The guys recap a weekend series win over Georgia Southern, chat with Kenny Levari and look ahead to U of R and a road trip to Cajun country.
Transcript
Okay.
Gary:Hello, Monarch fans, and welcome to another episode of Hudson Homers. I am Gary, and I’m joined by my co host as always, CB Wilkins. CB, how are you doing
CB:Man, I am fantastic. Let me tell you, I’m sure it’s a complete coincidence, uh, but the time change was wonderful. The time chain, because the weather was just perfect this whole week. Um, I saw baseball, you know, ODU had five games. I even went and saw, uh, one of our commits playing for Cape Henry against Grassfield on Thursday. So it’s just nothing but wonderful weather.
Gary:baseball weather was absolutely back this weekend. I made it down for the games on Friday and Sunday. And aside from a little bit of a rain shower in the middle of the game on Friday, it was It was beautiful and I was reminded on Sunday to bring sunscreen for the future because standing in Rally Alley, you get a nice tan on the left side of your face while you’re watching the game. So I’ve got that going for me this
CB:Yeah, this is the time of year I just kind of let myself get burned and then That comes summer time you throw the sunblock on you have to get the nice tan early when the sun’s not actually that bad It’s probably terrible for my skin. But you know people tell me I look young so I guess i’m fine
Gary:I, uh, celebrated St. Patty’s Day with my Irish roots getting nice and sunburned at a baseball game. So I feel like it’s a tradition.
CB:Just turning from just you go from pale, uh pale white to extremely red then right back to pale white That’s that’s how it works
Gary:That’s, that’s been the cycle. It wasn’t like that when I was a kid, but it definitely is now. So I can’t wait to Back at the bud here in a couple of weeks for the next home series is to show off what half of my tan face looks like, but three and two week this week for the Monarchs, you know, book ended with losses, but some really, really great baseball in between there. Um, I think we got to start right off the bat talking about the game that we probably do not want to talk about. And that was Tuesday’s loss to Princeton, 10 to eight, not, uh, not ideal.
CB:be honest. I mean, the word for that one is embarrassing. I mean, I, you know, Princeton’s division one team, but let’s be real. They’re not anywhere close to the same level as OD. They got good guys, good players playing hard. And you know what? They came out and just played a better game. They played very solid. They got their hits when it was time to get their hits and good on them. They had just gotten beat like 24 to 8 the day before. Um, so good for them. They came out and took on a, we know a very good ODU team and just played really well. So, I mean, that’s. Our, our guys did not show up and I hope it ended up being kind of a wake up call and kind of a reality check for them.
Gary:Yeah, because that’s definitely a loss that can come back to haunt you later if you’re talking postseason play, because that will definitely drag down a lot of your chances to either host or, you know, be a two seed or a three seed, get a maybe more favorable region or something like that. You know, thankfully it was non conference, but I still think there’s a drag there. But it just seemed like our pitching was off that day. I mean, they ended up with 15 strikeouts, which is good, but they gave up eight earned runs, 12 hits, and they gave out seven free passes through walks. Or hit by a pitch, um, offense, I mean, put up eight runs. It’s not a, that’s not a bad day, but I think you’d want to see a little bit more against a team like Princeton.
CB:The offense, you know, eight, eight runs is great. But then in the late innings when it was time to like, okay, we actually came back in this game. Um, and we have a, we have an opportunity to hear, to, to get some runs and go ahead. They just couldn’t quite string stuff together. So, you know, yeah, I mean, we, we definitely saw the offense. Started clicking there on Tuesday and it kind of kept clicking up until Sunday. Um, but you know, it overall just not what you want to see out of, out of a game that you really should have three errors again, you know, just not what you want to see out of a, a game against Princeton.
Gary:And I had it up and I was, you know, kind of watching it on my phone. And when we got to eight to seven in the seventh, I was like, all right, here we go, it’s, it’s time to jump ahead and put this game away, but I mean, Princeton came right back and got the two run home run in the top of the ninth. And that was kind of curtains for us. But I think
CB:power to them. They put up, they really played well. They put up really good at bats and just that was that. I mean, you know, they’re a really well coached team. They got Scott Bradley has been there forever. Um, my buddy Joe Homaker, the O. D. U. Alums pigeon coach. It was great to great to get to hang out, talk to him for a while. He’s still teaching a class at Princeton. So we like to say taking the, um, take us 3. 1 GPA at O. D. U. And really devaluing the Princeton education.
Gary:I’ll gladly take an ODU alum that’s teaching at Princeton that, uh, makes me feel a little bit better. That game did seem to serve as a little bit of a wake up call because they come back the next day and they do what we expected them to do and they won the game 12 to
CB:Yeah, that day was in 12 to 1 in seven innings, which I guess they had decided ahead of time in a non conference game. You have to decide ahead of time if you’re gonna do the run rule. And so I guess they did, which is good. You know, at that point Princeton was playing a lot of days and anytime you’re gonna play five games in a week, you try to shorten the games if you can. So they did. They played really well. Some pitchers who had not even really got a lot of opportunities or some no opportunities came out pitch really well in that game. So Wednesday’s game was just all around fantastic.
Gary:We just kind of jumped on him, you know, right off the bat with Stephen Meyer getting on with a walk. Steals second, steals third. Luke hits a double and we’re kind of off and running there. Uh, Kenny LaVarie, Jackson Tone, both with three RBI games. Alex Boucher goes three for four. And I saw the picture that you put out, I think on social media earlier today of Tyser getting hit by a pitch and it did look like it got him right in the nose.
CB:was, I didn’t even share the picture. It’s actually two frames before that it hit him on the knee and then bounced straight up and got him in the nose and he got cut on his face. I think because of his nose and his sunglasses smashing into each other and just he got cut nose. He was bleeding pretty good right there when it happened. He’s okay. I mean, I, saw him yesterday, didn’t look like he really had a cut barely on his nose. Um, but yeah, that was just, it could only happen to Tyser, I think, right. Just getting hit. I mean, how do you get hit twice by the same pitch is pretty terrible.
Gary:Just some bad luck there with that ball bouncing around like that. Uh, couple good pitching notes, because the pitching obviously improved a ton in that second Princeton game. Garrett Harker, gets the win, doesn’t give up any runs. The whole pitching staff only gave up four free passes for that entire game, which I thought was pretty good. It was really critical. Uh, your trunk comes in, Ben Moore comes in, locks it down, and then we get the debut of Marco LaVar with two innings pitched only marks on Hemi. He had a walk and he hit a batter, but other than that, looked pretty good.
CB:looked really dominant and it’s not easy to go out and, you know, I mean, they’ve been playing about a month at this point, and he hadn’t gotten into a game, you know, showing up every day and just staying in shape and throwing bullpens. And so it’s a big deal. And, on top of that, it’s your first ever appearance, you’re nervous, you know, he’s there, he’s first time he’s getting to play with his brother there at third base, you know, so I mean, that was a big deal for Marco. That was, that was pretty awesome to see. And Harker, you know, Harker is a, he’s a very good pitcher. I had forgotten he actually got a concussion. I think, I think it was back in the fall. It might’ve been in the spring. I don’t remember when it was, but he took a line drive off the back of his head. And so that’s kind of been what’s kind of affected him. He was a guy who probably. Was looking at being a part of the weekend rotation and still may end up being in it, but he’s working his way back. And so it’s, it’s good to see. Um, I think he’s gonna start again tomorrow against Richmond. Um, but he, he really looked good that day. He came out and he actually told me he kind of dinged up his ankle on the first pitch. He kind of just slipped off the rubber a little bit. So doing what he did, knowing that he was pretty much pretty much hurting every pitch he through.
Gary:Impressive performance by Garrett. And I think that’s really positive to see that in the midweek two of guys who are getting that opportunity and making the most of it, but just seemed like a different team coming out there in that second game against Princeton. And I know I talked to coach Finwood after the game. On Sunday and just kind of asked if that was a wake up call. And he said, you know, well, I hope so. And I made it clear that couldn’t play any worse than that. Uh, so you can see the full quote at odmarcus. com on the postgame recap, uh, from the game yesterday. But, uh, speaking of Marco’s brother at third, Kenny LaVarie, he is our guest later in the program. We’re going to get to his thoughts on his brother’s pitching performance along with, uh, a few other things and what his season has been like so far. Bye. Glad to see the guys rebound in a big way to get that because that could have could have turned south in a hurry.
CB:Yeah. I mean, that’s exactly what you want to do. You say, look, we, we took it on the chin and we, you might even say they took him for granted. I mean, honestly, sometimes I think it’s happened to them in years past. They played some teams and they took, I think it was one week toward the end of a year. I think it was two years ago when they played William and Mary and BMI and they got beaten both games by teams. They should have obliterated. So it’s, it’s one of those that, I think it’s the mark of a strong team is nothing, you know, it’s, it’s a shame that they had to get embarrassed a little bit, but then to come back strong, uh, three days in a row and run rule teams is pretty great.
Gary:That was definitely an impressive bounce back. And if you’re going to get embarrassed, I’d rather do it mid March rather than, you know, mid May when when things start getting a little bit tighter, but they carried that momentum right into the game on Friday, ripping off six in the first inning against Georgia Southern, who. Like I, I don’t know if they’re going to be a bottom half Sunbelt team. I think they’re actually, they’re actually pretty good. They just may not have played some great baseball and we ambushed them on a Friday and
CB:They’re really good. Apparently one of their better pitchers, uh, got hurt and is out for the year. So I think there’s a little bit of, um, a little bit of that kind of mentally affects you as a team, but they, they are a good team that kid, uh, Tate, the leadoff hitter. We held them down. It was over four. I think he only gave you had to hit all weekend, but he’s two for four in the middle game. He’s a very good hitter that didn’t do much this weekend. But that’s again, more of a testament to our pitching. Yeah. So he was two for 12 on the weekend. Um, and that’s not who that kid is as a hitter.
Gary:We, we talked about him in previewing the Georgia Southern weekend on the last episode, talking about, you know, he’s the guy you got to get out. He’s their smart plug. If you can get him out, you can do good things. And they did that, especially on Friday. I mean, Oh, for four, uh, he’s, he’s not even getting on base for you.
CB:Yeah, I mean, that’s exactly what you want. Our pitching staff was dominant this weekend. I mean, to be frank, would you only give up four runs over the weekend? You should win all three games. So that was our hitters just didn’t take care of them on Sunday, but they certainly did Friday and Saturday. I mean, they said, just get off to six nothing start and then a four nothing start on Saturday. I mean, that’s you couldn’t ask for much more than your top guys just going out and just hammering them to the point where I think we bad and then we battered around Friday. I think we battered around on Saturday too on the first inning. That’s just you can ask for much more than that.
Gary:And that’s what some teams have been able to do to us on those weekend series. And we kind of got to flip the script this weekend and I was really happy to see it because you’re getting up six runs when on a weekend series when you’ve got all your arms healthy and ready to go. It’s tough to overcome that and to have that bounce back. But I think you said it on the extra fittings podcast with, with coach Finwood and Pierce, uh, talking about just put the damn ball in play. And you’re going to put that on a shirt. Well, I mean, that’s how this started. I mean, Kyle Edwards hits kind of a pop fly behind first base that the wind has some fun with and it drops in. He’s on second and then, we end up kind of taking off from there with Luke Waters getting an RBI single, Boucher driving in two, uh, and then Maverick Stallings started second base all weekend. with a three run bomb to right center, hit it perfectly into the chemistry building wind tunnel and uh, yeah, six, nothing through one pretty good start.
CB:Yeah. Maverick’s a really, really good baseball player. He’s um, he’s, I feel like in the field a little bit struggling, but I know, and I trust our coaches enough to help him with those things and he’s I think now he’s kind of gotten the bat back to where he should be. Um, like I said, had a great weekend. He, he’s a, he’s a really good ballplayer and yeah, there was a lot of, uh, just put the ball in play this weekend. It didn’t happen as much on Sunday, which is what happened on Sunday. You see the results. So that was, I was excited to see that. I hope that does keep being a, a theme for him. You know what I mean? I said on the weekend, these guys are not big leaguers. Again, Georgia State or Georgia Southern, I’m sorry, Georgia Southern has some very good ballplayer. They made some great plays out there, but they’re not big leaguers. There were a few that were kind of routine plays. They threw away. So you put the ball in play. These are college kids. Make them, make them sweat.
Gary:And we’ve been looking for some stability at second base and also left field. And we’ll talk about left field in a little bit, but I think Maverick went a long way to put himself in the driver’s seat for starting normally at second base. I mean, he ended up this week going six for 15 with the home run. Uh, he had at least one double, drove in four runs, really just a solid performance, and I think this is kind of that week where you can go and grab some of those positions playing against the conference opponents, and I feel like Maverick did a really good job of staking his claim there at second.
CB:Yeah. There’s a few spots. We’ve been dying for somebody to establish themselves. So it was, it was great to see that. And to go back to the pitching for a second, you know, this was Finney kind of switch things up. Had Jay Cassidy start the game. Uh, and then bring hollabets and relief. And I mean, you talk about pushing all the right buttons. I mean, Jay two and two thirds, uh, only gave up one run and looked really good doing it. And then John hollabets came out of the pen and looked like the John hollabets that we all know. I think again, he just needs that, needs that rhythm about the bullpen, he needs that adrenaline, you know, four and a third innings, only no runs, one hit, uh, no walks, five strikeouts. I mean, that’s, that’s the guy you expect John hollabets to be. So if that’s what it takes is. There’s Jay coming out and, uh, getting up started, getting a little off balance. Then John comes out, blows him away, man, that’s, that’s a weapon. That’s something else.
Gary:Hollabacks was electric on friday. I mean, that was kind of what we got used to seeing of him coming out of the pen and closing out games. He was like that, but for four innings and if that’s the way it has to be on fridays to get the win, I am good with that because that is, uh, that is a weapon and you hit the nail on the head with pushing the right buttons and getting the guys in spots where they feel the most comfortable. I was really excited to see that opener plan Work so well with those guys and see how that’s returned to form. Uh, cause he, I mean, he’s a fantastic pitcher. He is just, hasn’t had his best stuff to start the year, but Hey, no better time to start peeking than a beginning of conference play.
CB:Yeah. I mean, that’s the guy that had all the scouts and the, uh, Cape Cod League excited has all the scouts coming out Fridays. I mean, that, that’s, he’s a dude, he’s a, he’s a guy, I think, you know, he’s got more in his tank. He’s already out there throwing 94 to 96. And he can hit, we know he can hit a hundred and he’s done it. Get the, the engine revving, right. The blood flowing the right way for him. That’s exactly, I love the move. It was, it was great how perfectly that worked out.
Gary:And obviously it was a little bit shorter game because of the run rule. But, uh, Vincent Becerra came in for that last inning, pitched a clean one, only needed six pitches to get three outs. I mean, that’s the model of efficiency right
CB:Love that.
Gary:Uh, and then be able to do that and save some other arms for later. But, um, Had some home runs throughout this game too, uh, which definitely want to talk about with, with dollars for dingers, you know, Maverick selling is obviously hit that one in the first, uh, then we have one from Luke waters, one from Alex Boucher, really not even like home run type swings. Putting a good swing on the ball and driving it out of the ballpark. Uh, wind was, was helpful on Friday too, I will say that.
CB:Yeah. I mean, that’s exactly what you want. You know, Luke and Alex have probably been our, our two most consistent hitters this year. They’ve been the guys that kind of, you know, they’ve been around 300 and they might go up and down between, you know, three 40 to three 13, depending on the weekend. Uh, but they, they, you know, pretty consistently are getting about one out of every three times the plate getting a hit and they are, hitting the ball hard and having good swings and good stuff’s happening. And so it’s just, it’s really nice to see both those guys just go out and be the players that they are and be that, really consistent force in the lineup. It’s good that it’s just, just great. We need that.
Gary:Yeah, absolutely. And our dinger count now in the year is at 14. So we got 14 home runs for dollars for dingers. And then bucks for bags, we are 42 stolen bases. We’re 42 for 49. So still stealing bases at a great clip. Uh, Stephen Meyer still 10 for 10 on the season with stolen bases, which is just ridiculous, especially since he’s stolen third a couple of times,
CB:Yeah. I was actually trying to look through some recent stats of years and I saw they already have more stolen bases this year. They did in 2019. Um, seems unlikely that we’re going to get the team record. Uh, team record was, uh, 1 51 back in 1985. Uh, they were just running like wild back then, but I think we’re going to, we’re going to, I think by far have the most anybody’s had in years. Um, and the single season leader. Again, probably nobody’s coming close. Kevin Gibbs had over 40, like three different times, all three of his years. Uh, but in recent years, Connor Myers in, I think 15 had 20 steals. So I definitely think that, um, either Luke or, or, uh, or Stephen Meyer can, can match that 20. So they can be kind of the, uh, more recent ODU stone base leaders.
Gary:and Luke has been very impressive this year. I mean, yeah, he’s, he’s got three home runs, which is tied for the team lead is driven in 19 runs, which is also tied for the team lead, but he’s 11 for 12 stealing bases on top of that. You can’t ask for a whole lot more from your three hole hitter
CB:And Luke is not fast. I’m not saying that to be mean to him, but he’s not, you don’t, you watch him run. You don’t think like, Oh man, that guy is so fast. He’s just really, really smart. He’s a really, really smart, really good baseball player. He knows how to read things. He knows how to take his lead and he knows how to be quick. Um, and so it’s, it’s really, it is fun watching the guy who is not, you know, just like, Oh man, nobody can stop him fast.
Gary:He definitely understands how to time a pitcher. He motors around those bases and he puts us in a good position for the guys down the lineup to have good RBI potential. And that’s Really what the philosophy is this year is put the ball in play, get on, get over, get in. And we saw that play out really all week, except for, except for Sunday. That was the only really bad offensive day that we had. Um, yeah, I was not able to watch the game live on Saturday. Um, I was out and about with some things, but I thought that there was something wrong with either my phone or the live stats link, because I looked down and it’s 11 to 1 in the 7th, and I was like, what, no way we did that 2, 2 days in a row, kind of blew my mind there.
CB:Yeah, Saturday was fun, man. I mean, that was, you know, I wasn’t really able to get there Friday because of the time change and then the weather. Uh, but Saturday, you know, just the, I mean, there’s, we’re dancing in the dugout. We got guys doing, they all got a bunch of haircuts. They’re all doing new haircut celebrations. That was a fun, fun baseball game to be there as an ODU fan. Um, and just seeing the guys, I, and that’s the kind of, you hope they had bring that kind of joy, even when they’re behind, because they got to believe themselves that they’re going to be ahead. So that you can, you can kind of bottle that energy, man. You’re going to have something special for the team.
Gary:And it was a similar blueprint, you know, we didn’t score 6 in the 1st, but we got 4, which I’ll also take 4, uh, but I mean, it’s, it’s 11 to nothing in the 5th after, 3 run home run by Kenny LaVarie solo shot. Yeah. For Tyser. And I mean, we just really took the wind out of their sails on that, that Saturday. And I’m glad the guys got to enjoy it with their fancy new haircuts. Hopefully those hats stay on. Um, but just a lot of fun there. And I mean, Kenny LaVarie goes two for three on the day, drives in five runs with a home run and a double. He has absolutely come on here in the last two weeks, and I think we’re all very glad to see him getting that bat hot again.
CB:Yeah. Kenny is really, he’s turned around and he was definitely having those kind of in between at bats where he, you know, he was taking the good pitches and swinging to the bad pitches and chasing things. And now he’s locked in. You can see he’s waiting for the ball and he’s driving the ball. I mean, even, even when he’s making outs, they’re really good outs.
Gary:Yeah. Kenny has really come on here in the last couple of weeks. I mean, this week alone, he’s five for 14 with a home run, drove in nine runs, drew five walks, really just having quality of bats. and the pitching again on Saturday was fantastic. I don’t know if we did technically an opener approach and we kind of did. Dylan Brown got the start, went three and two thirds. Uh, give him no earned runs and just one hit. Um, you know, I thought he, he threw pretty well. Uh, then, Kellen comes in with the Raptor and gets the strike out of the only batter that he faced. And Pond and Ransom clean it up on the back end. Just end to end great pitching again on Saturday.
CB:Yeah, it was great. I don’t know that Dylan was necessarily an opener, um, but he kind of acted that way. I, I still personally would like to see him throw a little bit more in that game, but he didn’t have his best stuff. I’ll be honest, Dylan, the fact that he threw three and two thirds and gave up no runs. Really tells you how he was fighting through because I think he didn’t have his best stuff and pond did. not have his best stuff. Um, and you know, the pond two and two thirds only gave up one run. Uh, and so both of them really were fighting it. You could tell they just, neither one of them really was able to throw it exactly where they wanted, exactly how they wanted. Um, but again, they got through it. And then Kellen, like I said, came with the Raptor and got his guy and Lincoln came in, you know, to close the game. He got himself the save in the 11 to one game. No, he didn’t. Uh, but he, you know, came in, did what he needed to do. And so that you know, that was a great performance, especially for the fact that the guys were not dominating. I mean, you can see in seven innings, we only had six strikeouts, right? Um, and three walks and three hit by pitch, you know, so it was not, it was dominant pitching. That was not dominant, which is
Gary:Yeah, they were able to avoid that big blow up meltdown kind of ending where they give up three, four, five runs. They were able to get out of the jams, both Dylan and Brandon, later in the game. But I mean, how about Kellen Davis? I mean, coming on there in the fourth, three pitches gets the strikeout. I mean, back to the dugout, your day is over. Pretty, uh, pretty good stuff there from, from the Raptor, man.
CB:I mean, he’s up to, 12. I’m sorry. Nine appearances, uh, in 20 games, he’s only thrown 5. 1 So, you know, he’s barely getting, you know, an out each time, but he’s got nine he is, He’s just doing great as it’s again for a guy, he’s a retro sophomore. He’s been around, you know, didn’t pitch at all his first year, barely pitched last year. I mean, he only got what, like four games and they were kind of toward the end of the year. So, The guy who’s just worked, worked, worked. I mean, maybe the most athletic kid on the team, and, you know, having a specialist who can come in and get an out, we need it out. That’s a big deal.
Gary:Yeah. It’s that stopper role, I think is what they call it now in the pros, where you can just bring them in, get the out, get out of the inning and go from there. Yeah. And he’s, whether he’s a stopper or set up closer, it doesn’t matter. I mean, he’s, he’s coming in and doing some great work on the mound.
CB:Well, that was the role they, they’ve actually, it’s not, you can’t do it. The big leagues anymore. Cause in the big leagues you have to face three guys, but that was, they were calling it, uh, if you’re a left handed, it was a loogie, a lefty one out guy and a Ruby, a righty one out guy. He’s, he’s a real, he’s a rookie at this point.
Gary:Well, I guess we can still, uh, still use that in college, at least to end an inning anyway. Uh, but Yeah, just, just another great performance in the pitching staff. Good to see them shake off a bad performance on Tuesday against Princeton and come back to really give four strong. appearances in a row.
CB:And, you know, going to the hitting side again, talking about a guy who’s been here, it’s his third year here, uh, and it’s had to put a lot of work in to get himself on the field. How about Bryce Jones getting his first start of his college career after getting his first hit the night before?
Gary:It was great to see that. He was kind of the dark horse there to go into left field, got inserted into the game about halfway through on friday. Uh, ends up being the walk off run to clinch the run rule. And then, you know, casual two double day on Saturday
CB:is a kid. He red shirt his freshman year, Uh, barely played last year. I mean, I think he maybe got three or four at bats this year before Friday, before this weekend had maybe three or four at bats. I don’t know if you’ve had that many, but I had two and I got the couple of games. Yeah. and then all of a sudden gets to start on, uh, Saturday and Sunday and had three hits over the weekend, two doubles. I mean, again, great kid. he’s one of those kids. He’s right there with Cali words. I’ve been watching him play since He’s about 14, just a phenomenal kid, really talented ball player. it’s, it’s amazing getting to see him get a chance to
Gary:and coach Finwood echoed those statements after the game on Sunday. Just talking about, you know, he’s a veteran guy that hasn’t played a ton since he’s been here, but he’s been in the program for three years. He understands. What they’re looking for. Great kid, fantastic teammate, all of those things. Uh, so it kind of seems like left field, maybe his to lose at this point, the very least is in the driver’s seat to take over on a full time basis, but good to see that. I know I talked to his dad a good bit in Raleigh alley during every game. So excited to see him. I think his, uh, his mom and I believe his girlfriend were there in Raleigh alley as well. Sorry if I got you in trouble there. Um, They were, they were excited to see him get in the game, get on base, and of course score what ended up being the, the walk-off run there on, on Friday. So just good to see these guys start to emerge and, and take advantage of those opportunities when they are put into the game to potentially get them more opportunities down the road.
CB:You know, Bryce is exactly the kind of guy that you want on a college team. Uh, like I said, it’s his third year in the program, so he’s a, he’s a junior, um, baseball sophomore. But he, you know, he was coming to the ballpark every single day, particularly his first year red shirting, knowing like, I’m not going to play like he’s, he’s walking up like he’s, I’m sure he probably doesn’t even check the lineup most days. you know, Like a best, I might get the pinch run at the end of the game. I might get to come out and play the outfield at the end of the, game, maybe, um, but he showed up every single day. I mean, if you saw Bryce every day, you you, think he was the starting, you know, left fielder batting third every day. Like he is a kid that just shows up has a ton of energy. He loves, very clear. He loves his teammates. It’s very clear. He loves baseball. And, you know, having those kind of guy, I mean, John Keane, who is our current volunteer coach, when he was on the team as both a catcher and a pitcher, you know, he was that know, showing up every day, you’re there for your teammates, you’re there to bring energy. you know, you’re not one of these guys like, well, I’m not playing, so I’m going to pout, I’m going to be an energy vampire. It’s like, no, I mean, having these guys that are just really good teammates, and that’s a huge thing. and so that’s the kind of guys everybody roots
Gary:And you could see the dugout reaction when he got his hits, uh, especially on, on Friday. They were excited for. him. And you can see that that being a good teammate showing through there very clearly.
CB:Yeah. It’s, I mean, It’s, It’s it’s I would love nothing more than to see him, uh, take a choke hold on left field and then just dominate the rest of the year.
Gary:Yeah, that him and Maverick. And then, uh, you know, another kind of adjustment, very subtle one that we saw over the weekend is that Evan Holman was behind the dish for all three of these conference games. And according to coach Finwood after the game, that is the plan going forward for conference play where Evan is going to. Get the start behind the dish for all three of those games. I mean, just what he’s able to bring to the table defensively, how he manages a game, um, and just the kind of his presence back there, I think has, is helpful for the pitchers and everyone else, but expect to see him in that starting role, on the weekend series moving forward
CB:You know, I love seeing that you know, it’s funny in your writeup, uh, I kind of, I kind of forget because Evan came from a Juco, but he’s only a sophomore. He only played one year at the Juco before coming here. Um, and so You forget, he is a, little younger than you think of junior college guys and but he, you’re right. I mean, just what he provides you on defense alone is worthwhile. And then he’s been. Really showing good with plate. You know, He’s, he’s a, when he stays within himself and just tries know, make contact, put the ball in play. He is a very, very good hitter. He’s had some good timely hits. He’s been driving the ball a little bit more. So it’s, I’m all for seeing Evan get catch every day on the weekends.
Gary:we see him in that cleanup spot, batting forth between waters and Boucher. which is a pretty good spot to hit with that guy in front of you. And then the other guys up in the lineup and then some good bats behind you, the Boucher, LaVarie, and then Tyser and Stallings. I mean, that’s a good spot to be in, and I think there was a noticeable difference. defensively behind the dish this weekend with him there.
CB:Yeah. And he’s a switch hitter too. So he can provide that. They kind of go righty lefty, you know, Edwards, Meyer waters, Holman switch hitter, Boucher, LaVarie, then Tyson. It’s more or less righty lefty all the way through. So it’s kind of hard for another team to bring in, you know, a lefty to face guys because then, all right, fine. You might get our lefty, but then this guy’s going to come up right handed right after
Gary:and we just need to make sure there’s no double headers in the conference play. Like if we can keep it one game per day, we’re good. Cause I, you. know, Evan is a, is a tough kid And he would probably, you know, catch for all 18 in one day, but we could avoid that. I think that would be ideal.
CB:mean, I most everyone wants to avoid a double header on a weekend, no matter what, but that, that’s definitely a even more incentive for us.
Gary:Absolutely. Well, we’re going to jump down to the game on Sunday. Uh, Georgia Southern was able to salvage a game from the series with a 2 1 victory. Another great pitching performance, just the hitting was not quite there on Sunday.
CB:You know, Ben Moore looked phenomenal. Um, he started the game. I, I’d have to assume whatever kind of injury, I think he had, I think it was saying it was a groin injury. Um, whatever he had going on pretty clear. He looked, looks healthy. I mean, he, he looked great to start the game. Uh, Bailey Mattel, I came out, uh, it looked phenomenal again, Jacob Gomez, three innings scoreless to finish it. you know, The only Trent had a little hiccup, he gave up a two run homer. It’s like, okay, that happens. You know, I mean, I’m sure he’s still feeling some kind of effect from a thumb. Uh, you can tell he didn’t quite look comfortable, but he still looked pretty good. Um, and so, you know, you give a bit, you have a two run Homer. Okay. That happens. You can’t lose a game two to one. That’s, That’s, not on the picture that gave up a home run. That’s on the offense. Just didn’t do it on
Gary:Yeah, and the home run he gave up wasn’t like just some towering shot to right, like it got some wind help and it snuck over the fence and it was a home run, but like you said, given up two runs in nine innings, You you’re going to win most of those games if that’s all your pitching staff gives up
CB:Yeah. I mean, I’ll, I’ll take, uh, four runs over the weekend and expect to be sweeping every week. Um, so it’s, that’s just a fluke that that happens. That was one. I was, my mom always, uh, gets, uh, gets frustrated when the team scores too many runs. She’s like, well, they got to save some of those for later. It’s like, mom, that’s, that’s the crazy, because he did it three days in a row. I think she actually didn’t say it about
Gary:Yeah. I think someone responded to me on Twitter and said, the bats are tired. Geez, give them a break. But I do want to give credit to Georgia Southern and their starting pitcher on Sunday, Typhus.
CB:yeah. Oh man.
Gary:I mean, he was great. Seven innings pitch, no earned runs, gave up just four hits. Uh, the one run that did come in was unearned, six strikeouts, one walk, Uh, through 93 pitches. And they kept him in there. Uh, to finish out that last inning when I thought that they were going to make a move because his pitch count was already up there in the nineties, we got a double off the wall, to put a runner in scoring position. I believe it was Maverick who hit the double and that was close to being a home run itself. Um. And then they pinch hit Rowan Massey for Bryce Jones to get the matchup that they wanted. and Rowan hit an absolute laser. I mean, a screaming line drive. It just happened to be right at the shortstop.
CB:It wasn’t right, The shortstop, the shortstop had to jump for me. He was, he got all the air in the world to get that ball. That was just, I mean, that was a pure, you know, the guy made a great play. Uh, that’s phenomenal. And Rowan really, he, he really went out and got that ball. and still hit it hard. And just, that’s just, that’s just how they sometimes used to have the best luck
Gary:Yeah, I mean, you know, a foot left, a foot right, a foot higher, and that’s, that’s in the gap. And now we’ve tied the game and we’ve got a runner on second. So I thought that was a good approach in a pinch hit spot there to come up there and jump on a pitcher who was, getting up there in pitch count up in the nineties, finally getting a little bit, a little bit loose, leaving some stuff over the plate And he jumped on it just uh, unfortunately could not fall in for him there.
CB:Yeah. I mean, that’s one where sometimes that’s just how baseball works. I mean, you, you. put the exact right guy batting in the exact right time. he hit the ball. Great. And it just happened to get caught. That’s the way baseball is sometimes is that you can do everything well. it just didn’t work out. I mean, it’s like, all right, that’s, that’s, baseball.
Gary:uh,
CB:And there’s a relief pitcher. Uh, the kid Joey White, uh, fits last two innings. He did great too. So, I mean, they’re, they really did have some phenomenal pitching for them on
Gary:I was behind home plate for the last three innings of that game and watching, uh, Joey white pitch. I mean, he’s got some pretty nasty stuff. Like he was able to just basically backdoor. On left-handed hitters to get that breaking ball in for a strike and before you knew it, it was oh two and you didn’t know what was coming. A lot of good late break. Um, definitely had a great day and. I guess they were the same. Some of their pitching from Friday And Saturday because they were not in competitive games and roll out some of their top arms, for that, for that final game on Sunday to steal it. But we actually talked about Ty Fisher on the preview last week that he was the Sunday guy didn’t have the best ERA. But had the lowest batting average against of all three starters. And we absolutely saw that play out with, you know, only four hits over seven innings for him.
CB:mean, yeah, I’m with you. I figured whoever came out of the bullpen was gonna be their best relief guy because they didn’t need to use them Friday or Saturday. Yeah. Ty Fisher, he, uh, I took a few pictures and you get a good idea of what their delivery looks like. And he, he’s got a weird delivery. I’m sure it looks odd coming to the
Gary:Yeah, it’s, everything has run in late break. And it, I was glad that I was just standing behind the fence and not trying to hit that because I would have absolutely embarrassed myself. But I’ll gladly take two out of three. I mean, we can do that every weekend series. We’re in great shape.
CB:You take two out of three, every conference series would be 20 and 10 conference and probably be sitting pretty. Uh, so I’ll take it, you know, obviously you’d like to get the sweep, but it’s hard to sweep. I think there were two of them this weekend. Um, even even Coastal Carolina came in and they lost one to JMU, you know, so it’s It’s not easy to sweep
Gary:Yeah. Southern Miss got a sweep. They’re three and Oh, somewhat of a controversial sweep. Cause I think one game probably should have gone to Marshall, but there was a. A play at the plate involving a catcher blocking something and it got overturned and the game was over. and then Georgia State swept South Alabama, so those are the only two 3 0 teams. Everybody else is either 1 2, and of course South Alabama and Marshall are 0 3, but I mean it’s, it’s going to be pretty tight in those standings I think throughout the whole season based on what I’ve seen.
CB:It’ll it’ll work itself out in the end But I think you’re right. It’s just every every single game is a rock fight in conference
undefined:All right, fans coming up next. We have our interview with Kenny Lavaris, who you’ve heard a good bit about so far in today’s episode. And then we’ll give you a quick preview of the mid-week game against Richmond. And then the weekend road series against the raging Cajuns. Thanks for listening and stay tuned.
Interview:Welcome back to the Hudson homers podcast. We are lucky to be joined today by old dominion baseball, starting third baseman, Kenny LaVarie. Kenny, thanks so much for jumping on with us. No problem. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Well, you come off a pretty impressive weekend, taking two out of three from Georgia Southern, getting run rule victories of all things on Friday and Saturday, uh, how are the guys feeling coming off the weekend? Really good. I think it’s just, it was a good way for us to get our feet wet into Sunbelt play with a whole bunch of new guys this year who haven’t, um, maybe experienced Sunbelt baseball yet. So we got our feet wet and we had a pretty good time doing it. For you personally, you had a crazy good week. I think I was putting all your stats together and it was, it was something dumb. I’ll tell you in terms of stats. But, uh, you know, was there anything particular that changed with your process this week, or it was just kind of things finally coming together, seeing the ball well and having a good at bats. I think just sticking to it. I mean, obviously I got off to a little slower start than I would have liked. Um, my worst in four years here, but, um, just knowing that I’m able to do this, I’ve done it for three years prior to this. So just stick into what I know works and trusting that eventually it’ll come around and it’s starting to now. Of course, we had the, uh, the big time, you know, your brother Marco got on the field for the first time this week. Yeah, that was awesome. I mean, this was the first time we’ve ever got to play competitive together. We play a little league and stuff like that, but senior year of high school would have been our first real chance to, and then COVID took that away from us. So getting to play with them for the first time in a game that meant something because we obviously we did it in the fall a bunch, but it was just a really cool moment for me. He threw pretty well too, two scoreless innings to kind of close out that second game against Princeton. He looked pretty good up there. So I have to ask, have you all gone head to head since you’ve been at ODU? We have. I think I’m 0 for 1 with two walks. He got me to pop out and then he walked me twice. So I guess he has my number. The on base percentage there is still pretty, pretty solid. We got to keep an update on those stats, though, if you guys continue to match up throughout the year. Yeah, yeah. Started the week in a pretty rough way, dropping the game to Princeton. I know the bats were going, the pitching not so much. Yeah. What was the feeling within the team and the leadership of getting guys kind of. Letting that be the wake up call for them to turn around and really just have a great rest of the week. I think it’s just, I mean, first of all, let me say this. The pitching wasn’t fully the issue. Yeah, we didn’t pitch as well as we could have, but we didn’t play as good defense as we could have. We had a few errors in that game that gave them a few more runs than they should have had. And if we don’t make those, we probably win the game. So, it wasn’t fully on the pitching. But I think it is a good wake up call just for the guys to know that anyone could beat us on any given day if we don’t play well. And when we do play well, we could be anyone, uh, on any given day. Yeah, you definitely showed that by bouncing back the next day and beating Princeton pretty soundly there. And then of course, what you did to a really good Georgia Southern team on Friday and Saturday. Like I was saying, all right, let’s take two out of three. Never in my wildest dreams. I think it’d be two 11, one run rule victories. Cause they’re. They got some dudes that can hit. They got some arms, like they’re, they’re not going to finish in the lower half of the Sunbelt. No, not at all. They’ve played a pretty tough schedule too. So far, um, they’ve played some good teams and had some good games. So we just came out and played well. And like I said, that shows that we can be anyone when we decide to play well. Kenny, your mom shared a picture that I had taken from a camp at ODU back in 2018. Um, so I guess you were probably about to go into your senior year, maybe, or maybe you’re about to go into your junior year, but it was you and Marco. You were about the pitch. Marco’s giving you the ball. And she shared that along with the picture that I took. This week of uh, you give a mark of the ball where he’s about to go to pitch. I just thought that was so cool I didn’t remember taking that picture. Yeah, that is pretty cool how the roles have reversed, huh? That was that was neat. I’m glad you guys get to play together. So that’s a big deal We got and you and uh, you and marco and then um, alex and jacob gomez get to play together. It’s always fun Oh, it’s really cool to see the brothers get to play together. Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean, it’s awesome for all of us. Just especially with them being young, um, showing them the way and showing them the way things are supposed to be done. And they can, they can learn from us older brothers. Now he’s, he’s a lot like you when you first got to ODU. He’s real quiet. Is he like, is he always like that or is he kind of annoying little brother? No, he’s, he’s quiet. Um, maybe not as quiet as he is at the field, but he’s a relatively quiet kid. We asked Jacob about that earlier. It sounds like it’s a good thing that they split the brothers up. So you all aren’t living together. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was intentional. That makes a lot of sense. Kind of let them pave their own way a little bit, but also little brothers, not bothering you all the time. Ask you questions about stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we lived together for 18 years. I think we can do three years without it. Four years without it. I think, uh, I think you’ll be all right there. We also talked to Jake and we had him on, uh, beginning of the season about how he kind of felt a lot of that 2021 team vibes from this team in terms of chemistry and kind of everyone on the right track. Did you get those same vibes preseason and how’s that playing out now? Yeah, I think, I think so. Um, maybe from a chemistry standpoint, but this team is not, Like that team in the sense of that team had a lot of homers. This team’s better at playing baseball. I think than that team was that team. Um, don’t get me wrong. We were really good at playing baseball, but we did live and die by the home run. I think a little bit that year and it worked out for us that year, but I think this year it’s a little bit more of a sustainable brand of baseball that we play. Yeah, you can definitely see that coming through, especially this week where the bats started clicking a little bit that it’s. You know, you guys can produce some runs when you really get things going. I think this team has a chance to be really good. We pitched the ball really well. Our pitching has been amazing to start the year. We play pretty good defense. So we keep having offensive days like we did this weekend. We’re going to be pretty good. But speaking of pitching, we ever going to see you on the mound? I mean, you know, I’m getting ready. I’m getting close. I mean, I’ve been on the mound a little bit. Um, the last few weeks have been hard because we played Tuesday. We’re supposed to play Tuesday Wednesday against William and Mary. So that was five games in a week. We played Tuesday, Wednesday against Princeton. It was a little bit harder for me to get off the mound, but I did throw Thursday. I threw a bullpen about a week and a half ago, so I’m getting that. I don’t know. I don’t know where they’re going to use me with this staff we got, cause we’re pretty, pretty dang good, but, um, I’m going to be ready if they need me. I was going to say, it’s tough to get time on the mound with this pitching staff. Cause it feels like you just keep trotting out lefty getting strikeouts, lefty getting strikeouts, righty getting strikeouts. I mean, that’s. It’s got to feel pretty good as a position player, though, to know that your pitchers can back you up. You get in those one, two run leads where you’ve got those locked out guys. I think that that’s important for us. We don’t need to score 10 runs a game to win every night. I mean, there’s going to be the days that we do, and they’re still not going to let up runs. Like we saw this weekend, we won two games, 11 1, and then the one game that we didn’t, they still only gave up two runs. So our staff is pretty, pretty good. Yeah, definitely some great arms on it. We had Jay Cassaday on a couple weeks ago. Talking to him and he kept talking about starting pitching, starting pitching. Then he actually got to start kind of in that opener role on Friday. I thought that was pretty cool and set things up pretty well for a hollabacks the rest of the day on Friday. Yeah. I think Jay’s a great guy for that role. He really. He’s a veteran guy, doesn’t let a lot of stuff bother him, and he did a great job easing us into the game on Friday night and letting us, like, get into the game before we gave the ball to Johnny. Alright, now we’re, we’re gonna ask everyone that comes on the podcast this question, so you’re not the first, you won’t be the last, but We know that the NCAA college football video game is coming out this summer. It’s a long way to return for guys like me who played a ton in college and afterwards. But I was also a big fan of the baseball version of that, the college baseball game. If at some point in the future, the college baseball game comes back and you’re on a roster, what is your overall rating and would you just absolutely dominate the guys on your team playing that? I don’t, yeah, I think I’m not really much of a video game player, but the games I do play are sports games. So I think I’d be good. I don’t know. I would like to be maybe somewhere around 90. I feel like it’s a fair rating. I like that. I like that little push the power number up a little bit, I think. Yeah. Yeah. What’s the arm rating? Uh, 99. Yeah, I was going to say, it’s got to be 99, right? I got a plus arm. Yeah. Oh, I love it. I know on MLB The Show, you can do the two way player. So, I mean, you’re already set up and primed for that. You can be the first one in the college game to do it. Yeah, but I’m like a fake two way, because I do it all, but I haven’t really done it yet. I have one collegiate inning in the Cape Cod League, and I haven’t thrown a Division I inning yet. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know that we are all awaiting the long anticipated return of Kenny LaVarie to the mound for ODU. We’ve been hearing about it for years and years and years. So we’re excited to hopefully see that at some point here in the next couple of weeks. Me too. Me too. Now I imagine you have not played at Louisiana before, right? Yes. I have not been there. All right. Coach Finwood said that it’s pretty crazy environment, kind of on par with what you, what you’ve seen at Southern Miss. Uh, for some of their games, I think with a little more French and farmer friend gibberish mixed in there. But, uh, is there anything different that you all are doing from like a team perspective of getting prepped to go and travel on Thursday and head down there for a three game set. I don’t think so. I mean, I think baseball is baseball. If you’re going to let stuff like that bother you, you’re probably not going to be successful in the first place. So, I mean, I think all it does is bring a little bit more life to the game. It shouldn’t really affect us too much as a team. I think we’re, uh, tougher than that mentally. You’re on the left side of the infield with Kyle Edwards and the two of you make some pretty crazy plays over there. On Friday, Kyle made that stop deep in the hole as the rain just started falling and through just a cannon shot to first to get the guy out. Uh, what’s it like playing next to him though? And he is going to be flying all around you, scooping things up. Uh, it’s awesome. Me and Kyle have a little inside joke. Whenever one of us get a ground ball and get the guy out, although I have made a few more errors than I would like this year to start the year, but we’re going to clean that up, but me and Kyle make a joke that. If you hit the ball to the left side of the infield, you’re out. You don’t even got to run to first base. Me and Kyle like to joke around about that. You’re not wrong though. It’s a very like big league esque side of the field. I mean, it’s, that ball’s going to die over there. We make the joke that you’re better off hitting us a routine three hopper and we might miss that one. But if you got them side to side, we’re probably not missing it. For sure. Yeah, you’re really good at the, the, I was called the chipper Jones play going in on the ball and just bare hands slinging it. You’re, you’re great at that play. Yeah. Those are fun ones. No, you play a little bit of first base series. I mean, I think, yeah, we only got like one game here maybe during the year, but how, how was that playing at first? It was new, but if that, I mean, I might be back over there at some point. I don’t know. Depending on how the pitching goes. Um, obviously I’d rather be at third base, but, uh, yeah. If my arm needs it or that’s what’s best for the team, then I’ll head back over there and I’ll like it. Yeah. I mean, it’s a good, the good thing is, you, you know how to field. And if you put a guy who’s already really good at fielding, you already have good footwork, you know, people think you can just go play first base. You can’t. I will say it’s harder than I thought it was. It’s harder than I gave people who play over there credit. I mean, I guess if you play over there every day, it might get easier, but going from the left side to the right side of the infield is not as easy as you would, as some might think. Yeah. I get real frustrated watching guys speak when they play a first base and nothing makes me like a lot of right handed first baseman doing where they put their, their left foot on the bag, trying to catch the ball with the left hand. It’s like, man, you just cut off like two feet of stretch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, if you built any sympathy for the guys over there at first base now that you’ve done it with someone within the cannon shot, you know, plus arm from across the diamond. I mean, yeah, for sure. I would have to assume if you play there every day, it does get easier. But for guys like me and boo aren’t used to playing over there, it is. It does take a bit of an adjustment to Figure out there’s a lot more footwork stuff third base. You just kind of react but first base It’s a lot more technique and stuff that it requires to be good at you You’re gonna play in the Cape again after the this spring here. I don’t think so. I’ve been yeah went three times I don’t know what my plan is yet. I guess we’ll see how the year goes I’ll decide that from there. Okay. I was curious. Are you, are you going to be trying to play pro ball? Is that the hope still? That’s the plan. All right, let’s go. I, I have said many, I’ll say this to you, but I do not understand why every scout in the world isn’t out watching you every time. I don’t know what a pro team could want more out of a guy. Left handed hitting, outstanding fielder, great teammate. I love the way you talk on the field. I just, It’s, it’s one of those things that makes me not understand, uh, the pro game anymore. That you’re not, uh, the fact that you’re here for your senior year, frankly, is crazy to me. And I’m glad you’re here. Love you, buddy. But I don’t get it. Maybe everything happens for a reason. Hopefully I’ll get my chance at the end of this year, but maybe it was just God telling me to play with my brother for one year. I don’t know. I mean, I was a pro last year, but I’m here now and I’m loving it. I got one last go at it. I’m here with Marco and the rest of the guys. It’s awesome. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Yeah. He said much worse things. Good to play with your brother. That’s for sure. Yeah, we’re definitely hoping for a nice long run into the summer there. Extend that out a little bit. So you don’t have to worry about the Cape early on, but Kenny, uh, thanks so much for taking a few minutes out of your day on a very busy travel week to come chat with us. We greatly appreciate it. So thank you. No problem. Thanks for having me guys.
Gary:I want to chat through our midweek this week, with Richmond coming down to the Bud. They’re 9 and 10 so far to start the season, uh, but the interesting fact, this is going to be their first road game. They opened with a 19 game homestand.
CB:is, I mean, That’s just a benefit of they have a pretty nice field. Um, and a lot of these Northern teams want to come down and play. I mean, I see Niagara came down and Mount St. Mary’s, Boston College, Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut. I mean, these all sound like cold places. I don’t know where Marist is. I’m assuming it’s cold. Princeton. I mean, yeah, Cornell, a lot of, a lot of cold sounding
Gary:Yeah, yeah, Maris, I believe that they’re up there in New York somewhere. I think I’ve followed them for basketball in the past, but. Yeah, but to go 9 and 10 against maybe not super tough competition all at home, I’m a little surprised that they’re 9 and 10. I thought they have a little bit better record. I think I started off getting swept in four games by Niagara, so I guess they broke out of that hold up there in nearly Canada and decided to come down and take it out on the Spiders.
CB:They also, you know, you talk about first year with a new head coach and that’s always a change. I mean, I’m looking, I look through the roster and you think a team in the middle of Virginia, I’d recognize some names that they, they have very few players from Virginia. so I’m I’m sure it’s just kind of a transition year for them.
Gary:Yeah, and they did take 2 out of 3 against Cornell over the weekend, so they’re on a little bit of a warm up streak. Yeah. You know, as we talked about with Princeton, we just have to show up and play ball and play well and do our thing and come out with a win. Don’t take them lightly. Don’t overlook them. I hope that they have learned that lesson from a Tuesday last week.
CB:I mean, I always feel like whenever you play Richmond that’s the game you should win. And you know, Richmond plays them tough. They’re definitely one every time they play Richmond, especially when they play up, up in Richmond, they, they play really, really hard. So again, like I said, got to show up and, you know, Be prepared to, uh, to play and to beat them.
Gary:yeah, they, they do have some talent. Um, they they’ve announced their starter. I’m going to butcher his last name. Uh, Logan Yumker. Um, he’s six foot eight. he’s a big dude. He’s got a 1. and two thirds innings. 17 strikeouts, 11 walks. Uh, so they’re definitely not trotting out any kind of scrub here on Tuesday. That’s going to be batting practice. I mean, anytime some guy’s throwing from six foot eight, it’s going to be difficult to hit.
CB:He needs more vowels in that name. It’s Y M K E R. That’s not enough letters.
Gary:Yeah. I’m, I’m no expert on pronouncing things, but I’m going to go with, uh, Yonker and, uh, probably be wrong, but that’s, that’s okay. Uh, either way,
CB:I’m thinking Imker.
Gary:a problem.
CB:I think it’s Imker. Imker. That’s my guess. I don’t know how I’ll prove that, but it’s my guess.
Gary:We’ll have to listen out and, uh, hear if, if Jack gets it right on the call on Tuesday. Okay.
CB:Sure.
Gary:Um, yeah, but they’ve got four guys in their lineup that are hitting over 300. So they can definitely hit the ball. One guy I wanted to highlight, uh, DJ Pacheco is a junior outfielder for them. He’s hitting 327, 1. 100 OPS, uh, three bombs, 11 ribbies, and he’s four for four stealing bases, so he’s got some speed too, but really they, the top four in their lineup. Uh, the play regularly, uh, They They can hit. So I don’t think this is going to be a game where we’re lighting them up with pitching. I think they’re going to put the ball in play and see what happens. It’s probably gonna be a pretty good ball game on Tuesday at the butt.
CB:Yeah. I mean, I always, I, they’re one of my, one of my favorite, um, mascot and logo. I love the Richmond logo. I’m not a huge fan of the school. They’re kind of, got that. They think they’re UVA. They’re kind of, they got the arrogant jerk thing. They were very rude last time I was up there. Uh, some all four beat in Richmond.
Gary:I, think when they built their new football stadium. a lot of their fans were buying three season tickets just so they didn’t have to sit next to anybody. Um, so that was always really fun to, to interact with up there in Richmond, but we got to show up. We got to play well. I think if we put 10, 11, 12 runs on the board, we should cruise pretty well, but they’re, they’re not going to make it easy for us and they are absolutely a step up in competition from Princeton last week.
CB:absolutely. But then into the weekend, we got our first road trip weekend.
Gary:Yes, heading down to see the old raging Cajuns and coach Ben would seem pretty excited about the trip. He said he had some good memories there. He knows the crowd is pretty crazy and a good atmosphere. So guys are kind of, kind of, get that first Sunbelt road trip crowd experience here, like you see it at Southern miss sometimes, and some of the other programs that we’ve done. Always have great fan turnout. But They are, 11 and eight to start the season. Uh, they just finished taking two out of three from Arkansas state. Pretty good series there. They dropped the Friday game, uh, 11 to eight. Came back in, won Saturday, seven to six and won on Sunday, eight to five. They have a midweek game on Tuesday as well against Southern.
CB:Wherever that is.
Gary:Southern University. I know, I’ve, I know, I’ve bet on them in basketball. I couldn’t tell you exactly where they are, but I imagine they’re somewhere in the south.
CB:I enjoy it. Actually have a Wednesday game too. They played McNeese, which again, wherever that is.,
Gary:I know. I know that one’s in Louisiana because their basketball team made the NCAA tournament and they’re coached by. Uh, the fugitive himself, Will Wade, who was at VCU for a while and LSU can for NCAA violation. So I at least know where McNeese State is. That’s a probably a good little rivalry game there for Louisiana.
CB:and I see that the Louisiana, they got to play a weekend at Minute Maid Park in Houston. That’s pretty awesome. Got to play Vanderbilt, L. S. U. And Houston. Um, and uh, not surprisingly lost all three of those games. But not really blowouts played all pretty close games against really good. I mean, as here Vanderbilt was number nine LSU was number three. So even losing those games, that’s, That’s a big deal. good for them.
Gary:I’m hoping those early season tournaments become a much bigger deal because they’re always fun to watch. They’ve done one at Minute Maid in Houston for a while. Uh, they do one up in Arlington at the Rangers new stadium. So I would love to see that, like any indoor or warm weather place, go get four to six, pretty good teams, throw in the mix and kind of do what basketball does with those multi team events, I would love to see ODU get into one of those and have a nice little away road trip.
CB:Well, I’ve been in them before, not in the big league stadium, but they’ve, they’ve hosted, you know, some of those weekends. The last time that Virginia tech played at ODU was in one of those. And that same weekend we had Kentucky back when they were really good at AJ Reed, who ended up being a a first round pick of the Astros. And I think it was probably playing for Houston the next year. And then out of baseball, like a year for that was very odd career yet, but he hit a home run that I don’t think has
Gary:I, I remember AJ Reed. He definitely had some power whenever he did make contact, he crushed it in the pros. I just don’t think he made quite enough contact to stay around for a while, but I know that they. There used to be a lot of early season tournaments down in like Myrtle Beach at the Ripken fields. They would do them down in Florida, but would love to see that trend continue of using major league ballparks to have those because it, it’s just as a cool feel to it. You get some matchups that you normally don’t, uh, especially with some of those top teams.
CB:Yeah, it’s anything that makes college baseball more prominent is uh, which you know, it’s funny There’s a meme going around this week about how um, you know The ncaa banning bat flips and the celebrations and those were the things that were going on social media that were making it big college baseball last few years was really Building up a lot of steam and it seems like a lot of that kind of got killed by these, you know Arbitrary rules and so like I saw a guy I think uh, they did a bad flip and got ejected from a game You Um, and it’s it’s it’s disappointing. I mean, you know, it’s you’re putting grandpa mentality on the modern day It’s like, you know, I probably 10 years ago would have been like anybody I don’t want to see bat flips and all that. But you know, the reality is like it’s just guys having fun You know, it’s like hey, you don’t get bad flipped on don’t give up the home run. So it’s It is I mean, it’s it’s a little sad that that just kind of made me think of that that these things that could help Grow the game that we’re kind of
Gary:Yeah, especially with the talent that’s stockpiling in college baseball with the shortening of the draft and some of the other things we’ve talked about. But I just wish there was more discretion on what constitutes an ejection for a bat flip. Like, you know, if you’re chucking the bat at the pitcher or throwing it 50 feet in the air, then yeah, sure. Like, that’s, that’s a problem. But some of the ones I’ve seen ejections for are. Like they’re, they’re nothing. That’s just taking the fun out of it and ruining a good moment for somebody. I, I think you got to make it as entertaining as possible. And like you said, you don’t want to give up the bad flip. Don’t give up the bomb or like, you know, there might be some consequences for your bad flip later. We’ll see. Don’t make this the no fun league like we’ve seen in some other sports.
CB:And the part that bugs me the most, the NCAA, the people who are banning it would be the first ones to be sharing it. You know, they were the ones that were had the clips and the pictures and they had it off and they were shoving all over social media, which they should have been. I mean, you want, you want to sell the sport and then they’re the same ones that ban it. So that’s frustrating.
Gary:reminds me of like with NFL films used to share photos of like the biggest hits of the week and there were just these helmet to helmet concussion inducing hits. They’re like, we have to do something to get rid of concussions in the game. Well, you seem to like putting them on the video clips out there pretty frequently. Um, but anyway, well, we got, we got sidetracked there. We’ll, uh, we’ll get back to back flipping at another time. But, likely three starting pitchers. I don’t know what particular order they’re going to be in this week. But. Andrew Herman is their big lefty. 3. 04 ERA, uh, 31 strikeouts, 11 walks. He’s had a pretty good season so far. Uh, Carson Fluno, a 3. 66 ERA. Those are two of their top three arms that you’re going to see at some point starting over the weekend. Then on the offensive side, Kyle DeBarge, uh, 1. 001 OPS, eight bombs, 23 reviews, dude is a monster
CB:He was the name I remembered immediately when I looked at the stats here. Um, I was like, I must know his name from last year. It’s because he had a monster year last year while he’s already got more home runs than he had last season. So he’s off to a heck of a,
Gary:Yeah. they, they can absolutely hit. And, Trey LaFleur is another one to watch out for. He’s hitting, you know, just a casual 404 with a 1. 134 OPS, three home runs, 13 rubies. Uh, so yeah, surprise, surprise. We’re going up against a tough team in conference play this weekend. and this time you get to do it on the road.
CB:The roads are great guys get a chance to go bond. they go down there and get some, get some, catfish and some, uh, move on, which I don’t know what that is, but, uh, somebody from Louisiana was telling me they love boot on. So go and I don’t know what it is, but have fun with it. Um, but you get that chance to go and get out of your element, only focus on the baseball and really just be with your guys. So go in there And, have a great weekend.
Gary:There’ll be some nerves and some anxiety, especially if that crowd on Friday at six is. There’s really cranking. But I mean, that those are the environments you’re going to play in the Sunbelt and the conference tournaments can be the same way. And you know, if we’re in up in a regional, it’s not going to be at ODU. So there’s going to be some, uh, hostile fan bases that you’re dealing with. And just love to see our guys, you know, get used to that and then go thrive in them, kind of like the way Jacob Gomez thrived when we were down in South Carolina and 21, and, you know, being able to chirp a little bit back and have fun like that. So. Be a good experience for them.
CB:That’s where you really see what guys are made of too. It’s funny enough, I went and saw, um, Tanner Shadoe, who is our 2024 commit and he plays at Cape Henry, uh, probably going to be like a third baseman outfielder. He was pitching that night. Actually, in Cape Henry And, avoiding the game there, Grassfield, Grassfield, there was some high school kids that decide to come over to the Cape Henry side and start talking a bunch of mess and chirping at the players and the Cape Henry players, you know, they were just kind of laughing and talking back and it just showed like they, there was a level of just, we got this and complete comfort and confidence because that, that, I mean, this is the guys who’ve been there, they won the state championship last year. I think might’ve won it two years ago. There’s probably some kids on there. The seniors probably have two state championships already. Probably lying for another one. I mean, so right there, if, if a high school kid can show that level of just like composure, Then I guarantee we got some guys at our college team They’re going to be able to have that composure and enjoy that moment. Enjoy that experience So, you know a lot of our players when you talk to them They have southern miss is one of those places where other teams go in and they I mean the the Fans really get after them. But if you talk to our guys, they love playing southern miss they they let they say the people are actually when you talk to them genuinely nice Love baseball and they do they’re just rooting for their team and that’s part of the whole thing for them. Yeah
Gary:I’ve interacted with a lot of Southern Miss fans. I’ve had several invites to go down there for football, baseball, whatever it is. They, they truly are awesome baseball fans. Their stadium is cool. What they do out beyond right field, where they just basically back the trucks up and have tailgates to watch the game is pretty awesome. I would love to see our crowd and our fan base get to that point where the new ballpark comes rolling out because it makes it a very, very fun environment to play baseball.
CB:Baseball in the south is just something special when you watch, you know, like Southern Miss and I’m sure we’ve seen this weekend on TV with Louisiana and you watch some of those SEC games and it’s just, it’s a whole different vibe and that’s really what we all want to have.
Gary:Absolutely. Well, hopefully they get off to a good start, can find a way to go down to Louisiana, win the series. Uh, cause you know, you win your first two series, you put yourself in a pretty good spot, uh, for the rest of the season, give yourself a little bit of breathing room there. Before we wrap up here, a couple of things for you, go to youmonarchist. com and click on the. Store button, you will see a lot of good baseball merch. We just, added a new shirt this week. All of the proceeds from that go back to the program, either through ODAF or through, the pride of ODU NIL collective. uh, so great way to to get some cool gear and also support. ODU baseball, and then there’s some other shirts out there for some other teams. We have a lot more on deck for that. And then we’re also doing a Monarchist Bracket Challenge. If you go to any of our social media feeds, you will see the invite for that. You can go in there, compete against other ODU fans. The password on there is VCUsucks. So, you’ll feel right at home logging into that for college basketball. CB, anything on your end? Where can people find your stuff?
CB:I’m glad you told me the pad because I was, I need to do a bracket. I didn’t realize it was a password. So I’m glad you mentioned it. I’m about to go, uh, set that up so we see how badly I could lose. Um, but you know, for me, just, you know, keep looking at CB sports photography, um, on Instagram, uh, Facebook, and we definitely, uh, always make to try to make those co posts on the monarchist You can typically see them on the monarchist pages. High school baseball started, so I’ve already gotten to one game. I’m hoping to get to a few more and, uh, hoping to see some OU tennis next weekend while these guys are on the road. And I’m just looking forward to another beautiful week of, of enjoying, uh, OU
Gary:think ODU Tennis set a record the other day for the fastest win in program history. I want to say it was Arkansas State. Like, they clenched the match in like 20 or 25 minutes. Something stupid. They are awesome. If you get a chance to go over to the Tennis Complex and check them out, they are very good. They went a lot or a lot of fun to watch, but I think that will do it for us on the Hudson homers podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you’re not already, make sure to subscribe. We’ll have a contest here coming up in the next couple of weeks, uh, for anyone who leaves us a review. So feel free to go in there and leave us a nice five star, review. If you leave us a one star, I’m not sending you anything, but five star, I’ll gladly do it.
CB:We’ll send you something, but you won’t want it.
Gary:Yeah, it’ll, it’ll be a box and it won’t smell good. I’ll tell you that. All right. Awesome. Well, I’m Gary. Thanks so much for listening and go. Monarchs.
CB:Hey, I’m CB. We appreciate you. Go Monarchs!
Outro:Okay.