Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Arkansas. Texas begins tonight over at Baum Walker Stadium. The Razorbacks have the number one ranked team in town. Bubba Carpenter is in studio with me today. We'll break down the matchup, but first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:00:21] 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 Shopcart. Together, these 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.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: Big power arms, big ones and just big power bats. And I think Dave Van Horn and along with Kevin O'Sullivan and Tim Corbin has been the. You know, those are their preeminent coaches, Mike Bianco, but you know, Van Horn has just built such an unbelievable program and the crowd and the experience at, at their ballpark is just, it's unlike anything that this team has seen this year. No disrespect to Mississippi State or anybody else where we've been, but this will be a pretty big time environment. Huge power. You know, they've, they have, I mean, their top two or three most talented teams in the country. They've had a couple rough weekends which can happen in this conference. And now they're home with Texas coming in. So it's going to be a firestorm. I expect that. And it'll be good experience for our team, you know.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: So that's Texas coach Jim Sosnagel on coming to Fayetteville this weekend. That was following the Longhorns 11 to 2 victory over Prairie View A and M on Tuesday night. Texas 38 and 5 over overall, 19 and 2 in the SEC. They come into Fayetteville, Bubba, on a 10 game win streak.
One of the things that he mentioned there, I think is really one of the keys to the series. The fact that they haven't played anybody on the road this year. They played Mississippi State, which can be hostile, but they're not a good team this year. Played Missouri on the road, they played Kentucky on the road. They haven't stepped into a road situation where they're going to play. Not only a hostile environment, but a really talented team on the other side. And it's gonna be very interesting to see how this goes.
[00:02:32] Speaker D: Matt, you and I said early on when we went to Ole Miss we were gonna find out how Good. We were. And then we went to Vandy. We're gonna see how good we were. You know, we had our tests early on.
You know, it's crazy that it's May 1st and they're really, they're really getting their first road tests, you know, this weekend. So we will, we'll see how good, we'll see how good they really are.
I think we match up really well against them. I mean, looking at their numbers, looking at our numbers, of course, you, you play, you don't play it on paper. So you go out and you play the game and see what happens. But I just feel like they were in a situation where we were a couple years ago. We won a whole bunch of really close games, a lot of one run games. Everything kind of went our way. I feel that's where they're at this year. There's a lot of games you go back and look at. They could have easily lost that game and they found a way to win. Good teams do that. So we'll see what happens this weekend.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: The availability report that came out last night, it's got a lot of names on there for Arkansas. I mean, Nolan Sousa obviously out. We know that Parker Coyle still out. Carson Wiggins out with the elbow injury. Gabe Frazier questionable at second base. Logan Maxwell questionable in the outfield, and Michael Anderson, who hasn't played a whole lot, he's questionable with an injury to.
Boy, I tell you, if they can't have Gabe Frazier go. I mean, it's already, you know, a situation where it's not your guy playing at second base. It's going to be very interesting to see, you know, how do they handle that? You know, do they move Cam Kozal over? Do they play Rocco Pepe at first base? Do they play Reese Robinette at first base, who plays in right field? This is, there's a lot of moving pieces to this. And if you listen to Dave Van Horn talk yesterday, you could tell because he touched on it a number of times.
They're expecting to have a weekend that's impacted by injuries in some form or fashion.
[00:04:26] Speaker D: The good thing about it is we have a lot of depth on this lineup. But I think you said it, probably the answer to the problem is move Kozil over to second. You know, he's, you know, he was a natural second baseman, put Rocco at first. But I think Dave even referred to it, this is a weekend where when you've got injuries, you need someone in your lineup to step up, someone new to step up. So whether it's Rocco Pepe, whether it's the Carson Bowles, whether, you know, Diggs gets a chance, has a big week, someone's got to have a big weekend. I think this weekend I think someone will do it.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Arkansas needs a win. They need a series win, preferably, but. But at least get out of here with a win and competitive games to feel good about themselves going down the stretch here, you know, after these three series losses that they've had, it doesn't get any easier though, does it? I mean, they play number one, number two, and number six to end the season. Dave Van Horn was asked about the stretch of games that they have to finish these final three weeks. And this is what he had to say about it yesterday as a, as a player.
[00:05:31] Speaker E: And I mentioned this to the team yesterday. I said, if I was sitting in your shoes, 21 years old, looking back at me right now, I would be so excited about the schedule we have going forward because our guys want to win, but it's not life and death. And, you know, I want to win and I feel the same way. We get to play three of the best teams in the country and win or lose, it's going to prepare us for a month from now and then hopefully we're playing and because we have seen it all, I mean, really, we've seen it all with the schedule. And so they should just be excited to be in College, be 18 to 23 years old in most cases, and have a chance to play college baseball and play in front of huge crowds for the next three weekends, go to the SEC tournament and then hopefully playing in a regional somewhere. And hopefully here.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: I look at these next three weeks, Bubba, as almost one maybe cluster of games. And maybe if you can go five and four, you may not win every series, but if you could go five and four over those nine games, I think you'd be number one. You'd be feeling really good about yourself going into the tournament. But number two, you just held your own five and four against, like I said, the numbers one, two and six teams, probably all three of those teams are going to be a national seed when Memorial Day rolls around.
[00:06:53] Speaker D: Yeah, and I love, I love the way Dave put it right there, Matt. And he's kind of putting things in perspective. You know, be happy for what you've got. Be happy that you can get up, go out and play the game of baseball. You know, there's a lot of people that aren't fortunate enough. I have that talk with my 13 year olds a lot about, look, there's a Lot of kids that would give.
You know, there's kids that'll never put on a baseball uniform for health reasons. And I want them to be grateful for what they have. And that's kind of what Dave's telling his guys right now. Look, you're lucky. You know, you can get up and put on a Razorback uniform, go out there and play the game. It's not life or death. You know, there's the things, a lot of things in life a lot bigger than what's happening this weekend. Go out there and have fun, play hard, play loose, and then just play Razorback baseball. And I just like the way he breaks that down.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: It's interesting because, again, I think you have people who watch baseball who view it through the lens of other sports. You can hear him in that sound bite, talk about.
It's about having your team playing the best when it matters the most.
[00:07:59] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Not necessarily. And we touched on this earlier this week, not necessarily going all in to win the sec. If you can win it and you can do it within reason, hey, that's great. But don't. Don't just go all out to win the conference and wear yourself out by the time regional play rolls around.
[00:08:19] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. And I think that's kind of an evolution of Dave Van Horn now. I might be completely wrong. I don't think that he would have said that same thing 10 years ago. You know, I think he abused. I think he's starting. I think he views things differently now. I mean, this is just a process to get you ready for postseason. Let's say we go on the postseason, make it to Omaha. No one's going to remember this series. No one's going to remember the. The. The rubber match. We lost it at Georgia or Florida. People are going to remember that. They remember what happened at the end of the season. I think Dave sees that. And right now we're just trying to get the team, you know, reshape the team with all the injuries and get the right guys in the right place to go out and get some. Get some wins. And if it. If it happens, awesome. You know, if it doesn't, then, you know, we build it. We build on it, we learn from it, and we get ready for next weekend.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: You could tell, listening to him yesterday, that it really is about reflecting on themselves this week about how can we play better. And if that's. If the improvements that we can make are good enough to beat Texas, great. It's not about, you know, psyching yourself out, you know, listing off all the strong characteristics of the Texas team. And this is what the sound bite is that we're about to play. It's about just making sure that the Razorbacks are doing things to the best of their capability with who they can put on the field. And again, the injury bug, I think, has bit this team hard, at least for this week's series. This is what Dave Van Horn had to say about that, though.
[00:09:57] Speaker E: Yeah, but I'll be honest with you. I mean, I try to answer your question.
We're just really worried about us, and that's kind of our thing right now. It's like, hey, whatever, they're good. We know they're good. We know LSU good, we know Tennessee is good, Florida, Georgia. But we need to take care of what we need to take care of, and we will be in every game. And sometimes you get so carried away worrying about the other team and the scattering reports and you just blow, blow the guy's mind a little bit. And so we just, we're trying to keep it pretty simple and use the players that we have available to help us win the series.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: And again, there's another reference to the players that we have available. It just doesn't sound like, you know, they're going to have their full team available this week.
[00:10:45] Speaker D: Well, when you, when you were over here a second ago and I was listening to something, I was listening to that sound bite. First time I heard it, I was on the phone, I had Dave going in the background. I could of hear and what I wrote down out of that was worry about us. I didn't hear the whole thing. I just heard that. And I, I love that because I think in today's game, there's so many, there's so many stats, there's so many analytics. You can, you can, you can pick it apart, you know. Now there's certain things that you want to know. You want to know a guy's tendencies, there's certain things like that. But at the end of the day, we've got to worry about us going out and playing Razorback baseball. We gotta love it. We're at home. Best ballpark in America. Best fans in America.
The rivalry. You know, I know he's, he's probably been asked, he's nauseated about all the time. He's been asked about the rivalry, about, you know, these guys don't know about a rivalry, Matt. All they know is number one team in the nation's coming in here and let's go get them. You know, they, they don't know Anything that happened back in the past, now, older people, the old guys like me, remember it. I remember playing them in 89. I rem 90. You know, I remember how big that series was. And it basically, it typically came down to us in Texas or us in Texas and A and M, and we had some really good games. And, you know, George Cole Field, back in the day, we didn't get a lot of fans. When Texas came to town, that place was full, didn't hold a lot, but it was. It got rowdy. And it was always a lot of fun to play Texas. They always had big arms, and I mean, those are the guys you want to face. You want to face the best pitchers in the country. So I always got fired up to play Texas. And I wish these guys, guys knew a little bit more. I jokingly said last week, we've got a week to teach these guys how to hate Texas before they get to town. But it's not about that. It's about them going out and playing Razorback baseball, taking care of business. Number one team in the nation. Doesn't matter if it's them, lsu, Florida, Vandy, whoever, go out and take care of business.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: I thought Texas catcher Kimball Schuessler was going to give Arkansas some bulletin board material. I was listening to an interview the other day. These were his first two sentences. He says, we're not worried about them. We're not worried about their fans. Like, oh. But then he kind of, we're worried about going in and playing our game. Whatever happens, it'll happen.
So, I mean, kind of Texas viewing this the same way as Arkansas does.
[00:13:05] Speaker D: Someone might have nudged him right in the middle of that and said, hey, you better turn that thing around, because it was about to go down the wrong road. But you're right, you don't want to. You don't want to give anyone extra fire. You don't want to poke the bear. But, you know, here, I think. I think we're the Bear. I think we are. I think. I think this team's going to play. They're going to be ready to play this weekend, and I think it's going.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: To be a lot of fun.
[00:13:26] Speaker D: I just. The injury worry me a little bit because you take a boy, you take Suze out a lineup, it hurt. And then now, you know, you get a guy to fill in. Frazier may not play this weekend. I mean, you know, then Wiggins goes down, big hit to the bullpen. I mean, it's tough. These guys have been through a lot this year, but we're not the only team in the sec. I mean it, it happened going through it too. Yeah. I mean teams, I mean you, you've got injuries. Yeah, they, they've lost their best hitter. They, they're without him, their best hitter.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: And maybe their best starting pitcher.
[00:13:58] Speaker D: Yeah. So, I mean it's, that's the nature of the game and that's why it's all about depth and next man up. But someone's got to step up this weekend, have big series for us in right field.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: How do you think they handle that? I mean, because Kendall Diggs, he's not getting it done at the plate, but I don't know that either that there's. With he and Bowles defensively, it feels like there's a drop off when, when you know, either of them go into the game as a corner outfielder. I didn't see anything from Kahil Aloy in that midweek game that makes me think they're going to put him in right field in a conference game that matters. At least if they can avoid it.
How do you think they handle this and right. Because that's a big key to this. You know this as well as anybody. When you've got to move your defense around, you know that ball is going to end up in right field a ton of times this weekend.
[00:14:46] Speaker D: Yeah. Okay, so the way I view it, you're facing a team that's got the best era in the conference. I mean in SEC games, only 2, 9, 8. The next highest or next best is, is LSU at 4, 2, 3. There's a huge discrepancy from first to second.
I think, I think we need to score runs. So for me, I go with my offensive option, which is bowls, which is bowls in right field. Because we need offense now. We're playing a team. If it's more of an offensive weekend, then you might go with someone. That's because you know the balls are banging all over the yard. I think you, you go with your defensive guy. That's just the way I approach things.
I'm not DVH though. But you know, I think there are a few options and look, Kendall's. It's not what you hit, it's when you hit. Kendall struggled this year, but you know what, he's a big time player. Big time players step up in big games. So you know, who knows, he might go out this weekend if he gets out there and have a huge series. You just don't, you don't know what's going to happen in a series like this.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: The numbers aren't good for him. Are you seeing anything with him at the plate that's encouraging you that. That maybe he's taking a step toward breaking out?
[00:15:57] Speaker D: Well, in bps looked better. What I've seen. I will tell you, Matt, without getting into mechanics, I think sometimes your stance gives away your weakness, and I think Kendall's stance gives away his weakness.
I really do. Without getting into the weeds on mechanics and everything, I think the way he's, he's in the box, the elbow, the way he's a bat, it's. That gives away his weakness right there. And I'll leave it at that. I wish there, you know, anyway, we'll just, we'll just leave it at that. But I know he's got the, he's got the potential. He's been huge Boris Force before in the past. He's had huge hits and, you know, this could be the weekend he busts out.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: Hopefully it is going back to Cahill for a second in right field because they want him to be a right fielder at some point in time.
Where do you think he is in that and how do you think without playing in, you know, a lot of games, how do you think he gets to that point? I mean, is it. Does he go to summer ball and play right field? Is it fall ball? I mean, how does he, how does he get to the point where he can be their right fielder of the future if he's not playing in the games right now?
[00:17:06] Speaker D: Yeah, repetition, seeing the ball off the bat, I mean, you take fun, goes all day. But I think taking live balls off the bat during bp, that's one of the best things for you. I mean, that's, I mean, that's, you're, you're, you're getting live balls off the bat and then going out, playing summer ball, playing some outfield during summer ball, getting more reps. I think that's the key. He's athletic, he's fast. He can, he can do it. You know, people, people make too much about. Well, he played one game in right field. He made an error. The error he made, he was just attacking a ball in the corner. It was a sure double. He was trying to cut the ball off and get the runner at second. Don' Go to the corner field the ball. The guy got a double. Let him have his double. Just don't give him a triple. That's it. That's all he did on that. It wasn't like a, you know, and people want to say, well, he played one game and made an error. Who cares? That was a hustle error and that's just him trying to do too much. Now if he, if he misjudged a couple fly balls at him and they, they bounce off his head and he misses them a la Canseco, something like that, I'd be a little more worried. But yeah, I think he could go out there and do a good job for us. And if, if it ends up with Maxwell DH and and him in right field, let's do it.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: If the splits make any, and I'm sure they're looking at the split, but if that makes any, if that plays any factor in who plays in right Bowles right handed digs left handed. The starter tonight, Ruger Riojas for Texas.
Left handers are batting.250 against him. Right handers 201. He's a right handed pitcher, so there's that.
Moving on. You know the if. Are you concerned about Maxwell's hamstring? I mean this is a, this is apparently a multi year deal for him and obviously it's been bothering him since at least the preseason.
It seems like one of those deals where it's not going to get better this year.
Like, like, but, but like in terms of just playing through it. Pain management, being able to not only pain but like being able to have success. Because Dave talked yesterday about how he's kind of more slapping at balls here recently as opposed to really being able to put his full, the power of his lower body into him.
What do you see there? And I mean how much can he improve as this continues to bother him?
[00:19:32] Speaker D: Well, hamstring's tough. I mean it really is. You've dealt with this before, right? I've dealt with it. Yeah. I had a year in AAA in the Yankee organization. Best year I ever had. Up to the All Star break. Right before the All Star break the day before actually I go to steel second base. My hammy's already tight end up pulling it.
Missed the All Star game, miss all that. Came back after the All Star break and just, you know, I had no backside. It was my left hammy. I hit my left handed. I had no. So I ended up pushing instead of driving off my backside. I ended up kind of a hip slide, went downhill, turned into a mental thing, didn't finish up the season well.
But boy, once that thing starts hurting, you know, and I told you, I went, I had it for years. Went to one of our team chiropractors one year he's like, oh, your, your left leg shorter than your right. Got me lined out, went Away. It's crazy, but it can affect a lot of things. It really can. When you're. When you're a hitter and there's a part of your body that's. That's not good.
It' definitely has. Definitely has effect on you. But, boy, you know, you got to get that thing figured out. And, you know, it's. It kind of sucks. A hammy's a thing that when you get it, it's going to nag you all season. You're probably never going to be 100%, but can you go out there and be serviceable? Yeah.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: They didn't play Missouri State on Tuesday. And I mean, even if the weather was fine, I don't think it would have been a good idea. There was a tornado that went through Springfield Tuesday morning. My wife has got family up in Springfield and she was saying that it affected their. Their property.
So.
Right. Call on Monday not to play this game. I wonder, from a team standpoint, the benefit of rest versus the benefit of reps and being able to play that game, how do you. How do you view the fact that they weren't able to go up there and play on Tuesday?
[00:21:24] Speaker D: Yeah, I think you and I talked about it Monday. It's probably the first time ever that I've hoped for rain. I mean, I'm looking at the weather thinking, come on, Rand. I don't want a tornado on anyone to get injured. But I wanted rain. I didn't want us to go up there and play that game. There's no reason to go up there and play it. We got nothing to prove. I think we're better off staying here, getting healthy, getting rested, getting right mentally rather than going up there on a bus playing a game, come back home, getting late at night. You know, guys are finishing up their last week of school. A lot of things going on. I think. I think rain was the best.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: They've got finals still coming, but I think today is the last day of classes this semester. I think tomorrow's dead day. And so when. So again, the semester is not over because they still got the exams to go. But when you get out of classes, it seems like that always makes a difference for a baseball player.
[00:22:19] Speaker D: Absolutely. It's almost like being a professional baseball player. You wake up, all you've got to do is baseball. You know, it's just. It's so awesome. You sleep in a little bit. You don't have to worry about classes.
You wake up and you think baseball. You go play baseball. You go home, you. You think baseball at night, it's like that's, that's the only thing you have to do. And it really is like a lot like being a professional baseball player.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: So I want to say one more thing real quick before we go to break. Phil Elson going into a Hall of Fame this weekend. It is the Jewish Sports hall of Fame of Western Pennsylvania. He grew up in Pittsburgh and he told me a few weeks back, he actually called and asked if we had some photos that we could send them. And we did. And he said, you know, this works out well because the ceremony I think is on Sunday and you've got a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series. So just a few words about working with Phil Elson for the last eight years.
[00:23:20] Speaker D: I mean, I think it's well deserved. I tell you, he's a professional. Day in and day out, he's a perfectionist.
People don't realize, they hear his voice on the radio. They don't realize how much time he puts in before a weekend series or just a Tuesday game. I mean, it's crazy how. I mean, he just wants everything to be perfect. And if one little thing is wrong on the broadcast, I mean, he doesn't like it. No one else will notice it, but he notices it. You know, it's been a joy to work with him. I think he's the best there is in college baseball.
But I just appreciate the fact of how much effort he puts into it. And I wish people knew that because you don't. You turn on the radio and you're like, oh, here we go. You know? But they don't realize that he got there hours and hours before, was up late the night before, you know, just getting prepared and I don't know, I just think it's awesome.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: It's not easy calling a baseball game. I've tried. It's. It's not easy.
[00:24:21] Speaker D: Okay. So when I first started doing the radio, I'm like, man, play by play, guys got it easy. Oh, you know, he just calls, you know, say, here's a pitch, you know, whatever calls the guy's name out. And I thought, you know, being the analyst is the hard part because you got to describe all that. And then I realized, no, it's not. There's so much you've got to do when you're playing. And it's, it's all the things you got to read. You got to keep everything in line with the commercials and all that. I sit over there, I mean, eating Honey Stingers, right? Yeah.
I'm over there eating like a 10 year old fat kid. He's over there doing all the work. And so, yeah, it's, it's, it's incredible that just how good he is and, and, and he makes my job. I was nervous when I first started in 2018 and he made it so easy for me. You know, he would, he would lob me softball questions until I got a little more, you know, comfortable with stuff. And so, but yeah, we, we have, we have a real good time up there and I wouldn't want to do that with anyone but him.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: When we come back, we're going to look around the SEC this week. We'll dig into Texas a little bit. This great freshman closer, they have Dylan Volantis talking to him or talk about him a little bit and a lot more. But first, a word from Kendall King.
[00:25:34] 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 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.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. 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. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com tell you too. You can get the latest breaking news on the razorbacks@whole hogsports.com most in depth source for all Arkansas sports analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe today at whole hog sports.com mentioning other teams. Softball. They've got a top 10 matchup at Bogle park this weekend, too. They're up to like number six, I think, in the rankings. This is their regular season finale this weekend pretty much the softball games are at the exact same time as the baseball games. They overlap pretty much every day, but this is a big weekend for them. Ethan Westerman's got a preview of that series on our website.
Looking around the SEC this week, Bubba, I mean, Arkansas, Texas I think is clearly the it's the series of the weekend. But there's others that are good. I mean, you've got Auburn at Tennessee. That's a big one. Yeah Auburn is a team that I feel like a lot of people are kind of sleeping on. It's like every week you look up and oh, look, Auburn just won two of three again or they swept somebody.
They're a team that I think is kind of lurking there right outside of the conversation to be a top eight seed. But I think that, you know, they've got this chance with Tennessee this weekend if they win that series. You're talking about a really good feeling, I would think, for them to be a regional host.
[00:27:46] Speaker D: I think so. And like you said, people overlook them and they just keep going out and having good weekends and so, you know, huge weekend. I hope they get, I hope they beat up on Tennessee. But you know, who knows, Tennessee scuff a little bit. They're, they're, they do not play fundamental baseball, Matt. They make errors, they don't hold runners. Well, there's a lot of, there's some, there's some issues there. They score a little bit, got some good arms. But yeah, they don't do the little things that a lot of other teams. The SEC do.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: Florida goes to South Carolina this weekend. South Carolina, it was reported yesterday that Ethan Petrie going to be out for the rest of the season for them. So they were kind of lacking talent in the first place and he's easily their best player. We'll see if Florida can stay on a roll. LSU goes to Texas A and M. Another really interesting series this weekend. A and M got swept by Texas, but you know, they were competitive games. I don't know that I think any less of A and M going in there and losing three one run games than I did going into that series.
[00:28:44] Speaker D: You know, I think more of them actually, they could have easily won all three of those games. And if you look how Texas used their pitchers, they did a really good job of. But you know, there's a couple of guys in there that they're, they better be careful. They're going to wear them out before the season's over. We're getting ready to talk about one of them. But, but no, I thought I watched a little bit of all three of the games last weekend, the A and M Texas games. And they were, they were, they were good games.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: You watch any of lsu, Tennessee?
[00:29:12] Speaker D: I watched the walk off, thought it was awesome.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Were you up for that?
[00:29:16] Speaker D: No, I watched it the next morning. I don't know if I was up or not, but I was actually watching.
[00:29:20] Speaker B: That game and I fell asleep and woke up, you know, eight, nine or eight hours later. I don't sleep that long. Probably about eight hours later. And oh, look, they walked it off. I was hoping to see that. I watched the LSU Tennessee game on Saturday night and anticipated it like I would anticipate a Saturday night SEC college football game. Yeah, it was like this is big time and it delivered. I think it ended up being like a 9 to 3 score in the end, but it was a competitive game up until probably about the eighth inning.
Really entertaining series there. Kind of like Tennessee, LSU is really good, but I don't feel like either of them. And I kind of, you know, and I'm interested to see Texas this week, but I feel like there's a lot of teams this year, Arkansas would fall in this category that they are. They're really good, but they got some flaws that I feel like can. Can jump up and bite them at any point in time. And it just feels like this year is as wide open as maybe I've ever seen the sport or at least the S.E.C.
[00:30:20] Speaker D: I think so. I look at Tennessee a lot like I look at my golf game. They're going to have a meltdown at some point during the game. It's just a matter. Is it a colossal meltdown that's going to cost them the game or is just a mini meltdown that they might be able to recover from?
[00:30:35] Speaker B: Tennessee is like a Happy Gilmore golfer. They're going to throw their golf clubs in the pond.
Alabama goes to Vanderbilt. Bama, they're still in the conversation to be a regional host. Vanderbilt's playing better. Georgia goes to Missouri. We'll see if Missouri can win one. And Kentucky's at Mississippi State. Mississippi State fired Chris Lemonis this week. What'd you think of that?
[00:30:59] Speaker D: You know, a little surprised, but. And then I guess on the other side, I guess not. I mean, they're just talk about going from the penthouse to the poop house. I mean, just crazy how they, you know, a few years ago they're winning it all and then they just, they just can't get it together.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: Remember, you and I were having these conversations. I think it was the year that. Because Arkansas was number one for the entire 21 season and then Mississippi State won the national championship. And we were having conversations that whole year where it was like, would you take Van Horn or would you take Lemonis? Because it seems like Van Horn is such a better coach. And I think that year and Lemonis is a perfect example of you can get hot and maybe get a little lucky and win. It doesn't. I don't know that having that national championship by your name means that he's a. I don't think he's a better coach than Jim Schlossnagel. I don't think he's a better coach than Van Horn. I could name off probably 5, 6, 10 other head coaches who have been really good in the college game for a long time who just don't have that championship, who. I'd say, hey, I'd much rather have that guy leading the program than Lemonis. It's not a knock against him. It's just I never, I always felt like there was maybe some sort of lack of discipline with the Mississippi State program. And you heard Joe Healy talk about this on our podcast yesterday. He said Lemonis is very famously a players coach. And he said when you're a player's coach, you got to have a really strong locker room to counteract that a little bit. And he felt like Mississippi State had that in 21. They haven't had it since. Sense.
[00:32:33] Speaker D: Well, you're about to trigger me again. I think you did it on Monday, too. But okay, so there's people and there's a couple local people here in town that, that talk about we're not a blue blood program because we haven't won that. We haven't won the championship. We haven't won the College World Series.
Phil and I have this discussion a lot. Would you trade, you know, Mississippi states won that national championship few years ago for years of relevance. No, I would never. I, you know, I, I like right where we're at. We're. We're one of the top programs in the nation year in and year out, you know, and then you look at it like Bianco at Ole Miss, they won it in 22, struggled all year when it. Next year, they don't even make the, the SEC tournament. I wouldn't trade that ever. I wouldn't trade Van Horn for Bianco for the most, for, for any of those guys.
You don't have to win people. You got to win a national championship to be a blue blood program. If you think that, you're a moron. I'm sorry. We're. We're one of the top programs in the nation, and we have been. We're going to continue to be one of these days. There's so many things that have to go right, and it's not the best team that wins the College World Series. It's the team that's playing the best at that time.
Hadn't been us lately. But I tell you what, I'll I'll put our track record up against anybody in the nation.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: It's kind of like Florida State. Would you call Florida State a non blue blood baseball program because they've been to Omaha 25 times and never won it?
[00:34:09] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, it's. It's silly. Some of the, some of the arguments that you hear out there. And then people talk about, you know, dav, oh, we lost another one. Well, those are, those are the people that need to crawl back in their basement and just, you know, play their video games.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: All right, pipe down, pipe down.
One more SEC series. Ole Miss goes to Oklahoma. That. That's kind of a sneaky good series this week. Both of those teams still in the top 25. Looking at Texas, they look to me like a team, kind of like a.
I'm not gonna call it a typical sauce nickel team because he usually has teams that can hit.
But in terms of. They remind me a little bit of A and M last year in the fact that they can pitch. He brought that pitching coach over with him from College Station, Max Weiner, who. I mean, people think that this is the next big pitching coach potentially in college baseball.
But Joe said yesterday, and I thought it was a good point, that maybe pro baseball is where his future is. He's got some pro baseball or a lot of pro baseball coaching experience in his past, and then they can field. That was the thing that I've always felt about Sloss Nagles teams very similar to how I feel about Arkansas teams is that they just don't beat him or they don't beat themselves in the field. And now offensively, I think Texas is lacking a little bit. They've got their outfielder, Max Ballou. He's out, had a thumb injury, I think, and is out for at least a few more weeks. This was the Big 12 offensive player of the year last year. A big centerpiece of their lineup. When you look at Texas, I mean, what are your thoughts about what they do well and what might be susceptible this weekend?
[00:35:47] Speaker D: Well, I think it's similar to some teams we've had in the past where pitching wise, we just dominate. And in hitting wise, if you look at our stats compared to the sec, we're down in the bottom.
What is Texas hitting? Their. Their hitting.264 as a team in the SEC, we're hitting.313. We're first. I want to say they're ninth in.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: SEC and they did get to play Missouri. So you can't say the somebody played Missouri, somebody didn't.
[00:36:14] Speaker D: Exactly. So, I mean, you know, if you look at offensive numbers across the board, I mean we're, we dominate in every offensive number. The only things they done better is steal more bases defensively, you know, a little better fielding percentage, but still, you know, a lot like us defensively. Now the difference is their pitching's been really good all year.
So it's a team that, if you, if you're a baseball fan, you know, they say good pitching beats good hitting. I think good hitting beats good pitching with the right approach. And I think we're going to see that this weekend. I think if you're a baseball fan, you got to love this series because you got the best pitching staff in the, in the SEC versus the best hitting in the sec. So how can you not love this series?
[00:36:58] Speaker B: Texas enters second nationally and ERA whip opponent batting average. I mean you go through all the pitching stats and they're there, top five, top 10. And that was kind of the, that was kind of the difference in the A and M series last week. And it's hard to do an apples to apples comparison by the way of what Arkansas did from a pitching standpoint against A and M to what Texas did because Arkansas was put in that real tough situation where it was already a short week and then they had the double header and they had a lot of pitchers throwing on really short rest.
But the fact remains Texas shut down A and M really well last week and you know, this was, they're off to the best start. There's only been two other teams that have gone 19 and two to start a 20 through 21 games in the SEC. 13 Vanderbilt 22, Tennessee. And I was thinking about Tennessee the other night. Remember they had the slip up against Kentucky and it was this week of the season and it was on the road. And I just feel like most SEC teams, Arkansas and that 13 Vanderbilt team are the only ones. Arkansas in 21, those are the only teams that have ever gone through the SEC and won 10 series without a loss.
I feel like every team is due a slip up. Will this be the week for Texas? I don't know. Maybe it's next week when they play Florida, maybe it's the week after when they go to Oklahoma. I just feel like they have been playing so many tight games that at some point in time you're not going to get the breaks to go your way late.
And so, you know, I would think for Arkansas the key is to get out to some leads and make it to where you're not trying to overcome that one run deficit or trying to get the game winning run in the eighth or the ninth inning against this bullpen. Because the bullpen's really good.
[00:38:46] Speaker D: Yeah, no, I think you're right. It's a, I mean, it's going to be a fun series. I, I agree. I feel like everything has gone Texas way and, and now look, you, you look at the schedule and I think this is, this is something that's frustrating with the schedule in the SEC is, you know, supposedly the computer spits it out. Right.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: It fits into the wind sometimes and against it, the others.
[00:39:07] Speaker D: I mean, our schedule has been. And I'm not taking anything away from Texas. They're a good team.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: They've gotten breaks on the schedule. I mean, you can't. I mean, the best teams they've played, they played in Austin.
[00:39:18] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: The worst teams they played, they played on those teams home field. Yeah, that's, it's, that's a fact.
[00:39:24] Speaker D: And so now how do you factor that in when it comes to the postseason? I guess I, and I guess it goes back to what I said earlier, Matt, is we'll really get a feel for how good they are when they come to ball. Marker. If you can come to ball and walker and, and play that well, then you're a good team. And, you know, and even if they don't, even if, even if we sweep them, even if we win two out of three, it doesn't mean they're not a good team. It just means that everything's kind of gone their way. And I agree. I think that, I think they're due for a weekend where the breaks don't go their way.
Now they've got good players. And I watched, I watched the games and they brought, you know, they brought Dylan Volantis. He pitched multiple.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: He looks phenomenal.
[00:40:04] Speaker D: He made Lavallette look really bad. I want to say, struck him out on three. Three sliders in a row. One might have been a cutter, but it was, it looked like three sliders in a row. And I think he throws that knuckle, Knuckle curve. It looks like, it looks like a knuckle curve, but I think it's a slider.
So, yeah, it's, I mean, he's the real deal. But if you face him and I looked at his numbers, Matt, and I mean, he's got 30, 36 strikeouts, 36 Ks, three walks in the SEC hitters hitting.147. Again, that's SEC only. But I watched him play against A and M. Most of the pitches he threw. You know, I say all the time, you get ahead with strikes, you get outs with balls. He. I'm chasing pitches out of the zone. If they could almost gone up there and just taken and walked. Because he just. Those pitches weren't strikes, they were sweeney. Now they're dirty, they're nasty.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: It probably looks like a strike.
[00:40:58] Speaker D: It's a strike, strike, strike, ball right at the end. And that's what good pitchers do. And he had them chasing it. But boy, he made Lava that look bad. That's hard to do.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: He doesn't look like a freshman.
[00:41:07] Speaker D: No, he doesn't. He doesn't pitch like a freshman physically.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, like anything about him resembles a freshman. Nothing about him. But you know what?
[00:41:15] Speaker D: Think of some of the freshmen we've had at the back end of the bullpen. We've had some pretty good dudes at the back end.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: I mean, Wiggins. Yeah, Wiggins would be one. I mean, he's an older freshman. He was, you know, he'll be draft eligible sophomore next year. But yeah, I mean, I, you, you get these freaks every now and then.
[00:41:29] Speaker D: Yes. And you're getting to, you know, we're in May. These guys really aren't freshmen anymore. Do you know what I mean? They've had. All fall, they've had half the. Over half the.
[00:41:39] Speaker B: It's different than a freshman in football.
[00:41:41] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Because if you're a freshman in football, you're still in your first semester of college. Now these guys have been away from home for. I get it. But boy, his numbers are good. 098 ERA, 076 WHIP. You mentioned his SEC numbers. This is for the season. 52 K's, six walks in 36 and 2 third innings. Fourth nationally with 11 saves and 10 of those have come in SEC play. That's a number that stands out to me because, you know, it's easy to get your. I should say it's easy, but it's possible to get a lot of saves built up in those early season or midweek games. He's doing this against SEC teams and it looks like he's getting stronger as the year goes on.
[00:42:20] Speaker D: I think so. And that's, I mean that's. Again, that's why at this part of the year, I don't, I throw out everything except SEC stats. I don't care about the chumps are playing midweek. I care about what they're doing in sec. Now I will tell you, last week, weekend, they Max Grubs pitched all three games.
You know, Dylan Volantis threw twice. Twice, dude, quite a few pitches on 19 and 40, I think, were his, his pitch totals.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Here's the thing with Texas. Jared Spencer, their starter, he was their Friday night guy. He is done for the season, injured his shoulder. I think he's going to have to have surgery on it. You know this as well as anybody. There is a down the line effect that occurs. And, and Jim Schlossnagel talked about this the other night. I think one of his big concerns, not just for this series, but just moving forward, is getting his pitching staff deeper so that they're ready for regional play.
And so I think that that's one of these again, whether it's Arkansas, Florida, ou, whoever. I think somebody can potentially, if they could get to Riojas in game one or if they could get to Luke Harrison in game two, you get them out in the third inning. Yeah, there's, there's an effect that, that can have, especially once you get to.
[00:43:35] Speaker D: Game three and think, what have we done all year? We've been really good against other team starters. We've, we've run their pitch counts up usually. Well, for the most part.
[00:43:44] Speaker B: There have been a couple of times here the last couple of weeks where I feel like that hasn't happened and maybe that's been one of the differences. And you know, why are they not winning the series? I feel like they haven't. And this is like where Sousa not playing, I think is a big deal because we talked about him. He'll strike. You might strike out, but he might make you throw six, eight, nine pitches to do it.
[00:44:02] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: And there's a cumulative effect right on, on that.
[00:44:06] Speaker D: You take a guy like Frazier, he swings early in the count. He might first pitch four times.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: He had two, three pitch strikeouts last week against Florida.
[00:44:14] Speaker D: Really? Yeah. So I mean it's, you know, it's freshmen. But, but I feel like, you know, he said he's trying to expand his, his, his guys that he trusts. I feel like it's, it's like his circle of trust is really small. If you look at the guys that pitched last weekend, now they were all tight games, but there's a little small circle of guys that, that Schlossnage will trust. And at some point, you know, you're, you got to use more guys because those guys are going to break down.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: Well, I think the key for them was didn't their starters go pretty deep into those games against A and M.
[00:44:49] Speaker D: Five innings. Six innings. And then Sunday was like two innings. Sunday was a bad start.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: Okay. I mean, but that's still 13 innings. You compare. That's a big difference. Those four innings can be a big difference, right?
[00:44:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:59] Speaker B: With your bullpen, I mean, I have one inning. Yeah.
[00:45:02] Speaker D: You know, I mean, to be honest with you, you and I talked about last week, if, boy, if, if Gackle could have just given us one more inning on Saturday, you know, then that, that kind of changes things when it comes to Jimenez. So, I mean, it's. It's crazy how, you know, you talk about those 27 outs, you know, it's. It's huge.
[00:45:20] Speaker B: Well, like Arkansas, I feel like, and I've said this a couple of times this week, I feel like they are a team that's built to be able to pitch 10, 12 innings on the weekend. You start asking for 15, then that's a different story, because when you're asking for 15, then you're having to recycle guys. And I don't know that they're quite as good the second time through. Dave Van Horn was asked about Texas yesterday, and this is what he had to say about the Longhorns.
[00:45:44] Speaker E: They've. They've won a lot of close games and they've done a great job. They pitched extremely well in league play. I mean, your team ERA and league is really good.
And overall, I mean, it's just over three, I think, so baseballs, and they're a little firmer than they've been in the past, it seems like. And the bats are good. And, you know, they just done a tremendous job of finishing games. And they've got a freshman closer, a lefty like 6 foot 6, that's been really good. And, you know, they don't make too many mistakes. And they've won. They've won at home big time. They've won just enough on the road. And, you know, the league's doing what I thought the league would do, except for Texas. I thought the league would kind of pound each other a little bit.
Texas has found a way to. To get those two out of threes and sweep some game or some weekend series and, and that's why they pulled away.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Dave Van Horn on the Longhorns. I am so looking forward to tonight when OU in Texas, and this has been four years ago when they were announced to the sec. Of course, everybody looks at things through football lens and whatever. I always look at things through a baseball lens, or at least it's a consideration. And my first, one of my very first thoughts was, man, can you imagine a Friday night baseball series when Texas comes to Bomb Walker Stadium, or Friday night when Arkansas goes to Dish Fog? You know, whenever that happens at some point in time. I know it's not Friday night, it's Thursday this year because TV has picked this up. But I'm looking forward to this because this, this was one of the things that I think made the expansion of the SEC so appealing. To me at least.
[00:47:35] Speaker D: Well, I think all your, all your old timers wanted them to be one of the teams that we play every year, which, yeah, it'd be fun, but I'd rather play Missouri every year from, from a win loss standpoint.
But you're right, I mean, I've been looking forward to it all week, I think. And the weather's going to be good tonight. I mean, it's going to be, I think it's going to be a crazy crowd and I think a lot of your people that remember the rivalry that are still coming to games, that came to games way back then, are going to be excited about tonight. And I just think it's going to be fun. I think the players, I think they'll see it the minute, the minute the gates open. I think they're going to feel a little bit of a buzz in the, in the stadium. They haven't heard yet this year.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: I agree with you about. People probably are more excited from a win loss perspective to play Missouri, but boy, if Missouri doesn't get any better than they were this year and this is probably rock bottom for him and I get that, but how much better does that really make? Like I almost would rather sacrifice the wins for the competition. That makes you better. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's big takeaway for me is I wish that they still had divisions and you put Texas and boy, think about this division from baseball. If you had Texas and LSU and the Mississippi schools and Arkansas and OU and maybe Missouri and they all got in there and tangled it up. I mean, talk about every weekend would be appointment television in that division.
[00:49:08] Speaker D: Well, we talk about A and M. We talk about. Yeah, we talk about that all the time. You know how much more fun that would be to have the divisions and I want Missouri in there, by the way. Just, just so you know, I usually agree with you. I totally disagree with you on that. I want those three wins. It's. You got 30 games. It's, it's.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: Do you want those three wins though? If the games were like they were, hell yeah.
[00:49:31] Speaker D: I want really three wins. Really. I don't care if they're run real. I don't care what. I want those three wins because I.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: Felt bad watching that baseball series.
[00:49:39] Speaker D: I Didn't feel bad. If you don't like it, play better. Good grief. I want those three wins because there's plenty of other hard weekends. Think of all the other hard weekends that you're on. Give us one. We're due for one night. Give us one easy weekend. But I agree, it's if. And I don't know who's making these decisions. Matt. It's common sense. Two divisions. Baseball needs divisions. Now, you look at it right now and there's, there's, there's a big clump of teams, 16 teams, and you're like, okay, who cares?
Almost takes away from like, like winning the West. Like, we have five out of six years. It's like now. I mean, who cares if you win the SEC title? What does that really get you? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just think it's, I think it's totally different. We're in the past. I'm like, come on, we got to win the West. We got to win the west, you know, and we've got these, these games against lsu. And you know, you're, you're like, I don't know. It's just, it feels totally different to me this year. I hardly even look at rankings right now. I really don't.
I'm just looking forward to postseason. Yeah.
[00:50:39] Speaker B: I mean, because like, if Texas, you know, there's a chance they could win the SEC this weekend. If they win the series and some things break other ways elsewhere, they could win the sec. While here in Fayetteville, that's something to watch too, this weekend.
[00:50:54] Speaker D: That would suck because they're going to celebrate on our field.
[00:50:58] Speaker B: And that's the thing. It's like, it's such a big lead that they have. I was on Bo Mattingly show this morning. I said, think about it this way. They've got basically a two week lead in the sec. Like, don't even look at it from game. They've got like a two week lead. They could have two really bad weeks and still be right there in contention to win this thing. That's how far ahead they are.
[00:51:18] Speaker D: Okay, but back to this point, if they lose a regional, does anyone care? Does anyone remember, oh, they lost a regional, but they won the sec. No one cares.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: They'll be trying to send Schlossnickel back to College Station.
[00:51:29] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. All I care about is let's be playing at home in June. That's all I care about.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: Maybe meeting him in College Station with pitchforks and fiddles.
I would like to see this every year, but I'm going to enjoy this while they play this weekend. Who do you think should be the SEC Player of the year?
[00:51:48] Speaker D: I think Viva should. I think Kozil should. I think no.
You know, it depends on how you look at it. Like, obviously, I'm. I'm a homer. I look at the total. Everyone wants to look at the offensive numbers when it comes to something like that. Okay, this guy's got this many home runs. He's got this batting average. I think, you know, if you really look at total play, the have it is to me is the guy you pick. As of right now, there's three weekends left. But look at what he's meant to this team and some of the plays he's made defensively and the number, some of the big home runs he's hit to tie the game or put us ahead late. I mean, and you can also make that, you know, for Lavallette. I mean, his numbers aren't that great, but look what he means to the team. Look what he brings to him in center field, on the bases. I mean, clutch hitting. I mean, there's so many things. I mean, that's just my opinion. Now there's three weekends left. It could. It could change. I mean, who do you.
[00:52:50] Speaker B: Who do you think Vaheva is? The. Is the player that I keep leaning toward and I keep. And I want to be careful not to be, you know, like, biased because I watch him every game, but I keep putting them, you know, side by side with all these other players. Like, well, Justin LeBron, for example, from Alabama, he got off to a great start and SEC play, it's just been kind of so. So form and defensively he's not as good as. As the lawyer has been. The Laviolette, that's the player that I keep coming back to where I'm like. Because I was watching them in that series here a couple of weeks ago, and it was like, okay, you just hit a double. I'm going to hit a homer here next half inning. I mean, it was like, yeah, it was like this one on one battle within, you know, within the game that they were having. And Laviolette, too. The thing that surprised me a little bit about him was how much ground he could cover in center field. He probably took away two, three, maybe four hits during that series easily. I mean, he was all over the place, and I was real impressed with that. So those are the two players I think, that probably come to mind, Zaborski from Georgia, just because of the power numbers. And it's not just power with Him, I mean, he's leading the league, I think in ops, he's leading the league or maybe second or third in batting average. So he's up there in. You know, it's kind of like Condon last year. It wasn't just the home runs. It was the home runs plus the fact that he was hitting.400.
[00:54:14] Speaker D: But that goes back to. Sorry to interrupt. But that goes back to what do you put value in? Is it all about offense? No, it's all about what does it. What does a guy bring to your team.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: And that's why I'm saying I think even la, the lead, are probably the two front runners to me, because of what they do offensively and what they do defensively.
[00:54:32] Speaker D: But I know what we look at. But what is.
[00:54:35] Speaker B: Well, the coaches are the ones that are voting on this.
[00:54:38] Speaker D: Well, there you go.
[00:54:39] Speaker B: So that's interesting to see how this goes. But there's going to be a lot of conversation, I think about that over the next couple of weeks. Because, you know, this time of year, I mean, they're going to name this the day before the SEC tournament begins.
[00:54:50] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:54:51] Speaker B: And we're less than three weeks from that. Right.
[00:54:54] Speaker D: I think it's hard to watch a weekend series, watch the. Have a play and not be like this. This is the Dude. Of course you can't. You can say the same about love. Let. You really can. Got off to a little bit of a slow start, but I mean, what he brings to the team, I think.
[00:55:10] Speaker B: He doesn't have the protection around him that he. I mean, with. I think his numbers would be totally different this year if. If Gavin Grahowack didn't get injured. Because that's his. That's his little body, you know, hitting behind him. Right.
[00:55:21] Speaker D: Yeah, you're right. Oh, that worries me about this weekend. You know, I was talking about it yesterday.
Not having Maxwell behind Veheva, to me is a huge, huge difference right there.
[00:55:32] Speaker B: Okay, let's get out here on this.
[00:55:34] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Tonight, the 1,000th college game at Baum Walker Stadium. It'll be Arkansas's 970th. There have been 30 regional games there, too. What's your favorite favorite Bomb Walker Stadium memory?
[00:55:47] Speaker D: How do you know that there's been a thousand games?
[00:55:50] Speaker B: How many more hours do we have in this podcast?
[00:55:53] Speaker D: Sorry, like, where do you find that?
[00:55:56] Speaker B: Well, I said this yesterday. What happened was they won their 700th game at Balm earlier this year. And so I got curious about how many games they played, their total. And then I had this thought. Well, There have been these other games that had been played there, too, that didn't involve Arkansas. So I looked it all up and I wrote down a note and I said, if there are no rain outs between now and then, game one against Texas will be the 1,000th game at bomb.
[00:56:22] Speaker D: I wish I had that much free time. What if you get there tonight, you find out, wow, it's the 1001st game. Like Grant hall pulls something out of his butt.
Okay, my favorite game. Sorry I got sidetracked there, but that's incredible that you know that because. Yeah. Anyway, you know that meme with, like.
[00:56:42] Speaker B: All the numbers floating around the guy's head? That's. That's kind of how I live my life.
[00:56:46] Speaker D: You're freaking Rain man over there, I'm telling you.
Okay, so obviously you go back to Brady Tubes. His home run. I think that kind of. That changed Razorback baseball forever.
[00:57:00] Speaker B: I think almost shouldn't be allowed to be part of the discussion because it's like it sits in a. Like in the pyramid. Like, if you got a pyramid, it sits up there at the top by itself. There's nothing else that could really compete.
[00:57:13] Speaker D: Since I've been doing this, I think Charlie Welch's home run against Florida, 21 to win the SEC. I think the. That home run wasn't that. Yeah, it was 21.
That was incredible. The energy in the stadium.
Probably another one of mine was the Nebraska. That game, that against Nebraska in the regional. That was crazy. And then he hit a home run. I think he hit that in the eighth inning, though. Three run homer in the eighth. It wasn't in the ninth.
And I think we're already ahead. I want to say, well, they scored.
[00:57:47] Speaker B: They scored on a wild pitch. The pitch before.
[00:57:49] Speaker D: Yeah, pass bar. A wild pitch. And then he hits the home run. But still, I remember the energy in the stadium was. I mean, I had chills when that happened. It was. It was unbelievable. So I think one. I think one of those. If you're not going to let me count Brady Tubes, I'll go one of those.
I'm gonna say the, The. The pinch hit against Florida. What you got, you know, the 21.
[00:58:12] Speaker B: Those are interesting, the two that stand out to me. And I'm. I'm limiting those games that I was at because I was not at the Brady Tubes game. I was taking a nap, actually. There's a great story about me and the Brady Tubes home run and missing it. But the. The two that I was there for that really stand out to me was James McCann's walk off home run to beat LSU on a Friday night in 2011 and then the Missouri State 3am game. That was just surreal. Living through that. And interview watching Bob Holt question Keith Gutton At 4am in the morning when Keith Gutton clearly just wanted to get to bed.
[00:58:46] Speaker D: Right.
[00:58:47] Speaker B: Was that was something else.
[00:58:49] Speaker D: I would love to hear that interview. Yeah, you'll have to research that and send that to me.
[00:58:55] Speaker B: All right. So I mean those are my two picks, but I don't think you can go wrong. I think there's, you know, there's a lot of games there, but kind of interesting. Thousand games at Baum Walker. Tonight will be number 1,000. Maybe it'll be the most memorable.
[00:59:06] Speaker D: Could be.
[00:59:06] Speaker B: Who knows. That's why you show up to the ballpark. We will be back with another podcast tomorrow. We'll discuss what happens during tonight's game. Bubba will be back in studio on Monday. We'll talk about the series. Hope that we see you at our website whole hogsports.com later today for all of our coverage of Arkansas Texas Game one. Hope we see you tomorrow on our podcast. Have a great day everybody.
