CB, Gary and Coach Finny recap the opening weekend series against Quinnipiac, including the new outfield seating. Jayce Park and Connor Schumann join after strong appearances out of the pen on Saturday.

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Yeah, I

saw you holding the note there.

Cb.

Well,

those, yeah.

Yes.

Welcome fans to the Hudson Homers podcast.

It's a victory Monday here.

Went two in one over the weekend against Quinnipiac.

Got CB here, got Coach Finny here.

Cb I'll start with you.

How was your weekend?

Hey, it was great, man.

We got to watch baseball.

Uh, I almost died on Wednesday.

On uh, Friday.

Uh, that was fun.

I was, it was cold.

It was, it was rough.

Uh, but then, you know, of course Saturday was beautiful and, uh, we

got two outta three and got to see actual baseball at the bud at that.

It's not the bud but town, bank field at Ellmer Family Baseball Complex.

Uh, I think,

I do think we can still call it the bud though, because it's still the bud.

Bud Metheny baseball something.

So I, yeah, it'll be the Ellmer, you know, family baseball complex.

And, uh, we're, we're I I think we can still call it the bud.

I really do.

Okay.

Until somebody don't not,

yeah.

I don't wanna disrespect any of our corporate, uh, sponsors,

ma, feel we appreciate them.

Uh, but yeah, but it was, but it was awesome.

We were out there watching baseball.

It was fantastic.

Got to hang out with Gary some, watching the game.

It was great.

Yeah.

Friday.

I know it got a little cold where you were standing at CB behind the plate, but I'll

tell you, I was in the left field stands on Friday, and I really didn't get any

cold until maybe the bottom of the eighth, like the way the sun comes through.

It was nice.

Uh, but everyone that was involved in getting that outfield seating

together gets a pat on the back today.

It looks fantastic.

It doesn't look temporary.

Um, I was blown away when I walked through there, but just how well done it was.

Yeah.

Again, you know, we're super grateful for that.

Um, our administration.

Um, Dr. Cig, Ashley Schumacher, everybody that put that together.

Bruce Stewart, Rick French, um, our president, um, Brian Hemphill, you

know, all of 'em, you know, went overboard and above and beyond.

Uh, give our fans a, a nice place to watch games from, although it's a little far

away, but it is what we are this year.

And, you know, I told the guys

it's, it's a lot closer than Hampton though.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

We gotta start, uh.

The tradition of pointing to those stands when you hit a home run and, yeah.

So Zedalis hit hit his on a Saturday, you know, and I was pointing out

there and he was like, what, what?

And I was like,

we'll get used to it.

We'll get, you know, as we go.

Yes.

But great crowds on both days.

I mean, Friday, I couldn't believe it walking in there.

I mean, I think the temperature set it was 40 something degrees,

didn't feel like it, but it was hard to find an empty seat up there.

Uh, and, and what we've dubbed the litter box there in right center that

was full of Quinnipiac parents and, and family, like it looked great in the

outfield and a really great job, our fans to show up for the first games back.

Yeah.

We're very appreciative of that.

And I, I don't know what our people are doing in terms of counting heads,

but they're, they're shortchanges us.

They announced like 220 for Friday, and I know there was more

people than there that, so no

way.

I, I think they gotta, you know, under, they gotta learn that you need to.

You're supposed to count everybody that's even potentially in the ballpark for,

uh, for everybody that walks through

the gate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anybody that walks down Elkhorn Avenue, going to the chemistry building, counted.

So

yes.

Uh, that's how most people do it anyway, but you know, good, good.

Pretty good weather.

Especially Saturday.

Got a little chilly last few innings Friday.

But

yeah,

overall, you know, nice, nice weather and you know, it's all, it's never

perfect when you have to play a double header, especially right outta the chute.

Um.

Mm-hmm.

And you know, there's go, it is what it is.

We had to get in and yesterday, you know, it looked like a good move

'cause it kind of rained all day.

Mm-hmm.

It was crappy.

So.

Yeah.

Um, we'll get back to work, uh, out on the field tomorrow and, uh.

Ready for this week's games, but we, we can go through, you know, if you guys

want to and just talk about game one.

Any questions, comments?

Um, I thought generally speaking, you know, 15 to five was the final and, uh,

I thought Darin Kuskie threw the ball.

Well, he had the one and he gave up singles and three runs,

but he settled back down, you know, nine strikeouts, no walks.

Uh, that's a good workman-like first performance by him.

Uh, and the bullpen guys came in and, and threw the ball pretty well,

for the most part, as, as well.

There's good to see Nick Sulpizio get back out there, throw the ball well for us.

And, um, I thought, uh, you know, the, the downside of that game is.

Uh, MVA Marcus Van Alstein, you know, hurt his elbow.

He's going to see, you know, get it looked at tomorrow, so.

Mm-hmm.

It doesn't sound like it's great.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

He been throwing the ball real well for out the bullpen, so that was unfortunate.

Kids never had an arm injury.

It's like crazy how that can happen.

Yeah.

Such

a, a good guy.

Yeah, good guy, great teammate.

And, um, so we'll, we'll hope for the best with him and then, and keep our fingers

crossed as we try to find that out.

Um, so anyway, we swung the bats really well.

I thought our approaches were good, you know, uh, we took advantage of, you

know, a little bit of their wildness, you know, and one of the things we've

stressed this year is just being tougher and not moving our feet on, on inside

pitches and not jumping outta the way of breaking balls in particular,

breaking ball off speed pitches.

Um, and I thought our guys all weekend did a good job of that.

Um, really frustrated their, their game three starter.

Um, by, you know, getting, we hung in there and got hit four times.

Got him out of the game.

Yeah.

Um, so, you know, we took our walks.

Uh, we were very opportunistic.

I mean, Zach late was probably the, you know, the hero of

that game with five rbis.

Mm-hmm.

You know, comes up, hits a double his first step, bat of the season,

drives in a couple, gets us the lead.

And Zach had good at bats all weekend.

So he, he, he,

uh,

he was very solid all weekend.

I thought Maverick stalling, same thing.

Good at bats.

You know, guys were playing like, you know, two fifth year

seniors you'd expect him to play.

And so Scotty Young Scotty had a good weekend.

He was kind of in the middle of a lot of scoring opportunities for us and making

things happen with the bunk game slash game, getting hits and running the bases.

You know, like his hair's on fire like he does.

Yeah.

Um, well.

E Yeah.

Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit in the first two games

Friday and the first game on Saturday.

As far as I could tell last season, I, we didn't have a game where that happened, so

I think right off the bat, I mean, that's just getting that production up and down

the order is getting the ball in play, draw on walks, whatever they gotta do.

Uh, but to have everyone in your lineup get a hit in the first two games

of the season's, pretty impressive.

Uh, I thought, and I thought our bats were good, like, you know?

Mm-hmm.

We were swinging at strikes.

We weren't chasing, and, and this is what we talked about today.

It was different in game three.

Was that a focus thing?

Clearly it was because we chased more, we lost our shape in the box more.

It just wasn't the same looking group.

And, you know, obviously the results speak.

I mean, you know, we score 15 and 15 and we score five and we struck

out 15 times in that third game.

And so most of those weren't strike.

Um, it's just chasing too much and, you know, were, were we just tired?

Was it, what was it?

You know, those are things that we, we, we call 'em mental

Mondays once the season starts.

And those are questions you ask.

You know, you try to look at some film and, uh, you try to get in,

in, you know, some guys that need a little extra love and talk about it.

And some of it's mental, most of it's mental usually.

Um, and some of it's, you know, some physical adjustments

we need to make as well.

So, uh, but I thought game one, we played a pretty complete game.

Uh, we caught the ball in defense for the most part, uh, well, and pitched it

well, made them, made them swing the bats.

And, you know, they were a scrappy bunch, man.

I mean, I, they're not, they're not a pushover by any means.

They're well coached.

They had a very veteran pitching staff.

You could see that.

Um, and so it was really good, um, to, to, to get off to a good start

like that in game one on Friday.

They were just very competitive.

At no point were they, you could see 'em packing the end.

They were, they were fighting the entire time.

Yep, yep.

And I think that's a tribute to John Delaney, their head coach.

Yeah.

And the coach of staff and the kind of kids they get.

So, uh, and I reminded the guys last time they came down here

in 2018, they, they beat us.

Yeah.

They won the series against us.

So, um, you know, game, game, one of the double header, game two of the series, I

thought, uh, guys came out beautiful day.

Uh, BP was so nice, you know, working up a sweat and just, just,

you know, not, not shivering.

Um, and, you know, the guys were, were gonna be ready to play and, uh, I thought

JJ Gati came out and was a bit too amped up, which can happen with that.

That's

what I was

wondering

too.

Okay.

So

yeah, it's one of those things you got thread the needle with jj, like,

you, like his competitive nature.

Certainly.

But he can take it past the point of it being productive.

And so mm-hmm.

You know, today's talk with him was certainly about that.

Uh, 'cause he wasn't sharp at all, like he's been

mm-hmm.

So much better than that against us.

Um, and he was kinda all over the place and, you know, at 67, 68 pitches,

you know, after 10 batters, three and a third and just had to go get 'em.

Um, so the good part of that was a guy that, you know, had been hurt

and hadn't thrown the ball well, you know, so far in his young career here.

You know, just got back all the way healthy and threw

the ball real well for us.

A couple inner squads right before we started and we dumped him into

the, the game and he, he, I thought he was fantastic at Jay Park.

Yeah.

Really good.

Kind of electric out there, almost.

He hasn't been built up for a number of pitches yet, so.

Mm-hmm.

You know, he threw, I think, I don't know, ending at two thirds,

maybe at 21 time to go get him.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

Um, and you know, that game as it, as it went on again offensively,

like we did some, some good things.

Same, same type of approach, I thought.

Mm-hmm.

Um, it was a better day to hit.

The ball was jumping.

Tyler Dallas hits a home run, a double Mavis went off the wall on center field.

Um, we had a couple other extra base hits.

I thought the guys were in the base as well, and we kind of busted that one open.

Uh, and then we're able to use some guys, you know, in the pen that maybe

just, you know, hadn't been out there as much and needed to get some work.

Um, so that was good.

And, you know.

10 run rule after seven was nice.

When You gotta play a double header.

Yeah.

Yes.

Save some arms.

And we were able to start that second game just, just a tad earlier.

Right?

Uh, it's hard now.

Is that something that, um, that you and and the other coach decide,

like kind of before the game

deciding to do

a doubleheader?

I'm always in favor of playing 10 after seven.

Yeah.

I, I just, it's a league role for us.

I always wanna play.

You know, I, I just think it's, it's, let's say early when it's

cold, man, it's nobody be out there down 10 runs in the eighth inning.

Like, you know, just, it's just, you don't, it's easy to say, well, we can

get some other guys in, but like, what, what are you really doing to them?

Like right's not competitive moment.

It's, it's a chance for them is all it is.

But so yeah.

So we get that.

We get that w and you know, again, um, up and down the lineup I thought

we saw on the batch pretty well.

So game two and you win the series and you know, I told the guys, Hey,

they sometimes what, oftentimes not sometimes what happens in a, in a three

game series, if the first two games aren't close and you won 'em, uh, they

saved their better bullpen arms 'cause they didn't need to use them yet.

Uh, and so they had their two best guys still down there.

And, you know, guys knew it and.

You know, we did have the lead.

They brought their, the second kid that, the first kid that brought

in out the bullpen, I thought was their best guy of the weekend.

I mean, he pitched great, you know?

Yeah.

Uh, struck out eight, I think maybe we got two hits.

He didn't walk anybody.

He was mixing that slider and fastball really well.

So you gotta give him credit for that.

I just thought we just lost our, our shape and our focus we're up five to two.

Um, we had the one inning where we slash and, you know, uh, Evan's

got his head down and runs through a stop sign, you know, just didn't

pick me up fast enough with no out.

We got a chance to have a big inning that inning and we don't, and so it's

just a, you know, base on mistake.

And then we also made a base on mistake and a knife with Mag making the, the third

out a third and, and Stallings coming up.

We've been our, one of our hotter guys on the weekend.

Those are things that we practice and it can't happen, you know, it did and

we gotta learn from it and move on.

But I mean, we probably, and again, not taking anything away from them.

Uh, we probably lost that second game as much as anything.

We dropped a, you know, we didn't, we didn't catch a popup in left

field that should have been caught with two outs to let them tie it up.

And the, the cool part of that was, oh, and your gets this first

college appearance's gotta come in.

Yeah.

You know, uh, and, and he's had to come in there with, you know, second

and third and um, or whatever it was first I don't remember what it was.

Mm-hmm.

But, you know, and, and faced our best hitter, uh, it was our kid

and he flipped two good breaking balls in there and got 'em spin

off one and popped it up the left.

Yeah.

We just didn't catch it.

We were in a shift and TJ didn't pay enough attention to know

where the storage stop was that he wasn't gonna be able to catch it.

He took his eyes off it for a second and then couldn't pick

it back up with the lights.

And to be fair, and this is on me, uh, we haven't been out

under the lights very much.

It's been so cold at night.

Cold.

Yeah.

We just haven't done it.

Um, and so that was a, you know, if you haven't practiced something

enough, you can't really get mad at 'em too much when they mess it up.

So I always believe that as a coach.

So, we'll keep working on that and, you know, we'll, we'll get

more popups and fly balls under the lights as we go and, um, we'll,

we'll catch that ball the next time.

Yeah, I, I was impressed.

Really, all weekend with the arms you brought out of the pin.

You didn't just bring 'em into easy situations, right.

Like, Jayce Park comes in, bases loaded, won out in an early part

of the game, we're like, it's not clear who's gonna win that thing.

It was well before we had our seven run inning, but he was

cool, calm, and collected and just

yeah.

Strike out, fly out, inning over.

Like he's done that a thousand times in his life.

And I think between him and seeing LP go shut guys down, and even

Owen UI coming in, that, that's gotta give you some confidence with

your bullpen at least early on.

Well, I think those guys and and Johnson had a clean first in Yes.

Mm-hmm.

As we found out.

And, um.

He wasn't, wasn't as good the, his second inning, but he's a guy that

we're gonna have to depend on as well.

Mm-hmm.

Um, outta that bullpen and some more guys gonna have to step up.

I think Ben Ton's got a really good chance to help us.

Mm-hmm.

A freshman, he is got a really good arm and he didn't get in this weekend, but

Chris CTE a big right with a good arm that I think will get in there and help us.

Um, I thought, uh, Jackson Ocon pitch.

Well,

yeah.

Uh,

in his first appearance, you know, he threw a bunch of strikes.

He gave up some hits, which he's gonna give up some hits.

He's around the strike zone a bunch.

Um, but he wasn't, you know, by any means phased or, you

know, he was very, very into it.

So I really like his competitiveness.

Yeah, he was, he was sitting around the, what, 92, 93?

Pretty consistently when he got out there.

And I mean, going, what, three and a third and only throwing about 50 pitches.

I That's,

yeah.

Pretty solid efficiency with a good fastball.

Yep.

Yep.

He was fine.

Um, so that that's what this is about.

This, this early season stuff, you know, um, just figuring out what

roles and what spaces and shapes to put guys in where they fit the best.

Um, I thought overall we did a pretty good job holding runners.

You know, we ran a couple timing picks at first base because they were hopping

with, uh, Kelly and he picked two guys off, you know, and so that,

that worked out well, uh, for us.

And I thought Mac guy caught the ball real well in the first games for sure.

So that was, that was also helpful.

And you know, we did, one of our guys has been playing great for, didn't

play, got a couple pinch hits, but he was sick as I found out Saturday Jack.

Oh,

really been playing well for us.

And he, he was just had a stomach bug this weekend, so.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, we couldn't, couldn't get him in there.

And I think he would've helped us in that, in that second game.

Uh, the double header, you know, because it's another

left-handed back, uh, to put there.

So, but he'll get back in there this weekend.

So we're excited about that.

All in all, it's a lot of good things happen.

The things that didn't kind of go as well are all fixable, workable things.

And that's why the games are your best, you know, teachers right now.

Uh, and you just gotta make sure that you focus on the things that you can

fix, um, and keep the guys', you know, minds in good spaces and understanding.

We got a long way to go and I thought the energy was good.

I thought they were into it.

Um, I thought Will Johnson played pretty well, not as good as

mm-hmm.

Has been.

Um, he was a little bit jumpy at the plate, but.

He, um, he just needs to play.

He's one of those kids once again in a rhythm.

He's a, he's a really good player, although I

would say he looked more relaxed by the third game.

Yeah.

And tj, I thought TJ and Scotty Young mm-hmm.

Played like veterans.

You know, TJ had a bunch of barrels that, you know, didn't fall.

Um, but he also was really good.

We, we were very good this weekend.

One of our things we tracked that we were not good at last year was scoring

a guy from third or less than two outs.

Mm.

Yes.

Uh, we want to be at 60% or better.

And we were over 80%, uh, the whole weekend.

So we did a really good job.

And TJ in particular a couple times, got up and smacked the

first pitch ball, you know, sacked eyes, but he hit him awful good.

So, um, that's, that's good.

Good to see.

I also wanna bring up Kellen Davis.

I mean, what a, what an awesome performance by him on, uh,

the second game in Saturday.

Yeah.

He is.

Got that weird gyro, you know.

Uh, I don't, I don't know what you call that pitch.

It's, it's like an alien.

He, no, he, no one ever knows what it's gonna do.

It doesn't do the same thing twice in a row, ever.

So, um, it's funny 'cause the, the just, he is a hard guy to

hit and he's very competitive.

So that was good to see him come through with that role.

Yeah.

And he was pretty yoked up too.

I could hear Evan chatting with the dugout and with Kellen when there was

a runner on first with that hopping.

And I don't know if there's anyone more excited than Evan Holman to see Kellen

throw over the first two consecutive innings, get the pickoff, and then

punch out the batter right afterwards.

I mean, the loudest the dugout got, I heard all weekend was on those two

plays coming back in, trying to get guys jacked up to go to the plate.

So the energy's there, even though it was, it was pretty

chilly at that point, I'll say.

It was cold.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah.

No doubt.

So we got, we got lots in front of us.

I think pitch staff wise.

You know, we gotta, we certainly gotta continue to improve.

But some of those young arms in particular, you know, are guys

that, that Ken and, and I believe will, um, Nick Sulpizio too.

You know, he comes in, uh, that game and, you know, the game's not necessarily

close, but it's still the middle of the game when, uh, Marcus got hurt.

That's never an easy situation to come in as a reliever.

You gotta decide, do I wanna finish warming up in a bullpen?

Used to be you had to come warm up on the field.

Mm-hmm.

That was the rule.

You get as long as you want, but has to be on the game mat.

Now you can declare I want to finish my warmups in the bullpen.

And then you got your two and a half minutes once you

get on the field, so, huh.

Um, he chose, he had been throwing, like he was coming in the game, so he wasn't

that far away anyway, so he chose to just come out and finish up out there.

And I thought he threw the ball really well.

I thought he Great job.

Yeah.

And, and his filo wasn't what it has been.

But again, it was, you know, by the time he started getting cold

Yeah.

He, he seemed like he had good control though.

He didn't walk anybody.

I think he gave up just like, you know, kind of two hits,

but he didn't do anything.

But I, I was excited to see him come out and pitch so well, um,

you know, kind of after last season where it just wasn't there.

Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

That was good to see.

Um, so, you know, I thought Connor Schumann did a good

job coming in the game.

Mm-hmm.

And throwing strikes and Chewy's Chewy's had a good fall and a good

preseason and, you know, he is throwing those sidearm sinkers now.

It's a different look, something you see a lot.

And so, you know, he's, he's figured out, you know, as we, we tell the guys,

like, everybody wants to throw hard.

Some of you guys aren't gonna throw hard, so you gotta figure out a trick.

Like you gotta have a thing.

You know, Jason Hartline, once he got over trying to throw hard figured out, I can

figure out a cutter and nobody hits it.

So, you know, you gotta have a thing.

And she always figured out that his thing needs to drop a slot a little bit.

And, you know, Chuck throw that sinker in there and he, he can throw

the sweeper from that slot fine too.

So he's a, again, older guy.

He is been through a lot, um, hoping that, you know, all those

experiences will help him this year.

Yeah.

And we

have, and it was great seeing, uh, Cole Langford, uh, get in the game.

You know, uh, people might remember we mentioned he had brain surgery

back during, uh, last season, so that was his first time.

You know, in the game I was talking, I said, Randy to his parents, uh,

leaving the game and they were saying it's the first time in like

six years they haven't worried about him having a seizure on the mound.

I mean, that,

that's amazing.

It was, it was good to see him out there and he threw the ball fine.

He hit the first guy and then.

He was fine after that.

And, and look, that ain't easy man.

You come in there in the ninth inning's, 30 something degrees by that point.

Yeah.

Well the knucklehead walks out there though, with no sleeves

on and no undershirt on.

Yeah, well he is gotta, he is gotta show the taco meat.

And I said, yeah.

I said, man, is that the spitting image of getting on Coach Wick's radar?

Like what in the world is he?

He walked out and I went, what is he doing?

You know, it's just like, oh man, that's a come on man for me right there.

Like

tough, tough guy, country boy.

He is gotta

show off.

Yeah, look at me, look at me is what that is.

But he did through good.

And we're gonna need him.

So hopefully he'll keep that up.

Mm-hmm.

So we move forward.

Uh, you know, this week we've got, uh, Manhattan, the Jasper.

Great nickname by the way.

Yeah.

Um,

couple of good nicknames this week

coming in.

Uh, yeah.

And then what are they?

The griffins.

The

purple.

The purple.

What are they?

The purple eagles.

Purple.

The

purple

eagles.

Purple eagles.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The, uh,

that's a great one.

I didn't know that there were purple eagles.

I,

there are in Niagara, there

are in Buffalo up there,

apparently.

Apparently.

Because

they're so cold.

Manhattan just got into town.

Their, their coach, they were down in Puerto Rico playing in a tournament.

Yeah.

And, um, so they're gonna practice tomorrow after we get done.

And then of course we play, uh, Wednesday.

And then they're, they're staying and playing Norfolk State this weekend.

So they're here all week pretty much.

And, um, one of their assistant coaches is actually a really good

friend of mine, Steve Engler.

He coaches up in the, in the Cape Cod League in the summers.

Um, so we've had a bunch of guys play for him in the summer,

so it'll be nice to see Steve.

Uh, that'll be, that'll be fun.

Uh, and then, and then Niagara.

Um.

I actually watched play a little bit yesterday.

They were down at Texas State, and so us not having a game, I was

flipping through some Sunbelt games, just getting my eyes on some people.

And, um, they were, they were playing.

And, uh, that was one of those Sunday games where nobody that brought in was

throwing strikes, uh, turned it off.

Uh, but they, they've got a, you know, they're always a solid club.

I mean, for a long time they were one of the better teams up in that area.

So again, it's, you know, good competition.

We've gotta be ready to play and it's another opportunity to play at home.

You know, we got four home games this week and we want to take advantage

of all of 'em and, and trying to get better each and every one.

Yeah.

Manhattan played some pretty tough teams down there in Puerto Rico too.

I think it was, uh, Indiana State, Seton Hall in Houston.

Yep.

And they were competitive in all of those games?

Yeah.

Not, mm-hmm.

Not quite the same for Niagara.

I mean, I, I've haven't seen Texas State, but I imagine they're pretty

good judging by like 13, nothing.

11 3 11, nothing.

Uh, but you know how that is being on the road, it just makes you

hungry to go win the next one.

Yep, yep, yep.

No doubt.

And, um, I had, we got some calls into Texas State just to get some particulars.

Uh, that's where when they're play in a conference team, it's

nice 'cause they'll share stuff with you, um, to talk about that.

But before that, we got a, we gotta play Manhattan and um, we played Manhattan.

It was like 2018, 17.

Yeah.

There was the same year we had a, we had a tournament with

Kentucky and Virginia Tech.

That was when, um, AJ Reed was with Kentucky and he threw like seven against

tech and then he hit like a bomb that hadn't landed yet against us the next day.

He was

the national player of the week.

That week.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He

was, I think he had four or five home runs that weekend.

He was phenomenal.

And the nicest kid on the planet too.

Yeah.

And got the win on the mound on their Friday.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

I do remember that.

He's one of those guys.

Like, and Gary's a big Astros fan.

We talked about this a few weeks ago where he, he was at the Astros,

didn't, didn't quite work out.

And it's like, I don't know how that guy is amazing at baseball.

That tells you how hard the major leagues is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He was big lefty hitter who could hit more Uhhuh.

Oh yeah.

He tore it up.

Triple player as a pitcher.

Only you know, I, Gary Henderson, their old coach was a good friend of mine.

I remember him telling me that story.

He came there as a pitcher only, they didn't even know he could hit.

Geez.

He's like, Hey, uh, you take some swings.

Sure.

Kaboom, Kaboom.

Yeah, you're in line.

That's great.

Hey, you look at all the rest of the guys.

You guys think this is so hard, huh?

Sometimes that lack of pressure does it, right?

Yeah.

Go there and hack.

I remember that.

But so it's been a while since we played 'em, but, um, and, and they've got

some new coaches and all that stuff.

So I don't know.

Another coach was saying.

We try to, you know, be good hosts for anybody.

Like, team come down, man.

We're gonna do everything we can to let you do everything that we do that day.

If we get to practice on the field, then you, you will, and all those things.

I just think that's the right way to do it.

And their co coach saying, Hey, if we could get on, we, we,

we really don't have a field.

Like, I think they drive like 45 minutes or something like that to, to practice and

play, uh, because they're in Manhattan.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was

wondering about that.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So we try to do whatever we can to help out on those, those kind.

And we want people to come back, so we want treat 'em.

Right.

Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh, speaking of treating people, right, Gary, did you have that, uh,

image that Finny shared the other day, which was, uh, this is pretty great.

So, uh, Finny, talk to us about this a little bit.

Are you showing it now?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

It's, it's, you're Harley strong, uh, BP

Top.

Oh, okay.

I only have us on there 'cause I like looking at, oh.

Uh,

yeah, so Bailey Matela's little brother, Harley's a, a sophomore at Cape Henry.

Um, they found out, you know, not too long ago, um, that he had

testicular can, has testicular cancer.

And so they, they got him in, they, they did surgery and it spread.

So they started chemo after that.

And Bailey didn't let the team, you know, know about this until, um, you

know, late, late January, I think it was.

And, you know, he told, told the coaches and then told the team and you, you

could see something wasn't quite right when we got back from break with Bailey.

And so I think getting that off his chest was helpful.

The team immediately made like a video for Harley and Harley's a

kid that's grown up in our cages.

Yeah, I mean, he's seen him there since.

Awesome kid.

A little fella.

And a heck of a player.

I mean, he is a very talented, really,

really talented ball

player.

Yes.

Very talented ball player on both hitting

and pitching.

Really

good.

Uh, highly recruited for his age.

Mm-hmm.

You know, highly ranked all those things.

None of that matters right now.

Right, right.

We've got cancer.

Um, we, you know, Bailey's a senior.

I mean, we've known Bailey since he was, before he was Harley's age, you

know, and so we've known that family, Laura, the mom, uh, the grand dude.

Uh, it's just a, it's a wonderful, you know, Larchmont, Norfolk, old Dominion

family, and we want to be there to support them and Bailey's a part of our family.

And so, uh, you know, by proxy, so is Harley.

And so I said, well, what if we do this?

And it'll create some awareness.

Um, you know, it's a good, you know, talking piece and then something

that, you know, can, can maybe help some days, cheer Harley up, get

'em over the hump, whatever it.

Um, and we need to give him one of those jerseys I thought about.

I don't really wear my VP top 'cause I'm usually in sweat throwing or something.

So I think I'm just gonna give him mine.

And, um, the, you know, the feedback we, which is never why you do these

things, but the feedback we've got has been what you'd expect.

Very heartwarming and, and, and wonderful.

And we just hope it, you know, when I, I sent Laura a picture of the jerseys

when they came in, um, I don't know, last Wednesday or something like that.

And, and also Harley, I sent him a picture and Laura just said, man, this is amazing.

Like, he had a rough day today with his chemo and this is exactly

the shot in the arm he needed, uh, and, and that kind of thing.

So we, we just hope we can be a, a little small piece of his recovery

and helping him stay positive.

And, um, just, uh, just one, one little thing we can do to,

to help support our people.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

Love seeing the support around 'em.

Obviously we didn't, we didn't know last week when we were two weeks

ago, we filmed with Bailey and them.

Yeah.

You know, so nothing but good thoughts, prayers, all that good

stuff, uh, their way and we'll keep supporting 'em throughout the season.

Yeah.

And we're gonna wear those at home only.

Um, so we'll wear our regular BP tops on the road, I think, unless we go

on some sort of ridiculous winning streak, which is not that good.

Yeah.

We

in

the game.

I gotta ask you guys some advice.

So you've seen the, the Swinging Lion BP hats.

Yeah.

Um, and I gotta, we're we're trying to figure out like, should we wear that, uh,

with one of our jerseys as a game hat?

We were with the Navy.

Uh, Wednesday we're gonna wear our new white, just all white.

Uh, it says Old Dominion on it.

It's just like gray.

It's a very nice looking.

You, you could wear it with that because it, it, the white

is just all White Navy gray.

Yeah.

The swinging line is just basically Navy and white, so it wouldn't match.

Um, I don't know.

Should we wear it with the, the Navy top?

Yeah, I mean you could wear it with it.

Start wearing Wednesday.

See how you feel.

I, I think you can wear it with the, uh, the Hudson.

'cause you still wear a Navy hat with the Hudson anyway.

Yeah, yeah, we do.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

We do.

Yeah.

Um,

I'd say just keep throwing 'em in games and see if, like I

said, you, when you, when you win wearing it, you keep doing it.

See

how Get it out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They're, they're pretty sick hats.

I mean, our, our OD logo is already great to begin with,

so that's one

thing.

Nice thing we have going,

they look really good on the OnDeck Circle warmup spots too.

I got those in a couple videos this week because I knew the double

header wasn't on ES, ESPN plus.

Uh, but it, it, it's an awesome logo and it's just cool that it's unique and back.

I have a hat somewhere in a closet I'll have to go find before next week that

has that logo on it, but I don't know what condition it's in at this point.

Okay.

Well, I think we probably know Got some pull.

We need to get you guys one.

So

you know, a guy, you know a

guy I know a guy, know a guy.

So the, um, uh, one thing I was pleased with the hats, um, I will say this.

We switched our, uh, their Under Armour hats, which the game

makes the hats for Under Armour.

Mm-hmm.

We switched the, the style of hat in terms of mm-hmm.

You know, they have a number of different game games.

Mm-hmm.

So we switched to a little, it's not wool, but it's, it's a

heavier, it's a heavier material.

Uh, because our hats were just so light.

They were flying off everybody's head.

Yeah.

And it was driving me crazy.

Uh, yeah, we, we switched to a little heavier hat and I, I think it's.

Already been better.

So

some of those guys last year needed like a little chin strap for their hat

so it wouldn't fly off in the outfield.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We probably, and now they're, these fit a little bigger, so we gotta

place another order and probably get some small, more smaller sizes

because we're just about out of those.

Everybody, you, everybody usually wears a large or medium,

everybody's x extra large like that.

So, um, life in the equipment room.

Right.

That's great.

Yeah.

Yes.

Well, alright, Finny, well we appreciate you joining us always, man.

That's,

we got an update on the men's hoop score yet You watching?

Oh, I don't know.

I didn't look.

Didn't

have it.

Sometimes it's afraid to look.

Let's see

a chicken,

huh?

Basketball 8 0 9 to go du iss up.

63 57. So six point lead, eight to go, uh, Cajuns,

Louisiana.

Okay.

Yeah,

Louisiana.

Alright, well tell the boys Chewy and uh, Jay, stay for

me and have fun with them and.

We'll see you guys soon.

Go Monarchs.

Go Mon monarchs, Monarch.

Thank you Finny.

Alright, see y'all.

Thanks

Beth.

Alright, we're gonna hear a quick word from our new sponsor ODAF and bring

on Jayce Park and Connor Schumann.

We will be back in just a second.

The Old Dominion Athletic Foundation are commonly referred to as the

OD DAF was established in 1964 is a nonprofit organization.

The mission of the OD DA is to raise financial support for ODU Athletics

to ensure that our coaches and student athletes have the resources

necessary to compete for championships.

The ODAF is integral to the success of ODU Athletics and is the channel through

which our fans and alumni can partner with our coaches and student athletes for

the advancement of the athletics program.

Through the generous efforts of our donors loyal fan base and community,

the ODU alumni from around the globe.

The OD DAF raises money for student athletic scholarship support and

endowments, capital projects, program specific support and athletic department

operations Funds are raised through annual giving, multi-year pledges,

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With questions about how to get involved in one or more of these initiatives.

Reach out to an OD DA representative, give to the ODAF.

Our investments in the lives of our student athletes OD DA members

receive exclusive benefits such as priority points for postseason and

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Contact the OD A and become a member today.

Yeah.

Sweet little O daf.

A check that guy out.

Yes, we have a new sponsor.

If you couldn't tell from the beginning of the episode and that, uh, we're moving,

moving up in the world here a little bit.

Don't worry, we'll still, we'll still have afterglow.

Uh, they've got a watch party coming up there soon.

So stay tuned to the du Monarchist socials for that.

Uh, and for those of you who are already following our new, uh, Twitter and

Instagram accounts at Hudson Homers, I appreciate you hopping on there.

We're just trying to give you a little more baseball content

without cluttering the other feed.

'cause we know there's a lot of other fans on there, uh, but a lot of engagement.

Not bad first weekend if Vinny Pasquatino pops up in the replies,

so, hey, that's pretty nice.

Hey,

Vinny, Vinny was trying to watch the game.

He was down, down there in Arizona board one night, I guess,

yeah, I thought about live streaming, but I thought Eric Bohannon might

run back out there and, and hit me if I violated their TV deal.

So did not do that.

Although I really want to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cool.

I mean, just live stream yourself reacting to it.

Um,

nobody wants to see that.

There's not a person that wants to see me do that.

There you go.

Awesome.

Well, we got two guys hopping on with us today.

We got Connor Schumann and Jayce Park both through on Saturday.

Did a great job.

Connor Jayce, welcome to the show.

Thanks for hopping on with us today.

No problem.

Thank you for having us.

Yep, thank you.

So get a series win to start the season.

You get two from Quinnipiac.

They were pretty scrappy, especially there in that third game, but Ja,

what'd you think overall of the, the first weekend back at the Bud?

Um, I think as a, as a team, we played collectively pretty well.

I mean, besides, I think.

Uh, besides that last game that we lost, I think we were, we were, uh,

probably overall like, well, well-rounded and I think we played a good series.

Just tough playing a double header and just trying to lock in for 18 innings.

So I think that la the Saturday was just a, it was a little

test early in the season.

And Connor, what'd you think?

Uh, from the first weekend back at the bud?

Uh, first weekend back, I mean, it's always great to be back in the bud.

Um, spending the whole last year on the road, it was tough.

Um, especially for the young guys never getting to play at home.

Um, for me it was just a great experience to be back.

Um, I'm glad I got to throw in the opening weekend.

I had done that, uh, in my entire five, four or five years here, so it was cool.

I mean, it was a good experience.

Um, you know, Saturday long day, but you know, Friday, Saturday, we.

In first game Saturday, we pretty much dominated through both those

games and, you know, people get tired towards the end of the day.

But, uh, I mean, it was against a good team, a good opponent.

They came out better than I think a lot of people thought they would.

Um, but we were able to take advantage of a lot of, you know, mistakes and

miscues in those first two games.

Um, and it looks pretty promising from here on out.

Yeah.

Uh, so I mean, that's a good point.

You know, like Connor, you've played at the Bud before, but

Jayce, that's your first time actually having a game at the bud.

What was that like for you?

Um, it, it kind of didn't feel real at first, like, like that Friday, like I,

I'm just so used to playing like the inner squads there and just against my own team.

So seeing another team there, it was just kind of, it was weird

and it just, I don't know, but I mean, it was, it was really fun.

I'm, I'm glad to be back at, at home, but it was, it was a little weird,

uh, when they came in on Friday.

How'd you guys both, uh, feel about the, the seats in the outfield?

What'd y'all think of that?

I think if, if they can keep that permanent, they

should keep that permanent.

'cause I feel like it's a really cool addition.

Um, I mean, it's definitely a lot different than having

the fans right above you.

You know, you can't really heal, hear a whole lot out there,

but I'm sure they can hear us.

I'm sure we're played plenty loud for them.

Um, but I think it's cool.

Um, and if they can keep it, yeah, go ahead and keep that.

Yeah, I, I agree.

Uh, that's a, that's a great addition.

Not many like ballparks that we go to have that, uh, outfield seating.

So, I mean, if we can pack out when the, when the back gets

open, we can pack that out.

And then the stands, it'd be, it'd be a pretty cool environment.

Yeah, I think Finny said it would be about 4,000 seats if you, if you

have that and the seats of the bowl.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, and yeah, I think, I think Connor, I think you're right.

I think the fans, because they're not behind you anymore, probably can hear

you guys better and hear all the, all the, the nonsense you guys say.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it kind of takes the pressure aspect of a way.

Like, there's people right in front of you just watching you throw, I mean,

especially as a pitcher, sometimes it's something you pick up on.

Um, and I feel like it takes that element out of it and, you know,

you just, you feel pretty free up there and, uh, it feels pretty real.

And Jayce, you know, you've got dropped into a pretty tight

situation for the first game of the double header on Saturday.

One out base is loaded.

Uh, you get, get strike out, get the fly out, no damage done.

But take us through kind of your experience there, going out to the

mall, going into that situation and just how you dialed in to get those outs.

Um, so I was, I was warming up, uh, in the bullpen and I was kind of like, out of it.

I was kind of just in the zone and I got up to the mound and I just, I

didn't know what the situation was.

I, and I asked Marin when he, before he walked away, I was like, Hey, can you just

like, tell me the situation real quick?

Like, I don't, I don't know.

But yeah, and then it was bases loaded and I was just, I was pretty pumped up.

I kind of don't remember it.

I kind of blacked out a little bit.

But, uh, yeah, it was, it was a, it was fun.

It was really fun.

What's that?

Like two types of pitches, right?

The guys that never know what's happening, the guy that knows every single pitch that

they've ever pitched in every situation.

So we know which one you are now, Jay, that's, yeah.

Yeah.

And Connor, you come in later in that game, uh, to close out the seventh.

Have a, or I'm sorry, you Yes.

You're to close out the, the seventh thing, which ended

up being the final inning.

Uh, you know, no damage done on your end either, you know, what was that experience

like for you coming outta the pen?

A little bit different situation, but still critical to get that

out and hold things together?

Yeah, I think, um, you know, especially Patrick going out for that second

inning, um, you know, hoping for him just to cruise through that.

Um, and you know, I kind of, at that point I put my sweatshirt back on.

I was ready to rush on the field and give everybody some high fives.

Um, he ran into a little bit of trouble and, you know, pond gives me the, uh,

the walkie talkie call and he's like, Hey, you gotta be ready in two batters.

So I threw the sweatshirt down, um, and I was running around the whole bullpen

because I put my glove away and so I had to run and go find that, picked that up.

Got ready real quick.

But I mean.

That's why I do it.

That's why I like being a relief pitcher.

You gotta be ready for any moment.

Um, so I mean, it was awesome.

And uh, you know, I go in and marin's like, all right,

base is loaded to no outs.

Here you go.

I was perfect.

So it it was fun.

It was, it was, it was also my first time closing out a game like

that, even though it was a seven.

Yeah.

So it was, it was good to get that, uh, get that feeling.

Pressure

pass.

I'm glad Finny left.

He is not hearing this.

We got the one pitcher that doesn't know where his glove is.

We got the other one.

Doesn't know what the situation is.

This is, this is pure bullpen stuff.

You guys, this is a real bullpen.

I love it.

Uh, first, first weekend everybody gets a pass on that.

And plus the, the outcome was good.

I mean, both you guys shut it down and, and got us to a win, which

ended up being, you know, the, the series clinching win 'cause we were

losing extras in the third one.

So just great outing from both of you and, uh, you know, get the fans

into it a little bit there too.

I think so.

Through some of those spots.

Yeah.

So, Connor, you've had, I mean, you've had quite a career at ODU

UI mean, you're in your, like I said, you're in your fifth year.

Um, you what, first year you didn't play, you know, red shirted then you,

I think you was more of a medical, not playing in your second year, right?

Yeah.

Uh, surgery that year took me out for the year.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Okay.

So two years in, hadn't, hadn't been in.

Then in your third year, you, I mean, what I'm looking here, was it four games?

Yeah, one in a third innings.

I only got, you know, what, one out in a game.

Uh, real short appearances.

And then even last year, uh, 13 appearances, 10.1 innings.

I mean, you know, in four years, 11 innings.

I mean, what's that been like?

You know, you're here, you're working, I mean, I know you're a guy.

You're here working hard every day and just to not get to,

to a lot of opportunities.

How do you stay ready?

How do you stay engaged?

Yeah, so, you know, the kinda way that I feel about it, you know,

after freshman and sophomore year.

Um, you know, freshman year I used that just to get a little bit better.

Um, just improved during that red shirt period.

We had a really good team.

Um, staff was plenty deep, so, you know, red shirting was

the best option for me there.

Um, next year, you know, surgery, you know, is a bummer.

I'm out, but, you know, go, go to Cresty that summer, kind of

learn more about myself, you know, get that level of baseball.

Back in junior year, I was just excited to be on the team and, you know, there's

plenty of chances that I could have left and I could have hopped in the portal,

but, you know, I feel really loyal to this program and at the same time, exit

meetings with Finny and Marin and stuff.

You know, they never gave up on, on me, so why should I give up on them?

Um, you know, I really like this place and I've got a ton of friends

here that I'm gonna be friends with for like, the rest of my life.

And, you know, I'm working every year.

Last year I got a lot more opportunities, a lot more chances.

So, you know, the way I look at it can only go up from here.

Um, you know, I'm excited to just keep working and I'm throwing in a different

slot with a lot of new pitches and makes it really uncomfortable for hitters now.

So I feel like, you know, I, you know, I got a really good shot

to make an impact and you know, I just like this place so much.

You know, why leave?

Now, because you had that medical year, are you, are you gonna be

eligible for another year after this?

Yeah, technically I am.

Uh, I mean, I, I would have a six year, I have to apply for it, you

know, but that's, that's just one of those things where it's like, it's

gonna be a last minute decision, you know, do I really wanna do that?

You know, should I do that?

But, you know, I'm already 23, so I gotta get away on my, I work

on that degree.

I'm just saying

you're still

working on that, that master's, you

know, Dr. Schumann?

Yeah.

Brett

Smith.

Yeah.

Well, Smitty had another, an extra year on me, so, I mean, I was in

sixth grade when he was a freshman in college, so that was, uh, wow.

That was a culture shock once I got in here.

Wow.

Wow.

And you know, Jay, obviously your second year at the program, very odd

year last year, not playing at home, having to come into weird spots and mid

weird midweeks and things like that.

Uh, just what's your, what has your off season been like and then how,

how are you seeing things a little bit differently now in your second year?

Um, I think the, the first year is kind of like a, especially, I mean, for

me it was kind of a learning lesson.

Like I had, I had a lot to learn and, uh, I took a lot of stuff from last season

and, and through the off season, I, I still continued to work hard and just kind

of fix like the mental side of things.

Uh, and, um, I mean, for me, really it was just the mental side of, of

baseball that was really like holding me back from being who I really am.

So I, I think that, that off season just still, uh, staying in the weight

room still, um, you know, just doing all the stuff that I would usually do.

But, um, yeah, I think just locking it on the mental side, this off

season was, was really big for me and it just, it kinda, uh, didn't

sit right with me that last season.

I just.

I didn't feel like I did anything to help my team win.

So I, I wanted to, I I needed to make sure I changed that for the season.

So,

and you had a bit of a a, an injury last year too, didn't you?

It was like a cut on your hand, I think pretty close to the season, and

it just,

yeah.

Yeah.

I cut my pointer finger, uh, couple I think during the preseason and,

and that kind of set me back a little bit, but, you know, I just kind

of had to work through it pitch,

right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I, I cut it and then, uh, I tried to throw, which was pretty stupid, and I, I

recut it open and it made it even deeper.

So then that set me back a little bit and I was stuck throwing changeups for I

think four weeks, which wasn't fun at all.

Yeah.

So there you go.

So that's part of the mental lessons too, is like when they tell you

to not throw, just don't listen.

And so there you go.

Yeah.

Yeah, Connor, uh, coach Finny was talking earlier about some guys that

have kind of changed a little bit of their approach on the Mount, whether

it's throwing a different pitch, different arm angle, things like that.

You know, what, what kind of adjustments did you make this off season, maybe

the last couple of off seasons to kind of help you become a better pitcher?

Yeah, so the whole side arm, you know, subby action, um, it kinda started in

a bullpen in the key dog and rhino was like, Hey, you know, drop down, drop

down, uh, your slot and, you know, throw a fastball and see what happens.

And I threw it and it was, it held the same velo as the

how I was throwing over top.

And the movement was really good.

And, you know, we started playing around with sinkers in game from

that slot, and I would mix slots, I would go over the top and then

kind of that subby sidearm action.

And, uh, that sinker really seemed to play well.

And so right after the, uh, the fall ended up.

Um, me and, uh, Mar me and Marin had a meeting and he was like, Hey, let's

just, let's just drop it down full time, you know, see what happens.

And I was able to manipulate the ball a lot better, throwing

sinker change up and slider.

Now, uh, I never was able to throw a change up, you know, but being

able to utilize that tool and it feels pretty natural to me.

So utilizing a natural tool, um, it's really benefited me in the

way that I can approach hitters and the way I can attack hitters.

And it's uncomfortable.

Like I'm throwing all the way from the first base side.

Um, you know, after facing a lot of lefties, you know, I kind of ask them

to give feedback and they're like, yeah, well, we can't even really see the ball.

And when it's running right back into 'em, it's, it's a, it's a hard thing to hit.

Um, so I'm excited about it and I'm still learning.

It started it really in December for the most part.

Um, so the more comfortable I get with it, I, I think it's just on the up and up.

You're gonna have some fun videos of left-handed batters throughout

the course of the season.

'cause that that thing's gotta be terrifying to be in the

left-handed batterers box for that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's the goal.

Uh, so both of you tell, I mean, since we guys here for a minute,

tell, tell us a little bit about how you ended up at Old Dominion.

Um, you know, I mean, Jayce, you're from up around Philadelphia, you know,

Connor, you're from, uh, around Richmond Midlothian and around Richmond area,

you know, uh, and then Connor, when what, you can also tell us why the

seven five seven's better than 8 0 4.

I'm sure you convert now.

So, for me, um, my recruiting process, it, it actually didn't really last that long.

Um, luckily I was old enough to get in before COVID.

Um, so I threw an tournament down in Georgia.

Um, a lot of college coaches down there.

It was one of the, um, it wasn't the perfect game.

It was a PBR event.

And, you know, um, that's where Marin first saw me.

He gave me a few calls and he was like, Hey, let's get you down here for a visit.

Hopped on down here, and my first visit and first offer, and I just

jumped on it right away, you know, after we went through all the,

the campus and the whole tour.

And I just loved it.

It's close enough to home.

Um, and, you know, that experience with Marin Marin's really good at talking.

And, uh, he kinda, he kinda swayed my, my decisions into most of that.

But th this was kind my first choice.

And the difference between 7, 5 7 and 8 0 4 is just pretty much

8 0 4 doesn't have any beaches.

And I, I like being down here in the beach and during the summer it's warm

and I can go down there all the time.

Um, but other than that, you know, 8 0 4 is still still my stomping

grounds and I love going back there.

So I'm a little torn.

I'm a little 50 50 now, but it's a

nice place to visit.

Yeah, it, it's, it's a, it's a nice time to visit, uh, you know, over

the summer when I go back home.

But, you know, I think the longer I stay down here, I might start leaning into

staying down here for a little bit longer.

There we go.

We got one.

Yeah, we technically, I have two.

I've lived in both.

And I'll tell you, I, I'm 7, 5, 7 all the way.

If all things were equal and I could do it, I would be down there, believe me.

Nice, nice.

So, Ja, run us through your recruiting story here from a couple years ago.

Um, so I was kind of like a, I was a late bloomer, so kind of at the

end of my senior year I started to, to get pretty good and started to

hop on a couple of people's radars.

And not really until I went to Jupiter, which was like late of senior year, and

I threw in one of the, uh, scrimmages before the tournament even started.

Um, and Fineman, who, who was not here now, he actually just.

Came across me and he was just watching games and he saw me and, uh, I guess

he recommended me to, to Marin.

And I didn't, I didn't hear from them until maybe like two weeks after

the tournament, but it was, I don't know, I, it was just say I'm blessed

that, like, that act that happened.

And he came across me just randomly and he was like, yeah, like, I want that guy.

But, uh, yeah.

And then Marin, he reached out and like Shu said, he, he's very, very

good at his job and he is very good at, at getting people to come here.

Um, and I, I, I really liked him and as soon as I, I got to campus, it

just, it kind of reminded me of back home of Philly, like the city and,

um, like the row, like the row home houses and, and, and stuff like that.

And plus we were near the beach and I don't know, the environment

seemed, seemed very great and I just, I just wanted to be a part of it.

That's awesome.

And yes, Mike can, I think Mike can get anyone to commit.

I think at this point.

He's, uh, he's pretty, pretty solid at that.

Yeah.

Uh, well one thing I think mainly 'cause I wasn't paying attention with, uh, the

chatter that was going on in the left field stands and, and other things like

that, but, uh, intro songs for you all.

Connor, I'll start with you.

What's your out of the bullpen song that you've got for this year?

Um, mine is Fortunate Son, um, by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Yeah.

I've had that for three, three years now.

And, you know, I felt like it, it was perfect at first.

I just liked the song, you know, and then the more I listened to it,

you know, I felt like, you know, I haven't been the most fortunate

player through my college career.

So I feel like that kind of fits, fits me as a person.

And, you know, I, I'm gonna ride with that song until, until I'm done.

I bet you that's one of Finny's favorites.

I bet you when he sees the list he's like, oh yeah, there's a good one.

Yeah, that, and Scotty was Southern Knight, probably.

I think I saw Finny dancing a couple times with that one.

Yeah, that was a good one too.

And Jayce, what about you?

Uh, mine is, uh, it's Delta Dawn.

Uh, I don't know, not really any backstory behind it, but I just, I don't know.

I heard it and I was like, I think this would be, would be

sick for, for a walkout song.

And it's a little slow.

It's not really like fast paced, but I don't know.

I, I like it, so.

Okay.

Well it works well.

It gets you in the right space.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh

man.

All right guys, well, we, we appreciate you joining us.

Um, you know, obviously Connor been a blast having you here all these years

and, and listen, I'm hoping for year six, I hope you, you, you make that choice.

If you don't, that's great.

We, you know, we enjoyed having you and, and Jayce you know, obviously

got this year and a few more man.

And you're both just good guys and I always get enjoy getting to watch you

getting to hang out and see you, man.

Yeah, thank you for having us.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's fun.

Yeah.

Thank you guys.

We'll see you Wednesday and then all weekend.

So Connor, Jayce, have a good rest of your night.

You too.

Thank you.

Thanks guys.

All good kids.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Talking to them both.

I mean, great.

Just, I was just so happy to see both of 'em come out and,

and do well, uh, this weekend.

And you know, that's, if you, if you followed along for anything for the

Sunbelt tournament the last couple years, the more arms you have, the

longer you last in that tournament.

And we had some guys show up this weekend that maybe we

were, might be good, might not.

We'll see.

But a lot of guys stepped up in a big way on the mouth.

No meltdown innings this weekend.

Not a one.

No, no.

Like I said, uh, you know, Patrick had a little bit of, Johnson had

a little bit of trouble there, but again, you know, it's like 30 degrees.

Like I can't use, it's hard to even judge.

I mean, there was one, uh, at the end of the game, uh, yesterday, the Quinnipiac

third baseman dropped a fly ball.

And I'm like, it's probably 'cause his glove was a block of ice.

Like, it's just like a certain point.

It's just like, I mean, I, I think I went, I went home Friday night

and went to bed at like nine o'clock because I was, you know, your body

spends the whole day trying to not die.

Like I was exhausted.

So I don't know that they're actually out there playing.

Uh, yeah.

Yeah,

trying to stay alert.

Yeah.

But you're right.

Every, every year when people ask like, how's the team gonna be this year?

I'm like, we'll see how the pitching does it.

That's really what it's about.

You know, you can, if you pitch really, really well.

I mean, Southern miss that a few times and they had like not great lineups,

but had phenomenal pitching staffs and they played really well in one

tournaments and, and got in the regionals.

Uh, so yeah, if your pitching is good and then your hitting is also good,

which, you know, we got a, a shot for both of those to be true this year.

Yeah, I mean, I think we saw up and down the lineup, there's some guys

that can hit, um, you know, kind of, kind of fell apart a little bit, the

second game of the double header.

But, you know, what's kind of missed when we don't have the ESPN plus broadcast?

You're just looking at the live stats or tweets is we were still

hitting the ball very hard.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

TJ Aiken probably had three or four Adam balls that Yeah.

You know, exa vilo of 95 plus just right at somebody.

Uh, even the, the last bat of the game in the second game of the double

header, Evan Holman squared, one up to go opposite field, and it just,

they, he hit right into the shift.

Otherwise that gets down and the game is tied.

And,

oh, there

were, there were several in like the

eighth, eighth, ninth, and 10th innings that were like, which frozen ropes.

Right.

They were, they were those hard line drives.

Yeah.

Um, speaking of our, our hitter, you got, you got our graphic with

our, uh, our players of the week.

I do.

Can't forget, there we go.

Players of the week.

Players of the week, Kellen Davis, obviously.

Uh, which, uh, let me, I had it right in front of me where it says Kellen

had what, two and a third innings?

Uh, no, that screen.

Uh, two and a third innings scoreless, right?

Uh, one hit, one walk, four strikeouts.

Just absolute dog.

I mean, this guy has been a huge part of the bullpen.

Again, just a lot like, uh, Connor, he's had a, he's in his fifth year and he's,

you know, had more success to this point, but it took him a while to get there too.

Uh, so again, great to see Kellen doing all that.

And then, uh, Zach late with, you know, picking up right

where he left off last year.

I mean, we had, he was our, our player of the year, the

hitter of the year for the team.

Um, he was what, seven for 12?

Two doubles.

Uh, nine rbis, two run, scored a couple of walks.

I mean, so was that 5 83?

Average 1350 OPS for the weekend.

Uh, you know, again, just right where he left off.

And, and as Kenny pointed out, you had kind of a bro broken handmaid

bone in his hand last year.

So he may actually be better this year, which is shocking.

Yeah.

I mean, drove in five runs there that Friday game, like really set the tone

for us driving in runs, uh, Friday the wind was kind of blowing in so it, or

I guess it was blowing kind of across the field from left field over to Right.

So I think there, he had at least one that probably would've been a home

run if we would've had the mm-hmm.

Wind we had for the first game Saturday, which is blowing

kind of out to right center.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, he looked good.

I, I will say it was, it was not super easy to pick the

hitter of the week this week.

I mean, Scotty Young has a great outing, was he was a five for 10 with two doubles.

Mm-hmm.

You know, Mav Stallings, he was six for 11 Stallings.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, he, he got hit by a pitch twice that did not feel good, I

promise you, on those cold days.

Uh, but Fra Morales, um, Mac Dye and I think CJ played

really well, hit well cash.

JI

mean, tj, like I said, had a bunch of production.

I mean, when the team hits three 80 with a 9 91 OPS for three

games, you're doing pretty well.

Yeah.

Yeah, they, they did well.

Um, so it was tough and tough on the pitching too.

I mean, Kuski, I think he looked really good for his first out here.

Yeah.

Like to get five in February is tough to do as a starter.

Yeah.

Kuski and Sulp, PIO and, and Park, they were all in the conversation

that, you know, we, Gary and I kind of, we put our list in some weeks.

It's easy, which is, it's either a guy was amazing or everyone kind

of sucked except that one guy.

And, uh, it's much better when we have these weeks where it's like, man, a

lot of guys were really good this week.

You know, you just, okay, these guys were maybe just a little bit better.

Um, so yeah, we like doing this every week.

It's fun to, it's, it's good to point out the guys who are doing great.

Yeah, and we'll be, uh, sharing those on our social media channels for Hudson

Homers on Monday, right before we record.

Um, also feel free to use those channels if you're thinking of

a question during the game that you want us to ask Coach fitting.

Yeah.

Great platform to do that.

If you're shy, our dms are open.

You can slide right in there with your questions.

Just tell me if you do or do not want me to say your name.

I know some of the questions are, uh, a little, little interesting sometimes.

Uh, but Wednesday, Manhattan will be in Norfolk.

Guys.

They're already there.

I'll be playing.

That game is on ESPN plus.

I don't know which games this weekend are on ESPN Plus yet It

is not indicated on the schedule.

Don't wanna put anything out there.

Um, obviously it's the weird time of year, they can only

broadcast one thing at a time.

So Saturday basketball, double header, conference game, gotta put those on.

I'm not sure what else is, is out there, but, um, we're getting, is

that typically just for, uh, the games that are on campus?

I mean, we might have the, yes.

Lacrosse has a game Saturday, I think at six, so that possibly

could be an interference with Saturday, but theoretically Friday

and Sunday shouldn't be a problem.

Well, I guess, well, like I said, we'll see, I don't know.

We don't, I don't make the schedule, but Yeah, hopefully, hopefully they're

gonna put 'em on and if, and, you know, either way get, get out to

the bud, uh, you know, if you can.

Yeah.

And obviously everyone can, some folks are, you have plenty of, plenty of, uh,

family and, and friends and all that can't make it, uh, to Norfolk, which is fair.

But if you can.

To the park.

Yeah, definitely.

And, and check out that outfield.

It's nice back behind those bleachers.

The big concession area with multiple places to go purchase it.

There were no long lines, nothing like that.

It is cashless to make sure you got your cards with you.

You can go inside in the gym, jarret to the bathroom.

You don't have to go use a porta potty.

You can use the, the, the volleyball bathrooms.

Yes.

Nice.

Or you can use the Porta johns too, if you just wanna run down between innings.

Uh,

yeah, that's,

yeah.

They got it.

They got it all there.

But like, it, it's very well done.

The, the wrappings make it feel like it's permanent.