move up quickly, like you said.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: I, I agree. I think that there's a lot of really good coaches at all the different levels and sometimes it's just, you know, getting a chance. You know, someone took a chance on me at SWASU when I was, you know, Todd Thurman did. He took a chance on me when I was in my 20s to be a head coach. And, you know, in my first year when we weren't very good, he probably thought he was crazy, but he stuck with me for a little bit. In our third season, we won championships. So I think that it also comes down to if and when you get that chance or that opportunity to make a jump, you know, but like you said, I think there's so many good coaches at so many different levels. So I think that the excitement of the, if you could, you know, like, like you said, Kim Caldwell, Molly Miller, everyone, they were, they were really good D2 coaches as well as I. And to make, to be able to make this jump, have that opportunity, you know, it's, it's about being able to get players and, and find the right players that fit your system and then making it work. But obviously, obviously, they're really good coaches.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: You threw a softball first pitch the other day. I hear you've got a baseball one coming up.
[00:16:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I better start practicing.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: You're going to throw off the mound?
[00:17:01] Speaker C: I don't know yet. I tried to tell coach Courtney. I was like, I never played softball. That wasn't an option at Canton. So don't hold it against me.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Well, coach, we appreciate your time and good luck to you as you continue in this rebuild.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: Thank you so much. I truly appreciate it.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: All right. Thank you, coach. Kelsey Musick of the Arkansas women's basketball team. When we come back, Bubba Carpenter will be here in studio. We'll talk Razorback baseball. But first of all, from our sponsors.
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[00:18:02] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional, versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products and come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com Bubba Carpenter is in here now. Arkansas going to play Missouri this weekend, we think. Might have to get the paddle boats out to play out there at Baum this weekend. Lots and lots and lots of rain in the forecast, not just for us over in eastern Arkansas. They're talking about potential historic type flooding.
Tennessee, Kentucky as well. So they had some storms there last night. Certainly our thoughts are with them and hope everything goes well weather wise there.
But as of now, and we're over 24 hours out, they're still planning to play at 7 o'clock tomorrow night. We'll see if they can find a window to do that. But we're certainly going to be dodging rain this weekend. We'll get into the Arkansas Missouri series a little bit here or here in a little while. We start, though, with the Razorbacks playing Grambling on Tuesday night in North Little Rock. But it turned into what I call a Dickey Stephens special, where you've got winds blowing off the Arkansas river about 30 miles an hour and you got balls that die about 70ft from the outfield wall. There were two hits during that game where, you know, because when the wind is blowing like that, the outfielders are going to cheat in. And there were two that got over their head. I think there was one by Grambling and there was one by Arkansas, and, boy, it is tough to play in those type of conditions. And I made a comment yesterday, I don't know how many home runs Mike Trout would have hit in that ballpark, and that's where he played his double A ball. It is just. It is a really, really hard park to play in offensively.
[00:19:54] Speaker D: Well, it's great if you're a pitcher, though.
I'm sure Hobbs would love his staff to pitch there.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: I can imagine. You know, the Angels were there for a while. Now it's the Mariners. I'm sure their pitchers just move up like crazy because whack. Can you see this guy? He's got a 0.24 ERA at home.
[00:20:10] Speaker D: I mean, it's crazy in today's game where you look at all the short porches everywhere you go. I mean, they're. They're designed for hitters. People want to see the ball go over the fence.
[00:20:18] Speaker B: Not Dicky Stevens.
[00:20:19] Speaker D: You see Dickey Stevens and it's. I don't know. It's good, though. But you know what, Matt? It's kind of a great equalizer, you know, for you. You take a team like Grambling Athletic, team can run, doesn't hit a ton of home runs, that can kind of equal a playing field a little bit. When we go in there and play a team like that. So it can. It can make a difference.
[00:20:39] Speaker B: It's ballpark, too. I mean, and the wind just makes it play bigger. But it's 330 down one line, it's 332 down the other. It's 400 to center field.
And I mean, I don't know if they're. I'm sure their infield's not smaller than most, but maybe it's just the size of the outfield or maybe it's just watching all the balls die in the outfield. It just seems like the outfield goes on forever there. Yeah.
[00:21:00] Speaker D: And there's a lot of foul territory. I mean, there's just everything that you don't want to see as a. As a hitter is kind of what it is. You know, it's funny, I played. Bill Robinson was a guy played in the Pirates organization back in the day with, you know, when they were really good. What. I can't remember what their motto was, but he was my hitting coach one day. And every day he'd walk out and he was awesome. He's like, okay, the wind's blowing out the left. He'd be, good day to hit the left, fellas. It's blowing out the right. Good day to hit the right. And if the wind's blowing straight in, keep it low today, you know, I mean, he had something for every type of wind. So I think. I think Tuesday night at in Little Rock would have been a good day to keep it low.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: What if they were trying to keep some of the Ray Winter Field feel whenever they built it? Because Ray Winder was a big one. I mean, I think they were like 345 down one of the lines.
[00:21:49] Speaker D: But wasn't Ray Winder short and right. But you had like a wall. I can't remember.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: We had that fence that kept the balls from hitting the traffic on 6:30. I remember that for sure.
Here we go. I got the dimensions right here. Ray Winder, 332 left, 345 to right and 390 to center.
[00:22:08] Speaker D: So still big.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty big on right field. I think, again, I think they were trying. Well, it was built before 6:30, so I don't know that that was a consideration when it was built.
[00:22:16] Speaker D: But was it facing the same direction? You probably don't have that there.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was pretty much facing the same direction because you would have been hitting the. The home plate side of Ray Winder would have been on the north side of the ballpark. So, yeah, I think, you know, I. I don't know that you could say that it's facing exactly the same direction because you can go left and right a little bit and that can really play a difference. But, you know, the one thing Ray Winter didn't have was the Arkansas river right beyond the outfield wall that was blowing straight in.
[00:22:44] Speaker D: Yeah, that wind coming in from center, that can make a difference. And it's kind of, you know, when you're a hitter, I Know early in the year when it's cold and you've got that wind blowing right in your face. Boy, I hated hitting during those times. Your eyes kind of start to water a little bit, you get that cold wind. It got to the point where I'd wear clear Oakleys just to block the wind. And I don't wear contacts or anything, but just to block the wind.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: I told you this. I think that Dickey Stevens was built for aesthetic, to get the Little Rock skyline beyond. Because if it. If it was built by somebody who maybe played the game or at least a hitter, maybe it was built by a pitcher. Maybe that's.
[00:23:21] Speaker D: It might have been.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: If it was built by a hitter, they'd turn that thing around and you'd have home runs flying out there everywhere. You could tell watching BP the other day that there it just. The ball was not going to go out. I mean, I don't know that anybody would have hit it out on that day. Does it change your approach? I think you were talking about the second ago, but. But how much does it change your approach when you're a hitter, when you see the wind like that?
[00:23:44] Speaker D: Honestly, I don't think it changes your approach as a hitter because you're still looking for good pitch, trying to put a good swing on it. You're not trying to elevate the ball. I think. I think teams we've had in the past that would. It would affect a little bit more than this team. I think it's. This team's a team that hits a lot of line drives in the gaps, a lot of doubles. You know, if you're a speed team, it's great for you.
Big, big alleys, a lot of doubles and triples.
But I don't think it really affects you too much. Matt. You're still looking for a good thing. You know, honestly, a lot of times I liked it when the wind was blowing straight in, because pitchers feel a little bit like, oh, I can just throw, go right at you. So it's a really a good time to be a hitter because they're going to challenge you more than they, you know, they don't want to walk you, so they're going to get you something to hit because they don't think you can hit it over their head. So sometimes it's. It's a good thing.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Offensively for Arkansas, they took a lot of their everyday players out of the lineup. Davlin played, the Lloyd brothers played, Iredell played. But everybody else at least got the night off from a starting Perspective. They did bring a few of those in for defensive purposes toward the end of the game. Top of the lineup, hit really well.
Loy's. I mean, Cahill had two hits the other way, through the right side of the infield. Viva had a single up the middle, had another one to left field. You know, Davlin did his thing.
Carson Bowles, I thought, had another good night. Offensively, it seems like every time that he gets a chance to hit, he does something with it. At 3 RBI in this game the other day, the rest, not a great night. But the top of. I guess where I'm going with this top third of the order just continues to pound the ball.
[00:25:21] Speaker D: Right. And you mentioned Carson Bowles. I love watching him hit. I tell you what, the guy can just flat out hit. I mean, you can tell. Goes back to the way you take the pitch. He takes pitches like a good hitter takes pitches. And then when he gets a pitch, he's on time. Really like him at the plate.
You know, I was excited that Michael Anderson got a start, got a chance to play.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: So he's been hurt. I didn't realize that that's what Dave said in the pregame. So he said he's been batting a little bit of an injury. Didn't say what, but. So he's been battling an injury.
[00:25:54] Speaker D: Well, it's good to see him in there. I've watched him take a couple of BPs lately, and he's been hammering the ball. So didn't get to. I didn't watch the game, listen to it. Didn't get to watch it.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: So I don't know that a lot of people who were there got to watch it. Apparently, they had some pretty bad streaming issues.
[00:26:08] Speaker D: Oh, really? Yeah.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Apparently didn't go too well.
[00:26:10] Speaker D: Well, I'm glad I was listening to it. I got to listen to Phil.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: And even if you're watching, you're listening to Phil because they had his audio simulcast on the video feed.
[00:26:19] Speaker D: Oh, see, that's good.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: When you got. When we're at Bomb, to kind of give people an idea of the Bomb Stadium press box, I'm like, imagine I'm where Bubba is and Bubba's where I am. And then you've got a big public address slash video command center in between us. So I don't see. I don't see Bubba, and I don't think you see me from your seat. But so at Dickey Stephens, though, where I was sitting and where Phil was sitting was literally this far apart with a window in between us. And so it Was kind of jarring because, you know, he'd always be over looking at his notes that he's got taped onto the window. And it was weird watching him work even though I couldn't hear a word he was saying.
[00:27:01] Speaker D: You know, I forgot about those press boxes. We were there when I was there a few years ago. It was like that. And you know, it's fun though. It's good environment. Were you getting a little feel like he was looking at you or.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I'd look over there a little bit and then like it would be. I felt like I was probably gonna throw him off if I kept looking at him. So it's like, you know, keep my hand up right here.
[00:27:19] Speaker D: That's how I feel. When the last home game, yes, Missouri State, I didn't have the strike zone on, on my iPad, but Phil had it on his. So every pitch I'm like, I'm like looking over there at his and I felt like I was cheating on a test or something. I felt guilty almost.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Yeah, you're stood out over the strike zone. Going away on trackman, right?
[00:27:42] Speaker D: Yeah, that's tough.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: I thought the biggest storyline coming out of Tuesday night was Cole Gibler's performance. Had five strikeouts, one walk in two innings and you we've seen him kind of stack these performances on top of each other. Like even against Missouri State he pitched really well. But then the last two hitters got him and then a McIntyre comes in, they score against McIntyre and his ERA blows up and it doesn't look like he had a very good game. But you look at the, you know, say at bat by at bat progression in that game, he struck out seven in a row. I mean it was a really good performance by Cole and he's been stacking these for a few weeks now really starting with I think March 4th against Ulm. And it just so you've seen this coming. They put him on a pitch week or a pitch count last week against Missouri State so that they could have him available if they needed him against Vanderbilt. Now they didn't need him. But now with Parker Coyle out for a little while, you're going to need more left. You're going to need as many left handers as you can get in the bullpen on the weekend. And here's Cole Gibler emerging and it's like the timing could not be better with Coyle now being out for a while.
[00:28:57] Speaker D: Well, and I think back to Missouri State, you know, they left him in. His pitch count was starting to get up in the limits of where they wanted it to be. They left him in to get those two lefties out. You know, he comes back out and I think he was tired because the two lefties hit hanging, breaking balls. And he didn't hang a breaking ball that whole game, but he hung two to two lefties and they got hit hard.
But other than that, I mean, he was great. I thought he threw really well. And then, you know, Tuesday nights, awesome.
But yeah, him coming on. I tell you what, he's got a kind of. His fastball's got some carry on it. It's hard to pick the ball up out of his hand.
His slider is a plus slider. I mean, it's nasty. Guys just don't see it. I mean, you see hitters swinging at it and it's hitting the plate or hitting in front of the plate. I mean, they just don't pick it up out of his hands. So, you know, with Parker out, you know, it's huge. That's a great opportunity for. For. For Cole to step up. And, you know, it's kind of. That's the way this. It's kind of next man up. You know, someone gets hurt, you know, it's next man up. It's a good chance for someone else to step up and take on a role. And I think Cole's the right guy.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: Parker being out, I mean, this is it. It's got the potential to be significant because I've thought all year that he's been their best relief pitcher. He's been that guy that, you know, especially if you got left handers coming up at the plate, but even against right handers, you bring him in, and more often than not, he's. He's put out the fire.
[00:30:25] Speaker D: Well, I mean, and who would have thought that two years ago?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: I mean, he may be the best strike thrower on the team.
[00:30:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I wasn't in on Parker two years ago. I didn't really see.
You know, once again, I view it from the batter's box and I'm like, I just don't know if he's got what it takes to get it and get people out. But he's gotten better every year. That little cutter thing that he throws in on the righties is just nasty cutter, slider combo. His fastball, I think, has a little cut on it in.
Yeah, he's really tough on righties. I mean, just hammers them inside and he's got confidence to come in there. So, yeah, losing him is huge because he was. He's a big part of that, that, that bullpen. But I think Cole, Cole can come in, do a good job too. And then, you know, Colin Fisher's gonna have to step up too. We're gonna need him. We gotta have lefties that pin to come in and get, get guys out.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: Well, there's just not a lot of left handers right now. I mean, there's two. That's it. Because as long as you've got Root, who he's not coming out of the starting rotation and Vital, she's. We'll see if he stays in once Gage Wood comes back, which won't be this weekend, by the way. Dave and Horn speaking this morning said Gage Wood is not going to be ready for this weekend. So they'll keep the same rotation against Missouri as long as the rain doesn't mess with them too much. But, but, but what I'm saying here is you got Root, you got Beitleshees and you've got Fischer and you've got Gibler. That's all you've got from a left handed perspective right now. Until they get Parker Coyle back and until, and we'll see if this even happens, Hunter Dietz is ready to pitch. It's, it's a, what we thought was a really, you know, deep left handed pitching staff is how it goes. It's now all of a sudden it's, it's a little thin, especially in the bullpen.
[00:32:05] Speaker D: Yeah, Hunter Deets is another one. That boy, it'd be huge to get him back. You know, hopefully he's, he keeps progressing and coming back, but you know, he's a guy we could definitely use back there. But you know, let's say Gage Wood comes back, Vital Cheese jumps into the back end of the bullpen. That would be huge for us whether he's back into the bullpen or a long guy. If someone has a bad start, I mean, that would totally change things. And you hate to take him out of that, that Sunday spot. He's done well. But, but you know, it'd be nice having Gage there and having Vital, she's in the back end of that pin.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: I had a long conversation with Matt Hobbs yesterday and we talked about a lot of stuff and we talked about injuries and you know, they're just, and this was me who brought this up, but there seems to be a lot of, you know, hand wringing every year. Oh, there's pitcher injuries. And you know, what he said was the next time there's not pitcher injuries will be the first time that it's happened.
[00:32:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: And you know, this, you know, what we talked about and I'll write some of this a little bit later, but it's just, it is a physical activity and I don't know that people really who haven't pitched understand the physical toll that it takes on your body. And you know, one of the things that he told me was, you know, if we're dealing with the same injury over and over, then there's something to be concerned about. But when it's a shoulder and it's back and it's a hamstring, then all of a sudden it's like these are just normal, everyday, you know, wear and tear type injuries on pitchers. And you know, I mean, I kind of think people sometimes they'll look at a roster and it's like it's a video game and nobody ever gets hurt. And you've always, and it's great to look at this at the beginning of the season, say you got this piece and this piece and this piece. But you know, they're human and there's going to be players that don't perform well. They're going to be players that go through struggles, they're going to be players who get injured. And this is just how it works in any type of sport, you know.
[00:34:00] Speaker D: You know, Matt, it frustrates me when I watch something and you got some guy that never put a jock on in his life telling us why all these guys are getting hurt and trying to give us all these explanations. Bottom line is, I mean, throwing a baseball is an unnatural motion. And when you do it right, I mean it starts from the ground up and there's a chain reaction. You know, I can call it a bunch of fancy terms, but it's a chain reaction that works from the ground up and the end result is right here and your whole body's involved. And you know, a few years ago it was the lat pitchers were having lat injuries. We had one with last year or year before last, you know, and then it's the elbow, but it's just an unnatural motion. And these guys are pushing the limits of, of, of vo. I mean, V's the holy grail. Everyone supposed to know how to throw harder and they're training to throw hard and, and guys are going to get hurt. You know, and it's funny, people don't talk about all the, the position players that get hurt. I mean, a ton of position players get hurt too. I mean it, it is what it is. But I mean, pitchers are going to get hurt as long as we're playing the game of baseball, pitchers are going to get hurt. It's part of the game and it's.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Going to happen every year.
[00:35:14] Speaker D: Yes, it is.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: And the, the sad reality is the more you get used, the more potential there is to get injured. Yeah.
[00:35:22] Speaker D: And you know, and so don't even get me started on this. If, if we lessen the roster, let's say we go to 34 man rosters, which is happening. I mean, why now you're putting more stress on these guys. I mean that's, to me, that's idiotic. But yeah, I'm going to keep it right there. There's a lot of things that go on that I just scratched my hand. I'm like, where, where is the common sense?
[00:35:47] Speaker B: One of the unsolved mysteries, I guess, if you will, about this house settlement is how many players do you get to have in fall ball. Is it a 34 man roster when August comes around or do you have to cut it down to 34 before the season begins? Because that's a huge deal. Because what happens if you get two or three guys hurt in August and you've only got a 34 man roster, then all of a sudden you're already behind the eight ball when the season starts. And so, so yeah, it's, I, I guess I feel like what's going to happen is that it's going to go terribly wrong for a year or two and then there's going to have to be some sort of adjustment. But yeah, it's, it's, it's one of those, that injuries just when you're, injuries don't matter to the bean counters, let's put it that way.
[00:36:37] Speaker D: Yeah, well, it goes back to. There's no common sense. So everything's reactive, you know that they, they try to react to these things, they, they get it wrong and then they have to go back. If you're proactive and just use your brain and say, okay, common sense says we need this many pitchers. That way we don't stress them out. Position players, I mean it's, I don't know. And they've already moved the draft back. I mean that's tough. Now you got the transfer portal, you got, you know, there's so many.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Baseball is the stepchild of the ncaa. Yeah, it really is.
[00:37:08] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: The ugly red headed stepchild with all the freckles of the ncaa.
[00:37:12] Speaker D: I mean I always respected DVH and his staff in the past, but knowing what they go through now, it's like holy cow, what, what else can they do? To make it harder on these guys.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: I didn't mean to offend people with red hair. By the way, right handed pitchers, they're going to have to step up in the bullpen. Hey, you know, Matt gave me a great, a great point the other day or when I was talking to him yesterday, he said, you know what maybe people don't realize is how Ben Bybey stepped up last week. Because if they've got Parker Coyle available, then Ben may only have to throw two innings against Vanderbilt. Now you got to throw four. And he used a great analogy talking about basketball. He's like, you think the basketball team was happy that a dude Thero and Boogie Fland were hurt at the end of the year? No, he said, but because they were hurt. And I was actually impressed, you know, because it was clear that he's watched a lot of raceback basketball, he said, because they were hurt. Yet Carter Knox, who steps up and all of a sudden you see, you know, what he can do and you've got these other players who step up and that's the same thing's going to have to happen here in the bullpen, Especially from some of these right handers who maybe you haven't seen a whole lot from this year. Who's going to be. I guess my question to you is like, who are the right handers in the bullpen who you think might step up? Who maybe we haven't seen as much from so far.
[00:38:26] Speaker D: Boy, I'd love to see Christian Fouch step up, I really would. I mean the guy's, I mean the guy's phenomenal. He's got great stuff. I'd love to see him figure it out. And you know what if, if he can't, if he's losing a feel, I mean, I played with guys in the past that were two seam guys. They lose a feel for the two seam, they go back to the four seam. I mean, maybe if he, if he's kind of lost a feel for that two seam, go back to the four seam and go four seam cutter, you know, throw his cutter's nasty throw, be like Mariano, come back as, as Mariano Rivera and throw, throw 90% cutters until they hit it. I mean, he's throwing his cutter 90, 92. That's pretty, that's pretty nasty right there. If he worked on, he'd probably throw it 95 if he wanted. But I think Fauci is a really key part of that bullpen. We got to have him. I think Wiggins has come on and showed. I mean Just elite stuff. Dylan Carter, veteran guy, you know, we need him to step up, you know, McIntyre, of course, I mean, all those guys need to step up. But I think for me, a guy that we really need back there is a Christian Fouch to come in and, and do what he's definitely capable of doing.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Coming back as Mariano. Is that as easy as it sounds?
[00:39:38] Speaker D: No, I wish it were that easier. There'd be a lot more. Mariano's out there. I think there's only one mo, but I really think Fouch, Fouch is unique. I mean, he's got a gift. I mean, that's, that's really special. I mean, his, he throws 100 miles an hour and it honestly looks like Matt, he could throw 110 if he tried. It's just that, you know, we talk about easy power at the plate when he's on the mound, that's easy power and boy, we just need him.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: We talk all the time on here about how, you know, one thing kind of leads to another in baseball. I'll tell you one more right hander who I think is going to be a key to all of this is Tate McGuire. And if he, because I thought he looked okay in that starting role Tuesday night, if he can give them some length and some innings on Tuesday, then all of a sudden that takes some stress off of the others and, you know, potentially gives them a more fresh bullpen on the weekends.
[00:40:32] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. It would save guys like, you know, Dylan Carter, you know, Mack, guys like that, you know, and Tate had a great summer. Showed what he's capable of this summer.
You know, we haven't talked about Jimenez. I mean, we already know he had a great weekend without him. I mean, a lot of things had to happen. I mean, it's always like this on the road, but for us to go sweep Vandy, a lot of things had to happen and, and they did. But you look at Jimenez, he was huge.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: I think he might be the best pitcher on the team right now. I'm not saying he's got the best stuff, but I mean, you look at his numbers, he's as effective as anybody.
[00:41:08] Speaker D: Yeah. And you know what I like about him? And I talk about it all the time, people think I'm crazy. When he steps up on the mountain, you look at him, I say all the time, you can look, I can look at a hitter and I can tell if he's a hitter or not. When he steps up on the mound, he has a look about him that's like, wow, okay, he's coming to get you. And I, when I would, when I would look at pictures, I'd step up to the plate. You could always tell. I'll never forget facing Roger Clemens in pitchers BP in spring training, first couple days, pitchers BP and the look on his face during pitchers bp. It wasn't pitchers bp that was game seven. I mean he was, he was trying to get me out. He's supposed to be able, they're just trying to get his work in and it's like a controlled bullpen with a hitter in there. It wasn't and I'll never forget the look on his face and, and, and you know, I'm not comparing Jimenez to him, but I'm just saying he's got that look, Matt, when he steps up on the mound that it's like, okay, come and get it. Nothing phases him.
[00:42:06] Speaker B: Let's not forget that he was going to be the number two starter at Oregon State last year behind a really good number one, Aiden May. That game that Hagen threw 17 strikeouts, Aiden May was pitching right there with and now he wasn't striking everybody out, but he's pitching right there with him for about four innings of that game. Yeah, Aiden May, good draft pick last year and Jimenez was going to be number two to him at a program, Oregon State where you know, they can get their pick of the litter pitching wise and so let's. I know he's had the injury but, but the feeling always was if he can come back from the injury anything like he was before it, this could be really good. And it has been. I mean, I think he probably make look at his numbers. It's better right now and you see this sometimes from the guys who come back from Tommy John. Well, the stuff is better when they come back if they trust it and he trusts it and he's doing really well right now. You can get the latest breaking news on all razorback
[email protected], we'll send up source for for all Arkansas sports analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today@whole hogsports.com I got a story on the site right now with thoughts from Matt Hobbs about Cole Gibler and his emergence on the Razorbacks bullpen. When we come back, we're gonna talk about this Arkansas Missouri series this weekend. The first word from our sponsors at Kindle King.
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[00:43:52] Speaker B: Welcome back, Arkansas. 30 games into the season, 27. 3 record for the Razorbacks overall, their, of course, 8 and 1 in the SEC going into the series with Missouri this weekend. 27 and 3. Bubba. It is. It matches the best record in school history through 30 games. The other team that was 273 was the 2024 Razorback. So back to back years, they've had a 273 start. This team feels to me a lot better than last year's team.
[00:44:19] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. If you go over the. The stats, the only thing we're missing is a Hagan Smith.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: That's exactly right.
[00:44:25] Speaker D: I mean, that really is nothing against any of the other guys that were on last year's team. I'm just saying, you know, Hagan was the dude, and we all know what he is.
[00:44:35] Speaker B: He's the best pitcher in the history of the school.
[00:44:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Let's just call it. I mean, highest, highest draft pick, most strikeouts, but that's who he was.
[00:44:44] Speaker D: Just think if he had come back for another year.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: I don't think he would have gotten $8 million.
[00:44:49] Speaker D: No, probably not, but okay, so, you know, I love this team. And look, I said it. You and I talked about it in spring scrimmages. There's just something different about this team in the dugout. I love their energy. Like, I've watched the dugout a lot, believe it or not, during games. I watched the dugout a lot and love their energy.
I think they got some good leaders on the team and I like the way they play. They play with a little bit of passion, a little bit of. Of just. Just toughness and toughness will get you a long way on a baseball field.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: I don't think you and I have had a podcast where you haven't growled at least once.
[00:45:27] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, sorry. It's a.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: It's kind of a common.
[00:45:31] Speaker D: It's part of the. It's part of the game, though.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: You coach that way, too. You tell your kids that, too?
[00:45:35] Speaker D: Yeah, I tell them, look, the only thing you control is your attitude and effort. And. And you can be. That team might be better than you, but you can be tougher. And if you're tougher than the other team, good things can happen.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: Arkansas is the only team right now that's top 10 nationally in fielding scoring and ERA, the only one.
But it goes to show you the completeness, the all aroundness of this team. It's. And you know, we've seen teams in the past where maybe they were the best pitching team, but they were ranked 100 something scoring.
[00:46:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: And there's just, there's something about the way that all of the, you know, all of the, the parts to this wheel work together. You know, and you and I talk all the time that, that fielding gets so overlooked because you can't see what you can't see. You can't see what that catch where this guy's positioned correctly might have taken away in an inning.
[00:46:29] Speaker D: Right.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: And you know, it's just all of these pieces seem to really work well together.
[00:46:33] Speaker D: I think so. And so, I mean, I've, I've said it but over and over the last several years, you know, I'm one of those that says, I mean, pitching a defense wins. We all know that. You got to have pitching, you got to play good defense, but you got to hit also. The teams that have won it. Look at the teams that have won it the last several years. They've hit, they've hit the, the, they've said, almost said something I don't think I can say.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: You almost quoted Uncle Jack.
[00:47:01] Speaker D: Yeah, you're right.
They, they've crushed the ball.
[00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:05] Speaker D: All right. I think we've relied too much on pitching and defense and not enough on bringing the right guys in here to score a bunch of runs. And, and it's not just about bringing, you know, one guy and two guys in. It's about structure and a lineup. And I think they did a phenomenal job this year bringing a full lineup together. And it's really impressive when they're from top to bottom. You know, we've talked about the depth of the lineup and I just think it's, it's good now. Now we, pitching is great too. I mean, we've got, we have depth going in and it's a good thing because we've had some injuries. But I really love our lineup. I love the way we play defense. I love, I love the way we run the bases. I mean, we've made some mistakes on the bases, but when you're aggressive on the bases, you make mistakes. Now I don't want a guy making the third out at third and the runner running home doesn't score. But, you know, you make that mistake once, you don't make it again.
[00:47:59] Speaker B: They were fairly aggressive the other Viva had two steals in that game against Grambling. I think some of that was their play into the conditions, knowing that, you know, they're probably going to have to have some walks, some basically manufacture some runs in that game. But you've seen that, I guess over the last two games really against Grambling and then obviously or two of the last three. And then you saw what they did, you know, in the late innings against Vanderbilt.
[00:48:23] Speaker D: Well, that's a good thing about this team. They can play pepper with the scoreboard if they need to, they can play small ball if they need to. I'm still impressed with the, the, the safety squeeze. It's just the ability to get the bunch down and execute. When that other team knew they knew we were going to bunt there, they knew we were going to safety squeeze, they tried to defend it and we beat them.
[00:48:43] Speaker B: Still some updates from Dave Van Horn this morning. He did say that Parker Coyle could be back late in the season. That kind of lines up with what I talked about yesterday on our podcast that I don't think this is a season ending injury for him. Says he's going to use same starting rotation this week. He said, quote, that would be the order we would go in if everything's on time. So basically the rain, I mean, it's going to rain this weekend. It's just a matter of when and whether or not they're going to be able to find some pockets in order to play. So as of right now, they're going to go Zach Root, game one, Gabe Gackle, game two, Landon Vital, she's game three. He said they might change that order if the schedule gets crazy. He said they'll make a decision on tomorrow's game tomorrow morning and then figure out how they're going to approach Saturday. Said that they might move up some game times if they can. The games right now, 7, 6 and 2 o'clock are the game times.
[00:49:36] Speaker D: You know, there's, I don't see a window tomorrow. I don't, I don't see anything that, you know, like a lot of times you say, oh, I see a window here, I don't see anything tomorrow. Saturday there's a small, very small window. And then Sunday looks good. It's gonna be cold, but, but Sunday looks okay. Sun's gonna come out, it's gonna be a north wind, 40 something degrees. But at least we're playing baseball. And this is a series you want to play.
[00:50:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. Because Missouri's 0 and 9 in the SEC. I mean, this is, I mean, I.
[00:50:06] Speaker D: Didn'T want to say it. I don't Want to beat them, but you have to.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: I mean, it's.
[00:50:10] Speaker D: It's.
[00:50:11] Speaker B: I, you know, I mean, I think you'd be happier if this happened on a. Well, I was going to say a Tennessee weekend, but then again, you want to see them play all three of those games. But you know what I'm saying, It's. It's.
This is one of those series where potentially you can eat statistically. Right. And especially. And most importantly, where you can maybe rack up some wins and it helps you out in your conference championship race at the end of the season.
[00:50:38] Speaker D: Well, if you look at their pitching, their last in pitching, it's 10, 7, 8 ERA in the SEC only. We're to the point of the year where I start looking at SEC only. I don't know when you officially do it.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: I never do.
[00:50:50] Speaker D: Nine games in. I don't care what they do against the chumps week. And. And some of those. Some of the games because someone really. Some teams really pad their schedule.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: I think there's validity to what you do. I just. I never. I never do. But I do.
I do appreciate what you do. I mean, I think there's a lot of. A lot of value in it.
[00:51:09] Speaker D: Yeah. I just don't care what happens on a Tuesday night. I mean, look at what we, you know, I care what happens. Yeah. Yeah. I care what we do against SEC team. So Mizzou 10, 7, 8 ERA, their last, obviously, in the conference. They're allowing 10.8 runs a game.
They're. What are they batting? Their 12th, you know, they're scoring, you know, 5 runs a game, 4 runs a game.
So, yeah, you want to play these games. And we're first in SEC in hitting, by the way. You probably knew that we're fourth in era, but when's the last time you saw us? You know, nine games in leading SEC and hitting.
[00:51:50] Speaker B: I don't know if I've ever seen it.
[00:51:51] Speaker D: I don't remember.
[00:51:52] Speaker B: I mean, there have been some years where, like, they're. They're leading in some offensive categories, but, like, actually leading and batting average. Like, I don't know that I've seen that.
[00:52:00] Speaker D: Yeah, I started in 2018. I haven't seen it.
[00:52:03] Speaker B: I did see something that right now they're slugging. What's the. What's Arkansas slugging percentage? Right now? It's like 595. I think somewhere in that range, maybe it dropped down a little bit. But where they've got a chance this year to break the school record for sucking percentage. That was set in 1997.
Kind of interesting.
[00:52:24] Speaker D: Yeah, that's again, we're 585. Right.
[00:52:26] Speaker B: And that was, that was at the height of the electric bats, by the way. That was, that was gorilla ball era.
[00:52:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: Some people say we're back in gorilla ball era. I don't know that. I believe that. I don't know that anything will ever match what you saw in the 90s, the bats.
[00:52:39] Speaker D: Well, unfortunately, yeah, but look at gas prices.
We still got, we still got some tough, tough weekends ahead of us. I mean, we're, it's not going to get easier for us. I think things are only going to get harder after this weekend. You know, we said that going to Vandy. Look at vandy. They were allowing.188 batting average against. And we went in there and took care of business toward what outscored them 22 to 7 or 20.
[00:53:04] Speaker B: 22 to 7.
[00:53:05] Speaker D: Yeah. So, I mean, look, this team can play. If you can hit, you can hit. I say, they always say good pitching beats good hitting. I think good hitting can beat good pitching. With the right approach, go up there with the right plan, you stick to it, you can beat them.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: And the schedule, I mean, this isn't to discount teams like, like Florida and A and M, but they're not the Florida and the A and M that you thought they were going to be before the season. And everybody thought going into the year that that last six weeks for Arkansas was going to be this just brutally grueling stretch and it still is going to be hard.
[00:53:35] Speaker D: Right.
[00:53:36] Speaker B: I just don't know that it's quite what people made it out to be before the year.
[00:53:40] Speaker D: No, I think I'm liking where we're trending right now. So, I mean, you still got Tennessee coming up, you get Texas coming up. I mean, you have some, you have some tough games coming up, but look, look, they're looking at their schedule and saying the same thing. Oh, crap, we got Arkansas coming up, you know, so. Yeah.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: Okay, so I did make the comment that Missouri's 019. Now, as a player, that's like the worst thing that you, if you're a coach, that'd be the worst thing that you would hear out of a player's mouth.
[00:54:08] Speaker D: Right.
[00:54:09] Speaker B: Because I can't remember who I've heard this from, but I heard somebody say this within the last year or two. Having the appropriate amount of respect for your opponent and you've, you know, say what you want to about Missouri baseball, but you still have to have the appropriate amount of respect for them in order to be successful this weekend.
[00:54:27] Speaker D: Absolutely. They're an SEC team. You know, I don't care. They're last in the league in a lot of categories.
They're an SEC team. So I mean, you can't overlook them. I mean it's like an, it's like a Tuesday opponent. You can't overlook a Tuesday opponent either these days. I mean, there's good baseball players everywhere. I mean, these are good baseball players or they wouldn't be playing in sec. They're just, they're not a good team. There's good players there. There's just not a good team right now. Now will they figure it out and be a good team? I mean, who, who, you know, who'll know? We'll wait and see.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: Dodging the rain this weekend, it feels like the most important thing Is to get one game in over the next 48 hours. Like if you can just get nine innings in over the next 48 hours and then you can play that, that, you can play that double header on Sunday.
[00:55:16] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. That's going to be the hard part. Like I said, it looks like to me there's a small window. I've worn my, I've absolutely worn my, my weather out, you know, so yeah.
[00:55:27] Speaker B: I've been trying to like avoid it the last day or two. Just like, you know, peek at it tonight. Yeah, yeah.
[00:55:34] Speaker D: And so Friday hadn't changed a whole lot. But Saturday, Saturday has potential. Maybe.
[00:55:38] Speaker B: So maybe the rain ends a little bit earlier than.
[00:55:41] Speaker D: Yeah. And there's a couple spots where the rain chances go way down and so possibly. But at least we know we can get two in. But then you get two on Sunday and you're looking at a curfew and you're playing two.
[00:55:53] Speaker B: I don't think there's a curfew.
[00:55:54] Speaker D: Oh, is there not?
[00:55:55] Speaker B: No, because there's only, there's only a curfew if they travel commercially. And so I believe Missouri's gonna bust down here and so I don't think there's gonna be a curfew on Sunday. So I mean they gonna be cold Sunday, especially if the sun goes down. But I think that they'll, I think they'll be able to play until they, you know, until they get the games finished. The problem with playing Sunday is that if you have to play a doubleheader on Sunday, they both have to be seven inning games or there's. I think there's also this rule. I know this has been a rule in the past. I don't think it's changed where if you had to restart a game on Sunday, then you could restart that one and play it through its conclusion. But then you can only play one more game and that game has to be seven innings.
[00:56:35] Speaker D: Okay, well, look, I still. Seven innings, nine innings. I, I like our chances right here. You know, with Parker Coil out, 7 innings might not be a bad thing for us. So, like our starting pitching, I like how they've been throwing. We've got some dudes to come out of the bullpen, so, you know, we got to score early.
[00:56:54] Speaker B: I wish the SEC would give the teams more flexibility to schedule on these rainy weekends. Like, Monday's going to be perfect. Yeah, like, like, why can't you just play two games on Sunday and a game on Monday? Now, I don't know that these teams would want to do that. I haven't looked at what Missouri's midweek schedule is like next week. I know Arkansas plays on Tuesday and it can, you know, it can affect some things there, but either let them have more flexibility on either end to play. Like, I mean, they're not gonna be able to play today. It's raining and storming outside right now. But, you know, give them some flexibility on the front end or on the back end on this. Because it's like, you think if there was an SEC football game that got rained out that they would say, okay, we're only going to have seven games to determine who's going to the championship. No way.
[00:57:37] Speaker D: No.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: And you see in Major League Baseball, if a game, you know, they're always finding dates where they go, you know, reschedule these games or at the end of the season, if they haven't been able to get it played, they, you know, they'll get the games in right there after, you know, between the start of the playoffs and the end of the regular season, they're going to get to 162. And I just wish the SEC would do that. I really hate this deal where you've got years where you might have teams who've only played 28 games trying to determine a champion against teams that have played 30.
[00:58:06] Speaker D: Yeah. And it could affect us down at the end of the road. But once again, Matt, common sense, it requires common sense. And I don't know why you can't play a Monday. You know, like I said there, if that means you, you throw a few guys that you normally wouldn't throw on a Tuesday, throw them on a Tuesday, who cares? SEC is what matters.
[00:58:25] Speaker B: And I don't like the seven inning thing on Sunday. If you're going to play. Play.
[00:58:29] Speaker D: You know what? I can handle the seven, anything. I play two sevens and then play one on Monday and then go home. You're home in time to get ready for Tuesday.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: What I also think is interesting is that they do make an exception for the last weekend of the year if it's the last. Because, you know, last weekend of the year is always a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And if it's the last weekend and there's rain and you're not able to play the games, you know, three games in three days like you usually do, then they give you an exemption on that last weekend to play on Sunday if it affects seatings in Hoover. So what is so important about the last weekend that you can do that, but you can't do that the other nine weekends of the year?
[00:59:12] Speaker D: Yeah. Don't. How much time do we have?
I just, I'm sorry, I just scratched my head about some of the stuff that goes on. And now, you know, DVH might say, well, that, you know, we don't want to play on Monday because it puts too much pressure on the pitchers for Tuesday. But I, I just have a feeling if you ask every coach in sec, they're going to say, hey, let's play on a Monday. We want to get that game in.
[00:59:38] Speaker B: They would rather play on Monday and get the SEC game and I think. And cancel their midweek if they have to than the other way around.
[00:59:46] Speaker D: Absolutely, 100%.
[00:59:48] Speaker B: So here's some trivia for you. How many series in Fayetteville have had a game canceled due to rain? Like they were only able to play two during the day. Van Horn era. How many series?
[01:00:01] Speaker D: Wow. There hadn't been very many.
[01:00:03] Speaker B: You're right about that. 02. There have been two. Last time it happened was Tennessee in 2015. They were going to play a double header on the last day of the series. And then the first game of the doubleheader got delayed three and a half hours by rain. And so there was a curfew that weekend because I think Tennessee had traveled commercially and so they were only able to play one on Sunday. So they only got two in. And then in 09 on Easter weekend, they were not able to play on Easter Sunday against Vanderbilt. That was the week that they had beaten Arizona State in the midweek. And then Vanderbilt came in here and just whipped Arkansas for two games and Arkansas didn't get a chance at game three. But you know, I was looking through this at the number of times that there have been rain outs since Arkansas has been in the SEC. And you look back at, like, 97, 98, 2002, there were a ton of them. Like, there were some years where they had three games rained out.
[01:00:50] Speaker D: Right.
[01:00:50] Speaker B: And, you know, in multiple series, and it's like, well, why is that not the case anymore? And I. I've got a theory that the irrigation and the drainage on these fields has gotten a ton better. Like last year when they played at College Station. Remember game one? Yeah. I was sitting through, you know, the tropical storm down there in College Station, trying to get ready for this game. Literally, like six inches of rain in two and a half hours fell. It was insane. And then you get to the park, and it looks like Lake Norm out in the middle of center field at Bluebell Park. But they delayed it a little bit, I think about, like, 90 minutes, and they got the game going, and they were able to play the game that night. And I just don't think you would have seen that 15, 20 years ago.
[01:01:30] Speaker D: Yeah, I think the way they. They construct these parks now that underneath, the way they're able to suck that water out is pretty. Pretty incredible. The way it's able to filter out through. I think that's. I think that's got a lot to do with it. I mean, I don't know if there's. Because there's more turf fields. That has something to do with fewer turf fields.
There are probably. Aren't there?
[01:01:52] Speaker B: I wonder if it's. I don't know, this. Let's get a grass expert on tomorrow. But is it. Is it easier to drain a grass field versus a turf field?
[01:02:01] Speaker D: I think now it is, really, because on the turf, it just sits there.
[01:02:05] Speaker B: And these grounds crews, I mean, they've got all these tools. Like, we saw them that night that the lightning strike happened, and they're like an out away earlier. I mean, they were out there working on third base, doing emergency surgery on the dirt out there, like within minutes of the players walking off the field, and they pretty much had it dry, you know, a good portion of it dry. It's just, you know, they. They end up having to go to the next day.
[01:02:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I remember back in the day that the old turf at George Cole, we'd be out there with. With. With giant squeegees, like trying to squeegee the snow or the rain off just to make it. Just to make it somewhat playable.
[01:02:41] Speaker B: That was in your scholarship. Other duties as assigned. Right.
[01:02:45] Speaker D: I think that was called work study or something. I can't remember the official name of it.
[01:02:49] Speaker B: Tomorrow night, Martin Neely and Todd Walker calling the game on SEC network remotely. So they're going to be calling this from like their home offices. How much would you hate calling a game remotely?
[01:02:59] Speaker D: Okay, so I hate it. Do you, do you hate watching a game when you know they're calling remotely?
[01:03:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I do. Because, you know, I mean, like, like Mike Rooney, I think Mike Rooney does a really good job calling games, but he, and I think it was Victor Rojas called the game last week against Vanderbilt on Sunday remotely. So Mike sitting at his house, I think he lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. And you know the play by play guy sitting at his home. And there's something that you lose when you're not there and can feel the energy of the game and of the crowd and it just makes you. And also there's also, and you know this as well as anybody, when you can't use your own eyes and you're relying on cameras to tell you there's just so much that you miss.
[01:03:44] Speaker D: I think so. And so if you're going to call a game remote, you better be really good at reading swings and understanding the sound of the ball off the bat because that's going to tell you what it is. You know, they'll say like a deep fly ball to left field and the short supper goes back and catches it. I'm like, could you not read that swing and tell that that ball was not hit? Well, stuff like that, they don't, they don't see shifts, they don't see bunk coverages, they don't see wheel plays. They don't see. There's so many things that they miss by not being there. I mean, I'd rather, I'd rather the play by play guy and the radio crew just take over and do the game. Even if it's a homer team. Let them, let them do it.
[01:04:25] Speaker B: Well, it's kind of like, was it ole Miss Game 1 of the Ole Miss series? Remember I asked that question after the game, you know where Vaheva's running in? I just see him running in. I don't see what's going on on the rest of the field. So I asked that question and you know, David, it's called he was stealing. And it's like, okay, well, I didn't see that right from the TV angle. And it's just, and you and I talked about that after. There's just so much more that you can see and there's so many moving pieces to a baseball game to watch with your own eyes that you just, you know, I mean, as great as the TV is, it's not going to catch all of it.
[01:04:57] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, there can be a situation coming up where you got a, you know, a left handed hitter in the hole, you know, and they don't know that there's a, there's a lefty warming up in the bullpen, you know, or maybe a guy on deck. They go out to the mound for a visit just to kind of eat up some time to give the pitcher get loose or, you know, like I saw Nate do it with two outs. He did a offensive timeout to give our pitcher time to get loose. You don't see that if you're not there at the ballpark. You're like, oh, they're having an offensive timeout, but they don't realize, oh, there's a guy down there getting loose. We're bringing in a different pitcher.
[01:05:32] Speaker B: What happened at Vanderbilt last week? And so the announcers didn't know what was going on.
[01:05:36] Speaker D: Yeah, they had no clue. And so, so I hate it. I really do. And you, I get, I think you have to be. Now, Todd Walker is good. I think you got to be really good at understanding the game of baseball to really sell it when you're not there. I don't know why are times that tough? Can we not afford to.
[01:05:51] Speaker B: Maybe they don't want to send them up here just to send them back without calling a game because it's going to rain tomorrow night.
[01:05:56] Speaker D: Good point.
[01:05:56] Speaker B: I don't know. I do think ESPN and they were actually doing this even pre Covid where they were trying out some of these remote broadcast and. Yeah, so I mean, I think they're just trying to tighten the, tighten the belt a little bit. I feel bad for the announcers who have to do this, you know, because some of them. I was talking to Clay Matvik who I think does a really good job calling baseball for espn and he told me that he lives in Minnesota and I guess he lives kind of like in a remote area of Minnesota. It actually sounds kind of glamorous to me. But so he lives in this kind of remote area and he said he had to actually buy or rent some office space in the town that's closest to him, about 10, 15 minutes away and built like a little office where he has to drive in and call the games from that office in town because he couldn't get the Internet that he needed up at his home. And so anyway, it's just, I feel bad for him because, you know that in their mind they know if I was there I would sound a lot more confident in what I'm saying.
[01:06:57] Speaker D: Remote in Minnesota doesn't excite me. Like when I think remote places to live, I think Wyoming, something like that.
[01:07:05] Speaker B: Buy a ranch up by Jeff King.
[01:07:07] Speaker D: Yeah. Be neighbors with Jeff King. That'd be fun.
[01:07:11] Speaker B: Live about, what, 5,000 acres away from each other and still be next door neighbors.
[01:07:16] Speaker D: Shoot some elk, you know, maybe catch some fish. I don't know. Hunt buffalo. I don't know what you do up there.
[01:07:22] Speaker B: Yeah, go find out.
[01:07:24] Speaker D: Yeah. Get my bow. As long as I got my bow and my four wheeler, I'm good to go.
[01:07:30] Speaker B: All right, Bubba, it's great having you here. Arkansas, Missouri, this weekend, again, there's going to be schedule changes. I don't think there's any doubt about this, but as of right now, 7:00 on SEC Network, Friday, 6:00 and 2:00 on Saturday, Sunday. And those games will be on the SEC Network. Plus you can hear Bubba with Phil Elson on Razorback Sports Network. Of course, we'll have plenty of coverage at our website, wholehogsports.com hope to see you there. For those, we've got another podcast tomorrow. Christina Long's gonna be sitting in tomorrow hosting our podcast, so hope that you'll join her then. We appreciate everybody being here. Have a great day.
