College Baseball, and specifically AAC Baseball, has officially kicked off!

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For the ones who get it done. Aaron Fitt, co-editor and national writer for D1 baseball. He is a great clubhouse guy.

Go check him out on Twitter at Aaron Fitt, college baseball season. But we're two weeks old. Yeah, I'm getting in on the ground floor, sort of. I'm like in on the second floor.

Not really the ground floor. But it might to be might have believed that with the four ACC schools in the state and throw East Carolina into the mix as well that we've got five of the top 20 college baseball teams in these United States of America. Is that true? That's the rumor, Adam.

And I think it might actually be the case. Yes, it's really a banner year in North Carolina. And we brought Campbell into our top 25 this week to another one.

It's crazy. Wilmington has a good club. Charlotte should have a good club. This could all be postseason teams this year, really. And this is a great college baseball state. But this year feels like Wake Forest being the best team in the country.

That's a great place to start. But all those other teams you mentioned, I mean, ECU, Duke, NC State, UNC, they're all kind of stacked together. They're in the teams and our rankings.

And I think all of them are very dangerous. I mean, how good is UNC Greensboro? They actually beat Wake Forest last weekend. That's why I asked. It's kind of amazing. I don't think they're very good, but that's baseball. But that was one of those wild things that happened over the course of the season.

David is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. All right. Let's let me start. You know, Wake is very much established at or near the top. You know, it's sort of another Vanderbilt, maybe without the national championship.

But, you know, they're innovative. They got their pitching lab and all of that. And five of the preseason All-Americans, according to D1 baseball, are with the Demon Deacons?

Yeah, that's right. And that's a lot, especially when you think about the fact that they lost three All-Americans from last year's team and right. Louder's gone and the solvent kid who was in their rotation.

There was no all-American. He's gone. Bronc Wilkin at third base. I mean, how do you lose those three guys? And the next year you still got five preseason All-Americans. And it's really incredible the way that they've, they first of all, that they crushed the transfer portal, you know, which is so important in this day and age. But you bring in a chase birds from, from Tennessee, who's just absurdly talented was the national freshman of the year, two years ago, you know, went to Omaha last year at Tennessee and sec program.

And you get that guy to leave Tennessee and come to wake force. I mean, it's just, it's kinda, it's kinda crazy, but it shows you how smart they are when it, when it comes to putting together plans for, for, for development for these players. And I've talked a lot with their pitching coach for mascara. And, you know, you talk to that guy for 45 minutes and trust me, there's no conversation shorter than 45 minutes with him.

You don't want to buy anything, you know, sign me up, man. I mean, it's just, it's very, very impressive how smart they are. And so, you know, and then you bring it to see if our king or transfer from, from Wiggett, who was a team USA guy last summer dynamics center fielder. I mean, so yeah, those two guys, what they already had, they're loaded at them.

All right, let me go a little bit closer, but same kind of thing. What Duke has been able to accomplish where there really was almost nothing there. What a decade ago, they have established themselves also as, you know, not necessarily at the level of weight, but they're off to a great start.

They're super good offensively and they've, uh, they basically have the, what the Ivy league pipeline, right? For the ones who work hard to ensure their crew can always go the extra mile and the ones who get in early. So everyone can go home on time. There's Granger offering professional grade supplies backed by product experts.

So you can quickly and easily find what you need. Plus you can count on access to a committed team, ready to go the extra mile for you call click Granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Yeah.

Yeah. They've done a great job recruiting those, those, uh, those Ivy leagues, because, you know, there's no opportunity to play graduate or play as a graduate student in the, I really guess you have to transfer. So those guys commit early and, uh, Duke's obviously a logical fit for them, but that's a big jump up in competition, you know?

And it's pretty amazing to me that they've really got a great job with those evaluations. I mean, Charlie Beilenson was an Ivy league guy, um, who didn't have really a great career at Brown. And now you look at him and he's an all American caliber closer Duke, you know, I mean the two quarter infielders that they've got there, Logan Bravo from Harvard and Ben Miller, um, and another ugly guy from Penn. I mean, so it's just, it's, it's, you know, they just keep on hitting these guys again, very smart people in this program. Um, and when you think about their history and you're right a decade ago, they were, they were not much. I mean, they hadn't been to a regional and it's over 60 years and now they've, now they've been to three super regionals in the last five years.

They're knocking on the door to Omaha, uh, and they've got a new facility on the way. So I think their PK staff is actually elite. This is the bullpen, probably the best in college baseball and was last year just about right there with Lake forest and all those guys are back. Um, and so you got that bullpen, you got a healthy Jonathan Santucci, a real time ACE on Fridays, and they've done a great job retooling their life. I was worried they wouldn't hit, uh, with all that they lost last year and they're hitting.

I mean, they did a really good job there. I mean, Chris Pollard is, he's like Voldemort, not Voldemort. He's like, uh, Dumbledore.

That's what I meant to say. He's not, he's not evil. He's not dark. He's very light. Uh, he, he is like Dumbledore.

Thank you very much. I like to quote Harry Potter when he was a hell of a Quidditch player, uh, Harry Potter, but not much of a baseballer, uh, Aaron fit. D one baseball.com co-editor, uh, there, and we just had a series between North Carolina and East Carolina. Uh, and again, I'm saving NC state, I guess for last year, but, uh, the, the, the fact that those two schools played a three game series, uh, which shows, you know, the respect, I think they realized that, look, even if we were to get swept, it's not going to damage us because we know how good the other team is. Uh, it's obviously probably better for East Carolina given leagues. Uh, but it's, it just shows great respect for, you know, how these coaches view the sport.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, and it's a, it's a great thing for college baseball in the state of North Carolina to have these traveling series between two programs of that caliber with those kinds of fan bases. And, um, you know, I wasn't there this year, I'm out in Texas, but, uh, I was there a couple of years ago, maybe last year for that traveling series.

And it was like the super regional atmosphere, um, at, at all the venues, you know, in, in February. And that's, that's pretty rare in North Carolina, especially. I mean, it's not, you know, we're not, we're not Arkansas and we're not Mississippi. We're not LSU. I mean, but we're not far behind that. I mean, it's, it's, it's really growing.

Um, and I think doing this kind of stuff is, is wonderful. I mean, South Carolina and Clemson have done it for years. It's been very effective. Uh, Georgia and Georgia tech started doing it, these traveling series, and now it's become a regular thing with, with UNC and ECU.

And, um, and you're right. I mean, it's, it's really huge for East Carolina to win that series, even though I do think the American is getting better with the conference realignment. Um, they still, I mean, if you're looking to be a top eight national scene, which is their goal pretty much every year now, uh, you gotta have those, those marquee wins out of conference if you're in the American. And so taking two on three this weekend was, was just huge for the Pirates. Finally, before I get to, uh, to state, just, uh, your thoughts on maybe the story, maybe the story of the year in college baseball, and it happened in the opening weekend with Parker Byrd, uh, you know, getting an at-bat for, uh, for East Carolina, the amputee.

He drew a walk, but I mean, I would have loved to have seen him just pop one. Uh, but I mean, what are your thoughts on, on just that as a story? Yeah, he's, he's an inspirational kid. I mean, we, we had a story on him last year in our site and it was just really incredible to, to, you know, to read about kind of the way he's, he's viewed this thing. I mean, his outlook since the accident, it was been, uh, unrelentingly positive and just, just motivated and determined to, you know, go out and help, help other people in, in, you know, situations like this. There's another kid, we've got another story coming on our site actually this week. Um, another kid who had a boating accident, the, it's kind of a freak thing, the exact same day, uh, as, as Parker and also had an amputation and, and is also a baseball player, you know? And, and Parker has kind of taken this kid, I think the high school kid, taking him under his wing a little bit and it's, it's, it's really neat, you know, it's just one of those kids where you got to root for him and I hope he gets more opportunities to, to get back out there because he sure, he loves the game of baseball. Yeah, I mean, just an incredible story and, uh, you know, one of our guys here, uh, Graham does PA for, uh, for East Carolina home baseball games and I'm not sure you could hear him, uh, hear the introduction.

Uh, the, uh, the ovation just was, was deafening. All right, look, finally to the Wolfpack, uh, Elliot Avent just keeps cranking out teams. This is year in and year out and I know sometimes, uh, his fans go, oh, we're not this, we're not that, but man, it's not my imagination. They're always in it.

Yeah. I mean, it's a perennial regional team, you know, and they've won their share of regionals and they've been to Omaha a couple of times. I mean, the consistency of that program over 30 year period or whatever, it's been almost 30 years for, for Elliot now.

Um, it's, it's, it's incredible. You know, it's really not easy to do that. You look at all the programs that have these dips, even elite programs, um, they just don't seem to have those dips and, um, you know, and again, like they've done a great job of the portal. They lost a ton from last year's team.

They just go right out and reload. I mean, I love the transfers that they brought in all the infields, basically entirely revamped the outfield, um, you know, new guys out there too. And, uh, and then you got these really exciting freshmen arms that I'm, I'm, you know, I'm just very intrigued by, I mean, they think it's their best recruiting class since, since your Don and Turner came in.

I agree with them. I mean, just based on what I saw in the fall, uh, there's a lot of real arms and, you know, after they lost, um, at Willits into injury heading into the year, I just kind of creates more opportunity for these young guys to, you know, to hit the ground running and kind of learn as they go. Um, and there's, there's a lot of upside there.

If those guys can, um, can, can figure it out as quickly as I think they might, you know, because it's a, it's more stuff on that staff than they've had for, for quite a while. Best recruiting class since you say we're Don and Turner. So for people who don't know, that would be Carlos Redon still in the big leagues and Trey Turner killing it still, uh, in the big leagues.

That's a heck of a recruiting class. Even when we're just talking about those two players real quick, Sam Heifel a couple of years ago, uh, just took the world by storm. Uh, that was unfortunately, uh, COVID marred that season. Uh, where is he now? Uh, what is he now?

Real time product availability and fast delivery call click ranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Yeah, it's, it's been neat kind of to see him come back because the last two years he really wasn't himself, uh, just, you know, injured, he just wasn't healthy. And, um, it was basically two lost years. And, uh, I think a lot of people were kind of thinking we had seen the last of what he was, uh, but he just kept, kept working at it, man. And he's, he's there Friday night starter now, you know, and, uh, had great outing week one, not as good this week out at Hawaii. But when I saw him in the fall was the best I'd seen him since 2021, that, that Omaha run. Um, he's, he's really come back strong and they need it, you know, especially without worlds. And then he gets you that veteran guy, tough rotation. It just kind of sets the tone for you and all the, all the teams, you know, his teammates love him and he's a kid to root for.

And, um, they love playing behind him. All right. Final thing for Aaron fit.

D one baseball.com at Aaron fit. Great clubhouse guy. Um, wake forest obviously has separated itself from everybody, uh, of the other five schools. We talked about other four schools. We talked about who's the best. Uh, right now, I think I have to say East Carolina and it helps if they just want a serious against our heels, but a series that could have gone either way in that game on Sunday with pretty wild back and forth. But I love the one, two punch that, that ECU has the top rotation. Drea Savage first team, pre-season all American, you know, first round talent, it's he's really good. And then they got this kid Zach root who's a sophomore lefty who's emerging through seven innings. I think three hits shut up all this weekend against a very, very good both Tron offensive team. So, um, I just think that having those two guys sitting the tone for you the first two days, it's going to make them so hard to beat in the three game series. Uh, and their offense is kind of like typical East Carolina, man.

man. They just like, they got all these winning players. He's veteran guys, the, the Jacob Starlings adjusted Wilcoxon's, you know, Jacob Jenkins coward, these names that we've seen around for awhile. Um, they're, they're old. They just know how to do all the little things you need to do to win. They have enough power. It's not maybe like a vintage powerhouse ECU offense, but they have enough power and they just get a grind you down with, with tough out bats from top to bottom for nine and eight. And, uh, I just think they're, they're tough to beat. Five top 20 teams.

Actually a week ago, I believe we had five teams in the top 15 of college baseball, according to d1 baseball.com. And it's legit. You're going to make us, uh, pay attention, uh, every, uh, every week for the next, what, 12 weeks or something like that. Uh, I thank you very much, Aaron. We'll talk very soon. All right, Adam, you got it. Without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running, everything would suddenly stop hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants.

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