Tahraun Hammond joins the guys talk ball and give his video game rating. CB, Gary and Coach Finny recap a series win over Marshall and what lies ahead for SBC tourney positioning.

Yeah.

Hello Monarch fans.

Welcome to the Hudson Homer podcast for the second week in a row.

This is a celebratory podcast because we won the series with Marshall.

Yes,

we did.

How was your weekend?

Yes, we

did.

Uh, my weekend was great.

We won the series of Marshall.

I got to see Thunderbolts twice.

It was fantastic.

I'm, I'm having a great weekend.

I'm having, I'm having a sad Monday 'cause I get back to reality and just, and live.

I can't do all the fun stuff.

Yeah, it was a harsh wake up call when we had to like go to work and do

all that boring stuff This weekend or this week after really a fun weekend.

I made it down there Friday and Saturday was happy to finally

break my curse on Saturday.

Um,

I didn't realize that until you said it.

How many games had you seen this year before they won

a game when you were there?

Uh, well, so I was one in seven going into Saturday.

I had seen them beat Georgia State on the Saturday game.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Uh, I

had not seen them win since then.

And then if I would like not go to the Sunday game in Harbor

Park, they would somehow win that.

They would win.

Yeah.

I couldn't go to the Saturday game against Louisiana.

They won that one.

Right.

So starting to think it was me, I was already to just cancel my, my plane

ticket in my hotel down in Montgomery just so the guys had some kind of chance.

Uh, but they proved me wrong.

They won on Saturday and Sunday was Blake Day.

Complete game.

First time since 2018 for a Monarch pitcher to go CG and man, talk

about stepping up in a key moment.

Yeah, I looked, uh, I, I, I put that out there that it was, 'cause I, I had

to think about it and, and my first off, top of my head was Morgan McGuire.

2018 was the last guy to complete game.

He actually had two that year, uh, both Complete Games

Shutouts, which is outstanding.

Um, he, those are the last nine incomplete games.

We actually had some, some seven incomplete games since then.

Um, in 2021, uh, Ryan Moore, one of our current coaches, he had a seven inning.

It was a, uh, run rule game against, um, Charlotte, and then Hunter Gregory was

one of our Saturday starters that year.

You might remember during conference we were playing.

Scheduled seven inning games as part of Doubleheaders on Saturdays.

Ah,

yes.

Yep.

And so, uh, he had, uh, hunter Gregory had three seven inning

complete games that season.

So, yeah, I, I still say it does hold up.

It was the first complete game, uh, full, complete game for

a Monarch pitcher since 2018.

So, which is awesome.

I mean, that, you know, that's just the kind of veteran gutsy

leadership you expect from Blake.

And, I mean, it was, he, he earned it 112 pitches.

He went all nine, two earn runs, seven hits, two walks, seven strikeouts.

Both of those runs came in the first inning.

He walked the first batter, and I'm sure everyone was kind of groaned a

little bit and then get a home run.

But then after that, I mean, eight shutout innings to follow that up, slam

the door on Marshall and Clin, a series that we desperately needed to win.

Yeah, that was the most impressive part I think, you know, starting out

it's like, all right, we're down.

And then just kept the, the Saturday and Sunday games this week.

I was talking to, to Hadra at the end of the game yesterday and I said, you know,

this is like the first time we've really played some real baseball where it's

like, you know, it wasn't this nonsense of like, it's a 12 to 11 game and we

had to come back from nine runs down.

And it wasn't like we, we got up by eight and then we gave up

seven and just happened to win.

It's like, no, we, both games got behind, but then got ahead and kept

grinding and grinding and holding.

I mean, the game Saturday where, uh, you know, Dylan does great.

Six innings, what?

Seven Ks, four runs and then the bullpen comes out Hubble with a

scoreless inning killing with two scoreless innings and just holds

on to the wind the way we need to.

And then Blake, same thing, just grinding it out.

We, we came from behind and just kept on piling runs.

It was like, this is some real baseball.

That's what we've been waiting all year to see some, some

actual, like good baseball wins.

And

I think that was Kellen Davis's best performance of the season.

Uh, one run game held the lead was able to get a two inning save, which set us

up to potentially save Bailey for Sunday.

Turns out, didn't need Bailey at all this weekend, so he actually gets a rest

weekend, which I think is a really good thing for him at this point in the season.

Uh, but Kellen Davis, he was filthy on Saturday.

He was great.

Uh, it, it's been a while since we've been able to just hold a one run lead over the

three innings after the starter comes out.

And the bullpen did a great job with, with Hubble and Kellen.

Yeah, we, when we get Finny on here in a little bit, we need to talk to him.

'cause I, the pitching management this weekend was spectacular.

Um, you know, Friday, Ben had frankly just a terrible game.

I think there's no real other way to say it.

I think aside from the game, uh, where he came in relief down in Southern

Miss, where he gave up, I think six or seven runs, this is probably his, his,

if not his worst, his next worst game.

Um, but they still, they kind of kept told him like, kind of, I dunno if

they told him, but I'm assuming it was just like, Hey, you gotta eat it.

Uh, so he still pitched into what, the fourth, fifth inning.

Um, and then, you know, it was very clear, like I'm, I was kind of standing behind

the dugout and uh, Jayce Park was there.

Um, he was, he was acting as like the ball boy, you know, you know, they, they need

somebody to do that there at that park.

'cause they, we don't have a lot of student managers.

Um, and at one point Finney kind of went over his ear and it was very clear.

It was like, okay, hey, get on down the bullpen.

Um, and you know.

It was obvious at that point, they're down by so much.

It was like, all right, we're not gonna use our studs, right?

This is gonna be a game.

We're not gonna see Bailey and, and Alex Hunt and Kellen and,

and Hubble and those guys pitch.

So they brought out Nick Sulpizio and Jace Park and Dylan Toro.

Guys who have not pitched great this year.

All three of 'em were outstanding.

I mean, Ezio threw two scoreless innings Park.

He did give up a two run Homer, which was, which is not great.

But otherwise he did get, he got up a jam at Ezio, put himself in,

and then Tora, who's only, he only had like five innings all year,

threw two scoreless in that game.

Um, so that sets you up, okay.

Now you have all your bullets in the bullpen for the games

on Saturday and Sunday.

And like you pointed out, you got Hubble out there.

Good score this inning, Kellen too.

So you saved, you saved Bailey.

So you still had Bailey, uh, Matt available.

You had, uh, Alex Hunt, you had, um, Frank Wright, you had Hunter Baes.

Those four pretty solid arms.

The bullpen, they were all available for Sunday, and you didn't,

you didn't have to use them.

So they got a weak of rest.

I mean, that, that, this was a phenomenal, it was weird to say in a game where

you lost 11 to four, there was a phenomenal pitching, uh, management.

But there was, and that part of that was the guys have to pitch

well enough to, to make it work.

Yeah.

I mean, the guys come outta the bullpen did a great job.

I think this is probably one of the best weekends that the bullpens

had end to end, even in that game.

I mean, you know, Ben kind of had to eat the nine earned runs.

Uh, the, the home runs that were getting out, by the way, at War

Memorial, if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

They're not these moonshot, just rocket home runs.

A lot of 'em were just scraping the fence.

I mean, both the ones that Dylan gave up on Saturday were nothing special there

in out, probably in most ballparks, but.

That's where we were playing.

Marshall took advantage of it.

They took the right approach and tried to get stuff down

the line and it worked for him.

Uh, really liked that.

But I, on Friday, I think our offense had a lot of opportunities

to go make that a slugfest shootout.

But Marshall defensively made every play, I mean, every single play.

And I've gotta give credit to Eddie Leon at the, the starting third baseman for

Marshall, uh, made an outstanding play.

Maverick Stallings rips a ball down the third base line

with the runner wrong first.

He somehow backhands that thing and turns two, uh, he had another good

play up the middle between third and second, their outfielders had some

crazy plays to Rob hits and doubles.

So it is 11 to four, I think.

You know, I think we'd still lose that game, but it's much more competitive if

we get a couple shots to, to fall in here.

There.

But Marshall was great defensively and, uh, Eddie Leon, who, who plays for

Marshall, the third baseman, uh, got to meet his dad because he actually played

high school ball with Cane and George.

Uh, they're good friends.

Their dads are good friends.

And while we were getting, you know, kind of stomped a little bit there

on Friday, he was nice enough to buy Aaron and I some beverages and

also can's, dad some beverages.

And if you, you take a close look at the beer that's in his hand

over my shoulder, he does have a Hudson Homer's podcast CZI on.

So he made sure he did not go home empty handed.

Uh, and then you got this great shot of the two of them.

Uh, I believe it's after Sunday, right?

Yeah.

And it's funny, it, it canan with his, his jersey untucked is, is funny 'cause

as they were going to do the review, you know, the game's over Canan immediately

is ripping his jersey out and they're gonna, the review and Finn's like telling

him like, you gotta put it back in.

We're still technically in the game.

Like, we don't wanna get into kind of trouble for that.

So it's just funny how, how committed he was to having that jersey untucked.

He was done with that thing.

It had been raining all day.

Yeah, he was, he was done with it.

Uh, I'm sure it was wet

out in the outfield too.

Yeah, no, you're, you're right man.

I mean, at, at that Friday game I said a few times, like, this is

kind of a microcosm of our season.

It's like every, every time somebody can make the best play of their

life, it's happening against us.

It's these plays.

The, if you gave these guys a hundred chances, they probably wouldn't make it

again, but they're, they're doing it.

I mean, there was one play to, to, I think it was the shortstop.

It was like a line drive that hit off his glove and bounced out and he still managed

to catch it and then throw the guy out.

It's like, this is ridiculous.

Like, how does this happen to us?

Um, so yeah, I mean, props to them for, for having the game their lives.

The Friday starter for Marshall Bryce Blevins, he was a pain for us last year.

He's a really good crafty pitcher.

He ended up going seven innings.

He gave up four earn at three walks, three strikeouts.

He had a comebacker come hit him in the foot fairly early in that game.

Of course, it hits his cleat, it just deadens right in front of

it, and he picks it up for one of the easiest outs of the game.

But it was probably, you know, 95 plus off the bat, which should have been

just a, a rocket into center field.

Right.

So I had a feeling that our offense was gonna come around there, and I

also knew that we probably weren't gonna have that pitching performance

again the rest of the weekend.

So I wasn't necessarily nervous, but obviously you, you lose Friday

in a series that you really need to win and you're, you're a little

bit tighter on Saturday and Sunday.

But the guys did a great job of just stepping up, fighting back in every

game, and then man, just Blake on Sunday, like, I'm sad I wasn't there in person.

But it was great to be able to just watch that from afar.

I know I'm too invested in not, uh, managing my emotions about things.

Well, because the difference between how I feel leaving the ballpark Friday compared

to how I feel leaving Saturday and Sunday.

It's like, I, you, you gotta be better than this man.

This is not a good place to mo let this, this thing I have no control

over and I'm just hanging out at, uh, control my emotions that much.

I, I gotta do a better job.

Yes.

Yeah.

I hung out in the parking lot for about an hour after the game talking with,

uh, Aaron Zielinski and kind of thinking of some longer term things and stuff

like that, but mainly just to blow off steam so I wouldn't be thinking

about the game, the whole ride up.

Right?

Yeah.

Uh, but hey, it was, it was worth it.

I'm glad I went down there Saturday.

Got to see, uh, a great performance there.

Hung out with, uh, the Brown family.

Uh, Alex Hunt's parents were around, obviously Kainen George.

A few other ones I got to meet and chat with.

Good to just be around good people all weekend too.

And, uh, sitting with the family of the starting pitcher.

I think they were probably the more relaxed of a, of

a crew that I've sat with.

A little different than, uh, you know, with the hols last

year and things like that.

Hey,

speaking of Holobetz.

Yes, yes.

We had some, there was some breaking

news today with our, our good buddy John Holobetz.

He got traded to the Red Sox today.

Uh, he, there was a trade, we were looking up a, a, a picture I'd never heard of,

but he was with the Red Sox last year.

And, uh, right there around the start of the year, he got traded to

the, uh, brewers and it was for one player and the player be named later.

Uh, and that player to be LA named later ended up being John Holobetz.

So now he is moving from the brewers to the Red Sox and he's going to be with the

Greenville Drive, where he'll be teammates with fellow ODU alum, uh, Noah Dean.

So that is some absolute gas coming out, uh, for the Greenville Drive.

That's fantastic.

Steal for the socks to get him as a player to be named later.

'cause he's got right around a three ERA right now.

He's been eating in low a ball.

So John gets a promotion outta this.

He's gonna go up to high a ball, uh, friendly face.

And Noah ine really, really excited for him to see, see how he goes.

Yeah, they didn't, they didn't play together, but Noah's been back around

enough, uh, you know, with the, with his girlfriend playing the tennis team.

And he's, he is worked out at the ballpark a ton.

I'm, I'm sure he and Noah probably know each other pretty well, or

he, and, uh, he and John probably know each other pretty well.

Um, and, and the people don't know you, the player would be named later.

A lot of times what happens is they give the other team a list of guys,

uh, and, and kind of say, Hey, you know, you could pick one of these guys.

You have to buy a certain date.

And my guess would be that with John, with his his excellent start,

it was like, yeah, it's pretty easy.

We're taking that guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And he is, he's looked great.

Well, coach Finwood, I see him backstage.

I'm gonna bring him on now.

The man of the hour.

Coach Finwood how's it going?

What's up guys?

That was, how you doing man?

Great news for, uh, Holbeck.

Yeah, I heard you guys talking about that.

That's really cool that him and Noah are gonna be teammates.

They weren't ever teammates here, but they're, and teammates by

proxy, uh, as, as Monarch alums and, um, both really good relievers

for us, uh, in their careers here.

Yeah, we're excited to see what John can do.

I know he was eating pretty good there with the low a ball.

I mean, we got to see him in person and just clearly a, a step up I think

from the rest of the competition.

So now, you know, the Red Sox, they do tend to fast track some guys to get up

pretty quickly from the draft classes.

So hopefully that maybe clears a quicker path for him since they've

already moved him up to high a ball.

Yeah.

I wonder a little bit if Nick Murray didn't have a little input in that

one of their pitching coordinators.

Um, and you know, Nick was here for two years with us and um,

got to work with Holts and.

Um, got to get to know Noah Dean, you know, uh, when he'd come back for some

side work and, um, you know, I wonder if he maybe had some input into helping that

him become that guy to be named later.

Yeah.

So hope so.

We love it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, that'd be cool.

That'd be cool.

Big series win for you this weekend.

I thought the guys gutted out a pretty good performance.

Saturday dominated, I think on Sunday behind behind Blake.

Uh, what, what are your thoughts on this weekend?

Are you sweating bullets after Friday, like we were,

uh, you know, that's the second Friday in a row.

We've lost in, in different fashions of course, but, um, you

know, Ben is just having a a, i, I really feel bad for Ben Moore.

He is having a rotten time with these.

Migraines and he's gotten some different diagnosis on what's going on with him,

and he just hasn't been able to be himself because he is, I think he and

rightfully so, you know, you're worried about, um, you know, what's going on

in my head, I, I don't feel right.

And he clearly wasn't himself on, on Friday.

So he is got, he is got an appointment, uh, with a specialist today and,

you know, we'll hopefully hear some, have a little more clarity on that.

But, um, he, he's pitching, you know, with a big, big weight on

his shoulder because of all this.

And, you know, he just, he's had, he's had flashes of his old self at times

this year, but very inconsistent.

And, and Friday just was a bad day.

Um, they hit the ball, you know, they, they got a bunch of hits, too many

walks and you know, it was one of those, you get behind too early, do a tough.

I, I just, I think Blevins is tough.

You know, we beat him up there last year on, uh, on, in a real low scoring close

game on Saturday, and he's just that college lefty that is hard to get to.

You know, we had a couple home runs off him and a couple other balls hard.

They made some nice plays.

Um, I, I thought you had to tip your hat to them.

They played really well Friday and they've been playing well.

So yeah, we had our work cut out for us, without a doubt.

Um, but these guys, you know, every, so far, every time their, their

back's been kind of to the wall.

They've, they've come out fighting and, uh, we haven't always won, but they've

come out, you know, punching and, uh, we did that again Saturday, you know, uh,

got behind a little bit early and, you know, kind of, kind of got a rally going.

And I thought, Dylan, you know, out outside of the, you know, he gave

up what, four runs on two homers.

Um, and, you know, and the wind's blowing out at, or memorial

play small, especially the left.

Uh, but he battled through some adversity, got out of a couple jams,

you know, gave us six solid innings.

And we, uh, you know, I, I, I thought, um, Hubble.

Hubble came in through a really good seventh and then he came in and

said his shoulders bothering her.

Told Mike, and I was like, oh God.

Okay.

Um, well, Davis had been up once or maybe once, just in case of jam row.

So he was, he was the guy there mostly right-handed.

So, you know, we said, let's just, let's just give, uh, give Kellen

a shot to go out there and do it.

And he had a pretty clean eighth and, you know, went out there and got

it, got it done for us in the ninth.

So, you know, I was proud of him.

Um.

And, you know, we got some couple big hits in that game that kind

of helped us, you know, expand it.

I, I think, um, you know, Maverick Stallings got a, a three oh pitch with

a runner on first and, and, and hit a double, and that's go ahead, run.

As it turned out, um, Mavs been probably in his career, probably

hitting 800 on 3.0 pitches.

And we, we usually let him swing it, especially in the smaller parks.

You know, if you remember in the, the tournament, the playing game, he had a

two run homer, um, on a three oh pitch against South Alabama to give us the lead

and, you know, so that, that was big.

Um, and then, you know, the, the catching issues were probably the,

uh, the lead story this weekend.

Same guy knocked two catchers of our, of the series on a backswing.

And so Evan Holman, who's been out because of no bleak strain, Ken hit left-handed.

So I told him.

Saturday morning, then you're just gonna have to right handed When's the last

time you get right handed off of righty.

He goes, I couldn't even tell you.

I go, well, it's gonna be today.

Um, and you'll be fine.

You're actually a way better Right handed hitter than left handed hitter.

Anyway,

I was, I, I was gonna say, I said that to you this weekend.

I, this might be your, uh, your, your fuel for getting them to switch to.

Just righty.

Yep.

And sure enough, you know, he gets up and hits the bases loaded, bases

clearing double, um, on a slide hanging, slider down the left field line.

Gets us going and, you know, caught, I, I thought Evan was a, a warrior back there.

He's, you know, obliques are, no, they're, they're one of those things

where everything you do, you feel it.

Especially in baseball, it's such a rotational sport, just throwing the ball

back to the pitcher, which, oh by the way, a catcher has to do 180 times a game.

Uh, in case you're wondering, you know, uh, not to mention when they gotta throw

down or call third strikes and you gotta block it and throw the first, and then

you got, I think they hit him in a knee.

You got knee capped a couple times behind the plate.

So.

I'm sure he spent most of the day today in the, uh, in the cold tub.

Uh, just icing it down, you know.

Well, we were all anticipating, 'cause we knew the situation with

Evan, like, best case scenario doesn't play over the weekend.

Right.

You get F and you get slate and you split it up.

Then we know he is starting Saturday and I don't see him take any practice

swings in the OnDeck circle and he goes to the plate and we're like,

all right, what's gonna happen?

First pitch hits him right on the elbow and we're like, all right.

He ends up scoring and then yeah.

Really the, I think the first swing he had of the day was that double

down the line, uh, right at me.

I was standing on the wall down there.

But I mean, that's huge.

That ties the game for you.

It gets the, the bullpen or the, the dugouts all fired up.

I mean, that's a, that's a big moment for Evan to step up in knowing

he's held together with Popsicle sticks and duct tape at this point.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you know, being that it was a Morales second concussion and basically

two and a half weeks, um, he probably won't catch anymore this year.

We'll, hope to get him back.

You know, I don't think it'll be this weekend, but maybe, maybe by the, you

know, Tuesday of Richmond, he will be able to swing the bat for us again.

But I think his catching days are, are done for this season.

Um, and so Jack and Evan gotta be the guys that go and, you know, that's

the way it is and they'll be fine.

And Jack's feeling better, you know, I'm anticipating him catching

Wednesday night at, at VCU.

He's from Richmond.

It's a home, you know, essence home town game for him.

So that'll be neat, uh, for, for him to be able to do that, I think.

Um, so yeah.

And then, you know, yesterday was the Blake Morgan show, right?

Like what a fantastic ging, our first complete game in seven years, I think.

Um, and you know, he, and he, and he actually threw 27 outs without

giving a run because the first battery walked in the second guy, you know.

Tapped one out of the ballpark and down two, nothing with no outs.

And then they didn't score again.

And you know, they had some traffic out there, but he, he just really battled.

He, he gets in those grooves like that sometimes where he's

got that change up going in the innings, just go fast, you know?

Yeah.

Um, and through strikes and you know what, he walked, walked two

guys and struck out seven and we played very good defense behind him.

Um, so that also is, was helpful.

I thought we played good defense most of the weekend.

Um, and you know, Tahraun had a big RBI hit for us out nine or two rbis actually,

you know, and um, Evan got the, a hit and rundown that moves some guys up and.

We just were letting him off the hook, though we weren't scoring the guy from

third with less than two outs, which as we've talked about in the past,

this team's had its issues with, um, and so we're letting him hang around

three to two going in the seventh.

And then we finally got some big hits in the seventh, you know,

and, and got that thing going.

And then we did it again in the eighth.

Um, and busted open a, a close game, you know, and made it look

like it wasn't that close a game.

So that was good to give Blake some breathing room.

Yeah, I was just gonna, so if, if they had not scored those runs, extra runs

there in the bottom of the eighth, was Blake gonna go back out for the ninth?

He was, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, he was going, you know, I just, he had that look in his eye, man.

Yeah.

And in today's world of analytics and numbers, what, what, what they miss

in that I. Is the human element of it.

And when you see that look in a kid's eye, like I don't need to talk to him.

Like his pitch account was fine.

I think he was at 98 going into the ninth.

Mm-hmm.

Finished at one 12 maybe.

Um, that's not a lot of pitches for a complete game.

And you know, he, he just had that look man, he is like, I got you guys.

Like, just let me have it.

And, um, he is a senior and he deserved a, a chance to, to, you know,

to do something special like that.

And um, you know, Mike, Mike kind of came down and says, who, who you want up?

And I said, well get these guys up.

But it's his game.

You know, we got a six run lead.

Like he can give up a couple and still finish this thing.

We're not gonna let him throw 130 pitches.

But, um, he's got a little bit of wiggle room there.

Great.

Yeah, we threw, yeah, that was great.

We threw a couple extra there while the referee or the umpires had to go, you

know, review the double play at the end and slow walk all the way back to the

field and then slow call everything.

But just

if they would've turned, if they would've re reversed that one out.

I told the guys already, I said, I tell you what, if they

changed this call on this.

You are gonna see a Earl Weaver type

going on out here.

Y'all can get one more out without me, and, uh, unfortunately they didn't so

well.

You did win another challenge this weekend.

Uh, it's on Saturday, the, I think it was canan sliding into

third that, yeah, that one really

shouldn't count though.

Everybody in the ballpark saw that he was safe except for

the one guy making the call.

It was a quick, quick review through the net.

Um, he was a problem on Friday, I think, behind the dish.

And he heard plenty.

Yeah, he

was terrible.

He was terrible all weekend.

I, he's, uh, it's not, it's not good.

I mean, that was one of the quickest reviews I think I've ever seen too.

Yeah, that was crazy.

Hey, we gotta walk back here, but we all know so well

one of the home runs that Dylan gave up, it was the shot that

was down the left field line.

And I saw who was making the fair foul call and I didn't care what he said.

I was gonna say it was probably wrong.

Yeah, it was

close to the foul poll.

I couldn't tell from my seat, but I was like, uh, maybe we

should take a look at that.

Yeah, it was pretty, yeah, that one was pretty fair.

Uh, I think, um, yeah, that guy was bad.

He was terrible on Friday.

That, that wasn't helpful either.

Like his TrackMan report was just awful.

Um, so one of those things unfortunately, but that, that didn't,

he didn't cost us a game Friday.

I mean, those guys, ball.

We weren't good enough.

But you know, it's another, you know, we said we had to, you know, we needed

to win these three series and, and we've won two of them, so now we

gotta go up in JMU and do it again.

And, you know, two or three are on the road.

And, um, the other one's kind of on the road.

So, uh, but I think with the way things are shaping up, I mean, what

are we tied with Texas State for fifth?

For fifth.

Yeah.

I mean, that just tells you how punched together it was that, you know, yeah.

You're up there at fifth.

That's pretty impressive.

Yeah.

And you got some teams moving in the wrong direction.

I mean, a appalachia's lost like eight in a row or.

Um, Georgia State's lost a bunch in the road.

Georgia Southern's been scuffling, uh, Marshall plays at Georgia State

this weekend, so one of those, whoever loses that one's gonna

probably be out of it, I think.

Um, and they got nine and 10 wins, and then there's some other

people playing each other too.

So, but two more wins.

I think you're gonna be in a tournament.

Three.

I think you got a good shot at being, you know, in that top six.

I mean, you're not, no one's gonna catch the top four at this point, but

you could definitely finish fifth.

Um.

And, you know, um, fifth or sixth, you know, does the same thing for you.

It keeps you out of the, it is just what bracket you're gonna be in, right?

Like fifth, you're in the one seed, one seeds bracket, uh, the 1 8, 4, 5, and,

and sixth you're in the two seeds bracket.

So, um, you know, coast or southern miss, I mean, pick your poison.

Yeah.

Either one would be tough.

Yeah, they're all tough.

Yeah.

I, I think it's really down, like the five and six spot.

There's, there's five teams I think that can get there because I don't think

anyone's gonna catch one through four.

Like Right.

Us trying to catch four games on Louisiana with six to go, probably.

Probably, yeah.

And they got

the five record.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's, it's us, Texas State, Georgia, Southern Arkansas State and app.

Yeah.

And then you've got, I think Texas State and Georgia Southern

play each other this week.

So you kind of need like a Georgia Southern to win that series,

like two games to one something.

That's the, the way that helps you.

But a lot of things you can just root for for teams to lose.

Like app and Arc State, you know, just.

Just reform to lose.

But yeah, I mean, I think three and three, you're right in the thick of it.

Maybe you come down with some tiebreakers to that five, six seed, but you know, I

think you, you handle it, handle well.

We

got the tiebreaker over Georgia Southern.

Mm-hmm.

But that's the only one of the Georgia State I don't think is

gonna be get in, get up there.

So that's not gonna matter.

Um, you know, six and oh solves a lot of problems.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That'd be good.

Especially since Coastal's 20 and four Uhhuh, uh, they're, uh,

their, their pitching numbers have been just out of this world, man.

But you never know what can happen.

So we gotta take care of, we got a Wednesday night BCU

game in front of that too.

Yes.

So, um, go have some fun with that and get, you know, probably throw

everybody an inning, you know, get some guys didn't pitch this weekend.

Need to get out there and try to stay sharp.

So one of those type deals and play at the Diamond and, um.

We've played pretty well at the Diamond through the years.

You know, I, I couldn't even tell about that.

Okay.

Last time ever.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

It might be the last time ever.

Um, so, you know, get, uh, if we gotta arrest somebody

in that game, then we will.

'cause at the end of the day, it means nothing, uh, other than it's a game you're

playing and you'd like to play well, and I, I thought, um, you know, all, all in

all the guys did a good job this weekend.

And anytime you get, you know, a couple really good starts, like,

like we did on Saturday and Sunday, it's certainly helpful and had some

big hits to go, to go along with it.

Uh, so I, I mentioned this before we were talking before you came

on, and I wanted to bring it up.

Uh, you guys did a fantastic job with your pitching management this weekend,

um, which is, it's weird to say like in with losing Friday, 11 to four,

but it was pretty clear after that.

It was like, well, I'm not gonna use the guys, I'm not gonna

use like the best pictures and.

It was a great scenario where some guys who had not really done great

all year came out and had some of the best games of the season.

And then with Hubble and Davis, you were set up.

I mean, you, you went into Sunday, you had Bailey and Hunt and baes, and uh, I've

lost the fourth one I had a minute ago.

Um, all ready to go and if you needed him on Sunday and you didn't end up

needing him, so those guys got rest.

I mean, that was just a, a great, and, and it, it had to happen.

Had to get the good pitching to have it happen, but a great job of coaching.

You guys did.

Well, I I think that sometimes on Friday, CB back in the old days, if you got

behind early on Friday by five or six and the other team's ACE was out there

and you're like, all right man, we're not gonna score seven more runs off this guy.

You would use that to get your young guys their experience.

Like you'd throw a bunch of your better freshmen that weren't quite ready to be

in the moments, the leverage moments yet.

Um.

And I thought that Friday, you know, I thought Park threw the ball pretty well.

I thought Ezio threw the ball pretty well.

And, uh, who was the other one we threw Friday?

Dylan,

Jimmy Tora, pitch grade and Dylan

threw the ball pretty well.

And that was each, I don't know, each threw, you know, one or two plus.

But, um, I thought it, it, it, it was good.

They, they did a good job.

They kept the game right there.

Um, you know, and we, we had a couple shots at it.

We just couldn't get a big hit, but they didn't let it just fall to crap, you know?

Right.

Um, and so they killed a little bit of their offensive momentum.

I mean, you think about they didn't score a lot, they didn't do a lot of offense.

They had three home runs.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Um,

after about the fifth inning on Friday.

Yeah.

I was, if you go after the fourth inning Friday, we pretty much

dominated 'em the rest of the weekend.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And they had, they're all, all, they scored six more runs

and they were on three swings.

Yeah, so I thought we really pitched well after that and um,

I was proud of our guys, you know, for bouncing back that way.

And it's such a funny dynamic.

I mean, people put so much importance on the Friday game.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, I've always been of the mind that they over important overemphasize it.

Um, everybody would love to be one and oh rather than oh and one.

I get that.

But it doesn't necessarily.

And baseball's one of those sports where the momentum is the

guy on the mound the next day.

That's where your momentum is.

And our, our two guys on the mound the next two days were better than their two.

And so we were able to get that momentum back.

Their guy was better than ours on Friday.

Um.

But sometimes, you know, you go out and you, you lose a, a close one on Friday.

Both teams pitch well, and you know, that happens, that happens

oftentimes as well, but you just gotta bounce back and win the next one.

And then I think the momentum then switches like, all right,

they won Friday, we won Saturday.

You know, we got the win going in the Sunday.

We're feeling a little better about ourselves now.

And you know, we've all won on Friday and lost on Saturday too.

And you are like, man, we had a chance to win the series.

We didn't get it done.

Now we kind of gotta win tomorrow.

And the, the other team that lost Friday and one Saturday's like,

all right, we get to play for the series now we, we get to try to win.

And so the mindset of it is, you know, is always so important.

Um, and you know, it's, we haven't won a lot on Fridays.

I mean, I was looking, we were looking back at.

Our record on the three days.

You know, if you wanna talk about what pictures are, you know,

what's your record when this guy pitches, you know, that stat.

I was think it's cool.

What mm-hmm.

Not necessarily his record.

Absolutely.

Right.

What's your team's record and Friday's in the league?

Um, I think we are two and six.

Um, we've played eight.

Right.

Um, and then Saturdays, I believe, uh, we're four and four, um, which

means we're six and two on Sundays.

Right.

Yeah.

About as balanced as you can be.

Yeah.

And so it's like, yeah, we're winning on Sunday, we're not winning on Friday,

and we're, you know, 500 on Saturday.

Mm-hmm.

So it's, uh, and we're also, you know, one of those, one of the few teams that

haven't swept somebody or been swept.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so we've just kind of been standing right in the middle.

Um, and Marshall

Marshall came in Friday riding a, a great hot streak.

I think they won seven in a row.

They beat a ranked West Virginia team.

That was three games.

Clear of everyone else in the Big 12.

Yeah.

I think at least offensively with the bats, they were seeing the

ball like it was a beach ball.

And sometimes when you get those teams that maybe are overachieving a little

bit and kind of on that hot streak, once they hit that loss and they kind of

deplete that energy, man, they, they fall.

And I feel like the way that we pitched on Saturday kind of extinguished that Flint.

That's what it felt like.

They didn't really, I don't feel like they had a whole lot together Sunday

outside of that top of the first.

Yeah.

And obviously Blake had a lot to do with that because he was,

you know, he kept them that way.

And it's always interesting to see, 'cause it's always just different, you know,

they gotta go down and play Georgia State, who they're a game ahead of, we were

a game ahead of them coming into this.

And um, you know, so they, they gotta go on the road and anything can

happen down in that park down there too, man, that's an offensive park.

So, and Georgia State can hit, uh, they just haven't been playing well.

So, um, but they, they're, they're fighting for their lives now.

You know, they got, they gotta win that series this weekend.

So, um, and then if they beat Marshall in the series, then that, that may put,

you know, Marshall pretty much out of it.

Mm-hmm.

Um, yeah,

a lot of, uh, grits and chaos going on in the next couple weeks here.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I

know.

Yeah, a lot of people.

Um, did you see, did you see, uh, somebody sent it to me on Twitter,

there was a, some sort of bench clear or something in the end of the JMU

Georgia Southern game yesterday?

No, I don't think I saw that one.

You have to look that up.

I don't know what happened, but, um, but you know, baseball bench

clears are much a do about nothing.

Bunch of guys.

Yeah.

It, it looks cool because

there's so many

guys, but it's nothing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a lot of chaos.

Bo was telling me a little bit about it.

He was texting me on Sunday.

Uh, I never got a chance to see the video, but there's, I think there's

been a couple of things up in, uh, uh, with involving JMU this year.

There's been a couple of, uh, bench clearing situations.

I will say.

It does make me think of, you know, the, uh, the big internet

thing going around right now, the a hundred men versus a gorilla.

The only thing I've seen that was, the only thing I've seen from

that that was funny was like, what about a hundred Don Zimmers versus.

Was Pedro Mars who would win

baseball bra.

Maybe think of that one.

But I got, uh, Gary, you got that picture.

I got, I got a picture, uh, at the end of the game yesterday.

I really enjoyed.

Yeah.

So this was, I thought it was great.

You know, they're in the line.

Uh, you know, I think it's just, it's just cool to have those moments with

the guys, you know, Blake Blake's been here with y'all for four years.

I mean, you knew 'em I'm sure for years before that.

Yeah.

You know, it's just a, it's gotta be fun to watch these guys grow

up and have these big moments.

Yeah.

Without a doubt, man.

It's, you know, and especially your seniors.

'cause they, you don't get to be a senior in a baseball program without going

through ups and downs and tough times.

You're talking about a kid, you're talking about resilient.

You know, that kid had the world by the balls his freshman

year, um, came out of nowhere.

Conference, first team all conference.

Mm-hmm.

Which is unheard of for a freshman in a conference like conference, USA.

Uh, first female all conference pitcher and freshman of the year.

Um, and you know, everybody's, I mean, I don't even, what was ZRA, like something?

It was like once I

to looked at it yesterday.

Yeah,

yeah.

It was just crazy, crazy.

And, and then, you know, sophomore year the injury bug got him.

He, uh mm-hmm.

Um, you know, he, he, he was banged up a little bit.

He ended up, you know, missing the end of the year with, uh, ACL surgery.

And then he had the meniscus thing and coming back the next year

just wasn't ever quite himself.

Um, and this year he was finally healthy again and started to show good bits

and pieces of, of, of even a better version of the old Blake Morgan.

'cause he had a breaking ball now and he didn't even have that as a freshman.

It was pretty much fast change, um, fast ball.

And he was still throwing a fast ball in 91 in the nineties.

Yeah.

It was, it was like, good.

Mm-hmm.

So he's carried his velocity.

A couple pro guys were in there to see him yesterday.

Mm-hmm.

I was so happy about that.

Um, 'cause sometimes it's when they see you, right?

Yeah.

And a couple of the guys called me today and said, man,

that was awesome performance.

You know, we were so impressed.

So I like that for him, certainly.

And he's a wonderful kid.

He is a great teammate.

You know, when he is not pitching, he's on the front rail, the dugout.

He's encouraging all his,

sometimes even when he is pitching.

Yeah, sometimes.

Yeah.

We got, I saw you actually yesterday.

He was, he was there shouting while they were batting.

I saw you kind of look over.

I don't know if that was, it was at that, but it in my mind when you're

like, is he really doing that?

Ladies in the middle of this.

All right.

Uh, I think Mike came up to me after the seventh and.

We were talking about pitching, and I said, well, he looks pretty good, man.

How's he feel?

He goes, I don't know.

I'm not talking to him.

That's, that's baseball in a nutshell right there, right?

Yeah.

Right.

Leave, leave alone.

I might say something else, screw him up.

I leave him alone.

He's doing great.

And that was, I remember talking to Mike about, I think he had

everything was Mike Tano that he had, uh, coach, yeah, ano, yeah.

Made the big leagues.

Yeah.

And I remember talking to him about it.

He was like, all I was trying to do was just not mess him up.

That was my entire plan with him, is to do everything I could to stay

outta his way and let him succeed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's kind of last night what it was, man, he just, yeah.

Let him, let him roll like that.

And what, like I said, he, I mean, I would imagine it'd be

the Sunbelt pitcher of the week.

I don't know if somebody could, I would hope so.

Better be.

Yeah.

There'll be,

there'll be some guy for Southern Miss Louisiana that threw, uh, seven innings.

That gave up four runs.

So he would the best,

I mean, complete games are so rare now in any level of baseball.

Um, you know, college baseball in particular, so probate

any level, they're rare.

I mean, and so they should be celebrated, especially when it wasn't like we threw

him 160 pitches to get 'em that, uh, we would never do that, first of all.

But he, he did it on schedule, you know, I mean, 112 over nine.

Uh, I'm an English major, so you can do math mean, it's probably about, you

know, it's probably about, you know, 13, 14 pitches in inning, which is nothing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's really what you shoot for, right?

Like about 15 pitches in inning.

And I feel like you're on track in what, two hours?

One, 12.4, which is perfect.

12.4. Yeah.

Yeah.

You want about 13 inning?

I mean, it's, it's pretty much what you need to do to pitch a, a complete game.

Yeah.

Yeah.

One 20 they say.

Right.

That's, uh, something like that.

So, but he was fantastic and you know, he only had a couple

innings where he had to mm-hmm.

You know, battle out of something and, um, we, we've got the one break where

they had the steal in there with one out and we got the battered interference on

the strikeout and yeah, that saved a run.

But other than that, man, it was all, it was all him and the

guys picking him up behind him.

So, um, hopefully we can keep that up.

And, you know, I'm glad this isn't a short week for him coming off that.

'cause the following week will be, and we gotta get through this week and

then we gotta figure out, you know.

You guys tell me, gimme some of your thoughts on what we need to do to set

up the picture for the how do, that's always a, how do you get Rick, you have

a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series, the last one, and then you've got,

you know, you're, if you're not in the playing game, you play Wednesday.

If you're in the playing game, you play Tuesday.

The whole playing dynamic changes everything, right?

Because it's one you gotta win, must win.

But if you're in the regular tournament, then you know, it's, it's a little

different than if you're in play it.

So we'll see what's up and, uh, let's, let's get there.

First

I say, I imagine this weekend we'll have a lot, 'cause how you do this weekend

will probably give you a better idea of where you might be standing, regardless

of what happens against Coastal.

Yeah, I think so.

I, I think if, if you can win the series this weekend

mm-hmm.

With 14.

Depending on what, you know, Texas State does.

Um, obviously, and then a couple other, I don't see anybody below us sweeping

some of their plan, um, at this point.

So, uh, it'll probably tell you, Hey, we're in, but we gotta, um,

we gotta win one to, you know, maybe be in the, in the top six.

Mm-hmm.

I, I think, I really do think fifteen's gonna get you in the top six this year.

Feels like Yeah.

It's looking like it here a couple weeks away.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah.

Make 'em down to some tiebreakers if you're at 15 and 15, but

you'll be in the conversation.

I think 16 and 14.

You're pretty much at this, I would think guaranteed a five or succeed.

Um, yeah, just based on, and like I said,

18 and 12 will really get you somewhere.

Yes.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

Started nipping in Louisiana there for that, that five seat.

Yeah, it that, that's, that's a lot to figure out, manage too.

'cause you also have a midweek next week before we play coastal at War

Memorial and that may be you just the whole kitchen sink out there.

Just see what happens.

Yeah.

That'll be one of those games, um, that you're just gonna go

think about it like a practice.

It's a, it's a good day to just get some guys some work and you may play

a few guys and get 'em outta there and rest 'em, and depending on what

we need to do against, against Coastal and that kind of thing, um, and then,

you know, you gotta figure out what you want to do on with your pitching.

Um, I, I've been in situations before where you really only needed, um,

well you remember Covid, we, we didn't play, uh, have they had a

open weekend that last weekend before the conference state tournament?

And we ended up going down and playing Louisiana Tech and we

played them Friday, Saturday.

And we threw our, our our, um, we threw, uh, uh, Moore and, and

Gregory both in the Friday game.

Mm-hmm.

Um, just to give 'em an extra couple days for the tournament if you need one win.

And we ended up winning both of those games, but we didn't need to.

But, um, 'cause it was already set for the conference, if you need one win, it

could be a scenario where, you know, you would just throw Blake at the end of one

of the first two games, a couple innings to close and try to win it and that,

and then he's done for the week and you could throw him first in the tournament,

um, if you had to, something like that.

So, but gotta go beat JMU and then all those things would be fun to talk about.

Yeah.

And they're, and that's not gonna be easy.

They, no, they, you know, they, they obviously, they're

one of the better pitching.

Staff's in the league, top to bottom.

Um, they got some guys that can throw the ball and a couple

lefties that are pretty good.

Um, yeah, Aiden, uh,

Aiden Kools brother is doing really well.

Yep, yep.

They haven't hit a ton this year, um, but it's an offensive ballpark, so, and I, I

did look at the extended weather forecast.

It's gonna be cool up there on, uh, on, on Friday night.

Um, so shocker in Harrisonburg, but, uh, and then Saturday

and Sunday look nice, so,

all right,

well, let's do it.

Let's go.

I'm, I'm all for six and Oh, let's do it.

Let's go out and get some wins.

Hey, we were supposed to have the groundbreaking ceremony today for the

Elmer Family Stadium and the, uh, I guess whatever meteorologist they were

talking to told 'em that it was gonna be, uh, some pretty bad weather around.

So they postponed it to June 5th.

Instead of May 5th.

So we got that giant tent at our, our home plate right now looks

like a, a Star Wars spaceship.

I mean, it's huge.

And I was like, how are we gonna practice tomorrow with this thing there?

So yeah, we're gonna have to be creative.

I think they're trying to get it down, but I haven't been given any guarantees.

So just one more thing to around, it's like turtle, right?

Yeah.

It's, it's huge.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, we may, maybe I'll take BP inside it.

Maybe.

We'll see.

That's what I was thinking.

Just you have to hit everything on a line or on the ground.

If you pop it up, we gonna, you, you owe money for the tent.

Yeah.

Don't come pick without, but have

a bunch of holes in it from all the popups.

And that's a good lesson for the hitters.

We're not trying to get popups.

Hit it out.

There's Right, exactly.

There you go.

Exactly.

Uh, any questions?

Anybody chime in on anything?

No, you've an, you answered a couple questions that I had picked up just

in person about, you know, approach to pitching and, and all of that good stuff.

I will float you one because Chiron Hammond is gonna

be our player guest today.

Yeah.

Uh, watching him be the bullpen catcher and then having to run

out and warm up the pitchers.

Uh, I I guess, is he the emergency backup catcher now given the situation?

He

is, yeah.

He is the, um, he's the guy that, he's been in the bullpen this

year times when we've had to get two guys going and he does fine.

And, um, you know, his biggest issue was he said, I don't have a cup, A cup, but

yeah, we probably need to do that, Ron.

Um, he is, he is an amazingly wonderful kid, great kid.

His energy, you know, is infectious.

He loves being a part of a team.

Um, he plays hard.

He is, he is just great and he gave us a big spark yesterday, man.

And, um, you know, he hadn't played for a couple weeks much at all.

A couple pitch hit, appearances, but he never mopes.

He's always in the game.

He, um, he is just a really, really fun guy to have on your team in your program

and we all appreciate him so much.

Yeah.

We're excited to talk to him and, and talk all about the

weekend and his whole journey.

And he's from Essex County.

I went to Middlesex County, so we got a little, there you go.

Little something, something there too.

Yeah.

Uh, but no, I think, I think that's all we had and as always coach, we

appreciate having you on here, man.

It's an awesome boost for us and get to hear it.

The information directly from you is always a big win.

Trying my best to get to the diamond this week.

I think CB's coming up, I'll be there.

Yeah.

So we'll do that.

And then, uh, of course we watching this weekend on ESPN plus for the JMU series.

Hey, one of the things

we are gonna try to do with, um, Tahraun, and you usually only wanna

do it as a, in a, in a home game.

Um, but I thought it would be cool to, to try and, and we're not gonna do it

Wednesday night, uh, but we may try it at Richmond the following Tuesday.

Um, never had a guy try to play all nine positions in the game.

Oh, yeah.

And so we're gonna give that award.

Of course.

We need to have the lead Yeah.

In the, or at least be tied in the ninth grade to work, or else

you're like, wasted a bunch of time.

So, um, I don't know.

Well, you know, he

actually has a ton of pitching experience.

I'm like, I know we were he gonna do this with, with, uh, Bryce Windham.

We were gonna, which he had not ever pitched in college, so he pitched some

bull, but, but, uh, Ron has a decent amount of, uh, pitching experience.

He does.

Yeah.

And he is actually been throwing bullpens, you know, um, he

looked pretty good last week.

He threw the hitters.

So we may, we may still use him in that capacity, so we're gonna think about it.

I'd love to be able to do it.

I wish we had one more midweek home game.

Yeah.

Um, to do it in.

'cause like I said, if you go through all that and then you don't

get to, you know, play the night, that's when he is got a pitch.

Yeah.

Um, it kind of defeats the purpose of it a little bit.

So, uh, but, but it's something we'd like to do, so we'll see.

That would be pretty awesome.

You know, it's always

that mid, uh, switch of the eighth, you know, if the situation we're gonna, we're

gonna be winning the game, we're not gonna worry about it, but just in case.

Yeah.

You can always throw in here.

That's true.

We

could, we could, we could just bring 'em in.

Bring 'em in the eighth top.

Yeah.

Off the field to pitch two outs in eighth.

I mean, ECU does it right.

Why not us?

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a good, that's a good call.

We might, we might need to try that.

So.

Alright guys, we'll your time to Ron and thank you Goman.

Appreciate you man.

Thank you, coach.

Go

Monarch.

All right, we're gonna take a quick break and we will be right back.

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Thank you for listening, and go Monarchs

Welcome back, Monarch fans to the Hudson Homer podcast.

We are excited to bring on infielder slash bullpen catcher.

Little bit of everything.

Senior Tahraun Hammond has joined the podcast.

Tahraun.

How is it going, man?

Uh,

going

really well.

How you

guys doing?

We are great man.

We are great.

We know you are, uh, kind of in the middle of your journey back to campus from Essex.

Uh, back in my home county of Middlesex where we apparently just

still don't have cell towers there.

They haven't upgrade since I graduated.

Middlesex always gonna be like that.

Always.

Yes.

We'll be flying cars and they'll still be like, man, this, this

wife out here is terrible.

You

definitely hop in a little time machine.

I actually didn't know you was from Middlesex.

Yes.

Yeah.

Graduated from Middlesex, played down in Deltaville, ballpark.

Uh, it was obviously well before you were there.

This is 2005 when I graduated high school.

I think the, uh, the big name for Essex then was Harold Muzingo.

I don't know if you heard that.

Oh yeah.

Harold heard

that.

I actually trained with Harold a few times.

Okay.

Yeah, he was a beast.

He was throwing like low nineties to me and I was like 15 years old

and it did not go well for me.

Yeah.

Well, Tahraun you had a, a great weekend.

I know you spent a lot of time running back and forth from the dugouts of the

bullpen to catch the guys when we were down two catchers, but huge hit on

Sunday to kind of break the offense open.

What'd you think about the weekend?

Um, I thought the weekend started off a little shaky, but

uh, in the end it went well.

We, we rallied together.

We stayed together as a team to keep fighting.

To overcome the obstacles that got in our way of winning.

So I think it went really, it went, it started off bad, but ended.

Ended.

Ended up ended up really good.

Yeah.

You're one of those guys that you're just such an important part of any

team, like you show up every day, you've got a great attitude, you're always

smiling, you can see you're out there, just always uplifting the guys man.

Like it.

Do you, is that a thing you think about doing or just something

that just comes naturally to you?

Uh, I would say it's a little bit of both.

Uh, of course I'm human so sometimes I don't have a good day.

But I just feel like if energy's a really important thing to, like in

baseball to me, because like if you don't have good energy, then like

how are you gonna perform well or how are you gonna do anything good?

So I just feel like being the person I am to bring the energy to the

team and to the dugout or on the field, like it just helps out a lot

more than what anybody would think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you've moved around a couple positions this year.

I think you've, you've played third, you've played second,

you've done a couple other things.

Um, but how is that for you just kind of always having to be at the ready to go?

Is that part of that just positive energy you're bringing to the dugout?

Uh, I'm just somebody that, that's just wants to play and win.

Like, uh, when I was younger, like we just always wanted to compete.

Like, especially like in Essex, like it's not many good baseball players.

So like, of course, like I had to be that guy to play every position like

that was needed whenever we needed it.

So I just feel like the competitive nature is something that helps me bring, uh,

like a winning mentality to the team.

Yeah.

And, and to that end, you know, you.

This is your first year playing division one.

You, you've, you've got as much college experience as pretty much anybody on

the team, you know, playing at D two at Virginia State and, and Bluefield State.

But this first year at D one, but also the first time, you've really haven't

been in the lineup every single day.

I mean, other, other years.

You know, you're playing shortstop every day.

You're even pitching every day.

What's that adjustment been like for you to have, to learn how to,

like I said, be ready anytime.

I,

uh, most of the time, of course,

thanks.

Not like, I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna be the best for the team, but as

in like, if he sees something that like we don't see, then we have to just trust

what he sees because he's been in here.

20 plus years.

So it's just the adjustment has been just, just being myself

and just being there to help.

Like, you know, like, like you said, like I've been, I've been at the college level

for three years, so like I've seen the ups, I've seen the down, I've seen it all.

So I just wanna be here to help my team win and succeeded in,

Just asking a little bit about, you know, how you got recruited to ODU.

Obviously you're at Virginia State for, for coup for two years.

You're at Bluefield State for a year, you know, what's that journey

like going get eventually coming from Bluefield to old Dominion?

Uh, I would say that was a good, it was a, at first it was, it was a little rough.

Uh, like when I first had entered the portal, I ended up entering

the portal because my coach for Bluetooth state ended up leaving

and going to a different school.

So the recruiting, like I remember I just, one day, like I had, I honestly,

I'm not gonna say I committed to another school, but like, I had

told a school that was coming, but I just wanted to like battle myself.

And, uh, one day, I just remember I text Hayes my sophomore year at college

when I first entered the portal.

And we had a little conversation and whatnot, and then I just was like,

I just wanna, I'm gonna text him this year just to see, see what the

odds are that I get the opportunity to be able to play at division one.

Glad it worked out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It worked out really well for us.

So we're, we're glad you landed here.

I, I literally, like, when h first got to ODU, the first thing I told him is,

you know, the guys you recruited at VMI were always some of my favorite human

beings because I'd see 'em, you know, playing here local in high school.

And so it makes perfect sense that you were the guy that you texted Hayes.

'cause I was like, yep.

There you go.

Just another top notch, fantastic human being.

Yeah.

That's what I try to be.

You

go.

Awesome man.

Well, we've, uh, we, we've talked to several other guys on the team.

I think you're living in a house with Scotty and who's the, the third with you?

Zach.

Zach, yeah.

Zach.

Zach Leite.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Tell us a little bit about living in that house.

Uh, it's a great household to live in, honestly.

Uh.

All of, like, me and Scotty, like we're we'd loud ones.

We the talkative ones, uh, Zach don't really talk as much, but we get Zach

out of his, like, out of his comfort zone when we're in the house together.

So the household is just a fun household to live in.

Like, we always laughing, joking, uh, we, we cook for each other.

We do everything.

Like it's a really good household to live in.

Does Scotty ever get you do pterodactyl sounds with him?

That's not something do, that's, that's more of him exact thing.

Like, I'm more than one.

Like I'm just gonna sit here and just laugh at them doing it.

Because like what?

Like,

just like a competition heard, we heard about in

the left field on like Saturday.

He was out there at the end of the game.

He was just out.

You could hear him yelling, nobody else out there.

He was like, let's go.

Just being Scotty.

Just saying.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's Scott.

Definitely.

Scotty right there.

That's awesome.

Well, I mean, I, I noticed you down in the bullpen catching, I think early

in the day on Saturday and 'cause I kind of knew the situation with,

with f and then with Slate as well.

Uh, but I assume you have caught at some point before 'cause

you looked a little too natural out there, even in the bullpen.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I've caught throughout my whole life.

Uh, I probably started, my catching was actually the first position I played.

Like I played in baseball.

I didn't start playing shortstop until about my seventh

grade year, middle school.

But like, catching is something that like I started doing, like that

was one of the first things that,

and pitching, pitching as long as you have the proper equipment to catch, right.

Yeah.

That's, that's the big issue.

Yeah, I was about to say, you can go ask Evan if you can go without one.

'cause I'm pretty sure he caught one right off the plate into him, uh, on Sunday.

Yeah, definitely.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Sunday, yes.

I think Evan got hit twice on Sunday.

I believe he's gotta be just

living in an ice bath this, uh, next couple days.

Yeah, definitely.

And yeah, you were talking about pitching and I, I, I brought that up a little.

We talked about Finney.

You, you pitched a ton between Virginia State and Bluefield State.

What, what was that like?

I think, I think you told me one time that it just kind of happened.

Um, I pitched in high school and, uh, I think my freshman year of my freshman

year of Virginia State, I believe one of our starters had got hurt.

And uh, we just was looking for somebody like to just do it.

And I just remember, like, I was like, man, I could do it.

Like it's, you know, I, I'm not gonna say I was the hardest store my freshman

year, but I can definitely say from my freshman year to now, like I've picked up

a lot more vlo than what I started with.

Well, I, I wanna tell the fans out there just actually how good you were pitching.

So at Virginia State, 30 appearances, 3.81 ERA two 16 batting average

against conference player of the year while you're there too.

Then at Bluefield, was it 12 appearances, 2.53 ERA with three saves,

uh, player of the Year award again.

So I would say you were more than just like, getting filled into a spot.

Like it seems like you may have upgraded the position by throwing you up there.

Yeah, I was, like I said, I just, when I'm a, I'm a competitor, so I always,

when I'm up on the mound, like it's just, it's you versus me, and I'm gonna bet

on myself 10 times outta 10, no matter who it is or who step into the box.

Like, I'm gonna bet on myself no matter what.

Uh, I had a picture, uh, Gary, if you got the one of, uh, him and Mav.

Uh, and this is, and I probably got a, a ton of these, but, uh, I noticed you guys

take a take a minute before every game.

Uh, whoop it went away.

Is that, uh, take a minute before every game to to pray with each other.

I tell, tell me why that's important for you guys and how

did y'all start doing that?

Um, I forgot what series started it.

I believe it was, um, the series after Charlotte, when we were, when we were

going to Auburn, like our Auburn series.

Uh, it just was a thing, like we just came to each other like, uh, before the game.

'cause we usually, we usually pray as a team.

So like we would present, we would break off and throw and stuff.

So like one day, like me and Mav just like, 'cause me and Mav are

really close and like we both like, believe, like God is like the number

one like thing person in our lives.

So like, we do everything through him.

So like, I. Me and him just one day, like disagree, like

let's just pray before the game.

And we just been praying in every game and it hasn't stopped since.

Yeah, I know.

It's always a ni it's a nice moment.

Anytime another photographer is at a game, that's where, oh, you

see, you can see it kind, see that photographer like click form to get it.

But yeah.

Yeah.

I remember the first time I met you was at a volleyball game.

It was You were hanging out with Mav.

Yeah, that was, and I was immediately like, well, I love this guy.

I can't wait to see him get to play all here.

Yeah.

Mav was like, Mav was the first, like one of the first teammates that I had

here that like, we actually clicked like as soon as we met each other.

So like, that's, that's my boy, like, so yeah.

So he, now that's interesting 'cause you know, it, I see him when he

gets kind of hyped up on the field, especially when things start happening.

He's a little louder, but in general, like, I've known Matt like two years

and he maybe hadn't said 12 words to me.

So it's funny 'cause you're, you're much more talkative.

Is he, is he like that when y'all hang out or is it just like, you

gotta open him up a little bit?

Uh, I'm gonna say like, I remember 'cause everybody tells me like

Mav, like ma, even Mav will tell me like he didn't talk to nobody last.

His, uh, the first came here and I just remember like when I first came, I, it

was like August and like we just, like all of us went to, um, our teammates

house and we was just sitting there and talking and vi vibing with each other.

And I just remember like him coming up just like introducing himself and

showing me around the different things.

Like we just had like a talk, like he, I found out he was from Florida.

Uh, just different things.

Like, it just was like a, a instant bond.

Like as soon as we started talking,

just

soulmates, I get it.

All right.

CB got a couple other great shots from this weekend too.

So, uh, if you ever need evidence that you caught at OD, if you sent

out, don't up behind the plate.

Uh, CB has got you covered.

I mean

Oh, of course.

The smile, right?

Of course.

Yeah.

Yes.

That is awesome.

And by the way, no one is gonna be, uh, trying to railroad the catcher.

'cause that's a, it's gonna be a tough one to get through.

I can tell you that.

Yeah.

Did you play football?

I have to assume you played like every sport there.

Uh, yeah.

In high school

I played football and I also played basketball in high school.

Right.

Yeah, just, I just assuming, like you said, in a small town anyway, and

you're a pretty phenomenal athlete.

I had to imagine you were just like top of the world.

So what, what'd you play in?

I'm mis, I'm, I don't wanna put any disparagement on your height,

but I'm assuming point guard and basketball and uh, yeah.

And what were you football like running back, linebacker,

running back, and safety.

Actually.

Safety, yeah.

There you go.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah, I see it.

Some

of those, uh, smaller county high schools out there, if you can run 50 yards

without falling over, they're gonna be like, oh, you're a three sport athlete.

Then there's Tahraun who ends up being like the best player

in every sport that he plays.

So I That's awesome.

Right.

That's exactly how it is at the small schools.

Everybody plays out.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

I have a year of cross country for some reason because they just

didn't have enough guys to run, so

that's

funny.

Uh, awesome.

Well, Tahraun, we ask everyone who comes on, uh, you know, we've got a

college elements to MLB, the show, you got the college football game back.

So if they were to make a college baseball game, what would be your overall rating?

And then what within the ratings would you spike?

Could be like contact versus righties, power versus lefties, fielding.

So overall and then your best attribute.

Uh, I probably would be like a 85 overall.

85 I think.

Uh, and my best attribute would be my contact versus rights and lefties.

Yeah.

Just contact all around, like putting the ball in clay, hitting line drives.

That's, that would probably be my best attributes.

This is, so you joined the, the growing list again, you see kind

of who the people we have at odu.

'cause most of our guys give that like 81 to 85 range.

It's like, yeah, I'm, I'm good.

You know, I'm not a mid, so, Hey, you can, you can, you can do

something with this ball player.

Yeah.

Except for Was Zach.

Wasn't Zach the only like No, I'm 99.

99.

Yeah, he's nine.

Nine, yeah.

Yeah, that sound like too, Zach definitely would say 99.

Yeah.

I think Scotty said he is somewhere in the low eighties or something like that.

So, uh,

yeah.

Yeah.

We, yeah, a lot of, lot of 80, 81 to 85 range, which is it.

Which is fine.

Another, I mean, especially the game.

I mean, you guys are young, you know, put you in, put you in a ball game.

That's pretty good.

Yeah.

Well, I know you had finals this week.

We won't make you say how you felt you did on those, but what is, uh,

what's next for you once the season wraps and the semester's over?

Um,

I'll ask you the harder question.

Yeah, I would definitely try.

I'm a, I'm play travel ball.

I mean, uh, fall ball, I'm sorry, spring summer ball somewhere.

I'm gonna play summer ball somewhere just to, uh, keep, keep everything

good and, uh, hopefully like either at the draft or during the draft, like,

you know, I'm just trying to do my best to get a shot at the next level.

Honestly.