The HD Experience Episode 40

The HD Experience Episode 40:  Regionals Success & Woes

HOST:  Hunter Dawkins -  Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, Sports Correspondent SuperTalk Mississippi News, Gulfport High Radio Host G96.7, Member of the Football Writer Association of America (FWAA, Heisman Voter), Member of the Associated Press Sports & Editors (APSE)

PRODUCER:  Jeff Clark - Award-Winning Journalist, Multimedia/Podcast Host, South Alabama Beat Writer, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services

GUESTS:

• Matt "Stats" Toth - Mississippi Gulf Coast High School Sports Analyst, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Broadcast 
• Matt DeGregorio - WLOX-13 Sports Anchor/Multimedia Journalist (6:30)
• Caleb Salers - SuperTalk Mississippi News Reporter, Ole Miss Beat Writer 
• Creg Stephenson - Al.com sportswriter, Associated Press sportswriter, Award-Winning Journalist 
• David Schultz - Host of Locked On SunBelt Podcast 

Transcript

0:00

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Intro

2:26

Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins, and I am the host of the HD Experience. This is the 40th episode, and it is a Mississippi Gulf Coast sports podcast sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, the Harrison County Independent Newspaper. The Beau Revive Resort and Casino in Biloxi that is hosting River Dance this weekend and Shrek the musical later on this month. Nine Toes Brewing Company and Pascrashan, who has trivia on every Wednesday, and live music every weekend. O'Doire Realty Agent Stephanie Mankowitz, who we'll be hearing from soon. Joseph Kelly, attorney at law, Coast Casual in Pascrashan, who is having great summer deals right now, and Caitlin and I are going to be talking about pretty soon. She's planning to open up another shop very soon, which she spoke to me and Jeff about. The Rotary Club of Pascrashan's Paddle of the Bay Fundraiser, which is will return in two weekends, the insurance barn in Gulfport. And we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show and my good friend Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-in-cop, a well-accomplished award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, and the director of Harrison County Senior Services. How are you, my friend? I'm well, Hunter. Been a long week. Glad to be back from Hattiesburg. Yeah, yeah. It was uh a little bit of a sad thing, but it was also good to be back as far as being able to work on this show. Jeff, our theme today is regional success and woes in the first week of the NCAA college playoff baseball. Not a great weekend in Baseburg or Hattiesburg is where we would like to say, where I was all this weekend and USM lost two games very quickly and very bad. Uh the first one to uh to Little Rock, who is playing gonna be the winner of the Jacks State and uh Virginia game. Uh but uh Little Rock, who had a great tournament last year, uh they they almost pulled off the regional upset over LSU, who in fact then became the national champion. Um, and then they lost to Virginia, who was you know a probably better hitting team also. But um, you know, there was some success, and there is some potential success. Starkville uh with Mississippi, they've got a good chance to be able to claim the uh the regional championship as they are playing. Uh it's official now, they will play Louisiana Lafayette, who I've got the chance to see in the Sunbelt Conference Tournament Championship. Um, but they uh the Bulldogs only have to win one game and then they clinch the regional. Um Miss obviously had a long way to go up there, and in a tough regional, they of course are they won the first two games, and they are playing against what could be either uh I think it's gonna be Arizona State, actually clinched the ball game. They beat Nebraska, so just like Southern Miss, they're not even playing for the championship in their own regionals. But that's what the summary of the weekend was for us, and you can give me your thoughts about what's going on. Uh now when when will Little Rock play the winner of the Jackson State game? Um when is that going to be? It's going to be late tonight because the NCAA usually gets with these regional playoff games up to 8 o'clock at night. However, there is a Monday game too as well. And a lot of that just depends on weather and everything as such. Um also Alabama, Alabama pretty much is going to be playing in Tuscaloosa regional for uh some time at least. Uh I think their game is tonight as well. I believe it's at seven. I'm not sure who they're playing. It's probably gonna be the winner of one of the games that's going on in their regional. Auburn. Auburn is having a tough time being able to take out um uh right now they're playing Central Florida, and Central Florida has a lead. They have to win that game because that's an elimination game to play, I believe, Milwaukee. Milwaukee is the team that can win the regional pretty easily. And uh, as we'll hear from a few guests about that in the future, but uh yeah, there was a lot of a lot of interest. A lot of interest. I just hit I don't have time to get down to Hattysburg with my bootlook, bootleg t-shirts that say Little Rock, Big Bats. So there you go, Little Rock. You're welcome. Just send me a check in the mail. Uh Alabama's softball wins softball going to the College World Series. So, you know, Patrick Murphy does the he's a Nick Saban of Alabama softball. You know, takes him to several, we've had several national championship runs there. Uh, you know, one thing I'll say, and this is more of a discussion for our other podcast, but uh, you know, so Southern Miss went out, but it was still a huge win for the town, man. A lot of people there, a lot of money being spent in Hattiesburg. So uh, you know, I I I hate that they didn't get to the next round, but the fact that they they they hosted this one, uh, you know, great for the city. Huge economic impact. Absolutely, 100%. Not only for Hattiesburg, but for Starkville, huge Mississippi regionals getting some money, and the impact was great. Absolutely. So, Hunter, let's get into our first commercial break and then we'll be right back with our first guest. Nine Toes Brewing Company is a Gulf Coast destination for craft beer, great food, and interactive entertainment. Enjoy a rotating selection of small batch brews, a menu of comfort food favorites, and state-of-the-art golf simulators featuring world-famous courses. Whether you're needing friends or just unwinding after work, Nine Toes delivers a laid-back atmosphere with something for everyone. Located at 110 West Scenic Drive in the Pass, Nine Toes is your spot for bold brews, big swings, and better nights. For more information, please go to ninetoesbrewery.com. 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High school football with Matt Stats

10:12

love to introduce my friend and one of the experts in high school football across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, who fans, students, coaches, and scouts follow through Twitter and Facebook. Matt Stats, how are you, my friend? Hunter, once again, it's great to be on the HD Experience. And uh turn the calendar. We are in the month of June. So less than 90 days away from the kickoff of high school football and a lot of action uh to take place between now and that first kick. Well, in the segue of that, my friend, what is going on for the summer with the Mississippi Gulf Coast high school football? Yeah, high school football, uh, they're just, of course, the spring games are done. We talked about that a couple weeks ago. Uh, summer workouts are there. So, you know, you're talking about when are our state championships won in December on the field? Yes. Uh, but they are actually won in this time of year, whenever you're lifting the weights and you're doing the uh drills to get you prepared uh as teams are doing. Yes, it's gonna get hot and it will be hot to start the season, but it's gonna cool off with a state championship run, hopefully, for several Coast teams. And speaking about state championship runs, Golfport did just post or just give out their state championship rings to the players. That's on the Facebook page, Golf Coast High School Football, and they are very nice looking as expected. So you want to see that, check that out on Golf Coast High School Football. And speaking about again, state championship, they just came out with it, the uh MHSAA, the Mississippi State will host once again. That's where it hosted last year when Golfport won and other teams played. They will host the state championships once again this year, and that will be December 3rd. Happens to be my birthday, um, uh to the fifth. So that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday again at Mississippi State for the second straight season, uh, they'll host the state championships. Man, we'll have to get you up there this year because Davis Wade, that time of year, is is really nice. But okay, since we're talking about it, let me know about any of the camps that are currently going on right now on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Yeah, as fans are listening to it this first week of June, and actually June 1st uh on Monday is going to Gulf Coast is gonna host their offensive line, defensive line camp. That is $50 uh to participate, and that's players entering ninth grade or above can participate that. And then actually the next day on Tuesday, the skills camp. Uh again, that costs the same $50. And then on Thursday Wednesday, June 3rd, you'll have the youth camp, and that will cost $50. And it'll be all that, all these will be all up at Golf Coast at Perk, uh, where of course where the stadium is. And that is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And then you go into Thursday and Friday, and you have uh PRCC will have their camps uh on Thursday, and then their seven-on-seven camp on uh Friday. So this week is starting off, like I said, the first week of June. A lot of camps getting uh started there. I'm sorry, yes, June 10th. And then you'll have a free camp uh by Ronald Ollie up there at Wayne County. He was played at Wayne County, he was drafted by the Raiders as ages five through 12. That is a free camp. Um, and that is again in July there. So a lot of camps coming up, and and it's almost, you know, these players, a great opportunity to go to these camps. Uh it's almost uh to get to better yourself, you know, which indeed everybody is always trying to get better in that aspect. Well, as you know, Matt, I'll like to ask you some hot button questions, and here's one I got for you. Since this it doesn't have to do with high school football, but the next level up. Talk to me about JUCO has advanced in Mississippi to a nine-game district schedule. Am I correct? No, they actually went to uh 10 games. It was nine games, and it had a bye week they installed a few weeks ago, but this past year, uh, to my surprise, I was actually, again, I scheduled my days off, and you know, I had one schedule, and then they said, no, this is the new schedule. So there is no bye week, which you know doesn't help, but uh they also are going 10 straight weeks, and then they are cutting off just one round of playoffs. So the top one team from the north will face the one team from the south for the state championship. Do I like it personally? No, I don't like it, but it gives teams an extra game. Uh if they don't make, you know, they'll play 10 games. So everybody will play 10 games. Uh the non-region games still count toward if you make the playoffs, because if your team is tied with another team, which happens to have been the case the last several seasons, then it will go to the best overall record uh there. So they do count, unlike high school football, where the non-region games has no effect on if your team is gonna make the playoffs. So, yes, it all is gonna start that Thursday, August 27th for JUCO football, and it's 10 straight weeks. It'll go all the way to right before Halloween, October 29th. And then they usually play that Saturday for, and I don't know if it'll be that following Saturday, but that's when the playoffs start there. But again, it's just gonna be one team from the north and one team from the south, which is kind of different there uh than the normal four teams uh playing. So that is, and we look forward to it. Of course, I call Golf Coast football, and a lot of Coast uh players are on that team, and Coach Wright won the national championship 2019. He also won with Northwest uh 2015. So it's gonna be interesting this year. New quarterback Parker Nettles is up there. Is he gonna be the starter? We'll see. You know, he has a couple other coast players there on the uh Golf Coast Bulldogs. So looking forward to that again, under 90 days away for kickoff for JUCO and for high school football. Final question. Now, this is just hypothetical. This is a very similar to the SEC model, of course, with moving up games, which from my knowledge with the SEC coaches that I've talked with, this is more of something they were pressured into. Is this a similar reaction from what you've heard from the the Mac coaches? Or what what was the reason why this change, to your best of knowledge, was they changed the schedule format? Hey Honor, I'm I'm not sure why. Maybe again to give teams that extra uh guaranteed 10 10th game. I mean, players at JujuCo level, two years, you're there, or you could be there one year and move on, but you want to get tape, as they call it. You want to get your plays as many plays you can on tape. So giving teams an extra game, everybody gets an extra game in 10 games. So the teams that don't make the playoffs, which again, there's 14 teams, seven north, seven south. So four of them, you know, wouldn't make the playoffs, leaving 10 teams done for the season. Now those 10 teams get a guaranteed extra game. And it's just taking one, you know, from the top and one from the bottom, north and south, to play in a state championship game. So, you know, that's that's what you know. I believe that they're looking at to, hey, we want to get, you know, another game guaranteed for these players for uh JUCO football. So that's my reasoning. What I believe is why they went ahead and did away with the bye week in 10 straight weeks. That's nonstop. You know, Golf Coast in particular, again, call for them to have five home games and five road games, and we shall see where uh they stand at uh at the end of these uh 10 games. My friend, tell everybody how they can contact you. Yeah, uh, and before I leave that, I'm talking about JUCO. We definitely, and then it's softball and baseball. Of course, we want to give congrats to PRC for the first team ever, Division II, to win to have the national champions of baseball and softball in the same season. So, congratulations to JUCO. Uh they are PRC Wildcats for winning uh both the women's and the men's national championship. Uh, congratulations to them. So, to find out all the information, Golf Coast High School football is what you type in on Facebook, on Twitter, slash X, you know, on TikTok, and uh for all everything high school sports, Golf Coast High School sports, uh, we are there to bring you from less than 90 days away to the start of the season. We're full of action coming up and information. So certainly appreciate being on the HD experience and look forward to this month of June getting closer to high school football. We thank you, my friend. All right, stats out. Grab your paddle and join the fun at Paddle the Bay, hosted by the Rotary Club of Pass Christian. Mark your calendar for Saturday, June 13th, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Hederson Point Park, right at the base of the Bay Bridge. Paddle the Bay or explore the bayou while enjoying a day filled with food, music, and community spirit. Celebrate more than 100 years of service and consider donating $100 or more to support a great cause. 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USM goes down with Matt DeGregorio from WLOX

20:59

I would love to introduce my good friend and award-winning sports anchor, director and reporter from WLOX 13, ABC CBS on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Matt D. Gregorio. Matt, how are you, my friend? How's it going, Honor? What's you know, what an interesting time this weekend was in Hattiesburg for both of us, Matt. Uh, you know, and I say interesting not necessarily in a positive way, but let me ask for your take after the Golden Eagle performance this weekend. Would you say it was a successful year after they accomplished 40 wins, a conference tournament, top RPI ranking, and a regional host? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a fair question. I I think when you look at it, this this place, Southern Minnesota calls themselves the tradition of excellence. That's what that's what they pride themselves on, that tradition of excellence. Over the years, and in the sun belt, it's been there, it's translated. But what that excellence has not translated to is wins in the national tournament, and that's where your really uh your identity is described as as a program. It's your success. Do you get to Omaha and on a bi-yearly basis? Are you a team that is going to national championships? Are you going to win regionals? You can host them, fine. But are you going to win? Are you going to be competitive in super regionals? So they are, I would say failure if you if you want to know the truth. I think I think when you look at when you look at everything on the table and the whole body of work, you it's 40 wins is great. It's nice. It's cute. Like you continue to do it. It's there's obviously a lot of success, a lot of pride there. But you're doing you're getting six to ten of those wins against Old Dominion and James Madison and Georgia Southern. So that's you know, there's there's there's a quarter year wins there. And then the Sunbelt tournament is a grind. Yes, it's obviously very difficult to win. Um, you know, Southern Miss is is is, I think, outside of Coastal Carolina, head and shoulders above the rest of the teams. So yeah, I mean, not that it was a cakewalk to get there, but doing so, it's uh you expect Southern Miss to do it, but you also expect Southern Miss to get out of a regional, especially one that they host. Um, so yeah, with with that, it I I think it's a failure. What thing do you believe or what what is there something that USM needs to turn the page on to get to Omaha? Do you think there's a player, an individual thing? Do you think it's just uh pitching? Yeah, it's a hitting, you know, give me something, what your thought about that is. Yeah, so I mean you enter the the the national tournament at the seventh lowest ERA in the country, right? So right right off the bat, you're like, all right, Southern is every year. The fans beg to not have a big bad SEC team come into Hattiesburg, right? And this year, you have your highest seed ever as a program, right? You're the ninth national seed overall, okay. Florida, we'll see what happens there, but there's a chance that Troy ends up advancing out of that regional. If that happens, there should be fires in Hattiesburg. Um looking right now where we sit. I'm gonna try to stay composed during this. Christian Ostrander got out coached this weekend. He did. Period, end of story. He had the same chance twice, and he decided to not pull the trigger on both of those chances. Almost identical scenarios. Game one against Little Rock, a four seed. Great story from last year in the Baton Ruders Regional. Took uh LSU all the way to that final game in at Alex Box Stadium, uh, and they eventually lost. Like coming in, they were the four seed in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Like they they weren't supposed to be here. Um, and and they come into Hattiesburg riding some momentum, winning the OVC. That's awesome, right? But you're a Southern man. You have three to 5,000 fans from Little Rock last year, half the team returned. But when you get into the game and you're holding the 4-3 lead in the ninth, you have Colby Allen on the bump, and he's starting to struggle. Little Rock's bats are doing exactly what they did against LSU and URI and those teams in that regional last year when they put up 40 runs in three games. I I think when you look at when you look at Colby Allen in the game at that moment, you have three guys warming the bullpen, and Christian Austrian Alex to go out to the mound and talk to his guy, Colby Allen. You're winning the game four to three. You know, maybe make the move there. He decides, all right, I'm gonna stick with that guy. Okay. Well, when they're out there, Colby Allen gives up a run and then he gives up another home run after to Blake Simpson, and you lose the game. All right. Fast forward to that next day against the University of Virginia. Graydon Harris is on the mound, the Sunbelt pitcher of the year. Awesome, right? He's struggling. He he's he's in trouble. You're you're winning that game by one run. Um, and the bases are loaded, nobody's out in the fourth inning, and Harris is approaching 70 pitches. You have three arms once again warming in the bullpen. Oz Alex not to go out to the mound at first, and then it's a single, an RBI single that that cuts it to uh, I believe that one run game, actually, at that point. And then uh from there, it was all downhill. I I I mean well, four or five pitches later to the next batter. Once again, they hit an RBI triple down the right field line, and that's all the momentum swing that you need that Virginia needed to take control of that game until it went to extra innings. So those are two examples there. If you want to play devil's advocate or not even like you look at the other side of things, Little Rock went to their top reliever and tag Andrews, maybe a little too early, and they won the game. Virginia went to their Sunday starter pretty early in the game, I believe the fourth, fifth, or sixth inning against Southern Miss. Caden Sundstrom was not or Caden Sundstrom was not uh warming in the bullpen until extra innings, until the end of the ninth inning. And then at that point, you left Thomas Crabtree in there, and the bats were getting hot there for Virginia in that moment. I mean, I think when you look at the coaching body of work in that regional, Southern Miss had by far and away the worst coaching, and that is what needs to change. Do you think that the AD Jeremy McClain, you know, or you know, outsiders, you know, the big donors, do you think that they what do you think their evaluation, you know, not questioning Ostranders the coach, because we both know that he's a pretty good coach, at least all the way around, but what what do you think the the discussion with him needs to be about advancing? Well, I are you gonna be able to keep your two top starters in Clark and Harris, first of all. I think that that's that's where the discussions are gonna start because I'm gonna tell you right now, LSU is gonna be willing to pay these guys a lot of money. Can they keep them away from LSU? LSU wants to be right back where they were last year in Omaha. They missed the tournament this year, and Southern miss is the perfect place, especially after this disappointment, to come and poach the guys. So it's gonna be player retention number one, McLean has to look at. Obviously, Christian Ostrander is gonna be back. Like he is he is an exceptional coach for all the gripes that I have right now. He he knows he knows what he's doing. But for some reason, this team can't get over the hump. If I'm McLean and I'm going into a meeting with with the the donors and the and the baseball trustees and Australian and the staff, I bring up my concerns about this this whole thing. Like, why can't we get out of a home regionalslash super regional? The golden eagles have hosted seven different events, two supers, five regionals. They've advanced out of one. That is atrocious, egregious, embarrassing. Pick whatever you want, what word you want there. That that's that's awful. And the fans spend thousands of dollars all year long rooting their team, believing that Omaha is realistic. That's just a cherry on top, and you lay in like zero wins, like I said, the seventh lowest ERA in all college baseball, you will have 22 runs to Little Rock in Virginia. That is I don't even have the words to describe how bad that is. You're the first number one scene in the tournament, knocked out. Um, so McLean has to say, what do we need to get over the hump? Christian Ostrander, I asked him yesterday. He said on on Saturday, he said he believes that they're ready to get over the hump, but evidently they're not. They haven't done it. And this is a team that you pride yourself on. You get all the fans bought in. Like I said, they're spending thousands of dollars every year because they believe this team can go to Omaha and year in and year out, they just continue to disappoint. Final question for you completely different, but it is baseball. Talk to me about the Shuckers, as it sounds like they've had a pretty good weekend, minus today where it was uh postponed because of rain. What do you think? How long do you think the number one overall prospect, Jesus made, or Jesus, my day, I guess, would be the proper enunciation. But you know, I'm from South Mississippi, so Jesus made sounds pretty good to me. But how long do you think we've got him until they get called until he gets called up? It's a good question. I I'll say I think when you look at when you look at the body of work from Jackson Cherrio, he spent the entirety of his season uh when he was here in Biloxi here. And then at the end of the year, he got called up to triple A. Um, I you saw Jesus Medei here for one series. That was the playoff series. So he played two games, three games maybe in Biloxi last year. Uh this year, Jesus Made seems to be tracking faster than Churio was. Now you have to look at the Brewers at the big league level and then look at them in triple A. Cooper Pratt, they just invested tens of millions of dollars in to be their future shortstop. Jesus Mede is currently playing shortstop in Biloxi. I mean, he can play the middle infield positions, both second base and short, but you just invested a whole heck of a lot of money in Cooper Pratt, who's currently in triple A, who's only two years, two years older, three years older maybe than uh than Midday is. So, where can Mede really even go at this point? That's that's the big question. Now, if Pratt were to get called up, and right now his splits in triple A are not kind of worthy of that call-up yet. He's still young and he's a Mississippi guy, like he drafted out of Magnolia, uh uh uh Magnolia Academy up there in uh in South Haven area. Um, and then he played for the Shuckers last year and he spent the whole year here in Biloxi. And so I think that they like having those top prospects really develop in double A. I think when you saw Mike Guerrero get rehired as the manager here in Biloxi, I think a lot of that had to do with getting Midday in the mix, having a Latin, a Latin-speaking head coach as well, but having a guy in there who's going to push Midday to be great. He was he was exceptional with Churio, he was exceptional with uh Jefferson Carrow and with Abner Uribe, who's up with the big league level as well. So they're doing the same type of thing with Midday. So I would not be surprised if he's here for the rest of the year, which which would obviously be massive and really cool for the people of Mississippi and the surrounding areas to go and check him out. Tell everybody how they get in touch with you, my friend. Yeah, uh nightly on WLOX. You can come watch me. Uh I watch the show at 10 p.m. uh sometimes throughout the day as well. You can follow me on Twitter, Matt underscore DGregorio. We thank you very much, my friend. You take care. Hey Gunner. 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MSU keeps on moving with SuperTalk's Caleb Salers

33:29

We will move to our next guest, who really doesn't need any introduction from me, is my good friend and super talk news reporter, Caleb Sailors. Caleb covers all of the Mississippi colleges along with all of the news for the state's largest media syndicate, Supertalk Mississippi News on Supertalk. And he has the statewide football scoreboard show Friday night during football season to report the scores. How are you, my friend? Hunterman, another day in paradise. How are you doing? I'm doing my well. I'm you know a lot better now than yesterday being in Hattiesburg. But taking the segue on that question, the Rebels look like they have a pretty good opportunity, the Ole Miss Rebels, to win the top-ranked NCAA regional if they win this game tonight. Talk to me about this group and how they've put it together so far. Yeah, and you know, uh head coach Mike Bianco has kind of told his team that you guys have really learned how to handle adversity, especially this weekend. Ole Miss goes 14 innings, uh, walks off Arizona State 7-6. And this is an Ole Miss team hunter that went almost nine innings without scoring in that Arizona State game, but found a way to walk in off Braden Randall, of all people, a reserve infielder who kind of was put in the doghouse a little bit, uh, had a good series against Georgia a month ago, and then really hasn't gotten any playing time or much playing time since then. Stepped up huge for the Rebels late, won that game. And then last night, a series of timely two-out hits, one by Owen Paino, one by Braden Randall, and then Nebraska making a couple of mistakes on the mound, walking not one but two batters with bases loaded, and then Ole Miss in Nebraska in eight innings with a weather delay. And then the game gets started on Sunday at noon in the ninth inning. Ole Miss finds itself in a little bit of a jam with runners on first and second for Nebraska with no outs, but gets a double play and then gets a ground ball later on and wins the ballgame. You know, there's a lot of resiliency with this Ole Miss team hunter, but you're right. I mean, this is an Ole Miss team that will be playing tonight against Arizona State. Who will be without its best offensive player? Landon Hairston, who's one of the best batters in the country. I mean, has over 28 home runs this year, bats over 400. I mean, he's incredible, but had a moment uh in uh the game against Nebraska earlier on Sunday where he flung his bat about 15 feet in the air, uh, protesting a strike call. And Umpire took exception with that and ejected him. Well, that ejection carries over into the Sunday night battle between the Sun Devils and the Rebels. So Ole Miss really does have a favorable matchup on Sunday night with you know Arizona State not having some of its best arms, had to use a lot of guys, uh, then he uses top reliever and a closer against Nebraska because the Cornhusters came back. And Ole Miss will have Hay Townsend, who is a Golden Spikes semifinalist. So, you know, it is a favorable matchup. But again, Ole Miss does have to win two games. They can't, you know, mess around and let this thing get to Monday and then hope for the best. I mean, it would be you know advantageous for the Rebels to win tonight. And also, Auburn's in a little bit of trouble, too. And if Auburn loses its regional, we'll have postseason baseball at Swayze Field next weekend. That was the segue to the next question, Caleb. Since Nebraska has lost and Auburn, you know, looks like they might lose, or if they already did to Central Florida, um, then Oxford is will they be the next host on that way up? Yes. Ole Miss is the highest ranked two seed uh between that regional pairing. And so if Ole Miss does uh win tonight or for Monday, I mean if it comes to it, if Ole Miss does win one more game in this regional, Swayze Field will be hosting postseason baseball, which would be incredible given Ole Miss had that opportunity to host last year and ran into a Murray State team that was just red hot. But look, Hunter, if you look at that Auburn regional right now, Milwaukee is that team, the four seed that's really given off Murray State vibes from last year. I mean, Milwaukee's what averaging 13 runs a game in this regional and has not showed any signs of slowing down. And Auburn's in the losing bracket, too. So, I mean, it could very well be Ole Miss for if let's say Ole Miss handles business. Now, hypothetically, I mean, Ole Miss could very well be facing a similar team that it faced in Murray State last year, but at the Milwaukee level, this year, if Milwaukee kind of runs the table too, but there's a lot of baseball left to be played, and Ole Miss has to take care of business before we even get into any of that. Before we, you know, I know these are early predictions, but you know, we're we're kind of kind of getting a little bit ahead of the the horse here. Right. Do you believe that this Ole Miss team, if everything works out and they get past this regional and they end up facing somebody like Will Milwaukee, do you believe this team's ready to go to Omaha? Yeah, I do, Hunter. And I do think this Ole Miss team would be heavily favored to get to Omaha if if they get out of this regional, uh, and Auburn doesn't take care of business in in Auburn. And right now, I mean, the Tigers are currently, as we speak right now, at 6.06 p.m. on Sunday, the Tigers are trailing Central Florida. So, I mean, it's not a gimmick for them. Uh, but I do I do think Olmus would have a pretty, I wouldn't say just clear on clear, but would have a favorable path to Omaha. Now, we've seen Mike Bianco clubs choke. I've I watched Olmus lose to Tennessee Tech in 2018. I watched the Rebels lose to Murray State last year, so we've seen that happen before, but it would be a clear path. Now, let's say Olmus ended up getting to Omaha. I would not see Olmus running the table there. Now, getting, let's just assume them and state had the ability to both get to Omaha, you know, would the could this be a potential egg bowl matchup in Omaha? Very well. And I mean, it would be an opportunity for, I mean, one for Mississippi State. It could be an opportunity to really solidify dominance over Ole Miss this year. Mississippi State's 4-0 in the series against the Rebels. They won all three in Oxford and Swayze earlier this season and then beat Ole Miss in the governor's cup, too. So, I mean, Mississippi State would have an opportunity to really, really, really step its foot on the neck of Ole Miss there in this uh rivalry. But yeah, that would be a viable possibility. But the the kind of the problem there though is Mississippi State's likely gonna have to go on the road to Athens to in the super regional. And that's a Georgia team that's beaten Mississippi State four times. That's a very, very tough and good Georgia bull bulldog club, but Mississippi State's looked really good in its regional too. So that'd be a kind of a fun showdown in Athens. Final question for you, my friend. Now, I'm not sure how much you guys have thought about this. How many of the Ole Miss players, and you could also include Mississippi State players if you think, uh, do you believe that we'll leave for the draft or the transfer portal at the end of the season? Yeah, I mean, Ole Miss is gonna have plenty of guys that that one declare for the draft, and two have an opportunity to consider declaring for the draft. I mean, Will Furnace and Judd Utermart, Judd Udermart, the all-time home run hitter, hitting leader at Ole Miss, will both be guys that go to the draft for sure. And then all three starting pitchers have an opportunity as well with uh Taylor Rabe and Cade Townsend and Hunter Elliott. I expect Rabe and Townsend to go pro Elliott. I I don't know what his prospects are there, but I wouldn't be shocked if he kind of said, hey, I've spent enough time in college, it's time for me to move on. I mean, he's been in Ole Miss since 2022 now. It's kind of he's a five-year guy, and so it's maybe it is time for him to move on in his mind, but there will be plenty. And then the transfer portal, I mean, Ole Miss has done a pretty good job sans um Liam Doyle and Andrew Fisher a season ago going to Tennessee at retaining players. I do know Hayden Federico. He's a player that's from Louisiana, that's played really, really good ball in SEC play. I have heard that LSU has expressed interest in him, and I wouldn't be shocked if Jay Johnson went after him. But other than that, I do think Bianco will be able to retain some of the players that are eligible to come back next year, but it's going to be a big time rebuilding year for Ole Miss next season. I will say, Hunter, a side note that that's not baseball related, uh, Pete Golding had a really, really big weekend this weekend for Ole Miss. I know football fans are really excited. Ole Miss has gotten commitments from not one, not two, but three four stars. Two on the defensive side of the ball, uh, one an edge rusher, one a linebacker, then on the offensive side of the ball, too, uh a wide receiver. So it looks like Pete's really, really hitting that high school class hard. Sounds good, my friend. We'll be following up on that football, at least right as we're getting closer to the SEC days. Absolutely. Take care of yourself. Tell everybody how they can contact you. Yeah, easiest way to find me, Caleb Saylor's STM on X. You can find me just looking up my name on all other social media platforms, and most importantly, supertalk.fm. Thank you, my friend. Thanks, Hunter.

AL.com's Greg Stephenson

42:44

And now we're on with one of the most outstanding reporters and sports writers in the business, my good friend Greg Stevenson. He's an AP writer for AL.com that covers USA, meaning South Alabama, Troy, and occasionally Alabama. How are you, my friend? Hey, doing all right. How's it going? Doing well. Troy with the bases loaded right now, still uh they're up 8-5 over Florida. Am I correct? Yeah, they are uh really, they they really took it to Liam Peterson, uh Florida's probable first round pick. I mean, they've hit four they hit four home runs off of him. They beat Miami earlier today, so they're trying to force a winner-take-all game tomorrow. This team can really hit, man. It's just a matter of is their bullpen going to be able to hold on, is what kind of did them in in the Sunbelt tournament, but they've been much better uh today. And uh we'll see if they can force that winner take all game on Monday. But uh, you know, they've gotten farther than I thought they would. The way you know they've just been tearing the cover off the ball all weekend. Absolutely. And you know, I remember speaking uh last weekend to Schuyler Mead, who was very involved, obviously, in the program, enthusiastic, you know, with with The the team, and as I asked him, he expressed to me that this team was being built on culture. Do you want to talk to me about that? What he meant by that? I mean, they just never feel like they're out of it. I mean, and that they've got a lot of veteran guys, even some that are transfers, and then you know, some guys that have been in the program for a while, and they're just they just play with a lot of confidence. You know, Skylar Meade is an extremely confident guy, uh, and the team really feeds off of that. And, you know, like I said, they just they it is very, very difficult to get 27 outs on these guys. And they they are, I mean, just a really, really tough team. Do you believe that he's going to stay there for some time in the future? Or you know, kind of his age is getting getting at him or what? Yeah, I would I would guess with his background, you know, he was a high-level player at Louisville, was an assistant coach at South Carolina. I would assume he's gonna get his name, is gonna come up for some big jobs. And um, so if you had put a gun in my head and said, is he gonna be at Troy long term? I kind of doubt it. Whether he leaves this year or or hangs around a little while longer, I don't know. But yeah, you would think that this guy's got uh you know an SEC or ACC job in his future for sure. What happened to Auburn this week? Is they were it seems like they're about to get knocked out rather quickly. Yeah, they just can't get anybody out, man. Their pitching just got destroyed. And it was, you know, they were one of the better pitching teams in the SEC, but Milwaukee jumped all over them. Uh and you know, Virginia, even or not, excuse me, Virginia, uh uh NC State, even though they they scored 17, they gave up 13. So they just uh have had trouble getting outs. And uh it's it's kind of hard to believe. Um this is the second time in the last four years they've had a home regional where they've really flopped, and uh it's it's not great. You know, they've made a couple of World Series trips, so that is uh kind of that maybe takes some of the pain away. But Auburn in general this year, it's been a terrible uh academic. You know, if you count the entire academic year from August on, they've not had really much they can hang their hat on. Obviously, the football team was bad, fired the coach. The basketball team missed the NCAA tournament, even though they made the they won the NIT. I mean, so what? Um I uh you know, Jackson Coivan, who might be one of the best golfers in uh SEC history, won the Ben Hogan Award as player of the year. That's about all they've got going for them if this baseball team flames out. Jeez, do you believe this Alabama team is ready for Omaha? It's possible. I mean, they they've they've beaten the teams in front of them. I don't know that they're an elite team um, you know, with up there with the Georgias and some of the others in the SEC. And I would have put Auburn in that category before this weekend, but it seems like, yeah, I mean, they you know they haven't been to Omaha in 26 years. Um, but it it you know, I'd have to look to see who they're matched up against in the next round. But yeah, they're gonna host a super regional it looks like, so I've got to give them a good shot. Is South Alabama happy where they finished the year at? I think I don't I don't think happy is the right word. I think they're happier than they were before. You know, they made the Sunbelt tournament, won a game after not making it last year. They've made a lot of progress. They just did not um play well in the tournament. Um and it's got to be better. Mark Calvey's going into the final year of his contract, and they're about to have a new athletic director. Joel Erdman officially actually retires today. Um they have not named the uh next AD yet. Daniel McCarthy, the deputy AD, is gonna be interim AD. They said the other day they probably have someone in place by uh by September. So I don't know what the future of the program is. Like I said, I think they got better. Um, but I don't know that you know Mark Calvi is automatically going to get another contract extension. I might I think he might be near the end of the line. We'll see. Uh, but you know, they could make a big run next year. We'll we'll find out. They definitely got better this year. It was better than before, but when you got five Sunbelt teams in the NCA uh regionals and you're not one of them, obviously that stings. Yeah, Troy is up uh I think either 10 to 5 or 11 to 5. Yeah, it's 11-5 now. Yeah, they're they just keep hitting, man. They've gotten into Florida's bullpen, and uh it looks like they're gonna be playing tomorrow unless uh things really collapse. There you go, my friend. Tell everybody how they can reach you. AL.com slash sports, al.com slash troy, a l.com slash USA on social media at Craig Stevenson, C-R-E-G-S-T-P-H-E-N-S-O-N. Thanks for having me. And you still got the radio job, correct? Oh, yeah, it's true. WNSP 1055 FM from 3 to 6 every afternoon in mobile. Find us on the Sound of Mobile app. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. All right, man. I

Locked on Sun Belt's David Schultz

49:02

would like to introduce one of the guys that is one of the hardest workers in the media world, David Schultz. David is the host for one of the best college athletics podcasts in the media, locked on Sunbelt Podcast. David, after everything this weekend, what does it look like for the Sunbelt Conference baseball after this, these NCAA regionals? Well, unfortunately, the top two teams uh went 0-2. Uh Southern Mist got bounced uh yesterday, losing to Virginia 15 to 11. Couple things in that ball game. Uh every time Southern Mist scored, Virginia came back, and yet down by three and then two runs, uh, Southern Mist tied it up in the bottom half of the eighth, had a chance to win it, got a guy thrown out at the plate, had a runner on in the ninth, couldn't get him in, and Virginia scores four runs in uh the 10th to win it 15 to 11. So the regular season and tournament champions from the Sunbelt are out. Coastal Carolina had all kinds of issues uh with uh injuries all season, and then the weather got them on Saturday, so they had to come back this morning, and they ran into a lefty Trey Baird from Florida State, who struck out nine in four innings. Uh, and so Coastal loses two to one. Having said that, and you know, I know this is coming out later on in the week, uh, Detroit Trojans have advanced to the regional final against uh Florida State. Uh the Cajuns have, I'm sorry, against Florida, against Florida. The Cajuns have advanced to the regional final against uh Mississippi State, and uh Texas State is taking on USC uh to see who uh plays um AM in that regional final. So you do have three teams still going, whether that's the case when this comes out or not, but it was a great tournament as far as I'm concerned for uh the Cajuns, Troy, and even Texas State. Well, it was great NCAA playoff selection last week for the conference because this is the first time they ever had five teams. But they will probably end up, you know, let's just be, you know, well, I mean, you know, if it happens the way we say, you know, they won't be 0-5. There should be at least somebody win there. But if they did go and five, what does it mean? Well, there's that. I I no, Hunter, I don't think, I mean, it would be amazing if somehow, you know, Troy, which is beating Florida pretty badly right now, but they got to play them again tomorrow. Can the Cajuns beat Mississippi State twice and Texas State was down to USD? Thing is, all three of those teams were three seeds. Uh, and outside of Texas State, both Troy and the Cajuns lost their first ball game. So getting this far is amazing. It is disappointing that Southern Miss and Coastal didn't even win a ball game, and Southern Miss was at home. Um, so yeah, they could go 0-5 in their regionals, but the three teams left standing weren't supposed to be this far. So I I think they've had a good tournament. Uh, and Troy could be playing on Monday. So that would be impressive. Give me your thoughts over the for the year on, I know you've spoken about it on your on your show, about RPI and the canceling of games throughout the year. Well, yeah, that is ridiculous. Uh, the NCAA threatened to do that. I mean, coaches, uh, I it goes back to my time with um covering the Cajuns and Lafayette. Two softball coaches ago wouldn't travel in conference play because his RPI was going to get hurt in if if there was a situation with weather. And he's just like, we're not coming. It's not worth it. And now teams are doing that midweek in the NCAAs, but it didn't hurt anybody, as far as I know. Guess it hurt Mercer, but it didn't hurt Kentucky. It didn't hurt NC State. Both those teams got in. Now you can't complain too much because the five teams got in from the from the Sunbelt, but it is lame when you schedule teams and then you cancel. I mean, Kentucky canceled because they were tired. I mean, what are we doing, right? You cancel because you're tired? You're playing in a uh, you know, you're flying in a in a corporate jet, you know, in a private plane. You're not tired. Uh so that's inexcusable. Um, the problem is for the RPI, for the small guys, is that teams like NC State and Kentucky, you know, they don't have to win a series. They just have to win one ball game to get a solid RPI. And Kentucky had a solid RPI. Were they? 37? That's a good RPI, except they only won two series this year, Hunter. I think they're having a good NCAA tournament, but they shouldn't have been in just because they beat one out of every three ball games against the SEC. I don't think that's right. They have a tough schedule because they're in the conference. They got all the money, win some ball games. Um State shouldn't have got in there. That was a favor to the coach who announced his retirement. Um, still they were 51, and and I think they were 11 and 19 in the ACC. They didn't belong. And so there's nothing the Sunbelt can really do about it except try to schedule as many of those teams as possible and win as many of those uh midweek ball games as you can because that's what helps out the RPI. That's what absolutely helped out Troy getting in. That's what helped Southern Mist to host. Uh, so it is absolutely a thing. You got to figure it out and you got to play by the rules that the other people set it up by because you're not changing them. Do you believe, now, this isn't just about uh baseball, but this is about everything. Do you and I haven't spoken to you a little bit about this? Do you believe Louisiana Tech's addition is gonna bring a really good athletic program to the conference? Well, they had a better football season than I realized last year. They went to a bowl game. Um, we'll see basketball-wise. Baseball, it's a great rivalry. They got good rivalries with the Cajuns, they got good rivalries with Southern Mist. Uh, it should lift them up uh in that way uh instead of playing a midweek ballgame or you know, something along those lines. It should. They have to invest like the Sunbelt teams uh have invested in their programs. And so it's certainly going to help out rivalries in the West. Arkansas State is another good example that it could help out with them uh as well. So, yes, I do think it's super convenient for the teams in the West. The teams in the East didn't like it, but uh, you know, the Cajuns, their main rivalry is Southern Mist. But if you can add another rivalry in state, I think that makes it better for the Sunbelt. What's your expectations in July in New Orleans? Come come to this Sunbelt meeting days. Well, that's a good question. I'd like to see as many quarterbacks as possible. A lot of teams don't bring their starting quarterback in case they have uh a battle going on. So we'll see that. It'll be nice to meet Sonny Cumbe. I haven't had him on the show. Um and we had a question for Keith Gill uh from uh the Sunbelt about something. Oh, um they need to take advantage of the um the production studios that they have, and they don't do that. So the Sunbelt you know championships are broadcast from the studios in New Orleans. Well, they should send them to on-site basketball, baseball, softball, and then use the studios to their um most, you know, use them to the best of their abilities by having a studio show. That's what they need to do. If you invested in the studios, you need to invest into using them more often. Have a weekly show, all right? Uh this week in the Sunbelt or something along those lines. And invest in that. Uh, and then when you do have championships, you don't lose the audience when it says your game hasn't started yet or we're in a weather delay. You keep the audience there. So that's my main question for Keith Gill is to how the Sunbelt can better use their production studios that they invested in so much. Well, it does look like Troy's gonna be playing on Monday. They have a I'm gonna hold you to I'm gonna hold you to that. Florida scored 22 runs yesterday, Hunter. We do we uh we do not count anybody out. It is a it's a nine nine outs to go. It's a big lead. We're not gonna say what it is now, but we'll we'll wait until uh we'll wait until that's over to celebrate. I'm telling you that right now. All right, my friend. Will you tell everybody how they can contact you? You can uh find me on uh X and Twitter, Schultzycast, uh Lockdown Sunbelt on YouTube, Apple, and uh Spotify as well. But I'm on TikTok, Lockdown Sunbelt. I'm on Instagram, both Lockdown Sunbelt and SchultzCast uh as well. And you can find me, Dave Schultz, uh not difficult on Facebook as well. You take care, my friend. Thanks, Hunter.

Outro

57:40

We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast, and we thank you again, Jeff. You know, we're following uh these uh all the squeeze games here on EESPN. We'll find out who's playing on Monday, you know, here tonight. But uh we want to thank all our sponsors, you know, including the Beau Revage Resort and Casino, Nine Toes Brewery in Pascrashan, O'Doire Realty, Stephanie, our O'Doire Realty agent Stephanie Mankovitz, Joseph Kelly, attorney at law, Coast Casual in Pasquershan, the Paschan Rotary Clubs, Paddle the Bay Fundraiser, the insurance barn in Gulfport, and the U.S. Marine Inc. Jeff also wanted to make an announcement about you know, you know, in the upcoming next few weeks or so, we'll we'll uh have some stuff together. You want to talk about uh the new thing we got? Yeah, so uh in the next couple of weeks we'll be launching our YouTube page where you can uh watch the HD and uh all the glory. See all the folks, see the faces, and uh so we're gonna go start having a you know, we got audio podcast going out, so we're gonna have the same podcast, just gonna have it on YouTube as well. So you can watch it or listen to it now. And I did actually want to surprise you, Jeff. We did get confirmed this uh this weekend. I talked with the Sunbelt Conference Media staff. The Sunbelt Conference Media Days, or otherwise known as the Football Days, have given us the right to be on Radio Row in the second week of July, where we get to go out there and interview coaches, or they they get to come on our radio, you know, on the uh the Radio Row show for our podcast, and our podcast will be on Radio Row in New Orleans at the I believe it's the Marriott, right next to the convention center, and we'll find out the exact official day, and I think that's gonna be big for us. Yeah, man. That's uh that's awesome. It's gonna be a great time. Uh, you know, hopefully everybody come by and say hello to us. We'll get some good interviews, so we're looking forward to uh being a part of that in New Orleans. We thank you, my friend. We make sure you follow us on the gazebozzette.com, where the podcast will be posted next week or later on this week as well as on facebook.com backslash the real gazebo, or on X at Gazebo Gazette as the handle. The HD Experience is available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon music under the HD Experience tag. We ask that you download, write reviews, let us know how we're doing. Signing out, this is the host, Hunter Dawkins of the HD Experience. Catch you all on the flip side.