Recapping Arkansas-LSU series with Bubba Carpenter

[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: Today on the show, Bubba Carpenter is in studio. We talk about Arkansas series at LSU the week ahead with Tennessee coming to Baum Walker Stadium on Thursday night, where the Razorbacks are in the SEC standings. Top eight national seed, much, much more. But first, a word from Kendall King at Kendall King. [00:00:25] Speaker A: 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. [00:00:59] Speaker B: I think if you look at this series against LSU this weekend, the, the, the series came down to a handful of plays after 1:00 in the morning on Saturday. I mean, you've got LSU, they get out of a bases loaded situation with Arkansas on the top of the 10th inning, Jerry Jones gets a single, gets to second on a wild pitch, they manufacture a run and they win in the bottom of the 10th at 117 in the morning. I got it. I'm not surprised that you were up watching the game. I was a little bit of surprise, little bubble that you texted me after the game. My phone blows up. But it's Bubba wanted to talk about the game. But you know, it's, there's no great situation playing that game on Friday night because you don't want to play a doubleheader, especially not where everybody has to play on Thursday, the following week. So if they play a double header, both of them have their aces going on five days rest on Thursday of this week. But at the same time, I think back to that Keith Gutten quote after the regional game here in Fayetteville in 2017, when he's got his arms folded and he's real mad, he goes, I don't think games should be decided at 3 o' clock in the morning. I think you can kind of say the same thing about one o' clock in the morning. It's a series to me that LSU had played Arkansas thoroughly in game two. I thought Arkansas outplayed LSU pretty thoroughly in game three yesterday. And this is how it goes. There's usually a toss up game and it's just unfortunate that that toss up game was played deep into the morning when, when the players may not be playing at their best. [00:02:35] Speaker C: Yeah, and I thought it was a Great game. Just the, it was just tense. There were so many tense moments in that game from the first inning on it. I got a, I got a text from a couple people and they were like, wow, this feels like postseason. [00:02:49] Speaker B: That's what Jay Johnson said yesterday. He was talking about Game one. He said that felt like a game in Omaha. [00:02:54] Speaker C: Yeah, it really did. It was like, it was crazy from the first moment on. And I'm a pretty relaxed, you know, guy. When I watch a game, I get fired up every once in a while. But, man, it felt like every pitch, you're like hanging on every pitch, and it was just a different feel. And look, I, I would have rather played it at 9:55 Friday than play a double header on Saturday. I mean, I, I really would. And I think if you ask the players and the coaches, I think they all agree. I mean, look, these guys don't get tired. It's one o' clock in the morning. I'm just, I'm just, When I was that age, I was just getting going. [00:03:30] Speaker B: Did you doze off any during the game? [00:03:31] Speaker C: No. Hell no. There's no way. I was wide awake. [00:03:34] Speaker B: I was awake during the game. I, I was dozing off, though, as I was trying to get a game story written. I don't know how many times I had to kill. Okay, here I am. Let's keep going. [00:03:44] Speaker C: I don't know how you sleep during a game like that. I, I, I ran out to, I don't remember what I did. I ran out of the room for a second, came back in, and Dalton was in there. Dalton's asleep on the couch. Of course, it's Friday and he's at a long week of school and football and everything. He was wore out. But, yeah, I was, I was wide awake. [00:04:00] Speaker B: My son was watching it with me and he crashed at 11:35. He's like, I'm staying up for this whole thing. You're going to fall asleep at some point in this game. Yeah, rpi. The way RPI works is that if you get a win and you're at home, it's like worth 0.7 points. But if you're on the road, it's 1.3 points. And I think that tells you how tough it is to win on the road and how much probably the selection committee values road wins. And so, I mean, if you look at it that way, LSU got 1.4 points for this series. Arkansas got 1.3. It kind of comes out as a wash. I know LSU won the series, but I think that probably Going into this, especially with their home record, that's probably what people expected to happen in the first place. [00:04:48] Speaker C: Yeah, I just, I hate, I hate the way Friday played out and, you know, but that's, that's like, I mean, you, you take that situation. Jimenez coming in in the seventh, we're up two runs. I'll take that every day of the week. [00:05:02] Speaker B: He'd only walked two batters in sec play the entire year, and he walked back to back in the seventh inning. You don't expect that at all. [00:05:09] Speaker C: No, you don't. And, and, you know, I try to, I tell you all the time, I, I try to stay off social media after a loss and boy, I tell you what, some of the stuff that gets posted is just crazy to me, but Jimenez is the guy right there. Like I said, I'll take that situation every day of the week. He didn't have it. It happens sometimes. You know, I don't know if it was the crowd on him or just, you know, just one of those things. You didn't have it. He did not look comfortable. I think it's the first time I've looked at Jimenez on the mound because you can tell a lot about body language, facial expression, all that. It's the first time I've seen him not look comfortable on the mound and he just didn't have it. [00:05:45] Speaker B: But do you know why? [00:05:46] Speaker C: Why? [00:05:46] Speaker B: He was sleepy. It was 12:30 in the morning, man. [00:05:50] Speaker C: Maybe that's it. [00:05:51] Speaker B: I must be pitching at 12:30 in the morning. [00:05:55] Speaker C: But I'll tell you who did, who looked good was Gackle. Yeah, Gacko came in and had fire in his eyes, and that was the old Gackle he was throwing. He was throwing the crap out of the boys. I thought he looked really good. [00:06:06] Speaker B: Hindsight, you, I think the Van Horn and Hobbs wish they probably would have gone to Gackel in that situation after Root came out of the game. [00:06:15] Speaker C: But think about it. If you go to Gackel and he doesn't do well, then they're, what are we bringing him in as? He's been our best guy all year. That he's, that's been his job all year. [00:06:24] Speaker B: That's the way it goes. Just second guess yourself after, after, you know, a tight loss like that. [00:06:30] Speaker C: I mean, I'll say. And, and look, I, I don't, I don't second guess Hobbs, DVH, any of those guys. I love Matt Hobbs. I think he's a genius. I love dvh. The, the thing is, and once again, it's easy to go Back and second guess I wouldn't have pitched to Fry right there. Fry had great at bats all night. If with runners in scoring position, he's their best hitter. I mean, he's, he's got the highest average with runners in scoring position. I would have put him on first. Even if you don't, you could load the bases and pitch to the catcher and get a double play ball, or you can just put him on and, and trust that you're going to get a strikeout or a ground ball with the next. I don't. Even whoever was up next. I don't know, I just didn't. I didn't want Fry to beat us right there. And in my mind I'm like, okay, sweet, we're going to work. There's no way we're going to pitch to him. And then, you know, Gecko's like, well, I got it. We're going to go right at him through a first pitch slider that was up and then a fast one. The ball he hit was a ball away and he just reached out and pitch, poked it out into center field. [00:07:32] Speaker B: So, yeah, yeah, I think in that situation you work yourself or you work your way down the lineup into worse hitters. Like you said, they could have gotten to the catcher if they intentionally walk to with the bases loaded. Best case scenario, you get a double play. Worst case scenario, you might get a force out at home plate and then you've got two outs and take the sac fly out of the equation. [00:07:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. I'll take, I'll take my chances every time with Gakko vs Hernandez right there with the bases loaded. I'll take my chance every time with that. Walked Fry, walk Pearson. And then you got Hernandez right there with one out, bases loaded, probably a strikeout, maybe a double play ball, who knows? And you know, I don't know, it's just. And then you got Braswell coming up next. I like that matchup also with Gackel on the mound. I thought he was throwing the ball really, really well. And so. But you know what? They've got all the numbers. There's a reason they did it. And, um, neither one of those guys operate on a whim. Hobbs or dvh. So there's a reason why they went after Fry right there. And you know, maybe it was one of those where they were trying, you know, just trying not to leave anything over the plate, which they didn't. [00:08:39] Speaker B: It was weak, not, not a weekly hit, but I mean, it wasn't a real well hit ball. The center field. I mean, Justin Thomas, he threw a good ball to home plate. It just, it was just deep enough. I mean, if it's three feet shorter, I think that they might still be playing. [00:08:52] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. And, and look, the ball Fry hit was off the plate. He reached out there and poked. That's the danger part about facing him. He is, he's really good about putting them, just putting a bat on the ball. Of course, his SEC numbers going in weren't that good. His overall numbers are pretty good. But his SEC, his SEC numbers alone, he was hitting.260 something. SEC play a couple of home runs. You know, really, his numbers weren't that good, but he had a, had a good weekend against us. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Very good weekend. A couple of multiple hit games. Like you mentioned. Double and homer in game one, 13 to three, loss in game two. I think every team is due a stinker at some point in the season. And it took 51 games for the Razorbacks to get to that point. But that was theirs. [00:09:36] Speaker C: Yeah, it was. It was hard to watch, you know, give. Give the starting pitcher, I'd say give him credit. I mean, he, he was really good, you know, and you look at it and you're like, oh, wait, he. Six innings he struck out 11, 11 batters. We're. Why, why are we striking out so much? But then look at what he did to A M the week before. He went a complete game. I think he struck out 14 the week before. It's pretty good lineup. Of course, they didn't show it against Missouri. We can talk about that in a minute. But, but the guy's really good and he gets a lot of strikeouts, so I don't read too much into that. Did we have some bad at bats? Yeah, we really did have some bad at bats. But I think part of that is due to his stuff. His stuff is really, really good. [00:10:19] Speaker B: He's. He's one of the best pitchers in the league. I mean, he would be an all America game one starter for probably any other program except lsu. They've got Kate Anderson in game one, and he pitched really well, too. And then I thought yesterday it was important for Arkansas to win the game, obviously, but. But to win the game playing well. You know what I mean? Like, you can win a game and the other team just doesn't show up. LSU was competitive in game three. I just thought Arkansas, they had some good at bats. And I was really impressed, I mean, really impressed with the quality of the bullpen yesterday. Wow. [00:10:54] Speaker C: Bullpen was great. But I go back and look at all the pitches they made Kate Anderson throw. I mean 109 pitches in five and two thirds. I mean they really did do a good job of battling him on Friday night. Shores, Zach Cohen, the guy they brought in at the end. 40 pitches in three innings. All those, all the pitches they made these guys throw even at the, at, at the end of Saturday's game, I mean they came back and scored three runs. They had to come, they had to use three pitchers to get through those last, that last inning. All of that led up to basically LSU running out of pitching on Sunday, to be honest with you. And our bullpen was deeper. I mean it really was. I mean it's, I don't know, I just think it's a testament to the offense the way they, they work the counts. Even, even in Saturday's game where we're getting hammered, they still ran, ran some. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Pitch counts up and they were able to get. Well, I guess it didn't matter a whole lot Arkansas on Saturday. One of the thing about that game is I thought they managed it well in the bullpen that day. I mean they go to some more of the back line pitchers and they kept themselves in good position for who they had available left on, on Sunday. [00:12:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, Colin came in, Colin looked all right or after, after Bybe, Colin came in, you know, and then Tate came in and Eves, you know, Steel, Steel looked all right. I'm glad he struck out Jared Jones and then I thought Hunter Dietz looked good. I thought he looked really good. Boy on top of the ball, throwing downhill. An unfortunate play that ended the game. And you look at Ryder, Ryder did everything right on that. He, the guy's coming, he, he pumped, faked, ran at him and then just kind of spiked the ball. Great play by, by Robin head on the other side to even, to even knock the ball down and make a throw home. But you know, I thought he did everything, everything right except making. He made a bad throw. [00:12:58] Speaker B: So I saw win seven to four in game three. This is what Dave Van Horn had to say after yesterday's game about the win and about the weekend. [00:13:08] Speaker D: Yeah, just a, you know, just another four hour game on a Sunday. It was a really good win for our team. Obviously after that tough game yesterday when nothing went right, we didn't play well and pitch or field well. And then you know the opening game, which never really talked about, we had a two run lead I think going into the seventh and gave it up and then lost an extra innings. I mean when you look back on it, should have won game one. Yesterday's game happened. Today's game was a real, you know, kind of back and forth type game. We just, we just pitched extremely well, got out of a couple jams, got a couple big hits, put together that four run inning after being down two and then, then just pitched our way to the end. And there's a big score in the, there in the top of the ninth after they cut the lead to one there in the bottom of the eight. This is a tough place to win and to hold on to games and I was proud of the team for bouncing back. [00:14:04] Speaker B: Again, he mentioned it's a tough place to win. Alex Box Stadium LSU is 30 and 5 at home this year. That's tied with Arkansas for the most wins in the country at home. Arkansas 30 and three at bomb going into this weekend series against Tennessee. You know, I feel a lot this week like I did last week in terms of top eight national seed talk, because last week a ton of the teams at the top, they got beat. This week a ton of the teams at the top, they either got beat or they didn't win their series. Like North Carolina and NC State, they had a 1:1 series tie because they couldn't play their last game because of weather. Texas loses to Florida. Georgia loses to Alabama. Clemson, who's in the conversation? They lose a series to Duke. It just feels like nobody wants to take that number one overall national seed by the horns and run with it. I mean, and I've said this a few times now, whether it be Tennessee last year or Wake Forest a couple of years ago, or Tennessee in 22, Arkansas in 21. By this point, there's usually a team that has separated itself from the pack. And what is crazy this year is there's like six or seven teams that are all just kind of jumbled up right there together. And it's like we're just waiting for one of them to say, oh, okay, I got this. It's like nobody will. And I don't think it's so much, I don't mean that so much as a knock on any of those teams. I just think the balance that you're seeing this year in the SEC and the ACC is unlike anything maybe that we've, we've ever seen. It is, it's unbelievable how volatile it is from week to week in these two conferences, which are the two conferences that run the sport. [00:15:49] Speaker C: Well, I think DVH called that it's first of the year. He, he talked about there's A whole bunch of teams right there that were, that were going to battle it out. And I think he nailed it. But the thing that gets me, Matt, is it's, it's. So we always talk about the importance of one pitch, one play. You look at, look at yesterday's game. I want to say it was the third inning, bases loaded, Dylan Carter's in there, gets a ground ball, double play. The game could have turned right there. If that ball's hit up the middle or in a gap, totally different game. We might have lost that. But he made a really good pitch, threw a fastball away. I don't, I don't remember who the hitter was. [00:16:28] Speaker B: Stephen Milam. [00:16:29] Speaker C: Was it okay? Yeah, he hit the double play. Got a, Got a six, four, three double play. Big pitch right there by Dylan. Two, two count. I don't. And it was a fat. I think it was fastball away. But anyway, I mean, you look at it, if that pitch, if he doesn't make a good pitch right there and the guy hits a double, two run score, three run score, whatever that we're talking about, possibly a sweep. And it's just, I don't know, I just think the margin for error. And by the way, I called the Florida thing at Texas. I said Florida was going to go in there and win at least two out of three there, but there's just. Everything's so close. And one good pitch, one good swing can change whole weekend. [00:17:08] Speaker B: Florida's playing better than any team in the SEC right now. They've won five series in a row. Looking at Arkansas's resume, though, I mean, this is still a really good resume. I don't, I don't think the results of this weekend change anything about Arkansas being in the top eight. They're 41. 41 wins. That's tied for the most in the country. There's three other teams with 41 wins, and none of them are from power conferences. The other teams are Coastal Carolina, who's probably gonna get a regional, Western Kentucky, who's not going to get a regional, and Northeastern, and obviously they're not going to get a regional. So most wins in the country. They got 12 wins against quad one teams. Their RPI is five. Their strength of schedule is 19. I mean, these are numbers that are going to get you a top eight seed most years, so long as it doesn't tank next week and, or this week. And I don't think that'll happen against Tennessee. And probably the biggest number, they got 18 SEC wins. Yeah, 18 SEC wins. 18. And I think the SEC might end up with five top eight seeds. I mean Auburn, they're, they're clearly in the picture now. We've been talking about them for weeks, that they're coming up and they're in the picture. Georgia's in the picture, Texas, LSU. Obviously there's only three of those teams that can get to 20 wins. And 20 has always been kind of like that magic number that if you get to 20 SEC wins, you're a top eight seed. I think they're going to be teams, maybe three or four of them this year who they're going to get a national seed. A top eight national seed with 18, 19 SEC wins. [00:18:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you're right. And so you look at. Here's one thing that gets me is, is the schedule. I wish there was a way to, to make it more even because the schedule is so important. I mean look where LSU goes this weekend. I mean they go to South Carolina and I'm sorry, they're going to go in there and sweep that. [00:18:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:51] Speaker C: And by the way, I knew those guys were good. Kate Anderson and Ionson, they're really good. Talk about it. You and I talked about last week, how good they were. I was just looking at their numbers. I'd seen Ionson throw, but I hadn't seen Kate Anderson. Those, those two dudes are really good. [00:19:14] Speaker B: There's talk that Kate Anderson is going to be maybe the first left handed pitcher taken in the draft this year. [00:19:18] Speaker C: Did they say what happened with his wrist cramped? [00:19:20] Speaker B: Is that all Jay Johnson, he said after he talked yesterday, gosh, I can't even all my days anymore anyway. But his, his day after okay routine was, was fine. He said it was just, it was kind of a weird place. He was experiencing some cramps. [00:19:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I was hoping that it wasn't something that was coming from the elbow, the UCL down to the hand. And he was feeling tingling or numbness or something but glad he's okay there. But those two guys are really good. [00:19:45] Speaker B: That's one two starting pitchers in the country. I don't think there's any doubt about that. [00:19:49] Speaker C: Well, then they look at Florida. I mean Florida's got crazy arms. I mean they're, I mean to think where they, how were they one in 11? I mean they've won five series in a row right now and yeah, I don't know, I just think I like where we're at. I think, I think the scheduling though to the whole point of what I was going to say is the scheduling part of it and it Says our. And I, I guess one thing I don't understand, strength of schedule. Right now we're at 18th strength of. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Schedule down to 19 now. But it fluctuates. [00:20:21] Speaker C: So how do they figure that? Do we have time to get into that or. You may not want to play Missouri hurt. [00:20:28] Speaker B: Playing South Carolina hurt. [00:20:30] Speaker C: So there's, there's 17, there's 18 teams that have a tougher schedule than us. Is that what they're saying? [00:20:35] Speaker B: I mean, that's subjective. But I think basically what it go. I think what it probably goes off of is like, what is your, like the cumulative record of your opponents? There's, there's some sort of formula that's baked into all that. You know, like what's, what's their collective rpi? What's their, what's their strength of schedule? [00:20:54] Speaker C: They need to reformulate. [00:20:56] Speaker B: Arkansas did not have a, I mean Arkansas did not have a great non conference schedule. [00:21:00] Speaker C: True. That probably hurt us. [00:21:01] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I mean, and it did. I mean, like, I don't think Washington State has been quite what people thought they were going to be in the Mountain west this year. I haven't looked at Charlotte a lot lately. You know, Portland, last time I saw, I think they were like 21 and 26. So they're not just setting their conference on fire either. TCU and Kansas State, they were good opponents, but you only play them one time. You don't play them in a three game series. If you play TCU three times or you play K State three times, I think that changes the strength of schedule. But I do think that playing Missouri and South Carolina and playing both of those teams at home, I think that that brings the strength of schedule down quite a bit because those are two. If it weren't for Missouri, we'd be talking about South Carolina being one of the absolute worst teams that we've ever seen in the SEC this year. [00:21:43] Speaker C: Yeah, good point. Point. Well, I guess I just, I guess I forget about the other games. I look at the SEC schedule, I'm like, wow, look at, look at our schedule the last five weeks. It's just crazy. [00:21:56] Speaker B: I read something this morning. It said SEC championships are not one. They're scheduled. Texas, obviously. [00:22:02] Speaker C: Wow. [00:22:04] Speaker B: You know, welcome to the league schedule this year. [00:22:06] Speaker C: Whoever said that is a genius. It really is. It makes a huge difference. It's not just baseball. League of football. Same with football. I mean it makes a huge difference when you got. Especially when you're talking conferences, 16 teams. Yeah. [00:22:20] Speaker B: Just. There's no balance. None. That's why divisions I think are so important. [00:22:25] Speaker C: I agree. [00:22:26] Speaker B: Give me a division and a division, take the winners, put them in Hoover, a best of three series, boom, there's your conference champion. Just like you do in football or like how you used to do in football. [00:22:35] Speaker C: It's not that hard, is it? You think SEC is going to wake up? Figure it out. [00:22:40] Speaker B: Looking at this, by the way, Arkansas, the winning percentage of their opponents this year is 56.8%. So that's why they're 19th. The winning percentage of their non conference opponents and this is what I was saying earlier, 49%. So they just, the non conference teams just haven't been on the whole, very good. [00:23:00] Speaker C: I guess I forget about all that. I go when we get to this time of year, I don't look at overall stats, I don't. All I look at is sec. [00:23:09] Speaker B: You just go by the gut, right? [00:23:13] Speaker C: But look, I'm not blind. I mean, you know, I've got reasonback goggles on sometimes but man, I just look at our schedule and it's. I can't imagine. I mean our schedule is tough. [00:23:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. I mean in this six week grind that they're in, it has been a grind there, there's just no letting up for air. You mentioned Dietz. He threw a pitch 98 miles an hour. Remember the talk a few weeks or. Yeah, it's been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe five, six weeks ago. The reason why he was not back in the fold at that point was because his velocity just was not back up to where they thought it should be. It was more like I think 90, 92 somewhere in there. And they knew that there was a lot more in the tank. And so that was the number that really jumped out to me the other day. Not just the strikes and the two strikeouts and whatever else he did, but it was that, I mean that was. There was some real jump of the ball out of his hand. [00:24:05] Speaker C: Yeah. When he threw the pitch, 98, I'm thinking, wow, this dude, let's go. But he, even at that though, he threw a couple good off speed pitches. Fastball was, you know, 96, 97, 95 all through. He was kind of, it was kind of varied throughout there, but yeah, when he had 98, my eyes popped open. [00:24:25] Speaker B: How about Parker Coyle yesterday? Six pitches, six strikes with the tying run at the plate. [00:24:31] Speaker C: Yeah. And how long has it been since he's been on? [00:24:33] Speaker B: 49 days. It was seven weeks ago. Yesterday was his last game outing. [00:24:40] Speaker C: You know, when you talk about Parker Coyle, you know, I Asked Hobbs about him last year and Hobbs, Hobbs loved him last year. And I just didn't see it. I didn't see what he was going to use to get pitchers to get hitters out. And man, was I wrong. There. Nothing against him. I mean, I just look at his, you know, like I say, I view it from the lens of the batter's box. I'm looking, I'm like, what is, what's his pitch that's going to really get hitters out? And now you, now you see it. I mean, he, he's got that ball. He can throw in the fastball or cutter that. Those in on the righties. Yeah, he's just, he's just tough. [00:25:15] Speaker B: He's like a late bloomer. Kind of like Caden Monk. Remember Caden Monk? You watch him for a couple of years, like, well, what are we seeing? And then all of a sudden, that last year, boom, you put it together. Jacob Kostie shock another one. I think that fits into that. I mean, some of these guys, you expect them to come in and be throwing 95 right away. And, you know, it's just, it's rare for freshmen to be able to come in and do that. And I think, you know, we forget that sometimes there is a development that has to happen with a lot of these pitchers who come in. [00:25:42] Speaker C: Yeah. And you see our guys getting better, and I think that's a testament to, to our staff. I mean, you know, I joke around with Hobbs all the time. I'll tell Matt, I'll say, man, that's, that's just good, coach. And he's, of course, he denies it all, but I mean, to develop the guys like that, you know, you see our guys continue to get better. There's a reason why, is because they've got a good support staff around them. That's. They're constantly tweaking stuff. But, you know, just to see Coyle come in and, you know, you got to love the strikes, first of all, but they're quality strikes. They're not. It's not like he's throwing it down the middle. I mean, he's throwing quality pitches. [00:26:18] Speaker B: Jay Johnson was ejected yesterday, but he was back with the reporters after the game, and he was very complimentary about Arkansas's bullpen. That's what he had to say. [00:26:27] Speaker E: Thought it set us up good. But they're one team and there's not many out there that can do that and can find a way to piece it together. I mean, Parker Coyle, that ended the game, it was him. Right? I mean, you Know, I didn't have my usual view from the top step. You know, that's a pretty good dude to roll out for the 13th guy that you've used on the weekend. [00:26:47] Speaker B: I mean, that's a great point. You know, he mentioned this on his, his post game radio show with, with Chris Blair yesterday. He's like, how many teams in the country can pitch like that on a Sunday? Not very many. That video by the way, is, is courtesy of tigerbait.com yeah, it's a good point. [00:27:03] Speaker C: And he's kind of growing on me a little bit. I didn't like him in the beginning because like he's slow played and he, he, he can. They do play slow games. LSU does. There's a lot of mound visits, there's a lot of, I don't know, a lot of offensive meetings. I don't know. Like they had that one. I thought they were trying to ice Coil yesterday towards the end of the game, having a little offensive meeting after they brought Coil in. But you know, I mean he's, he's doing a good job there. So I don't know. The first time he came into Fayetteville and we played like a four hour. [00:27:36] Speaker B: Game and it's just like meeting after it was before they put in all these changes. [00:27:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:27:41] Speaker B: Where they limited the number of, I guess, mound visits and meetings you could have. I mean it was like it was crazy to watch them slow play that series. [00:27:50] Speaker C: I didn't think he'd last, but yeah, he's proven me wrong. He's done a good job there. [00:27:54] Speaker B: I mean coaches can grow, they can grow on the job and I think he's grown on the job there at lsu, Arkansas now with Deets and Coyle back in the equation. And Cole Gibler was phenomenal yesterday out of the bullpen all of a sudden where you didn't have a whole lot of left handed options. Maybe you got some left handed options out of the bullpen now. [00:28:15] Speaker C: Yeah, you got to feel really good about it, especially if you dvh and you know, if you're looking down the bullpen now, he's got a lot more options to go with. But I was impressed with, I mean deets look good but, but I really did. I thought Cole Gibler looked really good. Fastball was good. 95, 90. I think he threw a couple 96. So you can't just sit on the slider with him. But no one has an answer for that slider yet. I'd like to know the whiff rate on his slider because or the hard hit rate or I don't think anyone's hit it yet. I mean, they're, they just, hitters don't see it. I don't know what it is about that pitch, but they just don't see it. And he's got 95 to follow up behind that. [00:28:52] Speaker B: This is what Dave Van Horn said yesterday about all of the left handers and the performances that they had in Baton Rouge. How big of a difference does that make it for the bullpen? [00:29:06] Speaker D: Makes it a lot better, that's for sure. And seeing Deets out there yesterday was big for him, big for us. And to see how he, how he competed in that situation. And just the way the ball was coming out of his hand, getting coiled back. And then Gibler was outstanding today. I mean, his fastball was 94, 95, maybe 96. And that's the best it's been all year. And then breaking ball was nasty, upper 80s. They had trouble, they had trouble figuring out what it was. [00:29:35] Speaker B: All right, a lot more coming. After a break, we'll talk about what happened in the SEC this weekend. Lots of interesting outcomes to say the least. Look at the SEC standings. We'll talk about the Heiva Aloy's struggles in Baton Rouge and a lot more. But first, a word from Kendall King. [00:29:50] 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. [00:30:23] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. Want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. They're committed, professional, versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products and come by and see them at 507 South Maine in Bentonville or online at Bentonville glass.com also want to get the latest breaking news on all Razorback sports at whole hog sports.com most in depth source for all Razorback sports analysis, lace and recruiting unique stories on all your favorite teams. Today you can read about Arkansas softball, the number four national seed in the NCAA tournament. They get Oklahoma State coming over here, by the way. What a draw for them at Bogle park this weekend. We're going to have a full softball show tomorrow to talk about that regional. You can subscribe today @wholehog sports.com Looking around the SEC, we mentioned some of these outcomes earlier. Texas losing to Florida, Georgia losing to Alabama. Of course, the series that I think just took everybody by surprise was Missouri beating A and M. A and M had Missouri down by three runs in the ninth inning of Game one. Mizzou puts up a six spot and wins. And it's like A and M never recovered. Yeah, they weren't competitive in game two. They weren't competitive yesterday. They lost 10 to 1 yesterday and they were out hit 15 to 2. And I watched a lot of that game and the body language from the A and M players was as bad as I think I've seen from any team this year. I mean, they went from assuming they were going to beat Missouri, you know, win the series at minimum, probably swept them like everybody else has to. [00:32:01] Speaker C: Now. [00:32:01] Speaker B: Their RPI absolutely just tumbled this weekend. I mean, I think they lost like 25 spots in the RPI and they're a couple of games above.500. They're 10 and 17 in the SEC. They've got the marquee wins. You know, they've got the series over Arkansas, they got the series over lsu, series over Tennessee. If the other numbers were good, the other numbers are really bad. And I don't think they're making the NCAA tournament unless they, you know, maybe go on the road to Athens and sweep this weekend and then do something big at the SEC tournament. This is as stunning a loss in a series as I think I can ever remember in the sec because just nobody saw it coming. And certainly nobody saw A and M getting swept off their home field like that. [00:32:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Who do you think put money on a sweep by Mizzou? Is, is there is somebody with a. [00:32:54] Speaker B: Lot of money to play with. [00:32:56] Speaker C: You're right. That was, that was shocking. But I want to apologize to Mizzou because I've been so hard on him. I said I do not see a win in that schedule. I, I would have bet everything they were going to go on 30 for them to get it together like that. It's, I mean, and just not let go of the rope and figure out a way to win a game and then go on and win two more at. That's a tough place to sweep at A and M. I mean, to win. It's tough place to win. So hats off to Mizzou. [00:33:26] Speaker B: That was stunning. I was sitting there trying to think of like, what other series have, have pulled me in like this. There was a series I feel like within the last four or five years. Missouri went to I think Starkville and one late in the season, like maybe week eight, nine, maybe it was week ten. I don't remember. That's the only other one that I could come up with that was as surprising as this one because I think at that time Mississippi State was in the. I think they were in a running for some sort of championship and just choked it away. [00:33:55] Speaker C: Didn't they go to Knoxville several years ago and win when Tennessee was really good? [00:34:02] Speaker B: Missouri? [00:34:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought they did. Maybe they didn't. [00:34:05] Speaker B: If they did, I don't remember it. [00:34:06] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe, maybe I'm, I got my series mixed up. But yeah, that was crazy. [00:34:10] Speaker B: But I mean none of those Missouri teams were oh and 24 in the SEC. [00:34:14] Speaker C: But I mean look at, okay, so look at Georgia, you know, losing his series to Alabama, I mean that was a surprise. [00:34:23] Speaker B: I thought that was a weird series too because they played a double header on game one or on day one and Georgia just ran them off the field in game one, like 19 to three or four or something. And then they started game two trying to get it in before the weather got there. And then the weather arrives, they have to suspend it in the sixth inning. They can't play all day Saturday. Then they come back Sunday and they resume a game that had started two days earlier and then they have to play a seven inning game. And so that was a weird series. [00:34:53] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. That makes it tough. It does. That makes it tough. [00:34:56] Speaker B: And Georgia was the road team. [00:34:57] Speaker C: Yeah, when you're the road team. I think it's harder when you're the road team there, you know that, that goes back to our Friday night. Starting that late, I mean it's, that's harder for the road team. I do, I think it was good that DVH took him back to the hotel Friday night so we didn't have to sit around the field and wait. But still that was, that was, that was impressive that we came out and played. I thought we played good on Friday night. But yeah, crazy things happening now. The Florida thing. I called that. [00:35:25] Speaker B: You did. [00:35:26] Speaker C: I just, I am not sold on Texas. I don't think they, I think good pitching is going to shut them down now. They're now their, their pitching staff's good, but a good, good pitching staff is going to shut their offense down. And plus I don't like they got some bad attitudes. Do you watch their games? [00:35:43] Speaker B: How do you feel about their Catcher. [00:35:45] Speaker C: I don't like any of them really, to be honest with you. They. They argue every pitch, every call, third strike, every. Every first strike. They're constantly looking at the umpire. There's no discipline there. [00:35:57] Speaker B: Speaking of no discipline, Vanderbilt beat Tennessee yesterday. And I'm watching this game because it was in a big rain delay, and Vanderbilt is. They win, and they're talking, and I'm like, this is not going to go well. And sure enough, here comes Tennessee out of the dugout. They have to get separated. And, you know, with. With Tennessee, it just feels like this happens way more with them than it happens with with any other team. And I was reading a comment on one of the social media posts that had the video posted, and it's like, why can't teams, you know, just be classy when they beat Tennessee? And it's like, well, if it happens against Auburn and it happens against LSU and it happens against Vanderbilt and it happens over and over, at some point you got to look in the mirror. Maybe I'm the. The issue, but that. That never happens. [00:36:44] Speaker C: Okay, so how often do you hear me say the team takes on the personality of the head coach like our teams take on DVH's personality? I think Tennessee takes on Vital as very edgy. [00:36:57] Speaker B: It's a very edgy personality, and it has served them well a lot on the field. But Vital is constantly a reputation. [00:37:05] Speaker C: Vital is constantly pushing the edge of what he can get away with with the umpires. He's always. He's always talking now, you know, it's hard not to like Vitala, and I think he's a good coach. [00:37:16] Speaker B: I got nothing but good things. Tony, from his time here, when we worked with him here, he was phenomenal to work with. [00:37:22] Speaker C: But just think about it, though. He's. I mean, he does push the limits of what he can get away with, and I think his teams do the same thing. [00:37:27] Speaker B: He's talked about this before, remember at the SEC tournament, the year that they were so good in 22, because they've been good with that, but. But in 22, when they were like 57 and 9 or something. And he said, you know, they asked him about the talking and all the stuff that they do, and he said when he got there, he felt like they had to have something that set them apart. And I was texting with somebody about it this morning, and they said, you know, he could rein this in if he wanted to. He could put a stop to this if he wanted to. I feel like what's happened there is that it's kind. He, he's created this monster. [00:38:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:38:03] Speaker B: And it's kind of gotten bigger than him. Like, if they really wanted to say, okay, we're gonna take a step back and we're going to quit with all of the yapping and all this stuff, like, they'd have to have a total roster reset because now it's just, it's ingrained in the team. It's just who they are. [00:38:20] Speaker C: Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's tough. I mean, you, you create that monster and, and I think they, they like being the bad guys. They really do. But I guess I, I guess that's why I wake up every morning. I'm thankful that we have Dave Van Horn here and the coaching staff that we have, because you saw what the Texas guy did over the weekend, I assume the. When he walked, Florida's beating him, what, eight to one, nine to one. [00:38:48] Speaker B: I missed this. What do you didn't see it? I missed this. [00:38:50] Speaker C: Oh, go, go. Look at it. It's horrible. Dude gets up there and he draws a walk and I don't know, 8 to 1, 9, whatever the score was. [00:38:57] Speaker B: Flip a walk. [00:38:59] Speaker C: He was, it was every pitch he's like shaking his head and running his mouth. Then he walks and he flips his bat and starts talking to the pitcher and then turns around, says something to the catcher. Donne, when he gets the first base, starts talking to him. And it was unbelievable. I can't believe you didn't see that. I've watched it and I've listened to Texas fans try to explain it away. Oh, he's passionate. He's got a lot of energy. He's young. I got 10 year olds that know not to act like that when you're getting beat and you draw a walk like that, shut your mouth, go to first base. I mean, you can, you can have energy and passion and play the game hard without doing stupid stuff like that. But you got to watch that. And you'll, you'll, you'll die. It's, it's horrible. You talk about the Juan Soto, the way he takes pitches. It was that times 10. [00:39:46] Speaker B: How about that? Ole Miss, by the way, they lose to Mississippi State. Mississippi State is 5 and 1 since they fired Crystal Monas. [00:39:53] Speaker C: Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, there's talent there. [00:39:56] Speaker B: I would say Mississippi State, who felt like they were on the outside looking in at the NCAA tournament two weeks ago, they've got a better chance now at getting in than I think A and M does. [00:40:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I think A And M's done. I don't know how they can overcome that. [00:40:09] Speaker B: That's why you look at series at Georgia, I think it puts them back in the conversation, but, I mean, their RPI is number 59 right now. [00:40:15] Speaker C: They're not going to win at Georgia. [00:40:16] Speaker B: I don't think they are either. I don't think they are. Yeah. I mean, I. It looked to me like they were just cooked. [00:40:21] Speaker C: Yeah. I think they're done. I think they just. They. I don't know. [00:40:26] Speaker B: It's like they gave up. [00:40:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:27] Speaker B: In that Missouri series, and that has. And, and you know this as well as anybody. That has a residual effect down the line as they go into this next series. [00:40:34] Speaker C: It's a mental game. And once. I mean, once that's gone, you're done. [00:40:38] Speaker B: I'm not sure their head coach gets year two. I really don't. [00:40:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:42] Speaker B: I mean, Bubba, they took a chance on him. He's. He's young, you know, early 30s. They take a chance on him, and I think they took a chance on him to salvage the roster. They knew that if they bring him in, you get Laviolet back, you get Grohovic back, you get Sorrell and Kent and all these players who were key to that run last year, when they're literally. I mean, they're right on the doorstep of winning a national championship last year, and it has just totally and completely backfired on them. And me, when I see what happens against Missouri, they didn't look focused, they didn't look prepared, looked like they just totally, you know, just. Just, hey, we're going to show up and we're going to beat these guys. [00:41:23] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:23] Speaker B: And to me, that's coaching. And when you're, whatever they are, 27 and 25, that's coaching with that type of roster, and you can't win more than that. I mean, that's. That's bad stuff. [00:41:34] Speaker C: It's bad. And to go from. I don't know if there's ever been a team go from preseason number one, which I don't put a lot of stock into the preseason polls, but preseason number one to not even making a tournament, potentially, I've never seen that. [00:41:47] Speaker B: It's. It's not quite at the level of Florida State football last fall, you know, when, like, they're number three in the preseason, and then they can't even be competitive with anybody. But, I mean, it's. It's got some. Some parallels with that. It's. It's amazing how things have gone down there at A and M. And they fancy themselves as a baseball school. You know what I mean? I mean, and that's not say anything about football or anything there, but they think that they are an elite baseball programmer, that they can be right. And certainly Schwarzenegger had him, you know, in that conversation. And I think Rob Childress did for a long time. I don't know that early is going to be able to survive this. I think that there's enough money there and I think that there's enough maybe lack of emotional investment in this right now that it's going to be a total reset next year. They're losing most of these players. Maybe they go out and you know, it was bad timing that saw Snake will put him in last year. [00:42:40] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:40] Speaker B: Taking the Texas job end of June. There weren't a lot of great options I think that they could have gone to at that time. I think if they let him go now, this year they're going to be probably the team them in Mississippi State. Like those are the jobs that everybody's going to want this off season. [00:42:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, I think they did the right thing keeping early. But yeah, I agree. I don't think he's going to survive. And one thing they've got there is plenty of money so they can go out and get. They can go out and buy a coach and then buy a bunch of players. They'll be right back in the mix next year. [00:43:10] Speaker B: They've got their own currency machine in the basement of Kyle Field. [00:43:13] Speaker C: Yes, they do. [00:43:15] Speaker B: Going into the final weekend, Arkansas is two games back of Texas. Texas with 20 SEC wins, 20 at 7 overall record in the league, Arkansas 18 and 9. You got LSU at 17 and 10. LSU and Arkansas are the only two teams that can can catch Texas. LSU can only catch them if Texas gets swept and if LSU sweeps at South Carolina. I don't know that Texas is going to get swept at Oklahoma, but I think that that would be a pretty competitive series. And then if you're Arkansas, you want to win as many games as you can against Tennessee and, you know, basically sweep Tennessee and hope that ou beats Texas 2 to 1. And if you do that, then you share the SEC championship. Maybe if you sweep and Texas gets swept and you win it outright, SEC championship is going to be hard for Arkansas to win it. But they're still not totally out of it. Losing game one at LSU in terms of the SEC title race, that was a huge blow. [00:44:12] Speaker C: It was huge. But how about this team bouncing back and winning? If you look at, if you look at everything, you look at game one, game two, for them to come back and win game three, Matt was huge. [00:44:24] Speaker B: But. [00:44:25] Speaker C: But I think what's going to happen, I think Texas is going to go to OU and lose two out of three. I think LSU is going to go to South Carolina and sweep them. So, you know, we gotta. We have to win here. I think. I think we're going to do well against. I think we match up really well against Tennessee. I think we're going to. I think we're in good shape. I really do. And plus, we're playing at bomb Walker. I think we'll take two out of three at the least and possibly sweep. [00:44:50] Speaker B: Maybe put this a little bit easier. If Texas wins one game, Texas is guaranteed at least a share of the SEC title. If they win two games, they win outright. If they win one game, Marcus got to sweep Tennessee in order to catch them and tie for the conference championship. [00:45:04] Speaker C: I don't think his sweep. That's not out of the question. It's hard to get a sweep in the sec, especially against good team like Tennessee, but I could see a sweep. I can see us winning the series at least. And I really think Texas could easily lose two out of three at ou. [00:45:19] Speaker B: I could say, oh, you got swept at Kentucky. So they're going to be. I mean, they got to come back, you know, guns ablaze and this weekend to help their. Their case at getting the home regional. This is what Dave Van Horn had to say yesterday about the SEC race. [00:45:34] Speaker D: It was, you know, the standings are what they are. I mean, we can only control what we do, and today's all we could do is win one game and, you know, trying to. Trying to catch Texas, trying to finish in the top four. Just trying to win SEC games on a road against a top, you know, 10 team helps your RPI. I'm sure that our strength of schedule moved up a lot this week as well. So, yeah, it was a really big game here. [00:46:03] Speaker B: I want to read you a few of these. You know, I've got, like, I probably got about 15,000 words in this document of things that I'm just constantly looking up, like, how can I use this at some point in time? Some. Some data about how SEC teams have done on the road this year. Overall, the road teams have won 40.3% of their SEC series. So basically, two out of every five, Texas, three of four. We talked about who they have played on the road. They go to Oklahoma this weekend, Arkansas 12 of 5. So that's 40% right there with the, you know, the league average, LSU 1 of 4. They're probably going to be 2 of 5. So right there with the league of average, Georgia 2 of 5, Auburn 3 of 4. They've still got a road series to go. Tennessee 3 of 4. They've been pretty good on the road. And they come to Fayetteville this weekend. Vanderbilt 2 of 4, Ole Miss 3 of 5, Alabama 1 and 1 of 4 series that they've won on the road. And I didn't go past that because those are the teams that are, you know, at the top of the sec. I probably should looked up Florida, but the point being that there's a lot of good teams there that just haven't won on the road a whole lot like Arkansas. It's weird how you might look at Arkansas. You could look at it two ways. You could look at it like, hey, they've only won two of five road series. Or you could look at it, they're eight and seven in true road games against five teams that are going to be in the NCAA tournament. It's. I don't know, it's just kind of an interesting way to look at the data. [00:47:27] Speaker C: Well, okay, so we go back to the schedule. What if we would have played instead of playing South Carolina and Missouri at home, what if we'd have played them on the road? I think we sweep both of them on the road probably. So it's just scheduled. To me, looking at this stinking schedule and you're like, okay, it just kind of sucks who we had to play on the road this year, but I mean, it's life in the sec. Did you feel like yesterday was a must win game for Arkansas? [00:47:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know if I would say it was must win. I think that what I said going into the series and certainly going into yesterday was that they need a win in Baton Rouge to still feel good about their top eight. Because, you know, and I said this last week, I think if they were to go three and three over the final two weeks, they're a top eight seed and I think they're probably a top eight seed if they go two and four. Yeah, but you know, if you get swept at lsu, then you leave it more in the hands of the selection committee. And I think that what they did by winning yesterday was like, okay, look, that's, that's a good team. That's. That's a team. Those may be the top two seeds in the NCAA tournament. I doubt it, but they may be. I mean, you know, I mean, what if they both get hot over the next couple of weeks and they're playing each other again in the championship game in Hoover. Wouldn't surprise me if they're the top two seeds. [00:48:43] Speaker C: Well, I'm not, I'm not so worried about like we talk about sweeping Tennessee at home to win the SEC title. I don't, I honestly for the first time, I don't put that much, I really don't care that much about the SEC title. Yeah, it'd be great if we sweep Tennessee. OU takes two out of three from Texas, you know, and then lsu. I think LSU is going to sweep it at South Carolina, but I don't really care. I want to win two out of three against Tennessee, get the 20 wins. Then, then we're, we're, we're, we're, we're playing at home. And other than that, whatever happens, happens. [00:49:19] Speaker B: About being a top eight. Yeah, it really is way more important because people put way more, if they go to the College World Series, people are going to be way more excited about that than if they win the SEC title or if they want a division title in the past year. Those are the years people remember. It seems like more than the conference championship seasons. And I think it's because there's a lot more people who just pay attention in the postseason, who don't pay attention to the week to week goings on during the regular season. And so it's about being the top eight, putting yourself in a great 30 and three at home. And I know what's happened the last two years in the regionals very fluky because they had that set up and they've got Hagan Smith on the mound. And I think that if they play that 10 times, maybe eight times, they go to the super regionals. [00:50:05] Speaker C: Right. [00:50:05] Speaker B: But Hagan just had the two worst, you know, outings of his life. It's about being a top eight and giving yourself a chance. And I think that, you know, that that's really the key this weekend is, you know, if they beat Tennessee once, it may do the trick. And certainly I think if they went twice, there's, there's, you know, it's academic at that point. [00:50:23] Speaker C: Yeah. And like you said, let's say we, let's say we win the SEC title and then we don't go to Omaha, people are going to complain about it. [00:50:32] Speaker B: Another bad year for the Razor. [00:50:33] Speaker C: Another bad year even though we, we won the SEC title. So, I mean, I really, I don't, I'd love it because I hate Texas. I don't want them to win it I'd almost rather, you know, LSU sneak in somehow and win it. But then Texas. But if we're not going to. But yeah, I care about getting to 20 wins. I want to win two out of three. Anything after that's a bonus for me. And yeah, let's get ready for postseason. [00:50:56] Speaker B: Arkansas avoided a sweep. They've gone 23 consecutive SEC series now without a sweep. There's only one team that's gone longer than who it is. LSU, Tennessee, Tennessee, 24. Arkansas's last time they were swept was in 23 at Georgia. The week before that, Arkansas swept Tennessee here in Fayetteville. So that's, that's the, that's the deal. Arkansas now two years without being swept. Certainly you would think that they can avoid that this weekend against the Volunteers. And real quick, before we gotta hear beheva Aloy, just 2 for 12 this weekend, he did have a couple of RBI, had an RBI ground out, had a sac fly in yesterday's game. Ton of strikeouts. So eight strikeouts. And this is like the strikeouts haven't been an issue with him this year. I don't think there's a concern about him. I think it was just a bad weekend for him. But I was telling you earlier, the thing that jumped out to me was 14 plate appearances, 13 first pitch strikes to him. Some of those are foul balls where he fouls off a fastball. But he got behind 02 in the count in seven of his 14 plate appearances. And that's just a recipe for, for not having a good weekend. [00:52:00] Speaker C: Yes, especially when you're talking about a really good pitching staff. But I don't, I don't read. I didn't see him have like, he took a couple of swings with, with two strikes, chase a few sliders, but I didn't see like bad at bass. Like he just melded it bad in. I think a lot of it, Matt, is. Look, you look at our lineup and we're really good one through nine. I mean, we're, we're good. It's, it's tough to maneuver this lineup, but I think if you're playing the Razorbacks, he, you're going to circle the heaven low is as the guy you don't want to beat you. So he's going to get everyone's best pitches. And I think that's all what it is. I'm not, I'm not worried. I think he's going out this weekend, have a huge weekend at home. [00:52:38] Speaker B: Ben McDonald was calling the games this weekend, all three of them down there. You know, he Does a lot of major league baseball games, too. Up in Baltimore, where he played, he gave a really cool stat. He said in major league baseball this year, and this was as of a couple of days ago, that hitters, when they're ahead in the count are batting.323. In major league baseball, when they're behind in the count, they're batting.191. So about.130 point difference. And then he said, with two strikes, they're batting.168. And it just after he said that, I started watching all these at bats with that in mind. And I mean, sure enough, college baseball, it's a little bit different, but it was a lot of the same. It comes down to pitching. If you can get ahead in the count, you're probably going to win that battle a lot of times. If you get behind in the count, the hitter's probably going to win that battle a lot of times. [00:53:21] Speaker C: Yeah. I teach my younger guys all the time, I say, what's the best pitch in baseball? And they're all going to go, fastball, curveball, chain. They're going to say all this stuff. No, strike one. Strike one is the best pitch in baseball, is trying to get ahead of that hitter. Strike one. And then on the flip side, as a hitter, you know that pitcher's trying to get ahead. So for me, oh, oh, you want to win. Oh, oh, as a hitter, but as a pitcher, they're trying to get ahead. Big difference. [00:53:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought you were going to say two. Oh, I thought you were going to look at that as a hitter. Like, what's the best pitch in baseball? I feel like if a hitter. 2, 0. That is, that's the pitch. [00:53:54] Speaker C: Yeah, but a lot of times pitchers are trying to get ahead and they all have their pitches, they all have their best, their go to pitch. What are they going to try to get ahead of you with? You know, sometimes fastball, sometimes they want to start you with a breaking ball. And a lot of times they'll. Of course, you don't see it that much and everyone's got such good stuff, but like, you know, a lot of guys flip that, that, oh, breaking ball up there just to get ahead of you. If you want to get a fastball, hit that o breaking ball, crush that, and next about you'll get fastball. [00:54:20] Speaker B: Do you know how many of my 15,000 words we did not get to today? A lot of it. Like, look at your rundown. We're like having to cross off a bunch of this stuff due to time, but we'll get to it on Thursday when Bubba's back in the studio. [00:54:31] Speaker C: Yeah, we didn't get to talk about the umpires, really. [00:54:33] Speaker B: So, yeah, we can talk about that Thursday. We can have a nice umpire conversation. Arkansas starts its series against Tennessee on Thursday. Bubble will be back in studio. Then tomorrow we're going to talk. A lot of Razorback softball and their home regional coming up this weekend with Oklahoma State the number two seed in town. Really, really tough draw for Arkansas against an Oklahoma State team that's been one of the best in the country over the last several years. Ethan Westerman will be here in studio to help me break that down. We appreciate you being with us. Hope we see you at our website, wholehogsports. Com, or we see you tomorrow on our podcast. Have a great day, everybody.