Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Welcome to this week's edition of the Dugout Dish podcast. I am Andy Kira Kiedis, joined by my wonderful co host Keith Glasser. How we doing?
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Great. How are you?
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Good, man.
We are going to do our end of the college baseball season roundup.
LSU just took down their eighth national championship in program history, their second in the last three years.
We got Tampa winning another Division 2 title in somewhat extraordinary fashion. Did a comeback and we also got was a UW Whitewater took down the Division 3, am I correct?
[00:00:54] Speaker A: They did.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: So we got our national championships tied up.
Definitely some, some things to discuss here as we get into the quote unquote off season of college baseball. But give me, give me some of your thoughts on the College World Series. Coach.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: I guess first and foremost the heartbreaking loss that the Razorback suffered before we get into the finals because we'll probably talk about that a little bit and get into it. But you know, I. Not to say that Arkansas was going to win the national championship. Obviously it was my pick and Jonathan who couldn't be here tonight, you know, stood with LSU and knocked it dead with his pick. But you know that, that was a tough loss.
Like that was very, very reminiscent of the, the National Championship Series, you know, a handful of years ago where you know, you had what to run lead starting the bottom of the ninth and you had the, the first baseman ranges a little bit, you know, too far to his right to get that ball. We damn near throw it in the dugout. Runner gets the second, we get it now I think there was a walk and it's first and second with one out and you get what seemed to be a tailor made double play to end that game. And we take the force at third. Now you can't.
Yeah, I, I'm never gonna fault the kid for, for taking it out in a two run game and keeping the, you know, at can't assume the double play right. But we might have spun it. But two outs up to bottom nine with you know, runners on first and second and that poor kid falls down.
Horrible. Just falls down, takes it off the shoulder, ball ricochets like that. But that could have done a million different things, you know what I mean? Like that kid falls and it hits him like that. Could literally just fall right in front of him. And you pick the ball up and throw it in and you're still up one and there's a run around, you know, first and third with two outs and you have a fighting chance. Instead the run, the ball kicks, they score two, runner Gets the second and then second baseman leaps for that ball and you know that's a tough play to make, but you know, he's, he gets a glove on it. You know, you're an inch or two the other way and you catch that baseball and you force that winner take all game. So, you know, I thought that was a super tough loss for them. That was a phenomenal baseball game back and forth.
You know, I thought I was surprised with, with Oregon State, obviously another one of my picks, you know, kind of going one and two.
You know, I thought they would have a tad bit of a better showing. At the end of the day, Omaha is impossible to get to and super tough to win in. So it's not. Take nothing away from them.
You know, I just think that it was, it was a little bit more, you know, I thought that they would, they would have ran the table a little bit better. That's all.
You know, in that, you know, I had LSU once, LSU won on, on Saturday night. I texted you guys because we were all watching it and I thought that I said LSU to the moon tomorrow. And obviously it was a far better game than I, I kind of anticipated it being that Coastal team's really good. They can pitch, they can defend, they can hit, they're tough.
Really good team. You know, LSU earned every, every ounce of that national championship in that series. I know it doesn't necessarily look that way because they only went two games, but I mean, you got a one nothing CG out of the Anderson kid. Like, I mean it's the biggest stage in college baseball. Game one and you go out and go CG against that offense who was on a 26 game win streak. Like, that's like you might never buy a drink in Baton Rouge ever again when you go back to visit. You know that like it's, it's, it's that impressive, you know, and I'm sure we'll get into this after, after you kind of give your thoughts. But you know, the Kevin Schnall getting ejected, you know, again, we'll get into it, but that's.
Can't happen in that spot. But I also, I'll give my thoughts on that in a couple of minutes. But that's, that overshadows what was two really good baseball teams that were able to flip the switch and play really good baseball for, for 18 innings of those first two games and one nothing in five, three ball games. So unfortunately that, that, that does overshadow it, you know, but all in all, I thought it was, you know, there Wasn't any games that I watched where I was like, what is going on here? Like, they were all super competitive, really tough nose games that I, I enjoyed watching. And I'm, you know, sad that we don't get college baseball for, you know, a number of months at this point in time, but it was a hell of a way to end this season.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Yeah, the, there's a couple things that stuck out to me and I won't double up too much on what you said because I think the, obviously the, the Arkansas game was just, that was heartbreaking to watch it unfold the way that it did.
I also would have paid money to watch those two teams play one more time.
So, so selfishly, I really wanted Arkansas to win that. So we got a, a winner take all to go to the finals.
But I mean just some of the talent that's getting run out. I mean, think of the shortstops who were playing in that. Right. And I'm sure I'm going to leave a couple guys out, but you know, you got the Milam kid for LSU who just, he's just got a knack for it, right. He's so calm and I, that kind of defines that LSU team in my opinion. I'll get to that in a second. You got Ivar Cat, you got Alloy, you got the Chiwalski kid from ucla. I mean, this is a heck of a run of just some premium high end performers at that position. And those are just the guys that really stuck out. Like the Alice kid from, from Louisville is a fantastic player, but I thought defense was the thing that stuck out to me. Right. You mentioned Oregon State, a team who for 60 games had been absolutely nails defensively.
Defense is what ultimately put the nail in the coffin for them. And then you look at a team like lsu.
They're flawless, make big plays and big spots. I mean, what the Braswell kid did at third base for that whole to, to get one hit in the College World Series and you could legitimately argue that that guy was as important as anybody else on that LSU team in that tournament. I mean, some of the plays he made in that one nothing game, the ball play just absolutely unbelievable. He throws from the dirt.
You know, it's a perfect bunt. He makes a perfect play.
Him ranging to his left and making that crossbody throw.
I mean, that kid did some stuff defensively that it, it basically allowed LSU to win those games. It's really that simple. Like he chucks up that bunt up the line. That's a completely different game.
And I Think it, I think it highlights some of the stuff that we've talked about previously on the podcast that you want to play college baseball, like, you better be able to defend, right? We get so caught up in the exit belows and in all that kind of stuff. And, you know, Matt Hobbs, who obviously is the pitching coach at Arkansas, mentioned it when he was on the podcast with us. It quickest way on the field in Arkansas is to be able to play defense.
Got to be able to play defense. And I think that really, really showed up.
Star power certainly played a factor. I mean, what Kate Anderson did in those two starts, the back to back starts against Arkansas and against Coastal, just, you know, that's every bit as good as what, what Mr. Skeens did two years ago.
Just absolute dominance.
I think the thing that stood stood out to me with his start. So he had it going against Arkansas.
He didn't have his good stuff for a good portion of that Coastal game. He was having trouble with some fastball, command stuff early in the game. He was able to find the strike zone with his breaking ball a bunch, which gave him a little bit of rope. But you look at that stat line and you go, oh, that dude was cruising.
He was battling his butt off that whole game. Pitched out of a couple jams, didn't have his absolute best stuff. And I think that that speaks to the character of that kid and the composure of that kid, which I think ultimately defines that LSU team.
They just never seemed like they were playing in a big game, and I mean that in the best way possible.
They're playing in these super tight spots and those kids play like they're at practice.
It's just, it's calm, it's composed.
They don't get shook up when stuff happens like it was. It was really impressive to see the character of that team and how they just go about their business. And I think that's what separated them in the tournament, period. I think.
I think it separated them in the final.
You know, Coastal was really emotional to start that game.
Starting with the coach, right? With Coach Null in LSU is just calm as a cucumber, right. Jay Johnson handled the Dickinson kid. Getting hit and getting called out like, hey, all right, move on.
And I just, I thought it was a defining characteristic for that LSU team. And to piggyback on that, I'm wildly impressed with how these kids are able to perform on a stage like that.
And I think that might get lost on viewers at times that you've got 18 year olds playing in front of 25, 30,000 people and they're able to perform.
And I think it's hard to, it's hard to connect with that if you haven't been in that situation. I've never played in front of 25,000 people, but I have coached in those SEC environments. I've coached down at Ole Miss, played in Mississippi State, played at lsu.
It's a different feel, it's a different pressure, it's a different intensity and what those kids are able to do and how they're able to perform and put their best foot forward in those situations.
It takes a unique person to perform at that level.
It's not just that those guys are all, all supremely talented, but it takes a unique individual for that talent to show up in that environment. And Jay Johnson said something early on in the season. He was speaking about the Ironson kid and I thought it was a pretty, a pretty poignant statement where he said we need men in our program, we don't need boys.
And he needs men because he needs men that can perform in the situation that they just had to perform in.
And that just continues to astound me. As long as I've been involved with college baseball the last 20 plus years or whatever, I'm continue to be blown away at these players ability to stay in the moment, stay calm and, and play incredibly high level baseball in the most pressure packed situations there is.
So that was something that really stuck with me watching those games. Just you got freshmen leading off the national championship game. The Curiel kid. Right. You got Cam Fluke's a sophomore. That kid's 19 years old and he toes the rubber like he's pitching there in a simulated game with nobody in the stadium. Like it's just a, it's so impressive. It really is.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Sorry for the pause. I was on mute here.
No, I thought that they handled everything as better than you could ever expect it to be handled. Right.
And I think that the look the, the coach null ejection.
I think my knee jerk reaction is that he should. He let me break this down from a coaching perspective. Okay? This is, this is where I get frustrated.
I watch this press conference. I've seen that video a thousand times because it's all over my feed.
First and foremost, let's just get it out of the way. He didn't bump the field umpire. That dude did clearly trip over the umpire.
The issue that I have is that the two of them are both guilty of escalating the situation.
Do I think it was a quick trigger to dump Him. Yes, I do. I do think it was a very quick trigger in the first inning of the national championship game to dump him. I do. Thousand percent, I do. Do I think that he should have been dumped? Yeah. Like, you can't necessarily come out of the dugout screaming that you've missed three pitches already and not expect to get dumped after you've been warned for arguing balls and strikes.
That said, we've all said worse things that we didn't get dumped on.
My, my issue, and this is the crux of my issue, is that he gets warned and he is a billion percent correct, when he asked for what that umpire looked at him and did shoo him back to the dugout. And that, that, that right there escalated the entire situation.
When you warn a coach, especially the head coach, you're supposed like, I don't know what the actual umpire rule is, but every experience that I had, and I have been warned multiple times, every experience I've had, the umpire will stand there and say, do you understand? Or something like that. To where I, if I want to go out and ask why we got warned. Because there are situations, right? There's things that I say that I get warned for that. Like I'm looking for a warning. So no, I don't need an explanation. But if I'm coaching third base and all of a sudden the umpire is like, that's a warning to my dugout. I want an explanation as to why we just got warned, what happened.
So you can walk down and you get an explanation.
I have Never, in the 16 years I coached college baseball and the four that I played, so 20 plus years, I have never seen, I've seen one umpire, he threw me out of a game years and years ago. And then there was an issue years later.
But I've never seen an umpire issue a warning. And then when the coach asks for what, legitimately shoo him back to the dugout and tell him essentially saying, like, get back in the dugout. You don't get an explanation. And like that escalated the situation right there.
Like, if you've been in this game, if you ever coached, you've coached at a high level, that, like that right there, I don't care who you are, is going to set you off. And I like, I do think he was looking for it. I think umpires look for that stuff. And this is the problem.
You can't then.
And it happens, like he baited him into getting ejected so he shoot him back to the dugout. Coach got pissed, came walking out, told him he missed 3 balls, 3 pitches already. Auto dump, right? Like, by the rule, that's an auto dump. It's going to happen. The problem is, and I haven't seen it, so maybe someone who's listening out there when this drops on Thursday has seen it. The problem that baseball coaches have, by and large, with a lot of this stuff, whether it's the major league baseball, whether it's minor league baseball, whether it's college baseball, whatever, these umpires are not held to account for those situations.
Like he's does. He doesn't have to talk to the media. He doesn't have to answer any questions. He's shielded by 57 layers of people. He. They can do whatever they want with absolutely zero repercussions and be and. And accountability. And it happens at all levels there. And I get it. Like, there's not all there. There's so many umpires that you can use, but there are ones out there that do want to do this, and they, like, they're going to bait you into it. They're going to dump you. And there's zero. There's zero accountability for what goes on. And I've had a problem with it for a very long time. And it overshadows what is, you know, becoming probably the third biggest sport at the cow behind football and basketball. Like, it overshadows two really good baseball games, two really good baseball teams playing for the national championship. And we're talking more about this than we are about the things that you and I touched on about what we're taking out of this World Series. And that sucks because there's literally no reason. There is. I. And I don't know. I hope we have umpires that listen to this, that email us and tell me I'm wrong. I was a head coach. I was an assistant. Never in my 16 years did I see an umpire shoe. Another shoe. A coach. A head coach, nonetheless. Back to the dugout after warning them and not issuing, not giving an opportunity for an explanation. Like, at some point that. That has to be acknowledged, that that is something that escalated the situation. You can't say it wasn't.
And I don't know if Coach Noah reacts the way that he does. If he. If they warn him and he stands there and he walks out and says, what are we warned for? You're warned for arguing balls and strikes. Anyone else who argues balls and strikes again is going to be dumped immediately. Okay, got it. You can go back to your dugout and you can say, hey, nobody say anything to the umpire because he's got a quick trigger. You're all going to be run out of here, and you can't help us win if you, if you're not in the dugout.
And it's a, it's simple. But that immediately escalates the situation, which is immediately going to have the coach be like, you've already missed three, so now he's already looking to dump you. Now you're gone. And then, you know, I.
It is what it is. At this point, it bothers me that this overshadows what otherwise was a very good tournament.
But I, you know, I just think that they're both, they're both responsible for the ultimate outcome. But Coach no has to sit up there and answer questions and talk about it. And I thought he did a phenomenal job, to be honest with you, talking about it. Like, you know, I think that he did a very good job explaining what was going on. And if you've coached at this game, specifically at the college level or above, like, you understand what he's saying. But I just think that, like, umpires that just do not get held to any account or, you know, don't have the responsibility to talk about it. It's.
It's absurd to me that, like, you can just make, you can do this and then be like, no, no, he's fine. He's. That he doesn't. He just altered what, you know, and I don't know, right. Like, you threw the head coach out. Like, as a head coach, you're not necessarily, like, you're not playing the game.
You know, like, maybe you're calming in the dugout. You have, you, you may have done some different things, but, like, the end of the day, like, he didn't play the game. Like, they still got to go out there and play, but, like, that becomes a huge point in the game and a huge talking point after the game. I mean, we were still talking about, like, the seventh or eighth inning, like, and the amount of stuff that they were trying to throw out there. Like, you know, I just, again, you could probably tell by, like, I've had certain things like this happen in my career if you coach long enough, like, you run into these types of things, you know, and I, I just, I, I just think that there's, there's got to be a better way to, to, to stifle some of this stuff, right? Like, there's got to be a better way to, to, to not have something like that happen in the future. Like, what's the, what's the process for this?
And we don't know. I coached College Bay for 16 years. You know, many times I wrote up umpires for not being good.
And it's not like it's nothing personal.
Like sometimes you have a bad day umpiring, that's okay, we all do. But like we get the same guy the following day, you know, Like, I don't know if they even read the write ups, you know, and I don't know, like it's, it's kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. You know, there's.
I just think that in situations like that, and make no mistake, this happens in Division 3 non conference regular season games. Like it happens more than I think people think that it does. But like, you know, I think that's the problem. And there's no, there's no accountability from the, the official side of things. And I think that's what rubs a lot of coaches the wrong way when things like this happen. And listen, 98% of the time you're going to have zero issues, but it's that 2% when you do and it continues to happen. And it's just like, what are we doing here?
[00:22:37] Speaker B: Yeah, the accountability thing, you freaking nailed that, right? That's probably the biggest frustration from a coaching perspective of like how that all went down is that that dude doesn't have to answer to anything.
If you come out of the dugout, pass a warning track and you come out with some emotion, you're running the risk of getting tossed. I don't care who the umpire is. And I mean, I think that such a tough thing to, to try to be critical of because you know, you're not in that situation. And obviously Kevin Schnall is the top of the food chain when it comes to coach and what he's done with that team, what he did this year, like cannot go understated, right? I mean this in the best way possible, but they were not the most talented team in that, in that College World Series.
I would honestly say that they're probably the only team, they're probably more talented than top. The bottom is Murray State.
And I think that just speaks volumes to the character those kids. His ability to coach, his ability to get the most out of those guys, the identity that they have, like, it's an incredible job by him.
But if you leave that dugout with any kind of emotion, you're running the risk again. Run. And I just, I think it's, I think it's tough to put your, you put, even put yourself in a situation to get run in the first inning of that game.
I'm sure he, he may not think that way, but just a tough spot to let the emotion get the best of you. With that being said, and like, this is a classic case. Like, two things can be true at once. That umpire was just way too quick on the trigger, period.
I will say this for the other people who are watching, who, for people who are watching, Shilling should have got dumped way before he did.
And the reason is, is that as a, as an assistant coach, you, you can't talk to umpires at all outside of, like, cordials.
Like, that is a, that is a well known rule. I actually thought the rope they had with Shilling was, was way longer than it needed to be. I think that, I think that Schnaller, the only reason that Snow got to where he was is because of how it escalated so quick and he was warranted in that extended argument. My opinion, he, you go get your money's worth at that point.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Like, you know, I thought the other thing that was interesting too, not to cut you off, but I thought he did a good job in his press conference of saying, like, I, I wasn't even arguing getting thrown out after that. I was arguing that I didn't bump the umpire.
Like, I was arguing that I didn't even touch him. It had nothing to do with, with getting thrown out of the game. It was like, I wanted to be very clear that I did not touch the umpire.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: And I, I thought, you know, and he may have gotten some other words in there. But I think, like, I do think that, that, you know, I, I think there's a lot of truth to that. Like, I, if, if I saw a guy fall that I didn't touch and he put his hand up saying that I bumped him, like, I would be very mad. Like, I didn't touch you. Like, because that carries a lot more with it than just, you know, a, a regular ejection suspension.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Oh, he's out. He's out for the first two games next year now.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't, I don't agree with it. If you want my honest answer. No, it's, I don't agree with it. I think that it was a super quick trigger. I agree. Like, if you win in today's game, when you leave the dugout like that yelling, you run the risk of being thrown out. But again, I think it goes back to the original. You get warned. You should get an explanation and not shoed and told to go back to the dugout. Like, I Want to know what my explanation is? And if.
If you're going to do, like, if you were going to do that as an umpire, you have. Like, if you're going to shoo the guy back to the dugout and tell him he doesn't get in it. Like, I just feel as though if that's what you're going to do, you can't have that quick of a trigger.
Like, it.
You. You have to own something. I don't know the guy. Like, I have no idea if he feels this way or not. Like, I don't care. This is just all my years of baseball. I think that if that's what you're going to do, you then can't just, like, you're baiting it. To me, it's. You're baiting somebody into more. Yeah, right. Like, you're baiting him to come out of the dugout so that you can dump him immediately. And it was quick.
Like, that quick. He gave him this. Schnault came out and told him he missed three, and it was, boom, you're gone. Like, that was quick.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: When you say, I agree as an assistant.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: As an assistant, you do know and. And coach. No, did touch on this. Like, as an assistant, you cannot. And you know this. Every assistant in the country knows this. You cannot say anything. The umpires, especially in those situations, you can't do it. You're running the risk of getting thrown out of the game very, very quickly. And if they dumped him that quickly, you're probably going to go very quickly, short and shortly thereafter, if. If that's what you're going to do, you know? So, like, it is what it is. Like, I'm not, like, you know, I think it's one of those things where, like, yeah, probably got away from them a little bit. But, like, I just, like, I thought that was a tad bit over the top, like, the other side of it, too. And, like, I don't know them. I'm not trying to speak any negative negativity towards them. Like, if your head guy just got dumped, like, you kind of, like, you don't want to go, too, because at some point, like, you got to have more than just one or two other guys in the dugout who have been there coaching all year. Like, you got to have at least three of you in there. Like, that's. That just is what it is. Like. And I would. I told that to my assistants, and they played when they coached under me. Like, if I go, you guys can't say anything because you can't Leave. I need more people in the dugout being able to focus on things like, let me go, and you guys can handle the rest of it.
But, you know, it is what it is.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Obviously, hindsight is 20 20, but I. I've seen umpires handle similar situations like that where instead of dismissing Schnall as he's coming out, they actually kind of meet him halfway and say, hey, come here. I'll tell you.
Yeah, I'll tell you. And then if. If I cut. If you're the umpire and I come to you and I say, hey, Keith, like, the warnings for balls and strikes, like, I don't want to hear it again.
Right. And then you say something to me. Yeah, yeah. But it was the dismissive nature of it that was really egregious. Right.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: And.
[00:29:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Escalated it instead of de. Escalating it.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: Exactly. And that guy's obviously a really good umpire. Like, he's really good at being an umpire in terms of the balls and strikes and the outs and the safes and all. Like, you don't. You don't umpire in that game if you're not really good at it. But sure, there are finer points to it than just the balls and strikes. And.
And I think that you see this stuff in the big leagues, too, that the umpires don't give the respect to the players and the coaches that they expect from the players and the coaches. And I think that might be what this boils down to.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Fair.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: And, yeah, I saw somebody tweet this, too, and I thought this was kind of off, but somebody was like, we never see this happen in any other sports where coaches get rung in big games. There's no other sport like baseball where the coaches can stop the game and come and argue with an umpire. You can't do that in football. You can't do it in basketball. It's not the same. It's apples and oranges.
[00:30:25] Speaker A: It's funny you bring it up, because I was just going to say this, that, like, this is.
For.
This is unique solely to baseball.
That's not. Like, this is not to say that referees in basketball don't get chirped, because, you know, they do.
Like, you're running up and down the court right next to the bench like you're getting chirped.
You know, I'm sure they do it like, I know they do it in football. You've heard NFL films. Like, they're all mic'd up. You hear them yelling at guys.
You know, hockey. I would. I have to imagine that, given hockey they scream at him. I mean, you see it in soccer, like, even the. Like, the players are chirping the referees all the time. But baseball is so unique in. Like, to your. Exactly what you said. Like, you can stop the game and go out and argue what's going on.
And I think that that, like, that's where it comes off the rails a little bit with me in this situation, because it is.
It is so arguing is such a part of the game that there is an. I don't want to say an art form to it, because it's not.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: There is.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: No, there is. But. But there's a certain level of respect.
There's a certain level of professionalism is the better way to put it. There's a certain level of professionalism when you can go argue and do stuff. I have gone out to argue calls and have umpires say to me, I got that one wrong. I'm going to let you go for about 30 seconds to a minute. After that, you're going to go back to the dugout and we're good, and you just start saying whatever you want. Sometimes it diffuses the situation.
Other times, like, you. You can get after them. But, like, you know what it is? Like, they've admitted, hey, I missed that call. Like, okay, now I know.
I mean, there was no. I'll never forget this.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: We had a.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: We had to play the plate.
We were playing rit.
And there's a play to play. Ball pops up from the catcher, right? So, like, we were on defense. Ball, pop, short hops. Our catcher, he's kid. Slides in at the same time. They, you know, it's not a contact, but, like, you know, they're. They hit each other. Ball pops up and the umpire was like, in the play and the ball, like, his reaction of the ball popping up. He caught the ball with his mask. Which for all of you rules enthusiasts at home, as a catcher or an umpire, you cannot corral the ball with your mask.
So the ball was immediately dead and the runner got third base.
So instead of having two outs and a runner on second, we scored a run. We now have a runner on third, where. Pass ball, wild pitch, anything. You score this run. So I came out and I was like, yo, what just happened? And he was like, hey, that one's on me. I.
I shouldn't have done that. And I was like, well, yeah, you shouldn't have done that. Like, don't you think you're a tad bit too close to the play? Like, you're on home plate here. Like, don't you think you could back up a little bit so that maybe you don't get hit by the runners and the ball? And he was like, yeah, I. That one's on me. Do you have anything else? But it diffused the situation because I, like, I wanted to scream and yell, but he was like, hey, man, my bad. The, like. And I. I was like, okay, could you just back up a little bit for me? I don't know the mechanics of umpiring, but you're, like, on home plate here, like, maybe back up a couple feet. You can still see the play, but, like, there's a certain level of professionalism to it. And that what we saw on Sunday afternoon flew in the face of. What is the professionalism of arguing and getting warnings? And look, I. I have done childish stuff, and I'm not proud of it to get warnings, but it's to prove a point, right? Like, I have literally gone.
When an umpire is balling what I think are strikes multiple times just to get a warning. That's all I want.
And it's like, hey, that's a warning. Do you want an explanation? Like, no, I know I got a warning. I'm acting like an idiot over here because I don't think you're good.
Like, it's what it is. And then I'll shut up after that. But there. There's a certain level of professionals, like, and after the game, you have it. If we're playing doubleheader, I have that guy the next game. I can't be mean to him all the time because I'm afraid that he's going to, you know, make a call against my team. I don't want that, you know? So, like, you'll hear guys all the time, like, don't do anything negative to my team because you're mad at me. Like, because we're human. That happens. And to think that it doesn't is incredibly naive.
Like, I've seen it firsthand multiple times. There were times where coaches would be yelling at umpires, and then I would walk out and be like, hey, it's really hot out here. We got water in our dugout. I'll make sure that our trainer comes out here. Next thing you know, we're getting, like, five inches off the plate for strikes. It works. Telling you right now, it works. But I just think that what happened on Sunday, again, and I don't want to continue to beat this horse, but it flies in the face of what you expect from an umpire, of what is supposed to be that caliber in that Spot in that big of a game that that's what happens in the first inning. Like, if that had happened in the seventh inning when it had happened all game long, and you'd. You warned them and told them, like, no one's going to bat an eye. But the fact that it happened the way that it did and how it happened on that stage with, again, how good of an umpire he's supposed to be, I just. I have a really hard time.
I have a really hard time with it. I do. I think it was warranted. Yes, I do. Like, I think he should have been dumped when he came out screaming, you missed three. But again, I think it was escalated from the umpire on the same hand of getting to that point, rather than just saying, hey, this is why you're warned. Arguing balls and strikes. I ain't gonna let it fly today. Like, not gonna hear it. Keep your. Keep your team under wraps and we'll be good. Okay? Done and done. Instead, we do the complete opposite and turn around. Like, turn our back and then shoe a guy back to the dugout and then think that you're just gonna turn around and walk away.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: Yeah, that he escalated it. I mean, I think that that's.
You know, I'm sure.
I'm sure Kevin Schnall wished that he could take back exactly how he reacted, but at a certain point, he's probably thinking, like, you're not gonna punk me like that. Like, I deserve more than that. I deserve more respect than that in this situation. I just want to know why I'm warned. Right? And I.
It's unfortunate.
I guess. It is what it is at this point. But in summary, the World Series was awesome. The whole ride up to it was awesome.
From teams making deep runs that probably had no business getting there. Right? And I'm not even talking about Murray State. I'm talking about, like, Louisville. Like, they were. They were a fringe team in the tournament to begin with and played great baseball for three weeks to get to where they did. Like, you got Murray State, which is obviously an unbelievable story for those guys to get there.
And just the quality of the baseball, it's. It's so high in the event itself just continues to explode.
And the titles, you know, for all the SEC haters out there, like, you're going to have to hate for another year because that's six consecutive national titles out of the sec.
So until proven otherwise for all those people are like, well, nine of the 13 teams didn't make it out of the. Hey, you haven't knocked them off in six years, the SEC is the best conference in baseball. It's not particularly close and I think the end of the season results kind of, kind of speak to that. And you know, there's a lot of teams currently rebuilding right now, whether it's with freshmen, a lot of transfer portal activity. Like, you know, it's the season's over, but the news cycle is still flying. I mean, you got guys committing decommission, we got coaching changes, you know, complete roster is getting overhauled because of coaching changes. And you know, there's a lot of moving parts right now in college baseball. And you know, you can decide which side of the fence you want to be on with it, but it's a sign that the game matters, right? It's a sign that the game has grown. You know, 10 years ago we're not having these types of conversations, right?
And you know, I know people have different thoughts on the portal and the current state of college baseball and like, you can stick to your old school ways and whatever and like, I get it, I have some of that in me too. But at the same time, you have to recognize that the game is, it's more talented, it's more visible, it's more interesting than it's ever been.
And college baseball is on the upswing. It's going to continue to grow.
You got schools pumping big time money into baseball over the country. Coastal is a prime example of that.
Non power 4 school.
It was no fluke that they got there, right? The whole Coastal Carolina is the underdog. Like, nah, that's not the case.
They're as good as anybody in the country. They've been as good as anybody in the country for the last decade. Like that team deserves to be there. That's their expectation now as a program like, and that's what makes college baseball great, is that you have some programs like that that aren't Power 4 schools that legitimately can go toe to toe. Most other sports, it's not the case.
Basketball and football, if you don't play in a Power 4 conference, you ain't winning a title.
It ain't happening.
It's just not happening. We've seen it with the College Football Playoff where these fringe, you know, these, these smaller conference teams end up getting in and they get freaking pounded.
Right? Same thing with basketball. Like, you know, don't tell me that Villanova is a small school, blah, blah, whatever. Like, that's not how it works in college basketball. But college baseball is unique in that sense where, you know, you have programs that are not in those Power 4 conferences that can go toe to toe any day, on any field, in any atmosphere, with any team in the country. And I think that's what makes college baseball awesome.
And I hope to see Coastal back. I hope to see, you know, more of these teams continue to pop up and put money into their programs because you can, you can hem and ha about whatever thing that wants you wants to piss you off and focus on the things that you disagree with. But you know, by and large, college baseball is awesome right now and I'm personally fired up to watch some more nine months from now.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's never been in a better spot.
It's going to continue to get better whether you like to admit it or not, because no one's committing to the transfer portal. So we're going to get a ton of people playing high level college baseball next year. We're probably going to have more runs just like we do every year of teams that we're not expecting.
Murray states, the Indiana states and it's going to be awesome. We're going to have more SEC team lose. Everyone will hit the panic button and then maybe we see if we get another SEC champion next year.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: I would say make a pick for your national champion next year, but we don't even know what the rosters are going to be.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: So yeah, I know like the, the way too early.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: Maybe we'll, maybe, maybe we'll hold off on that. When I just saw like three guys commit to Texas, UBA and Mississippi State in the last like hour and a half. Like, yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know what freshman will show up on campus. Like, we'll revisit this in the fall when things settle down a little bit.
[00:42:46] Speaker A: But we'll do it on December 2nd.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: When the roster 34 after all, after all the roster cuts. And maybe they can figure out what it, what a what a DSA is a designated student athlete. Maybe they can define what that is.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: Oh, December 1st this year is a Monday. We generally record on Mondays, everybody. So maybe we'll answer for you December for December 4th when that podcast the way too Early.
[00:43:10] Speaker B: So we're going to get out ahead and the D1baseball.com Top 25s and we're going to, we're going to make our picks for Omaha in December of next year. See how that goes. We did okay this year.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: I think.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: I think for the most part we picked about half the field, which is.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Yeah, if we combine all of our picks, I think we Would have, we would have nailed damn near the whole field.
The only, I think the only ones we missed were A and M and uva. Really?
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Those are, those are some pretty big swinging misses, though.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: They were, they were.
Those were. We were down. Oh two. We had to spread out, choke up and fight off a bunch of pitches.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then we, we reverse Florida it this year and everybody was like, yeah, Florida's gonna figure it out just like they did last year and Coastal Carolina and ECU took care of that for us, so.
No, college baseball is awesome.
You know, obviously we, we do a lot of stuff that's focused on recruiting and that's a really, a whole different ball of wax. You know, the complexity of it and, and how you go about that has changed quite a bit. But, but when you look at the end product like this shores kids 99 to 101 closing out a game.
[00:44:24] Speaker A: It's a joke.
[00:44:25] Speaker B: Like the gauge kid throws with, by the way.
[00:44:33] Speaker A: Like it's not a straight one on one. Like it's one on one with movement.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it's.
The gauge kid throws a no hitter with 19 punches.
You just, you're seeing some historic stuff from a talent perspective. You're seeing it from, you know, performance perspective. I mean, that no hitter was the first one since what, 1960?
I think it was 1960. Third one ever. And I think the previous two happened before 1960. So, you know, they were, you know, I don't even think they threw curveballs back then. I think they just threw fastballs back then. So it's like, it's like the old, it's like the old Babe Ruth argument. He wasn't even, they didn't even throw breaking balls back then.
I don't know, 700, whatever home runs.
[00:45:23] Speaker A: Old Haas Redburns out there spitting spitballs, running 947 innings, throwing, throwing four complete.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: Games in three days, throwing both ends.
[00:45:33] Speaker A: Of a double header. That's my day to pitch. I'm going to go out there for 22 innings today.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Yeah, but anything else you want to, you want to add on the current state of college baseball? I mean, there's plenty of topics, but we're probably going to break those out into some other podcasts since they're.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: No, I don't. I think we hammered the college baseball series pretty well.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: It was awesome.
Fired up to just see how it all unravels when we get back to this point next year. But awesome season, like Division 3 baseball was awesome.
Watched some of that. The Division 3 World Series, you know, UW Whitewater was able to take that down, you know, and then you got Tampa winning. I mean, shoot, I don't know how many championships Coach Erso has, but it might be in the double digits now. But just the. What a juggernaut they are.
I mean, they, that's just what they've.
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Been able to do.
[00:46:34] Speaker B: What they've been able to do down there is just remarkable year in and year out, like, and they were down.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: They came from behind. They. A lot of adversity came back. I mean, they're.
Tampa's the class of Division 2. I mean, they're, They're a really good program.
And Whitewater, I mean, Whitewater, Division 3 level, did a tremendous job this year. I mean, they're.
I would probably classify them as a D3 blue blood.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: I think that was their second national title.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: Yeah, but I feel like they're there every year or every other year.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Them are one of, like, the 10 UW schools. One of them always seems to end up there.
[00:47:12] Speaker A: Yeah, usually it's them, but they, they play good baseball up there in Wisconsin, so. Yeah, no, those. They do a pretty good job of getting those guys. You know, I, I think that it was.
All in all, it was a, a very good college baseball season for, for 90% of the, the parties involved. Not gonna say everything that would be a lot, but here we are into the off season. Recruiting is heating up.
See a bunch of stuff go on here over the course of the next couple weeks, and we'll, we'll start talking more college baseball when we, we actually have an idea of what the, the rosters and everything will look like for next year.
[00:47:55] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a, that's a topic for another podcast.
We'll, we'll cover that one soon, so. All right, well, thank you for listening, everybody. Tune in next week. Week we'll have some more college baseball and recruiting conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for listening this week. If you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and smash that like button for us. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast as well as Spotify. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram MD Baseball. If you want to find out what me and Keith do to help families and players navigate the recruiting process, go ahead and check us out on emdbaseball. Com.
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