The Sphere, Stats and Stretch Run Baseball: “Dirtbags, Donkeys and Division Races”

With Doug and Jay out, Brady holds it down in studio while Mike checks in from Vegas for a midseason look at college baseball across the Big Ten, MAC, and GLIAC. The guys break down Michigan’s series win over Michigan State, where the Big Ten standings stand at the halfway point, and which teams and players are set up to make a run down the stretch. Later, Saginaw Valley head coach Adam Piotrowicz joins the show for a great conversation about his path through coaching, building a program, and what it takes to lead through roster turnover and change. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Walk-Ons podcasts. And well, if you're watching, it looks a little different. I'm the only one in studio here. Mike said, all right, let's start a podcast, and then left two of the first five weeks on recording days. Doug and Jay had real life things, you know, uh, as much fun it is as to come talk baseball. Sometimes you have to, you know, pay your bills. So that's where they're off due. And so it's just me and Mike. I'm in our beautiful Hunchfree studios where Mike, uh, if you're watching, you're gonna have a very distracting sphere behind him because he is out in Vegas, uh, you know, gambling away all his money.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Is it? Should I cover it up?

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Should I do that? Would that be better? No, you're you'll you're so fidgety, you'll move out of the way anyway. One thing we're gonna do is we're still gonna highlight some kids and some statistics, but the biggest thing is we're kind of halfway through a lot of the league races, and we're gonna look at that and kind of dissect where they're at in terms of what teams are vying for a title, what teams are trying to make their conference tournament, and what teams are playing for morale right now, because there's a few that are playing for morale right now. Um, so uh before we get started, I want you everyone to know that our show today is sponsored by the Detroit Thread Company. Detroit Thread Company is the top servicing embroidery and uniform provider in the Metro Detroit area, delivering premier sports embroidery and uniforms for team 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 all geared up by Detroit Thread Company today. So, Mike, as we get started and when we go into this uh later in the show, we're gonna have Coach Adam Petrovix on because we learned how to say his last name uh at Saginaw Valley. He was awesome. We'll get to the Gliak in a little bit. You had the Big Ten, which for you was easy. Only one series this week. Um, Michigan takes two of three from Michigan State.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, so again, we're gonna talk a little bit more specifically about a couple individuals today.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

And one thing I did without doing any research, which you're gonna think that you're gonna you're a great way to preface things.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah, I was gonna say you're gonna get doing any research. Well, what I mean by that is I picked out I'll show I show I did some research, okay? I'm gonna show you who's kind of leading the team in things, but I made a little note on the plane this morning for a player, a player to watch, generally speaking, for each team, and it's my opinion. So I'm gonna be curious to see how that pans out. I did it without calling any coaches saying, hey, who's kind of up and coming, who's gonna make some noise in this second half. So that's kind of my opinion, and you know, we'll see how that works out and we'll go from there. So, first thing I'm gonna do is again, uh, pulling out the spectacles for this. I am. I got I have a smaller book today. I don't have my big iPad.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

You've got the nice like uh professional one, like, oh, I'm in a business meeting. Yes, this looks very easy.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Well, I'm talking, I'm talking on my goddamn iPad. What do you how am I gonna do the whole do the whole thing? So Michigan's 20 and 15. They're seven and eight in conference.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

That ties them for seventh, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Yeah, and I want I want to, you know, I wish look it up guy was here. I wish Jay was here to kind of show us maybe we'll do that in a minute, but I wrote down a couple names. Colby Turner, laugh. Go ahead, laugh. I talk about him every week.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

The weekly Colby Turner talk.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

He's leading in in every category, he's betting 399. That's pretty good. Yeah, he's got 55 hits, eight bombs, and 33 ribies. I watched him this weekend. I went to East Lansing. Um, and he looks like a guy. I mean, he he's he's he's kind of built like Alex Bregman, in my opinion, maybe a little bit McConagal. McGonagall. McGonagall. Am I getting that thing right? McGonagall, yeah. I know I want to add more C's. I don't know why I want to do it, but um that's where you were my that's my comp for Colby Turner. But 399, 8 bombs, 33 ribies. Another player I want to mention from Michigan, Brady, is uh catcher Noah Miller. He's really handling the staff well, right? It's you know, being a catcher in general, but I couldn't imagine being a catcher in the Big Ten. But he's actually batting 305. Um, and he just looked really good defensively. One of those grinder type of dirt bags. Um and then right hand.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

At some point, someone's gonna take us out of context and be like, they called him a dirt bag.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Yeah, the good news is no one knows that's a compliment, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Most baseball people would know, like, unless it's like in response to like a fight or a brawl or like throwing at someone. If you're calling a baseball player a dirt bag, that you mean that like he's a gritty, grimy, you know, blue-collar type player.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah. I odds are this three, four, or five days I'm here in Vegas, Sherry will call me a dirt bag and it won't mean the same thing. So um Kurt Barr, the guy's the guy has just become an ace. So Kurt Barr is four and two with a 306 ERA. He has, and this is important, he has 50 innings pitched, 59 K's in 22 walks. Like that's that's ace stuff. He's a Friday guy. You know how we talk about Friday guys are going up other against other aces, and he he looks the part and he's spinning that ball. Uh, my players to watch, I have two players to watch from Michigan. Evan Hager. Okay, left hand, left-handed hitting center fielder. He's 289, six doubles, uh, two triples and four homers. Again, athletic. My players to watch, the reason I'm calling him that is I think they're gonna grow into even more of a you know, a player for the important player for this team. So he was playing kind of corner outfield a little bit. Um, Greg Pace was in center. Now Hager's just been plugged into center and he's rolling with it. He had really good at bats this weekend. And the other one is the lefty that we talked about last week with Coach Nelly, uh Shane Shane Bingham. He's three and three with the 450 area, but I watched him again this weekend. He's a dude. Am I moving? Are you am I making you laugh because I'm moving around too much?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

No, you're good. It's just just one and then the the psychedelic uh sphere behind you. It's just hilarious. Oh, pull up.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Oh, yeah, that is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I love the glasses down to see the sphere.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I can't do it. I'm a freaking mess, dude. So, anyway, all in all, like I'm excited to see what Michigan ends up doing. They do look like a team, even in this crazy ass Big Ten with all the fake Big Ten teams. I mean, I think they can make some noise. I think they can.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

It's well, okay. Talk about Michigan State, because my question's gonna be does it matter because UCLA exists? Yeah, that's kind of noise. Like, yes. Oh, hey, I do got a note. UCLA's 33 and 2. Like they're a national title contender.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

I have I have a yeah, I agree, and we will dig into that. But like, one thing I do want to mention about this series this weekend that was very interesting, that uh not that many people knew what was going on, but uh uh coach Stone, who is the first base coach for University of Michigan, he was by the way, he's he's close with Coach Petro, which is cool, but he was at Michigan State for years. So I was watching this game. I actually went and sat on the Michigan sideline, or you know, baseline by the dugout. Coach Stone knows all these Michigan State players. He was involved in recruiting all of them. He's at Michigan every fucking pitch. He's he's talking, talking to guys, moving field. There was Michigan State pissed on a few baseballs, and there was a fielder like just waiting there like this. Can you see me? Yeah. They were just like just chilling, like it's hit it right at him, right up the middle. So the book. I texted code, I texted him during the game, and I'm like, you're the MVP of this game, bro. And he's like, What the hell are you talking about? I was wild. It was a very well scouted game for lack of a better term, because he knew all the guys. So I thought that was a difference this weekend of the series. So Michigan's up, I want to tell you, up next for Michigan, they're midweeks at Toledo.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Um, and then on Tuesday, which is well, I'll I'll give you because I have the rest of the conference schedule, and I will go over that. Talk about Michigan State real quick.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

So Michigan State, they're 12-21, 6-12 in the league. Again, you know, if they could have taken a sweep, it would have been a big difference, right? If they could have won those three games, but anyway, um Randy Seymour. By the way, uh Brady, I Randy Seymour's parents came up to me and said thank you for the things that we're doing. I said he's don't thank us. He's got the fucking stats. Like, we're not talking about everybody, right? Like he's uh he's tearing it up. So he's at right now at this point, he's at 281, betting 281, uh playing a great defensive first base. Like I told you, he's uh he was been a left side of the infield guy playing at first, so that's nice. He's 281, 38 hits, uh six doubles, 12 jacks, 35 ribies. Um, I think it's gonna keep going. The way his swing plays, he hit a ball, you know, people say middle in. This thing was like this thing was like in in. I thought I was gonna hit this back right knee, and he hit he hit a home run with it. So um one kid that like, man, I'm another kid I'm like super excited about is Isaac Sturgis. He's a sophomore, barely played last year. So, like, you know, it's not like he has all these games under his belt, but he's he's batting 324. He has 36 hits, he has two less than Seymour. Um, seven doubles, three homers, 21 RBIs, and he is he's very fun to watch at the play. I watched um a couple innings with his dad uh this weekend. It was just a fun conversation. So he's got a little brother that can play too, so who knows what's gonna happen with him. Uh right-handed pitcher, uh, Aiden Donovan for state. Real real deal. He's got the body, and he is like an absolute strike thrower, dude. He's two and two with an ERA under three. In the Big Ten, with metal mean nothing. Yeah, he's two and two with 294 ERA. His whip's 1.17. So listen to this 52 innings pitched, 13 walks.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

That's that's the pitcher you like, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Yeah, I mean, like I said, you're playing in the Big Ten with these big donkeys with metal bats, and he's he's you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

He's dirt and donkeys.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Well, his stuff's good enough to throw it over the plate and not get hammered. So my player, I I got a couple players to watch for state. Uh one maybe could have been listed as like a top performer for this first little half, but I'm putting as a player to watch because he's gonna do even more damage. CJ Dekinger is a true freshman. His at he's he's at two, he's betting 240 right now. But Brady, I think he started, I think he started like oh for 20. Brady's a freshman. Yeah, he's a freshman playing in the Big Ten. You know, he he has five homers and 20 RBIs. I'm pretty sure. I mean, I don't I should have this in front of me. You might have it, but he went yard this week and he had like a five RBI game or something like that against Michigan. And again, being a freshman from Chicago, you know who University of Michigan is, right? He went in there and did his job. Uh, the pitcher I want to highlight for a player to watch who had um kind of some high expectations is Logan Peker, P-I-K-U-R. Um, I always want to say Pakur, but it's Piker. Uh he's he started off a little rough, but he's he's become he might end up being that I think he's like that number three guy right now, but he has like number one, maybe one and a half stuff. So you watch and see, watch and see what he does. I talked to um hung out with uh the Broski family this weekend. I don't think I said this on tape. It's freaking Broski. You said this, yeah. But then I people were correcting me on social media saying it's brosky. So I got to hear from Jim Brosky, the owner of the name, or whatever you'd call it. And he said people go, you know, say it both you know styles, but he said it is Brosky.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

All right. So so right now, uh so in the Big Ten, 12 teams make the tournament. Right now, the difference between sixth place, which is uh sorry, seventh place, which is seven and eight, and fifteenth place is five and ten. So essentially a two-game difference between seventh and fifteenth. Michigan is tied for seventh with Illinois and Washington, and Michigan State uh is six and twelve hanging on to a tournament spot. Michigan the rest of the way, they have Northwestern, five and ten in league. UW, was Washington, also seven and eight. They go to Maryland, who is four and eleven. They're in the cellar. Uh they go to Minnesota, who's five and ten, and at Ohio or host Ohio State, the only team left with a better record. Michigan has a pathway to maybe get up into those top four and get a bye in the first round.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Wow. That is nuts. They have no UCLA, they got nuts.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Remember, they already got swept by UCLA. I think they already played Nebraska, and I don't think they have and they beat Oregon in the series. Yeah. So they they've they've kind of survived the gauntlet. Now they need to take care of the rest. For Michigan State, they have to go out to Washington.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Okay, real quick before you do that, if if the season ended today, is Michigan State in the Yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

They're 11th, they're in a tie for 10th, but they're listed as 11th. So Michigan State is in right now at 6 and 12, but they go out to UW, who I mentioned is tied with Michigan. They host Maryland, which is nice. However, they have to host UCLA still. Those are three games that if you steal one, I'm happy with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Uh and then Donovan, hey, Donovan, hey, Donovan can do that. Aiden Donovan, if they play defense behind him and put the ball in play, steal some bags, listen.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I know in the locker room you're you're not gonna think this way. My thought from our perspective, if you get one out of three, that is a huge win because then you finish against uh you have to go down to Ohio State. So your last two series are against UCLA, a top team in the country, and Ohio State, a team that's uh in the top six in your conference. You have to do damage against UW and Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Go back to that UCLA series. So here's what I'm doing if I'm Jake Boss. Coach Boss, if you're listening, I'm sorry if this is offensive. I'm fucking starting Donovan on Sunday. You're throwing off early. I am. I'm going with the Nick Bastion Carla Mooney thing. That's what I used to do when we were first going. I'd have him go game two of the double header and see what happens in game one. I'm going Donovan on Sunday. If I can get one win from you know against UCLA, why not?

SPEAKER_02 16:31

All right, let's go. Let's go to the Mac. Uh, because one team's doing well and two others are struggling.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah, so Western's 17 and 15, overall, 12 and 6. Uh just gonna spit some stats, some some guys out at you, okay? So I'll just go.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So you're starting with Western, right?

unknown 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

So yeah, they just took two or three from Toledo, which by the way, I saw them play last week. Kind of understand how they ended up in a little bit of a bench clear. Like there was I told you. You know what we'll just talk about it. So I so I was at Oakland and nothing happened, but so it was uh the well, I was texting you. What did I say? It was like the seventh or eighth inning. Oakland's actually up like three to one. Uh the Oakland was playing well in this game. Uh, it's a 3-1 count, borderline pitch, kid from Oakland goes to toss the bat, right? Umpire goes, nope, that's a strike. You see that about once a game, don't you? That is not something that I think is considered disrespectful. I don't think that's tossing the bat, thinking it's ball four. I hate it. I know, okay, from a coach's perspective, but it's not like showing the pitcher up, right? It's not, it's not, it's not pimping a home run. It's not staring him down. It's oh, I thought, and it was very routine. He went to he threw it and the up went up with the right hand, and he went, okay, and picked it up. Didn't really argue, just went and got it. You've seen it a thousand times, right? Yeah, yeah. So the next pitch, kid strikes out. Walking off the dugout, and I'm sitting right behind home plate. The the pitcher yells, and go pick up your fucking bat, too.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That sucks.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yeah. So listen. Who is hitting? Who is hitting? Those are my boys. Who is hitting? I don't remember specifically. I think I do, but I don't want to get it wrong. Yeah. Um, but the thing is, is okay, there's time to show emotion, right? Like there are opportunities to do that. Not to say, not to go on the Mike Rice midweeks don't matter, but when you're losing in a midweek in a three to one game or whatever it was, is not the time to do that. If it's Michigan, Ohio State or Michigan, Michigan State in a Big Ten title game or something like a winner-go-home game. I'm not saying it's right, but I get it.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

You're gonna get me fired up. You're gonna get me fired up, and I don't like it. You can't you can't drop an F-bomb at a hitter. There's no good time to do that, even if you win the World Series.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

But but you understand what I'm saying, right? You understand if it's a heated rivalry and it's uh the stakes are as high as they're gonna get, you can see how you know you can be like, coach, my emotions just got the best of me there. A midweek between Oakland and Toledo is not that point.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

No, I know, and I I'm I'm always I hate to like contradict or what uh counteract or whatever the hell, but like these guys all know each other.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Like if you if you're a recruiter, this kid was from the the pitcher, I think, was from Florida. Okay, so okay, I got you.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, so if he didn't grow up like in the same circuit, is it fair? They might have played okay, yeah. Fair enough. It's just I hate it, it's a terrible look. And you're totally right. Like, take what he said out of it, even if he just did like a fuck yeah, yeah, like it's a midweek and you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Anyway, so that the start off the next inning, uh, he made an error on a on a bouncer right back to him. And yeah, the let's just say the Oakland dugout was very happy their player reached.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Um I think out of all sports, and maybe I'm biased, like you don't fuck around in baseball like with that. It's gonna the ball's gonna find you, the hop's gonna take something weird if you're talking shit the previous inning.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

And here the one thing I'll give him credit for is he shut his mouth and didn't say a word. So if you're gonna give it out, you better be able to take it. And I'll at least say for that one instance, he didn't bark back at the Oakland dugout. He stood stood there and took the the chirpin. So anyway, all that to say, Western took two or three from Toledo this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yep, let me get these back on. So, yeah, uh they're 17 and 15 overall, they're 12 and 6 in the um in the conference. You'll probably go over where they're standing here in a minute, but outfielder Tanner Malley, the kid that's getting national recognition recognition, he's at 483. He has 56.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

So he slipped a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

He did. He slipped a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

A little bit.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, he was hitting it.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

Yep, he's uh 483 still stupid.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Yeah, these guys, Western's pitching and hitting, and they're playing D. Like, I'm excited to see you know how they finish and what kind of run they make. So that's Tanner. He's at 483, 56 hits, a lot of singles, a lot of singles. Um, he has 40 runs, so he's getting, you know, these guys are knocking him in. Shortstop, Mike Maloney. Mike Maloney is at 336 with five jacks and 35 RBIs. He seems to be that, you know, that guy that's going to be driving in runs. And again, this is just me looking at stats. So, you know, there's going to be some intangibles once I talk to the coaches and follow up here soon. But pitcher Sam Carlisle looks like the race on paper. I imagine he is. He's three and two with a three and two. 19 ERA. I mean, anything under four, do you just check your pipes out on camera? No. I love that, dude. I do that every once in a while. I'll stand up and see if my tries are going. I think I caught you. We're going to look back, look back at that. Yeah, so it's just going to start flexing on camera. Sam Carlisle seems to be the guy. And what I was saying before he flexed, anything under four, you know what I mean? In the Mac or the big metal bats. He's a three. Yeah, that's true. 319 ERA, 42 innings, 52 K's. A couple players to watch. I'm noticing Ricky Kidd. He's a local kid. Local kid, Ricky Kid. Pitcher. He's 4-1 with a 447 ERA. Here's what's interesting 50 innings pitched in only 27 Ks. So he's really pitching, right? Like he's getting outs, he's getting ground balls, and there's defense playing behind him. Um I'm highlighting Mason Pilarski. I don't give a shit. He's one of my players to watch. That's what I'm Ricky Kidd is my pitcher to watch. Mason Polarski is a true freshman, third baseman. Unbelievable defense. So he's he's helping that the Ricky kids of the world, you know, get those wins. He's batting 221 right now. Sorry, Mason, for announcing that, but he has 25 hits. He has 25 hits as a true freshman, and he's playing exceptional defense, and he's he's playing every day. It's it's one of those things, in my opinion. I haven't heard this from anybody, but you get this freshman that you know is gonna be a guy, and you just put him out there. The stats happen, he's gonna learn, he's gonna have the hard knocks, but he's making plays and he's not striking out too much. So that my players to watch are Ricky Kidd, Mason Polarski from Western.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

All right, uh, I'm gonna go over all the max standings at the end. Central takes two or three from Bowling Green. Uh, what do you have from them? Because Central, they have a chance to make the the conference tournament. There's still five series left to go for them, but they're gonna have some ground. They basically need to make up a game every weekend.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Yeah, I don't know what it is about them. I think because I know a lot of the kids, I know the staff, I root for them like crazy every week. And it looks like, again, looking at the stats, I haven't called Coach Sable or anybody like I, you know, to get information, but it looks like they freaking mash. It looks like they hit and they're not pitching right now. And the pitching seems to be getting a little better. What do you say?

SPEAKER_02 24:38

They took two out of three, took two out of three from uh bowling green, and yeah, the the scores, uh, I mean, they they pitched in the first two, but in game three, uh, they they out hit hit them 21 to 13.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Yeah. This hair this Harrison Bowman kid is a dude.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

They did throw a shutout on the Saturday game, so give them a little up there.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

No, and no, I mean it. Like, I think the pitching's getting better, is what I'm saying. Like, they I think the series before they ended up pitching decent towards this you know second half or whatever you want to call it, the the last third of the series.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Against Eastern, they gave up over 30 runs. Against Western, it was over uh it was just under 20 in this series. The first two games they gave up five before out slugging. Even with that, they only gave up 18 runs.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

So so they can hit, they can hit with anybody in the league, including Western. So if they pitch a little bit, you see what happens here. So Harrison Bowman, the outfielder, he's at 315 with nine homers and 36 ribbies. Um, another guy you see coming up on almost, it seems like almost every tweet or anything that comes out is Cole Prout. That's a name I've been hearing for a while. I think he must be Tommy's age, or I don't know, maybe Trent, but I remember him. Um, you know, that Midland Bay City area kid, I think. Uh Cole Prout's at 267 with seven homers and 32 hours. Yeah, so that's two guys so far. Nine home runs, seven home runs. Um here's another one. I got three for CMU because they can hit Brady Krizouk. Do you know how to spell that? You've seen it. He was a former Macomb kid. K-R-Z-C-O-Y-I-K. It's not Krizoik, it's Krizouk. Uh, he's 281, seven homers. I have three RBIs, which obviously I missed a number when I was on the airplane. So I don't know, I don't know what the hell it is.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

He's enjoying his airplane whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yeah, so he's at 35-ish, 40, whatever it is. But uh again, another kid that's nine homers, seven homers, seven homers between three guys. That's that's pretty good. My player to watch, I have two players to watch, somewhat biased because I know these guys, but I it's because I know they can play. Watch out for Nathan Ball if he starts getting some more A Bs. I have written down here doubles machine. I mean, he doesn't have that many, but he doesn't have that many at best. But when he he's a slug guy, so if he starts getting A Bs, he's batting 308 with just like some pinch hits here and there and maybe a Sunday DH start. But that's my player to watch, and hopefully we can go back to some of these players in a few weeks to see if I was right on the box. The other one is a couple reasons I'm mentioning him. Cam Neehouse, who I mentioned last week, had his first win. I also mentioned that I didn't know if he went the Divine Child of Gabriel Richard. He went to Divine Child. Okay, so you sorted that one out. Yep. So he's he's thrown 18.2 innings, 18 and two thirds. As a true freshman, he has three walks.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

That's your kind of pitcher.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Yep, 16 K's, which is pretty darn good, right? I mean, yeah, you want to get a K inning, but three walks as a true freshman with, you know, basically two games, right? 18 innings if you add them all up. But uh watch the watch out for those guys.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

All right. So right now the Mac who they only take the top six in the to their Mac tournament. And right now there's a divide. The top six are either twelve and six or Kent State, who's in first, is 13 and 5. It is a cluster up top. Kent State 13 and 5, and then Miami, Northern Illinois, Western, Ball State, Toledo, all are at 12 and 6.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Man, that man, you read off those names. There's some good teams in the Mac. Holy cow.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah, but the problem is for Central, they're gonna have to find a way to catch them. They're 7 and 11, and Eastern, who they've lost six in a row, and you are not happy that they got swept by UMass.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

No, I mean, who the fuck am I to like make fun of something?

SPEAKER_02 28:44

But here's the thing, Mike. You want to do if you want to cover this when a team, when a team shits the bed against a two-win UMass team in league and a and a six-win team overall, you gotta say it was not great for them. Uh, because you know, after they swept central, you're going, okay, maybe Eastern has something, they've lost six straight cents.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I was getting pumped up for them, man. They're they're 10 and 24 and 5 and 13. They have a beautiful field. They got a young coach that's going to be a guy. Um, and they have some they have some players. Um, you know, the this guy, Devon Zerwis, his batting average is a little low. He's at 232, but he has nine doubles, 11 home, 38 RBIs. So, like, he's a guy. Um, you seem to be frozen up on the screen. Is that me or you? That's you. So you're keep talking. Yeah, okay. Got it. All right. Yep. So short after after Devon Zerwist with the stats, we got shortstop TJ Williams. I have a little question mark by him because he was not, he's leading the team in air. He's batting 315 with 34 hits. He was not in the lineup all week. He didn't appear in a box score this weekend. So I don't know if something happened. Um, so I don't know. I want to dig into that a little bit. The my player to watch for Eastern is a guy that I've mentioned a couple times already this year. Is uh he's a Wiley veteran. Infielder Bruce Jellison. He's at 263, 25 hits, two homers, and 21 RBI. So keep an eye on Bruce. And then I'm gonna dig into um do me a favor, pull up Easter. Can you pull up Eastern's last game?

SPEAKER_02 30:35

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

And tell me the center, tell me the center fielder's name, because I do have a note. So you want me to say it?

SPEAKER_02 30:41

What is it like something? No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

No, this is this is not me being my smart ass usual self. All right. Because this kid, this kid started playing this weekend. He went five for seven. This is a one-game break. Well, yeah, it was a 1915 game. Okay, but like he's just starting to play. John Hale. I want to add him to my play. John Hale. Yes, yes. Five for seven, three doubles, two homers, five ribbies. So let's watch for John Hale and see what happens there.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Senior out of Tennessee, Ashland City, if anyone knows where that is. So shout out Ashland City.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Um he's get he's getting the shot, and he he actually, you know, made it happen.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

All right, like I mentioned, uh, Western's in the thick of things. There's five series left, so I'm not gonna go over everyone they play. They play some good, they play some bad. Central needs to make up some ground, and Eastern needs a couple sweeps. Uh, Eastern does play Western this coming week, uh, and Central's at Ohio. So um, that's the Mac. Let's go to Oakland. You know, Mike, I still don't know what to make of Oakland. They dropped two or three to UW Milwaukee, and the two losses were not particularly close. I think it was 12-4 and 11-0 in their two losses. They're five-six in the Horizon League, but the Horizon League's a five-team league, and unless your name is right state, you're just kind of in a group behind right state. So I guess when you look at things, it's not a terrible spot for Oakland. The biggest thing I if I'm Oakland, if I'm sitting there and I'm and I'm Brian Ellison, I'm saying, let's, if we can get to the two-seed, because northern Kentucky's six and six, Milwaukee's also five and seven, then you at least avoid right state, or I guess if you stay in the 2-3 spot, you avoid right state until the potential finals. And they've already beaten. Everybody's rooting for right state's only long Oakland.

unknown 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

In league play. And you know what? And everybody's rooting for right state to finally not make it. It's like, come on, can somebody do it? And why can't it be the Grizzlies? You know what I mean? Like, I just I just wish it would come around.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

The good I think they're just trying to solidify everything. I I think they're trying to find some guys to step up here because they do have flashes. Like I said, against Toledo, they looked really good. Um, but and though I was only there for the one game this weekend and it was the 12-4 loss. Just, you know, the the the pitching at times struggled a little bit. And they're trying to.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

Speaking of speaking of you only being there for one game, I haven't had a chance to tell you, but I got a text from two different people asking if you got asking if you got fired because you weren't there for those two games. No, I was at Wayne State. That's kind of cool though. People are actually listening. Like some people get fired. Yeah, I I had your back as if you were at Wayne.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

No, Cassie didn't fire me um there, so um, yes, I was not I was not fired. Um, because I did do the first game, just other other games, uh uh other stuff going on. One thing I did want to say is they played a Rochester in a game from hell that took like four and a half hours because it was like 21 to 13.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Um, they started running the option. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

No, that would mean the game would have gone fast. Uh the one thing I'd say is, Mike, you don't get you don't always see it, but when you put them side by side, and I'm sure you deal with this, you know, helping kids go on to the next level. There's an element that you just go, you if you line them up in all like and said, This is the team in the black jerseys, this is the team in the white jerseys, you would know which team was the D1 just by body type and size, and yeah, like it was a stark contrast between a D1 and an NAIA team.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

There, well, there's a harsh reality to that, and if you sat with the coaches and talked to them, they'd they'd say it out loud, right? Like, there's a difference, there's a difference between those guys, and you know, there's some to be clear, there's there's always exceptions to the rule. Yeah, there's some NAIA players that you know want to be close to home or whatever, they're you know, whatever it may be, and there's some but that's but it's the whole picture, right? You get 34 guys versus 34 guys, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Yeah, and like you look at like, yeah, there might be one or two guys that don't fit the prototypical build, but the other 30 do. And it just it was just a reminder going into that. And I know you've had to deal with it, like, hey, if you don't have the size, you're gonna have to really produce to to catch someone's attention because the guy that's 6'4 and hasn't filled out yet and he's already 210 pounds, that's just science that he has a better chance to he can hit a ball farther in all likelihood. Yeah, he can make a bat swing faster, he can he get more torque on the ball pitching than someone who maybe doesn't have again, always exceptions to the rules, always is.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Um if you don't have if you don't have some weird different dynamic like speed or spin rate, right? Like if you're my size and somehow you're throwing 97, like Billy Wagner, like that's just you know helpful. I would love when people are like, oh, Jose L2, they made it. I'm like, that's one fucking guy out of 17,000 players, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:14

No, I like I like I knew some guys um uh when I played in college football that you know there was a couple receivers that were like five six, and everyone's like, well, Darren Sproles. I'm like, yeah, that's the one. That is the one. You don't hear about guy that went there and got a tryout in the NFL and played in one preseason game and then washed out. Like it just it's just the difference. But anyway, to the Gliak. Um, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about Grand Valley murdering Roosevelt. Uh Roosevelt, and we talked about with Coach Petro later.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

By the way, you roll you rolled your eyes at me today when I said watch out for Roosevelt, and I did not mean like tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

I meant there is a coming up in the interview.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

They're in the Gliak now, and they're based, I think, out of Chicago.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Arlington Heights. Well, the main, yes, the main campus is actually like two blocks from Soldier Field. It's literally like in an office build, not an office building, but like you're walking from Soldier Field, it's like two blocks, and it's in one of the high rises, basically.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Okay, where do the if the kids generally live right around Chicago, like I think they play out of Arlington Heights. Okay, which is right by Chicago. Yes, yes. Correct? I think so. Yeah, so I'm just saying, being in the GLIAC now, watching the next two to three years, you know, someone choosing, you know, I won't name a GLIAC school that has been around, and then they can go live in Chicago and play in the same conference. I I don't think it's gonna take too long for them to improve.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Maybe, but they're not improved right now because Grand Valley just annihilated them. I mean, you know what? I I'm not gonna go through and list the 12 players that were awesome because let's just put it this way if you played for Grand Valley and you're in the lineup this weekend, you probably did well. So uh they're now 30 and six. Uh they are, you know, uh, I think you can put Grand Valley in the national title contender conversation. Uh and they're they're in first in the Gliak. Wayne State's on their tail. They took three of four from Saginaw Valley, which they needed to do. If you remember, they s they split with Davenport, they split with Grand Valley. The Grand Valley split was a nice one for the Warriors, but they needed to get a series win to keep pace with Saginaw Valley, and they did. They took three of four. Uh, they got some good pitching. My boy Gavin Nash again was a dirtbag on the mound, pitched six strong. He became their front end starter uh because I told you um Lowry pitched, he came in after getting not having any control in game one against Grand Valley to pitch on Saturday in game four against them to get the three inning save. So they moved him to Sunday. He had a complete game victory in the seven-inning game one doubleheader, and then uh a guy who's battled some injuries, Gabe Nazelli, pitched well for them in uh game four to get the Sunday win.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

He's a country day kid. Hey, by the way, I know here's what I'm noticing about you as these weeks go on, and I know it's just me and you, so maybe we're talking a little more shit than usual. You're starting to realize that some some of our guys are listening. So, like about a month ago, you would have said whoever you're talking about, yeah, he got fucking shelled, couldn't throw it over the place.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

Stop it. No.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

I'm watching you, I'm watching you pause to go, all right, I don't want to get smoked by anybody.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

No, I was gonna well I was gonna say at first I was gonna say, yeah, he got hit around, but you know, Lowry really didn't in that Grand Valley game. He had some bad control, and then Grand Valley was hitting them where they ain't uh for the rest of it. But for Saginaw Valley, uh Buck Snabbs, he is a dude. Um the one thing Wayne State did well is they controlled Saginaw Valley running the bases. They didn't let them run wild, they threw him out a couple times. Uh I thought they did a nice job. Uh Buck Snabbs is a dude. Um I uh Saginaw Valley has some guys. Aaron Best had a nice game. He had a bomb uh in game four where I was at. So uh I thought they did a good job. And then two guys in relief when they were down. Henry Stempke in game two came in and struck out like five of six guys. And then in the uh game four loss, Saginaw Valley had a um pitcher, Evan Woodward, an aptly named guy to come pitch at in Detroit. Came in two innings, struck out four, uh four, six up, six down. Uh guys in relief that usually don't get some love due uh did. Wayne State is now 10 and 6 in gliak play. Saginaw Valley falls to eight and eight, and they're looking like they're um locked into the fourth seed. Davenport, I mean, the reason why Saginaw Valley's in fourth is because Davenport, uh, they are tied for second, or Davenport tied for second with a split with Parkside. Parkside's been decent. I just think they kind of have Gliak problem where if they're in like the GLVC or maybe even parts of the GMAC, they're doing better. But shit, you got four pretty darn good teams in the Gliak you have to contend with. Uh so Davenport and Wayne State are tied for second in the G Gliak at 10 and six. G V is 10-2 because they have played one less series. G V still has to play at Saginaw this weekend. They host Davenport and they host Parkside. So for Wayne State, they have at Roosevelt and at Purdue Northwest, who Purdue Northwest, I think, has won three games in the league. And I think they might have. Gliak plays four. Yeah. So what Wayne State? Yeah, if Wayne State, and you know, I never like to say you need a sweep, but Roosevelt's 0 for in the Gliak right now. They're 0-12. You can't drop a game there. I think 7-1 at worst, if Wayne State, or I guess Davenport, but they have at G V and then Purdue Northwest. So they control their own destiny a little bit. But okay, between Saginaw Valley, Davenport, and Parkside, you're hoping for two of them to take one game and one of it to be a split. And if Wayne State wins out, that's their path to tying up this league.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Yeah, and they're and they're and they're gonna try to win the league, and then the playoffs are gonna start, and no one has any idea who they play or why they play.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Yeah, wait till we talk to uh Coach Petro about that. Saginaw Valley right now, you hey, you're playing maybe you can get up to that three line in the tournament. You don't want to fall below Parkside. Um, but Davenport, they it's gonna be tough playing G V still. I mean, the good news is if they sweep, which I don't know if many teams are gonna sweep Grand Valley in the country, but theoretically, everything's in front of you, right? Like if you take care of business, you're good. Um Roll tidy. Yeah, roll tidy. There you go, roll tidy. Um in the GMAC, Northwood split with Tiffin. Uh the they're now 11-9 in the G-Mac. Uh, they're tied for third in the North with Hillsdale, who won a series. They did not, yes. Let's go! Yes, they did not split. They took three of four over Lake Erie, and they are tied for third. And the G-Mac has a, if it's the same as last year, has an equally bonkers tournament. Uh that like six teams on each side make it, or it, or it was hard to tell, and teams were bouncing around. Top three, I think, or top, I think it was 12 teams total. So top six, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Hey, does the winner of that play the winner of the Gliak?

SPEAKER_02 43:47

And I'm sorry, I don't know so that would go to that would go to a re so they go to regional, right? The regional rankings. Um, and right now the top two in your region, or I guess your super region host, uh, and right Now it's looking like G V and Wayne State might be one and two in the region.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

So by the way, I know I know we're we're running short on time here, but how many people do you think are gonna think I'm the biggest dork in the world being on a podcast for an hour and a half when I'm in Vegas? Like there's so many cool things going on. There's so many cool things going on out here, and I'm talking to Brady Bead and about the Gliak.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Well then let's talk about GMAC. Now let's talk about the MIA. That's true. Um, real quick, I do love the way the MIA sets up its schedule. So the way they do it is because they're all in such a close proximity, like I think the farthest is probably a three or four hour drive. On Friday, you go to a place and then Saturday they come to you for a double header. And then mixed in, you have three midweeks in a row with a conference opponent. So like I'd have to check, but like for Alma, every Tuesday for three weeks, they'd play Hope or something. And that's how they do their three-game series spread out over a week. It's really nice, it's aesthetically pleasing, it's the one that makes the most sense. Um, for uh when um in the MIA, Kalamazoo is still the team. Like they are still the team to beat. Uh, they take two of three from Adrian. It's their first loss in league, actually. Um, and that was after in a Wednesday makeup, they beat Calvin. Yeah, real quick, Wednesday, Adrian beat Albion, Kalamazoo beat Calvin. Uh, trying beat Olivet, and Alma beat Hope. But then Kalamazoo takes two of three from Adrian. Kalamazoo is 10-1 in the MIAA. It really looks like it's left. How many do you have? So Kalamazoo has one of those midweeks versus Calvin. Uh, they have a series against Hope, a series against Alma, and a series against Olivet. So 10 games left. Wow. So and right now we're getting there, man. We're getting there. We're about that's why we're checking in. Adrian, they're going to need some help. They're seven and four in league. They're trying to catch up. Um, they're going to need some help in someone to knock off Kalamazoo. And I don't know who it's going to be. I mean, maybe Alma can do it right now. They're the number one contender after they uh murdered Trine in a three-game series.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Uh, it was um I'll tell you what, Jason Crane, Jason Crane works his ass off with recruiting. Like that, and that's the Alma head coach. And that'll be really cool to see them make some noise. He's got some guys, and I would it'll just be really neat to see. And and again, good for Coach Ott. He deserved it. He's been there. He's he's uh he's a pro, right, at Kalamazoo. Um, I saw that they beat, and I'm sorry to interrupt you here, but I saw that they beat they beat Adrian pretty badly in one game. Wasn't it like a 15 to nothing game or something?

SPEAKER_02 47:05

One of the games they handled them pretty well. But Alma's the team to come up and try and nip them uh and try and get there. Uh and they Alma uh after beating Trine, who struggled. They have Calvin. Calvin's not been great. They have Hope, Hope has been bad. They have uh Albion, who's been middle of the pack, and then the consequential series against Kalamazoo. Uh Calvin did sweep uh Olivet um after Olivet beat Trine in a makeup. Both those teams kind of struggling near the bottom of the standings. And uh Hope takes two or three from Albion. MIA, you know what I like about them? Conference tournament, eight-team league, top four make it. Gotta be top half in the league. And it's a simple double elimination tournament. Simple as can be.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

Easy for the man. One thing I will tell you to watch out for through the end of this season before the playoffs is Olivet has that ace, Brian Carney. Like they'll pitching's pitching, right? Like you face you face Olivet and think, okay, we got to take these three or four games or whatever it may be, just because of the way it's been working. Watch out for Brian Carney and that one game, right? If you need that one game, Olivet can shock you a little bit with that one.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

Kalamazoo's now 26-3. That's crazy. Like, I I think they're starting to go get into what can they do nationally, not just what are they going to do in the MIAA. I mean, because Alma and Adrian are there, but it's kind of Kalamazoo's league until Alma potentially takes it from them. Uh and I N-A-I-A uh in the whack. It really looks like it's going to be Northwest Ohio or Indiana Tech again. Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

We need a Michigan team, man. We need we need Drew Heward's boys to start getting it. I mean Madonna last week.

SPEAKER_02 49:04

I was going to say Madonna did their part this uh this weekend. They uh they they swept uh Aquinas and Lawrence Tech. So they're trying. I mean they're 13 and 7 in the whack. The problem is Northwestern Ohio's 18-2 and has a five-game lead on them. Yeah, so um, I mean, Madonna sweeps Aquinas and Lawrence Tech, like I said. Uh they they have their shot at Northwest Ohio next. That's who they're playing coming up. Uh, and the other ones are are Sienna Heights, who has struggled, and Cornerstone, who has struggled. So Madonna could win 20 conference games potentially. If they don't do damage to Northwestern Ohio, they have no chance. No shot. Uh clearly the other team that's somewhat in contention. They beat Cornerstone twice, but Northwestern Ohio swept them. So Northwestern Ohio, who has dominated this league, has been knocking off the number one contenders from Michigan. Indiana Tech's actually in second in this league at 16-4.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

What how many teams are make it in the playoff or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 50:08

How does that work for that? Oh, I know you knew you were gonna ask me. I believe it was like the uh oh, let me look this up real quick. I think it was 10 teams.

SPEAKER_00 50:18

Yeah, and if you know what, you know what, if we gotta go back to it, the reason I'm asking is last year we talked to Drew. So I talked to Coach Heward from Madonna this past week. Well, today's only Monday, so let ye this weekend I talked to him. And it sounds like they have some injuries because I he's my boy, he's my buddy, right? And I was kind of busting his chops. Uh, when are you gonna start taking off here? And you know, I don't have access to everything, I don't know who's hurt or what's going on. Sounds like they have some injuries, and maybe some guys coming back, and I think maybe their ace blew up, you know. I don't want to say blue outers on, that sounds terrible. I think their their ace had some arm some arm action issues. So if people come back, watch watch for them in the playoffs. They still got the kid, the kid that's got like 65 home runs. Yeah, Mitchell.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

Yeah. So um uh, you know, other teams battling for it, you know, Aquinas is in there. Um they've been they beat Cornerstone twice, but like I mentioned, they were swept by Madonna, did take care of U of M Dearborn, who's struggling. Uh Rochester swept uh Sienna Heights, but was swept by Northwestern Ohio. So they're kind of in the middle trying to make it into the tournament. Um Cornerstone, as I mentioned, uh they were swept uh by uh all three teams they played. Sienna Heights did get a win against Defiance, um, but uh U of M Dearborn also split with uh Defiance, and they are a program that is, you know, you have to take steps. You're not gonna go from the seller when they were like two and fifty last year. Hey, right now they're six and twenty-five. It is a small step forward for them.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

It's hard for me to not say to I mean, there's very similar to SC4. No, that's that's exactly the comparison. New group, baby steps, keep doing what you're doing. You have cool hats, you have cool hats, you have cool uniforms. They played at Ann Arbor, they played at U of M, I think, this past weekend for like senior night or something. So there is some relationship there.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

So yeah, I mean, figure out who the guys are this year, but that's uh there. Let's go to JUCO real quick. Um, in the MCCAA East, it's Jackson and Macomb uh that are battling right now. They're both nine and four. Uh Jackson took three out of four with Schoolcraft, which is it fair for me to say a schoolcraft team that is near the bottom of the standings, if you want to win the league title, that's one you need to sweep? I guess there's talent. There's talent there and they're very But that's the that's the standard you have to set when you're when you're trying to win a title, right? You have the that's what the championship teams do is yeah, they take care of those bottom rung teams. I mean, Mike, when you were coaching, how many times were you maybe a game out of winning a league title because oh man, we dropped one to the fifth place team that we shouldn't have? And that can make that can make a big difference. McComb split with Henry Ford, who remember came out of the gates hot. Um, they were 13-3 in non-league play. Now they're seven and six in third place in the East. A couple games back uh of Jackson. Um and then Mott took three of four against SC4. And Mott is an interesting case. They were 0-10 outside, and we went through all their the games they played uh in the non-conference last week, but they now have a winning record in conference play. They're seven and six.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Good for them. Good for them. The boys from Flint, right?

SPEAKER_02 53:47

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh and schoolcraft, as I mentioned, they dropped to Jackson, SC4, uh, also lost three or four to Mott. So for the top two teams, Jackson with three series left, SC four, Mott, and then McComb. That's the last one. So the last series could be for the league title. Uh McComb has Schoolcraft in SC4. So softer-ish schedules, I guess, for both two before the big meeting at the end.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Yep. We'll see what happened. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll make a little uh where's it at? Where's the Jackson Macomb?

SPEAKER_02 54:21

I thought it's uh so they do it's like two there, two there, I think. Let me find out. Maybe we'll at least the ones at McComb. Um I'm pulling it up right now. That's why we need Jay here. Uh on April 30th, it's home, and on May 2nd, it's at Jackson. So Thursday, April 30th, 2 and 4:30. Could be very consequential.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Maybe we'll check that one out.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Absolutely. Um and I we don't I know we're on a time crunch. Doug did send me some names, but uh yeah, we got to get to the west here. Um, and I'll I'll make it simple in the west. Kellogg Community College, 12 and 1. Yeah, 28 and 6 overall.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

I went, um, I saw Lansing and Kellogg play each other this weekend. Yeah. Very, very, very interesting. You could tell it was a rival. That's all I will say. You could tell it was a rival. Kellogg bunted the shit out of the baseball, and they can hit. And, you know, Lansing is the a top team every year that you want to make sure you kind of strive to beat.

SPEAKER_02 55:28

Yeah, because Kellogg took three or four from Lansing, they're 12-1 in league. I mean, Lake Michigan after taking three or four from Glen Oaks, and again, Glen Oaks came into that one uh one and eight in league play. If you want to keep pace with Kellogg, you have to sweep that. And Kellogg's, you know, 12-1. They have a three-game lead uh with three series left, including one against Lake Michigan on the last weekend of the year. So you do have those games there. But I don't know, Kellogg, I mean, okay, they have they play Ancyla, so they're gonna win four there. But KVCC and Lake Michigan are two and three in the conference, and they both get a crack at Kellogg. So maybe they got some.

SPEAKER_00 56:08

Both of those schools have some guys. Like you can always you can always win a ball game with a couple guys if they if they're hot and other people just do their standard job.

SPEAKER_02 56:17

Uh Kalamazoo Valley took three or four for Mancilla, but again, you want to keep pace with Kellogg. That's one you're looking back on, man, we should have swept that series. Yeah, um, but it's baseball and it's hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 56:29

Uh we kind of knew we kind of knew it was a Kellogg and Lancing league, right? Like let's see what happens with those two.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

So the North is all fucked up because uh Muskegon has played 17 games, three teams have played 11. Uh right now, yeah, right? Right? Uh right now, Bay or sorry, uh Mid-Michigan is played is 12 and 3. Grant GRCC is 10 and 3. So those are the two teams up top.

SPEAKER_00 56:55

They're gonna get their games in, and that's a problem because it's gonna be a problem with arms. Oh, 100%. Like we we went through that at Cardamone, right? Like there's a lot of times where we're getting games rained out or snowed out.

SPEAKER_02 57:07

We're playing four doubleheaders in five days.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Yeah, dude. And you it's just hard for you know, the you're not University of Michigan, right? Where you can bring out your fifth starter and and catch lightning in a bottle, right? Like you're the your fifth starter is a fifth starter for a reason in at that level, and it's gonna be very tough on those arms.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

All right. Um, but yeah, in that one, I mean, mid-Michigan split with uh Muskegon and swept Delta. GRCC split with Muskegon and the rest, again, is kind of messed up. Like you're gonna have some some big ones left. Uh, mid-Michigan does still have to play GRCC. That is this week. So we'll have some clarity on that uh coming in to uh this week. So before we go to Coach Petrovitz from uh Saginaw Valley, want to let you know the show is produced by Hunch Free Studios, a full-service digital media company specializing in video production, comprehensive digital marketing solutions, and software development with full service website design. Thank you to our friends at Hunch Free Studios. Now, here's Coach Petro from Saginaw Valley. All right, now time to welcome on our guest for this week, Coach Petro. And Coach, I want to start there because Mike has purposefully not said your name. He has just called you Coach Petro anytime he's verbalized anything. So we'll start with that. Can you say your last name correctly for everyone at home?

SPEAKER_04 58:34

Yeah, no problem. Uh, not the first or the last time either. Uh Petrovix.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

Yes. See, there's like a V. There's like a V in there.

SPEAKER_02 58:42

Yeah, it's the what German, I'm guessing, or no, just a dumb pull lock with a bunch of vowels thrown in and pulled out of a hat. Petrovix. All right, so Coach Petrovix joins us. Adam Petrovix of Saginaw Valley. Coach, thank you for coming on. Um, really appreciate it. And um, I guess we'll start here. Just tell us a little bit about your background. I know you've kind of bounced around uh the state of Michigan a bit and Ohio as well. Uh walk us through your journey to Saginaw Valley.

SPEAKER_04 59:10

Um, well, I started off as a graduate assistant at Heidelberg University, uh, which is a Division III school in Ohio. And it was a great situation and setup because one, we were really good. We won the league and the league tournament both years, and then went to the World Series our second year and finished fourth. Uh, but it was it was a great setup for a kid out of college that really just wanted to kind of postpone his student loan payments for a couple years, yeah. Uh while not wanting to go work in an office yet, and I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

What year, what year was it, Coach?

SPEAKER_04 59:46

Uh Kid, sorry to put you on the spot with that. Uh 2008 was when I graduated college. So 2009 and 2010 is when I was at Eidelberg. Yeah. It was a great setup. Like got my master's paid for for free. They gave us free housing, uh, free meals, and then a small stipend uh at the end of the day. And then the the best part about it was the only assistants he had at the time were GAs. So we got to work like a full-time assistant coach. Uh, and the guy that I worked for, uh, he Matt Palm, he's now the head coach at Finlay University. He was also the athletic director at Heidelberg at the time, uh, as well as the base coach. So got got to really learn how to run a program successfully and kind of the ins and outs of the just the day-to-day operations, the recruiting side of things, and and um, you know, a lot of people on the outside, heck, even my own family at times I think still thinks that it's just show up, throw BP, and hit fungos, but there's a lot of other stuff that that goes into it. Um that you know I would would not have known and would not have known how to go about it the correct way if I didn't work for him.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

Um so you still so you still keep it touching because I you play them every year. Like when Tommy was there, I remember I found that that center fielder kid was a stud, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:03

Yeah, yeah. We have another really good one, uh Casey Marooniac, he's a senior this year. Uh, we actually play them tomorrow. Oh wow. The we're supposed to get a lot of rain tonight, um, but I also don't mind making him complain about the field being wet in the ice and everything, just because I mean he'll usually talk shit to me in the third base box, and then I'll usually chirp him right back and like all good natured.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:30

Uh, but yeah, we have he'll even start making comments to our guys to tell me that he said this. Oh, that's the best. So yeah, but no, he's he's very good, very been very successful wherever he's been.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Yeah, it's funny, it's funny actually, Brady.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:45

Didn't we in a couple episodes ago, wasn't there something going on with oh yeah, when Finley trounced uh yeah, when they beat Bowling Green, they were talking some mad shit online about being the premier orange and black school of Ohio.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

So that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:01

I think they run ruled bowling green.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:04

Yeah, no, I I remember seeing that on online. Always entertaining. So you went go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:12

No, I was just thinking, so where from Heidelberg was Velpo or where was uh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:18

Um, and after I was done with my two years as a GA at Heidelberg, um, you know, he said you can come back, we can try and find like a small stipend position to lie here, but obviously I was done with my master's um and I didn't want to make uh a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars at the time. So I made the really smart decision to just send out every emails and resumes to a bunch of people asking for volunteer jobs instead of turning that down. So it doesn't really make sense uh at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:48

It's all about relationships at that age, though, right? Like you're meeting so many darn people, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:54

Sorry, no, no, and then um so I ended up getting lucky because I was coaching a college summer ball team down in Georgia and had interviewed at a couple different places, and finally Valpo University had reached back out to me and said, Hey, you know, we saw your resume. Um, come to find out, it was the head coach's wife who was just answering all the emails and looking at it. So she actually liked my resume. Uh and then passed it on to her husband, and then got hired as a volunteer there. And after like two days there, the second assistant and kind of an assistant recruiting coordinator, he had actually quit coaching altogether to go sell wine and cheese, I think, down in Indianapolis. He was just tired of the grind of everything. Yeah, um, so immediately got to go into a spot where I was the hitting coach and worked with the outfielders, the infielders, and the catchers. Uh possibly. Because the head guy, like he was he was a nine-year big leaguer, but he was more of a figurehead and he would say that. Um but he let me kind of run our own thing. And then the pitching coach, he handled all the pitching side of things and the recruiting side on the pitching side, and then all the the strength and conditioning stuff. So it was cool. I got to learn how to run a system and a program and then or at Heidelberg, and then got to actually implement it, basically do it whatever I wanted when I was at Valpo. And we had some success there. We made it to the conference championship game all three years that I was there and won it the second and third year.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:30

What conference are they in? Are they in? They're not. What were they?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:33

They were in the horizon.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:34

Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay. So that's when you were there, their horizon. Now they're in what, like Missouri Valley or something?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:40

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now they're in the Missouri Valley. They joined the Missouri Valley, I think like three or four years after I left there. Gotcha. Which the horizon league back then, when it was UIC and Wright State, uh, Butler was still in it at the time. Like those, I mean, right state's always good. Uh yeah. They still are to this day, so is UIC. But yeah, the league obviously college sports have changed a lot. And yeah, teams have jumped to different leagues for basketball or football or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

I was gonna say, I always assume it's like a football move when you see that stuff going on.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:12

Yeah, I know I know there it was always basketball. Oh, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:16

Homer, Homer, what was his name? Homer, uh Homer Drew. Yes, Bryce and Homer, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:22

Yeah, yeah. Yep. And then from there, got asked to go to Western to join Billy Gernan and his staff. Um, and then I was there for I don't know, eight or ten years. It that all kind of runs together. Part of it was during the COVID year. Um, but I was the recruiting coordinator and associate head coach while I was there.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

You know what? Now that I think about it, now okay, so I didn't think we're gonna get into this, but like so Heidelberg and then eventually Western if I remember correctly, Sikorsky. Was recruited by two schools, and one was Heidelberg and one was Western. Was that a petrol thing?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:07

No, I I don't think so. I the I know the guy that's the head coach there now and after Palm left, he was the other he was an assistant when I was there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:17

So like he recruited Michigan hard and especially the Catholic leagues. Uh because it's not that far from Tiffin, Ohio, even though even though it's kind of the armpit of America.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

I was hoping, I was hoping it was gonna be like, oh yeah, that was that was all Petro there.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:33

I wish. I I wish I had a part of that. But with Easton at Western, yeah. Yeah, I think I saw him probably like seven or eight times.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:40

Yeah, that was my that was my first phone call, and we'll we'll probably get into it though when you talk when you got the job over there, just curious. You know, with my son going through when you were starting there, and man, Sikorsky, all those guys speak so highly of you and says a lot about you, but keep going with the background. I'm sorry, I I do this to people all the time. My bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:01

No, you're good, Mike. You can cut me off whenever you want. I'm not that important. So um uh from there, yeah. I interviewed at a lot of different places. I probably have like 77 resumes and applications for places that turn me down for one reason or another. Uh and I was fortunate enough, right time, right place with Saginaw. And um, this is my fourth year there, or fourth year here.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:29

Yeah, and yeah, the seniors are the seniors are so the sophomores, hopefully I say this the right way. The sophomores are your is kind of your first generation, the excuse me, the juniors are your first generation, right? Kind of.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:46

Yes, but we do, I mean, because of the the roster situation that we kind of had when um my first year and Tommy's first year, where like 65 guys on the roster, uh, more than the lions in training camp. Uh we have we have a lot of red shirt juniors as well right now, but like the true juniors academically, those are the first that was my first class, but yeah, yeah. I mean uh the the red shirt juniors are the guys that are seniors and all the guys that we inherited, like I told them the same thing. I chose them, they didn't choose me. Yeah, um really cool. I'd done my background on a lot of them, and we didn't cut anybody. Uh we had some guys that that quit. Uh I some guys that were on the team uh prior to when I got here that I think you know they heard what the expectations and the standards and stuff like that were gonna be academically, weight room, all that. Um this isn't really for me, and there's no harm feeling, no hard feelings there. And I'll still actually talk to a couple of them. I'll see them randomly at games. Yeah, but but yeah, now now we're down the roster. Naturally is down to around like 37 guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:58

Wow, that's a good number.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:00

Yeah, we've been doing it by like however many people we have graduate. Like the the first year I think we graduated 14. Yeah, brought in eight. The next year we graduated 24, uh, because there were a ton of COVID 50 year and six-year guys on that team, uh, the regional team. And we brought in, I think it was 12. And then the year after that, we lost another 10. We brought in maybe nine, nine, eight or nine. Um, and that number has gradually trickled down each and every each and every day.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:34

I want I wanted to ask you a little bit about some some of the players that have moved on to Pro Bowl but first, Brady, I want to tell you a little story about Coach Petro. So as you know, um, you know, Tommy was recruited to go to Saginaw Valley, my son Tommy, and you know, it's a it's a weird thing as a dad and just baseball in general, when a coach leaves or for whatever reason, and then a new guy comes in with all these new recruits, and you know, you kind of want to stay out of it as a parent, right? And then me being in the baseball world, it was super like I don't know, I don't I'm it was on me to make it uncomfortable, right? Like I would call you every day about a player, but then like, God forbid, you know, it's my son. But but Brady, Coach Petro reached out to all the recruits, and you know, he had a conversation with me. You might I don't even know if you remember this coach, but you obviously had a lot on your plate taking over a program. You said something to me that you said a couple seconds ago that you kind of I forget how you said it way more elegantly, but like you you kind of picked the roster too, or how did you say it?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:46

Like I chose them, they didn't choose me. They all they all made their commitment to another coach, another program, philosophy, all that stuff. But yeah, I saw what what we had and what we had coming in and and what this place can be, um, and has kind of trended to be. Uh, and yeah, I chose I chose them. So like right now, I like I don't I think that's the first thing I said at the beginning of this year's meeting. Is like there is no my guys and old guys like that. They're all my guys. Like, I love Ethan Scheib, I love Chase Raymond, I love Will Jude.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:20

Like those guys will always those guys are easy to love because they're dogs too, aren't they? Yeah, yeah. No, but that was it was very impactful what you did there. And a lot of college coaches, I don't think do that, but like that was a big deal for me, not as a coach, as a parent. Like, it was like, holy shit. I told my I told my wife before I even told Tommy that we had that conversation because we're all everyone's worried at that time. It's uh yeah, I would a crazy time, right? Like you have you have no idea what's going on. But that that just you know told me right away that you're into this for the right reasons, you're probably gonna be a lifer when it comes to coaching, right? Like that's just how it goes. But that was really cool, really cool story. So, Brady, I'm blabbing a lot because you know how I feel about coach Petro. I'll keep going. But do you have anything before I dig into the couple other things?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:13

Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, what was it about Saginaw Valley? How did you find out you were the head coach? Because you said you sent out almost, you know, probably close to a hundred resumes somewhere else.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:23

Yeah, that was over the course of probably like 12 years. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:27

No, and trust me, I I I I know that feeling of sending things out, and it gets to a point where you're sending them out, you're like, well, I'll never hear back from them again, but I've got to send it out. So you send it back, you hear back, and then how did you find out you had gotten the head job?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:42

Um, well, the job, it was a weird transition time at the university, too. Um, they the president had just retired or just announced he was retiring. Uh, so they were in the process of finding a new president. The athletic director had just retired. So the interim athletic director, Angela Pohl, she was in charge of the search, uh, but also just taking over interim athletic director duties. So she had about a hundred other things that she was doing as well. Um, and uh the I know the job opened up at the beginning of June, uh, and then I think the interview process started, like it was a little bit slow and started uh after July 4th. Uh, and then I didn't find out until probably August 2nd, about a week after the in-person interviews. Um and yeah, it was a long week. That was a stressful week because I was at the point in my coaching career where like I'd interviewed at different places, and I didn't just interview anywhere either. Like there were there's always 300 jobs that come open. Um, but I wanted to apply for the right place in the right school, uh, just because I wanted to go somewhere where there's a chance to actually build something and uh a place that we could kind of make our own. Um, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:07

You had to move the family, you had to do all that fun stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:10

Yeah. Um, but the the roster, the location, um the the facilities are amazing here once you get here, outside of our outfield at times after a rainy day. Uh like our indoor facility is pretty good. Um the the weight room, the I wouldn't say it's just pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:30

That indoor facility. I'm being modest with that. And Brady and Brady, Brady's seen it too. Like, my daughter went on a visit there, I don't know, six, seven years ago, whatever it was. And she's like, right when she walked in there, she's like, I'm going here. I'm like, Casey, you don't even have a freaking offer. You literally just yeah, walked into this place, but those that facility is like unbelievable.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:52

No, it's an it's an easy place to sell. Um, because it kind of sells itself once you get guys on campus. Uh the league is competitive. You got a chance here to actually win a national championship versus you know your national championship being just kind of the conference tournament each year. Right, right. Um the the competition that we're gonna play uh year in, year out is always gonna be good. Um the I love the administration that I work with in the athletic department. Like they're very supportive, they're very helpful. Um they actually care uh and and constantly you know sending text when we're on the road or after a big win and things like that. So um there are a lot of good things about this place, most importantly, the guys that we have on the roster. Like it we have really good dudes and they um just a good group of of guys that are hardworking, they don't make excuses that much. Um I mean, everybody, everybody is going to at some point. Um they kind of just they roll with the punches and and show up each day ready to work and ready to compete, regardless of what the circumstances are. Uh and it's been like that since the group that I inherited to the group that we have now.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:11

Uh that's one thing I noticed too, like that first year you came in, like it clicked really quickly from like a camaraderie standpoint, and the boys were all like one unit, and it it was pretty quick. It happened, and it's a personality thing, it's you, your staff, but like those kids click, man. They're all kind of like they take on that. We're the we're we're the tough dudes from Saginaw, we're ready to roll, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:38

We're a bunch of country kids that fish and hunt, basically.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

So yeah. Now Adam Adam Peters is a fisher and hunter now, and they he's not even anywhere near that.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:48

I don't trust him with a gun. No way. I wouldn't trust Peter. No, no chance. He'd probably trip and fall.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:54

So you you mentioned, you know, how how tough the Gleak is, and you know, between you, Davenport, Wayne State, Grand Valley, it feels like it's everyone takes their turn being the favorite, especially over the last half decade. What about the Gliak makes it so tough when maybe other divisions in the state, whether it's higher or lower than Division II, struggle to compete at that level where you're right, you know, the team that comes out of the Gliak tournament uh has a chance to win a national title. I mean, I think right now two GLIAC teams would be set to host the the regionals uh at this point. Why is the GLIAC so tough? And why, I mean, there's so many programs in the state. How do the Gliak schools get all that talent and keep all that talent?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:36

Man, that's a uh that's a good question. I I think for starters why the league I think is so tough is like there is no off-weekend where I think the there's one team in our league who just transitioned from NAI to Division II where their the record isn't where where they probably would want it to be, and that's um it was a big jump.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:57

It was a big jump for them. Yeah, but what but watch out for them because they're in Chicago, right? Eventually.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:02

And they have they have really good players, and they their coach is a really good guy, and another guy that's in it for the right reasons, and he works really hard. And in a couple years, they're um yeah, it could happen next year. Uh they will they will get to where they want to be and they will be a program that's in the mix, but everybody else is pretty much 500 or above. Um I know Purdue Northwest, I think, is like 15 and 16. Um, and and that's the low end uh record-wise. Uh, but everybody else is uh is projected to be a 28 to 35 plus win team. Um and there just is no weekend off. You don't you don't get it. We're in the GLVC, there's eight teams at the bottom of that league that I think don't have they have under 12 wins. Um, and they don't play the whole schedule. So you may not play the top two or three teams in the league on any given year, but you play all five of the bottom setup. Interesting teams.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:05

I did not know that.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:06

We're here. I mean, we know we're gonna play Wayne State, we know we're gonna play Davenport, we know we're gonna play G V. And we know we're gonna play uh Parkside and Purdue Northwest. We know we know we're gonna play the same teams every year. There's never gonna be a oh well this year we drew the lucky end of the schedule. Uh like like some of the bigger schools and bigger conferences. Um but yeah, I mean uh they're just their programs ran by good guys and good people. Uh I mean obviously Kevin Tidy and um RK or Ryan Kelly at Wayne State, they've been here for the longest in the league. I think RK is at 18 years. Tidy um is at I think close to that, if not maybe a couple years longer at Davenport. Obviously, they haven't been division two the whole time, but yeah, they've been successful and and they're good people and they have a system. And I mean it's different than ours and how we recruit and go about things, but doesn't make it right, doesn't make it wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:04

It just so with all that said, can you explain to me what the hell the Gliak turn for tournament format is? Because that is the most convoluted tournament I have ever seen. And you know, I I I'm a Gliak guy, went to Wayne State, I was I did your a couple of your games this weekend, but the Gliak tournament, I've never seen a tournament where you can win round one and play someone that also lost round one.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:30

Yeah, it's so weird. I couldn't, it's so confusing. I still couldn't tell you what would happen if we were if we were the one seed or the four seed. I still don't know who we would play in the next the next round win or lose.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:44

You just wait for someone to tell you, hey, all right, next up, you got parkside next.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:48

Yeah, okay. Do I have the 9 a.m. game? Do I need to get breakfast at the hotel? Or do are we good to wait until lunch and get lunch delivered to the field? Yeah, like it's confusing. I don't know why they don't go to where just make it uh one and two get a bye, and the other four teams are playing the first round.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:07

Right. That makes the most sense and to me would be the easiest, but or it is a seven you have a seven-team league, four make the tournament, and you just do a double elimination regional style tournament.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:19

Yeah, yeah, that's a marvelous. There's there's so many different routes you could go with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:23

By the way, by the way, Brady argues about every conference tournament. I don't know how what you got going on in your brain. I I just show up to watch people play.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:33

It needs to be simple, right? Like if a fan goes, all right, like let's say there's maybe someone on the football team or or just a Saginaw Valley alum that goes, hey, the Cardinals are having a good year this year. Let's see how they're going to do in the conference tournament. And you look at it, and it looks like a Yeah. You look like it's a foreign language, and you go, wait, if they win, they go here, but if they lose, they go here. But and it's not inviting to the average fan, except for the diehard parents that you have that are probably have been around a few years that kind of understand the mess. It is it's just is not inviting to the average fan to say, come on down. It needs to be simple. Hey, if we win, we go to the finals. If we lose, we're in the losers bracket. Everyone understands that.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:15

It gets even weirder where if somebody wins the the first or the second round game where it's a winner versus loser, and I can't remember which one it is. It's not it's not for both of the or both of the losers, it's just for one of them. Where if that the loser beats the winner or beats the winner's bracket team, then the bracket like flips again.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:38

Yeah, it becomes like from a four-team tournament the rest of the way to a five-team tournament.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:43

And yeah, and then it has a chance to flip again two more games down the road. Yeah, it's it's really confusing. It does like I think you said it best. It looks like a foreign language. I have to study that thing and look at it for like an hour just to see what the possible scenarios are. And then our guys are of course asking or texting, like, hey coach, who win, like if so-and-so wins this game, is this who we have? And then what time would we play? It's like, well, um, if they if they play a game in under a two and a half hour time limit plus win by plus two or cover the spread, then we play it at 9 a.m. tomorrow or whatever. Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:22

That that sucks from like a fan's perspective, like Brady's saying. I couldn't imagine it like from a coach's perspective with pitching matchups, right? I mean I know you I know you have your like one, two, threes or whatever, but there's gotta be that's gotta be tough for the yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:38

You guys just roll it ain't easy. You just you're trying to just plan for 17 different scenarios and hopefully there wasn't an 18th one that comes up that you missed.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:48

That's crazy. That is not and this year, this year it's that UWM field, right? All the everyone's okay, all right.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:54

We're hoping nice. That like the that was the biggest complaint the past couple years about um at Lansing, where uh the new ownership group had kind of just made things a little less personal feel, uh, where they were blocking off different sections of the stadium and you could only sit in certain areas. Yeah, but I think UWM feel that the turf that is like we just played on it last week. Uh that was really, really nice. And I've been to a couple US PPO games when a few of our guys have played there, and like the atmosphere is actually really, really cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:28

By the way, when you played there, what'd you have 14 stolen bases in that game or something dumb like that? It was a video game number.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:34

It was 15. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the that that doesn't happen. No, and that was that was it's probably the fourth or fifth time we did we've had over over 10 plus, I think, this year. Maybe is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:51

Have you always been like that? Is that have your teams always been like the base stealing threats? I just never really noticed, I guess. I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:01

Always wanted to be. Um, our first year here is kind of like we had a lot of guys that were uncomfortable having the green light because they'd never had it before, um, and not and kind of learning and understanding when to go, but also trusting that they could go, uh, and that if they got thrown out or got picked off, because we do a combination of a lot of different things. Sometimes we do the vault leads, um, sometimes we do we delay steel, other times it's straight steel, uh, with the bigger lead, different versatile, different lefties and righties. Like we have a lot of different weapons in our bag, I guess you could say, that that we want to be able to use and can use on different types of pitchers and different types of looks that we're gonna get. Um but I I don't think guys were as comfortable yet in trusting their own abilities and trusting that like if they got picked off, I wasn't gonna get mad.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:54

They weren't benched for the season.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:56

Yeah, yeah, basically. Um, and so we're now we did we do put a lot more and we have put a lot more emphasis on it, um, not only in the fall, uh, but really when we come back um from winter break, we've we've hammered any and all different situations that we could do, like even stuff as simple as getting them comfortable going back into the base at a bigger leader with a vault lead. If they felt they could were comfortable getting that they could get back to first, okay. Then after that clicked form, they're like, oh, I don't have to worry about getting picked off. I can start to be a little bit more aggressive because I'm um, but yeah, we've we've put a little bit more of an emphasis on it, but we've it's the same stuff we've been teaching. We just have a really athletic group, and mentally and like uh I guess baseball instincts-wise, it's kind of clicked with this group, and they've kind of fed off each fed off of each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:54

So, coach, like I said, I did a couple of the games this weekend at Wayne State, and one thing I noticed, you know, game two did not go your way. Your starting pitcher just didn't have it that day. You got into a big hole early, but one thing that I saw and I was really impressed with was, you know, I think you were down seven-nothing at one point, and the at bats and and the process looked all the same. Like you, like if you just put that video in a vacuum, you wouldn't know you were down seven runs with two innings to go. Is that something that you have to instill in guys and you bring them in, they learn the process, or is that something when you're going out and recruiting, you're looking for guys who understand that that you know are gonna fit in, just like another puzzle piece that hey, they get what they need to do, they understand baseball, they can come and play for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:37

Well, it's a little bit of both. Like, I think more than anything, you want to bring in the right character, guys. Um, because if if a guy has a good head on his shoulders, like it in baseball, you you are not gonna be immune to failure or to frustration or panicking or worried about failing. Like, doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter how How well you've been brought up, how well you've been coached, eventually it's gonna happen and you're gonna deal with some adversity, and and everybody is gonna um crack a little bit at some point. Um but I do think there is something to that the type of toughness and and character kid that you're bringing in that that can help ease that transition. Like it we're still not perfect. Um you could still probably find in a batter two in that game late in the game where like, man, yeah, you were kind of checked out there. You you took the pitch that we had talked about that you were going in looking against this guy. Um it's never gonna be perfect, but as a whole, as a whole, we do we do try and instill that. And I also try and do my part as a coach to not overreact to every bad thing that happens in the game. Because if I do that, if I'm reactionary to every result that goes on, uh I'm I should expect my players to overreact to every bad result that happens. And then they're gonna be hopefully a mirror of how I handle things. And it's not always gonna be perfect, and I'm not perfect. Um, I'm sure the the pitcher that was keeping the game book uh at the beginning of that game, he could probably attest to a couple things that I was saying down at the end of the dugout. And he would coach Peters, uh, our student assistant, he could probably attest. So I'm not perfect with that either. But in general, it bad stuff's gonna happen. Shit happens in life. It's all about how you how you handle it and how you respond to it. And you can't let the circumstances dictate you know your output and and your focus level. Because if you do that, then you are gonna lose, and you're never gonna give yourself a chance to be really good. Then we I was more happy with how we came out and played in game two. Oh, yeah. We had a freshman on the mound, uh, a freshman who's Sam Briggs, who's still still learning and growing as a pitcher, and he came out and got out of a couple jams. The the energy was good, the bats were they kept carrying on from the back half of game one.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:01

Um, and I think as a staff, you stranded 13 runners that game. So yeah, pitched out of a lot of high-leverage spots. No, I thought it was, you know, those are the little things that you can't tell just looking at a box score, but at least I noticed up in the booth that I thought you guys were pretty even keel and you couldn't tell the score. Mike, uh, you have anything else before I give the last uh question to Coach Petro?

SPEAKER_00 1:30:22

Yeah, I got I get just one more quick question. So is Briggs is Briggs the kid? Did he play for Raymond's high school team? He did. So you run out, so so you run out of Raymond's and now you're just pick up kids that played it for Raymond, basically, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:37

We've still got one Raymond on the team.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:39

Oh, yeah, I know, but I'm saying no more incoming ones, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:42

Like so unfortunately, he doesn't have a fourth or fifth son that we could add to the group um because his his sons have been just model examples of toughness and and what we want, and and just good guys to be around on a daily basis. Yeah, and all three very different personalities. Uh one was definitely the rule follower, and the tough, hardworking, uh, just always just he would be the guy that would throw up after running a hill sprint and then immediately get to the bottom of the hill and then run it again. Um, and like with no without hesitation. Then Reed was the loud, uh, very entertaining comedian. Uh guy only wanted to push the envelope. Uh, and I love him to death. And but he was again a fantastic competitor. Uh, and then Chase is the quieter of the three, but also physically, you would think he's the one that could kick the other two.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:48

That's that's a pro body, right? That kid's got a pro body for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:52

Um, but they are they're fantastic. Couldn't have asked for three better guys to coach.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:58

Yeah, really cool. Good leaders.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:59

Yeah, Brady, go ahead, bud. Yeah, so coach, you know, I again thank you for coming on. This is awesome. I know you just got done playing a series, you got a game tomorrow, so I appreciate you carving out some time. All good. My last question for you you know, in your long career, have you ever had a player that's had a more baseball sounding name than Buck Snabbs?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:17

No, I'm trying to think. No, Buck Snabbs, that's uh that's probably the most baseball name you could get. We had one kid named Garkeen, and he sounds like a caveman name, and he kind of hit like a caveman uh at Heidelberg. He literally would drag his bat up behind him on the ground and then hit 420 uh all all year. Like he would even say, like, I'm not very smart with math, but when I get in the box, I I I kind of have an idea what I'm doing. That is great.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:48

But yeah, if you told me some Buck Snabbs was like the second baseman for Connie Mack in the 1930s, I would a hundred percent believe you.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:57

Yeah, and he backs it up. He's a very intelligent baseball player.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:00

He's a smooth, he's a smooth infielder. I did I didn't really I went and watched you guys the other day. He's a pretty smooth infielder.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:05

Yeah, and he's just he's smart, he's very, very heady, very intelligent, has instincts, and um he's he's always looking for the extra base. Uh he's not a not afraid to make a mistake. And and this year he's he's really grown up from um and just uh a mental aspect things on a day-to-day basis. And he had a good year last year, but he's he's doing everything really, really well this year.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:32

From base running to great year this year, yeah, to hitting, to defense.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:37

Um, yeah. Baseball name, baseball guy.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:40

Well, coach, I appreciate it. Again, thanks for uh joining us. Hopefully, we'll see you down the road from us uh in Utica in the uh Gleak tournament. And we'll we'll both try to figure out when the hell you play.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:52

Brady, say Brady, say his last name. Say his last name.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:56

Why do I have to? You've known him longer. I didn't say Coach P. Petrovix?

SPEAKER_04 1:34:01

Yeah, yeah. I again I could care less how anybody says it. Our own announcers miss it. So uh I've been used to it since I was a kid.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:09

So yeah, coach Coach Petrovix joining us. We appreciate it, Mike. Uh, you know, it I it's always nice when you just like, oh yeah, I'll just text this coach because you know everyone in this damn state.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:22

Well, I I was proud, I was proud to hear him say he'd be on, and we're proud to have you. And you know what I think about you. I'll always be rooting for you and your team, so we appreciate you jumping on, brother.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:33

I appreciate that, Mike. Same to you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:35

Thank you. And uh yeah, coach, I'm sure we'll see you in a few weeks here.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:39

Sounds good. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:41

All right, thanks again to Coach Uh Petrovix for joining us as uh, well, um, always good to talk. Now we've hit just about every level. Now we need an NAIA coach on, don't we, Mike? Um, but moving on to a final segment of Oh yeah, we will.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:57

We will.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:57

Oh, yeah. One thing I wanted to bring up uh for the DigiC again with just me and me and Mike, one thing that was curious, and this isn't baseball but football. And so this actually started the the day we're recording, and Mike, I just sent it to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:13

Um and this is Wait a second, I wait a second, I wait a second. I'm fine, I you're putting me on the spot here. I'm gonna this is gonna be nuts. Yes, well, no, you're gonna have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:26

So we'll start with saying this is a high school kid, and when you did you see this? I didn't open it, I just read it, but go ahead. All right, so this is a football one, and right now, uh very quick backstory. If you don't know, these are junior date times where you know the seniors are already committed, especially at the D2 level. Um, kids are going on visits to kind of weed out and funnel down the class. This is one of the first big official-ish things you can do, excuse me, with uh juniors uh in football. Uh and this young man, um, if you've seen it, you've seen it. I'm not gonna say his name because he is a high schooler, but he put it out on social media, so I think it's fair to talk about. Um, he just said, after a really great day at GVSU Junior Day, I'm blessed to not receive an offer. Let's keep working, and then tagged all the coaches in it.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:23

All right, so this is fucking hilarious. This is fucking hilarious. So this kid is awesome. I love this kid. You know what? Yeah, because I can't I know football's different, but like the announcement of offers. Oh, so that's why you like this. It bothers the shit out of me. And okay, when Tommy Rice, my son, was like 12 years old.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:50

And okay, you know Tommy, and hopefully he doesn't get mad at me about this, but Tommy was like 4'11. Not, I don't even know if he was five feet, and he's the most humble kid, like most down-to-earth kid. And he got like a letter in the mail at St. when he was at St. Thecla from like ball state for something generic. He, if we went back and looked, if it was still there, he put out a tweet that said, let's receive this letter from Ball State. I had six turnovers, three travels, four, like making fun of himself. So I I see this tweet that you sent me from this kid, and I I do not think we should say his name, but you've probably seen it if you're on Twitter.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:42

But so I will tell you that has not been the overwhelming reaction.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:48

I know, I know, I knew that. People are trolls.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:51

Well, I would not have advised this kid to do this. And Tommy, I know you have the headset on. If you want to, I linked it in the Google sheet if you want to pull up this tweet. Well, if he was um, but the point being great meeting, if he was serious, if he was go ahead. Yeah, that that's the question, right? And that's why you you tread lightly on social media. And the old um adage is on the internet, unless you explicitly say you're sarcastic or not being serious, people are gonna assume you're being serious.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:28

Yeah, well, he did, he did one of those like fate he did one of those face emojis that old people like me don't know if that I think it's a sarcastic, smiley laugh thing, but that's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:38

Now, tagging the coaches is a bold move. Yeah, that is that that is where you go from like, oh, okay, like that's yeah, you you might actually be upset here.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:55

I think you know me well enough now. I hate confrontation. So like I could have read that tweet and really went in on it. Like, if one of my players did that on uh from the Detroit prospects, it would have been a shitstorm. Like it would not have been cool. No, I looked at this as just a guy, it's freaking hilarious. Like, that's something Voltrauer would fucking do. Right. Like it would be hilarious, but it's the wrong, probably the wrong thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:25

It's one thing, okay. Like, like I had joked when I was gonna commit to Wayne State that I was gonna have like the Wayne State hat and I was gonna have like LSU and Ohio State and and be like, oh, which one am I picking? But that's because obviously, like it's not the same. You're at a junior day.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:47

Yeah, but you but again just went to a room but again, like even your example, Brady, is hilarious, but that would have been a terrible move on social media because you're like, oh, I can't go to these schools, so I'm running Wayne State. No, I know, yes. You know what I mean? Like that it's funny, it's funny in the garage. This kid is fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:09

Yes, that is a funny thing to say. The wrong move, but it's it can be both things, right? It's funny, but I would never have told this young man to do this. And I guess it's because you came from an actual event. So they've had interest in you, right? And you know how recruiting boards work is you have your A-level guys, the ones that are probably a little out of your range, but you're hoping that they slip through the cracks. Then you have your high-end realistic guys, then you have like the, all right, I like these guys, they're just not their top guys, and then you have the, all right, if if those guys commit somewhere else, the the other ones to bring in. Not everyone's a high-level recruit. So if one kid from, you know, go that's getting recruited to Grand Valley or a couple get offers from Ball State and Western and Bowling Green and then end up being Matt kids, you might have just disc like maybe he knew he didn't want to go there, and he's like, Well, if I'm not gonna go there, I hate it here. I'm just going to blow it up and have fun with it. But I figured it was something at least worth bringing up. And I do wish to get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:16

It's a bad move if he's a real recruit. It's a bad move. Like Fairest State's not gonna like that. Wayne State's not gonna like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:25

But if he's a gangster and he's going to Fair Estate and he's just gonna be like, now that was the one thing, like if he had an offer from Fair Estate ready to pull out behind it, still not a good move, but it'd be like, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm going here, I'm going to your main rival. But that that caused a stir on social media. And again.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:47

Yeah, I'd have to I'd have to I'd have to look at his profile to see, yeah. Oh man, he's holy shit, he's a real football player. I thought maybe like it was like my son, like my son Tommy. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:58

This is an actual recruit. Actual recruit.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:07

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Gee. Yeah, tone, tone change the though. Again, we're not talking. Yeah. It was a hilarious kid, like something Voltrar would totally do, like, you know, but holy cow.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:24

Yeah. So funny, but yeah, so like I'm trying to explain like what a junior day would be like. It's really the first kind of official capacity, you go on campus and meet everything. Like, I went to a few of them, and it's kind of like, all right, this is our like this is every recruit we're kind of interested in for the next year.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:46

And that we can get there. It's very exclud, it's very exclusive. I wouldn't say very, but it's very exclusive.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:52

It's like an exclusive thing. I don't think and every school is different, but usually you have to be invited to it. You can't just sign up for a junior day. I believe. No, I could be wrong. But yeah, I don't think G V's wasting time. Well, hey, look, can you see? Yes. Can you see the globe? Yeah, Jupiter. You're telling me my drink's ready. All right. Well, I think that means Mike has to get out and get ready to enjoy Vegas. Um, Mike, uh, hopefully we have the guys back next week and we'll have a lot of fun, but we always appreciate everyone listening.

unknown 1:43:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:27

Good job, Brady. Thank you, Mike. Enjoy Vegas and everyone. We will see you next week right here on the Walk Ons podcast.