Bench Clearings, Walk-Offs, and No Hitters: "This Was My Thing and Everyone Likes Doug!"

We made it to Episode 2… and we’re already leveling up.

Detroit Thread Company brings this episode featuring a special guest — Adrian College Head Coach and Athletic Director Craig Rainey, a true legend in Michigan college baseball with over 850 career wins. Coach Rainey joins the show to talk about building a winning culture, recruiting in today’s game, balancing analytics with the “eye test,” and what it takes to develop players at the next level.

We'll also cover standout performances, key moments that swung games, and a few things you won’t forget anytime soon — including a late-inning collapse and a grand slam from a guy named Jet Buck.

There’s also some listener feedback (not all of it was appreciated), a little self-reflection, and the ongoing debate about who actually did their homework.

College baseball, Michigan-focused — with insight, personality, and just enough chaos.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to episode number two of the Walk-Ons podcast. We made it to number two. We made it. It's amazing. We made it to the second episode. First of all, thank you to everyone that listened. It was a very warm reception from episode one, a little warmer than I think even we had hoped it would be.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

So I think Doug thought seven would be the views.

SPEAKER_05 0:22

Yeah, oh yeah, that's what he put it. It was over seven.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

The over did hit there. My favorite part of the entire process was one day last week, a couple days ago, Rice calls me up out of the blue, and he goes, Listen, I'm tired of people saying nice things about you. If this continues and people like you more than you like me, I'm ending this whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, no, I was like, this is my shit. I wanted to put this together, and everyone likes Doug.

SPEAKER_05 0:49

Yeah, because Doug did his homework. Yeah. Doug did number one and he's rewarded. Yeah. Guy number four over here did his homework. No, it was the fourth guy. The fourth guy. Yeah, the fourth guy.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Listen, listen. I've got a lot of nicknames. I'll take guy number four. The fourth guy. Guy number four over any of the other nicknames I have.

SPEAKER_05 1:07

So we appreciate it. Again, you can follow us everywhere except Twitter is The Walk-OnsCast on Twitter. Uh The Walk-Ons PC on Twitter. Uh we're we're trying to post clips on social. Make sure you follow us again on the other one Instagram, TikTok, uh, Facebook, The Walk-Ons Cast, The Walk-Ons PC on Twitter. Uh DM us or just email us things you want to make fun about Jay with at the walk-onscast at gmail.com. Absolutely. Yes. So if you want to talk shit about Jay, uh email us there.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

It's interesting. The I asked friends, I was getting texts from people, you know, hey, give me some honest feedback. And it was pretty good. 95% of it was really, really good. And the 5% pissed me off. I asked for honest feedback, they gave it to me, and I was mad at them.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Now you're the other side of a coach. What were you mad about?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Okay. Are we can I tell you this real quick story? There we have a mutual friend of ours. Uh I won't even say his name. I'm not gonna give him enough credit. We'll call him. He was pissed off because I kept interrupting Doug. So he like totally got in my head. Like, that's gonna be a focus of mine. Interrupting Doug. I gotta let guy number four.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

The fourth guy is the fourth guy. All right, uh that means it's time now for episode two of the walk-on's cast, and we've actually established everything. So we have games to talk about. We're gonna start at the top. We're always gonna start in the Big Ten, work our way down to JUCO and NAIA. So, Mike, you get to start Michigan and Michigan State. Which team do you want to start with?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Well, we can start with both. How about we go midweek? That's right.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

They had a little they had a little midweek uh a non-conference.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

I mean, did no one else want to come out?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Like for I think I overheard the announcer say they do it every year. Just to just get a game in the middle. It was so confusing to me that it doesn't it didn't count towards uh you know big league play, big uh you know, big ten play. But uh so Michigan got the win, it was two nothing. Um a lot of kind of like, hey, let's see what this guy's got. They used like six pitchers, yeah, right, which was cool. It was a two-nothing game. Luckily, it wasn't a you know, eighteen to nothing game, twenty-one nothing game. So it was good for both. Both teams got to see, you know, what do we got to work with when we get into Big Ten play? You know, the Colby Turner name showed up again for Michigan, you know, uh one one for three with the walk. Evan Hager, local kid. There's not that many local position players on Michigan. I think Hager was a Catholic Central guy. I'm I'm gonna say it out loud, but hopefully that's right. Uh he went one for two. Greg Pace Jr., two for three. Um, weren't that many stats for uh Michigan State, but I might have a little bit later when I go through Michigan State stuff. But overall. Well, let me go. I'd have to go to my next page. You'll find out how Trent did later. But he he's been getting in the mix now.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

All right, uh then Michigan on the weekend. They did drop two of three to Nebraska. They won uh on Friday behind a pretty strong performance on the mound. And then uh Saturday they got blitzed, and Sunday they uh blew a lead the ninth.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah, so I have in my one note here, it was the matchup of the weekend that Friday game. It was it was uh Kurt Barr from Ligot, University Ligate. You guys know though you know that school in Gross Point versus Ty Horn at uh at Nebraska, and it was a great game. What did it end up in? It ended up 2-1. Two to one. So great pitchers, dual Kurt Barr, seven innings pitched, zero runs, zero walks. I love seeing that zero walks and ten strikeouts.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

We're gonna have a few performances we talk about where kid goes like seven or eight innings with no walks.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah, and I I actually talked to uh one of the Michigan coaches today and just spoke like loudly about Barr, where he's a dude, right? He might he might not jump out on like those PBR type of things we talk about or perfect game things, but what he does is he wins. He's a dog. And and Ty Horn pitched in, I think, the Big Ten championship last year, went went nine innings and was a badass. And in this game, he went like four and two-thirds or something like that. Kurt Barr won the matchup, which was pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_05 5:48

Yeah, it just hurts uh when you drop the Sunday game, giving up you know, five runs in the ninth. That one hurts because you could have taken the series.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Well, did you see what happened?

SPEAKER_05 5:58

Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

That's Jay's boy. Freaking Jet Buck Grand Slam. Grand slam for Jet Buck. Terrible. Grand slam for Jet Buck.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

That name's gonna be on the all-name list. I I think we need to keep our all-name team to just Michigan guys. I don't think you want Jet Buck. I mean, we have a bunch.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

No, it's Michigan, dude. Yeah, Michigan, we can't put Jet Buck in there. No, Jet Buck.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

Do you like or hate Jet Buck?

SPEAKER_04 6:23

I don't hate anybody, but okay. Do you like or dislike Jet Buck? I dislike the name Jet Buck.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Jay's been like that since he was a kid. If you have a shitty name, he doesn't like you.

SPEAKER_05 6:34

Jet Buck does sound like a Street Fighter character.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

I just couldn't believe when I saw it. Grand Slam for Jet Buck.

SPEAKER_05 6:40

The one name uh he talked about.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

It's ain't Jet Buck something.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

I think about like parents. I'm thinking more of a bounce chicken. You gotta have some bound. You gotta have some balls to name your kid Jet Buck. I mean, what if that kid's a total turd? He's hitting Grand Slam with Michigan. But you didn't you didn't know that 20 years ago. Like you're sitting in the hospital and you're like, we're gonna call him Jet Buck. And what if he's like a garbage man, Jet Buck? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Again, he hits grand slams. But hey, real quick.

SPEAKER_05 7:05

Mike Michigan State.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

No, but real quick.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, no, Michigan right now, they're in it, they're in uh 10th place in the Big Ten.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

Yeah, they play UCLA.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Yeah, which is but they're coming together, right? They the defensively they look good. They got they got some hitters. They're one and five right now in the Big Ten, but stuff can turn around quickly because the Big Ten's so freaking huge. Upcoming, their midweek is at Oakland, or excuse me, it's at home versus Oakland. Um, and then they got another one on Wednesday. So Tuesday's Oakland, Wednesday's Toledo, and then they're at Rutgers for conference play this coming weekend.

SPEAKER_05 7:39

All right, Michigan State. They took two or three.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

They did. They did. They look good. They're they're coming around. I said something about it last week where it was kind of in reverse. Like pitching has been pretty good, and hitting was a little bit we'll say, iffy coming out of the box. And now pitching staying good, and hitting has had a little bit of igniter, and Jay's Jay's boy, my nephew, got inserted into lineup bat and leadoff. He goes Jay's boy, comma, my nephew. My godson.

SPEAKER_05 8:07

But it's he's trying, he's trying to pawn him off. So no, Jay has the bias, not Mike. So so they I love trends again.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

You guys know they lost their midweek. We just talked about it, but you know, they had multiple pitchers. Um, one kid, Logan Pakur, uh Pakor, two innings pitched. It's a name that was a starter before. He's been coming in middle relief, so he's starting to come around for state. Um, and then they got a lefty, Gavin Grudman, who I like. I love his mechanics. He's a whippy lefty. Um, he did he did well. Two innings pitched, one hit, no runs, no walks, two K's. Um, two names from the midweek was Isaac Sturgis, center fielder. He went two for four, and Trent Rice, right field, one for two with two walks. Nice. So you see three times on base for your boy. That's great. Um here's the deal with Isaac Sturgis. If you guys watch Michigan State, we're all old enough. Does everyone remember Paul O'Neill?

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. I remember that from Seinfeld. Yankee.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Okay, so think about Paul O'Neal when you watch Isaac Sturgis. Like, there's something that's like.

SPEAKER_05 9:10

I think he retired about the time I was born.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Yeah, whatever. Just forget it.

SPEAKER_05 9:13

He's good. So all right. So I know him from Seinfeld reruns. It's good to be you.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

So that was the midweek. There was your Michigan State stats for the midweek. Um, looking good as a team. They're getting they're getting better daily. Once once Jake Boss figures out this lineup on what he wants to go with, I think they're gonna be just I remember they hit a couple bombs in that first game on Saturday. Yeah, we're not even there yet, Doug.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Well, what are we gonna spend 45 minutes on these two teams? They have 38 more to go, dude.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

It's the Big Ten and Tres.

SPEAKER_04 9:41

We're not gonna do everybody up there.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

All right, so real quick, we'll go we'll go quick. They went two and one at home against Iowa, right? And before this big blow up of the Big Ten, Iowa was like the baseball school, in my opinion, in the Big Ten. So I thought I looked at this as a nice barometer for Michigan State. So it went two-one. Uh they won 2-0 game one. Uh Aiden Donovan, seven innings pitched, no runs. Great job. Good, good, good looking stuff from Donovan. Uh uh Kamari Thomas, one for three with a run. Dayton Murphy, one for four with an RBI. Uh Trent Rice, one for four with a run. Our boy Isaac Sturgis, two for four with an RBI. Okay. Um looking really good. They actually turned it into a uh uh a double header here. So uh game two for the score, 15 to 5 in eight innings. Um winning pitcher, Carter Monk. So that Carter's turned into their number two at state, which I think they were looking for, and he's is doing a hell of a job. He's three and two. He went six and two thirds, uh, three runs, two walks, five K's. Uh Trent Rice, two for four, two runs. Uh Dayton Murphy, two for four, two runs and an RBI. Isaac Sturgis, two for four, two runs, two RBIs, and had a triple. Uh one couple more guys that are probably sticking out like a sore thumb that I didn't mention. Uh if you watch the game. Randy Seymour, big long, lanky first baseman. Three for three, two runs, five RBIs, and a jack. I mean, what what a ball game, five ribbies. Uh, Nick Williams went two for four. And here's the coolest thing. So, eighth inning, bases loaded, Adam Broski, Adam Broski. Gosh darn it, the guys on TV say Broski. I know it's Broski. We've known him since he was a baby. Um, walk-off, run rule, grand slam.

SPEAKER_05 11:34

See, I don't think you can call it a walk-off if it's a run rule. It was. It's a game at all. Well, that's why I added it. Walk off, run rule. I know, but it's not as like it's still cool, like a grand slam to end the game, but it it's a little different because we'll have an actual walk-off grand slam later.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

If you throw anything middle into Adam, it's yard work. Like it's the craziest thing. You ever have those batters you watch growing up, or like if it's in the zone, like Mark Maguire? Yeah, tell me about Carl Yastromski. Yeah, yeah, stop it. Stop it. My dad could do that. So, anyway, listen, that that walk-off run rule grand slam was Jake Boss's 500th.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

So why do we we've had a ton of milestone? I felt like over the weekend I saw seven different milestone graphics from different teams. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

I think there was like three, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

Well, there were some that there were some that weren't Michigan college guys, but still.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah, so I think by the way, they they still had game three, which was a loss, right?

SPEAKER_05 12:30

So they fell in game three, eight, three.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah, game three was the doubleheader, right? So game two, game three were the double was the doubleheader. So they lost eight to three, multiple pitchers, uh bright spot, two bright spots. Um CJ Decking, a third baseman, freshman went two for four with a run. The guy's got a freaking rifle at third, so I'm glad to see him starting to pick it up with the plate. And uh Wiley veteran, no upright catcher, three for four with a with a jack. So good for him. Upcoming for these guys, they're at CMU on Tuesday, and they're home verse uh perdont.

SPEAKER_05 13:05

All right. Uh so let's go to the Mac. We will save Central for last because it I there's gonna be one thing we talk about a little more than the others with Central. Uh Mike, let's start with Western. Uh, they dropped two of three to ball state. They won the first one two to one. Uh they gave up, they had a five run ninth and then a four-run ninth on in games two and three. They could have had a sweep and they yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yeah, well, first of all, I heard Doug take a deep breath. Like, is this going is this going on too long for you, Doug?

SPEAKER_02 13:34

I thought for the first two you were going to start talking about BP too. I mean, what are you doing, dude?

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Maybe that maybe that is something. Hey, you know, when I'm out.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

We only have so much time. Hey, sorry, Juco, guys. The guys that already play in the Big Ten Network, we're gonna talk about them a little bit more, but don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

I'll be quick, but I really don't have to be quick because J Volk.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Yeah, I'm gonna be real quick. What kind of stuff do you think? I'm gonna see quick. We're gonna Brady's gonna run through some scores. I'm gonna give a couple people. That's it. My segment's gonna be quick this week.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Currently, Western's tied for third place. Okay, I think it's important to know because we're gonna pay attention to what these Michigan teams do. They're six and three in conference, they're 10-11 overall. They went one and two at home versus Ball State, which if you follow the scoring, it was like I thought Western was gonna sweep. Yeah, they should have. I feel like the it was the bull, the bullpen kind of got, you know, kind of let it down a little bit. But um, let me see what I got for some stats.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

This Michael Maloney, what's that? The papers are shuffling next to me.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Freaking dog, he's so excited. No, Michael Maloney, the shortstop, went one for three. Uh Mason Polarski, freshman from D La Sell, went one for three in game one. Um let's see, local product uh for ball state in game two. I wanted to make sure I brought it up. So game game two, this was one where Western was up, and I was thinking, you know, Western's gonna get another win. And Jack Backus went yickety grand slam. Yikety. I like that one. Yikety grand slam. But he's I think he's a uh I think he's uh You said Midland before the game. Did I say Bay City ish up there, but either way, grand slam for Ball State. So that was one of the losses.

SPEAKER_05 15:11

Up there somewhere somewhere, somewhere north of uh of 69, who cares? They're only 30 minutes away from each other. It's no big deal.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Wet Western went, you know, they went what two and three this weekend. They're upcoming two. Oh, yeah, one and two. Yeah, one and two, sorry about that. Um they're upcoming, they're at Notre Dame on Tuesday, and then at home verse UMass, which I think is a new addition.

SPEAKER_05 15:35

They've been in the Mac like two or three years now. Yeah. All right, Eastern, they take two or three from Akron, including a walk-off hit by pitch in uh game two.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, there's your stats.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

Yeah, I mean, honestly. Hey, they hit a two-run bomb in the ninth to tie it and then a walk-off hit by pitch in the tenth.

SPEAKER_04 15:54

Well, how do they celebrate that walk-off hit by pitch?

SPEAKER_05 15:56

You throw the bat down and go, let's go!

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah, yeah, like what we would have done in the 80s and 90s, we would have ran touch first. Now they, you know, kids these days, they kind of dance around like they hit a home run or something.

SPEAKER_05 16:09

I mean, they did just win the game for their team. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

No, that's true. But young guys fine with celebrated by winning by the team.

SPEAKER_05 16:16

I mean, I'd be excited that I won a game. What am I supposed to mope to first because I got hit by and I didn't do it a cooler way? Yeah, just you know what Mike's saying as a coach, if I get out of the way, why the hell'd you get out of the way? Lean into it a little bit. Very true. So yeah, Eastern took two or three. They get a series win over every three.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Really cool. Good to see. Uh they're upcoming, they're at Youngstown State for the midweek, and then I get an easy banger here soon because it's going to be EMU, CMU this uh this coming weekend. So it'll be good for me to watch.

SPEAKER_05 16:46

All right. Speaking of Central, they took two or three. Let's talk about the the actual games first before we talk about the viral moment from these games. Because there was a little bit of uh controversy.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So game game one was their only loss. They lost 10 to 1. Actually, their starting pitcher did well. He went four and a third, gave up two runs again. Bullpen didn't hold up. Spencer Verberg, two for three. Uh shortstop Michael Correa went one for three with a Ribby. He uh he practiced that in the car. Yeah, he did. Yeah, yeah. So game two, they won 18 to 7. There was 18 total team hits. Uh this Harrison Bowman kid, you're gonna hear about him for weeks to come. He hit a grand slam. He had nine RBIs, he went four for five. Uh, one name that you're seeing, you'll see here a couple more times starting to play. Nathan Ball is starting to play a little bit more and starting to hit a little bit more. Does that name sound familiar? You'll hear it in a few minutes. But he's starting to play a little bit and he's he's swinging the bat and adding a nice pop to the lineup. Uh CMU's upcoming. Uh they're home versus uh Michigan State on Tuesday, and then they're at EMU, like you heard earlier, this coming weekend.

SPEAKER_05 18:00

So now the big viral moment. We got that out of the way. What when Tommy's gonna get this video ready, Mike will watch it once, and then I know you've talked to some people, and then you will give us context before we say anything else.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

While we're and bear with us, our producer fell asleep during Mike's segment because it took so long.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

While we're talking about, didn't EMU's coach have a milestone like it's his first win? Yeah, he got his first win. Yeah, it was his first series win. First series win.

SPEAKER_05 18:26

Yeah. So, all right, so for those listening, if we can get the video going. Doug, you're showing off a lot. So this is in game three. Kid from Toledo hits a slow roller down the line. He gets trucked. And just two-hand truck. My disclaimer I'm just saying what happened in the video. That is a two-hand trucking. The kid from Toledo gets up and starts yelling, and the bench is clear. That's a basic because there is no denying kid got leveled. Yes. Like if that was college football, might have gotten a targeting penalty.

SPEAKER_04 18:57

Yeah, that was tagging him out with a purpose.

SPEAKER_05 18:59

That was tagging him out with, yeah, that's anyway. So now, Mike, before we say anything else, now you can give us context.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Okay, I will, but I still want to give us something else too. So I told Brady this morning when we talked, I guarantee I'm gonna be arguing with you guys, and I'm gonna have a different opinion here because I feel I feel bad for the pitcher, but we'll talk about that in a moment.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Explain that right now because unless there's context to that, the pitcher just trucks dick the team.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Here's the deal. And I understand heat of the moment's baseball. You know, you're between the lines is what it is.

SPEAKER_05 19:33

That's more than heat of the moment.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Coming from a guy that's played before, Jay has played before, and you make mistakes. We know it was a mistake. And the reason I feel bad for the kid, and yeah, Tommy, keep this going because there's a couple things I want to point out. I just feel bad because of this social media world. I put something on social media yesterday talking about Nathan Ball. Tommy, is it gonna keep running? Because I want you guys watch the first baseman. Watch the first baseman. He's like, what the f F just happened? And then he's like, Oh shit, I'm a big boy. Yeah, let it let it roll. I'm gonna cover for my I'm gonna cover for my boy. So I was proud of Nathan Ball. He grew up playing with Trent, his dad's a good guy.

SPEAKER_05 20:13

Now I get yes, you social media, you have one bad moment here. I don't I don't know this kid. I don't know if he if this is his MO or if this is just his worst moment on a baseball field. But I'm just gonna say it's not a good look.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

No, it's not a good look, and it's not his MO to answer your question. The game was the this weekend was a tiny bit chippy. There was, you know, a guy, right, a guy from what I've heard, a guy from Toledo broke up a double play a little hard, a little chirping back and forth. I I think it was I'm gonna say it out loud. I mean, I think it was an honest mistake. The kid was bracing himself. He's like, I'm either gonna be getting he was assuming he was a little bit more than a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

That's a little more, but he's coming from the side. That's a little more than a mistake. Yeah, I guess. I'm not gonna, you know, tarnish this kid's name, but he definitely uh he's gonna have he should have a penance to pay for that.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

Yeah, and I don't know. What's the word that's come out after all this? Anything? Nothing. No, I haven't. I mean, I must be there.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Pushed the kid from the side and he fell down.

SPEAKER_05 21:14

I mean, it's it's it's more than a push. The football guy.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

The football guy over here is like that's a you know, maybe blow it up. Just a little push, yeah. If he'd have dropped his shoulder and put it in the middle of his chest, then I made it.

SPEAKER_05 21:24

I mean, there was a two-arm extension. There was an extension.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

You know, when you're running full speed, two-hand, I mean, that picture looks like a decent sized kid too. So I mean how hard is it to just put your glove out, boom, tag?

SPEAKER_05 21:35

What do you need the other glove for extending?

SPEAKER_01 21:38

One thing I always like remember and I've learned more and more over the years is like these are kids. I know that they're 19, 20, 21. They're still kids, and there's grown men on national accounts talking shit about this kid. Yeah, and that's my point is I I feel bad about it, and it is what it is. Like, freaking move on. No one make him run some.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

foul poles and call it.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:03

But not a I'll just say not a good moment. No, I agree. And that's uh but that's that's the lesson is hey you're gonna be defined by moments like that.

SPEAKER_06 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

So well I hope not. I mean I know but that's now now guess what everyone's gonna know that when they hear central baseball that's what they're gonna think of at least for the next few weeks. Yep yep give it give it up for Nathan ball for blocking the whole team he was blocking the whole team for he was well if you watch watch the umpire so the umpire is from Bay City and he knows Nathan but watch Nathan has no idea who the umpire watch this when he grabs Nathan's like what the Nathan's I'm about to get hit now now this was not a brawl the bench is cleared and there was there was a little bit of pushing I just missed the uh bullpen running out from the outfield 20 seconds after everything finished yeah all right anyway anything else on central before we can go to Oakland um no I do want to say something about them later but we can we can do it on a later all right that's fine so Oakland uh I was at the I was at these games um and they dropped two or three to northern Kentucky I'll be honest on Friday and Saturday didn't pitch very well they made some really bad there was a couple bad errors like fly balls that were just dropped Friday was a little sunny I I get it but they're plays that you expect to make uh and and I think in the nine six loss they had four earned runs so so yeah that hurts 13 to eight they just got stomped um the one bright spot is on Saturday Aiden Shuck was a single shy of the uh cycle kid is a dude man he went I think he went uh double home run triple and then had two more at bats I felt bad for him because he couldn't get the cycle it's weird the easiest one was the right you know he was thinking about it how did he look behind the plate was he catching that game uh he might have been the DH that game but he caught two of the three I think that was his DH game. Um and then Sunday they did get a win Ben Green the freshman for him pitched big game Ben gave up a bomb about eight pitches into the game that landed 70 feet over the left field wall and then settled down and gave like five more five scoreless innings after that. No he he he was uh a stud for him uh but the the one other kid I want to give a quick a shout out to uh in Saturday's game Andrew Landis pinch hit for Oakland his was first at bat of the year pitcher got a hit then got the start on Sunday in in center field and Tommy if you can pull up and then proceeded to make the most of his opportunities with the play uh he he's in center field and he just keeps running back and running back and jumps and the ball sticks in his glove.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Yeah at first glance I was like did he misjudge that because he's a pitcher and he did not the he just the guy hammered the ball and he went back to get it.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

Yeah that's a that's a pitcher running back and maybe didn't take the most direct route but made a jumping catch was that directly at him like a straight line drive I mean it's those are the toughest ones to judge it's coming down to the right too yeah but yeah that's uh how about that for kid who didn't have an at bat when the when this weekend started uh gets a hit in his first A B and then makes a catch like that is he kind of that sidewinder pitcher like uh he pitched he closed out the game on Sunday yeah that's him okay so back to Ben Green yeah like that's the sign of the dog yeah that gives up you give up a moonshot especially after you've been you gave up you lost the first two games convincingly yep like it really felt like I was like ah crap here we go I what do you think about him pitching on Fridays even though he's a freshman I mean Friday's your number one I saw I've seen three Oakland games I don't think I know enough but I would say the one game I saw of him I was impressed. Yeah so what was it Doug what was it Texas AM that he pitched I don't think he he it was Georgia Georgia Georgia he I thought originally he was supposed to pitch against Texas AM and um he didn't end up getting uh put in that weekend I'd like to see him in those situations versus other number ones but I mean just my opinion he he put up solid numbers against Georgia yeah so uh those those were a few of the uh the bright spots for OU and his dad's one of the most quality human beings you can meet true true so so there there's uh the Doug bias yeah Doug interrupted me once already today so he I'm one nothing Doug he's you're so in your head about the interrupting anyway uh to the Gliak uh the Gliak has seven teams so every weekend one team has a buy so Grand Valley didn't start league play they did go 4-0 they were down in Florida they beat Embry Riddle twice and they beat Middle Georgia twice uh um in uh the first game against Embry Riddle Caleb Estrada was a double shy of the cycle so is that Eric's kid sure chips yeah you would know California does Ponch um he's Ponch let's go Pedro Ponch no just be like every drunk white woman at a bar and call me Morgan Wallen so yeah that's just Pedro Pascual I said Pablo Escobar but only from narco I'm I'm we're rolling with Ponch. Ponch the rest of the sure um all right well sorry Jackson Keys because I I I want to talk about how you threw seven innings of uh no walk baseball in six K's gave up five hits in the game two win over embry Riddle can we make that a thing no walk baseball I don't like that baseball no walks like let's how many innings do you have to throw to get get a mention for no walk baseball three five three yeah that'd be more than Kyle I have to be able to register the win you guys I like that five five and a nine inning four and a seven yeah my cousin pitched embryd thanks Doug so well you would you want to say your cousin's name at least uh Kyle Luger okay snap snaps Kyle Kyle Luger boo he he pitched in the US PBL too he's a good cousin yeah wow dude yeah Doug has an athlete in his family oh my goodness his first year pitching in the US PBL because of COVID you couldn't go watch the games and he uh he pitched in some giant first baseman hit about a 700 foot dong on him we couldn't go to the game so I texted him after the game and asked him if they picked that one out up out of the river yet he goes no kids say dong anymore for home runs no i I think so do they ganger anyway I'm glad we we got to dive in about embrydle baseball aeronautical school Doug's cousin hard transition to Wayne State uh they took three of four from Parkside they had won eleven in a row I keep describing them as a hammer because they've been awesome uh in game one of the series Will Lowry a Kamazoo Valley kid uh threw the first uh nine inning no hitter for Wayne State in over a decade I believe it was um he's he he just shoved for Wayne State to get the 10-1 win two errors in the same inning gave up the run he had one walk I believe in nine innings so I mean throw a no hitter and then I felt bad because the next game uh Gavin Nash uh threw a complete seven inning game gave up five hits no walk baseball in game two but uh it just sucks because no one cares because you had to follow up a no hitter.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Ryan Kelly and Hepner they just find guys they don't they only go like 90 miles from Wayne State.

SPEAKER_05 29:26

Like if you look at the roster it's never like north of Bay City and it's like there might be a couple West Side kids but it's never like west of Lansing. They put you through the ringer when they're recruiting you and they've been they've been playing well uh in game three they hit six home runs as a team which is ridiculous especially when yeah right where was this where was it at uh Parkside Wisconsin Park Kenosha Wisconsin gotcha do you know where Kenosha is it's in Wisconsin it's in Wisconsin yeah Wisconsin it's in Wisconsin I think they played a minor league park sure I think maybe a college wood bat team possibly anyway yes because I think there's a Kenosha team anyway enthralling stuff Kingfish uh sorry Tony Hot to Giorgio and Bennett Hitzelberger each had multiple home runs in the series hot to Giorgio had it in the same game. I think Caleb Sanders Drew Hill uh they both had home runs in that game I know I'm missing one and I apologize to to who I'm missing but no Wayne State I mean they took three or four they lost on Sunday 5-1 to have their 11 game winning streak snapped but they're coming in hot into uh Gliak play they're getting ready to take on a Davenport you know who you can coming up you know who you can compare them to like Adrian right like Adrian in the D3 Wayne State in in the D2 area where you know like if you're getting recruited by them when I see a guy commit there they're a guy. Yes you know you're gonna have a quality deal um speaking of Davenport they swept Roosevelt uh they won 10-1-8-6 22 to nothing and then seven to six uh they had uh 18 RBIs on just 13 hits in that 22 to nothing game Roosevelt walked 14 batters and hit five more that's gotta be the worst game to watch ever that's that's just not fun for the team winning 19 free two times through the order you got a free pass. Yeah Kevin freaking tidy man what did I tell you last week I mean Roosevelt's not great so he he they did what they were supposed to do against Roosevelt uh but yeah they're gonna chance to prove it against Wayne State uh the one name that stood out as you look through uh look through Cam Johnson had uh a few multi-hit games for the Panthers and then uh Carson Lindau had a pinch hit walk-off hit in in game four to get the sweep for Davenport uh Saginaw alley took three of four from Purdue Northwest double digits were scored in three of the four games they won 10-3 lost 13-12 won 15-5 and 5-3 uh they had three home runs in the game they lost Aaron Best uh Lucas Mead and Jack Sequin all uh hit bombs and then in game four sequin went on the mound eight innings six hits three earned runs did have three walks so Mike hates him and uh five and five strikeouts wait how many innings eight innings three walks I'm fine with that okay it's it's acceptable yeah so Saginaw Valley uh got the got three out of four against Purdue Northwest again kind of what they were supposed to do Michigan teams are kind of dominating that league although Parkside had one eight out of nine before Wayne State took the series and then in the GMAC um a couple of splits go ahead real quick do you have what's so what is the standings in the GLIAC uh well right now I mean it that was the first weekend so uh Davenport's in first because they're four okay and Grand Valley's O for but they haven't played a game yet and they're the preseason favorite it's gonna be fun it's it's probably gonna be Wayne State and Grand Valley leading the way but I think Saginaw Valley and Davenport are going to have a big say in who wins I'm telling you at Davenport are we allowed to say roll tidy I know they do that on their little you can do whatever you want Mike I just don't know if that was like a kid thing or like a school thing but you watch Davenport and freaking Kevin Tidy squad okay if you want to say roll tidy you can say there you go uh in the GMAC a couple of splits Northwood split with Thomas Moore uh and Hillsdale split with Malone uh in the law excuse me in the uh win for Davenport in game three uh Lucas McKinney won eight innings uh gave up just one earned run no walks and 10K's who was that for uh for Northwood Northwood yeah Lucas McKinney did that josh getz had the uh walk off winner for them in the 2-1 win and then Hillsdale with the split uh the one name that popped out uh in in the in the uh wins was uh Billy Petrovsky he had four RBIs in the two wins they did lose eight to six in 15 innings they're gonna win 30 games this year because of you nope they are they're gonna win 26 someone someone probably heard they're gonna win 26 or 27 because they have split I think they've split their first two seasons i'm gonna I'm gonna be rooting for them I'm just the last 10 years of telling you if you want a team to go 26 and 29 Hillsdale's your squad come on Hillsdale let's take it to them D3 time time for Jay to do his homework are we doing a drum roll or no?

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Drum roll first of all the MIA stands for that kind of budget Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. There we go there we gota all right which team are we starting with you want to start with Adrian yeah Adrian four wins who's their coach who's their coach oh I think it's that guy we just interviewed yeah there we go we're going to interview you guys haven't heard um Adrian beat Heidelberg and then swept Wabash College they got four wins over the week yeah and I saw Brent uh Brendan Willetson I think it is and please guys I apologize about the names if we we butcher these people stop apologizing everyone you know I don't want to hammer people's names completely but Brendan Willidson three for five with a run and an RBI Jack Boykie went two for four with two runs RBI Ambrose Horwath got his fourth victory of the year five innings pitched three hits two runs scored four strikeouts so you know those are some standouts that I saw from that uh MIA has not started league play yet just so everyone's aware as Doug and Mike try to compose themselves Alma took two of three from Ohio Northern yep hearing him pin names is the greatest thing we did he just added Andrew probably not even how the name he said not even close I didn't want to kill his name all right keep going dude Alma Alma kid so Alma did have one win that stood out because it was 14-8 against Ohio Northern um Giuseppe Seppienza had a huge game four for five two runs scored seven RBIs had a walk you know out of those four hits he had two doubles and a home you're you're gonna be saying his name every week like I'm telling you the case stood out to me as soon as I saw that seven RBIs I wonder if Alm was this baseball coach will bust out the kilt why does the football team do that yeah the football coach wears the kilt okay uh Albion they uh they beat Bluffton and then they swept Grace Christian they beat him four times so they got five wins they they pot packed that in something's going on over there at Albion they're they're winning some games like they're uh what are they like 10 and 8 or something like that? I can I can learn and they've got the uh MIAA pitcher of the week Daniel Brudswich Brudswich I think it is so he got the he got the pitcher of the week I I think he I think they won 15 to one he had his uh elite his highest strikeout total at 12 in a game so complete game it'll be a fake eleven and six right now okay maybe they're just posting their wins probab but it seems I thought they were like undefeated but before this week they had but they were swept by Franklin so okay but that but yes they have won outside of that they they lost their first two and then they've won uh 11 of their last 15 great coaching staff their kids are getting better than all right no one else is expecting anything else all right uh Calvin and Hope were both swept Calvin was swept by North Central Hope was swept by Wittenberg uh Kalamazoo College beat UMass Dartmouth Ripon and Carleton and in those three games scored 55 runs wow that's a big series you're gonna have to pull up stats 55 runs because I'm pretty sure Jay didn't do anything.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

No I didn't pull up any stats scored 55 runs and I would love to see I mean that's just reading off the roster at that point.

SPEAKER_05 38:09

I mean you know whose kid plays with Kelvin now?

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Remember John Hill? Yeah oh yeah the best swing I've ever seen oh yeah yeah lefty and and I imagine his kid has the same he had a pretty lefty do you know the kid Clark JT it would be JT Hill but he's a freshman so I'm not sure how much he's playing but he's gonna be a dude almost had that Clark man back in the day man that is that one kid beautiful swing Stevenson that plays at Calvin is he is he playing uh Brock? Yeah Brock I I don't know if he's getting it that's oh my god in the first game everyone got pinch hit four so no one had more than like three at bats like legitimately 20 some kids had a uh had had base hits um or had at bats uh the second game uh a lot of the same just so many pinch hitters and pinch runners I mean that's what you do when you're up a thousand we're gonna talk about uh like D3 and D1 things with coach Rainey and it's like go watch a Kalamazoo Adrian game and you guys will freak out like how good baseball is at that level um no one gives a shit about trying and Olivet drops two or three from Ohio Wesleyan so that uh gives up the that that finishes up the uh D3 MJCA let's go to the east and Doug who does the fourth guy Doug everyone's excited all right number four who do you want to start with well let's start with the teams at the top Jackson and McComb they all went three and oh uh yes they did um first off McComb's coach got a little upset with me last week because I highlighted SC4 so uh let's go ahead and start talking about them first uh number one they have uh my best name so far Vito Zito for the monarch Zito we call them Zetz here in the hood that is just such a classic name Vito Zito sounds like you know you're just a random white guy and someone says hey make up an Italian name uh Vito Zito you know what else it sounds like don't make fun of his name because you ain't gonna be back on the show next week something's gonna happen I'll be sleeping with Jimmy Hoffman so I said I liked it so I should be uh you're good and your last name is Kimenti so you're good hey real quick Vito Zito is a dude and I hope that we hear his name more and more every week and he's getting like a little bit of time um and this is not me interrupting you it's me adding correct you can add on that's fine I'm a huge fan of Vito he's a hard worker I happened to meet him last year when I was helping out at D LaSalle and he is he is just a hard worker and that's awesome to hear that he went yick.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Yeah he's hitting 400 and he's got a homer on the year um Greg Burns had another good outing this week and Ada Manzella had a couple a couple of saves. Zach Grindy was six for eight on the week with a homer that's pretty good. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 40:53

Yeah McComb looks good dude they look they look like they're uh geared up to make a good run wins over uh run rule wins over SC4 and Mott and they beat Henry Ford eight to seven and then Jackson they are the other team that goes three and oh uh beat schoolcraft nine to four and Mott seven to three but the big one was against uh Henry Ford.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yes sir um Jake Hedenreich had a big weekend at the plate. Uh Gavin Harold and Joey Miller both had good starts.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Miller had two wins on the weekend and uh Landon DeVay had a walk-off grand slam now that's that's probably the coolest thing you can do in baseball right outside of like a perfect game or a no hitter a walk off grand slam yeah not a walk off grand slam run rule for Jake Boss's 500th win no this one's cooler okay this one is undoubtedly especially to knock off the team that won the conference the year before Gavin Harrell the Jackson kid six foot six fireballer big dude from Ohio probably like 93 ish 94 ish so again another name you'll be hearing from uh Dugan all right let's talk about Doug's favorite SC4 uh you know SC4 um they got a win got their fifth win so they matched last give it up for them and it's like the first win over a team from Michigan in like two or three years.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

Yeah I I will say and I I'm not sold on this yet I I've heard some complaints about it but I don't know if you've seen their hats. I like them.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

I've heard people that don't like the like skipper guy no no no no it says SC4 in big things the new like it's the like simplistic corporate y logo yeah yeah that's like their new logo that they bought you the last year or two.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

I'm fine with it who's complaining about it put tell put their name on Blaster um some uh cool names that I get to talk about uh one kid uh Caden Shankowski um I know him personally his girlfriend's father was my assistant coach and his little brother played for me he came to a lot of games had a great outing six innings three inner worms four K's against Mott Doug complains about how long Mike's goes and then plays girlfriend's brother plays seven degrees of Doug girlfriend's grand brother used to golf with um his cousin hey my cousin went to a US PBL game uh another kid that I don't know but he's cousins with my center fielder this is getting ridiculous Aiden Carrolden five innings three in a round against McComb you know Ryan his we we know Aiden he played for uh a club that we're familiar with yeah uh Carson Carroll went four innings one run in relief Logan Bach had a save Adam Lasky threw well to the pen Mason Goldleck Owen Hill hit well and Will Weegan hit a grand slam against schoolcraft a lot of grand slams it is cool guys like we're we're making fun of Doug and thank you for the research but like SC4 is getting some wins dude like good for them.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

That's true statement they went to Florida a year or two ago and had like maybe a win or two came back to Michigan and then did zero wins.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Yes. Uh next up Mott they uh Uh, they also went one and two. They did beat SC4. They got beat up a bit by Jackson and McComb.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Uh, kid, I mentioned last week, Luis Depuy, was 360, 3 for 6 in the last two games. Carson Haddad went seven innings, zero earned run, six K's. Any walks? Uh, you know what? I didn't notice that.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Doug, get your shit together. Seriously. This is a walk.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Timmy Getz went uh four for two for two with a double against McComb and two for four against SC4. Um, and Trenton Cree Walt went two for three with a double against Jackson. All right. Hey, quick question.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Yeah. What day did McComb run rule SC4? Do we have that date?

SPEAKER_05 44:42

Thursday or Friday.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

I bet you it was Friday. Thursday, the podcast came out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:48

When Doug was all over uh I said one nice thing about SC4. He didn't even disparage McComb, he just said a nice thing about someone else. Yeah. And Nick goes, Really? I bet. Yeah. I'm coming on your show. And schoolcraft, they did go 0-3. Yeah, tough week for Jackson and SC4.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Talking to their coach, uh, tough week. Got a lot of guys in scoring position, couldn't get the big hits. Uh Jace Walersky was last week's MCCAA East Pitcher of the Week. Tayshawn Eatman and Tony Menendez both had been big contributors at the plate and on the bench and on the basis. Jesus, I'm struggling right now. And Matthew Bark at three appearances with a zero ERA. Now, how are you connected to Matthew Bark? Yeah, any cousins? Yeah. Got no cousins.

SPEAKER_05 45:31

Did you play golf with like his godfather or something 10 years ago? All right. Um in the north, they all went south and they went to Sandusky for uh it was. I'm just gonna call it like a travel tournament. Yeah. They all went down there and they all played like a round robin. It's a great idea, right? I mean, Bay College is probably under two feet of snow still. Yeah. Alpina's under a foot of snow. And like Muskegon is probably not great. Delta's not great. Like, you're just not gonna play any games. So they all just went to the same spot in Ohio and played. Um, mid-Michigan, GRCC, and Alpina all went four and one. Uh, mid-Michigan beat everyone except GRCC. GRC beat everyone except for Alpina, and Alpina beat everyone except for mid-Michigan. So they kind of split there um as they punched the microphone. Muskegon, they lost all three, beat Delta and Bay, and Delta only beat Bay because Eskinaba's in the North Pole. And like, I I know we kind of joke about it, but they they maybe have had what one outside practice, two? How are you supposed to get better?

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yeah, I don't I I don't know. I was impressed that they had that tournament.

SPEAKER_05 46:40

So they did that. Um, so yeah, it's I mean it's there it is. We're good. Good yeah, it's next. I mean, it's just they all had to go there because everything's under uh under under snow. All right, uh, let's go to the West real quick.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

Who's who's got that? Is that me? Oh, that would be anything to okay.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

Good thing I did your job for you.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

That's why, that's why we got you.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

All right, Kellogg 3-0, beat Lanstein and Glen Oaks in Kalamazoo Valley. Uh Lanstein, 2-1. They lost to Kellogg, beat Kalamazoo Valley in Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan also went two and one. Uh, they beat Glen Oaks and Marion Anstilla, the team from um from Indiana. Glen Oaks 0-3. They lost to Lake Michigan, Kellogg and Ancilla, and Kalamazoo Valley 1-2. They did beat Ancilla. So Ancilla does suck, and we don't get it.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

That's like 13 wins in a row for Kellogg now.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Don't try to act like you stuck.

SPEAKER_04 47:35

Well, note about your boy. Look up your guy, dude. Yeah. Gavin Zach? Zach Kucharczyk. I didn't look at him this night. Apparently.

SPEAKER_05 47:45

You brought us one name last week and you couldn't look him up for this week.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

And he committed like two days later to Davenport.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

He was already committed and did. He committed to it all because that text. Oh, he committed to Davenport. That's pretty cool. Jay's like, because he heard the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

It's because they heard the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 48:04

Yeah, because Jay mentioned our sticks. Um, I named me. The N-A-I-A. Uh Aquinas actually got uh ahead of nice weekend. Uh so the WAC will play two two-game series because they're all kind of close to each other, so travel's not as big of an issue. Uh Aquinas swept Lawrence Tech, 6-0 in 7-4. Uh, for Aquinas, uh Stan Pollock in a 6-0 win, went seven innings, six hits, two walks, five K's. Uh, in that one, he was the one standout I saw. Uh, Madonna has a kid we're just gonna talk about. I mentioned it last time, Amir Mitchell. Um, he is now he now has uh 12 home runs, which is tied for fifth in in all of NAIA. Uh Madonna split with Defiance and then swept Lords uh 13-3 both games. Uh Cleary got swept by Indiana Tech, but then swept Rochester. So they came out even Steven on the weekend. Uh yes, Mike.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Hundredth win for Drew Mackey at Cleary. There's another one of your uh miles.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

He's been the only coach there, right? In the four years. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

Yeah, 12 home run gets you in fifth now.

SPEAKER_05 49:06

Yeah, the first guy is a guy from like Oklahoma Baptist with like 17.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

You'll see like if you look at it. Have they played a lot more games or something?

SPEAKER_01 49:13

No. NAID a little bit. NAI and the South, like Georgia Gwinnett, all those guys, it's like 46 home runs, 54 home runs. Oh, no, okay. There was a guy we coached in the US PBL that came from Georgia Gwinnett, and he said his middle infielders were in the Atlanta Braves organization. They got released, and they're like, we're going to play NAIA baseball. Like that in the South, NAIA is no joke.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

Yeah, so I mean, but to be have 12 bombs through at this point in the season is ridiculous. Um, uh for a cleary of Brendan uh Seaman went uh all seven innings in a room. Samar thank you. Well, it's felt Seaman. Saman. Thank you, Mike.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Well, I knew considering your last name on the biggest. I started laughing.

SPEAKER_05 50:02

No, Mike, Mike saw the bomb and jumped all over it. Simon went seven innings pitched, uh had uh no run earned runs against uh Rochester in uh one of their wins. Lawrence Tech, uh, they only played two. They split with Northwestern Ohio, they lost one to nothing and then won 11 to 1. Uh I have a shout out for Lawrence Tech. Go ahead. Um because people were getting mad at you that you didn't do it before.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Yeah, I'm gonna and the thing is he has the stats. I did not get a text from him, I got a text from his teammate. So to be clear, though, the kid's not like it's a teammate sticking up for him. So Avery Brol, former player of ours at Cardinal Mooney, says, When the hell are you gonna mention Brady Lee? And I'm like, what are you talking about? Well, what's his stats? Because you know I'm not picking it up. Uh I can't Google. Brady Lee, outfielder, really good athlete. Uh, he was at D LaSalle last year. Uh he's batting 300 with an 833 OPS with 13 ribies. He has a uh 416 on base percentage, and he leads the team in extra base hits. So for a freshman, that's a good thing, right? NAIs a free those are four-year schools. Big lefty swing. Good for him. Former uh or current Detroit prospects collegiate player, too. So it'd be fun to watch him play.

SPEAKER_05 51:16

Uh two bats that stood out, Luke Weinberger and uh Gavin Markowski combined for six RBIs in the win against uh Northwest Ohio. Uh in the loss, Kenny Wright went seven innings, six hits, one earned run, only walked one, struck out five, and lost. That's rough. One walk, one walk in seven innings. Good for uh Cornerstone beat Sienna Heights seven to three and then twenty five to one.

unknown 51:41

Jeez.

SPEAKER_05 51:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

Um are you like throwing off at that point? You know how you do that, right? Like, hey, we're down 10-0. Let's just see. I I I that's not I don't have an answer. Send the outfielder.

SPEAKER_05 51:53

And then they split with Rochester 13-11 and 15 to 1. In the 25 to 1 win, 12 players had uh RBIs, including Thomas Rupp, who had five. So that's pretty good. Yeah. That's pretty good. Uh Sienna Heights was swept by Cornerstone and split with Northwest Ohio. Uh Sienna Heights also lost at Northwest Ohio 21 to 4. So they lost 25 to 1 and 21 to 4, but still got a split. So I don't think Northwest Ohio is going to win the uh the league this year because they just split. And U of M Dearborn got swept by Lords and Lawrence Tech. And there's all our teams. We made it through. Good job. Yes, good job, everybody. Jay. Jay learned a little more this time.

SPEAKER_04 52:30

Stay shitty, Jay. Happy to stay shitty because you needed me to do that so we can speed that up.

SPEAKER_05 52:36

That's true. We just don't need to know how everyone's connected to Doug. So, all right, now that that's all done, uh, we are going to get to our guests. But first, I want to let you know our show today is sponsored by Detroit Thread Company. Detroit Thread Company is a top servicing embroidery and uniform provider in the Metro Detroit area, delivering premier sports embroidery and uniforms for teens, schools, and organizations. They provide high-quality stitching, custom designs, and durable team apparel that stands out on and off the field. Call 866-382-4287 to get your team or organization geared up today. And with all that said, now it's time for our first ever guest here on the Walk-Ons podcast. And well, let's let's get a living legend in here to start. Adrian, head coach and athletic director Craig Rainey, uh, hundreds upon hundreds of wins. Uh, you an all-time legend here in the state. Coach, thank you so much for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Appreciate it, guys. And uh that's one one spot I never hit in the in the order was leadoff being a catcher. They never thought I was fast enough to hit there. I thought I was fast enough, but they didn't. So let's just start with Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_05 53:41

Of course. Uh, did you ever imagine you'd be coaching at Adrian for 33 years when you started this off, have you know 800 plus wins? Did you ever envision this for you three decades ago?

SPEAKER_00 53:54

No, I actually probably not. I'd like to say I did, but uh um, you know, I kind of got into coaching, you know, kind of thought I was gonna go in and be a teacher, and kind of started down that path, you know, with my education at Adrian, and then just found out that wasn't probably the career I wanted to have. Um wanted to, you know, got into baseball. I've always loved baseball, played my whole life. Actually, while I was in college, coached some travel teams, younger travel, 10, 11, 12-year-old travel teams to make some money in the summer. Um, and just kind of, you know, caught the the coaching disease, I guess, if you want to say, like, you know, during that time, and then I graduated, went to grad school, and you know, Adrian came calling and had made a coaching change and and asked me to be an assistant, and it all just kind of fell into place, got into it a couple years as an assistant, and and you know, once the bug bites you, you're like, there yeah, this is what I was supposed to do, and this is what I want to do. And like I always say, I'm just a big kid, like I could never give up the game, and I wasn't good enough to play after college, so this is the uh next best route to stay in the game and get to hang out on the field.

SPEAKER_05 55:09

So you mentioned you were a catcher. Why is it always that catchers seem to make the best coaches? It seems like a two, doesn't it? Right, all the time.

SPEAKER_00 55:17

Yeah, I think well, I think when I was growing up, like the all the technology wasn't there, right? We didn't, you know, we didn't have coaches calling pitches, and you know, we didn't have all that stuff. So you you kind of had to learn the game. And you had to, you know, I think setting behind the plate, you see you see the game from a different light than you do, you know, on the field, you know, trying to play short or second or center field. Like everything's in front of you, so you kind of see the way the game moves, and then obviously you you, you know, you have to work with a pitching staff and you get to understand them and and how they operate and how you got to go about getting guys out. So I think it's just I I've always said like I think catchers are kind of coaches on the field, and they have to be. So um, yeah, I think that helps the transition from you know playing to coaching.

SPEAKER_02 56:08

So kind of like a quarterback.

SPEAKER_01 56:10

Oh my gosh. Hey, you'll find out, coach Doug's a football guy, and he tries to sneak in football questions all the time. So this might help you, Doug. So coach, coach, I got one for you. It's a slight left turn, but being the athletic director and the head baseball coach, you know, I saw a video, I think uh what was it? Gruden Gruden got shipped a bunch of Adrian stuff and talked about all the sports. Yeah, I think there's is there 53 sports at Adrian?

SPEAKER_00 56:39

Well, there's fifty, yeah, 53 teams. We like we have multiple sports.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

Oh, I'm sorry, 53 teams at GZO Pete.

SPEAKER_00 56:45

Yeah. 53, you know, we have multiple teams in hockey. Um, so we have club hockey, NCAA hockey things, but 53 actual teams, yes.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

How the heck did you find time to hang out with us today? Do do it all.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

Well, I mean, yeah, this is this is some fun. When you asked me to come on, I couldn't say no. This is this is fun.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

So yeah, no, we're we're happy to have you. And I will I will start wanting to dig into a little bit about the baseball program if you're okay with that. It's gonna be it will be high level, but I really, really want to hear it. You I think you know me, I'm a nut about this stuff. But what what do you think like differentiates Adrian baseball from other schools in your conference, right? I know you guys are all close, you all talk to each other, but what do you think is like a a big difference maker?

SPEAKER_00 57:37

I think expectation level and culture um are are two big things like that we've created here. I think stability, um, you know, I'm very, very fortunate. One of the reasons I get to do this is, you know, from the from the athletic director side, I have a great staff with me that that takes a lot off of my plate um and helps me with day-to-day operations. And and I would also say that about my baseball coaching staff. Like, you know, all the guys that are currently on on our staff are Adrian College guys.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:10

Um, and you know, and and like, you know, my my longtime assistant coach Klots, like he played for me, was here when I first started, has been with me ever since. Like the guy can coach anywhere in the country he wants to coach.

SPEAKER_01 58:26

He can talk to anybody too, can't he?

SPEAKER_00 58:29

He can sell anything, any turf in the country you want him to sell too. Yeah, um, but but he's just like it's like having two head coaches, right? Like he's he's been at it, you know, I don't know 28 of my 30 years. I've 33 years I've been coaching. He's been here with me, and and we know how to work together. Um you know, Coach Solise, um, we coach travel ball together, and then and then he's been here for 12, 13 years now, works with our outfielders and our hitters. Um coach Harrington helps me with the pitchers. He he actually got the first win for me in my college coaching career. He was on the mound uh against Loris College back in the day. Um, still can remember that game, but he's been with me helping me. Uh Ben Sullivan, Easton Rogers both played for me here and help out. So I think it's a like when you talk about a family atmosphere, it really is a family atmosphere. Like um, you know, guys come back to the program, you know, our guys that have been in the pros come back and and you know, work out, train here. Um, you know, and I think it just all all helps, you know, build the culture, build the expectation level. Um and I think that's really probably the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_05 59:49

So when when you're building up a program uh like Adrian, you know, you're going out trying to find kids, how do you approach that? Um, because obviously every kid, you know, growing up, they're like, oh, I'm gonna go be a D1 athlete and they have these huge dreams. How do you convince them that hey, Adrian's a place to go, a place where you can come and develop and become the best baseball player you can? What are those conversations like and how do you uh go through that recruiting process with them?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Yeah, I I think it's it it you're you hit the nail on the head, right? Every everybody wants to to play at you know Florida State or you know uh Vanderbilt or somewhere like that. Um but you know, I think you got to sell them on on your program and what you have to offer. Um, you know, we we've been very fortunate here. We have great facilities. If you haven't been to our facilities, come check them out. I would I would stack them up against anybody in in this area. Our field is awesome. We have a locker room, um, you know, right at right in the dugout, right off of the dugout. We just build a$12 million dome to practice in in the winter that most schools at any level don't have. Um that we can do virtually anything. We can scrimmage live in there, we can do whatever we need to in January and February when the when the weather's awful outside. Uh, we have our own hitting facility with six full cages in it, uh, hit tracks, wrap soto, like whatever, whatever you need. We have all the technology in there. So I I think you know, we do have division one facilities at Division III school. And like, you know, so I think that's a big selling point. I think winning's a big selling point. Um, a lot of people don't know. I mean, in what would it have been 21, 22 summers, we had seven guys playing pro ball. Um, you know, we've had guys drafted. So like I always tell guys, like, you know, if you can go, like you can go to a division one school, if you're the 30th man on a 30-man roster, you're not you're not playing, you know, past you know, college. Like you come here, you're an all-American, you put up the numbers, you play every day, you do, you do really, you know big things. Like, you have the chance to to play professional baseball too. Like, you gotta you gotta play and put up numbers if you want to play at the next level. Like, it doesn't matter what names on the front of your your jersey.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:10

So, so you mentioned something I want you to go back to about all the technology you have. You know, 30 some years ago, it's like the old moneyball scene, oh, he's just got that grid about them. I like the way he walks into a room was kind of the joke about how people used to evaluate baseball players. Now you can know how every stitch turns on a baseball. As a coach, how did you incorporate all that? Because I have to imagine the way you evaluate players now was a lot different than you did in the 90s.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was all it was all going out and seeing them, right? And now you got, you know, you got PBR and you got all the scouting services. Like, I don't like we go out still, and we will always go out because I think the eye test is is the final test. Um, but you can go on PBR and you can see everybody's video, you can see their numbers, you can see spin rate and exit v low and 60 times. I mean, everything you need that you used to have to go out and and do yourself. Um, now it's all right there at your fingertips now. So it makes it a little bit easier. But I think there is still a combination um between grit and grind and guys like like that are just I call them baseball dudes. Like, you know, like we we had a baseball dude here, like Ryan Doro got, you know, he he got drafted, got a chance to play, got some games in in in the major leagues. And I told every scout when you know they they were they're like, you just gotta come out and see him, because he's not gonna run the fastest 60 time, and he's not gonna, you know, uh light you up with anything. But when you watch him play, your jaw's gonna drop, and you're gonna be like, hey, like who is this dude? And and and he can play. So I think there is still that eye test. Um and the there's the numbers and there's the combination, and there's some guys out there that are just baseball guys, and and like they're gonna play and be successful, and their numbers may not you know necessarily you know indicate that right right on paper. So I think it's just a combination between both of them and and the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

Yeah, I totally agree. It almost that the numbers, the PBR, I like it. It almost gives Coach Rainey like a head start. Okay, this guy throws 82. So let's go take a look at him. But then he goes and sees how's this guy treat his teammates, how does you know how how hard is he working on the field. But I'm gonna ask you something about um actually I'll give an example real quick, and we're gonna talk about Gunner a little bit if it's okay eventually here. Last year or two years ago, uh Coach Rainey's son was his assistant coach Gunner Rainey. And same scenario with the scouting thing. We had a kid named Mason Stempin that played in our club and doesn't jump out of the building or whatever the term you want to use when you see PBR or you see 60 stats, and you know, I called Gunner. I said, There's a kid, I got uh you just gotta take a look at him. Just go watch him play. Uh Gunner Rainey, coach's son, watched him take infield pre-game, and he goes, that's a guy. Right? So there is still that temperature check that you just see a kid play versus the stats that work, and I think that's where Coach Rainey does a good job. So I'm gonna stick with Gunner. Um, he was one of the pro players that you referenced. I think what did you say, six or seven pro players, eight, nine pro players you had?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:33

Yeah, six or seven at one time. I mean, in one year, we've had more than that, but at one time.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:38

Tell us a little bit about how that was being a college coach at such a high level produce in college. Coach actually I don't know if you can see this or not, but my f my phone is raining and it's gunner rainy, wherever the He knew. And we're not live. We are not live.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:55

No, he he must have known.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

I called him to try to get some dirt on Coach Rainey, but

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Um he's probably got some. He'll tell you.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

What was it? What was it like? I coached my son. I've coached my nephews throughout high school baseball, but never obviously at the ranks that you're at. What was it like coaching your son? And would you do anything differently? Or just tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:16

Yeah, I mean, I think it was a remarkable experience. I I encourage people. I've had other coaches call and be like, what do you think? Like, how did it go? Like, give me some advice. My son's coming up. Like, I don't know, you know how to handle it, what to do. Um, and I encourage everybody to do it if it's the right fit. And like, like, here's the thing with Gunner and I, we've always had a pretty good relationship when it comes to baseball. Um, you know, like I I told him before through the whole recruiting process when he was coming out of high school, like, hey, Adrian's been great for me. And it it was a good place for me to go to school. It's been a great place for me to coach. It may not be the place for you. Like, it it this has got to be your life, and you got to live your life, you know, the way you you need to. So we made visits. I went with him, we visited four, five, six, I don't know how many, around between four and six colleges. And you know, and and the funny story is like he called me one day and he's like, Hey, uh, like, how do I commit to a school? And I'm like, Well, you know, you probably should call the coach and you know have a conversation. And he's like, Okay, well, I'm doing that right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:27

That is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

Because I honestly didn't think he would end up at Adrian. I I I thought he was gonna try to test the waters, and you know, he'd grown up, he'd been in our dugout, he'd been our bat boy, traveled down south with us, he rode the bus to games, like the whole nine yards. And like, I really just thought he was gonna test the waters. So, like, it was kind of a shock to me that he came here. Um, but it was really a blessing for for me and our program because you know how it is, like our program runs you know, the same time as high school, so like I never really got to see him play a lot in high school. Um, but I coach Solis, his son, and Gunner are the same age, so we coached the travel team in the summer. So that was kind of my time to to spend with him and watch his career and and kind of help him. And then he decided to come here and it was great. I I mean I was up front with him. I'm like, listen, the standard's different. Yeah, like you can't miss practice, you can't be a minute late, you can't dog a sprint, you can't miss a rep in the weight room. Like, because as soon as I let you do that, I've just opened the floodgates for everybody here. So, like he knew coming in that the standard was different, like he had to he had to walk a different walk and and do things different. But he bought into that, and and obviously it worked out great for him, and it worked out great for our program.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Yeah, yeah. I know you know this, but what a great, great gentleman. And part of that probably, you know, it has to do with probably growing up playing for his dad, right? Like 100% you hold those guys accountable a little bit more than maybe the extra guy because the the eyes are on you when it's your son out there.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:58

Yeah, yeah. And it, I mean it it it helps that he had a great career, right? Like yeah, it helped that he could go out and put up numbers and and do what he did and and lead our program to a World Series and you know help us do all that stuff. So it was it was great.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:13

Yeah, really cool. So 2024, 2025, Coach of the Year. What what are we doing this year, Coach? How's the team? How's the team looking?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:22

Yeah, we're uh we're all right, we're plugging along. We're trying to get better every day. We've uh we've played a tough schedule so far. Uh we've played a lot of ranked schools. We've been down south, done a lot of the traveling. We have yet to play a home game. So we're 11 and 4 and and haven't played at home yet. Um got some good wins um against some good schools. Got dropped a couple that we probably shouldn't have. Um but yeah, we're getting we're getting better. We're getting ready for the league to open up this week. Um or this weekend. We got a tough game with Wooster this week, midweek game. They're 15-4 right now. So it'll be a good good test for us uh midweek game. And then, you know, we go we start with Alma this week um in the conference. So yeah, just trying to get geared up, ready for that, and and uh get our legs back under us. It's been a a lot of travel. We've been in uh Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana this weekend, and and uh since I think the third week in February, we've been on the road. So it's been it's been a long journey.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:28

Yeah, holy cow. Lots of warm weather though. Yeah, better than here.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:33

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:34

Jay, did you have something?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:35

Actually, yeah, I did. I I wanted to ask you, Coach, um 33 years coaching. I mean, um from the first season you started, what has changed to now? How has your philosophy evolved over these years? I like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:51

Yeah, I think it's it's changed a lot. I think if Coach Klotz, if you talk to Coach Klotz, he'd probably be honest with you. Like I was a tough dude to play for early in my in my career. Like it was, you know, like you think you you have a lot of answers, you think you know a lot of things. Um, you know, I wouldn't want to say it was my way or the highway, but it was probably close to that. Um, you know, I think I've I hope that I've evolved into being more of a player's coach. I I would say the guys that come back now um say I'm a lot softer than what I was before, which may be true, may not be true. Um, but uh yeah, I think you have to evolve. I think the the days of uh the way we used to coach in the in the 80s and the 90s, and you know, you know, like we always hear about it, right? Like it no water breaks in football, no, you know, like we don't believe in any of that stuff. Like that that stuff just doesn't exist anymore. And and you gotta have a relationship with your players. You gotta they gotta feel invested into the program, they gotta feel like they have a voice in the program. Um, and I think that's probably the biggest thing. I mean, you got to continue to involve with the game, the game's changing. Um like you you gotta stay up with what's new and and what's changing and how things are being taught, um and just how you're gonna handle the players. We we coach in a different world, I mean, than it was in the 80s and 90s. Like it's it's just different. And so if you don't evolve, you're gonna get lost and and like you gotta keep learning. I I say that every time. Like every time I go to the you know one a coaching convention, I want to bring two things home with me that I can use. Um, you know, that we can put into our program and try to do different and try to get better. So we as players, we try to get better every day, and as coaches, we got to try to get better every day.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:46

So you talk about evolving. I don't think much more has evolved in in all of college athletics than the last few years. You know, 10 years ago, you find a diamond in the rough from some small town in Michigan. You know you've got him for 40 years, you know you're gonna keep him and develop him. Where now, hey, kid comes and has a breakout freshman or sophomore season, you have to worry about maybe someone coming to poach him. How have you navigated the transfer portal? Because it doesn't feel like anyone has any real answers because it's kind of the wild west out there. How has Adrian baseball adjusted to this? Because it is, you know, it it again, it's the wild west. How what have you done and how have you navigated this?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:26

Yeah, well, I mean, fortunately, we haven't we haven't had to deal with it a lot. Our guys have kind of liked it here and and felt like it was this is home for them. So fortunately, we we haven't had to deal with it a lot. I hope we don't. I hope we continue to to create an environment that guys want to stay and and want to compete and want to be successful. I really just think it's hard in the transfer portal. Like I haven't wrapped my my mind around how you build team culture and how you build accountability if you got a lot of one hit wonders. Like they're there one year and then they're gone. Like, like I think that's gonna be, I think that's the challenge for all of us, whether we're at Division I, two, or three, is how did how do you build that, you know, and how do you get that relationship with a guy that's gonna be here for one year or two years. And and um, so I think it like I don't really think I have a great answer for you because it's still so new into the process, but I just would say, like, you know, we don't we have stayed very true to our roots of trying to recruit high school kids. Like, I I think one of the best things or the biggest thing our our college does and our program does is develop guys. Um, and like that's one of our selling points here is like if you truly want to develop, like we will develop you. Like we have a full-time strength coach, we have a dietitian that that works through our cafeteria. Um, you know, we have a you know a big coaching staff, we have all the technology. Like, if you really want to invest in yourself, we we're here to invest in you. Um and we want to make you the best player that we can make you. Um, can you do that by going to four schools in four years? I don't know. Like, I don't know how you do that. If if every year I gotta go to a new school and I gotta, you know, try to find playing time, I gotta meet people, I gotta figure out how they run their program, you know, who who are the guys like you know that I'm gonna learn from. Like, I think it's it's just different. Like, so yeah, I I don't know, it's gonna be a challenge moving forward. I think, you know, I I think there's like I hope at some point we figure out how to how to do it, maybe a better way than what we're doing it right now in the transfer portal. But I also think once you open open up Pandora's box, it's hard to close it, right? And like, I mean, everybody's had the the free will to do whatever they want for the last few years. It's kind of hard to put rules and regulations around that now, but but I think there has to be some some kind of mutual ground, right? It can't be four schools in four years.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:14

No, uh but you so you talked about going to get a lot of high school kids. Uh, when you're going to to recruit a kid, uh are you looking more for, you know, let's say a Mike Rice that, you know, okay, he doesn't have the greatest measurables and he kind of is what he is, right? You know you're gonna get a baseball player, but he doesn't have this huge ceiling. Or do you go for the guy that maybe isn't quite ready for college ball, but you know, he has this amazing frame, and you think, ooh, if I get two years with this strength staff, with this dietitian, he can develop into an all-American, a superstar. What are you looking at when you go to high school kids?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:48

Yeah, I mean, I think that that is true. I think we're look like you you know, I mean, everybody can see it on on PBR. Like, if you're in the top 75 or top 50 or wherever that number is that year in the in the high school rankings, like we probably aren't talking to you, right? You're you're gonna end up somewhere else. There's a a couple guys that maybe fit in, but like the majority of our guys are gonna be those guys that you know have some tools but need some things that they gotta develop. Uh, I mean, you know, like we get we get guys that just need to fill into their body or they need to, you know, work on a tool or two and and develop that stuff. And you know, so we look a lot on projectability, upside, where we see you two, three years down the road, and what our program can do for you. I mean, and that goes back to the whole thing that we try to sell our our our recruits on. Like, we have a plan here and and like we know how we're gonna operate, we know how we're gonna do things, and you can get in and be part of that plan, and we'll we'll try to make you the best player you can be. Um, but you I mean there's certain things they gotta they gotta have, right? And and and like coachability and the desire and the work ethic and things, and and that's why I tell all of our recruits, like, you know, if I go watch you know a game, I'm gonna be there an hour before the game starts. Because I want to see how you warm up, I want to see how you take the field, I want to see how you interact with your teammates. I need to see IO before the game, because if you're a shortstop, like you may never get a ball hit to you in the game. So I got to see what you do there. I got to see how you warm up. Like, because those things you can't coach, right? I can't coach attitude, I can't coach work ethic, I can't coach being a good teammate. Like, those are traits that you have at 18-19. And if you haven't developed them, like that's gonna be really hard. I can coach you to be a better hitter, I can coach you to throw harder or or throw a better breaking ball, but I can't I can't teach you the intangibles.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:49

Hey coach, I was just curious with the number of junior colleges, baseball programs in the state of Michigan, I wonder how often you recruit from those levels, even though they won't be four-year guys, but they're not exactly transfer portal guys either. They're they're looking for a place to finish out their career.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:07

Yeah, we tap into the junior colleges for sure, and I think that's you know, I think that's great. Um, you know, I think those programs, there's a lot of good, really good programs in the state and and things, and I think you'd you'd be crazy not to tap into them. Um, you know, but it's got to be a fit, right? It's like those guys got two years left in in their playing career. They're not looking to come here and and you know, have to work or have to figure out, you know, develop for a year to get to play one year. Like they got to kind of be, we call them plug-and-play guys. Like they got to be able to plug into the lineup and be able to play. And we got to have a need for them. Like, it doesn't make any sense for me to, you know, go out and recruit, you know, a catcher if we don't, if we don't have a need for a catcher, because he's got two years left. I might as well go get a high school guy that I can have for four years. So I think there's there's a value, a real value to those guys because they have played, they have experience, they understand college. Um, you know, they don't go through the same kind of struggles that freshman guys go through, you know, with trying to learn a routine, figure out college baseball and how it all plays out. Like they've already done that. So they they do like if you have spots and needs for them, they can they can come in and make an immediate impact and really help your program. Um, but I would say we're probably a little more um particular on on like recruiting there, like as a recruiting to high school where like that kid's got a little bit more time to develop and and get into the lineup where the the junior college guy's got to be a guy that can come in day one and and help your program.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:51

Hey Coach Jay again. Um so 33 years coaching, um success. I think you just got your over your 850th win recently. Um so uh over this time, what separates a consistently winning program like yours versus other programs? What do you think it is that you do that that's brought you this much success?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:18

Yeah, I mean I think we talk about it every day about expectation levels, um, commitment to the program. We do we do some things different, like that that I mean, I I would say we're we're a blue-collar team, like we're gonna go grind it out. Like um we're still gonna play the game, you know, I would say more like it used to be played. Like we're gonna try to hit and run, we're gonna try to bunt, we're gonna try to play great defense. We're gonna, you know, I tell our guys every year it's you know, if we can pitch it and we can play defense, we got a chance to win. Like the hitting, you can't out hit every team every day. Like you're gonna run against uh up against good pitchers, and and that's just that's gonna be life. You know, you're gonna have to figure out how to win a two to one game, and you're gonna have to figure out how to win a you know, 14-13 game. And and there's gonna be different ways to do it. But like, uh, you know, we just we work we work hard. Like I I think we you know, you know, every program works hard, and and but I think our guys understand like it's a grind and and being a team that like every year like somebody's gotta somebody's got you as their bullseye. Um, you know, like hey, like you if we're gonna win, like we got to beat Adrian. Like, and and I think that's tough and it takes a different mindset and it takes a different person um that wants to do that. Like we we talk about it, you know, when we start our season, it's like, you know, we we basically through 15 games now have had no give me games. There's no games where like you're like, well, you know, we show up, we play decent, like, you know, we don't beat ourselves, like we're gonna we should win. Like, we don't have any of those games. Like, we we go out and we're we're playing, and like we could lose two to one, we could win two to one. Like, and and I think it's just a different mindset and a different way of going about things. But we like I really think our guys are just grinders, like in and they grind out at bats, they grind out games. I mean, we won three pretty close games this weekend. No, like you know, it was it was three battles, and but I think that just makes us tougher and stronger and and gets us, you know, better for the season.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:33

Yeah, it's a winning culture there. You guys know that I work with you know high school kids looking to go to college. Whenever I see someone commit to Adrian, I know they're a dog, I know they're a dude, right? Like it's just one of those guys in one of those schools that you know Coach Randy gets guys. I I got a couple quick things, and I just interrupted you guys. I'm sorry. 2008, I think 2008 was when the field was built.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:57

Yes, correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:58

Were you responsible for the Adrian Double? Like who designed who designed and we could tell the guys about what it is, but like was that your idea, or did that just happen, or what happened there?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:08

Well, the Adrian Double was uh it maybe wasn't by my design, it was probably uh more of a uh turf and trying to save some money on turf, and you now you see a lot of people doing it because like turf is turf, right? Like the bigger your follow areas are the the the more money you're spending on turf. So we you know we we had a budget to work within and we we knew how much foul ground we could have and how much you know square footage we needed for the field, and and it was kind of a little bit, I would say, maybe misdesigned, not misdesigned, but it wasn't it wasn't built to the the way it was designed. We should have had about three feet, four feet in the uh right and left field corner before the foul pole, and when they set the foundations uh for the turf, it didn't didn't end up that way. I don't know why, but we it was a miss. Um, so now it's a lot tighter. It's about 24 inches down there in the corner instead of about 48.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:09

So how far back, how far behind first base does that start? Right? It's like a hundred foot double, right? 120 foot double.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:17

Oh yeah, you it starts coming in about 30 feet behind first base.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:22

So think about referring to think about reverse bases. You just do a little hook, and you're it's a it's a ground rule double.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:28

We we if you're if you're a right-handed hitter and you hit a flare over the first baseman's head off the end of the bat with some spin on it, it's gonna hit in right field and it's gonna bounce over the this you know, the foul, the the fence down the foul line, and it's gonna be an eight or in double.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:45

Yeah, so it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:47

Hitters love it. Yeah, hitters love the field, man. If you're a hitter, you gotta love our field because you don't you know if you foul out, like that's an accomplishment at our place. Like you've done something that's really hard to do. Yeah, so and it and you can get a double on a on a 120-foot or 120-foot like end cap swing if you're a righty. You can get a double.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:07

We were playing there in 2021 when I was coaching at Carol Namuni, it was the regionals. I don't know if it was Coach Rainey or Coach Klotzer where we're at we're at home plate, and one of the coaches uh, you know, you meet with the umpire, they're like, just beware of the Adrian Double. And I'm like, what the hell, what the hell is that? I'm not kidding you. The first at bat of the game we give up an Adrian Double. It had it just happens.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:30

Has uh Craig Rainey, the athletic director, ever had to have a conversation with Craig Rainey, the baseball coach? Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:37

Yeah, when uh when uh so I I work primarily with our pitchers, and and there's been some times we've had some chats with myself about whether I can still be the pitching coach when we're walking guys or things. Like I'm like, you know, we walk too many guys on the weekend. I come in on the office on Monday and set in one seat and then go to the other seat and we have a conversation back and forth about how we're not gonna walk people.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:58

So what a great, what a great question.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:00

And great and great answer. I mean, sometimes, you know, if he's got an answer to someone, he's got to explain himself why he maybe left a guy in for an extra pitch or why he gave a quick hook.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:10

Well, I know he'll have to explain it to Clot. So hey, we want to be we want to be respectful to your time. I do I did just a little bit of inside digging. So I have, I think for our last question, if you guys are okay with that, and Coach Rainey, if you're all right with that. Um I want to see how you react to this question. I think you'll know who gave it to me once you know the answer. So who is your favorite roommate when you're on the road?

SPEAKER_00 1:27:38

Uh well I've only had one, so it's it's gonna be hard not to be my he's he's gotta be my favorite roommate because it's it's just him and I usually. Yeah. So that's that's Coach Klotz.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:48

Coach Klotz. Coach Klotz gave me some good stuff today, and that's about the only thing I could have shared since this is gonna be public. Apparently, Coach Klotz snores like crazy and just uh

SPEAKER_00 1:28:00

running joke right is that what that is that what that's all about where he ha he's just he he does enjoy his snoring yeah does he have the c pat machine when you're sleeping not him he doesn't care he he doesn't but there are there have been times when like I may have taken my pillow in the night and just smacked him with it to get him to roll over once he's on his side he's good you just can't you gotta get him you gotta get him to roll over I did want one more question all right go ahead we didn't ask this kind of question and I and I want to know just is there a win over these years that kind of stands out to you um that's meant the most to you I don't think there's a win i mean I there's probably you know a top 10 list of of wins that are you know different or special um you know making it to the college world series the first time and and getting a win in at the college world series is obviously something that's different uh uh you know we we had a walk-off win in that that year in the regionals um at you know to to walk it off and and to get to the World Series that was a pretty special moment um you know first conference championship you know it's pretty special like I said I still remember my first college win one to nothing over Loris and we we had a home run in the 10th and you know coach Harrington threw nine complete innings and and things so like there's just things that stick out that you remember and I think when you know 20 10 years down the road 20 years down the road when you can still remember all of those things that happened like that's a that's a pretty special win like this past year we had a walk off you know in the conference tournament in the 11th 12th I think 11th inning we had a walk off win on our home field like that it was electric like you know that'll always stand out in in my mind is a is a great win and in things so I don't know if there's a one but there's probably a top 10 or maybe now that I've been at it for 30 years there's a top 20 or 25 list is getting there. It's got a lot to pick from it yeah we uh we just keep you know like you just you just keep hoping you can had add to the memories and add to the fun times and you know and give guys the the opportunity to be successful and enjoy some of those moments I've I've been very fortunate I've got to enjoy a lot of them you know players you got a four year window to enjoy them and uh and things so I think that's important for us to give those guys the opportunity to to enjoy some of those moments.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:30

Well coach I appreciate you being our first ever guest I'm glad Mike was able to uh rope you into this uh good luck the rest of the year uh but I I think I think you uh you know what you're doing at this point well Charlie thanks guys I appreciate you having us on and and I know I've set the bar low so the rest of the rest of the will do way better than this you did you did I appreciate you guys having me on man it was awesome we appreciate you coming on yep thanks coach we'll see ya all right thanks coach good luck to you yeah all right thank you to Craig Rainey uh great first guest we had here um and thanks for joining these knuckleheads now we're not gonna do did you see that shit uh we're gonna have a fun segment because Jay decided not to have any names we're gonna put him in the hot seat well yes again so um we are going to every week I I put a link in the show sheet that they obviously didn't click and it's uh called the Jay Torture quiz just because it's gonna be one quiz and Jay you're gonna have a timer and you're gonna see how well you can do while we ridicule you so if you'd like to scroll down on the show sheet please and click on the link where it says Jay's Torture quiz. I see Jay's torture list now I got to click the link click it technology now click it says college world series yes so what you're gonna do is click the other blue part yep click that what you're gonna have to do is name us as many college world series champions as you can in six minutes. Are you kidding me? There's 78 over under so I got to name how many there's 78 you don't have to do them in order. If you type a name once every name every time that team is one is will will show I can't type and talk in this microphone I got to hold it if you have a mic stand just to your left Jay there you go technology can he talk technology all right can you guys even hear me I can't we can hear get you get it done okay by all right hit play quiz and you have six minutes I want to see I I think I'm putting the over under at 20 play quiz you think he's gonna get 20 yes so he's going Vanderbilt first see that's two right there because Vanderbilt's won twice and now he's thinking while he's doing Tennessee one thing we should have asked Coach Rainey is he took over the uh Adrian program in 94.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:47

Yeah and that was mine in Jay's senior year.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:49

We got we got no foot Florida State coming through uh no Florida did you didn't get recruited by him no I want I should have this is he's going Florida Florida State has not won it okay he's at four with five twenty yeah he's gonna get I bet you gets 25 I no there's one that's like seasonal he's gonna quit he's gonna like get through like three minutes and be like pepper dye did he do it I told you I told you he would do pepper dye how did he get Cal State Fulton's got to be coming up so you have put it in they win it with uh Phil Nev was it Phil Nevin on that team so okay is that's Cal State I can't even see he's listening to you oh yeah oh but there you go there you go there's the four eleven right now talk through your thought process here.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:40

Who are you thinking right now? Who are you thinking?

SPEAKER_05 1:33:42

Oklahoma state well Oklahoma now you have to type Oklahoma again because Oklahoma has won it twice oh so where is why it's doing that to me he's got 13 how did he get some from like the 1940s that's the only one Oklahoma State has won really because he he likes Oklahoma State I thought they were Barry Sanders who else I mean so right now he has Cal State Fullerton peppered out 40 years old Tennessee Vanderbilt Florida just tried to do Auburn. Nope nothing you know who you know who won I think won it every other team in that league one of the teams that I I'm responsible for see Vanderbilt uh yeah anybody else I can't think of anybody else that you've named every all right talk I can't think of anybody else that's a bold we knew it's bold strategy cotton let's see how that works out he's got three and a half minutes left Jay come on what did you what was your all you said 20 nine yeah just name random I don't even know that many colleges you don't have to eat the mic Jay don't pull the mic come on you can do although Mike did a pretty good job at the mic today. Yes he did he was not as squirmy it wasn't bad all right was he going we're talking about Carolina duct taping you uh no not tar heels haven't he's just naming random school that's fine that's oh South Carolina shout out Joel Seddon uh yes that's that's you got two you got two it went back to back St. Clair High School yes trying to think who else oh really is that part of the Cronenworth yeah he was it was funny when Cronenworth was in high school Sedden was the big deal yeah and then it was later that Cronenworth became you know an MLB All-star oh who did he just get I saw a lot of Arizona Warrenwood's tower is he Google and shit no no what do you get Arizona and Miami it looks like there's a who is that that you just put in Arizona State so yeah he's at 29 of 78 he's gotten four from this decade this past decade so he's not doing too bad and he's been on a computer for longer than six minutes he was pretty good too late did he really yes he just tried to lane I know there are oh wait who he just got Texas okay good call I know there are people at home just screaming some names yep what are Texas A space and M. No space I like it trying to think what's he's at 35 this is gone better than I I think I mean again there's one that can get him to like 50 right now I I don't honestly I wouldn't even do well with it yes you would hit it Louisville has not won it hey Jay what show are we on not Kentucky he's so focused how about Michigan there we go two way back when you know like uh Ike was a political figure Bill Freehand well was he their catcher Nebraska has not won it oh wait I'm proud of you is that Kentucky did you just like eight equal sign equal sign equal design Kentucky Tech I think now he's just naming phallic states then ball state come on you got a ball state university and everyone swallows the mic every time he's at 37 you got anybody else yes you can who won it last year fine I have no clue I'm assuming he put LSU in there nope no oh my gosh I mean that's like thank you that's like the biggest stop eating the mic oh my gosh oh god I don't even know who else it's more than half though it's only it's been only SEC schools for like 20 years boom at that one for why are you looking at me like you wanted to fight me because you got one right oh hold on what are you trying to spell how long did it take to come up with Georgia is it's brilliant it's called Sporkle go find sporkle no I didn't make this did Georgia make it on there yes Georgia did in like 1970 you can see that yes no chance no way 10 seconds he's at 47 that's pretty good that's not bad six five four I mean but he just ready college yeah look how many USG fucking USC Jay how happy would you be for that percentage in a test in high speed too 62 D's that's a D that are passing I think that was a D at our Catholic school I don't know what J passing grade right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:45

I mean a D minus they just need you to no it wasn't no 65 was a D. That was an F.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:50

62 percent F perfect it's what you guys thought would happen.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:53

And the fact that the average score is the average score is 69 when people do this. Wow and he got a 62. And I'm talking on a sports college baseball podcast why did you just describe thank you like like how my wife would describe my work he does sports podcasts on baseball. He talks on a sports podcast with a microphone. That's all okay yep round of applause for Jay now I will warn you I'm gonna put each of you uh at some point just randomly I'm gonna put you guys in the hot seat too with different ones that would be good it might be all time home run list it might be jersey numbers coming in I'll dominate do not give him jersey numbers because he's good at that one you got to pick something he's you can challenge me though and I'll amaze people with it that sounds all right anyway Jay thank you for getting in the hot seat now do your damn homework okay I mean I was told to just come here and talk. No I I said one name from every team one name okay one name from every team next week it's not that bad you saw the box scores right I did you learned what a box score is I did so all right uh anything else before we finish this up gentlemen do we want to talk about who our guest is next week do we have it confirmed do we have it confirmed uh yeah we'll skip it we'll surprise people sounds good you'll have to listen next week uh Jay Doug Mike good job thanks better than I thought you would Jay so thank you all for listening to the Walk Ons podcast follow us on social media uh you know give us a review five stars the whole hoop blah and we will talk to you next week.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:31

Peace bye