Speaker 1: Yo, and welcome in to OTV.
Speaker 2: Here on one O four five ESPN Baton Rouge. We
are live from the Country Club of Louisiana. We will
be out here all show along and don't worry to you,
Bob will be here as well as we get you
a recap of what we saw this last weekend, what's
going on here in college athletics, because there is a
lot to get you. Of course, March Madness was released,
so we'll go over some brackets as well. All that
coming your way on today's show. But how could we
not start with the sweeps that LSU Baseball and LSU Softball.
Speaker 1: Had over the weekend.
Speaker 2: That's what we called for for LSU baseball, it's what
we wanted from LSU softball, and they were able to
get it done. Softball sweeps Kentucky, a ranked softball team
as well.
Speaker 1: We talked about that. It's not easy.
Speaker 2: It's not one of those situations where you were playing
one of the tournaments where you were supposed to do that.
Both sweep their first CC series of the season. Softball
beach Kentucky four to one, six four, eight to two.
Will certainly break those games down, and then the LSU
Tigers on the diamond. They sweep the Missouri Tigers, and
we started to break down the game, the matchup, and well,
you always want to sweep whenever.
Speaker 1: You see the kind of statistics that.
Speaker 2: Missouri had, but as we all know, it is SEC baseball,
and that is never something that can be guaranteed. And
you take care of Missouri in the first game twelve
to five, You take care of them yesterday ten to five,
and the game on Saturday certainly was a hairy situation
at times, but you find a way to win that
one seven to six. As you heard say there, we'll
get into LSU women's basketball getting a three seed. They
will yet again host here in Baton Rouge, and you
better be ready to stay up late. It is a
late boy. They have got a late game against San
Diego State coming up. So we'll break all of that
down again. We are here at Country Club of Luis, Louisiana.
T Bob will join us here in a couple of minutes.
He was maybe at studio. We'll get to that a
little bit. Yes, braid it is okay, because we're gonna
have him join us here in a matter of minutes.
Speaker 1: But if we start with LSU Baseball.
Speaker 2: We mentioned they win twelve to five in the first
game of the series against Missouri. It really set the
table for the weekend and we kind of question, Okay, well,
what is this going to look like as far as
the lineup, because you played so many players here in
the non con and you were throwing a lot of
different guys out there. Would that continue? And you definitely
saw it tighten up a little bit for Jay Johnson.
You didn't have all the pinch hitting, you didn't have
all the defensive replacements. Now you did have a pinch hitter.
It was very impactful in the game, and that was
outfielder Jake Brown. He comes into the game ends up
having four RBIs. But remember you go back, you look
at some of these box scores from some of these
non conference games and you were playing thirteen, fourteen, sometimes
even fifteen players. And we asked Jay last week when
we caught up with him, is that going to continue?
Is that going to be kind of what we can
expect from this LSU team because you have so much
depth and the first game out he played it like
he's been playing it over the last couple of years,
and you saw everybody kind of tighten up, and their
position was their position.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot of movement.
Speaker 2: Again, Jake Brown being the only guy that ended up
coming in and that was more of a lefty righting
matchup situation.
Speaker 1: So you had that for LSU baseball.
Speaker 2: And that was again the first game and you go
out there, Kate Anderson strikes out eleven. He was dominant
on the mound. You jump on Missouri early. You never
look back there, and that's what you have to do
against a bad baseball team. You have to jump on him.
You got to take that life out of them. And
that's what LSU was able to get done. They were
up seven to two after four. Never really look back.
Hello t Bob, how you doing. You're gonna be freezing
cold with your hair wet like that?
Speaker 1: Nah? Wow, what a morning man. Guys, what's up? Sorry,
I'm late. Drive all the way to Guarantee then. Uh
remember we were out. I'm standing by this eater. Okay,
not remember we're outside. It's freaking four degrees. Y'all continue this,
y'all continue to make us suffer. Uh, the the revenges
of Posatani Phil and just you know this is one
of those uh, classic Louisiana days where it starts like
this and then be like yeah, oh you're gonna be
hot here in a little bit, like you're gonna be sweating.
Come carpool pick up. But boy, I could cut dog,
could cut glass right now that that thing's gonna keep
you warm. Bo look at this thing? Hell yeah, whoa man?
What is this? Boy? Is this reversible? And flipped this out?
Look like that'sation. Oh my gosh. Yeah yeah there we go, Jaki,
this is good teamwork right here. Oh this just so comfy.
Who it's been a morning guys to the morning. Now,
what's sure when you're gonna get in here? I was like,
do I dive in LSU baseball? It's like, how could
I not?
Speaker 2: After sweeping THESSAG sofotball sweeps Kentucky Gymnastics, I ain't even
mentioned that they win the SEC women's basketball is gonna
host again.
Speaker 1: Great weekend. It was a great weekend. It was a
great weekend. Yeah. I mean there's I guess there's a
million different places where you could start there.
Speaker 2: I love, but I started with baseball just because I
loved Friday, right. I love looking up after the fourth
inning and you're up seven to two, and you have to,
like when you're playing a bad team, and by SEC standards,
Missouri's bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt, you.
Speaker 2: Have to do that. You got to take all the
life out of them early. And we talked about it
all last week. I don't know if you called it
as you were walking up, but you know, Jay Johnson
has been playing like thirteen fourteen players and all of
these games, and I asked him last week is if
it was going to kind of continue, and he was
kind of noncommittal.
Speaker 1: It's like we're gonna need everybody, you know, that kind
of answer.
Speaker 2: But you only had like one pinch hitter and now
now Jake Brown, who did pinch it, had four rbs.
Speaker 1: It was very impactful.
Speaker 2: But it was crazy to see from what they've been
doing to see what they did in this first SEC
game and everything just shrunk well.
Speaker 1: And it's so funny how Jay just knows what buttons
to push, right, Like I kind of assumed that it
was gonna be Tanner Reeves at third instead of Brasswell
coming into this and then who's kind of the most
productive guy in game number three finding ways to get
runs across the plate? So look, I think this. I
think the reaction to the Sweet Jake is one of
the more interesting I've seen it. Tell me if I'm
off face here, because I've seen people maybe not papooing it,
but like, you know, kind of like, oh, it wasn't
as dominant as it as as it should have been.
And and and I guess my only thing is, like
I saw Hunt Palmer describe it as workman like and that,
and that's probably accurate. But I feel like when you're
talking about this series that is legitimate, Like there's a
conversation to be had about why these games are so
close or or or maybe some of the wobbles that
you have. But those are the conversations that have to
take place after the ones in which you celebrate all
the good this weekend, which was really great offense throughout
the weekend and very timely offense throughout the weekend. Like
it seemed like every single time that uh that that
Mazoo would do something offensively, the LSU bats would waste
no time at all immediately responding in the next inning
and taking back the lead or extending the league And
and yes, did did the did the bullpen kind of
wobble at times, and and and have some tough innings.
Was it dominant all throughout? No, but guys found a
way and and there were some really big plays created
because of it. What was it? Was it Casey Evans
at the back to back strikeouts when the bases were loaded,
game on the line, and then it comes down next inning,
fans two more in a row, like, So, what a
weekend for LSU baseball? First off mission accompliss It's always
just to win the game. Okay, you swept. Not even
I could mush it right. I tried, but not even
I Commas did exactly need to. You swept. And Yeah,
if you're gonna tell me this team doesn't look like
a championship Calvary team today, I'm gonna say, sure, fine,
but guess what, I don't care. I need them to
look like that in in two and a half months.
What a fantastic first step to take care of business
and now start three and OHO over the weekend and
get yourself tested in some high leverage, intense SEC baseball scenarios.
Jacket's amazing it is.
Speaker 2: I got it for Army Navy one year. They were
like USSA, like they were passing it out to.
Speaker 1: All the media members. Damn incredible, Jack. I mean it's
like I feel fine now, feel purpley right on?
Speaker 2: You won the weekend twenty nine to sixty, Like when
you tally it up right, half my math right?
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean you almost double them up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And sure you can want them to beat Missouri
by more, but you got like almost everything that you wanted.
Like you mentioned having to find a way on Saturday,
it got Harry. It wasn't great. He had some questionable
calls behind the dish. Still you find a way, you
jump on them, as we mentioned on Friday. But then
like even on Sunday, like you had a chance to
take over the game and you did. Yeah, and you
did exactly what you wanted to do. I'm sure if
you asked Jay, like, you know, hey, on Saturday, did
you kind of like having to go find a way
and kind of dig deep and go make some plays?
He tell you yeah, absolutely. So it's a sweep in
the SEC. I know Missouri's not a good baseball team,
but it's not like it was close.
Speaker 1: Only one game was close.
Speaker 2: The other two you beat him by at least five runs,
and you had some guys step up offensively.
Speaker 1: Again you score twenty nine men three story for me.
The bats all week and long, so consistent top to bottom.
I mean, like I said, even brassle the end, they're
giving you so much production out of the bottom stephn
Milem continues to be one of the most exciting players
to watch. And he's got that great old school grindy
baseball thing jake where you look at him and the
uniforms just always dirty as hell and you're like, yeah,
look at that guy. That guy. That guy just works.
He's just in the dirt trying to do everything he
can to make sure this team can can get the win.
Speaker 2: I still like the fact and anybody that's been to
watch them play, like they know, like his size, yeah,
but like the fact that he can get that much
torque and that.
Speaker 1: Much power, Like everything's crazy that he does.
Speaker 2: It's remarkable. And think about this is a baseball player
that's still young. I mean, he's a sophomore, like true sophomore,
and it just feels like he's just continuing to take
that step to be the next great one.
Speaker 1: Not the next good one, but like the next great one.
Speaker 2: And he started the season kind of at the bottom
of the lineup, where I was like, what's going on here,
like is this going to be where he lives? And
I think it was just something that Jay was testing
and he can you know, continue to see him move
up and he's going to put in be put in
those big spots all season long. And then then you
have this freshman, this incredible freshman that's just setting the
table right, just continues to get on base, continues to
drive runs, and continues to do the small things, and
so like, what they're getting from these young baseball players
to me is remarkable.
Speaker 1: And defensively, Mylem's been fantastic as well. I don't exactly
know baseball well enough to know maybe why there was
some doubt as to how he would make the transition,
but he has been so much fun.
Speaker 2: You just sent like a bat signal to Champ asking
a question like that.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, I just I just mean that, like I
felt like I heard her. He's switching the shortstop, and
baseball layman like me, I'm like, okay, yeah, sure that
makes sense. He's like, you know, kind of feels like
a or something whatever. And then and then the baseball
guys would be like, well, no, it's it's maybe gonna
be a weird fit because of x x X and
whatever it is. Uh, it has not been because he
has been He's been awesome. He has highlight plays every
single weekend. I thought he was going to make Lynn
rolins head explode. Uh when he when he when he
when he when he tagged the bat and then got
got that throw over. So it was yeah, Stephen mylam
has been incredible to watch so far. Great Lyn moments
always are well. I'm trying to think.
Speaker 2: I think he was talking about Yeah, it was Ethan
Fry he was talking about. I think he's from rose Pine.
He said, he's like talking to Ben. He's like you
ever sped through rose Pine?
Speaker 1: It makes and Max Lavon got luck a life. That's
the best line I've ever heard, because I have been
through im. I've got a speeding ticket in Lamone.
Speaker 2: Every person ever been one had a speed and taken
in Lavonia.
Speaker 1: Maybe looks like, oh my god, Lynn, take a bow.
He kept going part He's kept going like, oh man. Yeah.
So again, not a perfect weekend, uh, except where it
matters in the win column. And uh, you know, if
if kind of like what Jake was talking about as well,
if you were to ask Jay maybe uh over beers
not a public setting. I think it's not the worst
thing to allow some of these bullpen arms, especially a
young guy like even like a William Schmidt, right Like
it's it's it's not the worst thing to to have
them kind of struggle in and and and in these
moments and see what that feels like. But then you
still emerge with a win. Right, So so you now
have something that you can coach, that you can very
clearly coach and say this is where we have to improve.
But you're not doing it with the with with with
an L, with it with an L, Mark uh and
the column there and so yes, it's bad, but you
took advantage. You beat him handily two of the three games.
Like Jake said, offensively, you were fantastic through out. Started
pitching pretty damn great as well throughout. I guess really
the bullpen maybe would be something something gets struggled over
the weekend. But again, these are things that you can
now work on, and you did it again. You did
a very good job. I mean, think back to the
bases load at seven to eight they eat of Saturday night,
when you did get into the sketchy situations, you did
a very good job of holding the line and not
letting it completely spiral out of control. And so overall,
great marks for this LSU baseball team. As yeah, man
three and oh there you go, maybe three and oh
it's all you can ask for every single week. And
mission accomplished here for weekend number one. All right, mission
accomplished here for segment number one. Again, sorry about the
rocky start, guys, but we are ripping and roaring here
on this Monday. Keep a buck ond off the bench.
Off the bench, go to All Star Tiota Batanougs dot com,
All Star Toota of baton Rouge dot com. That's the website,
And on the website you can search the inventory by
making model, by keyword gonna be like minivan, truck, whatever,
or by budget if that's gonna be the main decider
of your next car purchase. Remember whether you want something
brand new maybe TOURIO certain i'd used vehicle, or you
still be a great warranty or you want to lease
all the options there at Also you can test drive
whatever you want. And if you need a body shopper
service center, head over there to the All Star Toota
Collision Center and uh you mentioned know TB, you get
two hundred and fifty dollars towards that deductible all start
touta bad rugs also tote back rus dot cop.
Speaker 2: Go there today by new leasing, renting, whatever you're looking
to do, everything is available. So if you've got a
trip coming up for spring break, you don't have to
wait and go ahead and reserve that rental vehicle.
Speaker 1: You need something bigger, you want something.
Speaker 2: Better on gas vilets, whatever it might be, go to
the web site today to preserve it. All Star Toyota
Manuge dot com.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the seventh ranked morning sports show in America.
Off the Bench and with Hester and t Bob. Hey,
what's going on y'all? Welcome back to O TB. We
are live here at the Dreams Come True Golf turn
at Coutch a couple Louisiana and again, guys, if you
don't know about Dreams Come True, it is my favorite
cause around these parts. I've been working with Dreams Come
True for many many years now. Woman's begging Prajeon does
with this organization is pretty incredible. I think it's very
easy to understand. It is quite simply essentially make a wish,
but just for Louisiana kids and Louisiana families. So when
you're talking about you know, local kids who are going
through the toughest situations and them and their family looking
for some respite, for some escape, maybe to Disney, maybe
the big football game, whatever the case may be, Dreams
come true. Louisiana makes that happen. Dctola dot com is
where you can go donate, and again, guys, every little
bit helps. I'll try to get the exact numbers again,
but I want to say it's around like three thousand
dollars to fund a dream, and so when you think
about it, you know you're twenty dollars. Act. That actually
does mean something. So like again, anything that you can give,
go out there and continue to support this excellent Louisiana
organization which has made so many literal dreams come true.
And I've met a bunch of the families, a bunch
of kids, and it's always it's awesome. They're the best.
So shout out to dreams come true. All right, guys,
let's go ahead, did we We didn't get this show started,
did it. Let's go ahead and get this show started.
It's time to get to work courtesy of Cyger Labor
and Staffing where.
Speaker 2: They can help take care of screening, training, payroll and more.
Speaker 1: Now for starters, you know, our friend the Tiger Labor
Stabag provide reliable local stabbing solutions, warehouse, construction, and manufacturing position.
So whether you're helping temporary laboring long term hires, we've
got you covered with skilled, dependable workers. Remember, are locally
owned and operated and we serve Baton Rouge area businesses
with flexible service. So of your deal and no calls
and no shows is one of your short staffed. Give
Tiger Labor and Stabbing a call today and let them
meet your workforce needs. Guys, a hell of a weekend
in the Capital city. Huh So the like, like Jake said,
baseball sweeps. Softball continues to dominate. This softball team is
different this season. It's a good way to put it. Yeah,
they they just it's they've got you know, we don't
want to get two over our skis here. But great
teams are generally made up of that mixture of you know,
young superstars one or two thrown in and then a
heavy sprinkling of dominant upperclassmen. And so when I see
like Burzon and Coffee, you're kind of salty, old stalwarts
that have been doing it forever, and then like Heavener
and is it Edward Torrey. But the mixture there speaks
to a team that can do some special things. Sweeping
Top twenty two Kentucky over the weekend in Tiger Park.
What were the scores here? Friday was four to one,
Saturday six to four, and then Sunday eight to two,
which you love a big dominant win to close out
the sweep, knowing what's on the line on a Sunday
outscore to eighteen to seven.
Speaker 2: And when we're looking at the box scores here, and
that's what's different, and I'm glad you kind of phrased
it that way.
Speaker 1: We've seen really good softball teams here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean since we've been doing this show, since
I've been back, since you've been back. I mean, they've
been one of the better teams in the SEC, right,
But they're looking to get over that hump. They're looking
to get to a point where they're like a championship team,
like a true national championship team, because they've been close before.
This does feel different because of all the reasons you
laid out there like they didn't just be Kentucky, they
dominated Kentucky, who again top twenty five softball team.
Speaker 1: And so you look at what they've done and last
year they were.
Speaker 2: Undefeated, but you kind of get into the sec they
got punched.
Speaker 1: A little bit.
Speaker 2: You're still a good softball team. But this one feels
like they're going to be doing the Haymakers. They're not
going to have to like CounterPunch and figure it out.
Like they feel like they are going to be the
one on the front foot that everybody else has to
kind of figure out. So that's what's kind of different
about this team than in years past.
Speaker 1: So it's exciting.
Speaker 2: And now you've got to go to Georgia coming up
next weekend. But you're a legit, like there's nothing fluky
about you being number four in the country.
Speaker 1: Like you're a legit top five softball team. And I mean, again, guys,
what more can you say about uh Danica coffee here? Now?
I mean when she got hurt last year, that was
kind of to me what changed the entire tenor of
the season. They did a good job, continue to fight,
scratch a claw, but you're talking about maybe the best
player in the entire country. She's hitting five forty one
right now, guys with twenty eight starts to say, no
limited sample size five. She has forty hits in seventy
four at bats, Jake, I mean, are you kidding me?
Thirty three walks already for coffee. She has pitchers in
a pretzel right now. And then you talk about the
power tory. Edwards has eleven home runs on the year
already to go along with forty four ribies. Oh, she's
in four twenty seven herself. So I mean, it's it's
it's a special team, man, And what a blessed spring
for us getting to watch both versions of the diamond
and watching both of them sweep here the the the
opening weekend.
Speaker 2: Again, going back to the softball real quick, it just
it looks like they are set up for one of
those runs, and it looks like just the mixture and
having different arms that are dominant on the mound as well.
Like that's another portion of it, as we all know
in softball, like oftentimes you'll have the dominant and then
you'll have somebody that.
Speaker 1: You feel good about, but you know there's a drop off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like with the fact that they have multiple arms
that can go out there and you feel like if
it was you know, a game on the line, you
had to have it. Absolutely. You still feel confident in
either one of them. That's what is another difference in
this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So shout out to the softball team. Shout out
to kata Ze Interiors and Outdoor Living. Kata's here in
Tiers and Outdoor Living. Here's a review from our frame
Goldie Domain five star review from our first contact with
kata Ze window treatment consultant Randy to the installation of
our shades by Corey and his assistant. Everyone at kata
Z was professional, promised, time frames were accurate, installation was
done very well and any concerns were addressed without haggling. Uh.
And look that is not that that's just part of
the course for k to Z, right, And like Goldie
talked about, every single step from when you first get
in touch, when they come out to your home, they
give you that complimentary estimate. Let you know, the deal
is all the way through the complimentary installation. So again, guys,
if if you need plantation, shutters, drapes, winter treatments, uh,
you would have put some drop down exteriors shading for
like an outdoor kitchen, so whenever it does warm up,
you can stay a little cooler and keep the son off.
You'd be grilled and chilling. It's Kate to Z interiors
and outdoor living, shut out kate Z. One note on
the bullpen real quick, because I feel like we we
kind of touched on this, but Kochie Riley has some
hard numbers on it. How yes, there were there were
wobbles that made things feel sketchy. For ins, it's both
been and these are ok He's numbers of Today's advocate.
The bullpen walk ten hitters, hit three batters, they allowed
three home runs, but Mazuko's just five of twenty two
with runnings in the score position. And most importantly, Saturday,
the game in which it would have bitten you, they
go just one of seven. Yeah, and and and here's
where it maybe gets most impressive. So overall on the weekend,
the bullpen in thirteen and a third ends up with
a four oh five era in eighteen k's and the
four h five You're like, a well, tibo, what's the
point here? But then Kokie has an interesting addendum, so
in in in the in the Sunday game, right when
when it's already over ninth in he doesn't really matter,
uh miszoo. Uh else she's up by six missoo scores
in one run. Right if you take that run away again,
a run that was not high leverage, that really was
just kind of just a whatever I was pisson in
the win. Uh, the group cra drops from four oh
five all the way down to three three eight. So again,
not a perfect weekend by any stretch, right, the ten
hitters who watch everything else that we just talked about,
but maybe a bit better than it felt at times.
And what I would say, even more importantly, you dialed
it in and locked it in in the highest leverage
moments when you had to. So definitely some stuff for
Yesky and the staff to work on. But I found
those numbers to be very interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and then you look at Saturday's game,
and you know William Schmidt, a player that we've talked
a lot about, and Jay gave us a great quote
on Thursday when he joined us. But he did have
some struggles, right, I mean he free passes, had three
in the inning, gives up only one hit, but gives
up two earned runs, and so some of that was
self inflicted, right, It wasn't like they were just barreling
him up and finding gaps and scoring runs. I mean,
he put three free runners on base and you get
one hit, scores two runs.
Speaker 1: And that's a young.
Speaker 2: Baseball player that we've got all the belief in the
world's gonna be able to only figure it out as
a freshman, but helped this team get to wherever they
want to go to.
Speaker 1: And that's what we're talking about. Even that situation.
Speaker 2: That wasn't anything that Missouri did, And that's a young
baseball player that probably is going to learn from that situation.
Speaker 1: So, Yeah, as bad.
Speaker 2: As it did feel over the weekend, and some of
the bullpen situations, when you do a deep dive and
some of the numbers like you mentioned that he put
together there, it's not as bad as it was. And
still even you take William Schmidt's runs off the board
and that goes way down even farther.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the pens can maybe relied upon if ainsin
and shores can't get a little longer next time. Of course,
Kate Anderson great on Friday night. He had the home run,
but besides that, excellent as he is want to be
this year, so but yeah, definitely that would be another
goal looking forward to weekend. Number two would be einsin
and Shores going a bit deeper.
Speaker 2: It was good to see Connor Ware come in, you know,
on Saturday when they absolutely had to have him.
Speaker 1: Yep, and he pitched pretty good. I mean he went
a little open an ending obviously.
Speaker 2: But they've got a couple guys in that bullpen right
now that feel like there's some real bulldogs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I know they don't have a ton
of lefties, but it does feel like they do have
a lot of options and you're only gonna see them
like continue to figure it out and have guys see
you right stuff. Alandra and Taylor. I want I want
to get your baseball and softball takes as well. But
I'm looking at the clock. Let's go to go to
break and we just goes when we get back here
on o TV. Off the bench, go to Boudros Electrical Guys,
Boudroselectrical dot Com. Okay, if you want a new Generack
home generator protect you and your family during storm season,
you want at a great price. You want it from
a company that treats everyone like a vip you want
Boudros look since nineteen eighty two. They've been doing this
ye'all over forty years. And you know what's been constant throughout.
It's a family run business in which the customer comes
first and everything is about servicing the customer. So you
get it. Maybe take avantaged some great financing opicer. Those
are one hundred and fifty nine dollars a month for
that generator and they stay on top of it twenty
four to seven to make sure your system is ready
to go when you need it. Go to boudros Eelectrical
dot com today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you go to the website, you'll see everything
that T Bob is talking about. When you go to
any kind of search engine, you're gonna see all the
five star reviews as well. I mean you type in
Boudros Electrical, it is gonna pop up right there in
front of you, all five star reviews. You're can get
five star service from them. So go to the website today,
get your appointment scheduled and ready to go.
Speaker 1: Boudros Electrical dot Com. Back from the break where the
sports talk gets real kind of off the bench and
with Hester and T Bob and Joe was heading y'all,
welcome back to OTB. Shout out the killer Kaylin Teo
getting their first perfect ten over the weekend. LSU gymnastics
going into Auburn getting it done SEC regular season champs,
Now that that does much for him, but it is
worth noting. I mean, it's just a third time in
program history that this very storied LSU program has been
regular season champions. Of course, both them in Oklahoma end
up seven and one overall, but of course LSU beating
Oklahoma in they had to head. It's a first regular
season title in six years as well. Seventeen eighteen were
the last time they captured it. So, dude, this is
speaking of a fun team to watch, and it's it's
actually insane that you have Hatley Briant and kayln Chio
at the same time. This would almost be the equivalent
if you had had Joe Burrow directly hand the baton
off to Jaden Daniels with nobody in between. I mean,
you are going Heisman to Heisman here with this LSU
gymnastics team, and obviously it goes way beyond that. But
it's been so fun. Man. My girls love it now,
like they actually my four year old. I was shocked.
Saturday morning, we we you know, we had a great
little workout brunch family thing, and then we get home
and that's what my daughter asked to put on the TV.
Was the LSU Auburn meet for the night before. It's like, okay,
hell yeah, dude, let's go. And they love it. It's like
so much fun watching sports of them and they care about,
not me just forcing them to watch football and them
getting bored in like thirty seconds. So shout out to
the LG gymnastics team inspiring the next generation as well
as just being damn good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now you get ready for the SEC Championships
coming up in Birmingham.
Speaker 1: And for Jay, now he's.
Speaker 2: Got to, you know, figure out exactly like how he
wants to play it. And that's what makes gymnastics unique
for us is because it's like, okay, well we we
kind of know.
Speaker 1: Here's what the scores got to be.
Speaker 2: It's got to be in this ballpark, here's how we
want to format it, here's how the rotations are going
to work. And there's so much that goes into it,
a lot of analytics to kind of go into it
because of the scoring system that it is, and it's
always fascinating when we have coach on the show and
him diving into exactly what they need. He's like, yeah, like, sure,
the other team had more points than us, but we
you know, we did this and it's good for us.
And so as we know, like you just got to
qualify for the regionals, then you get to the championships,
and so it's always fascinating to catch up with Jay
during this time.
Speaker 1: Uh, all right, Alandra, I want y'all to give me
your baseball takes, but first, Uh, you seem very fired
up about a Twitter post from Tennessee Baseball over the weekend.
I kind of saw it. I don't remember exactly what
it was, like, some led lights going down in Lindsay
Nelson and watch somebody had the gumption to call Tennessee
the pinnacle of college baseball. How we feel about girl.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: There's like this thing on Twitter right now where basically
the entire Tennessee baseball fan base is calling themselves like
the pinnacle of college baseball and that they made college
baseball relevant and all of this stuff. And I'm just like,
you need a little more than one national championship to
be the pinnacle of college baseball, and your program has
to matter for more than I don't know, four or
five years for you to also be the pinnacle of
college baseball. And I think it's pretty clear that also,
the led lights on a baseball field looks stupid and
they are ugly and so like, I don't even really
care about that.
Speaker 3: I think it looks really dumb.
Speaker 4: But to call yourself the pinnacle of college baseball when
you just became relevant in the sport, and also you
have one national championship, it's just dumb and not true
and not true.
Speaker 1: It's sad because I liked them a lot more a
few years ago, Jake their first good year, I remember
doing a lot of Tennessee radio because LSU was running
into him and whatnot. And I remember, you know, I
felt a little kinship with him because I'm so one too.
Look growing up in the nineties, I grew up in Atlanta, right,
so I couldn't go to LSU baseball games. They weren't
available on TV like they are nowadays, So I never
had that great LSU baseball love. Like I knew my
grandpa loved it. He kind of talked about, you know,
I remember the Natty's kind of a little bit maybe,
but I was never into college baseball, and frankly it
wasn't probably until about when I came back here to
work again. I had to kind of learn I started
to really pay attention to this sport. And let me
be clear, I have fallen head over heels again. You've
heard me talk about it. The thirty sec game schedule
with its beautiful rhythm, the three games every week, understanding
the Friday, Saturday Sunday Dynamics, a league in which is
filled with superstars, but it's not you know, it's sixteen teams,
so it's still digestible. You can keep track of how
everybody's doing. The the the memories and the tensions that
I have from that national championship run are probably top
five sports memories of all time for me as a fan. Yeah,
it is. It's like watching a team that you truly
love and want to win in high leverage. Baseball is
one of the best feelings in all of sports and
something that I knew as a kid, but I lost
and then rediscovered it and even deepened it. So the
so I guess the point of all this is like
when Tennessee started to get good. I was kind of
commiserating with him. I was saying, look, I mean, it's fun, guys, right, like,
like you know, And they were being very honest about it.
They're very earnest at the time and sincerere and they're like, yeah, man,
you know, yeah, we're we're new to this and and
it's fun. And of course at that time, their football
program still sucked, and so it's really the only bit
of relevance that they were desperately cleaning onto. And but
they were still kind of humble about it and cool
about it. And then somewhere along the way they've just
completely lost their way. I guess it was finally breaking
through and getting a ring. So we can no longer
call them the everything but a ring school. But yes,
they have instead of dying the hero, they have lived
long enough to become the villain, right, they have become
the very thing that they decry in other sports. They
are like the Alabama fans of baseball now. So it's
a it's sad to see these people that I once
liked are now about as insufferable as anybody else in
the SEC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from really six to twenty eighteen, they were kind
of shat they were of good and Tony v in
his first year, he was twenty nine and twenty seven.
They're twelve and eighteen in the SEC, so they, you know,
were still bad. In his first season, you didn't really
see too many signs of life. And in that nineteen season,
I think the one you're talking about, the fourteen and
sixteen in league play, forty and twenty one overall, and
then you had the COVID year. But I mean twenty
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, certainly twenty four. You
got to kind of tip your cap to them and
what they've been able to do. But yeah, I mean,
I'm with the laundre to call yourself the pinnacle of
college baseball when for a long period of time you
just were not relevant at all.
Speaker 1: Well, and I get it. It's a heady feeling that
they're going through because they have the championship and we
know how the hard defending the championship can be, and
they look like they're ready to defend it, like they
have been locked in all year long. They look like
probably the best team in the country at this point
in the season. They look like that, So I get it.
They're a bit high on their supply. But baseball, as
we all know, is a fickle mistress, okay, and failure
is always lurking in the bushes ready to grab you. So, okay,
call yourself the pinnacle, say whatever you gotta say. But
we all see here in a couple of months. Okay,
we're gonna see over the next nine more weeks now
that we get to watch and enjoy this wonderful SEC
baseball schedule.
Speaker 2: And they'll be in town the twenty fifth, the twenty sixth,
and the twenty seventh of April. Can't imagine that they
are going to get a quiet Alec Box stadium.
Speaker 1: No, when they go to town, is that show them
who the pinnacle is? That during the draft? Show them
who the pinnacle is. Guys, when they come in down
here at the box.
Speaker 2: If that's during the draft, and I'm gonna be in
Green Bay, Wisconsin, well, Tennessee's here, not gonna be very happy.
Speaker 1: Oh that'd be that would be pretty disappointing. All right,
let's do this. Let's uh, let's go to break and
when we get back, then a laudre tailor, we get
your takes on the weekends games keep locked here on
no TV off the bench. Go to Tommy's Windows, Doors
and Sighting at g e a u X Tommies dot com.
G e a u X tom means dot com. You
need a hard to play at a Sidney? What ab
on the windows? You need any type of door, it's
all there Tommy's. And these are energy efficient options. Okay.
What that means is that whether you're trying to keep
a cool air in or on day like today, maybe
even there and uh I know, rare right, it's gonna
save you money over time because you're gonna save on
your bills. And speaking of over time, how about lifetime warranties? Okay,
what are we talking about here? Go to ge Aux
Tommies dot com. Go Tommies dot com.
Speaker 2: Go to the website today. Check out testimonials of past clients.
Also check out a gallery of work that they've already
done here in the greater Baton Rouge area. But I
tell you every single day, if you've got a job,
a custom job in mind, trust me when I say
have Tommy and the team out, they're gonna be able
to get.
Speaker 1: That done for you.
Speaker 2: Tell them what you're imagining and they're going to make
it come to life. Go to the website today that is,
Go Tommy's dot Com.
Speaker 1: Back at it where sports talk meets pure chaos. Off
the Bend with Hester and t Bob Bob. Oh, there
we go, where sports talk meets pure chaos. I kind
of like that big voice lady. Let's go, big voice
lady back in our corner?
Speaker 3: How about an Elandra No, I love it.
Speaker 4: So just to be clear, we write the stuff, so
she just does like she just says it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's not in our corner.
Speaker 4: I'm in our corner. But she didn't say with an attitude.
So I'll give her that.
Speaker 1: Drew. You've been You've been working, You've been working her
hard to get her over on our side, and I'm
proud of you. You look, she just sounded very into
the show right there.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure, Hey, God, I hate not being with you all
in studio, Elandra H Taylor, give me give me y'all's
baseball takes on the series over the weekend.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, if I'm just adding to what y'all said. Uh,
my biggest takeaway from this weekend was probably just the
amount of free bases that we gave up and the
walk to strike out ratio. On Saturday and Sunday a
little bit. So Friday night was awesome. Kate Anderson had
eleven strikeouts. The walk to strike out ratio on Friday
was three to fifteen, and then then you had seven
to eleven on Saturday and then six to twelve on Sunday.
And we just need to get a little more run
out of Ayansen and Shores before they start to kind
of fall apart a little bit.
Speaker 3: Because Kat Anderson went to the.
Speaker 4: Sixth inning on Friday night, I think so like that's
a really deep run into the game and that really
helps your bullpen out. So if I had like one
thing from this weekend, it'd be just the amount of
free bases that we gave up. I don't know how
many batters we hit, but it was a little too
many for that too.
Speaker 5: For me, I'm gonna go uh, I'll do a positive
takeaway that actually directly correlates to what a Loddra just said.
I liked that you're finding out who you can count
on in the bullpen if your starters can't go for
I mean, right now, you see guys on the right
handed side like Zach cow and Maverick Rizsey Case and
Evans obviously in the back end, and then DJ Primo
looks like a really good lef out of the pen
as well. He's a guy that we wanted to see
coming into the year. So yeah, like you can, you
can take a good with a bad if we will.
I mean, I think I think we kind of summed
it up there, like you got to you gotta stop
the walks, but your your bullpen came in and build
you out multiple times.
Speaker 4: Well that's a good point real quick though, because Cason
Evans had the bases loaded and then struck out back
to back hitters and got us out the inning. So
stuff like that. Yes, positives come out of it. But
if I had one thing.
Speaker 1: That was it. Yeah, I mean again the bullpen. I
think Kokie did a great job in the Advocate today
providing some numbers on how yes, the bullpen wobbled, but
they kind of when their back was against the wall,
they did a better job than I thought, just from
like watching the games kind of casually over the weekend.
So three and oh baby, again, that's the lead. Like
the nuance is fun to get into the discussion. Absolutely,
you need to be able to say here's where we
have room for improvement. But where you don't have room
for improvement isn't the actual result. Because you're three zero perfect,
wee going to start SEC play a far cry from
last year. Where did you did you get sweat or
did you scrape out Sunday last season maybe to start
one and two. Either way, it felt like you were
hitting the panic button at this time last season. An
excellent start for this year's l s U LSU baseball team.
Speaker 2: Is that Cowen, somebody we hadn't talked about yet, and
he's going to be really valuable for LSU, Like in
multiple situations.
Speaker 1: He can come in in different.
Speaker 2: Times if you needed him to spot start a game,
say something happens and somebody can't go like he feels
like he is going to be really valuable, you know, goes.
Speaker 1: Multiple innings on Sunday as well.
Speaker 2: That feels like somebody that Jay's going to be able
to utilize in so many different spots.
Speaker 1: Jake, I know, I know you are on the opposite
side of this bunting debate of Matty and you know
Nookie is let's just say, a bit obsessive when it
comes to this as well, and he says, imagine not
mentioning the punts. Well, but it is. I mean it
is a good point you when like you did some
excellent small ball manufacturing at multiple times this week in
Braswad what two of them?
Speaker 2: I don't even have to mention it because it's part
of baseball for me, Like, I'm not gonna be like,
oh my gosh, what are they doing? I grew up
watching Bobby Cox move the runner over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's part of baseball. Uh, but so I think
there was one pop up. But but besides that, besides that,
a solid job of doing it in multiple ways. Right,
you got the power, Uh, but you gotta be able
to get Look, any great team is gonna be a
bit amorphous, right. I always think about the old Bruce
Lee quote, be like water, Right, what does water do?
It takes the shape of the container that it's in.
So the more you can do, the more ways you
can find to have some sess that's going to prepare
you for any situation that can get thrown thrown at
you down the road.
Speaker 2: Last year, real quick, you did lose two of three
against Mississippi State to open it up. You lost the
first game, won the second, lost the third fifteen.
Speaker 1: To five oh yeah, oh yeah, got okay, so you
just got yeah. What a better feeling this year is
our one of the bucks that are team coming up
next to your book off the bench.