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Hey. Hey, everybody. Welcome in to the flagship podcast. I AM chip brown horns24seven.com joined as always by my esteemed colleagues, the one and only Eric Henry, proud Tampa Catholic crusader, and of course, David Eckert, the pride of. What's that town called again?
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Holly. You can just say it like Holly, like, you know, Holly.
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Like, like Holly, Pennsylvania.
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Yeah, sure.
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David Eckerd, the pride of Holly, Pennsylvania. Gentlemen, we have, we have a lot to talk about, a lot to talk about in this week's edition of the flagship podcast. Texas softball, back to back national champions Texas baseball has swept through the regional and super regional and is headed to Omaha. And we may be seeing the two best teams playing in the opener at the College World Series because, well, that's just how the draw goes. But yesterday,
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a
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district judge in Lubbock County, a retired Tarrant county judge, Ken Curry, ruled that basically the NCAA cannot enforce its own rules by saying that Brendan Sorsby would be irreparably harmed by his inability to play college football this season, even though he has admitted to betting on games, even games that his own team participated in while he was a freshman at Indiana. Guys going back to the Chicago Black Sox in the early 1900s. Pete Rose, man, died without going into Cooper's Town because he bet on baseball. He bet on his own team to win. This has always been the, the un. It's been the forbidden place. You cannot go as, as an athlete. You can't bet on the games because you can't have the integrity of the game questioned. And yet it sure seems like Cody Campbell found a judge who would rule favorably. In this day and age of if you don't like the rules, then go find someone to give you an injunction against that rule. We're seeing all kinds of reaction from other schools in the Big 12. There's discussion about whether other schools in the Big 12 want to play Texas Tech if Brennan Sorsby is on the roster. Reports from, you know, Pete Thamel that Georgia has already told all of its coaches, do not schedule Texas Tech. It seems to me there are other ways to adjudicate this by, by those kinds of conversations, could the College Football Playoff committee say, we're not even going to consider Texas Tech? Eric, your thoughts?
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D
Okay, so kind of kind of layered conversation here, right? I'll touch on the Brendan Sorsby aspect first. Chip, you talk about, you know, the, the Black Sox scandal, Pete Rose, we don't even have to go that far back, right? We have college basketball players as recently as last season who had Their eligibility jeopardized and or stripped from them. Not for even betting on games in the way that we believe or have been led to believe that Brendan Sorsby bet on. But prop bets, Chip, we're not even talking about win loss bets, right. We're talking about prop bets which if you want to say are in the, in the pantheon of betting, right. Like if the player. And I'm using now I'm not using a hypothetical, I'm using a real life working example. The player, the team University of New Orleans that came to Texas two seasons ago, you may remember, that's the game that Jordan Pope went off for 45 points. Right. Again, I've jokingly said on the show that those guys had no reason to prop bet. They were just bad enough that they could have achieved whatever outcome they wanted. But if they wanted to say, hey, we're going to lose by 30 instead of 40, that's, that is not in a, in, in. In the same veins that we're talking about Brennan Sorsy betting win loss, right. And things of that nature. So I think in that sense, and Dave and I talked about a pre show, the precedent doesn't match what we just saw out of Lubbock County. Right. Rick Neuheisel. Chip, you know, you'll probably remember this a little more detail than I, but Rick Neuheisel was fired in Washington, right. For being in an office pool, the
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sport, NBCA tournament, basketball tournament, office, you know, bracket.
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D
There you go.
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Right.
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So the, the precedent just simply doesn't match what we're seeing here. I think that's the troubling thing. In a vacuum I am. Don't get so worked up about the fact that he was made eligible. Right. But that's in a vacuum talking about specifically what he did and in the time and place that we're in. And I've made my feelings clear about, you know, addiction and I do believe there is an addiction element to this. Right. And I've talked about just the proliferation of, of betting apps that are available that, you know, if you are Brendan Sourceby's age, you did not grow up in an error when you didn't have this and you didn't have an app available to you. But that's just in a vacuum, right. Broad scale. The, the precedent that we has been set does not match what came out of love accounting. Now what Chip talked about in terms of, you know, kind of. And I know, I think one of the questions is we'll get to later is kind of, you know, Text kind of punishment. Right. What they're, what they're receiving informally as far as schools, you know, not wanting to schedule them or things that nature. I think those things are all in play. Right. You know, I, I think there is a way, and you touched on it. It could be the college ball playoff committee. There are no rules that says they can't consider Texas Tech because of, you know, that ruling. That ruling only applies to Brandon Source's eligibility. So there are ways that Tech, whether formally or informally, I guess I shouldn't say formally, Tech can informally be punished and it doesn't have to be right now. And I think all of those things, if people truly feel as strongly about it as, you know, the reaction has been right now. I think those things will take place.
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Egg.
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Yeah, I, I just, my, my problem, my primary, primary problem with it is he's getting treatment that nobody else gets. You know what I mean? Like, like Texas has fired grad, you know, assistants in their athletic department. Like nobody's for, you know, like betting on the NBA, you know, like, it's, it's. And so Brendan Sorsby goes and as you mentioned, they find a district judge and who is probably a little bit friendly to the cause and he gets a different outcome. And you know, it's. To me, I'm, I've been thinking about all of the other people who, as you mentioned, throughout history who have done the same thing and have had their lives destroyed by it. And then all of a sudden it's okay, you know, And I share Eric's sympathy with like the addiction aspect of it. But to me, I mean, this is an action that has had a particular consequence and continues to have a particular consequence unless you've got, you know, a boatload of money backing you up to find you the best possible legal situation, you know, so that to me is where this is really nasty. But yeah, I mean, if the schools kind of want to self legislate against Texas Tech, that's within their right. You know, I don't know. I think I saw an ESPN report kind of play with the idea of like the Big 12 schools who are on their conference schedule maybe not wanting to play them. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's, that to me is a little. Okay, you know, how does that, how does that work? Because in theory, they don't have a choice. But yeah, it's, it's. I don't know, it's. It's disappointing in the sense that I just feel sick for all of the people who did not get this treatment. Right. It's just, I think it's, it's really gross in that way.
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Yeah. It's interesting the initial judge in this case, Philip Hayes, recused himself. The Lubbock District Judge, Philip Hayes recused himself because he's a Texas Tech graduate who practiced his, you know, practiced law in Lubbock for 36 years.
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And,
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and, and then, you know, Ken Curry gets assigned as a visiting judge, a retired judge to come in and, and sit in on this case. And, you know, the concern is that, you know, a guy like Cody Campbell who has, you know, immense wealth could influence this situation because not only did the judge rule Brennan Sorsby, you know, eligible, he assigned a two game suspension like the judge assigned a two game suspension. What are we doing here? I mean, the judge has basically supplanted the ncaa, has said you cannot enforce your own rules. And that's where this thing is off the rails. To me, it's one thing to say, okay, Brendan Scoresby is going to be irreparably harmed because he's not going to be able to earn this money and, you know, play his final season of college football, even though he's broken a rule that is considered sacred in just about every athletic pro, college, high school level in the history of this country. And of course, the message being sent at a time right now in the age of nil, where we have, you know, young student athletes with incredible amounts of discretionary income now being, you know, as Eric said, you got, you know, sports betting apps everywhere, everywhere you look. And, and now, you know what? After, after Hunter Deckers and some Iowa football players get banned, you got Brendan Scoresby, who had a hearing on June 1st and it's June 9th and he's eligible. He went to, we went to rehab, got 30 days in. I'm a new man. And look, addiction is a, is a powerful thing. Steve Sarkeesian sued USC for wrongful termination, citing his addiction and that it's a disease. And in, he was unsuccessful in that lawsuit. But it's a, you know, it's a very, you know, slippery slope, high wire situation. And as Eric said, everybody's about second chances and redemption and learning and growth. But this is phenomenal. This is phenomenal. And you know, the NCAA can appeal, but the appellate courts typically don't move quickly. And that's why there is a concern that this ruling, this injunction will stand for the football season unless an appellate court decides it is so pressing. Usually if it's high profile enough and there's enough resonance about it, Possibly being a foundational type of ruling in, in the, in the, you know, industry that it is impacting. Sometimes the appellate court will get involved and, you know, kind of move that case to the front of the line. It's not often. I covered the, the courts, the, you know, the appellate courts in Texas in my 10 years with the Associated Press, and you know, we'd go check the rulings every Wednesday and some of the rulings are from cases from two, three, four years ago. So nonetheless, this is going to be a phenomenal storyline to watch. Any other thoughts on this, E. Henry?
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No, I mean, I think all three of us kind of land in the same place. So now I think we can keep moving.
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Yeah. Egg.
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Yeah, real quick. I just, I mean, we, the royal, we sports media has played a role in this, you know, like, just like the normalization of sports betting into everything that we do. You know what I mean? It's like, it's almost hard to I, I guess fathom the idea that we're saying that you shouldn't do it because so much of our programming says please do this, you know. So I guess that's the discourse around that I think has been really interesting because you're having people who like, host parlay, you know, breakdowns on national, you know, sports shows, hopping on Twitter and being like, this is horrible. I can't believe, can't believe Brandon Sorsby would ever do this. And it's like, guys, like, you know, a little, a little introspection about this, please. You know, so that's, I think, an interesting thing. And you know, that, I guess that doesn't really tie into the punishment because the punishment is, is precedent breaking, but I guess just like the lack of self awareness from the people who do our job, I, I found remarkable after the ruling.
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Okay, it's interesting.
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On, okay, on one quick thing on that note, I'll piggyback off what I said. And this is a question for you, Chip. You know, you've watched sports for 40, 45, 50 years. What is. There's no right or wrong answer. And I'm just generally curious of perspective. What does it elicit any feeling within you when you turn on ESPN and you see Joe Fortenbaugh, right? Like they're bad, they're. They're betting guy from Vegas, like, as someone who grew up in a time where like that was unfathomable, does that elicit any feeling in you now or are you just as someone who works in this space, like. Well, it just is what it is.
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Yeah. I mean, it's been a gradual,
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you
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know, it's kind of seeped into our conscience over the last 10, 15 years. You know, when ESPN started working a betting app, we knew. And it's because there's tons of money in it. And, you know, so it is, it's hypocritical. But then this is why I say the coaches have the hardest jobs and they're getting harder because you've got this messaging constantly, you know, live betting, in game betting, you name it. And the coaches have to say, hey, you see this everywhere, but this is, this is the one thing you cannot do. And I mean, it was crazy to me that the NCAA was considering legalizing betting for student athletes. I, I was with Steve Sarkeesian on that one. Because as hypocritical as it is, you, you cannot tempt the, you know, the participants to, you know, jeopardize the integrity of the game by, you know, possibly getting involved in throwing it and doing. Do any of us think that this is an isolated case with Brendan Sorsby? No. And good on the, you know, the authorities for checking these databases and, you know, running it to see if we are finding, you know, student athletes who are betting on the, on the games. But yeah, this is, this is foundational, you know, however this case goes. And I said that I thought Brendan Sorsby was, you know, gonna be made an example of because this is, this has to be ground shaking. It has to be so such a strong message to every other student athlete that if you do this, your consequences are going to be so severe that you never even think about doing it. And the exact opposite is happening. You know, I joke now, I went to smu. I was there when the football scandal broke. And when Texas, or when SMU got the death penalty, it basically disbanded the program for two years. And they didn't recover for 25 years. That message was so strong, it was the nuclear bomb from the NCAA at the. a time when a bunch of schools were paying kids illegally. But SMU didn't have a lot of politics, you know, a lot of political representation in the legislature, small private school. You can't do that to Texas. You can't do that to A and M. Let's do it to smu. And the example was made and now it's all legal. You know, SMU was doing nil before nil was cool or legal. But, you know, I, I figured Sorsby was going to be made a big time example to send the message that no one else, you know, Dare think about this. And in fact, I think student athletes are going to be like, oh, okay. So I just say I have a problem and I go get rehab and then I'm, I'm forgiven. Oh, wow, that's, that's, that's good to know. So we'll see, we'll see how the other schools, we'll see how this gets adjudicated in the court of the peers. The other schools, the College Football Playoff committee, the commissioners, what is, you know, what's next? This is just the beginning. So. But it, it is absolutely something that we're going to be watching because it will impact every single school that participates in college athletics. All right, well, we're live, so we'll trust that our man E. Henry will bounce back into the, into the podcast act. Let's get into. I mean, Texas did win a national championship. Yeah, make that back to back national championships in softball since our last episode. And this one was pretty incredible when you consider that they lost their opener at the Women's College World Series. They lost six to three to Tennessee. They had to come through the losers bracket. They set A record by going 60 in elimination games. First NCAA champion or college softball national champion to do that. And it just seemed like whenever this team was at the end of the line, at the end of the plank, they turned around and started swinging and, and found a way. And it was, it was Tegan Kavan obviously winning the first ever two time most outstanding player of a women's College World Series. And it was other folks too. I mean, you had Katie Stewart hitting home runs, you know, you had, you know, timely hitting from, you know, folks lower in the lineup. Viviana Martinez with, with a, with a hit that will never show up in the stat sheet. That led to the, you know, the, the overthrow to third base, allowing two unearned runs to score. They just found a way Eck. And you know, Sitlali Gutierrez, she won. She actually was the winning pitcher in the deciding game in the finals and she also pitched game one of the semifinals against Tennessee in 100 degree heat and was spectacular, giving up one earned run in that game. So kudos to Mike White and the, the Texas women's softball team because, you know, we talked about it last week. Are they gonna, is this team gonna pull this off? Because they just seem to let it get to the very end before, you know, Cinderella, you know, finds the glass slipper.
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Yeah, it's, I remember maybe two months ago, Chip, we were like, are they gonna pitch well enough to get there? You Know, and I mean, that sure seems like a stupid question now, right? I mean, maybe the lesson with. And we kind of touched on this in our roundtable on Sunday is maybe the lesson with Tegan Kavan is you just got to let her get into the postseason and, you know, kind of turn the part of your brain off that worries about her during the regular season. But, yeah, you know, as you mentioned, I thought was also remarkable. The thing, Chip, that. That's really interesting to me is that this is not like the, The. The resilience that they showed coming back through the losers bracket in their, you know, after they lost the opener. It's kind of like they're normal, you know? You know, I mean, they're. They're. Since the Pandemic canceled the 2020 season, Chip, they are 19 and 4 in elimination games. I mean, that's crazy. You know, that's wild. So, I don't know, Mike White just seems to have built that into this program where, hey, when you have to win, you get it.
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Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's. It was phenomenal because the Tennessee semifinal looked like it was gonna be the end. You know, Tennessee was fresh. They had the number one era. They have three pitchers with sub two era. They throw the sophomore Aaron Neur, who Texas hadn't seen, and sure enough, you know, Katie Stewart with home runs in the fifth inning of both of those games. It was phenomenal, like, almost on cue.
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And.
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And that was enough. And, you know, said Lali Gutierrez, 6 1/3, giving up one earned run, and should have been. Should have gotten the complete game win if not for some errors. You know, that first Game 1 win in the semifinals over Tennessee, they were credited with four errors. I could have counted six if you counted, you know, Ashton Maloney booting the ball around in left field, allowing a run to score. And, you know, Leon Good had a questionable fielding situation that they counted as a hit. It just was like, well, they can't overcome this. They can't overcome this. They cannot overcome this. And then they overcome it. And. And then when Tegan Kavan got on the mound for game two and I, I truly believe, she. She said that I had to have Sitlali's back. She went out and gave us that incredible performance. I had to go out and she pitches a complete game shut out in. In game two of that semi final. I mean, you're sitting there going, what. How. How can we make this any more difficult? You know, degree of difficulty? And then.
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Do you want to know real quick? You want to know Tegan Kavan's era at the last two College World Series chip, 0.7, 7.77. That's wild. Against the best teams in the sport, you're allowing less than a run or less than one earned run per game. That's insane. Yeah, yeah.
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And you know, you talk about all the time, we talk about all the time, can a quarterback lead a fourth quarter comeback? We got to see this quarterback lead a team back when they're losing. Can they lead that fourth quarter comeback? And you don't know if they can do it until they're in that situation. And with Tegan Kavan, she has been in that situation so many times, times of their, of their 6, 0 in elimination games, she was 4, 0. And you know, credit to Lala Gutierrez for getting the win in the other two elimination games. And look, Tegan Kavan got the loss to Tennessee, the 6 to 3 loss in the opener, it was not good. He, she was not sharp. And against Arizona State in the super regional, Mike White pulled Kavan for Sitlala Gutierrez, who held things together long enough for Victoria Hunter to hit the two run homer in the six that catapulted Texas to that four three win in game two of the super regional in an elimination game. And so it just was almost like dark magic, but dark magical in the way that Texas kept finding a way because, you know, here comes Texas Tech with their all stars. You know, everyone made a big deal about Nigel Kennedy being added to that roster a year ago for a million dollars. And Nigel Kennedy single handedly carried that team pitching wise to the College World Series. Well, this year they add Caitlin Terry, all American from ucla. They add seven stud transfers, Taylor panel, you know, you name it. And they add in Eric Henry. Welcome back, my man. We're talking about the, the softball national championship. And so Texas Tech adds all these players, you know, in addition to, you know, Jasmine Burns, the catcher from Ohio State and Mia Williams from Florida, you know, Jason Williams daughter who had an unbelievable postseason. And you're sitting there going, gosh, Texas Tech is loaded. Texas is doing it with all their high school recruits. And in Texas, you know, jumped on them, punished every mistake in game one of the World Series. And then they just needed a little bit of life. And as soon as you saw, you know, the Vivi Martinez play happen where she doesn't get credited with a hit, it doesn't show up in the stats because it was a ground out. And then, you know, Haley Tony's throw to third was off to run score unearned. Mike White sends Tegan Kavan immediately to the bullpen and she ends up striking out five of Texas Tech's last six batters to slam the door. And you talk about wanting to know if someone can deliver when it's all on the line. And we saw that from, from Tegan Kavan, certainly, and, and from Sitlali Gutierrez, who, you know, Mike White said had a little bit of a confidence crisis in the middle of the season where she was kind of looking over her shoulder. Who's in the bullpen? Who's in the bullpen? And he said he had to tell her, sit, you are. You have pitched for the Mexican national team like you are a student and we need you to pitch like Sitlali Gutierrez. And. And sure enough, she did. And Reese Atwood had a good strong finish. Leanne Good had a huge RBI hit for an insurance run there as Texas ended up winning that final game four to one. So happy ending. And Eric, you know your thoughts on, on that back to back national championship for Texas softball. Yeah.
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D
First off, let me apologize. You know, it's the power of Internet, right? You know, when it's good, it's good. When it's not, it is not. So I apologize to viewers. Thank you to Chip and David for keeping it going while I was away. Listen, I took a little bit of heat on the board because I, I took Tekken 3 in this series and you know, the power of being a champion, the power of all the things. And I caught the back end of what Chip said, all of the things that, that he outlined with this team. Tegan Kavan.
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Right.
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D
We talked about her greatness and, you know, we can kind of save the legacy talk for another time. And though we touched on it on our round table, it's up on the website if you haven't read that, that piece. But her greatness in the moment, right, she stood toe to toe with Nigel Canada and you know, a Texas proved to be the better team. But also, you can make the argument that Tegan Kavan is just as good, not that that was ever a debate before, but just as good, if not better than Nashikande, given all the supporting pieces. Again, that Chip laid out. Chip is one thing, and I apologize. I don't want to derail the conversation. I did want to. I, I had planned before the show to throw this out there to both you and Eck. I also think, listen, man, this goes to show the power of women's sports, especially specifically at Texas, right. That if you invest in it, you'll get Great results. And what I mean by investing is I just kind of ran to look at some of the salaries of the women's sports coaches. Right. Vic Schaefer is top five in the nation. Mike White is top five in the nation. Jared Elliott is top five in the nation. I know I saw a Jarrett's contract. It was something unique where I believe Chip and correct me if I'm wrong,
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A
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D
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A
BGW prohibited by law 21 terms and conditions apply. E. Henry's breaking up a little bit there. We'll hopefully he'll, he'll return. But I think the point he was
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making pose for him to freeze in. I think.
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Yeah, he's got that intimidation face going on.
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Yeah.
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Yeah. Oh, here we go. He's back.
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Eric.
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Maybe not.
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A
Yeah. The point Eric was making about investing in coaches salaries and you know, again credit to Crystal Conte for doing an excellent job of identifying coaches, coaches who can handle the heat. Because I've said if you don't know who you are as a coach coming to Texas, if you're trying to figure it out, you're going to get eaten alive. You will not last. Shaka Smart. Shaka Smart had havoc at you know, Virginia Commonwealth and he comes here, he inherited some big men and you know, so he's trying to coach half court basketball and you know, didn't, it wasn't the same. And, and Shaka Smart never won an NCAA tournament game in six years at Texas. And, and when you know you go out and you hire a Mike White who had been to the ncaa, had been deep in the postseason, been to the World Series, women's College World Series at Oregon and, and look, it took him a good while. You know, he joked about John Wooden not winning his first national championship until year nine. You know Mike, Mike's in double digits years to win his, his first and now he's got two. But if you hire the right people, they build it the right way. And look, I think Texas fans can take some extra satisfaction in the fact that that Texas roster was predominantly recruited out of high school. You know, Texas Tech had Eight starters who were transfers. Texas had eight who were recruited out of high school. So you know, Mike White has, has done a really good job. Now I will finish up softball on this. I just posted on the board horns 247 about, you know, softball. They're going to lose infielder Shailen Brister who was a reserve on the team as well as right handed pitcher Cambria Salmon. Both of those players just finished their sophomore seasons. They are transferring out of the program. But Texas is already actively involved I can tell you with three big names in the portal. One, Samantha Swan, catcher for Arizona State just played against Texas and performed really well in that super regional. She is from Georgetown. Left handed pitcher Madison Azua from Texas State who was phenomenal, had a sub two ERA in over 200 innings pitched and she has a year of eligibility remaining. And then Florida State shortstop Issa Torres who batted over.500, was, you know, many people's D1 Player of the year. She's going to command an unbelievable, you know, probably a very attractive contract in the, in the transfer portal. So we'll see how that goes. Texas has, you know, Mike White has talked about the nil program like the true nil program like Reese Atwood and Tegan Kavan have nil nil deals with Nike and as as opposed to, you know, breaking the bank in terms of pay for play from the university.
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D
So
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yeah, will be an active and interesting transfer portal season and we got all kinds of things going on with the flagship podcast today. Our, our back, our background has changed but EK let's move on to Texas baseball.
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Sure.
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A
Undefeated, they sweep the regional and then they take care of business against the Oregon Ducks. And the Oregon Ducks. Will you tell us, give us your perspective on what Texas baseball just accomplished in sweeping Oregon to reach Omaha?
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B
Yeah, I mean I think that that's a really good Oregon team. I don't think they acquitted themselves very well this weekend but you know, they hold one of college baseball's most powerful lineups without a home run over the course of a weekend. You know and really they just torment their pitching staff with their patient approach. You know, I mean Texas is going to make you throw strikes, right? And, and you know, they, they just drew walk after walk after walk and you know, I, I think Jim Schlossnage actually brought it up. I think it was Saturday night and I do think there's something to this because I don't think Texas really commanded the ball too well either. He said, hey, the humidity is making it hard to grip. The baseball is is kind of, you know, his thought. And I think obviously you'd expect that to impact Oregon a little bit more than you would Texas because Texas is probably used to it. But you know, you see guys going to that rosin bag on the mound, like repeatedly just trying to get something to help them grip the ball. But yeah, it's, you know, I thought it was cool to see Adrian Rodriguez come through with the, you know, big bases loaded, double that, that flips a 54 deficit into a 64 lead in the eighth inning in, in game two. I mean, he's been playing through just like unbelievable pain, you know, in his hand.
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A
Yeah. He had a staple in his left hand that became it like infected.
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He was allergic to it. He was allergic to it. Yeah.
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And they had to go in and take it out in the middle of the season.
- [41:20]
B
Yeah. So they, I mean, they knew after his procedure he'd be playing through some pain, especially earlier this year. But it was like, because of the allergic reaction, it was like way more intense. And so finally it got to the point where it's like, this is not, he's not playing well. This, you know, doesn't really seem fair to him. We're just going to shut this down. And since he came back, I think they shut him down for two weeks, maybe three. I'm scratching my brain, but I think it was two. And so since they shut him down, he's been great. I mean, he's been pretty close to what they had last year, which was, you know, just one of the best gap to gap hitters in college baseball really. And so he gets his big moment. Carson Tinney and Aiden Robbins lead off the game with home runs, solo shots. Ruger Riojas fights through, I think some, some bad luck. And he gives Texas, he gives Texas five and two thirds, four run ball. Two of those runs came on, you know, 50 mile per hour exit Velo singles against the shift. So a little bit of bad luck there, but. And then they go to Sam Kozart once they get that lead in the eighth and he retires all six guys that he, he faces and strikes out four of them. So, you know, to, I guess all of the strengths of this team kind of contributed and, and you know, got them back to omaha for the 39th time.
- [43:00]
A
Well, and like we were talking because I, I saw you there at game two of the super regional and, and Ethan Mendoza.
- [43:10]
B
Yep.
- [43:10]
A
You know, he's not playing on the field at second base. He's DHing. But so you lose, you know, Adrian Rodriguez for, you Know, a couple weeks.
- [43:24]
B
Yep.
- [43:25]
A
And then Mendoza, what is it, the shoulder?
- [43:29]
B
Yeah, he injured the same shoulder he injured last year diving for a ground ball against Tennessee.
- [43:35]
A
So he's just DHing, not playing in the field. So you got Casey Borba moving from first to third. You've got Temo Becerra playing second. You've got Adrian Rodriguez playing shortstop, and. And Ashton Larson playing first base. That's not how the season started, Eck.
- [43:59]
B
No, it was not plan A. But it, it shows you the value, right, in guys who can do multiple things. You know, I mean, a Rod can play just about wherever if he needs to. I mean, he's toyed with playing in the outfield. Casey Borba can play both infield spots. You know, Temo Becerra can play short, second, third. So, you know, you build a roster full of guys who can do a lot of things. You know, when, when stuff. When crap hits the fan, you have options. And really, I think they have a really good infield defense. I do. I think they're playing really, really good defensive baseball, you know, so the fact that this was not plan A for them, I think is. Is really remarkable.
- [44:51]
A
And you, you know, Larson had been playing in the outfield. He's at first base. Then you've got, you know, Pender Grass out there in center, you got Anthony Pack, and left, you got Aiden Robbins in right. I mean, it's been a game of shuffling for this team, but undefeated through the, you know, first two rounds of the playoffs.
- [45:17]
B
Yeah, 100. And you know, that outfield has, has not had Jonah Williams for most of the year. And Jonah Williams was supposed to be a huge part of this team. Huge. So they've, they've had to figure it out. I mean, I think Darien Pendergrass has been light years above what they thought they were getting from. You know, I really think he was okay. This guy is a defensive replacement late in games, and we can use him as a pinch runner to steal a bag, you know, but, I mean, he's been, he's just, he's been really good. So found a diamond in the rough there who's, who's really helped them and I think transformed their outfield defense because. Because Aiden Robbins, you know, matching at the plate, was not getting it done in center field. Just not good enough. So you can stick him in right. Anthony Pack progressing in left. You know, to win a championship, you've got to be good in all three phases. And Texas was not good defensively at the beginning of the year, especially in the Outfield, and they've kind of evolved into. Between. Into a good defensive team, I think.
- [46:24]
A
Yeah. And Darian Pendergrass, he came from College of Charleston.
- [46:29]
B
Yep, yep. He started at South Carolina, I believe. They cut him, I think. I don't. I don't want to say definitively. I'm not sure exactly what happened there. And then ended up at Charleston. Now he's a Texas.
- [46:46]
A
Yes. And spent some time at Spartanburg Methodist.
- [46:50]
B
Oh, that's right. Yeah. Okay. Is that D2? I think it's a D2 school.
- [46:54]
A
Yeah.
- [46:55]
B
Yep.
- [46:55]
A
Yeah. So heck of a pickup for Texas there. Okay, well, let's. Let's move along here. I think we'll just touch on football. Summer workouts are underway, I can tell you that. You know, people have been asking about the, you know, Lawrence Seymour. He's on campus. I'm told the offensive line is, you know, doing off the field team team bonding activities, you know, to try to build that rapport, you know, going bowling, you know, Trevor Goosby playing a big role in. In sort of leading that chemistry building in addition to the workouts that they're doing on the field to prepare for. For fall camp. So the, you know, the late arrivals, the June arrivals, I should say, are. Are on campus. The workouts are going and, and they're building some chemistry there with. With Lawrence Seymour in the. In the offensive line. All right, Eck, let's see here. You ready for some Take it or leave it.
- [48:29]
B
Let's do it.
- [48:31]
A
Okay. All right. Take it or leave it. Number one. I'll throw this. Okay. How about you throw that to me?
- [48:37]
B
Sure. All right. Lali Gutierrez was the unsung hero of softball's second national title. Take it or leave it.
- [48:45]
A
Yeah, I'm gonna take this. Because Sitlali got thrown into some tough situations. We kind of touched on it that game one of the semifinal against Tennessee in the heat. You had to have that game or there. There is no second game in the semifinal for Tegan Kavan to throw, but Teagan had thrown, you know, the day before. She was feeling a little tired and. And Sitlali came through six and two thirds. One earned run given up and. And then in the final game, she starts the game, Mike White takes her out in the bottom of the third inning for Hannah Wells, who. Freshman who had pitched well in her last outing, but it was, you know, two weeks earlier, and. And so she gets out there and it doesn't go well. And so they bring Sitlali Gutierrez back into the game and inning later, and she's got the bases loaded and has to get the final out. And Texas Tech is already leading one to nothing in the game, and Gutierrez, you know, induces a line out and gets them out of the jam. So, you know, the, the question to Mike White was like, why'd you take her out in the first place? Well, you know, she had gotten some traffic and, and Mike White said after the game, we felt confidence that Lally Gutierrez could get us through the lineup once. And then we were thinking, you know, because of Hannah Wells drop ball and curve that they hadn't seen, we could get a couple innings out of her and then, you know, hopefully bring in Tegan Kavan to close. It sort of went like that. But Lally Gutierrez made it happen. So I'm gonna take this. Eck. What say you?
- [50:46]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think that's an easy, easy take. You know, I. Tegan Kavan gets the headlines, but I, I don't think. I don't think they win that title without Sidali Gutierrez. So I'll take. I'll take that one. And, you know, I think. Yeah, I think I just takes a lot to me to succeed in that role, especially, as you said, when you're somebody who's kind of. Their tendency is to look over their shoulder and, you know, wonder if they're going to have. Have the leash to do what they need to do. So I just think what she did was especially late in the year, really remarkable. So, yeah, I'm taking that one.
- [51:23]
A
Okay. Take it or leave it. Number two. Texas baseball wins its College World Series opener against Georgia. Take it or leave it act.
- [51:35]
B
All right, I'm gonna take it. And the reasoning is simple. It's Dylan Valentis. You know, that, that Georgia lineup is unbelievable. They have, I think, 174 home runs on the year, like, far and away the most in the country. I think more than 20. More than the second best team. Daniel Jackson, Trey Phillips. Like, you know, Daniel Jackson is a catcher with 31 homers and I think 26 stolen bases. His OPS is 1.3. Something like just an outrageous baseball player. But, you know, Georgia is, is a team that they rely on the home run ball, right? They've got. I think they've got five guys with 19 or more. Crazy. Their ballpark definitely helps with that. It's tiny. It's. It's. Honestly, it's probably a little bit of a joke, but Dylan Volantis does not give up home runs. Dylan Valentis has given up two all year. So I, I think this is A really good matchup for him there. I assume George is going to throw Joey Vlachko, who is. You know, he's had a good but not great season. I just think this is a good matchup for Dylan Delantis. I'm gonna take it. I think Texas gets it done in game one.
- [53:00]
A
All right, well, I've been following you pretty much as. And it's served me well to this point, but, yeah, Dylan, the praying mantis, Volantis, the guy is just so unique, and he's playing with so much confidence. I'm with you. And, you know, I think this team, you. Look, you brought in guys like Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney in the final year. They want to. They wanted to play for a team that had a chance to win a championship, and here it is for him. So I think the urgency will be there. Anthony Pack Jr. And by the way, kudos to Anthony Pack Jr. And Sam Kozart, freshman, All Americans.
- [53:47]
B
Yep.
- [53:48]
A
No surprise there, because they have been. I mean, Anthony Peck leads the team in hitting.
- [53:55]
B
Yeah.
- [53:55]
A
Got the best batting average on the team. He's a freshman.
- [53:59]
B
Ridiculous.
- [54:00]
A
And Kar, just nasty, filthy stuff and so much fun to watch. So, yeah, I'm gonna take this as well. All right. Take it or leave it. Number three.
- [54:13]
B
All right, I'll serve this one. Chip. Texas Tech is the most despised program in college athletics right now. Take it or leave it.
- [54:22]
A
Yeah, I hate to be hyperbolic, but, you know, probably. So I'll. I'll. I'll take this just because of the Brennan Sorsby situation. And look, it's. It's hard not to think. And it. I don't know how many people saw the. The statement from Cody Campbell. He said, look, I don't like this situation either. I'm doing everything I can to fix college athletics, but this is where we are. And it just sounded really disingenuous. And. And look, kudos to Cody Campbell for. And. And John Sellers and Tracy Sellers, who've made. John and Tracy Sellers are the ones who've made the big investment in softball. Tracy Sellers played softball at Texas Tech, and John Sellers is Cody Campbell's double Eagle Energy billionaire partner. And. And Cody Campbell's got a lot of influence right now. You know, he's been associated, you know, with the president and the. The SAFE act and the College Sports act and all. All the things. But right now, I think people feel like Texas Tech and finding a. A judge there in Lubbock county to. To rule on this injunction, they're. They're just Not. They're just not in favor right now, shall we say? So I'll take this E. What say you?
- [56:00]
B
Yeah, I'll take it. I think, to start with, before you even get to Brandon Swordsby, like, the. The people at the top, never, ever, ever liked the disruptor. You know, Chip, I don't know if you're a soccer guy, but I think about when Leicester City at 5,4000 to 1, won the Premier League and, you know, all of the big clubs got together and like, all right, we're going to craft some financial rules that make sure this never happens again, more or less, you know, so I think there's that tension. And then you add Brennan Swordsby on top of that. You know, in my lifetime, you know, I can't ever remember multiple schools being like, we're not playing you, period. You know, for that reason. Right. Like, you know, like, Penn State won't play pit because it's not in their interest. But that's not what I'm talking about, you know, so that's. I don't know. I've never seen that. So that, to me indicates. Yeah, they're the most despised program in college athletics.
- [57:10]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Some of the quotes coming out of fellow Big 12 programs right now are. Are pretty alarming. TCU coach Sonny Dykes, who graduated from Texas Tech, questioning how's anyone ever gonna trust an outcome of a game again? So. All right, good stuff. Hey, Eric Henry, God bless him, we'll be back next week. Some technical difficulties kept him from finishing this episode of the flagship podcast with us, but he'll be back. And of course, you can read everything that Eric Henry's got going that David Eckert's got going at giving us great Texas baseball coverage and, and all the other, you know, we're talking, you know, football season never ends. Get over to Horns24 7, become an annual member so that you get VIP access to all the team sites on the preeminent 24.7sports network. And you also get that year subscription to Paramount plus so you can see the UFC fights. You don't have to pay for the pay per views and all the great shows on Paramount. Plus, it's a great, great little add on to your Horns24.7 annual membership. And please like and subscribe to the Horns24.7 YouTube channel so that you get notifications and never miss an episode because we'll be back. We'll be back next week. Until then, everybody stay safe and keep the faith.
- [58:48]
C
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