Lucky Fin Innings Show - Broomsticks & Rubber Games Week 11 Review

This week, we recap the thrilling events of Week 11 in College Baseball. Georgia and Ole Miss delivered impressive performances, while Florida State and Missouri State faced unexpected sweeps over the weekend. Pittsburgh is on a roll after sweeping #10 Virginia. The question remains: is this sweep more indicative of Pittsburgh's strength or Virginia's weaknesses? Additionally, we are finding it challenging to identify teams deserving of the last five spots for regional hosting this week. #collegebaseball #cws #acc #sec #big12 #big10

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Welcome, welcome to the Five Arms in a Lucky Finn podcast. This is the Lucky Finn inning Show. This is our college baseball show where we talk a bunch of college baseball all over the conferences, not just SDC, not just ACC. We'll talk all the way, maybe even talk about D2. Just kidding. I'm with my host, Jason Ide. He has probably one of the most famous pitches in intramural collegiate softball history live. It is the lucky Finn. Jason, how are we feeling about this weird college weekend?

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Oh, we're feeling good. It was uh, you know, actually going into it. We were talking about how we didn't know if this was gonna be a big weekend because there just weren't a lot of top matchups, but boy, they're not disappointing in terms of you know teams going showing up.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

So I accidentally just muted you, but was I muted? I accidentally muted you barely.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

You heard me.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I did hear you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Also, but also thanks for the mention of the pitch. You know, I I want to shout out my catcher. Oh, yeah, and he framed it, and then the umpire called it a strike.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

You want to talk about just ridiculousness of everyone jokes about how you you can't take intermittent, but man, we were so dumb. I mean, just framing pitches, just just for the fun of it. But man, uh, I there's there were a couple games this week that just shocked me and you, and even some of our favorites that we really wanted to succeed, just they they're starting to kind of break. Um, thoughts on those teams, and we'll get into them, but thoughts on quick thoughts on them before I jump into looking at it over our picks.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yeah, we were talking about it before the show. Missouri State, such a sad performance this weekend, getting swept to Louisiana Tech. This is a team that was sitting in the top 20 in RPI coming into the weekend with it. You know, we were talking about, hey, are they gonna be a two or a three? And do they need to win the conference to to make it to the tournament? Going into the weekend, we were assuming, hey, you know, if they win the conference and they keep keep it up, they're they're gonna be a two-seed. But now it now it feels like they almost have to win the win their um win the next series against Jacksonville State before they can eat we even talk about them being a three-seed. So looking forward to talking more about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Yeah, they've got a really tough kind of road ahead. They that the game there this weekend we'll again we'll get into it. They kind of just weren't there, kind of just fumbled up. Honestly, they fumbled it up a little bit. But um, Jason, we we got our picks in. You and I talked about our picks. I don't think we did bad this week. I don't think we did bad. Um, I'll put it up this way. So both of us had uh so Virginia and Pittsburgh. I had Virginia taking the the series, you had Pittsburgh. Uh we did not see Pittsburgh getting the sweep. Uh West Virginia um taking a they lost the series to Cincinnati. Uh we thought Purdue, I thought Purdue would put up a fight um better than they did. Um both got um Auburn in Oklahoma correct. Georgia Ole Miss. That was gonna be a toss-up, and Cal State Fullerton putting it to UC Santa Barbara. Jason, biggest surprise, biggest not surprise.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Uh, I do want to shout out a surprise. Uh, you were talking about that Purdue South USC series, and you said I think Purdue's gonna give them a fight in game one, but you didn't think that they would be able to have an opportunity to win one of the other two games. And I said I thought the opposite. I thought they would get their butts handed to them in game one, and then they would come back and win game three. It turned out you were right. They did put up a good fight on game one, so uh did not pull it out though. So it sucks to see them get swept, but you had that one right, so good to see you with that 3-0 there. I will say that you we were talking about it. The biggest surprise here to me is Pittsburgh getting a sweep. I definitely thought Pittsburgh had a good shot to win this series. I picked them 2-1. Uh, didn't see them getting a sweep. And here's the reason why. I think Pittsburgh looked really good in the midweek, uh, very controlled against West Virginia as far as you know laying off of pitches and uh taking advantage of the ones that they got down the plate. This Virginia offense is not a strong offense, but this their pitching staff is what has carried them up to this point this season. And Pitt said Pitts Pitts offense is what has carried them. Their pitching hasn't performed all that well. I believe in one game against Wake Forest, they gave up 22 runs. But man, their offense is turning it on, and their pitching staff showed up. They only they one hit Virginia. Virginia's only hit came in the second inning on Saturday. So for them to show up with the pitching performance they did, giving up eight runs across the weekend. Not that Virginia's offense is stellar, but Pitts offense continued to show up. And I mean, if they can carry that, I mean they get Florida State next weekend. So, and I believe they have a strong midweek game, too, right? Kent State.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about it as well. So again, we'll talk about it. Yep. They the game I've watched a couple of it. Pitt Virginia just had a bunch of miscues and errors, like a ball bouncing over the center fielder's head. Um honestly, it looked Virginia didn't even really have a chance. Pitt was hitting that ball so well. I mean, five extra points on Saturday. Um, Virginia does have a conference series this week. Uh Pitt's got a tough schedule ahead um with uh Kent, like Kent State we mentioned, and then Florida State. Uh and again, man, Florida State did not look good this weekend. That's that's another we again we you and I fought back and forth about that, but again, we'll we'll get back into that to another time.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah. Um I'll also say, Kenny, what does this say more about, right? Does this say more about pit pit performing and are they gonna start moving up in the rankings? Or does this look worse for Virginia in terms of trying to begin be a regional host?

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Uh definitely worse for Virginia. Uh I'm not sure. Like, do we know who they got up coming up? I don't believe it's really cow, I believe. Okay, cow. Yeah, and they're not they're not high on RPI, 21 RPI, they're they're straight their schedules 15. Um, yeah, I and it doesn't look like they're doing good at home either. Let's see how they are at home. And that that's the thing I've been looking at for this entire time. 18 and 16. That's not the 18 and 6, excuse me. But I think it looks bad for Virginia. This is the time of the season where you really can't look bad, especially the last end of the season, because that's the that's the what have you done for me lately part that you and I talk about a lot. Yeah, so and good on pit. But again, Pitt's got pit's got a tough road ahead of him that's gonna give them a good limelight of how they can handle that, handle the rest.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, did we see it right? Did is the rest of Pitt's schedule Florida State, North Carolina, and then Notre Dame? Is that what it was for their weekend series? It may be I believe it is, but regardless, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

But I believe it's a good fight, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah, it's gonna be tough. So um the other one here, Kenny, we were talking about that. Well, you brought up that West Virginia, Cincinnati. West Virginia blew this game on Sunday today as we're recording. It was five to two going into the eighth inning. They were up, and they just blew that game. I mean, they they did not look good in that eighth inning, they could not get an out to save their lives opening up that inning. It was bases loaded, nobody out. Cincinnati just put it on them in that eighth inning, scoring five runs.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Do you you that's gonna you say that's gonna hurt West Virginia stock because we talked about that too about them even hosting, and uh you know RPI is already not in the best place, and if we're in that time of the year where everyone's talking RPI, where do you have what what else do they need to do? What else did they I feel like they got Penn State midweek? I that's kind of an easy win. Hopefully, hopefully, you never know, should be, yeah, should be. And they got Kansas State at home, and Kansas State had a I guess we could say okay, series against a good Kansas team, but uh the West Virginia team that we we know.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yeah, so for us, we never had we did not have West Virginia in the in our top 16 last week, even though they were number 12 in the rankings. We just didn't feel like we were super high on them. And coming into the series, both of us picked them. I thought this was a bounce back weekend opportunity on the road. We talked about how they can't they don't hit many home runs. Cincinnati has this towards the top of the league in home runs. Yeah, they've got a home run leader, he's not leading anymore, but yeah, but he you know that's he's the he's the season holder already in Cincinnati history. He's number one in home runs in a single season in their in their yeah, in their program history. It's all that when I was watching the game on Saturday. But yeah, I think this really does hurt West Virginia. Cincinnati's higher than them in RPI now. Um West Virginia is looking they're in the late 20s already. Um, I think this is this is not good for them. Um they need they need to bounce back next week, and that Kansas State game series really gives them a good opportunity for that. I think they really need a sweep. I think a sweep would look really good um if they want to even have an opportunity to get back into the hosting conversation. But right now I I see them as a two seed.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Sounds ideal, and I I completely agree. Um, let's jump into the SEC. Uh two teams that oh, two two great series to talk about. Oklahoma and Auburn. Auburn, you and I both got this right, which I think was good. I don't think there was, I don't think we even double thought about this one. Uh, but I will give I'll give Oklahoma credit for their their Saturday game, Cam Johnson. He's former LS retire. He's been I think his record's six and one. He's he's he's only honestly kind of been struggling, but uh to do what they did against uh a great Auburn team. Um I'll I'll give Oklahoma a good check this weekend just for that uh Saturday game. But um your thoughts on uh on Auburn taking this.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yeah, Auburn, Auburn beat uh Florida on home runs, right? And uh they did it again here this weekend, uh especially in the the final game of the series, the rubber match. They slugged for some serious home runs in this game, and uh that's what ended up leading them. I believe that it was a run rule in the eight inning, right? It was the eighth inning, yeah. So definitely great to see Auburn. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, we we both had two one on this. I don't think either of us are super high on Oklahoma. I don't think they're a bad team, I just don't think they're a host caliber team, and Auburn has looked really good lately. Um, and then jumping right over to the other one. You won the you had two one, Georgia. I had two one on Miss. This was as close as two one can be. I this series was so awesome. Georgia eight to nothing in the first game and gives up so many home runs for I believe it was multiple, I it may have been five. I'm not sure. Don't quote me on that, but a lot of home runs in that game one and in the and one in the eighth inning that was a three-run home run to take the lead 10-8, and they ended up closing that game out. And Kenny, game one and game two were played both on Saturday. So we had a comeback big win for Ole Miss, and then they go play 14 innings on in that game two, and I know you caught the end of that. What were your thoughts on that game late? It was uh I forgot what happened.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

I was definitely I mean was it a oh I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I put you on the spot. No, no, it's me because I I draw blanks even though I've watched things.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Trey Phelps hit a home run to to make it to take the lead in the 14th to make it 8-7, and then they ended up getting it.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

I don't want to say if it was one of those situations where it's it's they were losing them the just the wall of the walks and stuff. I man, I literally sat there and watched it. You and I were both watching it. I was gonna say we were guys putting stuff together. I think I was putting stuff together, but uh I I I don't think either I hope it doesn't hurt Ole Miss. We we talked about even that I think they have a chance of hosting, a slight chance. Um the Ole Miss does pretty good. I mean even today's game, it was just a pitcher's duel 3-1 going into the ninth before just a simple error, just kind of ruins it for you.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

But just a drop out there in center field, and that guy that was his first start in center field this season. So oh well tough tough. Give him a pass. Yeah, I'll give him a pass. I mean, they didn't sound like they did anything in the bottom of the ninth for me to say, hey, well, if he didn't miss that ball in the top of the ninth, we'd we would have won that game. So I don't really think it makes a bunch of a difference. But I will say we we during our midweek we were talking about some of the hitters for both these teams, and for Ole Miss, uh Mr. Baceta was hitting so well coming into this series. And for him to have that opportunity at the in the bottom of the 14th inning with uh with a guy on, I believe two guys on, uh, he was the he would have been the run to win the game, right? And he you you mentioned it, he swung for the fences and just it's it's coming back to me.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

It's coming back to me. Yeah, he yeah, he basically and he yeah, he definitely looked like he was trying to kill it. I think a a simple ball in play would have I mean the his first swing, he looked like he tried to break his arms and body. But yeah, I think if if he he should have played it safe. Um but you know, it is what it is. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Think about it like this from a mental standpoint. You're 0 for 7, Kenny, and you're coming up to the plate, and you're the last opportunity for your team to either win or go home. Do you fault him there for swinging for the fences? I mean, it's the 14th inning. Do you think coaches like, hey, look, we don't have arms for the we gotta save some arms for tomorrow. Go out there and make an take a shot. I say that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

I say that's a good point, but you're again Ole Miss is at that, they're at the line where they're they're looking at possibly hosting. They have a chance to host. Win over Georgia is a great look. Georgia's a great team. I I would have I would I would have played my game there. I think he's he's a great ball and play, you know, go with the pitch hitter. I you I guess you're living in a moment. You know, we we see it all the time. I mean, even today with Stanford walking off Florida State off of Granny, you you see it. So I don't fault him there, but I think I would have taken a little bit of a smarter approach there to try to get let the infant let the ball in play, see what happens, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

But I will say, we talk about how great of a series this was. I don't really think this series hurts Ole Miss losing it. I don't know. I just think it no it helps Georgia a little bit, makes Georgia look a little better, especially in terms of RPI. When we think of Georgia's RPI, they're a little lower than than Ole Miss is, and uh, but higher in the rankings, so it's like you know, this looks really good for Georgia to win this series over a top RPI team. Uh, I don't think it really hurts Ole Miss just because they're still performing so well. Yeah. And about the same they tight, tight series. So they'll be fine. But I'm with you. I I think if they're if they win the series, I think they're in our top 16. They lost the series. I still think they're right on the edge. So still, still more games.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

They they they they play Mississippi State this week. Uh, I think they'll be a good opportunity for them to put up a good fight, and if they get a win, they're definitely moving up. They'll definitely move up. Uh and we'll hit our last game, Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. We both taught well. I mentioned that I was oh I was on the fence with Flo Furlerton because I like Cal State Furlerton. They pulled it off. They took the series from UC Santa Barbara. Um so Santa Barbara has UCLA at home, then they're at Bakersfield, and then Flor Fullerton is at UC San Diego, or no, San Diego State, excuse me. Yes. I fumbled it again. You were there. Yeah, I know. I I did that, I did that this last time when I even talked about them. But not too bad. And then we'll we'll go into our how we did on the our other mid-major games. Uh Jason, we'll really quick here. Uh Southern Mist is going to take the series, Bethune Cookman takes the series, but Florida Hay and M put uh the back, that was a back-and-forth game. Uh you Florida Gulf Coast with the dub. Any of these uh got to you.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

I think these were all great series. These were these were fun. So if we think about that Kent State Western Western Michigan game one, that one was really a really tight game. Kent State came out on top, and then they they blow it open in game two. And we had talked about it a little bit. We were sitting there talking, I was texting you, and I said, Man, I really need Western Michigan to come through tomorrow. I don't want my my 2-1 Western Michigan to be a sweep against me. Uh so good to see them get the win today. But I think that Bethune Kuchman, Florida AM, we both had were on BC. I ended up getting into 2-1, got it right. You had the sweep. You almost had the sweep right, though. I I was watching the I didn't get to watch the actual game. I didn't see it on. Um, but I was following the game and I saw Florida AM was up 8-7, and then Cookman took the lead 10-7, and then I looked back, Florida AM's got the lead again. Then I looked back, Cookman's got the lead again, and then Florida AM ends up winning 15 to 13. So definitely back and forth. Um, but good to see them get pull out a win. You never like to get swept, and it's so difficult to sweep teams in general. Baseball is so difficult to get a sweep, and for them to uh to get that win is big, especially when you're talking about two of the top teams in the conference, you know, you you got to keep pace there. But Kenny, what do you think about Southern Miss in South Alabama?

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Southern uh they they lost a chance to sweep. Um now they still stay in second. They're not losing anything. Um they're basically tied with coastal carolina, but Southern Miss is I think has a better chance, and I I don't want to not talk about South Alabama, but I think Southern Miss has a better chance than coastal. You there?

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Yeah, I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Okay, you look like you lost it.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

I just no, no, no, I just realized when I updated the slide here, it was Southern Mist was up 3-2, and then South Alabama ends up coming back to win that game three.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Yeah, I I think I took a I took a risk there with South Alabama taking, and that's because Southern Mist is is again kind of they're they're not consistent enough or they're they're not strong enough to be worthy of well that's rude, but of a 3-0 for me. But I mean you you were close. You were close.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Yeah, I think I think they got that sweep last week, and I I was high on them again, uh going on the road, and especially against a team where they're they're looking to stay above them in the conference standings, and you're looking, they're looking to keep pace with Coastal. I mean, when we think about regional hosts and we think about mid-majors, the Sun Belt is opportunity to get two teams in. So how good is the rest of the Sun Belt? Is really what I want to know. Are we gonna see some other at-larges get in because I see one two is playing so well? If they were in, if we were looking at the Big 12, and the Big 12 has uh only one team right now hosting, does that mean number three in the in the Sun Belt is better than number three in the Big 12?

SPEAKER_02 21:24

I mean, they'll look at their RPI and they'll look at their strengths of schedule. That's how that's I think that's the final way to knock it out. But we tied this week. I'll take a tie. I think you pretty much swept me last week pretty good, but was it 22 2218 or 21?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Uh yeah, I don't remember. Yeah, but I won. But this one was fun because we all we both did it in different ways. That Florida Gulf Coast game. So I actually watched that game today, and um and to see Florida Gulf Coast go down 3-1, end up getting two. Two two run home runs to take the lead five three and then ended up blowing it open in the eighth inning, just as similar as Auburn did against Oklahoma, where they just took the lead and just Murph ended up run ruling them in eight innings uh to win that series. That's huge for them, especially when we think about RPI. Going into this, we talked about this in the midweek. North Florida was number one in the conference, but Florida Gulf Coast actually has a higher RPI than them. And we talk about RPI kind of gives us a whole season on look now. And now we're also looking at what have you done for me lately. This was this series did not disappoint. So it's cool to see us both win in different ways, right? I get the Florida Gulf Coast and Restine Cookman. You get the Kent State Southern Miss. So it's it's good to see.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

I was worried about my picks this week because I didn't do the I didn't pick those home games. So I was a little bit worried this week, but uh we'll we'll jump into all the uh other notable series. Sorry, y'all. I'm trying to I got my little iPad here to the side that kind of puts it up. Uh other notable series, there's some crazy ones in here, man. Uh Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Wake Forest blew leads in every single game. Uh Florida, uh, what's his uh Aiden? Uh you you've had him in his in his pitch and in your pitching team. Uh great start on Friday. Um takes game one over AM. Uh Texas gets the series over Vanderbilt. Florida State. Let's talk about it right now. Florida State losing to Stanford. How what what so how bad of a look is this for Florida State? Scale one to ten. How is how bad? What ten being the worst or ten being the like which which way? 10 10 not being bad, one being worse. Uh, because that's I guess.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

I would say this is like a two. Okay. This is a this is as close to being horrible as it could be for Florida State, I think. You're you're a top 10 team, you're trying to continue to opportunity to host. And Stanford is a RPI in the 120s, they are not a good baseball team right now. This is the this was this was a this should have been a a 2-1 or a sweep for Florida State, the way their pitching staff has performed lately. And for them to get swept and give up a grand slam to end the series, it's just salt in the wound. You you didn't like this is not good, and and I think it's gonna reflect in the rankings this week and the RPI rankings. I mean, this is gonna hurt the RPI too, because their RPI was top top 15. So I don't know. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 24:39

I think um it's gonna hurt them in the long run. I think it will really hurt them in the long run because of who they have coming up. They've got they've got Pitt coming up, and then they end with well Pitt is the one they got coming up that I think will could hurt them. If they start playing bad against Pitt, they got Clemson. You cannot do bad against Clemson because Clemson is dead last in the ACC, and then they got Miami. Miami's kind of mid-pack ACC. I think it's gonna really hurt Florida State. They've got to really they've got to pick it up from here because a a loss to a Stanford team like that's not that great. Um and you got walked off twice. You you collapsed in the ninth, so not good. Not good for Florida State. Um other games, uh we could jump into we can jump into Missouri State. Missouri State getting swept by uh Louisiana Tech. I mean, Louisiana Louisiana Tech's not a bad team. I mean, they they hosted a regional in 2021. So and this is a team that you and I really wanted to do great this year, and then kind of getting to the end of the season, they're kind of just falling off. I mean, they Louisiana Tech came back down, I think it was 6'1, 6'1 in the in the eighth, or so what's your what's your thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_00 26:06

This is yeah, this is um now. If you ask me to compare Florida State and Missouri State sweeps, I think it hurts Missouri. I think this hurts Missouri State more than Florida State sweep hurts them. Really? The only reason I say that is I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know about that. Well, I mean, think about it this way, Kenny. Lucy and Tech's not that bad of a team. No, and I don't think that's that's not why I think this. So the reason I say that is because before we were talking about Florida State hosting a regional, now we're on the fence of them hosting a regional. That puts you still in the postseason play. Missouri State, we were on the fence of being a two or three seed. Now I'm wondering, hey, if this team doesn't win the conference, are they gonna even be in the postseason? I would much rather just be in the postseason than not be in it. And so that's why I think it kind of hurts.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

I I don't want to be a fourth seed. We don't want them to be a fourth seed, or will they give them a fourth seed?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

They definitely we talked about it during the midweeks, right? Those four, those all four seeds are gonna go to the lowest 16 conferences that win the conference winners. So, I mean, at best they get a three seed right now. Um, so but here's the good thing for Missouri State. Yep, Louisiana Tech's not a bad team. Louisiana Tech is better than Stanford. Missouri State has an opportunity to play Jacksonville State next weekend, who's top of the conference. That should be a great one. Both of these teams are great in RPI. Now we'll see what it looks like tomorrow, whenever we see the RPI updates after Louisiana Tech sweep. But both of these teams lose in horrible ways in the last game. They both blow leads, they both get swept on the road. Uh both of them, it's horrible, but I would much rather be in a position like where Florida State is, where hey, I've still played Georgia Tech really well. We beat Virginia, Missouri State just there's being in the mid-major, they don't have as many tough games where um every series matters for them. We talked about it a little while back with Coastal and Southern Mist, right? Every series matters for these mid-major teams if they want to keep pace to continue their strides of hey, we are still we are a really good program, we should have the opportunity to host. You shouldn't look sideways at us just because we're not one of the power four. So I don't know. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

I think if I was uh one of those selection show hosts, I think it honestly should be a requirement to have a mid-major in those. No, it wouldn't be fair, but it's probably one of my favorite things about college baseball is there is always some random little school that they have to shove bleachers up in the outfield like East Carolina does, where they're on hanging over the you know, outfield wall. And to give that would be really nice. Yeah, that that Missouri State Jackson State game will be that's is that the series, correct?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Yeah, that's that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Yeah, yeah. So that would be a great test for them. Um other notable games um that we have on here. We got um Jacksonville State winning the series over New Mexico State. The big surprise is actually Wright State um losing the series to Milwaukee. Uh, that is again, those teams they they're in that Weird Horizon league where they play each other series twice.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Um or conference, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:31

There's only like six or seven teams. They got five teams. So right state sweeps uh Milwaukee earlier in the year, but and then uh right Milwaukee's gonna hand Wright State their second out of their they got three conference losses. This is their second, so they got two losses this weekend. So um not the best weekend for Wright State. They got shut out on Saturday, and then the other last game is Memphis at UAB. Um UAB is the top over there in the American, um, but not much to take out from that that series.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

But um but the but at the same time, there is right UAB. No, of course, of course, it's yeah, big series for the conference, uh for their conference record. But if we also look at these SEC series that are on here, Texas AM wins the series against Florida. Florida's on the fence right there, anyways, of hosting a regional, as a lot of people say. I mean, a lot of people have them high just because their RPI is really high. I think both of us were were leaning. If we were gonna have put this in our top matchups, we would have both been AM. And I think we both would have been AM 2-1. Uh, because Florida just so wishy-washy, but AM just looks that good. And so I think this is outstanding for AM. Uh, the tough thing for AM is everybody above them also won. So uh not gonna really see much movement there, but it is good to see them get the series. Um, and then Texas over Vanderbilt, you know, another one that Texas is expected to win.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

So well, Jason, your arms of the week. I see uh Tennessee up there. Tennessee got a sweep of of Bamlet, or didn't sweep, but they I won on the series. So Tennessee and our favorite South Carolina, uh Jesus, USC. I hit want to say USC and then I say South Carolina, but how do you feel about the arms? Tell us about the arms.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Oh yeah, we'll guide you down the arms, Kenny. So first we got Grant Govell, uh sophomore right-hander from USC or not South Carolina. USC. Southern Cal. Thanks, Kenny. Uh eight inning day, two hits and eight strikeouts in their 6-1 win over Purdue on Saturday. This is really great to see uh for USC just because of their pitching performances against Nebraska last week. This guy gave up eight hits, seven earned runs. So for him to bounce back against Purdue is great to see. Uh next we have Tegan Coons uh for uh for Tennessee. He had a complete uh complete game shutout and only eight innings. They they run-ruled Alabama 10-0. Um so 98 pitches and eight innings. That's great efficiency, Kenny. Uh we we always say, and I'll just constantly say it, uh, that 96 mark at this with with 12 pitches per inning looks great. So 98 right there. Only nine uh nine strikeouts and only three hits. Then we go into the Mac, the MAAC, I believe that's the Mid-American Athletic Conference. We're gonna go to Merrimac. Nick Hunk. I don't I'm gonna boot Metro at Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. I had that completely wrong. Yeah, not even close. I believe this guy's name is pronounced Nick Nick Hunkel. But I could be wrong on that. So we have we've been so busy today, haven't been able to sound check everybody's names. Yeah, you gotta do a sound check on the rosters. Him and Michael Bradshaw uh combined for one hit, 11 strikeouts in their 8-0 win over Maris on Friday. This is just a great performance, Kenny. Just a combined great performance by two two pitchers in a in a team that in a conference that we don't ever get to talk about. So you know, anytime we have the opportunity to throw them up there, we're going to. Then we go to Santa Clara, Jace Gilmore, and uh Cooper Lance. Uh Gilmore's our junior right-hander. He's got now a 3.31 ERA on the season. Uh Lance is a senior former JUCO product. These guys combined for one hit or nine strikeouts in their 3-1 win versus Portland on Saturday. And this is a Portland team that we had talked about earlier in the year, possibly being the uh the team to watch out for in the WCC. Gonzaga's kind of taking that over, but uh good to see Santa Clara get the win over them. And then Virginia Tech's our last one in their win over NC State 4-0 on Friday. Uh Brett Renfro and Chase Swift had a complete game shutout, three hits, 11 strikeouts. And this is an NC State team that was on the fence of even being in the being in the postseason as well. A lot of teams, a lot of people had them higher in the rankings, and so Virginia Tech, uh, you know, a little down here for them too. But good to see these guys bounce and have a great game. And Swift is a uh has had eight straight outings, one of them was a start, but he's a primarily a bullpen guy. Uh, eight straight outings without or without allowing a run. So it's good to see for Chase Swift. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

That's can L shoe grab him on the offseason because that's uh that's a guy that everybody wants. And seeing how everyone else is pitching, and you got a guy who can come in mid-relief.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Yeah, yeah. And then uh I had a couple honorable mentions, so I didn't get to the you know, we only got five spots, right? Five arms of the week because you know, five elf. Uh, so I didn't get the opportunity to squeeze a couple more in here, but I do want to mention them. Ryan Palmer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning for Cal Baptist uh today, and I watched that game a little bit. They ended up with a two uh two-hit combined complete game shutout with Zachary Yates against Utah Tech, and Utah Tech was the top of the conference in the whack. And um, and it was Cal Baptist, and we had been talking about them a little bit too. Uh, they end up losing that series last week, get a bounce back series win this week over over Utah Tech. Then when Pitts combined one hitter, we mentioned that already, and then Cole Gibler and Steele Eaves combined for a two-hitter for Arkansas against Missouri. So I wanted to shout those guys out. Love a good pitching staff.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Jason, trivia question of the week. I'm the one who got the trivia question out this week. This team has 24 trips to the College World Series. Out of those 24, they have not won a national championship. Not won a national champion. Now, I was telling you because I was trying to was really digging deep because there's a good Wikipedia page that kind of lists out how every single team that has even made the tournament in general has done. And I was seeing how far an HBCU team has gone or any of these little smaller, but this was the one I came up with. But any ideas, quick ideas of one? You could you could say conference, you could say conference. Uh there's a bunch. How about this? Are they on the west coast? No, they are not. I think that'll that's the only hint I could give you there.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Yeah, then I have no clue.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Well, uh, let me think about it. We'll talk about it after the show. Amen. All right, Jason, we'll round it off is to the to the conversation that you and I kept going back and forth on. Our regional host, Jason. Let's just start it off with the the area that we were struggling on. After eight and after Oregon State. Eight to sixteen. We're still on the fence about Oregon State. I I I told you I feel bad that we have Coastal Carolina and Kansas after Oregon State. But what are your thoughts? What do you especially your thoughts about these these last few teams that we've got in here?

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Yeah, um, I'll start off with the Oregon State side of things. I think they're sitting about as high as they're gonna go on the year. Um yeah, high they're at the highest of their ceiling, but there's always an opportunity for them to fall because they just don't have a strong schedule. So I still think them sitting sitting in that eighth spot looks nice, but I think Kansas is right on their heels. Kansas has a tougher schedule. Kansas look has looked really good, get a sweep over Kansas State. Their first, their first sweep in Manhattan since 1963, after a long rain delay on Sunday. So they end up with that series. Yes, uh, the ones that were tough, 15 and 16. I mean, I think when we think about where 10 through 14 are, coastal Oregon, Southern Miss, Nebraska, USC, Southern Miss, and Coastal are also reaching their ceilings, I think. They're kind of where I think almost as high as I could put them. Oregon jumping up, I think, is high. I think we are a lot higher on Oregon than other people are, just because when I've seen the rankings, most D1 and other rankings don't have Oregon very high. Um, I I believe baseball America didn't even have them in their top 25, which is kind of a shocking. That sounds about right. That sounds about us to them. I think Oregon, Oregon gets another series win this week. They move up just because to no fault of their own, but for the help of Florida State, Virginia not playing well. So that leads me to the 15-16. Florida State and Virginia were right there. We had them at 7-9 last week. Both of them get swept. We talked about which one does it hurt worse um before this and which one deserves to still be in here. Well, it's hard to not just put Florida State there because we had them higher before. Uh, so it's kind of where they they fell. But at the same time, there's teams. I think there's teams right on their heels. I think you're looking at Boston College being right there, Ole Miss. We talked about Ole Miss. That series doesn't really hurt them much, so I think they're sitting right there. Um, Virginia is is now right on the outside, and as well as now we're talking about Cincinnati after their series went over West Virginia, who everybody else had in their top 16 last week. We didn't have them in our top 16, so for me, it's hard to put Cincinnati up there. And then Jacksonville State is right on the outside, and they have an opportunity to take on Missouri State next week. So I think that um this is this was tough.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

I think it's hard to do it early, though. It's hard to do this. This is early, this is still early. There's two two, three weeks left. It's still early. Yeah, I mean, even I was on the fence about putting Mississippi. I mean, yeah, they sweeped up, they swept Bellashu, but they had to come back in every single game. Uh yeah, a lot of people have still have Florida hosting. I argued that they shouldn't because just based off of I I think I think if you're gonna host, you at least have to have a good home record. Their home record's not that great. And they're again inconsistent, but again, Florida is Florida how they are. Um yeah, I a good point on on coastal and southern miss hitting their ceilings. I think that's a great point. Um, and we we talk about it every week. I think these last you know, 12 through 16, these are the teams that are gonna keep flip-flopping. The the seven and seven through one, perfect. Uh those either those can flip-flop. Um, and I don't think they should change.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

But yeah, I mean, we talked about one through six before this, and we have the same one through six we had last week. It's gonna be tough to move these teams around, even if even if UCLA goes 2-1 next week and North Carolina sweeps. I mean, like, I don't'm not gonna move them. And and then you're looking at Georgia Tech and Georgia, Georgia Tech just beat Georgia, so I think they're sitting in the perfect spot four and five. But I I will say Georgia Tech's pitching staff better get it figured out because that's gonna be that's gonna be that Achilles heel, yeah. Yeah, they did not go look good last week, and they did not look good this week. I mean, we took you talked about it. I believe Wake Force was up in that game to 10-0 and loss.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

So well, they it was 10-0, and then they had a rain delay, and that's what after that it was they only got one run, but they're pitching, yeah. They're that Georgia Tech team that they can hit. It's the it's the pitching staff. So we'll we'll we'll see. Uh Jason, look, we got we got two weeks left. It seems like there must be three weeks, I think. Three weeks, yeah. I think three weeks. It seems to be like there's final exams this week. There's not a lot of midweek games, um, besides um some big matchups SEC wise, but we're we're getting close. It's still a confusing thing. This college baseball is the way it is because you you just don't know. You can't treat it like every other sport, and we talk about that. But yeah, Jason, any last words before we kick it?

SPEAKER_00 42:10

Yeah, uh Kenny and I are working on getting our everything together to release our first Field of 64. We're gonna go live with that whenever we do that, so that'll be fun. So tune in for that one, and uh we'll let you guys know when the schedule looks like when we're gonna post that.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

But Kenny, a great week as always. Thank you. Amen. Amen. All right, y'all. Thank y'all for watching this episode. Make sure you like, share, subscribe, give us a comment, uh, roast us, tell us we're wrong. Uh, but other than that, peace out, and we'll see you. Play the outro. Play the outro. Why is it not playing the outro?

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Play the market.