Did Arkansas seal an NCAA Tournament bid? Bubba Carpenter on the Razorbacks' baseball series sweep

[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast. Now here's your host, Matt Jones. [00:00:09] Speaker B: You know, Selection Sunday is six days away, but I'm willing to say it now. Arkansas is going to make the NCAA tournament after winning that game on Saturday against Mississippi State, 93 to 92. Now, if they lose to South Carolina in Nashville on Wednesday, we might revisit this a little bit on Thursday. Just comes a little easier how confident I am. Might be sweating out a little bit more on Sunday, but they took a, a big step, I mean, a huge step forward by beating Mississippi State and obviously Vanderbilt earlier last week, too. And you got to feel good about their chances. We're going to talk about that today with Anthony Christensen. He's here in studio with me right now. Bubba Carpenter going to be in here just a little bit later to talk about the Razorback baseball sweep over Portland this weekend over at Bomb Walker Stadium. We'll start with basketball, though, and just it we're talking about coach of the year in the sec. Nobody would say John Calipari is coach of the year, but I think that there is an argument to be made that since February 1, when they went to Lexington to beat Kentucky, there may not be a coach in the SEC who's done a better coaching job. When you consider the fact that they lost their point guard, now they've lost their leading scorer, and they just continue to go out there and win. [00:01:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll listen to the argument. It's not one that I've, you know, given a whole lot of thought to just because, I mean, I've been locked in on Bruce Pearl being coach of the year since like February. I mean, January. February was like a few days ago. My bad. But 10 days ago. Yeah, yeah. You mean it was still pretty recent. February is a short month. So it's where we're, we're. Justin. But yeah, no, I mean, I'll listen to the argument. I think you obviously, Arkansas has really turned it around. Of course, obviously the, the bad start in SEC play. And then now they, like you mentioned, they look like they're going to go to the NCAA tournament. I'm not ready to say they're a lock by any means because you lose to South Carolina again and especially if they lose to South Carolina in a similar manner to which they lost to South Carolina the first time. And you know, maybe Memphis doesn't win the AAC or maybe UC San Diego doesn't win the Big west or there's a bid Steeler out of the ACC or Big Ten or Big 12 or Big east or wherever you. Then you're really looking at some, some choppy waters. But I am fairly confident that I would say that Arkansas is probably going to get in at least to Dayton, you would think, but my bad, turn that off. I didn't realize the volume was even on. But yeah, so that's that. And, you know, I do think there's an argument to be made for, for the job that John Calipari has done since February, especially, you know, losing Boogie Flynn and you know, the other injuries they've had to deal with. But yeah, I'll certainly listen to the, to the points. [00:03:03] Speaker B: Okay, I want to play this clip here because this was from Jay Wright on Sunday on CBS Sports. On. I think this might have been a halftime of the Missouri Valley championship game, but he talked about John Calipari and the job that he's done at Arkansas this year. And you know, there's so there's some people, they'll say something. It's like, okay, you know, Jay Wright, I think, has got a ton of respect in the basketball and he should. And so for him to say this, I thought was kind of telling. This is in your mind the best job he's ever done. [00:03:34] Speaker D: I really think so. This is such a difficult situation. Think about, they were one in six in the league when Boogie Flan, their leading scorer, went down. He had to rearrange the whole team. Got D.J. wagner back on the ball at the point guard spot, got them playing defense at a high level. Now they're 8 and 10 in the league. That is an incredible build. He started building the program when Boogie Flan went down and got them to be one of the best defensive teams now in the sec. And a team that you don't want to see in the tournament. [00:04:04] Speaker B: That's very interesting. A team you don't want to see if you get to the NCAA tournament. [00:04:08] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, he is, he is correct. Not only one of the best defenses in the SEC, but one of the best in the country. They're 17th and adjusted defensive efficiency at Ken Palm right now. And you look at CBB analytics, which is my, my new favorite website, I think just because of how in depth it goes. Yeah, I mean, all of their defensive stats for the most part are in the green, which means that they're very good. I mean, 86 percentile in overall defensive rating, 98th percentile. And blocking percentage, you know, Hakeem percentage, which is like a combination of blocks and steals named after Hakeem Olajuwon as I'm sure everybody could probably put those together, but they're in the 97th percentile of that. So the defense has been really good and has been for a while, and maybe it doesn't look that way, like, maybe on paper just from, you know, giving up 90, 92 points the other day, but still, I mean, the defense has been good and, you know, they have. They have reshuffled their pack. You know, Jay Wright mentioned, you know, the boat, the injuries, and, you know, how they've kind of turned things around and all of. All of that stuff. But, yeah, no, it has been, you know, an impressive. An impressive turnaround. I mean, they really. The only bad, truly bad losses they have are South Carolina and LSU on both on the road. I mean, you get, you know, like I said, another. Another bad loss to South Carolina on a neutral site that becomes now worse than the road loss, which could put everything into dicey waters and everything. But, yeah, no, I. It has been an impressive turnaround. [00:05:39] Speaker B: I don't think Lenardi updates his bracket until. Or maybe it is bright. Maybe it has been updated either way. Arkansas still last four buys, pretty much where they were last week. Last four buys right now. Baylor, Utah State, Arkansas, Indiana, last four in San Diego State, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Xavier, first four out, Boise, North Carolina, Texas and Colorado State. So as they go into Nashville this week, again, I think they're probably in, but I don't know that I would want to risk having two losses to South Carolina. [00:06:13] Speaker C: No, nor should you. I think I've called South Carolina the. [00:06:17] Speaker B: Grim reaper all year, and I felt for about the last week or so, like, if they were to win, you know, if. I think maybe we said this before they went on that road trip, that if they went one and one on the road trip and they could beat Mississippi State, Maybe you win one in the SEC tournament, that gets you to 20 wins and that's where you want to be. And so that. That was kind of what we were thinking a week and a half or so ago, even before playing South Carolina again came into focus. [00:06:42] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. And I would agree, like, I think we probably didn't think the one and one went the way it could have gone. It's just because. [00:06:52] Speaker B: Don't ask how many. [00:06:53] Speaker C: Yeah. But. Yeah. So realistically, it should get them in, especially if they win against South Carolina on Wednesday. You would. You would think that. You don't. I don't. I always hesitate to put certainty on things just because you never truly know and you don't know how the committee is going to to react to certain things like when they were, when they first revealed their top 16 last month, some point February 15, same day as the Texas A and M game, it looked like they valued big wins over, over just overall winning. So I think that that's something that you can take into account. I mean they did beat, you know, Michigan in a neutral and Kentucky on the road and Missouri who maybe is spiraling a little bit, but Vanderbilt on the roads. I mean they've got good wins for the most part. But then you look at mean that Baylor loss has really kind of started to age a little bit poorly. Baylor still in the field of, of course. But and then you look at, you know, some of the events that happened yesterday. Lipscomb won the A side. So Lipscomb's in the tournament. That gives Arkansas a win over the field. Drake won the Missouri Valley, which prevents a bid stealer out of that league. So those are two big things for Arkansas that makes it all the more likely that they're going to get in, I don't want to say regardless of what happens in, in Nashville, because you can't really want to, you don't want to lose to South Carolina, but it looks more optimistic than not. [00:08:20] Speaker B: Most people think the SEC is going to get 12, maybe 13 teams into the field. And if you look at it that way, we know South Carolina is not going. We know LSU is not going. And right now I would say, I would say Texas, Texas is on the outside looking in. And so, you know, so then all of a sudden it's, you know, Oklahoma. I mean, they don't, they don't have as good of a resume as Arkansas does. You wouldn't, I know they've got the head to head. They do have the head to head. [00:08:46] Speaker C: And they've got Michigan, but they haven't. [00:08:47] Speaker B: But Arkansas had Michigan. [00:08:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I know, I'm just saying. But yeah, that Oklahoma will be the, yeah, Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is in. I, I, I'm comfortable saying Vanderbilt is in just because Vanderbilt doesn't have any like, bad losses. Whereas, you know, Arkansas has the losses to South Carolina and lsu. So that's why I'm not ready to put certainty on Arkansas. But I am willing to put certainty on Vanderbilt. So maybe I'm, maybe I'm stupid. People do think I am. Just ask the BYU people who went into my mentions when I let BYU off my ballot last week. But they're on this, they're, they're on this week. Be happy. All right. But yeah, I think Oklahoma is kind of the cut line which, which Will be interesting to see where, where the committee lands there. [00:09:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like I like Arkansas chances to get in. [00:09:36] Speaker C: Yes. [00:09:36] Speaker B: Razorbacks play South Carolina at noon on SEC Network on Wednesday over at Nashville Bridgestone Arena. The winner of that game will play Ole Miss on Thursday at noon. In fact, Arkansas, if they win, they just keep playing at noon because even the semifinals are at noon and the championship game is at noon. [00:09:54] Speaker C: So blessed early tips. [00:09:55] Speaker B: Just, just, just block out the entire early afternoon this week and you'll get a chance to watch Arkansas basketball as long as they continue to win. Let's talk about the Mississippi State game real quick. It felt to me, and I was not there because I was covering baseball Saturday. I was there for the Texas game a couple of weeks ago. It felt like the Texas game all over where you build this big lead and it feels like you're kind of on cruise control. And then all of a sudden there between that last media timeout and the second to last media timeout of the second half, here comes the opponent. I mean, they make a big, big run all of a sudden. It's a tight game for the final four minutes or so. And you know, there for a second, I felt like Mississippi State was just too hot to miss and Arkansas may not be able to pull it off. D.J. wagner, a great three pointer in the last minute. Mississippi State answered. Jonas made one of two free throws and then Mississippi State misses a shot that they're probably going to make about seven or eight out of ten times. [00:11:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Billy Richmond with the big block there too. [00:11:03] Speaker B: That's right. [00:11:03] Speaker C: Put that in there. [00:11:04] Speaker B: Got carried off the floor, but not for the reasons that he wanted to. Yeah, I think a lot of people thought they were celebrating. He was cramping. [00:11:10] Speaker C: He was cramping. Like I, I, I, I saw the photos that Hank our, our photographer took. Did a great job. You know, it kind of looked like a du. Theo was laughing as he was carrying him off the floor. Very funny, very fun. Billy Richmond, I thought, had a really nice game. Six assists, which was a career high 10 points. [00:11:27] Speaker B: He just, to me, Richmond just steps up when they need him. [00:11:31] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And Kyle Perry has said the same thing. Like you, you put Billy Richmond in, it seems like you're always going on a run. [00:11:37] Speaker B: It's instant energy. It's energy, it's effort, it's hustle. It's everything you want out of a basketball player. [00:11:42] Speaker C: Yeah, and he's done a really nice job of just adjusting to all of the changes as well. I mean, he's playing One through three at different points in time. You know, he's, he's taken on a lot more of a ball carrying, ball carrying role which, you know, was kind of not necessarily assumed, but you know, he's taken on a larger point guard role which, you know, I've been impressed with him for sure. But yeah, the, the Mississippi State game did, I thought, follow a lot of the same script as that, that Texas game, even to the, even to the point where Jonas AU was at the line at the end for a couple critical free throws. But you know, he had a phenomenal game as well. Jonas. You know, I believe it was 21 and 10 for him. You know, I, you know, everybody, everybody kind of stepped up. I, I, I thought, you know, Trevin Brazil, back to back, really good games. You know, another double double for him. All, all coming in the second half. If I remember correctly. Only had one or two rebounds at halftime because he only played three minutes in the first half with foul trouble. But overall, yeah, impressive, like big win and very similar to, to Texas A two's back. [00:12:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I think eight is back. It feels like what are we at four games now where he stacked a better performance on the game before. [00:12:53] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe, maybe not. Let me pull up his Ken palm real quick. I would hesitate to put the Vanderbilt game in there because I, I really thought Trevin Brazil, that was, that was his, his game. [00:13:03] Speaker B: But I thought, I thought a DU gave, he was serving. [00:13:05] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. [00:13:06] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying is like, I feel like his minutes have increased and it may be where, you know, he played 24 one game and 22 the next. I don't know. But it feels like his minutes have increased and he, he has played a more solid basketball game each game for probably about four to five games. [00:13:23] Speaker C: Yeah, on both, on both ends of the floor as well. I mean, he, you know, he's, he's getting blocks. You know, he did score the own goal against Mississippi State, which you could tell he was frustrated by that, understandably. But you know, he's been, he's been doing it on both ends of the floor. I've been really impressed with, he had. [00:13:37] Speaker B: Four assists on Saturday. [00:13:38] Speaker C: He did. Yeah. His distribution has been really good. You know, he's not somebody you would think of as being like a point forward or anything, but you know, he was, he was impressive. And then, I mean, you mentioned it, his, his usage is going up. I mean, he's played over 20 minutes in three of the past four games. The last time he played 20 minutes was, I think it was at LSU, if I'm, if I remember remembering correctly. So, I mean, he's, he's stepping into that larger role and kind of taking advantage of the shorter rotation for, for one thing, but also he's, he's playing his way into more minutes as well. So he's been, he's been really impressive and he's somebody, they, they need to be, you know, playing in that, in that, you know, he needs to be playing that well for them to have the same success that they've been having. [00:14:20] Speaker B: The, during the stretch, what'd you think of Mississippi State? [00:14:26] Speaker C: I was impressed with the, the ability to come back. You know, Mississippi State, I think we mentioned this last week on the podcast, is not, I mean, Chris Jan's coach. Teams are never really known for their ability to get hot. They're really more known for their ability to keep a team cold. And I mean, Josh Hubbard didn't have a great game by his standards, but I mean, he did well to get them into it. Riley Coogel hit a big shot as well. So there was a lot to, there was a lot to like with Mississippi State. I know they're kind of reeling at the moment, kind of losing a lot of games. I think they finished 8 and 10 in SEC play just like Arkansas did. But, you know, that's, obviously, it's a team that can and might get hot during the tournament and you know that they're, they're a team to watch for. Sure. I think that they did lose four of their last five, but you look at, you know, who those four came against. I mean, there's an Oklahoma team that's desperate to get in Alabama. Nobody's going to fault anybody for losing to Alabama. Beat lsu. Everybody should beat lsu, you know, and then they lose to Texas. Not great. Lose to Arkansas, who is kind of also in that same line as like a Texas and Oklahoma trying to solidify their tournament standing. So I don't, I wouldn't qualify any of those as like bad losses. Maybe, maybe Texas at home isn't great, but yeah, they're reeling a little bit, but you can see the, the potential in that team. I mean, Josh, Josh Hubbard, Riley Kugel, Cameron Matthews, even RJ Melendez, who I found out was just a true senior and not like a sixth year guy. Feels like he's been around since 2010. But yeah, they've got a good core. [00:15:59] Speaker B: So Arkansas, they, they finished the regular season, they win seven of their last 11. One bad loss in there to South Carolina, three. I guess what you Would call good losses. Alabama, Auburn and A M and then lots of good wins. They beat Kentucky on the road. Texas, say what you want about Texas, but there's still going to be resume building wins. You know, you beat Missouri at home, one at Vanderbilt, beat Mississippi State the other day. This, this is a really good stretch basketball that Arkansas has played here since the start of February. John Calipari, we've got a couple of clips to play for you here. The first one is from Hogs plus this was his courtside radio interview after they beat Mississippi State. The other, a great sound bite here from Calipari on how the team rebounded from that 05 start. [00:16:47] Speaker E: We were 05. They put us all in the coffin. They just didn't put the nails in. And now good people came together and just kept fighting and kept being about each other. Bad people would have pointed fingers and said, it's you, it's him. I'm not taking responsibility. Good people come together and just say, let's do this. A bunch of good guys. And I'm so proud of them. And I. [00:17:13] Speaker B: So John Calipari there from his Razorback Sports Network interview. They forgot to put the nails in, like, print the T shirt. [00:17:21] Speaker C: It's a quote that, you know, print the T shirt. It goes hard. [00:17:24] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:17:24] Speaker C: Like whenever. It's an aura level quote. [00:17:26] Speaker B: When they, when they play at ncaa, when they, when the teams make March Madness. You know, they've all got these little themed shirts from Nike. [00:17:33] Speaker C: Yeah. And they all say the same thing. [00:17:34] Speaker B: Usually they all say the same things. [00:17:35] Speaker C: And sometimes it's really kind of corny. [00:17:37] Speaker B: I think Arkansas, if they wanted to, they could, they could pull some weight and they could have something like forgot the name, forgot the nails. [00:17:45] Speaker C: It's an, like an unequivocally hard. [00:17:47] Speaker B: Out of the cock. [00:17:48] Speaker C: I mean. Yeah, out of the. Ooh, that would be good. Like. But no, I mean, I mean. And he is right, right. Like, I remember kind of being on this podcast kind of trying to not hammer the nail in. But you could tell, like it was not looking good at that point in time. But it. Yeah, I mean, the, the turnaround. I mean, starting with that Georgia game, obviously, then lost to Oklahoma right after it. But I mean, starting with that win over Georgia. I remember Calipari after the Vanderbilt game said we were ready to pop champagne after that one. But then they, they've really turned it on. [00:18:21] Speaker B: Everybody wants to label. Caliperi is just a recruiter. Like, he only wins because he can recruit. I think this year has shown that, you know, Whether it's him or whether it's the staff that he's put together, they've shown their ability to coach. [00:18:35] Speaker C: I mean, think about how many times. [00:18:36] Speaker B: They'Ve had to adjust this year because of injuries, because of just everything they've had going on. [00:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah, no, and I would agree with that. I always kind of felt like. And even before I covered the guy, I always kind of felt like maybe, maybe some of the critiques were a little bit too loud. I mean, you're talking about a guy who is in the hall of Fame, you know, very close to going undefeated a few years ago. And I mean, obviously the tournament results are what they are, and this sport, everything revolves around March. So not having gone to the second weekend, and I think, what is it, five years that's going to. Yeah, it's going to, you know, leave a sour taste in a lot of people's mouth. But I mean, you look at the adjustments they've made, the way they've kind of changed their style of play and kind of. You tinkered with things, you know, putting Billy Richmond as a point guard. I mean, I remember he mentioned maybe doing that in. At some point in the non conference. I don't remember which game. Maybe it was Troy, maybe it was someone else. But I remember sitting there thinking, like, Billy Richmond, if point guard. I don't, I don't think that would work. But it's kind of proved that it can work. And yeah, I, yeah, it's been a very impressive thing to watch. [00:19:40] Speaker B: And you have to take the bad with the good. When you're talking about his coaching job, I mean, you know, he also coached the team when they started 1 and 6 in the SEC. But the objective is to have your team playing its best by the end of the year and they have accomplished that. It feels like you asked him about making the NCAA tournament after the game and this is what he had to say. [00:19:59] Speaker E: The committee will make a decision. So you get out ahead of yourself. We just got to keep trying to get better. They told me we have South Carolina who beat us. They were up 40. No, literally, they were up 40. And that's who we got to play in the tournament. So let's just worry about that. The other stuff will take care of itself. [00:20:25] Speaker B: Literally, they were up 35. [00:20:26] Speaker C: 35, not quite 40. [00:20:28] Speaker B: He likes to embellish things when it. [00:20:29] Speaker C: Comes to that South Carolina game. [00:20:30] Speaker B: He still has you just rounded up. Well, he still has not said that. Arkansas went 3 for 22 from 3 against South Carolina. It's. It will always be over 7:17. [00:20:39] Speaker C: Because that's what they started. Yes. Yeah. Which, I mean, the game was well decided before that, before they started hitting a couple of threes. [00:20:47] Speaker B: But so literally they were up 35. [00:20:49] Speaker C: Yes, literally they were up 35. Yeah, he was rounding up, but I guess he was rounded out, I should say. [00:20:54] Speaker B: Do you think, do you think they'll be able to take the ashes from the tape they burned against South Carolina and go back and analyze anything they did that day? [00:21:02] Speaker C: He was asked about that. Like, yeah, you've mentioned that. You, you haven't watched it. You burned the tape, but you're playing against him. You're gonna, you gonna go back and watch. He started laughing. He's like, that's a great question. And he was like, maybe I'll make the staff watch. But yeah, so, I mean, you can't not look at it, you know, just because that's who they play. And I mean, you can take some certain lessons from that game. I mean, South Carolina just destroyed them inside. I mean, Carl, Colin Murray Boyles and Nick Pringle both had phenomenal games in that game. And you're going to have to find a way to, to limit those guys if you're going to win. And you know, I don't know what that is. You know, they get paid a lot more money to, than I do just to figure that stuff out. And you know that, that's just the, the way it is. But yeah, I certainly think you would, it would be wise to, to, to look over, in the, in the words of Gary Parrish, I would advise them to look at it. [00:21:55] Speaker B: How can they stop Colin Murray Boyles this time around when they struggled with him so much a couple of weeks ago? [00:22:01] Speaker C: I think you can, I mean, obviously he's, he's an incredibly difficult player to, to scout and play against. I mean, he's projected to be a first round NBA draft pick for a reason. Right? He's, he's fantastic. And you say that about a guy who's on a team that has won two conference games. He's, he's awesome. But as for how you, how you limit him, I think, I think part of it maybe kind of goes into maybe kind of getting in the passing lanes more, you know, of limiting his looks, limiting the, the chances South Carolina has to get him the ball in the first place. And I don't know if that's, you know, maybe having Trev in Brazil maybe guarding on the perimeter a little bit more to limit those looks. Maybe you have Jonas Adu Kind of face guard him, maybe. I don't, I don't know how, how exactly that looks. You know, I've never, I've never coached basketball. I don't think I would be good at coaching basketball either. But I, I like to fancy myself at least. Okay. About. In writing about it, but I think that's kind of. You have to limit his looks, first of all. You can't allow him to get a bunch of touches in the paint. I think that's where, that's where they kind of were hurt for the most part is just how many different looks he got. Let me, let me pull up his, his, that game real quick just to see how many, how many just shots he got in that game. Yeah, he had an offensive rating of 146, which is crazy. And he had 16 field goal attempts, only one from three, and he missed. So you can't, you can't let him get 15 shots because he's also really good at getting to the free throw line. So he's also going to convert, you know, and one opportunities as well. So I think the biggest thing is limiting his looks, limiting his touches and. Yeah. [00:23:40] Speaker B: All right, Arkansas and South Carolina on Wednesday. Anthony will join us again tomorrow on the phone. He'll be heading out to Nashville tomorrow, You know, because of the SEC tournament. You got a practice day. You got an open practice tomorrow. They got open media room or locker rooms. I think you might get to talk to Boogie and do. [00:23:59] Speaker C: Yeah, that's, that's something I, I've, I've wanted to talk to Boogie for a long time. He's my personal favorite player on the team to talk to. So that, That'll be fun. And I think it's an interesting story. It's a, It's a story I want to talk. Like, I want to tell. Just kind of like, excuse me. Just kind of going through, like, you know, what is he going through right now? Like get, get his thoughts, feelings, emotions, you know, whatever from, from that game. I think it would be interesting and like to think I would do a good job with the story. I guess we'll find out if I get, if I get a chance to talk to him. [00:24:31] Speaker B: If they're in the locker room. [00:24:32] Speaker C: Yeah, show up. [00:24:33] Speaker B: We'll see how that goes. [00:24:33] Speaker C: We'll do our best. [00:24:34] Speaker B: All right, when we come back, Bubba Carpenter is going to be in here. We'll talk about this Arkansas baseball team that's ranked number three and 15 and one. But first word from our sponsors at Kendall King. 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You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at Bentonville glass.com Arkansas baseball just finished a five and a week. The ranked number three in the coaches poll. Don't expect that'll change this week because the two teams in front of them won last week as well. But Arkansas 15 and 1 going into a Tuesday night game against UCA, the final non conference game before they start SEC play this weekend at Ole Miss. Bubba Carpenter is in here with me as he is every Monday. Bubba, good morning. [00:26:04] Speaker F: How you doing? [00:26:05] Speaker B: I'm good. [00:26:05] Speaker F: Good to see you. [00:26:06] Speaker B: It's Ole Miss week. I know it's your favorite. [00:26:10] Speaker F: You know, Phil's trying to talk me into going and there's too much going on. My wife's birthday, all kinds of stuff going on. So I'll just watch it on tv. [00:26:18] Speaker B: That's good. I was, I was listening to you guys talk about that. I was afraid like your, your blood pressure may get up too high. Sitting in Oxford for. [00:26:25] Speaker F: I don't know if I can put up with that for three days. [00:26:28] Speaker B: So, so they beat Portland and this feels like one of the worst non conference teams that's come through here on a weekend in a while. So there's, you know, I mean, you look at this a couple of ways. Number one, they didn't, they didn't, they didn't play a great team this weekend. But at least the first two games they beat them. The way that you would want to beat a team like that. [00:26:49] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean I, I thought our hitters did a good job. Pitchers did what they needed to do. I thought, I thought it was good for Gackel to go out there. We got an early lead and he could just kind of pitch. [00:27:02] Speaker B: First time he's pitched with a lead this year. [00:27:05] Speaker F: Oh, really? [00:27:05] Speaker B: Isn't that amazing? [00:27:06] Speaker F: Yeah, that is when he. [00:27:07] Speaker B: Because he left the mound in the first, down two to nothing, Arkansas scored four in the bottom of the first. And then when he came back out for the second inning, it was like the 15th inning he's pitched this season. It was the first time he had pitched with the lead. [00:27:20] Speaker F: Wow. Well, I thought he looked better as the game went on. Every inning I think he got better. So that was good. That was good to see. [00:27:27] Speaker B: I think it probably helps a pitcher when you're pitching with the lead and then especially they tack on seven in the bottom of the second. And then, because it felt like once he went back out there with that 11 to 2 lead, there was a. There wasn't the pressure that was maybe on him the previous several innings that he had pitched. [00:27:45] Speaker F: Right. I think, I think at that point he can just relax and work on his pitches. He's still trying to fine tune things. He's just a little bit off. He's not as sharp as we've seen him in the past, but I think he's trending in the right direction, which is what you want to see. And I think he's ready for Friday night. [00:28:04] Speaker B: I thought it was about as well as that game could have gone for him because like you said, he trying to build some confidence in what he's doing and he was able to do that in a game, but kind of in a low, you know, low pressure situation. [00:28:19] Speaker F: Yeah, I agree. I think, like I said, it just gave him a chance to work his different pitches, trying to locate his fastball a little bit better. Breaking ball got better. We threw a few good change ups, which is good to see. So like I said, he got better as the game went on. That's what you're looking for. [00:28:34] Speaker B: How overmatched do you think Portland was? [00:28:37] Speaker F: They were. Yeah, they really were. They, you know, you saw a couple guys cheat to the fastball. First, you know, first pitch of the game, you, you know, you know it's coming. I think Dave even alluded to it. I mean, if you're playing D1 baseball, you can hit 95. It's. I mean, you just gear up for it and you're ready to go. But yeah, I think they, they really were. And then I even, I even talked to Zach rude about it on, on Saturday and then, you know, I, I did. You don't want to word the question to where it demeans Portland. I mean, but it, it is what it is. Like, I watch a hitter's reaction. You can tell, like, all the numbers are good. You can look at all the numbers and say, okay, this pitch was that nasty. But you can also look at the hitters and their reaction is going to tell you how good that pitch was or how good this pitcher stuff was. And they were, they were flustered. They really were, especially against Zach Root. [00:29:34] Speaker B: Talk to Jeff Loomis before the series and he said, I really wish I was bringing a more experienced team to this ballpark. They started like four or five freshmen. [00:29:45] Speaker F: Five. [00:29:45] Speaker B: Five. Yeah. [00:29:46] Speaker F: Five on Friday night is a lot. [00:29:48] Speaker B: And then I talked to him after the game yesterday and, you know, it would be easy for a coach to be really frustrated with how that weekend just went, but I think he was encouraged by the way they responded yesterday and made it a competitive game. And then, you know, he just said, this is going to make us better when we go back to the West Coast Conference, because they're not going to see. I mean, no offense to Pepperdine or San Diego or Gonzaga or anybody, but they don't have that kind of arm talent for sure. And probably none of those teams could be able to hit like Arkansas does. [00:30:21] Speaker F: Well, it is going to make them better. And those, those freshmen are going to be battle tested. I mean, you know, but you never know in today's transfer portal how many of them will be back next year. That's what, that's all it's all about this year. Yeah, it kind of stinks about it, but it's, it's given them a lot of good, good experience. And you know what I thought was crazy is, you know, I want to say you and I even talked about it or you texted it to me for 14 games. 14 different lineups going into their 14th game. That's, that's crazy right there. To have 14 different lineups. I know it's early and you're, you're kind of, you know, you're trying to figure out that right recipe, but, you know, it really struck me that they had five freshmen in a lineup that won't happen the rest of the season. [00:31:01] Speaker B: You know what I like to do? I like to text you during the games and then I've got my earpods in. Just see how many times I can get you to repeat what I've said to you. [00:31:08] Speaker F: Okay. You sent me the rule about the guy found the ball off his foot. I thought you could review that. And then. But it was, you send it to me. And you know how hard it is to read that during a broadcast. It's like a giant word salad. Well, basically said there's no review. [00:31:21] Speaker B: Not to Mention it was written by like seven attorneys. [00:31:23] Speaker F: Yeah, exactly. [00:31:24] Speaker B: You know, and it makes it even more. But you know, I think what happens there is that when the umpire makes the call, it's not reviewable anymore. Whenever he says that it's a foul ball or what do you say it. [00:31:38] Speaker F: Was a hit, he said it's a hit. [00:31:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's something about that the ball's got to hit the ground and because it hit his body part, that part's not reviewable. Which is strange to me. [00:31:49] Speaker F: I think you look at his initial reaction, it's. You can see him kind of buckle and then he took off running. So, I mean, he did a good job of hiding. He definitely didn't do a Brian Walker. But yeah, I thought he, I thought he played it off really well, but I thought it hit him. I mean, you, you know when something's not right and something wasn't right there. So I thought there was contact. They slowed it down on the replay. It's hard to tell, but it's crazy to me to think that that's not reviewable. [00:32:19] Speaker B: Everything should be reviewable. [00:32:20] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. [00:32:22] Speaker B: I mean, if you've got, if you've got the capability, why not make everything reviewable? Why say, you know, 85% of the plays are reviewable, but we can't look at X, Y and Z. I mean. [00:32:33] Speaker F: Think it, what if that's the ninth inning, runner, third ball, dribbles out there off his foot, that run scores and we find out later it's a foul ball and you can't review it. I think it's, I think it's idiotic that you can't review that. [00:32:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I feel like if you've got the capability to review, just, you know, review everything. All right, so we're going to work backward. Game three. We'll start with this five to three. Arkansas beats Portland yesterday. Iredale hits a three run home run in the first inning. Helfer kits a solo home run in the second inning. And it felt like at that point they're about to, they're about to chase Ryan Rimbus. And you know, maybe to his credit, you know, Arkansas had about two or three balls that were hit to the warning track that could have really changed the complexion of that game. You know, give Rembus credit. He retired like 11 in a row until he was pulled in the fifth inning. But you. [00:33:24] Speaker F: All right, Sorry, you're good. Fumble. [00:33:26] Speaker B: But you know, he had a, he pitched okay for him and he kept them in the game. He got them to Their bullpen guy who was really good, Curtis Abare and Portland makes this a game. And I felt like it was good for Arkansas to play a tight game whenever they'd had all of these, you know, 20 to 3, 15 to 1, whatever the case may be, you know, it'd been pretty easy for them this week and so I felt like it was a good deal for them to actually have to, you know, work for a full win. [00:33:57] Speaker F: Yeah, I did too. I thought it was good because you, it gave Fouch a chance to come in, in tight game, Wiggins a chance to come in. But the, the reason I was fumbling around there, I wanted to look at the exit vlos on those three. So versus was 102 to right field. Just, just if it's, if it's 102 and a half, it goes out. CA was 101 to center. Iredell 105 to center. And once again, if you add one one mile an hour to any of those three swings, they're three home runs. It's crazy to think that just the fine line or, or actually, I mean they got under them, you know, 16th of an inch on the barrel of the bat in their home runs. [00:34:37] Speaker B: I thought the bullpen did well yesterday. Coyle struggled a little bit and I thought Dave made an interesting point after the game where he said he felt like Portland maybe had gotten used to seeing left handed pitchers, you know, through root for several innings and they threw battle sheets for several innings yesterday. But Coyle got out of a bases loaded jam. Big moment in that game yesterday. Then Aiden Jimenez comes in, Justin Thomas gives him a great catch at the wall in the seventh inning. Fouch worked around another hit batter. It's a little bit of a concern I think now the fact that he's done that in three straight games. And then Carson Wiggins looked really good at the end. [00:35:12] Speaker F: Yeah, that was a great point that Dave made because as a team, when you see that many lefties in a row, they all have a different shape into the Z. They're all completely different, but they're still lefties coming from the left side of the plate. [00:35:25] Speaker B: So when they throw Colin Fisher at the end of Saturday too. [00:35:28] Speaker F: So I mean that's a lot of lefties in a row that they saw. And you know, there's something to that when you see that many in a row. But I love the catch that Justin Thomas made. That's a tough play. That ball was hit hard. There wasn't much air under it. I mean he had to get Back to the fence, Timed his jump perfect. On. On trackman. It said 400.9ft. Yeah. So, I mean, it. It wouldn't have gone over. It would have hit just below the. The yellow line. But, I mean, a great catch right there. And. And it's one of those things as an outfielder, you know, you're getting ready to hit the wall, you might as well catch it because you're gonna hit the wall either way. [00:36:04] Speaker B: So. [00:36:04] Speaker F: I thought it was a great play. I thought his route to the ball, his first step. Like, I'm. I try to watch outfielders. I want to know their first step. And his first step was awesome. [00:36:14] Speaker B: Apparently, he was a pretty good football player. [00:36:16] Speaker F: I bet. [00:36:16] Speaker B: I thought you kind of see maybe a football background on that catch that he made. [00:36:20] Speaker F: Yeah, you could. And, you know, I watch him run when they're all warming up, and I like the way he runs when he warms up. I mean, he. He looks. He looks like he could be a football player, be tailback, who knows they're playing. [00:36:35] Speaker B: Did you stick around very long after the game yesterday? Did you see what was happening in the outfield? [00:36:38] Speaker F: Yeah, I did. I've never seen that. [00:36:40] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know how to explain what I was watching. There was a football, and I think. What is it, like a Wiffle ball? [00:36:47] Speaker F: Some kind of Wiffle ball, yeah. [00:36:49] Speaker B: Anyway. And, like, half the team is out there without their shirts on and no shoes. They're just in their shorts. And I mean, like, there's a football and a wiffle ball and a bat. And I don't know what they were playing, but Justin Thomas was part of the whole group. [00:37:05] Speaker F: Yeah, I thought it was good. [00:37:06] Speaker B: All the Hawaiians were out there, too. [00:37:07] Speaker F: They're out there barefoot. You run around, no shirts on, just. Just having fun. And, you know, it says a lot about this team there. [00:37:13] Speaker B: That's what I was going to ask you. It feels like, you know, because we've heard a lot about the camaraderie. It'd be very easy at the end of a weekend series to pack everything up and go your separate ways. Go see your girlfriends, go, you know, just hang out at your apartment, do whatever. They all came out. I mean, because there were probably eight, nine, ten players out there together. And Gage Goodwin. [00:37:33] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:37:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I thought he was a little boy. [00:37:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I thought it was. I thought it was cool because I played on teams before Matt. At the end of the game, I mean, I don't even have my uniform off, and half the team's gone, and we never, we never, we didn't win with those teams. The teams that stuck around and hung out together, won together. It's just, it's crazy. And that seems to be that kind of team. I just love their, I love their personalities. There's a lot more er in the dugout. A lot more personalities and the guys are fun to talk to and I don't know, I like it. [00:38:09] Speaker B: So we mentioned Arkansas. They're almost in SEC play. David Horn got asked after the game yesterday just kind of what are, what are your thoughts on the team now as you've pretty much gotten through non conference play. And this is what he had to say. [00:38:22] Speaker G: Well, you know, if you're just talking wins and loss, it's about as good as it can get. There's probably five or six other teams in our league and tell you the same thing. I mean our league is absolutely dominating. The stats are crazy and you know, so lead play, it's still baseball. Still everything's the same. It just means more and you know, you want to win in the league. But I feel good about where we're at. I don't think we're peaking by any means. I think that we got three or four guys that are swinging it great for a couple days and two others pick, you know, have a couple really good days and you know, defense has been steady. I think we continue to get better out there. The outfield has settled down a little bit defensively, you know, as far as pitching. There's still some roles to be to be won so to speak and you know, still not 100% sure who you want to finish a game if it's a one run lead and but then again it depends on who's available and yeah, there's still a lot of, there's still a lot to figure out with this team which is a good thing. [00:39:28] Speaker B: Does it, does it worry you the fact that they don't know who is going to come in in a tight game at the end? [00:39:33] Speaker F: A little bit. You know, it's not that fouch. I think that him hitting the guy hitting him oh two is what boy, that's like a cardinal sin. You don't want to do it. Oh two now if it's. [00:39:45] Speaker B: It was a bad miss with that fastball. [00:39:46] Speaker F: It was really bad. But you know what I loved about it? You see the next pitch was dotted it up down and away like 98 miles an hour right where he. Right, I mean hit Helfix glove. So it's good that he bounced back. Do, do A few good splitties. Yeah, I'm a little bit. I'm a little bit concerned because you got to have that guy. I mean, those last three outs of the game are the hardest to get. [00:40:12] Speaker B: Okay, so what about Carson Wiggins potentially being the closer? Because if you take away the performance that he had in Arlington, he's been really good this year. [00:40:19] Speaker F: Yeah, looked good. Looked good yesterday. [00:40:22] Speaker B: And he's figured out the slider. [00:40:23] Speaker F: Yes, that's what I was going to say. [00:40:25] Speaker B: I mean, like, he's had the fastball, but the slider has really been a revelation the last, what, maybe two or three times that he's pitched? [00:40:31] Speaker F: I think so. And, you know, you. You see him come in and he's throwing 98, 99. You know, by the way, Fouch hit 100, I think twice he did. Which doesn't. It doesn't do any. It doesn't matter if you're not. If it's not over the plate, but, you know, it's still impressive. But, you know, you see. You see him coming in, Wiggins coming in throwing 98, 99 miles an hour. Guys can still. SEC hitters can hit that. Now you mix that slider in, that's a game changer. I know a couple of Portland guys, they were cheating to the fastball. They missed the slider by three feet. [00:41:07] Speaker B: They're not opposed to having a freshman closer. We've seen it a lot of times. Tiger Wood cackle last year, Jackson Wiggins, I mean, he closed for a while before Kevin Copps, you know, emerged there in 21. I'll be interested to see if they. They let Wiggins come in. I thought it was very. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. I just thought it was interesting. Yesterday they brought in Fouch for the eighth, and they brought Wiggins in for the ninth. [00:41:33] Speaker F: Yeah. You know, and I want to say a reporter asked that question. When do you guys ask that? In the. In the post game. [00:41:39] Speaker B: It wasn't me yesterday. I was talking to the Portland coach, and I also talked to Cole Katayama Stall after the game. And so I went into the interview room, but I'm always. Because Dave doesn't like to be asked the same question two times. It irritates him, and he'll say something like I said earlier. And so whenever I go into the interview room late after he started, I'm always hesitant to ask a question because I don't want to ask something that's been asked earlier. So it wasn't me who asked whatever question this is. That you're referencing? [00:42:08] Speaker F: Well, they just. Someone said something about, you know, bringing in Fouch and Wiggins both too hard throwing righties. And, you know, Wiggins had a great answer. It was, I mean, Fouch, they're two totally different looks. I mean, Fouch is a guy that's got 18 to 20 inches of horizontal run on his ball and Wiggins is more of a carry guy. So, I mean, two completely different fastballs, even though they're both, you know, 98 to 100, they're different. They're totally different. So Wiggins is a slider guy, Fouch is more of cutter. So, I mean, just two different guys. Plus Fouch has that splitty. So I don't know. [00:42:50] Speaker B: Okay, so let's talk about these first two games of the series. Arkansas won 20 to 3 in game one. Felt like everybody was just hitting the COVID off the ball in that game. Brent Iredale had eight rbi. It was the most by a player since Rodney Nye in 1999 against ORU. Iredell was one RBI away from tying the school record, and he potentially, he was about to get a chance to do it. And then Kahia Walloy grounded out to leave Iredell in the on deck circle. Otherwise, he might have been able to get 9, 10, 11 RBI in that game. Who knows with the way he was hitting it. [00:43:25] Speaker F: Yeah. I tell you, I love his approach at the plate. I like talking to him about hitting. I think he's pretty. He understands his swing, he understands the process. He understands what the pitcher's trying to do to him, how they're trying to attack him, and it's, it's, it's fun to watch. [00:43:40] Speaker B: I hate that he's only going to be here for one year. [00:43:42] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:43:42] Speaker B: Because he is quickly becoming a fan favorite. And like all the, you know, the Australian themed stuff, they're doing the Aussie, Aussie, Aussie chant, the playing minute work whenever he gets a double or something. I mean, it's, it's funny. You were talking to him the other day about eating a Vegemite sandwich. [00:43:59] Speaker F: Yeah. After the game, I asked him and I said something. I'm like, look, you know, has anyone else on the team tried it? And he said, kahillo had. And Vaijava, I think Sousa. And I said, man, if you were my teammate, I'd be eating that every day. If you're swinging it like that, I'd be wanting some of that Vegemite sandwich. [00:44:16] Speaker B: If we could get Brent to bring a Vegemite sandwich, in like. And we eat it on the podcast. Would you do it? Would you like, take a bite on camera? [00:44:23] Speaker F: I'd eat it. I drink beet juice. When Kevin Kopp was here, I thought, well, you know, I'll try it. I mean, it's helping him. What will it do for me? I might make a comeback. [00:44:36] Speaker B: When you see a team score 20 runs and six innings, I mean, what do you think? [00:44:42] Speaker F: I think, I think they had some good swings. I think the wind was blowing out, but I think every ball they hit was still hammered. I just thought he was a good, a good approach. And look at the dude they're facing. The guy they're facing. Pitcher of the year last year in his conference. [00:44:58] Speaker B: I mean, projected pitcher of the year again this year. Preseason All American, you know. [00:45:01] Speaker F: And he was visibly frustrated because I don't think he's ever been hit like that. Now I will tell he was leaving a lot of balls belt high. I mean, in that middle, you know, there's the nine squares on trackman, that middle section, he was leaving a lot of balls there early. Then later he started executing some pitches down in his own and up in his own. Stayed out of that middle portion a little bit. But he was, he was frustrated. I don't think he's ever been hit like that. [00:45:29] Speaker B: Never, never even close. I looked it up afterward. I think the most that he'd ever given up was like seven runs. And he gave up 13 to Arkansas. 12 were earned. And Iredell said afterward that in their video scout of him, they noticed that he was really favoring that slider early in count. And he said they were all just sitting on the slider. [00:45:47] Speaker F: Yeah, you could tell. And I think he's used to getting away with that get me over slider. And against Razorbacks, you can't do that. You can't throw a get me over slider when the wind's blowing out 25 miles an hour. [00:46:01] Speaker B: 8 RBI though, in a game. I mean, that's. That's incredible. [00:46:04] Speaker F: Yeah, that's awesome. You gotta love that. [00:46:06] Speaker B: As a hitter. It seemed like it just kind of like it just racked up. Yeah, really fast because it was a two run double, three run homer, another three run homer, and all of a sudden, wow, that's quite the day. [00:46:16] Speaker F: Okay, so everyone, everyone talks about RBIs all the time. You got all these RBIs, but I credit the team for that. If I had a good RBI day, it wasn't because of me. It was because of my teammates getting on and giving me that opportunity. And so, I mean that's, that's a team stat in my book. [00:46:33] Speaker B: And I wrote this after the game. Nanoka, he'll struggled the last two games. I'm going to ask you about that here in a minute. But the guy who was hitting behind him for several games in a row, they're having a lot of success. Yeah, I guess, you know, part of that is him. Part of that's the heaven what he's doing. And, but that was a good place to hit this week. [00:46:52] Speaker F: Yeah, I think so. And I think, I think that's something that, that a lot of people overlook how. And Dave's really good at structure in a lineup. How you structure this lineup, I think is real important because it's important who's hitting behind you. You know, I interviewed Davlon yesterday and you know, asked him about his success and you know how I like how he's using the whole field. He talked about, he gave credit to the, the, the big dogs hitting behind him because they're, he's going to get pitches to hit because they don't want him on base. And so I thought, I thought it was really cool that he, he, he didn't take any credit at all. He recognized the guys sitting behind him. [00:47:28] Speaker B: I wonder if they might put Iredell behind Viva now. [00:47:34] Speaker F: Possibly. I think, I think it could happen. [00:47:37] Speaker B: Be interesting to see what they do there. Game 2, Zach Root, 10 strikeouts, match to career high, by the way. It was really hard for me to find his stats from Eastern car from East Carolina. They have deleted his bio from the website. And you know, sometimes they'll do this just so like people don't make the mistake that he's there and then they'll put it on later. They've totally deleted his bio from the East Carolina website, so it's hard to find his stats now. You, if you click around enough in the website, you can eventually find some season stuff. But it was kind of frustrating and I don't know that I've ever seen that where like a school has just totally wiped clean the fact that this guy played for him for a time. [00:48:20] Speaker F: Could that be some sour grapes? Kind of like mean, why not be proud? Why not be proud that they helped develop him? Because I think they do a good job with their pitchers. [00:48:29] Speaker B: I mean, it could be oversight on somebody on the communication side. I don't know. But I just, I had never run into that where a player's entire bio had been wiped clean from a website. [00:48:39] Speaker F: Yeah. Oh, well, anyway, I'm glad he's Here. [00:48:42] Speaker B: He tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. [00:48:44] Speaker F: Yeah, but it goes back to what I said earlier, Matt. I mean, they didn't, they were frustrated. I mean, they just hadn't. They had no idea. I mean, he's got four pitches. He had them all working. It's like. And credit Ryder Helfrich. I thought Ryder called a great game, but they just never looked comfortable. None of the hitters in that Portland lineup looked comfortable. And they walked back to the dugout just frustrated, or they would take a swing and they would step out and just shake their head and so you could tell there was some frustration. [00:49:18] Speaker B: Viva had a big weekend in particular in this game. He had back to back four RBI games. And again, that's what players are doing around him. But it helps whenever you're smacking three home runs in two games. [00:49:28] Speaker F: Right. Well, I'll tell you a word that I don't use very much is launch angle. I get tired of people talking launching a launch angle. He hit a home run Saturday with a 17 degree launch angle. Hit it 112. You don't see a lot of balls hit 17 degree launch go over the fence. 17 degrees, not very high. [00:49:49] Speaker B: Cahill had one like that earlier in the week against Ulm too. Very, you know, low to the ground type deal. [00:49:56] Speaker F: He hit one that, that bounced off the top of the wall. I want to say it was right around there. I don't remember exactly. But yeah, for a home run to go over at 17 is pretty. Pretty. That's when, you know you're hitting that ball hard and you're backspinning it. [00:50:10] Speaker B: That's. And, and, and we've talked a lot about Arkansas's, you know, hitting philosophy, and that's what they've told me several times. It's not about. What they're looking to do is they're trying to drive balls to the outfield. Either they're going to go off the wall and it's going to be a double or a triple, or it's just. It's going to clear the wall. It's going to be a home run. That's what they are looking for. Now, it doesn't mean that's what they always get, but that's what they're looking for. [00:50:34] Speaker F: Yeah, and it showed. I mean, you look at their numbers, I mean, you know, we were comparing, and I know we're going to get into it a minute, but it's. You compare their numbers to last year, and I think of the home runs, I think of the. I think the wind has knocked down more home runs than the wind has helped us this year. Even though it was blowing out Friday. I think there's been multiple balls that the winds knocked down this year that are typically home runs. So you look at our home run total, in my mind it could be higher. [00:51:02] Speaker B: And what you mean by that is that like Sousa, he hits a home run against Ulm. 420ft. It may be 410, 412 without the wind, but it's still hit well enough that it's going to go out of the park. [00:51:15] Speaker F: It's still going to go. [00:51:15] Speaker B: Hey, speaking of which, Kendall Diggs hit the home run to end Saturday's game. I looked this up six game ending hits for him. Five of them have been home runs. And there's the two, you know, traditional, what we would call a walk off home run. Ole Miss his freshman year, A and M at the SEC tournament. He also had a walk off double against Illinois State on a Tuesday his sophomore year. But then this is the third time that he's initiated a run role with a home run. It's just, it's amazing the knack that he has to end these games. [00:51:46] Speaker F: When he came up to the plate, I just felt like the game was over. I don't even know. I don't know if I said something on the broadcast. I think I said something to Phil. But as I just felt like the game's getting ready to end. You just felt like it was going to happen. [00:51:58] Speaker B: It was a two out home run too. Big swing for him. He's got the two home runs this last week. I think it's been this last week. I think he hit one against Ulm. Yeah, he did. What do you think about him though? You know his swing right now? Because it seems like it's a lot of all or nothing with him. [00:52:17] Speaker F: I like to swing when he hit the home run. That pitch was actually outside, you know, often it was actually off the plate. But he stayed through the ball really well and so that's, that's a good sign to see I think. I think he's getting better every, every, every game. I think he's getting a little bit better. His, he's not chasing as many pitches. I just think he's trending in the right way. [00:52:39] Speaker B: He also had that triple off the wall whenever he came into one of the games this weekend. Okay, so I want to ask you about the run rule because they have won seven games this year by run rule. They had four in a row, Ulm in the first two games Against Portland, obviously it is affecting the ability to get pitchers into the game. What do you think about this? I mean, do you think. And Dave brought something up and we're going to play a clip from him here in just second. But do you think 10 runs may be not enough? [00:53:09] Speaker F: I don't think it's enough because look at, I mean, look at, look at our lineup. I mean, a run rule can happen really quick with this team. I mean, I mean, look at some of the innings. You know, seven runs in the second inning on Friday, five runs in the fourth inning on Saturday. I mean, you, you get guys on base, you hit a home run or two, and next thing you know, you're 10 runs up. I don't think it's enough. I, I mean, 12, maybe 15 might be too many, but I mean, I understand why it's in there. It's a protect, you know, you don't want a team to, you know, to overdo their bullpen if you're just getting killed. But I just feel like 10's not enough. [00:53:50] Speaker B: So that's what Dave had to say whenever he was asked about the run rule yesterday. [00:53:54] Speaker G: I don't mind the run rule on the weekends, maybe in the middle of the week, that's when you're going to get some of your guys more of the work. But we played 56 games and it's four weeks, sometimes five. Sometimes you're thinking probably if you were on the other end of it, man, let's get out of here. I don't want to use any more guys. We're getting whipped. Let's get ready for Friday. And then sometimes if you're. Even if you're winning by a lot, you know, unless you have that one guy or two guys that need a little bit of work, you kind of have the same feeling. You just. Arms start to get tired mid season on and. And that's when you're trying to protect them at, you know, maybe we should do it till the second half of the season. I don't know. But it, yeah, we, we talked about it as a staff after the game in our locker room that, you know, run rule. And it was probably cost a couple of our freshmen from pitching. [00:54:49] Speaker B: So Dave and Horn on the run rules. Who do you think we haven't seen so far that maybe we would have seen had they played? And gosh, you start putting the numbers together. 14 more innings. That's almost two full games. [00:55:01] Speaker F: That's crazy. I think like a Cole Gibler, more of him. I think we would have seen More of him. He's a guy I know they want to get out there. He's got great stuff. He just needs. Needs innings. I think it's hurt Guys like McIntyre, Tate, McGuire, they haven't got as many. Many innings. [00:55:20] Speaker B: I saw Ross Felder up the other day, and he didn't. He ended up making it into the game. But, you know, you wonder about if there's 14 more innings. Maybe you've seen him a time or two. [00:55:29] Speaker F: Yeah, possibly. I mean, it's. I don't know if there's a way to do it. Like, you know, you look in, like, USSSA baseball, and I don't want to compare this to USSSSA baseball, but they have, like, you know, eight after four. It's. Which would be two. You don't want that. But, like, you know, it's 12 after three. I mean, if they could put in a system that was like, okay, after this amount of innings, 15 after six or, you know, 12 after seven, 10 after eight. I don't. I don't know. There's got to be a way. But, you know, I don't know if I trust the NCAA to come up with that. [00:56:00] Speaker B: What does U. SSSA stand for? [00:56:05] Speaker F: Baseball. [00:56:07] Speaker B: These. These cups, or these organizations that have such long. Like the track and field coaches. It's the U S T F. Ccca. Eight letters. The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. [00:56:22] Speaker F: Wow. [00:56:23] Speaker B: At some point, let's, like, cut that thing in half. [00:56:25] Speaker F: That's a mouthful right there. [00:56:29] Speaker B: So. All right, we got a lot more to come here on the podcast. We're going to talk about Razorback baseball, hitting numbers and how they compare to some of the past years. Talk about Kahi Olloy and how he's cooled off just a little bit. A lot more. But first word from our sponsors. [00:56:42] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King Soapbox and Shop Shopcart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design. [00:57:15] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. Got Bubba Carpenter in here for another segment as we talk about Razorback baseball. Okay, so here's a question. Who would be your Player of the Week nominee? Because Oliver Grigg. I was talking to him about this yesterday after the game, and it's like, I mean, think about your candidates. You got Velloy, he had a big week. Three home runs, double digit rbi. Bryn Iredell hit five home runs last week, double digit rbi. And even though Cajillo didn't, you know, I mean, he didn't get a hit the last two games, what he did in the midweek, in the first game against Portland, he put 13 RBI in those three games. And so that is a tough, you know, a tough decision on because you only get to submit one name to the SEC office. [00:57:57] Speaker F: You know, I think if, I think if Kuhillo had a couple of hits yesterday, you go with him. I think you go with Iredell just because of the consistency, you know, every game. So that would be my guy. You could also go Zach Root. [00:58:11] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think you can submit a position player and a pitcher. I was just talking about, you know, from a hitting standpoint, I think he had four doubles on the week, four doubles and three homers. So I mean, you can't go wrong, I think with, with we, I think Kahillo, because of the way he ended the week, you take him out of the consideration. Yeah, I don't think you could go wrong with Viva or Brett Iredell. [00:58:32] Speaker F: I don't think so. Could we nominate co players? [00:58:35] Speaker B: Well, you know, they're going to name co players anyway, so why not? So talking about Cajillo, he had had a hit in every game. I think his batting average got up to like 556 or something until he. Or 582, I think is what it got up to at one point until he finally started to, you know, come back down to earth. Didn't get a hit on Saturday, but he did get a walk. And then yesterday he didn't make it on base for the first time this season. Did you see Portland pitch him any differently, maybe this weekend? [00:59:03] Speaker F: I don't think they pitched him differently. I think he swung different. I think he chased pitches out of the zone. I think he was getting a lot of the same pitches. He just, he was chasing their pitch like they were throwing, you know, fastballs up, change up. One guy ran a couple of changeups in on him that he swung. That weren't strikes. He chased the ball over his head. That wasn't a strike. So I think it was more. His approach changed a little bit. And that's what happens when you're hitting the ball, Matt, and you're going, well, everything looks good. Everything looks like a beach ball coming up there. And so as a result you end up chasing. You swing at pitches because you feel like you can hit everything and then it goes down and then you zone back in again and then you get hot again and it's kind of, that's the ebbs and flows of hitting where you've got to try to stay as disciplined as you can. I don't care how good you are, if you're swinging at bad pitches, you ain't gonna have success. [00:59:54] Speaker B: We always knew that, you know, this, this hot streak was not gonna last forever, but it was fun during the, you know, as it was happening, just to kind of see, hey, how crazy can these stats get? And I've never, we talked about Aaron Murphy the other day. From a power standpoint, you know, you'll never see anything probably like what he did again. But just from like runners in scoring position, OPS, batting average, 10, 11 games into the season. I don't know that we'll ever see what Cajillo did again. [01:00:26] Speaker F: I don't think we will. And I thought it was neat, the crowd. Like every time he came up, there was just a buzz in the stadium. Like I can't hear a lot of what's going on, but I'd take my, I'd take my headphone and move it over so I could hear the crowd. And every time Cajillo comes up, there's like a, you know, there's just like excitement. You can hear it in the crowd. [01:00:45] Speaker B: It's like watching Mark McGuire come to. [01:00:47] Speaker F: The plate kind of. [01:00:48] Speaker B: Yeah, Charles Davlin, and this was something I had noticed and you talked to him about it yesterday. He's, he's changed his swing or he's changed. The more, you know, more pointedly he's changed the, the leg kick and taking it away. If you watched him early in the season, he'd raise his knee up about above his belly button and he just, he'd hold it there until he got to two strikes and then he'd take that away and go to a toe tap. Now he's gone exclusively to this toe tap. And I mean, he's hitting really well. I think he's got three multi hit games in his last four. He scored three runs or more in three consecutive games last week. He's giving them a really good option at the, the top of the lineup. Somebody who's getting on base a lot. And even I thought Dave made a good point the other day. Even in some of the times that he's not getting on base, he's taken eight, nine, 10 pitches and helping out the guy behind him, who happens to be Viva, maybe the hottest hitter on the team. [01:01:44] Speaker F: Well, I like the adjustment he made. I mean good hitting is good timing. Good pitching is upsetting that timing. I think it's when you've got your leg up like that. Like I'm big on posture at the plate. His body was tilted and it creates what I call under over swing. So you get out there and you hook balls. And I think he was hooking balls and I think that was part of the reason. Now he goes to a simple little toe tap. His posture's better now. He's driving balls to left field, he's hitting balls to right. Honestly, I think he's seeing the ball better because there's less movement. Like the head doesn't have that much movement. And I love it. I love what he's been doing. I mean yesterday had two, he was two for four. He could have easily been three for four. He hit a line drive to left field, left fielder, came in and made a good play on it. That was a fastball on outside corner and he stayed on it and hit it over 100 miles an hour. So I like where he's at right now and he's a, he's, he's a good dude to have in that leadoff spot. [01:02:39] Speaker B: Okay, so I want to talk about the offense and how it compared. We're just using last year as a baseline, but I will say this. And it's down to 598 now going into yesterday's game, the slugging percentage was at 615. I cannot remember an Arkansas team that had a slugging percentage of 615 during the season. Maybe the 18 team after they played Kentucky and they hit like a million home runs on opening weekend. And they'd beaten Texas earlier that week and hit well too. But this is like, like these numbers really stand out to me. And people can say, well, you know, let's, let's see them do it against SEC pitching and that's fair. But I think what we're seeing is that against comparable competition to what they played in past years in the non conference, their hitting numbers are a lot better, which probably bodes well for whenever they get into conference play. [01:03:30] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean you and I were just comparing the competition they played. I thought Washington State, their pitchers weren't bad through a lot of off speed stuff. Charlotte, I've never seen that many changeups before. I thought our hitters did a good job of being disciplined. Lay off of that. But you know, to see our numbers like that, like, you know, if you compare last year at this time to this year. We had 17 home runs last year. Now we're at 33. We've almost doubled that. You know, we've got five more strikeouts, four more strikeouts than last year. But the slugging percentage, I mean, we're.456 last year.598 right now. This year average.296 in 24. Now we're at.320. I mean, you just look run scored. We've scored, you know, 147 way more than last year at this time. I just. All the numbers are. Are up. We're drawing as many walks. What's crazy, though, we haven't stolen as many bases. Last year at this time, we were 17 for 19 stolen bases. We're 13 for 20 now. But we're not getting hit as many singles. I mean, we're hitting a lot of more extra bases or a lot more doubles. Hit a double, you don't steal second. [01:04:36] Speaker B: Right. I think they're hitting well and want to mention this, too. Where'd my stats go? Oh, they're there. You know, the number of guys that they've got hitting over.300 right now stands out to me. And they got three hitting over.400. You got Cahill at.468, the heave at 433, Iredell at.408. Maxwell, who didn't play the last couple of games this weekend because he kind of tweaked that hamstring. Again, he's at.351. Davlins at.333. Leading off Kozel, who didn't have a good weekend. He's still hitting at.300. So, again, we'll see how this goes when they get into conference play. I just don't remember having this many players going into conference play that you felt confident in, in the lineup, in. In some of the past years. [01:05:21] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. It's a tough lineup to maneuver through. And even if you look at Sousa, you know, Sousa right now, look at his average, it's down. It's not going to be down, Susan. Stud, I think. I think Pepe's another. I think Pepe and Helfrick are two guys that are probably going to hit conference pitching better than they hit what they've been facing. [01:05:43] Speaker B: Why. [01:05:46] Speaker G: They. [01:05:47] Speaker F: They have a hard time staying back and waiting on it. They're early on everything. Like Helfrich, he. He'll hook two or three balls foul in a bat. You know, he's just in front of everything. I just think it's going to help him seeing more Velo, I think is going to be good for him. I don't know. I just, I just see them doing. I think they're going to do better when conference rolls around to your point. [01:06:08] Speaker B: On Souza, his batting average is up 130 points from this time last week. So that's a, that's a good number for him. I feel like Iredell and Viva really are the two. Like they're the two key bats to this lineup. It feels like there's a momentum when those two get going that for whatever reason, it just kind of spreads throughout the entire team. [01:06:32] Speaker F: Yeah, I think so. But I go back to Davilon. I think it's important for Davlon to be on base and then Ver is going to get more fastballs because of the threat of the steal. And if Davilon struggles to steal, I mean, it doesn't matter if he struggles to steal base. I mean, you could also throw Justin Thomas up there, but I think Davilon's more suited for the leadoff role. I mean, Justin Thomas goes over and takes his hacks, but he's a perfect nine hole guy. So I just love the, the lineup, you know, top to bottom. And then, you know, you got, you got guys you can rotate in and out. I still love Cam Kozel. I mean, you know, throw him in there. Kendall Diggs, I mean, there's just so many options. [01:07:13] Speaker B: By the way, Viva left yesterday's game. Dave said that he was feeling some tightness in his leg. I don't know what that means or where. Said that Viva did not want to come out to the game. They made him come out. I don't know that I've ever seen him leave a game. At Arkansas, he started every game that he's played or he started every game. You know, there were two games last year where he didn't start. But basically, I guess what I'm saying is when he starts or when he plays, he starts. And I don't know that I've ever seen him come out of a game like that. [01:07:47] Speaker F: I don't remember him not being at shortstop last year. Phil and I talked about it on the air. It looked odd him not being on the field. Now I tell you what, Sousa came in. Sousa looks like a shortstop. Boy, he looked good. Yeah, no knock on him, but boy, it just looked. It was a different feel not having Ver out there. [01:08:04] Speaker B: I thought it gave us a little bit of a peek into, you know, because I was wondering who would be their backup shortstop. And I thought it would be Souza, but I wondered if they did that, what they would do at second. So they end up bringing Frazier in, which tells you they like his defense, I think, especially in a close game there at the end like that. So, yeah, I mean, Sousa, I think that might be his position next year once ve moves on. It wouldn't surprise me if he's the team shortstop. We'll see what happens with, you know, other players and personnel and whatnot. But that Frazier Souza combination in the middle, I was watching that yesterday thinking that this might be what we see next year. [01:08:38] Speaker F: It could be. Or you could see him flip flop. You see Frazier when he's his arms, 100%. Of course. I love the way he, he made that turn in the game, that five, four, three, double play. I mean, Frazier looked really good. Good exchange. Got rid of it lot on the throw to first. So I thought that, I thought they looked good. [01:08:55] Speaker B: How do you think Carl Stall is going to remember this weekend? [01:08:58] Speaker F: You know what? [01:08:59] Speaker B: He was the star of the weekend. I mean, he was being mentioned every time that his son Cole would come up to the plate for Portland. [01:09:05] Speaker F: Yeah, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't talk to him Friday. And he's so excited. He was so excited to be back here. I know he's super excited to watch his son. You know, he told me that, you know, they've watched. Sitting there watching games with his son Cole. I just thought it was really cool, a cool moment. I think it's neat that his grandparents got to come watch that, that the family, I'm. I don't know, I just think that's really cool. [01:09:29] Speaker B: I don't think Carl would mind me reading this text message he sent me one Saturday. He said, this place has run big league from top to bottom. I couldn't be more impressed. I mean, just think about, like if you. Because he played at a similar time as you a couple of years after you left here, just imagine you leave Razorback baseball and you move away for 30, 35 years and the only, you know, I mean, you kind of see it on TV and, you know, it's kind of become sort of a big deal. But, but you're not. You actually don't come back for 30 years and then you come back and you see what they have right now. I mean, it's you, you guys as well as anybody because you played over at the old ballpark and you know what the program was. I mean, it's just, it's. I would have to think it's jarring when you think back to what you had to what they have now. [01:10:15] Speaker F: It's. It's crazy to think of the differences and, and Carl and I talked about that. So he came in the year after I left. So I came back from pro ball that first year and I actually hit with him. That's how I got to know him, is we would hit together and. Yeah, it's just, it's crazy. He was, he was just overwhelmed by the stadium, just everything about it. And it's, it's true because if you think of George Colfield, I thought it was cool on that card pack they had, they had a picture of George Colfield and I was showing it to my son Dalton, and he was, I was like, yeah, this is where I played way, way back in the day. It's. It's changed a lot. [01:10:52] Speaker B: Cole had a good weekend. 5 for 11. He doubled. He tripled at a triple. His first at bat scored two runs. He looks like he could be a pretty good ballplayer down the road. [01:11:04] Speaker F: Yeah, he looks confident. I love the way he stepped up the plate. Had a good at bat against Vital Cheese. I like the swing against Gackle. I mean, I didn't like it because. [01:11:13] Speaker B: He fouled off one of the 100 mile an hour fouch fastballs and he fouled off another one that was 99. And to me, that, like, he didn't get a hit, but the fact that he was able to have the bat speed to catch up with that kind of pitch at his age, because he told me afterward, he said, I've never seen anything like that before. [01:11:29] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, in a fouch fastball isn't just 100, it's 100, moving 18 to 20 inches. But wouldn't it be crazy with, with everything that happens in the game, the transfer portal, if he ended up here one day? You never know. [01:11:42] Speaker B: Never know. It's all about connections. Yeah, but it was a good week for, for him and I know it was a special week for his family. Carl, his parents were able to come over from West Memphis and watch the game, which was another really cool little aspect to this. Okay, so they play UCA tomorrow. I think it's a night game, right? Yeah. Six o'clock, first night game of the year. What do you think we see in this game? And I also wonder, how do you think they approach this from a pitching standpoint? Because they got all these guys that they wanted to get into a game over the weekend. Maybe one of those, you know, what do you call Johnny Holstaff type Games. [01:12:17] Speaker F: Yeah, I think. I think you'll see an opener and then you'll just see guys from here, you know, just down the line. I don't know, though. I would assume Bybee will probably start, go a couple innings and then I. [01:12:26] Speaker B: Wonder if Fisher starts. Dave said yesterday that he wasn't sure what their plan was, but, you know, they started Fisher last Tuesday. I mean, you may be right. Maybe Bobby. [01:12:36] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, he threw, what, 50 pitches on Tuesday, threw a little bit over the weekend. I don't remember how many pitches he threw. [01:12:43] Speaker B: I think it was one inning. [01:12:45] Speaker F: Yeah, just 14 pitches. So, yeah, we'll see him. We may see him start. Might see him come in afterwards, but, yeah, I could see him start and he's. And then after that, I know they want. There's multiple guys they want to see, so I think you're going to see quite a few arms come out of the bullpen. [01:13:00] Speaker B: I'm looking up UCA's schedule here because I haven't had a chance to look up too much about them. They're 5 and 8 overall. They played Northwestern State, they played Eastern Michigan, Central Connecticut. So they haven't played a great score schedule. Looking here, they lost to Evansville six to five and eight to nothing over the weekend in Conway. They beat Evansville in the series opener. Again, it's, and I think we said this like three podcasts in a row. It's not so much about the opponent, it's about how Arkansas handles this game. [01:13:30] Speaker F: Right? And hey, they, They've played as tough some here at Baum. I mean, I know those guys come here, they're excited to play, play here. I've got a couple former players that played for me. One is Casey Shipley. Remember the kid? He got hit in the nose last year with a Cooper Dawson. Cutter, three, two, cutter. Casey Shipley, he played for me since he was nine years old. Great kid, great family. I know they get excited. I'm sure he'll have a big pass list here tomorrow night, but, yeah, it's. It's fun. But I tell you what, they're. They're scrappy. They're a good team. Coach Harlan does a good job, so it's going to be fun. Looking forward to it. [01:14:03] Speaker B: How do you feel when you see those kids that. Because, I mean, in youth baseball, they grow up with you, basically. I mean, they're with you from what, like in some cases, like six, seven years old until they're 18? [01:14:14] Speaker F: Yeah, we started. Casey played for me when he was nine and just, just a, just A great kid, super coachable. Baseball IQ off the chart. He's a catcher. For him, it's a. It's a good feeling. It's almost like you're, you know, because you love these kids, you coach them from young age all the way up, and. And you love the kid, you love the family, and it's almost like seeing your own son out there. [01:14:39] Speaker C: You're. [01:14:39] Speaker F: You're. You're. It's. It's hard for me because last year, Cooper Dawson facing Casey, and I coached both of them, and I love both of them to death. And I'm like, okay, wait, who do I want to win this battle? And so it's. It's kind of. It's kind of tough. But, you know, Casey still comes here in the off season and hits at the facility, so I could see him a lot. And. Yeah, so it's going to be fun. Looking forward to it. [01:15:03] Speaker B: You think the basketball team makes the NCAA tournament? [01:15:05] Speaker F: Ooh, I don't know. It's. It's a tough call. What do you think? [01:15:11] Speaker B: I think they. [01:15:11] Speaker F: Do you think they'll make it? [01:15:12] Speaker B: Yeah, we talked about that earlier with Anthony. [01:15:14] Speaker F: I think they make it, they might squeak. [01:15:15] Speaker B: I'm putting you on the spot here. I want to know how much you watch basketball. Like, I don't. [01:15:19] Speaker F: I keep up with it because I'm a Razorback fan. But, you know, like, I watched the Mississippi State game. [01:15:25] Speaker B: Hey, I want to say this is a cool moment. Before the game Saturday, were you watching it at the ballpark? [01:15:29] Speaker F: At the ballpark? [01:15:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I was, too. So I was watching it, and they win, and I'm watching it on one of the TVs, and so it's faster than what people are watching on their. Their phones because when you're streaming it, it's, you know, usually 30, 60 seconds behind or something, and they win. And then there's like this little delay, and then all of a sudden you kind of hear, like, this, you know, cheering throughout the ballpark. And then there was a hog call. They started playing the fight song over the pa. Like, they never said anything over the PA about, hey, the basketball team just won. But it was one of those deals where everybody in the ballpark, they knew because they were all keeping up with it in their own way. [01:16:08] Speaker F: Isn't that cool, though, about Razorback fans? I mean, you gotta appreciate that. [01:16:12] Speaker B: And that's what's different about college sports than pro sports, is that, you know, like, you might be a Cowboys fan and a Mavericks fan, but there's no guarantee that you like both, right? It's. You don't see a lot of people who are a Razorback basketball fan and not a baseball fan and not a football fan and not a. Whatever else. So. Yeah, that is, that's the neat part of college sports. [01:16:34] Speaker F: Yeah, I think it's cool. So it's, it's just another thing that makes you feel. It's just a good feeling when you step into bomb. I love our fans. I mean, you know, after a tough loss, sometimes it's a little tough if you get on, if you get on Twitter or X. But for the most part, 99% of the time, I love our fans. [01:16:53] Speaker B: Twitter's down today, so it's like a good mental health day for people. [01:16:56] Speaker F: Sweet. Good. [01:16:59] Speaker B: Arkansas UCA Tomorrow at 6:00, it's going to be on SEC Network. Plus you can listen to Phil and Bubba on the Razorback Sports Network and you can read all about it on our website, wholehogsports. Com. We got some baseball coverage planned for you today on our website. Some basketball coverage too. Also today is the start of spring football and so we'll have some football coverage on the website this afternoon. Hope to see you there. Hope to see you on our podcast tomorrow. Have a great afternoon, everybody.