NCAA Div. II World Series Coaches (Part II)

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the abca's podcast. I'm your host, ryan brownlee. This episode is sponsored by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Netting Professionals specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, BP screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies, and more. Netting Professionals is an official partner of the ABCA and continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or infoettingpros.com, visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast. This week's ABCA Podcast was recorded on location from Cary, North Carolina at the NCAA Division II World Series. Since 2009, the City of Cary has hosted the NCAA Division 2 World Series has become one of the premier championship destinations in college baseball. To capture as many conversations as possible, we're splitting the coverage into two episodes. This part two we sit down with Mike Hill from Bentley University, Al Reddy from the University of Indianapolis, Kyle Crooks from the University of Central Missouri and Mike LaRosa from Westchester University. These coaches share insights on navigating the postseason, building championship caliber programs and competing on one of the biggest stages in Division 2 baseball. Special congratulations to ABCA member Joe Erso and the University of Tampa on capturing a third consecutive of NCAA Division 2 National Championship. The title was Erso's eighth national championship, further cementing his place among the most accomplished coaches in college baseball history. Let's welcome everyone to the podcast. Mike Hill here. Bentley fourth season as head coach, first ever World Series appearance. But longtime assistants also also alum. So congrats on getting here. [00:02:45] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:02:47] Speaker A: Was it a smooth transition for you going as head coach? I mean you've been there as a player. You were there as, you know, 20 years as an assistant. Was it a smooth transition for you? [00:02:54] Speaker B: It was, it was. Coach was Coach was very helpful. And you know, I think for for a couple years I probably had my started making plans in my own head that if I'm the guy, this is what I'm looking to do and where I'm going with it. [00:03:09] Speaker C: So. [00:03:09] Speaker B: And then you Know, when, when coach finally, you know, called it quits, he was, he was very supportive. So it was. [00:03:15] Speaker A: Give some tips for some longtime assistant coaches out there because obviously that's a long time as an assistant coach. Give some tips because, you know, I'm sure in the back of your mind, like, do I need to take a head coaching job? Am I good where I'm at? Just give some tips on that process. [00:03:27] Speaker B: Yeah, for me it's, you know, you got, obviously you got to love the game. You know, you got to want to be a part of it. It was easy for me because having played there and just having a special relationship with all the alums and then, you know, with the education that we have, you know, my daughter was getting close to that time in her life and, you know, there's some benefits that go along with being a head coach at a, at a big time school like that financially. So, you know, all that factored into it. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah, that the reciprocity has helped a lot of us whose dads were college coaches at private schools. I mean, you think about it, there's no way I go to the University of Evansville if my dad was not the coach. [00:04:07] Speaker B: 100%. Same. [00:04:10] Speaker A: Just talk about the process of building because obviously it's been kind of the slow bill here for you. But you guys have continued to progress the last four years where you're at right now. [00:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah, early on, I think when I first took over, it was about trying to accumulate as much talent as possible. And now I think we're in a little bit of a different situation where we can start to, you know, pick and choose what, what we're going after. And we're a little bit more, you know, well known than, than we certainly were. So that helps. My inbox looks a lot different today than it did four years ago. [00:04:43] Speaker A: But that's good and bad because then you got some options too. You got to sift through some of those. Maybe more options also. [00:04:48] Speaker B: Yep, 100%. You know, we there, there's, you know, everybody wants to, you know, not, not everybody, but a lot more people are thinking that they, you know, could possibly play here. And it makes our job a little difficult. [00:05:01] Speaker A: Talk about players to watch this week for us. [00:05:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there's the, there's the, the, you know, I guess the quote unquote, bash brothers, or four of them, you know, between Nick Pappas, Stan DiMartinez, Jared Barradino and Brendan Sensei. But we're so much more than that. You know, the leadoff guy, Bolton Is a complete pain in the butt. Leadoff hitter. That just makes pitchers lives, you know. Hell, the sixth hitter, Heath can, can do a lot of things. Bang, doubles and he led the conference in sack bunts. And then, you know, 7, 8, 9 is madak. You know, Goonan, our catcher is our lifeblood. And then, you know, in the nine hole, it's nice when your nine hole hitter can hit a home run and you're super regional to get us going. Jimmy Mitchell's just been a fantastic, you know, defensive guy and chipping in with big hits. And then obviously on the other side of the ball on the mound, you know, Pat Heber just got named third team all American. Pretty cool. And Eigenbrod's just, you know, as good. As good as we have right now as far as like a potential prospect. And then, you know, between Bellevo and Gloop and Antleman, I mean, we just got some options on the mound, so it's fun. [00:06:12] Speaker A: Did you reach out to any coaches before you came out here as far as prep, how to prep when you're out here? [00:06:16] Speaker B: I did, I did. [00:06:17] Speaker A: What'd they tell you? [00:06:18] Speaker B: I have a. I have a pretty good network of coaches having been around a long time. And you know, most of them just said to enjoy it, you know, and I think this is unbelievable, this experience. I mean, you talk about treating you right and doing it right. This isn't some ordinary show up for a couple pickup games or even, you know, the early season tournaments. This is, this is so top notch. It's. It's awesome. It's so great. [00:06:47] Speaker A: The facilities plus the setup is great. You know, I go to a lot of them. I say this like the setup because everything for working out wise is right here for you guys. [00:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah, the facilities are, you know, second to none. And then the people are even better. You know, they're here to do anything and everything they need for you to be successful. And they're so congratulatory and appreciative of what you do. I'm speechless. It's awesome. [00:07:14] Speaker A: When I say that term, winning baseball, what's that mean to you? [00:07:19] Speaker B: Winning baseball to me is doing all the right things, the little things, making plays, moving runners around, making pitches when it counts. The little stuff that Maybe doesn't make SportsCenter. [00:07:32] Speaker A: You have any standards for the program? [00:07:33] Speaker B: I do, I do. I always say to the guys, I don't think I'm better than anybody else, but there's certain behavioral characteristics and things that I just, I was raised on and coach instilled in me. And, you know, there's definitely, you know, no doubt kids act different than when I played. And I don't want to sound like the old guy that, you know, when I play, but know things are a little different nowadays. A lot more showmanship, and I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of it. I think I let my guys do more than I ever thought I would. You don't want to take the fun away. But there's also, like, to me, what I see is that sometimes I think teams are more wrapped in that behavior than actually winning the game. And as I say to my guys all the time, until you show me that helps us put one more run on the board than the other team. Like, I just, I don't, I don't like it. I don't love it, you know, so I, I think that's so, you know, we're big on kind of behavior and how you act and then obviously, you know, the, the standard, you know, working hard, for sure. I mean, you can't take that away. [00:08:37] Speaker A: Did you tweak your responsibilities at all when you took over as head coach? [00:08:40] Speaker B: No. [00:08:41] Speaker A: So you're still doing the same stuff you were doing? [00:08:43] Speaker B: Still doing. [00:08:44] Speaker A: Love it. Were there any difference as far as how you handle dealing with players since you're right in the lineup? [00:08:49] Speaker B: I think it's, it was, it was definitely a, a change. You know, it was a lot easier for me to sit in the assistant chair and make suggestions about getting rid of guys and cutting guys. And now when you're like the, you're the end of somebody's career. I don't love doing it. I have, I'm an emotional guy. I'm a human. I feel for them. But ultimately, like, you know, this isn't. Everybody gets a trophy like we're here to, you know, put the best product on the field. So it changes your perspective. But, you know, ultimately I find that you earn more respect with your players and your team if you, you know, are upfront and honest about it. [00:09:29] Speaker A: Do you separate the season out at all? Like pre conference, conference, then postseason? Do you separate it out at all? Is it one flowing thing throughout the season? [00:09:37] Speaker B: One big blur is one big blur that, you know, I guess, you know that this is obviously something new, right? We're in week 20 now of, you know, playing. Never been this, this far into it, but, you know, it. I, I think I try to take it in a smaller scale and just a day to day basis and let's work on being a little better today than we were yesterday. [00:10:02] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:10:04] Speaker B: I mean, obviously, you know, my family, you know, I would. Wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for my wife. You know, a lot of. A lot of time and, and. And energy taken away from my family. So my wife and daughter have. Have always been there for me, you know, from day one. And you know, my parents, My father's no longer with us, but I know he's watching from above and my mom's right there, you know, still cheering me on like I was still playing. So I have, I have a huge support system. That's awesome. [00:10:33] Speaker A: But your family gets to experience this. [00:10:35] Speaker B: They do. [00:10:35] Speaker A: And this is a once a life. I mean, that's what makes it all worth it. Like you. All those sacrifices you make, but now you get to experience a once in [00:10:42] Speaker B: a. Yeah, they're enjoying it as much as the rest of us, so it's so great. [00:10:47] Speaker A: Good luck to Marco. [00:10:48] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:10:48] Speaker A: Here with eight seed Indianapolis already eighth season as head coach, but Alma Mater and then 39 and 22 record. But had 23 and 23, four CWS appearances. Thanks for sitting down with me, Al. [00:11:03] Speaker D: Yeah, no problem, man. [00:11:04] Speaker A: What'd you tell the guys after last night? [00:11:06] Speaker D: Well, you know, we. We've been here before plenty of times. You know, two weeks ago, the same thing happened. You know, we lost game one of the ReBo at Illinois Springfield and we were able to battle back in a shorter time frame too as well and win that regional. So it's the same format. You know, it's not as much of an uphill battle as what a lot of people think. You know, you can't think about it as seven other teams. You have to look at it as just the teams in your bracket. So, you know, we have an opportunity to knock out Central Mo tomorrow. And then, you know, we would play the loser again of Westchester and UT Tyler. So with an opportunity to knock them out. So, you know, it's just putting one foot in front of the other and not thinking of it as such an uphill battle. Just keep playing hard, playing baseball. You know, I think that we still have a really good chance. [00:11:57] Speaker A: Do you feel like this is probably the fairest format? I've always felt like this is the best way to do it where you do have a day off. I think it allows the best team to have an opportunity to win this thing. [00:12:06] Speaker D: Yeah. It gives your bullpen a chance to come back and you know, that extra day's rest is big. It also Provides an opportunity for your starting pitchers from game one to come back later on in the regional, which later on in the World Series, which in the regional, everybody. I mean, if you're going to win the regional, whether you go undefeated or drop a game, you're more than likely going to bring back your Game 1 starter in some way, shape or form, whether you start them or use them as a closer in the championship game. So this just provides everybody a little bit extra rest. And you're right, it gives the best team a chance to win. [00:12:42] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's kind of an earmark of a hallmark of Midwest kids is they are gritty? [00:12:47] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. I mean, we have it on our shirts, you know, grit is. That's kind of our motto, you know. You know, I never ever, you know, I just provide opportunities for guys if they want the ball, you know, on short rest, you know, and they're the best. They give us the best chance to win, then they get it. [00:13:04] Speaker A: First baseman had a good day yesterday offensively. [00:13:06] Speaker D: Yeah, he's been, he's been really good for us all year long. You know, we call him Boss Brayton Bowen. He's a tough out, you know, and he gets on base even when he's not getting hits. He gets on base too, as well, you know, so. And he plays really good first base. I know he doesn't. I know he kind of, you know, he looks like, you know, the John Crook, I guess, from our era type first baseman, but he's a good baseball player. He's got really good feet at first base and he picks the ball well and he gives you a tough at bat every time. [00:13:36] Speaker A: Has he always had that type of bat speed for a bigger kid? Like, you don't normally see that type of bat speed, but he has great hand speed for a kid that size. [00:13:42] Speaker D: Yeah, he works, man, he works at it. He's one of the hardest working kids we've had in a long time. He works to the point where you actually have to pull him back a little bit sometimes. He's just up there swinging all the time. I mean, he just loves to hit. [00:13:56] Speaker A: What has Indianapolis meant to you? [00:13:58] Speaker D: Oh, man. I mean, that's been my entire life, really. You know, I, I played there back in the late 1990s. And then, of course, you know, Gary Vaught, my mentor, gave me my first opportunity to get into coaching. You know, I never really actually even planned on being a, being a coach until I was a ga. I did my, my graduate coursework and it's an mba, you Know, most coaches get some sort of degree in education, you know, But I will say this. My mom was a teacher. My dad went through teachers college, and my sister's a teacher. My sister's husband's a principal, my dad's sister and her husband, all three of their children, my first cousins are teachers. So I feel like the teaching part just kind of comes naturally to me. But Indianapolis has really provided me and my family just a wonderful opportunity to do what we love to do. And it's a great city. You know, you're an Indiana guy. You know what Indianapolis is, and it's just an awesome overall experience. [00:14:55] Speaker A: At what point did the light go on during practice? Probably that first fall as a GA that, okay, this might end up being my calling. [00:15:02] Speaker D: Well, I actually only did one year as a ga and then the junior college that I played at in Illinois, the head job opened up, and so I threw my name in the hat and ended up getting it. And it was kind of a fake it till you make it type situation. And, you know, I think my first year in juco, we ended up finishing second in the conference and then won the conference the next two years. And I thought, well, maybe I can make a living out of this. And then we came back to Indianapolis in 07, and I finished my GA work, and coach Vaught was able to get me on full time. And I think I worked for him from 07 or 08 till he retired in 2018, and it was just an amazing experience. [00:15:41] Speaker A: What does the term winning baseball mean to you? [00:15:43] Speaker D: Oh, man. I mean, winning baseball, it doesn't mean winning every game, I can tell you that. You know, I mean, any good baseball person will tell you that there's a lot of different wins with inside a game that the outcome might not come out on your side. You know, even last night, you know, getting an extra one or two arms in the game for Westchester, I mean, a lot of teams would just kind of like, when you're down, you know, by a large margin, it's just kind of like, well, let's just kind of, you know, you know, play and try to get to the next game or whatever, move on to the next game. You know, our mentality was, let's try to use up as many arms as we can. If we come back and win, great, you know, but if we don't, at least we get a couple more arms in the game, and those are wins, you know, and so that's what winning baseball means to me, you know, and [00:16:25] Speaker A: that's the benefit of the Day off too, because you're probably going to need those guys at some point in this tournament if you're going to win it. So you get them used to being out on the stadium. You get them acclimated to be out being out on the stadium. [00:16:35] Speaker D: Yeah. Oh yeah, man. The stadium is just. I mean, they advertise it as major league quality. That's an understatement. You know, there's not a blade of grass out of place on the main stage over there. And you know, the only time you see a major league field look like that is on opening day. And then they play 80 something games on it and you know, it's. It gets beat up a little bit, but this place is just, it's. It's heaven, man. It's awesome. It never, never gets old coming to Cary. [00:17:02] Speaker A: And kudos to the city of Cary too, because they redid that entire service for you all. So this is the first time that anybody's played on this field since they redid it. And it is dura edge. Those of us that pay attention to groundskeeping. It is the same dirt as they have at major league stadiums. [00:17:16] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, we, that's. We use those products. I have a dirt field at UIndy. [00:17:20] Speaker A: Shout out dirt. [00:17:21] Speaker D: We use those same products at uindy. [00:17:24] Speaker A: Do you have any other standards for the program besides being gritty? [00:17:27] Speaker D: Oh, man. I mean, you know, off the field we do a lot of work. We do work with team Impact. I mean, I'm a big time, you know, give back to the community person. You know, we do a lot of stuff like that. You know, I learned that stuff from coach Vaught too as well. You have to, you have to give back to his. His go to was Riley's children's hospital in Indianapolis. And post Covid, it's been tougher to be able to organize things like that with, you know, taking guys into hospitals and things like that. But we've done a lot with team Impact. We just look for opportunities to help people around the community and whenever, however we can. And you know, those, those are the standards. I mean, if you, if you want to come to uindy and play baseball, you're not going to get any nil money and you're going to be expected to give back to the community, I can tell you that. [00:18:11] Speaker A: What are you trying to get out of practice today? [00:18:13] Speaker D: Well, we gotta. I don't want the guys to be out in this heat, you know, I know it's a beautiful day and a lot of the teams that are from the south are used to this and we're gonna hit in the indoor facility today and we're gonna try to replicate what we're gonna see tomorrow off the machines. I think that's very important. That's kind of a little bit underrated. I think in this day and age, if anytime you can recreate what you're gonna see, you got to try to do it. And so we're gonna do that inside this afternoon and try to stay out of the heat. And then we're gonna get back to the hotel and hunker down and get a good night's rest and come out and play Greyhound baseball. [00:18:48] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:18:50] Speaker D: Oh, man. I just want to say, you know, give a shout out to our parents that have really supported us through the entire season. You know, the first half of our season was, you know, it was a lot of ups and downs. I think at the halfway point we were, you know, maybe a couple games above.500. And then, you know, I think on the second half we went something like 26 and seven down the stretch and our parents stuck by us and our administrators stuck by us and got us everything we needed. And, you know, we were able to get it done, you know, get to get, getting this far and it's not over yet. Don't count us out. [00:19:25] Speaker A: Good luck, Tom. Here with Kyle Crooks. 13 seasons head coach, Central Missouri 39, 16 record now. But thanks for jumping on with me on practice day here after you guys played yesterday. [00:19:35] Speaker E: Yeah, sure. Anything for you. Anything for abca. [00:19:38] Speaker A: What'd you tell the guys after the game? [00:19:40] Speaker E: I told them it's hard to play this game against really good opponents as is, and it's even harder when you're playing against yourself. You know, it's two teams to beat there yesterday and we beat ourselves. And then UT Tyler did the rest with some big swings. But, yeah, it's. It's a tough thing to do. You and I talked on the way in. I don't know if it's uncharacteristic or not. You know, this year's kind of been up and down with us roller coaster wise doing that. And that was, I think CoachNerbush said that was the. That was the February April Mules, not the May Mules. And we just, you know, we need to play better to give ourselves a chance. And I'd like to see them again. I'd like to play them again and play, you know, give them a better shot of what we are. [00:20:17] Speaker A: I thought we had some loud outs, too, though, like, and that's baseball. I thought you guys barreled some balls up that just went right at guys. [00:20:23] Speaker E: We did, no doubt, you know, and I can live with that if that's what our outs were. I think the inconsistency of a bat, you know, of, you know, a loud out or a single, I don't think they walked as much, which, to their credit, you know, here with the zones and so on, and the zones are good. I thought the home plate umpire did a great job, but, like, they're certainly, you know, they're certainly a less liberal zone, maybe. And, you know, they didn't give us any real freebies, and we gave them plenty. And I think our at bats were inconsistent, maybe, you know, and when we really needed it, there was a couple moments when we had an opportunity to break through and we just didn't execute. And those things will key in postseason baseball. [00:20:57] Speaker A: I think Trackman has had a lot to do with the zone here. [00:21:00] Speaker E: I would assume without knowing, you know, I. We have. We at our place, have YackerTech to coach McFadden's chagrin. He wants Trackman, so we'll be fundraising. But. But all the umpires want their reports, you know, and they, you know that I love our league. I love the miaa. I think Chris Koski does a great job because all the guys, all the umpires want to get better. And so they're always asking in an effort to, you know, to help. Help them know where they're at, know where their strengths and weaknesses are. So. But I'm sure the Trackman has something to do with it, too, and they're being evaluated on this stage in the finals for sure. [00:21:31] Speaker A: With your type of offense, you do like to put pressure on people. When you do get down a little bit earlier, you know, how do you balance that? Okay, to live by the sword, die by the sword, because you may end up giving up some outs, but you don't want. But you also have to play your offense. [00:21:43] Speaker E: Yeah, I think that was the tough part yesterday, you know, we had the first and second nobody out and, you know, had our runner, you know, ready to go, and he pops a bun up. And that. That sucks, honestly. It makes it tough. And that was an opportunity for us to build and chip away and, you know, maybe get to 4 1, 42 with Sawyer giving, you know, catching his breath and giving us some good innings after the first. So, you know, and you really don't want to give away outs there, right? And there they had a lefty it was pretty. Like. I don't know if. Like, it's hard for me to say because every time we ran, it felt like we fouled a ball off, so that made it tough, too. And their catcher's got a bit of a hose. He's a really good player, so you don't want to start giving away outs. And then, you know, we get canned at third. And it got tougher and tougher. Right. And we just didn't string enough hits together to create some chaos on the bases. Beyond just the one guy at a [00:22:30] Speaker A: time, what were you trying to get out of practice today? [00:22:32] Speaker E: Deliberate. Deliberate practice. Back to the things that we care about. I don't know about slowing them down, but making sure that intentional is a popular word, but that's probably accurate. Just being intentional with what we're trying to do with the barrel, trying to do with our base running and defensively, too. I. We weren't clean yesterday, and. But we were all in the right places, which is kind of tough. So that. That part of it is. Is hard. We just. We just have to do it better. So not reinventing anything that we're doing, but trying to be intentional with what we're doing, pay attention to it, not speed through it. You know, we have. They give us an hour and a half out here. There's plenty of time for us to not walk through, but make sure we. We focus on the little things that matter to finish those plays with the [00:23:12] Speaker A: days off then kind of allows the pitching to be able to use probably a few more guys if needed. Right. Because you know they're going to get a day off. [00:23:19] Speaker E: Yeah, I think that helped yesterday when we got to the point where we gave up the fifth and the sixth, got. Got the bullpen guys a chance to touch the mound in that environment, I think that's important. And, you know, we got plenty of bullpen guys that haven't touched the mound yet, too, which is nice. I think we're, you know, deep on the mound in terms of numbers, in terms of quality, so. But getting guys a touch yesterday and having them perform pretty well helps as well. So it's not going to be new come tomorrow. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Being here as much as you have, what do you. What do you take out of here every year? [00:23:49] Speaker E: That's. Coach Darnell asked me the same question, and I wish I had a great answer. My. Other than like this, first and foremost, like this. This place, this part of the country is just gorgeous, you know, being here. Such a pleasure. The facility is such a pleasure. The people You, Ronnie, Jeff, you know, the guys that put all this stuff together, the staff, you just can't come here as a team and not feel like you're, you know, you're in baseball heaven. And, you know, obviously, you're at the World Series and trying to accomplish something that we've set forth, you know, in front of the team since August. Right. And guys that have been in this uniform for, you know, four years, it's really hard not to enjoy. It means everything coming here because it's such a good experience. So it's. It's a destination, for sure, and a [00:24:30] Speaker A: community service piece, too. [00:24:31] Speaker E: That's so, Again, again, cliche statement, but it's worth saying, like, our guys get as much out of that as anything, you know, and probably more so maybe than the kids that we're trying to serve and so blessed to get an opportunity to do it. I love it. It fills my heart. It. As a parent, it. I can't imagine. And I'm sure I was asking somebody, you know, who. Who thought. Who created the Miracle League, and I got to believe it was a parent that just said, you know what? I've got to do something. And it's grown into what it is, and it's just. It's so fun to be around. Those kids are so special. I think it brings out the best in all of our athletes, and that's what we're trying to do. So it's a great piece. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Breaking ground on a new indoor. [00:25:12] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:25:12] Speaker E: Yeah. It's not supposed to go official. Mr. Brownlee, we got two weeks before we announced that, so between you and I, don't worry. [00:25:19] Speaker A: This will come out. So it'll be a good time. Because I talked to Alex yesterday. He said you guys, you kind of mirrored it off the indoor here. [00:25:27] Speaker E: Yep. Same place. We don't quite have as big a hill, but it's going to be about the same thing, so. So, yeah, we're pretty excited about that. Our doctor Best has just been awesome, really supportive, and it makes Central Missouri a place it's great to be. You know, like I said, it's heaven. And they make it easy to think that way. And the people here that make this place so special, it's the same as the Central Missouri. I'm really lucky to be there. My family's lucky to be there, and we're thankful. [00:25:52] Speaker A: How's your son doing? [00:25:54] Speaker C: He's doing okay. [00:25:55] Speaker E: He's doing okay. He's playing. He's not here with us. He's playing his first summer collegiate baseball right now. With a wood bat. Caught him a couple stingers the other night before we got out here. And he's getting college baseballed a little bit and that's good. That's what he needs to do. So, like, I'm, you know, interested to see what his growth is, but he's coming, he's gonna, he's gonna be a mule. So beat him up for five years and see how that experience goes for him. [00:26:19] Speaker A: I feel like for the teams that are far away, you guys are the, well, best traveled fan base that comes out here. [00:26:24] Speaker E: Again, lucky. I think the, the university is very intentional with their, with their people coming out and supporting us and trying to lend a hand in any way, shape or form. Almost, you know, it's superfluous. There's almost, you know, there's nothing for some people to do, but they're here anyway asking what they can do to help. And families, you know, that, you know, baseball families from the time travel ball starts to, you know, to now, they're so invested in what they're doing. And we have a great group of parents and, you know, we got guys like Jack Scott that have been hurt all year that are here with us and their families are here and continuing to support the team and, you know, you know, and in an era where it's easy to not. I think they are exactly a great example of what it means to be a mule for us and value being in our uniform. [00:27:06] Speaker A: There's quite a few teams that have been here a lot. It seems like one of the common denominators is the staff has been around for a while on those teams. [00:27:13] Speaker E: Yeah, I think there's no, you know, coincidence that, you know, I think it's Tampa. I think Joe and Militello have been together for 15, 16, 17 years, you know, or that's the shortest they've been to, you know, the staff. You know, that's probably goal number one, is to keep our staff together as long as we can. And having Eli, having coach Backus is, you know, again, that's. We joke around, our families joke around and we're like a married couple and I don't want to be married to anybody else. So, yeah, I love having those guys with us. And the familiarity is a big deal. I think consistency of character is a big deal too, and I think it helps our kids too. Again, in an era where it's not just about play, it's about retention and growing growth and consistency of character and want to help provide that for our kids. [00:27:57] Speaker A: Good luck. The rest of the Week. [00:27:58] Speaker E: Thank you so much. [00:27:59] Speaker A: I'm here with Mike LaRoso. Westchester, six seasons, but also Alma Mater, 44 and 10 record, hall of Famer, but then nine seasons at Widener. But great win for you guys yesterday. [00:28:11] Speaker C: Thank you. Appreciate it. Always good to get the first one. [00:28:14] Speaker A: Is that pretty standard for you guys, how you guys played yesterday? [00:28:17] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I think especially with, you know, back into the season with our success down the stretch, I think that's kind of been the recipe is we've gone out to a lot of early leads and, you know, with Julian Costa on the mound and a five run lead in the first, we feel pretty good at that point. And yeah, really, I think just a lot of our success has come where our pitching staff has carried us and kept us in games. And our offenses find a way to just kind of chip away, chip away, chip away, win innings and then separate late in the game. And fortunately it's what happened last night. And like I said, it always helps to get out to an early lead when you got cost on the mound, for sure. [00:28:50] Speaker A: Do you talk about that trying to win innings? Yes. [00:28:52] Speaker C: Yeah, that's our big focus. It's win a pitch one inning at a time and, you know, each inning try and reset it. You know, we're playing nine games in the course of a 19 inning game. And, you know, got that from Augie Garrido. That's, you know, nothing anybody, you know, any of us came up with. But I think it just helps keep perspective and you can kind of lose sight and, you know, the end result a little bit too much early in the game. And so, you know, we go up five nothing in the first, okay, fine, now it's reset and it's 00 going into the second. And that's really our biggest thing that we try and preach. [00:29:23] Speaker A: Do you feel like that's winning baseball just trying to win innings 100%. [00:29:26] Speaker C: 100%. Yeah. You know, play the long game, you know, understand that you can even have, you know, you go down five nothing. And we did game one of our, Game one of our regional. I think we went down five nothing. Game two, we went down four nothing in the first inning, you know, so it's like, okay, well what do you do now? Well, it's just if you have that flush and reset, I think it keeps things in perspective where you're not looking at the scoreboard like, man, they got the race on the mound and we're down 5, how are we going to get back in this game? It's like, no, Just you go in the next inning, one nothing. You know, you go in the next inning, one nothing, and all of a sudden, you know, you can kind of catch up that way. And I think that just, you know, it's something that I didn't ever learn as a player, you know, but I wish I had. And, you know, I think it's something that, you know, can definitely help keep perspective for the team, to just simplify the game a little bit. [00:30:11] Speaker A: What other standards do you have for the program? [00:30:13] Speaker C: So, yeah, good question. We have a few. You know, our values are hard work, you know, which. The biggest thing we talk about there is, like, everybody's working hard. So, you know, what's the separator? We might spend three hours a day, you know, with our team, you know, what are they doing with the other 21 hours? Sacrifice is a big one. You know, what are you giving up to get something you never had? So making sure that our guys just really kind of have that mindset on a daily basis is like, what's the extra that you're putting in? And that isn't always on the field. It's your sleep, rest, recovery, nutrition, what you're eating, all those things. Toughness is a big one for us, and we talk about toughness as not just physical, but mental, and that's that inning and ending process. Can you, you know, can you give up a home run and, like, what's your body language look like on the next pitch? That's where, you know, our 1 and 2, Lazer and Costa, like, if you look at those guys, you wouldn't know, based on their performance on the mat, what the score is. You wouldn't know what the last pitch just did. They could have struck the guy out. They could have given up a home run. That just sets tone. And leadership is another core value of ours that we call everyone on the team the leadership. We certainly have our captains, we have a leadership team, but everybody's responsible for leading the guy next to. To them. So those are things that we really pride ourselves on on a daily basis. And, you know, I think those are the things that, from a culture standpoint, make teams good long term. And, you know, you can have sustained success if you kind of commit to those, in my opinion. Yeah. [00:31:38] Speaker A: Do you split the season up at all, like pre conference, conference, post season? Or is it one flowing thing for you all? One journey? [00:31:45] Speaker C: It's one flowing thing for us, and it starts in the fall for us. You know, even we have, you know, we'll play a couple scrimmages against local jucos in the fall. And we talk on those days about, look, it doesn't matter if it's a fall scrimmage versus a junior in college, a conference game, a midweek game or now college world series. Everything looks, should look and feel the same. And that's really what we try and pride ourselves on is you know, game day, you know, our pre game ritual and routines and our process in game, it doesn't matter what the opponent looks like. Even in inner squads that should all look and feel the same. And I feel like that creates consistency for guys when they get late into the season and in pressure moments. The hope is that if you're creating that process for yourself, that one game doesn't look or feel bigger than the other. You know, it's not like, oh, okay now, you know, now we're in the national championships and we're playing Uindy last night. Well, now we got to do something bigger and better and different and this is going to be a big game. Well, no, it's another game that we've treated like every game individually throughout the course of the year. So that's just kind of how we operate. We were lucky we got D1 St. Joe's on the schedule in a midweek this year and you know, same thing. It's not like, oh, they're D1 now we gotta step up, we play our game, we're fortunate to win that game. And I think just again, consistency is really important in my mind. [00:33:06] Speaker A: There are other things you track in game to kind of keep with the process. [00:33:10] Speaker C: Yeah, certainly, you know, we track quality of bats, hustle plays from an offensive standpoint, not chasing out of the zone, taking extra bases. That can come in a variety of forms, whether it's stretching, single or double, dirt ball, read the bunt game being executed. So we do track all that from a pitching standpoint. We track execution rate, we track strike percentage, certainly keep an eye on guys velocity so we can monitor when their fatigue is setting in and all those things. We pride ourselves on the mound on our strikeout to walk ratio. That's a big one for coach Fleming. Our pitching coach is, you know, we want to be 3 to 1 strike out to walk. If we're doing that consistently, we're going to put ourselves in a good spot. And I felt like that's been the key for us late in the season because you get into the regionals and the strike zones, they start to get more realistic, you know, and they start to shrink. So you better be able to compete in the zone. And that's where I think our staff do a great job, because that's what Coach Flom preaches with those guys is competing in the zone, you know, so it's the little things, the details, you know, the attention to the details that I think can ultimately separate in a game. [00:34:19] Speaker A: So what do you feel like has helped you the most in your career at this point? [00:34:24] Speaker C: Well, that's a great question. So I would say, as a young coach, you got all these great ideas. I'm going to do it the way this guy did it and that guy did it. And, oh, I like what Coach Corbin said at the convention, and I'm going to do that. And you just, you know, at least I had made that mistake of just throwing the kitchen sink at a team. And it's all great ideas. But I do think you have to filter it down and you have to get to a place where it is authentic to who you are as a person, what you believe in, your values are, and then you got to align those values with who you recruit, that they share those, you know, So I think that's helped me the most, is able to kind of filter it down into, like, what I personally believe in. And, you know, there's a lot of. There's a lot of great coaches, a lot of great teams that win different ways. Okay. So it's more so, like, can we narrow that scope into, okay, this is what we believe in, this is what we're going to preach, and this is what we're going to recruit to. And then you get things to kind of start, align, and that's where you get guys bought in. You know, you're not trying to change somebody. You're getting guys bought into a vision that they share commonly before they even come in. So I would say that's probably been the biggest thing. [00:35:29] Speaker A: How long has your bat boy been with you? [00:35:31] Speaker C: Since 2011. Timmy Hogue is the lifeblood of the program. Two national championship rings, which he brought out to practice last week, talking about getting that third one. And him and his parents are just. Parents are the sweetest people in the world. Big supporters of the program. They bring Timmy everywhere, away games, home games, all that. And, you know, it's funny, somebody said to it last night, like, how could you be upset or mad in the dugout when you have Tim there with you? And it's true. Like, he's just. He always has a smile, he always has a positive attitude. He's always picking guys up and, you know, you know, as a player in an 18 to 20 or 2 year old, you know, range, like, you get very. You can get blinders up and you get very narrowly focused on yourself sometimes when you're having a poor game or poor bat, you know, or poor outing on the mound, and then you come in the dugout and you see Timmy. And I just think it keeps perspective for guys. Like, we're playing baseball, you know, and if you've got Timmy there doing everything he can to help the team, like I can, I can change my attitude around, you know, and, you know, Tim had a tough road. He had cancer a couple years ago too. And like, we didn't know if he was going to be back in the dugout with us at all. And he is. And I think that's even been a piece for our guys. Like, look, Tim's got himself here because he loves this program and the team, and he looks at it as his bad boy. He looks at that as a job. That's his job, you know, so. Okay, well, everybody can buy into their role in their job, you know, when you got Timmy doing it. So I think it's just perspective, you know, that it creates for our guys. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Any other shout outs you want to give before I let you go? [00:37:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, first off, like, Jack Prakniak is my predecessor. One, two national championships here. I don't think the program has really built up over the last 25 years. He certainly got it to the point where you win national championships and now you, you know, the team can understand like, that that's a realistic possibility. Prior to him, my coach at Westchester that recruited me, Chris Calciano, he's the one that really turned this thing around at Westchester back in the early 2000s. I texted with him the other day, actually, we would not be here without him. And I mean, I could go on for days about the list of, you know, people that have been supportive and reaching out, our alumni and, you know, we had a couple alumni come out and talk to the team over the past couple weeks. And, you know, the message to the team there is like, look, there's a lot of guys that aren't here anymore but are the reason that we're currently here. And that keeps, you know, a perspective of there's a tradition here that we're responsible for, we're responsible for upholding and just how we play the game, how we carry ourselves on and off the field, all those things. Administration's been super supportive as well. And Chris Jarmer, you'll see him around filming guys after games and doing a lot of pre game and post game interviews. And he's the voice of the Rams. He broadcasts all our games. He connects all our fans and alumni with the team. And you know, I told the team last week, without him, we wouldn't be here either. So there's a lot of people behind the scenes that are invested in it and, you know, really support these players and, and it's special. [00:38:33] Speaker A: Good luck. Thrust way out. [00:38:34] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:38:35] Speaker A: 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, Matt west in the ABCA office for all the help on the podcast. Feel free to reach out to me via email rbrownlybca.org or Twitter, Instagram and TikTok oachbabca or direct message me via the Myvca app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off with American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks and leave it better for those behind you. And you know that way Yep Wait for another day and the world will [00:39:33] Speaker C: always return as your life is never [00:39:38] Speaker B: for yearning and you know that ways Wait for another [00:39:51] Speaker E: day. [00:39:58] Speaker C: Sam.