Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host, ryan brownlee.
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Cary, North Carolina has been the premier home of the NCAA Division 2 Baseball National Finals since 2009, hosting the championship event nearly every year at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
This will be part one of On Location Episodes. We will hear from Catawba's Jim Gantt, Point Loma's Justin James, UT Tyler's Brent Porsche and Tampa University's Joe Erso.
Congrats to Tampa University Joe Erso for winning his eighth NCAA Division 2 championship and an unprecedented three peat. As always, I appreciate the coaches for taking time out of their schedules to sit down with me. Let's welcome everyone to the podcast.
All right here with Jim Gantt, Catalba fifth appearance here at the World Series and I know last year we saw each other a lot, but I'm really glad to see right now.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Well, thank you, thank you. Good to see you.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah, 47 and 12. How is this team different than last year's team?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: I think we executed down the stretch.
We handled the pressure a little bit better.
I think the teams that we played had a heck of a offense the last game we were able to keep it in the ballpark with Francis Marion. That made a big difference for us.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Did you talk about that much then during the years as far as handling it maybe a little bit better down the stretch?
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Well guys, I think they prepared all year feeling like we left a little bit on the table, so that was a different focus.
So you know you want to win the conference, you want to win the conference tournament, all that stuff, but the end goal is to be here. You know, so each day they approached it that way. And, you know, sometimes we forget that the game's just a game. It doesn't matter who you're playing or what stage it is.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: You know, seems like a typical team for you guys. Just play really good baseball.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: I think that's our biggest attribute. That's what we try to do. We try to be good at playing the game of baseball. It's not all high velo, bat flips, launch angle and all that stuff. You know, you got to move runners, you got to play defense, you got to pitch.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Would you call that winning baseball? I mean, what is your definition of winning? Because when I watch you guys, I feel like you guys play winning baseball.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think first and foremost, you have to approach it the right way because you can be a champion without winning a championship. And there's not a lot of stuff out of our dugouts. There's not a bunch of. We're not trying to show up the other team and embarrass him because, you know, you're either going to be humble or you're about to be humbled in this game. But playing the game of baseball is winning baseball to me.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: What type of standards do you have set? Just seems like you guys hold your guys accountable. What kind of standards do you have for the program?
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Well, first and foremost, we're not trying to recruit problems, you know, and that helps. I mean, people that are good academically typically can handle college academics, but we want good people, and that comes from the families. We're really trying not to mess them up because we have some really good dudes in our program, and we're trying not to mess those guys up. And our families are great and they're very supportive, and so you just.
We don't have a bunch of rules. We have standards, as you mentioned, and you got to uphold that or you don't get to play with us.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Any adversity this year?
[00:04:41] Speaker B: We've had some injuries throughout the year, some crazy injuries, concussions, wrists.
Play on some fields that are really bad, and you get wrist injuries, sliding, you know, and stuff like that really is unfortunate because people can do stuff about that, but not a whole lot of adversity.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Any good surprises on the roster this year?
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Logan Dyer, our leadoff guy. Moving him into that spot was maybe the turning point of our year.
He just gets on base a lot, and that moves Sam Hunter into a three hole for us. Sam likes to run a lot, and he was hitting in front of Crabtree, and so running wasn't Necessarily the thing at that moment, because Crabtree needed to hit, but we do it in reverse.
But yeah, that probably was a turning
[00:05:25] Speaker A: point for us when you decided to make those decisions.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: It was midway through the year, a little bit earlier in the year, more so than the second half. But Dyer's just a competitor and that's stuff that don't show up in the stat sheets. He's not gonna walk in the door and pass the eye test, but he's competitor. He always has competitive at bats and that's crucial.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Do you lay it out any differently during the spring as far as like pre conference conference and then now heading into postseason? Does it lay out any different for you or is it pretty much the same every day?
[00:05:55] Speaker B: No, we try to play a schedule throughout the year that all regional games, all tough opponents.
Just being in the region, if you play Mount Olives and Pembrokes and Belmont Abbeys, you're going to have a tough schedule. And then we go down and see Rudy and those guys down in Florida and that's always good to open up and that, that kind of. It don't determine our season. But if we go down there and go for four, we might not have a good year. You know, we need a winter game or two to have a chance, but we try to play all year. So the automatic qualifier in the SAC Tournament is not something that we have to win. You want to win it, but you want to play good enough all year to be able to get there and to the regional postseason play. And it's kind of the way we set it up.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: What'd you get out of workouts yesterday and then what are you trying to get out of today? I mean, you said you haven't played on dirt a whole lot.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Yeah, well, we do some, you know, throughout the year in our conference games and non league games. There's a few of them. But we do have some turf in our conference, if not the whole field or the infield.
Our carpet at home is just. It plays true. There's no bad hop. So coach Simpson takes them out in the gravel parking lot for ground balls and all, just to get used to it with tennis balls. And so we're practicing over on the grass fields today to get used for the field that we're going to play on. But the field over there so immaculate. It's kind of like playing on our field.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, obviously they did a great job with the. The new surface, putting drainages helps and the grass looks like it's in great shape. And obviously for you Guys, first time somebody's playing on this. This new grass.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: Wow. I didn't realize that, but yeah, it's unbelievable out there.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you get back to work?
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Not just our fans. Our fans and our family support this year was outstanding. Our school supports us. They'll be out. I think they put in a rule here at Cary that you can't have food trucks out for tailgating because of us a few years ago. But they support us and they support all the sports at Catawba. But yeah, our fans and family especially. But our assistant coaches, Jeremy Simpson, Cole Hels, who's our pitching coach. Zach Allman works with our catchers, who's a Catawba graduate as well. And Curtis Owen works with our outfielders quite a bit. But our scouting reports, especially with Simpson and Hales, our preparation, I think that's what changed the season for us going into it because they're so thorough with it and our guys are prepared.
They're advanced way beyond their time with their age and coaching experience, but they've done such a great job.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: What did they layer on that maybe was different this year with their. Their scouting reports?
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Well, we.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Different from the past.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: We had access to some other things, but video review and some of the stuff with synergy and all that stuff. But we know what we're going to face, you know, and we set it up in practice with the spinball machine. We kind of create what we're going to see on the mound and I guess everybody probably does that, but we kind of know what to expect and. And just the scouting reports of knowing what the other team may do as well.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Thanks for your time, coach. See Point Loma. Justin James, a season as head coach, 4911 record, but Alma mater and an assistant for a while as well. So third appearance here, so congrats.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: What did you learn from Carol Land?
[00:09:03] Speaker C: A lot of stuff.
Patience.
And then there was just a ton of just history there. He gave us a bunch of history lessons and then he was our AD also my two years playing at Point Loma as a junior and senior. So he would come by and I think just high standards and expectations.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: The overall.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Are you that patient?
[00:09:22] Speaker C: No. Yeah, actually I've gotten a whole lot better at being patient. I think that's a skill that you learn as you just do this job more and more. I think you have to because baseball is so humbling that if you're impatient, it actually just ruins your day more.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: What's the strength of your Guys squad keep telling everyone.
[00:09:39] Speaker C: I think it's the depth.
We pitch really well and play defense for the most part really well all year. You never know how that can change. However, I'm able to move guys in and out of the lineup and don't lose much offensively or defensively. And a lot of guys gotten playing time this year. So I think that's a good thing.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: How are you switching the lineup around depending on pitching matchups?
[00:10:00] Speaker C: Oh, we don't typically if there's anything I'll switch maybe one or one guy flip flop by one spot. But other than that we've been left versus right, we're pretty balanced. So I just kind of roll out the same lineup depending if it's left or right.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: You ever leave lefties and against lefties?
[00:10:16] Speaker C: Kind of have to because our lefties are really good. There's really no reason to take them out. I don't think we get much benefit by taking them out, by putting in a matchup per se.
And we just play maybe a different style of baseball if the matchup isn't something that we like. But overall we don't, we don't play the lineup game. We really haven't ever too much.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Do you feel like a lot of that too? With left handed pitchers in college, sometimes their change ups their best pitch. So it kind of takes their their best off speed pitch out of their repertoire for sure.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: And then there's splits that you study and do all that stuff. More and more the change up on same handedness is becoming prevalent. So I don't know if the old school way of thinking really is true as much anymore. However, if the guy's best pitch is his slider, it can help if you have some left handed batters. But you better teach him how to hit a right handed slider also.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: So is that a good point for coaches? Like if their best pitch is their change up, it doesn't matter if it's right handed or left handed hitter up there, they should throw their best off speed.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I think in general how I was taught how to call pitches. You just go against your throw your strengths rather than the batter's weakness per se. If it lines up, that's awesome. But if not, while you're throwing your third best pitch, when you have a second pitch that's much better and you're just throwing it only because it's left versus right.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Who are some players to watch this week?
[00:11:35] Speaker C: We have a few for sure. It's a good team. Derek Silva on the mound is really, really Good.
We have Devin Norton. Both were all Americans. And Tristan Moore in the outf.
Also an All American.
Having a great year. At third base is Josiah Rodriguez. He's an exciting player to watch. And again, the whole lineup. Oh, Hank Smith are closing our DH and our four hole. He's an exciting player who plays both sides of the ball at a high level.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: What are the keys to preparing for this week?
[00:12:04] Speaker C: Nothing much. We kind of just kept the same thing we. Our standards are pretty high here, or at least I try to keep them high, where September practice doesn't look much different than our May practice. Just to keep it consistent for the guys and not get them thinking outside of the moment.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: I mean, do you have other standards for the program? What do you use for your standards?
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Oh, man, just everything matters.
We preach one pitch at a time like everyone else, but we really harp on it meeting after meeting, but just details like one pitch at a time, one lift at a time, one meal at a time. And I hold them to that standard and they just do a great job. And I think that translates to good baseball.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: We had much adversity this year. I mean, you won the regular season and the tournament, correct?
[00:12:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we had adversity. All everyone's going to say they've had adversity in their cliche meetings. I think we have, just because the west coast baseball is a lot harder than people think and get credit for. We had a lot of games. We were down in. Down big early in and even late in the postseason where these guys just didn't freak out, stayed calm. We had a couple of small injuries that guys were out for a week to three weeks, and we had to figure it out. But again, that goes back to our depth and some guys stepped up pretty big.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: When I say the term winning baseball, what's that mean to you?
[00:13:16] Speaker C: Just being tough, I think. When things don't look exactly how you want to, can you still stay the course?
Are you freaking out in the dugout? Can you keep your body language? Can you keep your focus on things that matter versus not, especially in college baseball.
Are you worried about the other team's dugout when you're down and getting punched in the face? And can you just keep getting back up? And we practice that a lot.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: How do you handle that white noise? You see it more and more with teams kind of chirping, and I think we did in the old days. You just didn't see maybe see it on the field as much as you do now. How are you relaying that to Guys like, hey, there's a way to play. And there's. There's another way to play.
[00:13:52] Speaker C: I think it's gotten worse, to be honest. And again, we only worry about ourselves. I try and preach that to do that perfectly is impossible. But when you start worrying about things that don't matter, I think I've gotten better at teaching that what they do is irrelevant. They can chirp all they want.
And again, I don't hate it. It's college baseball. This is supposed to be exciting, supposed to be fun. And if something big happens for your team, I think you should celebrate it. I just think a little bit of old man, get off our lawn. I think we need to do a better job of corralling that a little bit where it doesn't get too out of hand. But in general, I think there should be some celebrations in baseball because they're not working yet.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: So I think it kind of went hand in hand with social media, too. But in the old days, the game kind of policed itself, which you can't do it anymore. Like, you can't police in game like you used to be able to. And I think that's what kept it down. Like, we can't go back to that, but that's kind of what kept it down in the old days.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: Agreed.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: And again, I think it's just whoever's in charge of whatever program, you got to be a man yourself, and you got to teach what being a man looks like. And I think some of that has slipped a little bit, and we just need some more men in this. In this life and in this game for leadership purposes.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: What do you feel like has helped you the most at your point, this point in your career?
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Oh, man, I think just learning. I'm obsessed with learning.
I think a big proponent. I'm a big proponent of going to watch other people's programs every fall. I go do two to three programs, or I'm constantly trying to hit up other programs that are successful. What they're doing right.
Also affirmations of what we're doing right already that they're doing as well. I think that's been the most. I've taken drills I've stolen from, man, 20 different coaches, if not higher than that, and kind of made it our own and blending it. I think that's been the main thing.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: I think the better ones we have in the industry are doing that because I have coaches reach out to me like, hey, who have you seen that is doing this well? And then they'll reach out to them.
[00:15:48] Speaker C: Yeah, Almost obsessed with it. I love it. And it's just. It's fun. And there's so many guys that are doing this at a high level. They're doing something right. So it's important that I think that you try and find out what that is.
[00:15:59] Speaker A: The community service yesterday, do you guys do a lot of that?
[00:16:02] Speaker C: We do. We do an annual breast cancer awareness walk. We've won a bunch of awards there for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk in San Diego. I think we've been doing that for 15 or 18 years straight or something like that.
And our guys do a lot of that kind of stuff. And then yesterday was epic. The guys had a lot of fun doing that and they're doing such a good job at the Miracle League. I think it's really good for our guys to see that in. So then they can be a little more grateful for what we have going on.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Yeah, you probably couldn't stress that enough to other coaches. If you have a Miracle League in your area to get involved with that it's does make you appreciate everything.
[00:16:38] Speaker C: Couldn't agree more.
[00:16:39] Speaker A: Any other shout outs before I let you go?
[00:16:41] Speaker C: No, just grateful for the opportunity, obviously. Grateful for the school and what type of school we are and then just grateful for my assistant coaches. I know that they work really, really, really hard and it can be a demanding job to win and winning is very difficult. And I think I have the best in the country.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Good luck to that coach. UT Tyler, Brent Poor's 10th season as head coach. 4812 record overall. 4912 now, but all time winningest coach in school history. But we got a chance to talk last year. So Brent, thanks for being with me.
[00:17:09] Speaker D: Yeah, man, thanks for having me.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Really good win yesterday for y'. All. Is that a bad. Typical for you guys this season, how you guys played yesterday?
[00:17:16] Speaker D: I would say for the. For the last half of the season, you know, it was a good baseball game. We knew it was going to be a tough challenge going in.
You know, those guys have been to more World Series and we've been Division 2 a number of years. So, you know, Coach Crooks does a tremendous job. We kind of knew what we were getting into, had a game plan going in and you know, I think it was big to score early, get, you know, take a little bit of pressure off of our pitcher and just allow us to really attack and not be too worried about balls getting hit hard, especially in the ballpark, you know, like, like this place plays and so yeah, it was big to Execute early, got a big swing, obviously, when we needed it. And, you know, kind of the M.O. of our offense is, you know, swing at strikes and take balls, you know, and then when we get opportunities, take advantage of them. And so we were able to do that yesterday early against a guy who doesn't give up very many runs. And I think that was, you know, absolutely huge. And then the tack on innings to kind of extend the lead, obviously, especially at the end of the game, we ran into a little bit of problems. And so being able to have those two, you know, those two innings where we were able to tack on was absolutely huge as well, because that's a
[00:18:20] Speaker A: huge part in that game, because you score early and then you're kind of sitting on it. We've all been in those games like that. But then you get a chance, you punch two more.
[00:18:28] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that was, like I said, absolutely huge. I mean, you got to be able to extend the lead, especially against a team like that. They're going to fight all the way to the end. And so, you know, we kind of felt like we needed to get Dillon out. You know, hopefully he's going to get a chance to throw again in this thing, and so didn't want to overextend him and, you know, made some decisions that maybe I should have made different ones, but just didn't fill up the strike zone there at the end and kind of gave him a little bit of life. But, you know, that's a whole different ball game if we're still talking four to nothing than where we were. And so kudos to Coach White for coming up with a good game plan and for our offense and to our offense for executing it.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: I mean, do you talk about being relentless? Because that's what it just seemed like from your lineup yesterday. It was just relentless. Seemed like every at bat was a quality at bat.
[00:19:09] Speaker D: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we just. The biggest thing that we really focus on offensively, to be completely honest, is just having a really good feel for the strike zone. And, you know, I mean, I was taught growing up, like, you know, with two strikes, you gotta battle, right? Like, don't leave it in the umpire's hands. And, you know, I think there's. There's a. There's a lot of analytics that'll tell you today in Major League Baseball that that's not really the way to go about it. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, we'll take guys that take a pitch that's off that gets called a strike over swinging at something and chasing. And so our, you know, what we preached with our guys is with two strikes we're trying to stay in the strike zone.
And so I think that is what makes our at bats tough and what gives our guys a chance to.
And so, you know, we're fortunate to have trackman. And I think a big part of it too is, you know, every game we play in the fall, it's up on the video board. And so our guys get that instant feedback, pitch to pitch, of what they're seeing and where it actually is. And I think that helps us to develop that approach going into the springtime and then just communication, you know, with our, between our guys on what they're seeing, what to expect. I think we do a really good job of just trying to put together professional at bat.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Do you think that's a tip for coaches out there with two strike approach? Because I think sometimes people change so much with two strikes, they end up expanding the zone for sure.
[00:20:28] Speaker D: I mean, I think, I mean, what does a pitcher, you know, as a pitcher, what are you trying to do? You know, when you get ahead, you're trying to throw something that's a strike to a ball and get a guy to swing. And so for us it's kind of knowing what those zone, what that pitcher has and what his stuff is like and knowing where we've got to be, you know, anticipate staying in the zone where his stuff's got to start in order for us to start the swing on it. And so it's been huge for us, I would say in the last three years. That's something that we focused on a lot. And I think it's really changed our offense.
You know, it also takes you out of such a defensive mindset with two strikes and you know, at the end of the day with two strikes, we don't want to play defense. We got the bat in our hand, we're still playing offense. And so, you know, we gotta, we gotta fight and protect, obviously, pitches that are close to the zone. But like I said, the biggest thing that we talk about is just staying in the strike zone and trusting your eyes. You've done the work, you know the zone, we know the pitches that are coming, we're prepared. And so it's just, you know, a matter of trusting what we see and you know, going on the right pitch.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: I thought your shortstop was the best player on the field yesterday, the two games I saw, I thought your shortstop was the best player on the field.
[00:21:31] Speaker D: He's tremendous, man. You know, in my opinion, you know, he's probably the best shortstop in Division 2 baseball. And, you know, he's. He came to us as a freshman. Nobody else recruited him.
You know, we saw him at Melissa down in Texas at the Dom Mattingly watching another game actually, and happened to just. He made a play on a slow roller that happened to just pique my interest and watched him for the rest of that game. He played at 8am the next day, so got up and got out there at 8am the next day. Nobody else was there luckily. And, you know, he had just. He just. He's a baseball rat, man. Loves the game. He's gotten so much better since he's been with us. Just physically, he's grown into his body a little bit.
You know, some of the plays that he made yesterday are really special.
The backhand play early and, you know, I knew he was going to get the throw there. It's just a matter of whether it was going to be online. But, you know, that one and then the double play, I mean, he probably threw that ball 95 across the Dynamo and quick transfer and got rid of it quick. And so, no, he's a tremendous player, man. I think he's a professional baseball player and, you know, we're hoping he gets an opportunity to do that after this year. Obviously, we would hate to see him go, but I think he deserves it and I think he's a guy that's got a chance to make it in professional baseball. So I know there's some teams that are talking to him, so hopefully he gets an opportunity and, you know, just a tremendous kid. Can't say enough about the kid himself, the character, the loyalty that he has to our coaching staff and our program.
Just a special kid, a really special family.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's where the stat sheet maybe doesn't tell the whole story sometimes? Because he probably gets to some balls that maybe some other guys don't give up.
[00:23:01] Speaker D: Oh, 100%, man. 100%. Yeah. I mean, you know, one thing last year, you know, he had a lot of throwing errors, especially early on. And, you know, something that we really worked on this summer and this fall was just, man, controlling our pace and when to use the arm. And so, you know, he's done a really good job this year of just controlling his pace and understanding when he. When he's got to pull it out and when he can just get his feet underneath him and make an accurate throw. And I think he's, you know, I don't even know what his stats Are feeling wise, but I know they're better than they were last year and I know what I've seen with my eyes
[00:23:33] Speaker A: every day and I know what I saw yesterday.
[00:23:35] Speaker D: Yeah, and he's made strides. I mean, the special plays that he makes, like, he's been able to do that always, but, you know, just the routine play and good pace on a routine play has kind of been the, I would say, the biggest tick up in his game defensively from last year to this year.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: What'd you take coming out of here last year?
[00:23:52] Speaker D: Man, we didn't play our best baseball.
You know, new experience our first time here. Thought we had a really good team and that we were plenty capable of making some noise out here.
Had a pretty tough draw as far as the bracket goes, and I think we got two CGs thrown against us last year.
To be able to score early yesterday, I think was good. It's just a different feel. I would say. Even though we have a lot of new guys on this team, we still have six or so guys that were in the lineup every day that were here last year, that are in the lineup this year.
And, you know, I think we felt like we left something on the table last year. And so there's a little bit of urgency within our guys of like, hey, we're not just here to be here, but, like, we want to win this thing and be here as long as we can. And I think that we had a really, you know, business like approach and mindset to yesterday, and hopefully we can continue to carry that throughout the weekend.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: What were you trying to get out today? Seemed like you had pretty regular practice for you guys.
[00:24:48] Speaker D: Yeah, we just. We just got out, try to get out a little bit early, maybe beat the heat a little bit and.
But get them outside, get them moving. We had a few guys that needed to do some touch and feel on the mound and then just got some swings in, trying to anticipate what we're gonna see from Westchester coming up and just kind of work on some of those things and just wanted to get them out early and get it done. That way we can get them some food and get them back in the hotel, rest it up for tomorrow.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: What other standards do you have for the program?
[00:25:13] Speaker D: Say that again.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: What other standards do you have for the program?
[00:25:15] Speaker D: Man, I think the biggest thing that we talk about as far as the standard is just, man, the way that we approach every single day, like it doesn't matter whether you're having your best day, your worst day, you show up to work Our guys are coachable.
We get after we coach them hard, but we love them.
I think that's a big piece of what we do. We talk about showing up and being locked in no matter what the situation is. And then a lot of it too is just, man, just do what the game is demands, you know, and sometimes, sometimes that means we got to lay down a bunch. Sometimes that means, you know, we got an execute a pick. Sometimes that means, you know, we got to get our swing off. Sometimes it means we got to do a really good job of hitting the ball backside, but just not being one dimensional and finding a way to get to get the job done no matter what it takes. And I think the other thing is just you mentioned the word relentless. And you know, we talk a lot about we get to write the end of the story like it's not up to anybody else but us. And so how we respond when adversity hits and what, what it looks like, man, when it hits, we got to be tougher. You know, when it hits, we got to just bear down and trust in the work that we put in, regardless of the situation. Like, if we got an out left, we got a chance. And so, you know, that's the kind of toughness that we, that we talk about and the kind of toughness that our guys have showed. And I think that's, you know, that's how we want to play.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: That's winning baseball for sure.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: No doubt.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Any other shout out you want to give or you want to ask your dad a question while you're on here? What's your name?
Owen. You sure you don't want to ask him anything?
[00:26:47] Speaker D: He got some swings in today.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: There we go. Getting that indoor facility.
[00:26:51] Speaker D: A couple out the infield so well and that.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: And again, that's the cool thing with coaching. We don't always get, you know, you sacrifice so much, but this is a lifetime experience.
[00:26:59] Speaker D: It is. It's really special. Man, we love this place and we were really excited to come back here. I know he was fighting tooth and nail to get on the plane with us and get here early. So he told mom, I think he's got $250 to his name. He said, mom, I'll pay whatever it takes. I want to go with the team.
But yeah, he's having a good time, man. Our guys really embrace our kids. And, you know, we've all got, you know, a lot of our staff. You know, Coach White's got a young daughter.
I've got two boys. Coach Robinson's got two boys. They were all out there with us today taking BP and, you know, it's one big family. I mean, that's a part of it. And, you know, I think for me, we've been able to keep our staff together for a long time and I think that's a piece of it. You know, it's.
We spend so much time away from them that if they're not a part of what we're doing, then we don't have enough time with them. And so being able to have them around is important to me. And, you know, I want our coaches to be able to be dads first, you know, and be husbands first. And so, you know, just, I guess, shout out to our wives is what I should do for. For putting up with us and for driving all around and flying all around the country and following our teams and, you know, it wouldn't be able to happen without their support.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: So good luck the rest way.
[00:28:10] Speaker D: Thank you, man.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Here with Tampa Joe Erso, 26 season, seven time national champion, but going for a three peat here in carry. So congrats, coach.
[00:28:19] Speaker E: Thank you very much.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: How has this team been different, if any? And I know I text with you, you said maybe offensively, maybe not as good, but still, the numbers are good, but pitching's been really good. Good for you guys.
[00:28:31] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, the difference is, you know, we only had two starters coming back. So, you know, you bring in 22 new guys and how are you going to, you know, create this family atmosphere that's so important to chasing championships? And then the starting pitchers just really let us settle into our season.
Satin's been an amazing ace all year. Bailey, a second ace all year and pitcher of the year in our conference. And then Glanton, a proven all American, that transfer from Georgia College has been awesome. So all three starters have been great and we've had some injuries overcome. We lost Maddox King, our center fielder, who would have been one of the returners for the year, lost Sammy Beer, our closer in the beginning of the year. And Fiker did a great job taking over the bullpen for him. But the offense has been hit miss. You look at six of our eight losses, we didn't score two runs. So we are finding ourselves here when it matters most. Offense really got hot here in the regional and super regional and we're going to need to do the same if we expect to be here for the whole week.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: How long did it take those 22 new guys to acclimate?
[00:29:31] Speaker E: It took a while to understand, you know, putting this uniform on, you're good enough, it's okay. You don't have to put all the pressure on yourself and that's what ends up happening. You know, they come in here with all these expectations and they try to do more than they need to and it's like, hey, relax, I recruited you for a reason. You are good enough and you know, let your talents shine. And now they're starting to. They've all settled in.
Woodburn and Irigoyen, our two leaders, have done an amazing job of just getting these guys to understand our culture and what's expected every day to lead to this opportunity.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: Your schedule here is pretty set for you now, or do you tweak it at all? You tweak it at all?
[00:30:10] Speaker E: No, I'll have to tweak some things with our arms on the position side. So today's practice plan is going to have very limited throwing, but the starting pitchers are ready to roll and bullpen's ready. Luckily, we only had to play two games in super regional, so that helped to kind of get everything in line.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: I love the format here now for you all. I like the way everything's set up for you guys here now.
[00:30:33] Speaker E: Yeah, I like the smaller tournament and that's what we try to preach is, you know, you have a four team tournament to win. Let's really focus on that right now instead of an 18 team tournament like it was in the past. That can be very tough. So we just got to get through this this bracket. It's going to be a tough one and get off to a good start. You know, I expect with all these 22 new guys there might be some nerves and I got to help settle those down as quick as possible so we can play to the best of our ability.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: How proud of you were of that team last year and how they battled to get through this thing last year.
[00:31:05] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean that was amazing. Eight elimination games those guys overcame from regional through the World Series and it's unheard of and is great. As much as I believe in this pitching staff this year, you know, one of the tops in the country, Sam Militello's done another great job with them.
I don't think we're built like that, with that kind of depth to come out of the losers bracket. So let's hope this offense gets us enough runs and the pitchers continue to do what they've done.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: When I say winning baseball, what's that mean to you?
[00:31:33] Speaker E: It's situational baseball. It's too out hitting. It's all the things that you preach all Year that are magnified here. Now limit your walks, limit your errors and make sure you're executing on the offensive side to win that three to one ball game. I mean it's really, that's what it comes down to. A big field like this, you know, you expect to have to play and win those, those low scoring games.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: What are Tampa standards?
[00:31:57] Speaker E: It's going about your business, right on the field, in the classroom, off the field. Represent this name, it means everything to me. You know, playing here for four years, being part of the first championship team and now coaching for 26. You got coach Militello, same coach Jimenez winning two World Series of player coaching, you know, for 13 plus years. So we, the strength of this program really starts up. Top players know these three coaches, they've been here, done that, they know what it takes and we bleed spartan red and we take a lot of pride in what we've been able to do.
This tradition means everything to me.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: Do you split the season up like pre conference conference postseason? Do you split it up at all or is it one long flowing thing?
[00:32:39] Speaker E: No, we talk about let's win the conference first.
Well, the first month is all the regional games. So that's going to be very important to being a host for the regional. Then go take care of your conference, there's your automatic qualifier and now you're in line to be a number one seed, host a regional tournament, hopefully host a super. This year we were two. Our strength of schedule fell a little bit, but we were able. This group, their minds are, we're gonna be kind of the villains this year and we're not running away from anything. And they accepted the challenge of having to go on the road to get here.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: Is that kind of the art of coaching where you kind of switch those narratives as you need to to get your guys motivated?
[00:33:19] Speaker E: For sure. I mean it's. Each group is different and that's what makes this job so much fun, is trying to get them all together and you know, chasing that one goal. And I explained to them, you know, once you win a title and my 92 team, we're just blowing each other up on the group text right now. And they're all sending money to help the guys and go to nice dinners and you're part of a brotherhood forever if you can pull this off. And obviously we're chasing history. I mean no one's ever done it. And instead of hiding from it, we said we're going to go after it, we're going after this three Pete. And we know how tough it is. And, but we're here and we got a chance.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: Where's the tailgate at for fans?
[00:33:56] Speaker E: Oh, they won't stop, so we got it. We got a big barbecue in the parking lot coming up, and they, they'll. They won't stop. We got over 50 coming. And the way Tampa works is the more, the longer you're in this tournament, the more lumps come out. So hopefully we can continue to do them proud, stay in this winner's bracket and play well throughout the week.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Good luck tomorrow, Coach.
[00:34:17] Speaker E: All right. Thank you.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Always good.
Congrats to the city of Cary for putting on another successful event.
It's always a great week of baseball in North Carolina.
Thanks to all of the coaches for sitting down with me and the NCAA and USA Baseball for being a great host.
Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, and Matt west in the ABCA office for all the help on the podcast.
Feel free to reach out to me via email our brownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram and TikTok oachbabca and direct message me via the MyABCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off with American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks. And leave it better for those behind.
[00:35:08] Speaker C: And there's no that way Yep Wait
[00:35:12] Speaker A: for another day
[00:35:17] Speaker B: and the world will always return as your love is never
[00:35:24] Speaker A: for yearning and you know that way Wait for another day.
