Summer Series: Episode 3 feat. Briggs Rutter, Ansley Blevins, and Chandler Alderman

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[00:00:36] your feedback, so don't forget to subscribe to GoMiddle.com to discuss this week's episodes along with the latest news and updates around Middle Tennessee. And welcome back to another installment of our BRP Summer Series. In today's episode,

[00:00:56] we are going to feature some of our top athletes from our baseball and softball teams. Leading off, he was baseball's leader in slugging extra base hits and home runs ranked in the top 25 of catchers in Division 1 baseball, according to D1Baseball.com.

[00:01:09] He is joining us from Columbia, Tennessee. It is senior catcher Briggs Rudder. Briggs, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it, Jay. So Briggs, tell me a little bit about your career at MTSU. I say finally wrapped up. A lot of us are going to

[00:01:23] hate to see you go, but what's going on with your summer now that baseball isn't necessarily the prime focus, but I know you're moving forward to some bigger things. Yes, I just actually got to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania where I trained during off seasons. It's obviously

[00:01:37] much more of a different off season this time. It's not looking to get back into college baseball in August. I'm waiting on the results of the draft in July. Hopefully get a chance to play professional baseball. If not, we'll keep going. But I'm training right

[00:01:52] now every day. I'm getting ready for that. That's the ultimate dream. I'm very excited for it to even be mentioned in the conversation. It's really special. We got a couple other guys that have potentially had their name called this summer, too. I know they're doing the same thing,

[00:02:06] but I'm up in Pennsylvania training. My whole family's from here, so it's like a second home to me. Just training once a day. Get to go home, relax. The other time is kind of on my own.

[00:02:16] It's better than being a student athlete. It's your job to play baseball now, and I really enjoy that job. So hopefully we can find somewhere to land in July. Tell me a little

[00:02:27] bit about that. I know baseball, I didn't obviously take it as far as you did, but it's funny. You get into college and it slows down a little bit. Your summers might slow down.

[00:02:35] You go to a wood bat league or something like that, and now that the college level is over, like you just kind of touched on it there a little bit. I want to hear you expand the

[00:02:44] freedom you have. You're not having to worry about classes over the summer. You're not having to worry about so many hours studying as well as the amount of hours that the coach

[00:02:52] would require you to be there. So tell me a little bit about not only what you're doing training wise, but what are you doing with your free time now up in Pennsylvania?

[00:03:00] Training wise, I'm kind of waiting to see if anyone wants me to go play. So I'm kind of on standby. That's kind of the name of the game for this whole summer is being on standby.

[00:03:12] You're not a certain draft pick. You're just a prospect and you've got whoever needs to see you. If they're going to take a chance on you, you'd be ready to go play and do whatever.

[00:03:21] I'm kind of just waiting, talking to my advisor a lot and hopefully getting some calls and figuring out what the summer is going to look like. In the off time, I try my best to get my mind

[00:03:31] off of it. Obviously I said when you're not a for sure draft pick, it's tough on you mentally a little bit. You're worried about the next step. If you're going to get your name called,

[00:03:40] if you're not, I understand my position and where I'm at with that. So I try and get my mind off of it. I brought my Xbox here in my apartment here in Westchester, Pennsylvania,

[00:03:49] I'm just playing a lot of the show, watching a lot of TV. I'm on my own again. I'm living down here in an apartment. So I just try and relax. I try and make sure I'm eating healthy. I like

[00:03:58] cooking a lot. My girlfriend's a big reason for that. I really enjoy cooking. She's taught me how to do that and stay healthy with it. So try and watch TV, relax. I watch a lot

[00:04:08] of baseball. I watch the Phillies every night. I'm still a Dyer and Phillies fan, always have been. So up here they're on local TV. It's really easy to watch.

[00:04:15] I'm going to go to a couple of games this summer like I did when I was a kid. It'll be kind of reminiscing on the old days for me and it'll be fun. But the training is obviously the center,

[00:04:24] being prepared as the center, having your phone on you, being ready to hop on a plane and go train somewhere if you need to for a week. It's cool. One of my family friends

[00:04:34] told me find joy in not knowing. And that's kind of going day to day. You just don't know and you could easily stress out a lot about that. So if you take joy and excitement and not knowing

[00:04:47] what the future holds, but that it could hold a really special dream for you, that's kind of where I'm at. I'm chilling for lack of a better word. I'm just hanging out up here.

[00:04:56] I really enjoy being around my family and my friends from Pennsylvania. It's good to be back up here and being around my second home up here. So it doesn't sound like you've been in communications with too many clubs right now. And the draft isn't necessarily too far

[00:05:10] away and it's not out of the line of question. I know that the catching position is one that's really tough to get into, especially to talk about the major league level. But one thing

[00:05:18] that makes you special, that makes you a hot prospect, at least in my eyes, is the bat. And is that something that you've kind of come to terms with? Like maybe you may not be catching. Is that something, obviously any opportunity at the next level you'd be willing

[00:05:29] to jump at it. But is that kind of something you've come to terms with already? Is that maybe catching is not where you belong? I actually, I have a lot of confidence and a

[00:05:37] lot of, I was always a defensive first player before I really came into my own hitting thanks to Coach Nichols and the people around me that kind of taught me how to swing it right. I'm very

[00:05:46] confident in my defense. It's a pride of mine. I really enjoy playing it. So obviously I would hate to have that taken from me. I think I'm a catching prospect as opposed to anything else. However, I've played first base in college. Whatever somebody needs, I will do.

[00:06:01] I grew up playing in the middle infield. Obviously I'm not as fast anymore so I can't do that. But the corners, anywhere that somebody says, hey, we'll take you but let's put you here. I'll be okay. That's okay with me. I always heard if you can hit,

[00:06:14] they'll find a spot for you and try to make sure my bat's good. But the defense is a pride of mine. It always has been. My dad was a catcher. Something that runs in our family.

[00:06:22] I take a lot of pride in that. So I hope I get the chance to stay there. But like you said, it's whatever they tell me to do. Whoever knows best, I know I don't know everything.

[00:06:30] So I kind of just try and listen and take advice as it comes. Well, don't sell yourself short. You got nine stolen bases this year. That's pretty good for a catching prospect, I'd say. Right. If you don't rewatch the film and see some of them

[00:06:43] were no throws, then it'll be okay. But we'll just say nine straight. Yeah. I mean, that's all that they see, right? They're not going to go back and watch those. Right. Right. That's what I think about it. So tell me too, as you're preparing for

[00:06:56] this upcoming season and the preparations and stuff like that, I always think it's funny too. And you talk about you being from Pennsylvania. What about that call from the Phillies? You ever thought about what that opportunity like that would be for you? I mean, obviously you don't

[00:07:09] get to Philadelphia right away, but that'd be a special thing for you, wouldn't it? Yeah. You ask so much to think about it's probably every day. But I think every kid that's ever had an opportunity to play professional baseball thinks that way.

[00:07:23] Obviously if it's the Braves or somebody I grew up not liking, I would be an instant Braves fan. I mean, it's not like I'm going to stick with whoever doesn't take me. The

[00:07:34] Phillies obviously is a dream and that would be a dream come true. And the lower level clubs, the minor leagues in the system, a lot of them are in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So

[00:07:42] I'd be really close to a lot of my family from here as well. I don't have much family in Tennessee anymore. So most of my concentration is up here now. And it'd be special to play in either Jersey or Redding, Lehigh Valley, all those cool places

[00:07:56] and be a part of the team that you grew up buying jerseys for, maybe have your own jersey. But obviously it's just a blessing to be in the conversation to have a chance to play for

[00:08:07] any club. And I'll take absolutely anything but the dream club, obviously, you know, we're growing up to Phillies fan, I can't lie to you. But yeah, anywhere that'll give me a

[00:08:18] chance, I'll do whatever it takes to get there. Now as a Tampa Bay Ray fan myself, I still haven't quite let down the 2008 World Series. But tell me the dynamic. You mentioned about the Braves there. You move down here to Nashville, I say Murfreesboro, South Nashville. You're in

[00:08:32] the middle of Braves country. What's that dynamic like? Because you obviously don't get to travel back to Philadelphia and watch games. So you're kind of stuck down here. But what was that like being, for the most part, I'm sure a lone Phillies fan in the clubhouse?

[00:08:45] Oh, I actually grew up in Columbia, Tennessee. So I was around Braves country my entire life. But all my sports were always the Eagles, the Phillies, the Flyers, Sixers, kind of the

[00:08:55] Sixers. But so growing up in Braves country, I had to fight for my life often. And for the past 11 years, it's funny you mentioned 08 because that was my first memory of life.

[00:09:04] I was six years old. I remember Brad Lidge slamming the door. That was a good time for us. I'm sorry for you. You guys are good now anyway. But I grew up in Braves country. Definitely

[00:09:16] I learned how to fight for myself. And for 11 years, we didn't make the playoffs and the Braves did. So it was tough. When we got to school, the Phillies started beating the

[00:09:24] Braves. And I got to finally have my reign down on campus. But over the past four years, I actually had two other friends that were Phillies fans on the team. One was from Palmyra, Pennsylvania. That's Austin Ball and then Jake Hagan, the old veteran catcher.

[00:09:41] He was a Phillies fan for no reason. I think he saw Chase Utley one time and he just loved the Phillies for 10 years. So I've had support but obviously it's more of a Braves and

[00:09:51] Cardinals territory that in the past few years we've been lucky to be good. And as a fan of Phillies, it's been nice. Well, I'd say since 2019, I know Harper's been there for a minute, but they seem to be poised for a World Series run this year. I would

[00:10:05] argue they're probably the best team in the National League and you've got three Cy Young potential winners at the top of your rotation. So there's a lot of promise in Philadelphia this time of year. Absolutely. The buzz around here is everybody's got a Phillies hat on.

[00:10:18] It's what I love about Philadelphia, everybody with their sports teams. And this is a special city for that. I love being up here, being a part of that culture and get to be around people that support the same teams for the first time in my life. It's nice.

[00:10:31] Right, right. Well, let's get back to your career here in Murfreesboro. You get here as a freshman, you see seldom time uptick in your PT there, your sophomore year. And then we see kind of think your career take off last year, your junior year,

[00:10:44] and obviously the season you had. The big outstanding thing is the slugging numbers go up, the home runs go up. I know you had kind of a life experience there, your sophomore season losing your mom. I'm interested, was that kind of the catalyst for you?

[00:10:58] Because I know I've read the article with Connor Smith about how your focus and your life turned to baseball at that time. I'm interested to know a kid like yourself, you pick yourself up from your bootstraps there and what could potentially be a dark

[00:11:10] time for you. And you seem to make the best of it and really giving yourself a name for yourself. And as we've been talking about so far, a future. Absolutely. Obviously the darkest time in my life, the darkest time of my family's life

[00:11:22] was very difficult. But the one light in that was baseball and I took advantage of it. I remember I would stay at the hospital with my mom at Vanderbilt and then stay in a cot there

[00:11:33] and then drive down to practice just because that was my getaway. I'd go back and forth to practice, go back to Nashville afterwards. So I was trying to spend as much time with

[00:11:43] my mom but she at the time was telling me you need to go do what you do. And so I listened to her and she was obviously a woman that wanted me to chase my dreams. So when I got back after

[00:11:53] she passed away, the team really embraced me. We got on a little hot streak. My first start back, I had a home run on my first at bat. It was just a very, the way the team embraced me,

[00:12:05] the way the coaching staff embraced me and made me feel like I hadn't lost a family member, I'd actually gained 40 others was very special to me. Then obviously the game of baseball,

[00:12:15] you wake up at five years old just dying to go play. You just want to go to the cage. I reverted back to that. Those are memories of my mom as well. You think about when you're a

[00:12:25] kid, the first thing that comes to mind is my mom and our relationship we had. So reverting myself back into baseball since really gave me that nostalgia back and some cool memories over

[00:12:35] my life with my mom. So it hasn't changed since then. I had a little down play of motivation there for about a year after she passed away. I found it again really last summer

[00:12:47] right before I came back from my senior year and had a lot of drive to really try and go do this thing. I finally felt like I had healed a good amount from the initial experience of losing

[00:12:59] my mom, but now we're all in a good place. Her memory is forever with us. I have the tattoo on my arm says, do your best son that I always have when I'm in the box. So those

[00:13:11] are sweet memories now. The memories are more sweet than bitter and I get a chance to show that every time I get out on the field. If I think about that, it takes pressure off because my mom

[00:13:20] told me to just go do your best and that's all that I can do. So that's my motivation. That's why I want to keep chasing this dream. I want to keep playing just for her if anything

[00:13:29] and I love the game and the game was almost my therapy away from that. So I'll never forget MTSU, the staff there, the teammates there and then obviously just the game itself. You

[00:13:40] can never thank it enough for giving you that light in such a dark time. Absolutely. That's a touching story and I'm glad you're willing to openly share that with us and Raider Nation. One thing too, just kind of expand upon that. You go through the coaching transition there

[00:13:56] as well with Thoman and then you move in with Coach Myers. You know, you stick around too and that's something that again is kind of admirable. You know, what was that transition like for you as well as far as coaching staff? And it

[00:14:07] seems that Coach Myers taking the interim position in your junior year and now his first official head coaching year this year kind of took off. I mean, you took a lot of faith in Coach Myers this season.

[00:14:18] Just the human being he is. If you had a chance to sit down with him for an hour, which it probably turned into two, he likes to talk, which we love. But you would really

[00:14:29] understand why that decision was easy and in such a tumultuous time, especially with the transfer portal world now becoming such a prevalent thing and becoming harder for mid-majors to compete in that realm. It never really crossed my mind,

[00:14:45] you know, even with the coaching transition, everybody kind of hits the panic button and it's fair to each their own with that. But I had a home at MTSU. I was growing up there.

[00:14:55] It was more to me than just a baseball program. It was, you know, a community and a family that I had. And for me, I had no reason to doubt that with the stellar program

[00:15:06] that we had been in the past and continue to try and be that we wouldn't find somebody of Coach Myers caliber. And we did. And I have no regrets about that, obviously. And I didn't want to leave my family. It felt like a very easy decision to stay

[00:15:24] and to be a part of this university, you know, close to home, you know, only an hour from Columbia. And it was easy. I just wanted to be a part of that and stay with,

[00:15:33] you know, Gabe Jennings did the same thing, stayed for a long time. Jackson Galloway transferred in and stayed. And, you know, Luke Vinson, obviously, you know, the older guys that I had been with, we wanted to stay. And I tell you what, we really enjoyed this last

[00:15:46] season together as seniors going all the way through. I want to draw back to that baseball player photographic memory I know that you have. Let's talk about the day you

[00:15:54] hit for a cycle and the Raider fans that may not know you for the third cycle in program history. What a game it was against New Mexico State. Final score was 15-12 Aggies. But the game,

[00:16:06] what's funny about it is you had six at bats and some people may look at it, well, you went into extra innings. But if anyone knows again, looks at the box score, you did it in your first four at bats. You didn't need the last two at bats.

[00:16:15] I want to know, I want to kind of draw on that, you know, what was kind of your mentality there? I know you got the triple, I think it was in the third inning, which is

[00:16:22] always the hardest one to get. So when you're left out there with a double in the home run, is this something you kind of knew? Like I'm going to swing for the fence because the home run was the last one you needed to get that cycle.

[00:16:32] I knew it going into my last at bat. But I was just trying to put a good swing on one and be aggressive early. I had a rough weekend, the weekend before against Louisiana Tech with nine

[00:16:43] strikeouts and three games. So I was reeling off a little bit of a bad week. I had been in the cage from Wednesday until Friday, we played trying to figure that out

[00:16:52] and get smooth again. And luckily I was able to stay short and get a couple of balls up in the zone where I wanted them. And with that last swing, I was just trying to attack.

[00:17:01] I wasn't thinking about the home run. I knew it would have been cool, but first pitch at AB, I got one up in the air and it went so

[00:17:08] I ran it first base, it kind of hit me and I was really excited. It was a really cool moment. But yeah, just trying to do the same thing every at bat rather than try and make something happen

[00:17:17] when there's nothing to be made happen. Let the game come to you and take what it gives you. The first one in your career of all levels? Second. Okay. What was your other one? Amsterdam Mohawks, perfect game, collegiate baseball league, summer ball my sophomore year.

[00:17:35] See now I really only did that as a test to show that again, the photographic memory that baseball and softball players seem to always have it. It always really does impress me about that.

[00:17:45] So I want to draw back too about that, something that's so funny about baseball players, and I share probably the same opinion that you do. When you were here in Columbia, you were at Zion Christian Academy, you were nearly a 2000 point scorer in basketball.

[00:17:59] I ask you this question. If you were able to take the top five athletes from MTSU's baseball team, the top five from MTSU's football, and then we did the same with basketball, you think if you had a round robin of just all the sports, basketball, football, baseball,

[00:18:12] we throw in some odd dodge balls and kick balls and whatnot. Do you think baseball would prevail and be the most athletic and skilled of all three teams? And I say this with all love to my basketball friends and my football friends.

[00:18:25] You put baseball players in any sport, they know how to play. I don't see a lot of football players able to swing a baseball bat the right way. It's a tough thing. It's something if you don't grow up doing, you can't do it. But I've seen a lot

[00:18:39] of baseball players be good at basketball. We got a lot of our guys that can swing the rock in football too. So yeah, I think that's a relatively easy pullout for the fellas.

[00:18:48] I think we're all around athletes. We all play different sports and I think we give them the work. I forget who it is. There was a Texan receiver who just recently said that if he played in the league, he would bat 200. And then Tyler Glass now came on,

[00:19:01] pitcher for the Dodgers that don't know, former Ray as well. He came on and said if he gave him 500 at bats, he might get five hits. And I think that's a pretty accurate statement. What are your thoughts? Absolutely. It's a lot harder than people

[00:19:13] think and slumps will tell you that for sure. Sometimes you don't even see the baseball. And that's even if you've been doing it your whole life. So it's a tough thing, but

[00:19:23] I respect the people that want to get in there and learn it and then try it and just experience what it's like to be in an at bat. But it's definitely a difficult,

[00:19:30] difficult feat. Last few off ball things here. I know you mentioned you got the Xbox there to pass some time. What's your level of excitement for NCAA football coming out? Oh, I can't wait. That's a childhood remake. We used to play in NCAA 14 back when I was 12

[00:19:46] years old and now we're going to play it again with some cool graphics. And I love college football. I think everybody does. So it'll be fun to get on there with the boys, lead the Blue Raiders, do a national championship on there. That'd be pretty fun.

[00:19:59] Is that going to be your first team rebuild there? You're going to pick another team. I'm going to pick MTSU. I'm going to lead them to glory. All right, right on. Absolutely. Well, Briggs, that's all the time that we got for us today.

[00:20:10] I absolutely appreciate you again, taking the time out of your summer training, getting ready for the draft that's upcoming. I speak for Blue Raider Nation here. We appreciate your time here as well as we look forward to what you do and representing MTSU

[00:20:23] the right way. Absolutely. And thank you to Blue Raider Nation for the best four years I could ask for in college. I love all of you. Thank you for the support and keep supporting, keep supporting Blue Raider Podcast and keep supporting your athletes because there's going

[00:20:37] to be more of me coming along, more of the guys that are leaving coming along and I want them to feel the same way that I did after four years. So keep doing it. I appreciate that. Absolutely.

[00:20:49] Joining us now on our Blue Raider Podcast baseball and softball feature is yet another catcher with some first base experience coming off a first team All-C USA selection after leading the conference with 10 home runs in league play and totaling the second most

[00:21:01] home runs in program history with 14. Please join me in welcoming Jasper Tennessee native sophomore Ansley Blevins. How's it going? It's going good. I'm excited to be on. Absolutely. And I'm glad you came on. You had a great spring. It's always worth highlighting

[00:21:18] the season that you had. You had a great freshman year, but you were able to back it up with an excellent sophomore year. So tell me a little bit about your experience this

[00:21:25] year gained as well as your successes. So this year I was really just trying to step into more of a leadership role, you know, after freshman year you lose the she's a freshman

[00:21:38] label. So I was trying to step more into myself as a confident player, being loud on the field, making sure that my presence is known and just, you know, to be the best teammate that I can

[00:21:50] be. Try to, you know, be someone that the younger kids look up to while also trying to improve myself as a player. So I want to obviously the goal is to get better every single year,

[00:22:03] but I really thought that some of my, I did have a good freshman season for freshmen, but I wanted to come out and just go a lot harder this year with my hitting wise defense.

[00:22:17] I'm always in pretty 100% on that, but hitting wise, I really try to get in to the cages and work with our new hitting coach, Coach Brantz. He helped me a lot and yeah, it wasn't anything

[00:22:29] that I was trying to, you know, beat anybody out or just to try to improve myself as a player and get better within myself. I'm glad you bring up Coach Brantz. Obviously an MTSU baseball player years ago, he's kind of an added dynamic. The coaching staff changes from

[00:22:48] freshmen to sophomore year. There's a little bit of a weird dynamic I could imagine with Gretchen as a player now coach and then, but let's get back to Coach Brantz. I mean, you had a good

[00:22:56] power numbers, as you say, for freshmen. I don't think there's anything to bat an eye at. I give yourself more credit than that, but to get those numbers that you saw, I mean, you lead Conference USA as a sophomore. I mean, that's something to stand out. Would you

[00:23:07] attribute that to maybe experience or is Coach Brantz something that was able to get you there or is it just kind of a everything collectively has benefited you? Yeah, I definitely attribute

[00:23:20] that to him as well as myself. And like you said, just kind of all around this year, I started off a little rocky at the beginning of the season. I just wasn't very consistent

[00:23:32] in the way that I was hitting. And so as we went into conference play, I kind of tightened up better and I got my gears working and Coach Brantz really helped me out on that. We spent

[00:23:43] a lot of time in the cages trying to figure out what would work best for me, my stance, my swing, just all that kind of stuff. But also as a sophomore, you know, I already have

[00:23:54] a year under my belt, so I wasn't, you know, trying to get the nerves out. I remember throughout my freshman year, it was more than halfway through the conference, just our conference games that I finally started feeling a little bit more comfortable.

[00:24:06] So I wasn't super, super nervous in big moments anymore. It was kind of just like my job and I know that I can do it. And I know that I have the skills to be able to. So as long as

[00:24:16] we were working throughout the week and I felt like I was getting my work in, get good, I didn't, I never felt overwhelmed while I was in the box because I knew that my work would pay

[00:24:23] off. And I feel like this year, I really grasped the mindset of knowing that just because I fail, it doesn't make me a bad player. So there were some games this past season where I did really,

[00:24:36] really, I think that I did really bad in besides or with hitting and I came right back in the next game and I was like, all right, I'm still a good hitter. You know, you got to

[00:24:46] take it till you make it sometimes out and produce in the games that I needed to. So it was just me getting older, you know, getting more experience. Coach Brent's really helped me out

[00:24:59] and yeah, just my team. We have a really supportive team. So I love being around all the girls and makes me want to be there. It makes me want to be the best version of myself for them.

[00:25:07] It's one of the few sports that you can fail 70% of the time and still be, you know, considered a first team conference member, right? I mean, it's funny how the game works like that. And we'll draw back to about the season experience. You talked about

[00:25:18] the slow start. Softball is kind of a weird dynamic. There's not many sports at the college level that are similar to it. And the fact that you guys and coach Breeden touched on this on your

[00:25:27] pre-season preview was that you're, you're gone out of, out of the state for the first month of the season and you're playing two, sometimes three games a day. I mean, is that something that you think alters that swing a little bit? Is it get a little tired

[00:25:39] as the week goes on and also the different arms that you're seeing every single game, it can certainly be grueling. Going outside of the state, going to California, going to Florida, all those kinds of things. You get used to it after my freshman year. Definitely my eyes were

[00:25:55] open at it. But now it's kind of just a part of the game and I know what to expect, especially with schoolwork, getting it done before we leave, you know, to try to get

[00:26:02] ahead of myself so I don't feel like I'm drowning with softball in school. But I enjoy getting out of the state. Personally, I don't really like the cold. So getting to go play in California or in Florida where it's 60 degrees versus an hour 30 degrees, even less.

[00:26:21] So I enjoy that. I really like getting out. It's fun. The trips are fun with the girls. It is hard to, you know, adjust pitch by pitch. You don't know, like you don't know

[00:26:31] these pitchers. We don't really study them. So we're just kind of going out, but it honestly kind of reminds me of travel ball. It's kind of like you're free to play. It's not like

[00:26:40] you're up against a title, right? You're just trying to fight all the way through the season to get somewhere versus just like the preseason. You get to go out and kind of have fun. Not that there's not strings attached, obviously it goes into our record, but you're

[00:26:53] able to shake out the jitters and get your pre-season jitters out of the way. What kind of experience is that like now that you've done your second year now of those cross-country road trips with your, not really having sure you're flying, but these cross-country

[00:27:08] tournaments with your teammates, it's quite the bonding experience. And I'm always, I think it's really neat. The bond that the Lady Raider softball program has, it's kind of its own unique thing. I'm sure you might have your own testament as to why

[00:27:20] that is, but it's always, it's kind of, it's good to see that the amount of fun that this team has no matter where they might be in their season or how the season's gone.

[00:27:27] I mean, you look at last year, the run that they made to Tuscaloosa, it's just something that I think is admirable for the type of chemistry that you girls have. Yeah, we are very close with each other. A lot of teams you practice, you play, and then you

[00:27:40] separate. We're always hanging out with each other, always going over to each other's houses. We like to have fun on the field. Personally, I've never, I am serious on the field, but I

[00:27:51] don't like to feel like it's, I'm zoned in. Not that I'm not zoned in, but that's what I'm trying to say is like, I want to be able to have fun and I want to practice hard enough

[00:28:02] to where I can have fun on the field and be productive and still be focused and be in the game while also having a good time. I mean, we're doing this for four years of our life.

[00:28:11] I'm sure some people can imagine, but it's hard playing a sport. It's hard playing a sport in college. It's hard managing your schedule, getting to at least have some kind

[00:28:22] of free time. But a lot of our time is honestly spent with each other, our free time. So yeah, I love the girls. We always try to have fun. We know when to turn it on and off though.

[00:28:33] I think that's the most important part of it. Sometimes if you get too out of control, having all kinds of fun, then you're not focused on winning. But our team's really competitive. We're always focused on winning. We're always trying to get better. I know

[00:28:45] every single girl that's playing beside me, I know that they are going to do 100% what's best for me and I'm going to reciprocate that. Absolutely. Over the summer now, you still kind of keep that bond? I know you're from East

[00:29:01] Tennessee. Do you go home to Chattanooga or you stay here? What's the summer softball training season like for you girls? For me personally, I only live about an hour and 15 away from Murfreesboro. So right now I am going back to my hometown and I'm giving

[00:29:18] lessons on Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So I spend my time there. And then on Thursdays, I come back here and I'll give lessons. And then some of the girls we work out together hitting just, but we do, we all stay in touch. We're all texting each other,

[00:29:34] Snapchatting each other, seeing what's up, especially to the girls who are, who do go back across the country. And yeah, so for me I'm just kind of here and there through Murfreesboro, my hometown. It's really special getting to go back to my hometown and

[00:29:51] it kind of feels like I'm giving back. A lot of the girls don't have people that they look up to and softball wise because they're not really familiar with Oklahoma softball or

[00:30:02] this or that. And so sometimes it makes me feel really special when I have girls tell me that they want to grow up and be just like me. And a lot of the younger girls that I give lessons to

[00:30:13] just talk about how they want to come to MTSU and play softball. And I think that that's a really special thing. Absolutely. Giving back to the youth, that's an awesome thing to do. And obviously you're still around the sport. I mean, is there something that you kind of

[00:30:24] prioritize in the off season? I know as you've said, your defense is great and the numbers would show that. But I'm sure during the off season, especially through the winter, are you going to spend most of your time in the cage or what are your focal point in

[00:30:36] your training in the off season? In the off season, just hitting, continuing reps. Softball or hitting is definitely a game of reps because you can do something 20 times and it be sufficient. And then if you try to do a hundred times, you're going to start messing

[00:30:51] up just because you're getting tired and fatigue and stuff. So just rep in swings. I mean, we catch a lot for our pitchers. I have girls on our team that, hey, can you come

[00:31:03] catch me at the field this time? And I love to do that just because I want my teammates to know that I'm there for them, but also it helps me out because I'm able to work on different

[00:31:12] stuff behind the plate that, you don't really necessarily get a lot of work in that aspect just because our time is so filled like in practice doing other things and just being

[00:31:23] able to help them and help myself out. This is the best thing we can do. So definitely hitting a lot of reps, consistent reps, and then getting to catch my pitchers in the off season.

[00:31:36] Do you have a preference? I know you've got experience at both first and catcher. Is there a position that you prefer more than the other? I definitely love catching. Catching by fashion, you can probably tell I'm super energetic and

[00:31:48] loud. And I love being on the field. And so I kind of feel like, you know, the quarterback and I'm getting to yell and I'm getting hype. And not that all eyes are on me, but I love being in

[00:31:59] that position to help my pitchers out just when she might be feeling overwhelmed. I'm always there. Like she's just, you know, look at me and we're good. I love catching, but I do

[00:32:08] love first base. I also love, I tell people that I love catching at first base because you're the most a part of like the plays, right? Coming to you and pretty much every out is going to

[00:32:21] come to you in case unless there are people on. So I love being involved. Yeah, I definitely love catching more, but I sure do love first base. Another little back to our interesting

[00:32:32] dynamic there with your old teammate now coach is Gretchen Meade. I mean, she was the ace pitcher of this season ago and the Tuscaloosa run. You know, what's kind of that dynamic

[00:32:42] like now? I mean, I couldn't imagine that you things turn more proper now that she's a coach relative to being a player. So when I came my freshman year, I kind of felt like Gretchen

[00:32:55] kind of took me under her wing. We became pretty close towards like the middle of the end of the season. We are always joking around with each other laughing, sending these other funny videos all the time. And so I really do love Gretchen. And when I found

[00:33:09] out she was going to be our coach, not that I was ever nervous for her because she totally kills it. Right. She's awesome. I was just nervous that like, am I going to have to call

[00:33:18] her coach Gretchen and get in trouble if I accidentally yell Gret at her when I'm trying to get her attention? You know, and as you know, the year progressed and we got you know around her practice all the time, like we still call her Gretchen. We kind of

[00:33:33] have I kind of have a joke where I'm like, she's she's Gretchen to me, but she's coach Gretchen to you to like the younger girls because like me, I just I've always really respected Gretchen. She's just such a tough player and even more as a coach.

[00:33:47] Like I just feel like she really just, you know, she because she gets it. She she knows again, she just went through this. She knows what we're going through and she's been through the highs and lows of everything. So I feel like I can always

[00:33:59] go to her. The dynamic has definitely changed, but not anywhere, not anything worse than what it was. Well, good. Well, you mentioned there too at the end there. It's a great segue to my next question about the highs and the lows. You know,

[00:34:11] your freshman year, it's quite a magical run. And then this last year, definitely disappointing. I don't think you'd shy away from that either. The finish that you guys had. What's it going to take in regards to what the team needs

[00:34:24] to do? I'm sure Coach Breeden is doing his work on the recruiting trail and filling the roster in those areas that he thinks need to be filled. But you think collectively as a team, you've seen both sides of the coin now. What's got to happen going into

[00:34:35] your junior season now to kind of get you back where you were your freshman year? I think that we just need to come at it with a completely blocked off mindset. Right. I have the mindset where every year is, you know, every year is a

[00:34:50] competition. OK, I can't just think about, oh, well, last year we we won regional. Oh, well, you know, the year before that or the year before that, we didn't even make it to Conference USA. Right. I'm coming out fresh feet, ready to go.

[00:35:03] I'm excited. We have a bunch of girls coming in, a lot of younger girls and younger girls. If they're anything like I was, I was definitely eager and ready to play and ready to get my

[00:35:14] feet on the field. And so I just think that looking at it from just a different perspective of new year, new team, like can't worry about what happened last year. Can't worry about what happened the year before. Right. We're not coach Breeden always says you're never

[00:35:29] better than you think you are and never worse than you think you are. So I just want to come in with a completely neutral mindset, ready to go, hard work, energetic and just making sure that we are there for each other on the field and off the

[00:35:42] field. And you kind of have created a name for yourself across the conference. Like you said, freshman team your first year, first team all conference your sophomore year. Now you are a leader on a relatively young team. Now you hit, we lose a lot of seniors this year.

[00:35:57] So tell me too, I want to hear your perspective on what it's going to be like to not only have to be a leader just by virtue of being one of the older players on the team with the most

[00:36:08] experience. But two is as someone in the conference who, as I mentioned at the top of the show, the 10 home runs in league play. So when you know, when you go on those weekend

[00:36:17] series and conference play, you're going to have a big X on your back now as this is the player that we've got to get to. So you've got a lot of responsibility on your plate as a leader,

[00:36:24] as well as being a leader like literally on the field in regards to being a run producer for your squad. So what, I mean, do you feel pressure from those kinds of things? And if not, you

[00:36:33] know, how are you willing or how are you able to kind of cope with those emotions and still be a leader for the young squad? I personally am not really worried about

[00:36:42] home runs. Right. I try to tell just people to ask, I don't try to hit home runs. I just try to score the ball up and it just sometimes happens to go over. After I started hitting

[00:36:54] pretty well, and like you said, kind of making a name for myself, I guess I definitely was getting pitched around. And I would, I would say that my season would have ended on even

[00:37:04] a higher note if I would have been more disciplined, but I was so like eager to want to hit, like I want to hit, I want to hit, I want to hit. And so sometimes I would get

[00:37:11] myself into bad situations, swinging at balls, not swinging at certain pitches because I was trying to guess, do the little guessing game sometimes. But towards the last weekend, I would say that I kind of started just like letting that go. Like, OK, I just need to

[00:37:30] hit something that's a good pitch and definitely going into this year. I think that that's going to be the main thing that like mentally that I'm set on is, OK, they're going to pitch around me. So I probably I just need to sit on a good pitch. I'm

[00:37:42] not trying to hit home runs. My mom always says hit a line drive up the middle on every single one of her videos of taking a video of me growing up in tribal ball and stuff.

[00:37:52] And yeah, so I'm just trying to focus on hitting good balls and just trying to be loud on the field. And if I ever making sure that if I don't produce in one aspect,

[00:38:07] that I'm always going to be producing in the other. And I just want my team to know that I'm always going to be there for them. And I feel that back at all times.

[00:38:15] So I know even when I have a bad game, all it goes like, oh, you're good. Like, you're literally you're literally a beast. You're a baller like you're fine. And I'm like, thanks, guys. I appreciate that because even though I am confident myself and I'm confident my ability,

[00:38:27] it's always good to have teammates pick you up. Absolutely. And you've got a great group around you this upcoming year. And I kind of want to take the conversation now. We'll go off the ball field.

[00:38:35] And as I go through some of your biography that's on go Blue Raiders dot com, I can't help but one thing that really caught my eye was that you're majoring in, excuse me if I get this wrong, sonography. Is that is that still correct?

[00:38:47] So I actually did change my major right now. I am majoring in communications, focus on health. So my plan after college is to work as a medical device salesman. So the reason is because I would have I had to go to professional school and that would

[00:39:07] have really derailed my education and I would have had to transfer out my senior year to be on track to graduate with that degree. And so what I did is I took all the classes

[00:39:19] that I would need to apply to professional school. So I have all my grades in those classes. And if I decide that I want to go after college, I'm going to. But I really I looked in the medical device sales and I really think that it's something

[00:39:32] that I would love. I love talking to people and you're still getting to be a part of the medical field without actually having to, you know, have someone's life on your hands,

[00:39:44] which kind of a little bit of the pressure off. But so I did change my major to that and I'm excited about it. Obviously, I love softball and I love college and

[00:39:54] I want to be here for as long as I can. But at the same time, like I'm ready to try something different. Yeah, I thought it was interesting. I mean, my understanding of sonography is like ultrasound. That's kind of obviously,

[00:40:05] that's a very minimal mindset or understanding of the whole concept. But I just think it's like it's an interesting thing that you kind of find yourself into. I always considered most people to be maybe you go for nurse technician and then maybe you find, I guess, a calling

[00:40:17] to do ultrasounds or stuff like that. I'm just I was interested to know a little bit about your story about how you fall on sonography. I didn't even know that was

[00:40:24] a major that was offered at MT issue. Well, it's not. And that's why I would have had to have transferred out. So you take the pre-reqs of it here and we kind of have like a program

[00:40:34] that would like guide you to other professional schools. We just don't have one here. It's all right. Like I that's something that I'm definitely still interested in. And so if I decide that I want to go to professional school, it's only it's only for

[00:40:51] a year. It's only for like a year to two years. So it's not like I'm having to go four years somewhere and then four years and, you know, being in the hospital, I forget what attendings and like, you know, like working my way up. It's just

[00:41:04] to get to just work your job. So I'm definitely still interested in that. And the you asked how I came upon that. And so honest, I saw a video on TikTok that was talking about medical field, like medical jobs that don't take a lot of school

[00:41:25] because I was kind of looking into it because I do love school and I love learning. But I just been in a very rigorous academic field for a long time. I went to private school

[00:41:34] and so like doesn't take your love for learning away. But at some point it's just like, OK, I'm ready to like not be in a classroom. I'm ready to like do something in the world. Right. You talk about going to girls prep there. Another thing I wanted

[00:41:47] to bring up, too, is you had quite the volleyball career in high school, too. I was interested to know. I know that you were kind of always been the softball player, but was there ever an opportunity for you to like continue both per se or or was there

[00:41:58] ever an opportunity to continue volleyball? Because you I mean, I would have to imagine girls prep was a pretty good volleyball team. It was a hard decision. Trying to figure out if I wanted to pursue softball or volleyball in college. I played club volleyball for a while

[00:42:14] at the same time that I was doing travel softball while also playing sports in school for the school. I love volleyball. I had a lot of good coaches that were around me. And at the decision time that I was kind of thinking like, OK,

[00:42:29] I either need to pick softball or volleyball. My favorite coach at my high school, they they went away. They went to another job somewhere in the state, which is fine. Obviously, I love them, so I wanted the best for them. And so that kind of didn't change my

[00:42:47] decision. But I didn't feel as like eager to go towards it. I definitely loved club. I mean, I had interest in some smaller schools, but I never really pursued it fully. I felt like if

[00:42:58] I would have pursued volleyball the same way that I would have pursued softball, I might be with a different sports team on my shirt today. Right. But I really love volleyball.

[00:43:09] I call it my fun sport because softball was like my job, but my job to get to college, play softball and volleyball was I just got to have so much fun and. Which I still have fun with softball. But yeah, I really love volleyball. It's a hard

[00:43:21] decision. But I am glad that I chose softball because not not just because it was the safer route, but because it's just still it's just continues to teach me about myself every single

[00:43:33] day that I'm out there. And you never gave basketball a crack. I think I saw that you had lettered one year in basketball, but I mean, you're six foot tall, and like surely at some

[00:43:40] point someone had to offer you the position of center at high school basketball. I was very clumsy until about my sophomore year of high school, maybe junior year of high school. So basketball, I love basketball. I had a great high school basketball coach. All my best friends

[00:43:59] played. So I was there around it all the time. It just it just wasn't for me anymore. And at the same time, I was kind of scared to get hurt and injured. I mean, every year that we came into high school softball because it was basketball and

[00:44:14] softball, my friends who play basketball were injured coming into softball. And I was like, I do not want to do that. But like softball is my job. Like, I don't want to be hurt for my favorite sport. Right. So, yeah, definitely I hung up. I hung up the

[00:44:29] shoes after my freshman year. Well, she has priorities and she's put them in the right place. You had a great season. Congratulations on the first team finish as well as successes that you're going to have this upcoming year leading the Lady Raiders hopefully back

[00:44:44] to the top there in Conference USA. Ansley, I appreciate you coming back or coming on to the show and we hope to hear from you again soon. Thanks for having me. Our third and final guest

[00:44:53] on today's episode is coming off a great start to his collegiate career after throwing the program's fourth no hitter in history and the first since 2004. He slid his way into the ace of the weekend rotation and earned Conference USA all freshmen and second team honors after

[00:45:06] leading the Blue Raiders in innings, pitch strikeouts, opponents batting average. We have with us freshman left handed pitcher from Poplar Grove, Illinois, Chandler Alderman. Chandler, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Chandler, let's go ahead and talk about what's there at the

[00:45:19] top about the no hitter, man. That's really exciting stuff. Very rare, obviously the division one level, but your first one in 20 years in program history. Tell me a little bit about

[00:45:27] that day against Liberty. So it was my second start ever in college. I was coming off of a not so good outing the week before and coaches just had faith in me and I went out

[00:45:39] there and pitched and it just when it started happening, it kind of just kept on rolling and rolling and rolling. And I finally realized it probably like the seventh inning. And then I kind of no one really mentioned it. Everybody kind of like you can tell they're

[00:45:52] like noticing it in the dugout and you can tell they're like looking at me, like give me the look but no one said anything. No inkling at all like you yourself didn't notice it until

[00:46:01] about the seventh inning? Yeah the seventh inning is when I was like okay I need to kind of lock in a little bit and figure and try to do as much as I can to not let them

[00:46:09] get a hit I guess. Is that your first no hitter in your baseball career? Since a while since it's been like since young tribal ball I'd say, not in high school. Okay so tell me a little bit about going through that whole sequence of throwing a

[00:46:24] no hitter because things seem to click and one thing that gets hard is that third turnover in the lineup is what everyone says is facing those guys for a third time. Tell me

[00:46:31] a little bit about your approach as you got later in that ball game. Well eventually I like to throw my fastball on my slider in the beginning of the game then as I get further

[00:46:40] into the into the lineups I get my change up going a little bit more to kind of get them not see a pitch that they haven't seen as much so I'd say the change up is what I try to

[00:46:50] get going later on in the game when I see the lineup. Well awesome stuff man there's plenty to go over in a game like that but I think one thing that again it stands out

[00:46:58] is the amount of strikeouts and you led the team this year in strikeouts and as the year kind of rolled on you just kind of seem to pick up pace kind of get more comfortable with the game.

[00:47:05] Was it something that your experience now in college just became more natural to you as a season went along? Yeah I'd say it feels almost it felt like almost like high school a little

[00:47:14] bit and kind of once you start getting a feel for your stuff and knowing how to get guys out you kind of get a little bit of confidence which helps you pitch a little bit better and then all your stuff once you have confidence in the mound you're

[00:47:25] you're almost your best stuff is when you're confident on the mound. And tell me about Myers when you commit here you know you're getting a pitching coach that has years of experience even at the SEC level and national championship levels

[00:47:36] I mean what does a guy like that kind of breathe into a player like yourself in your first year in college? No I mean he's been awesome I couldn't say anything bad about it

[00:47:46] I mean he's just anything he asked him about anything about baseball you know everything inside and out of it it's honestly insane. What about his knowledge base have you kind of picked apart that you find so valuable again from moving from high school coaches into the collegiate level?

[00:48:02] Just times I'd say like almost stay like classy almost like just in high school you're kind of just like playing the game but in college there's more people watching than just your

[00:48:14] normal hometown fans I'd say. Tell me a little bit too now you talk about the hometown you're from Illinois you come down here to middle Tennessee what was your draw here to come

[00:48:21] to Murfreesboro? I knew I wanted to go down south so I kind of had an in my travel ball coach coached one of the old recruiting coordinators so he kind of texted my travel ball coach

[00:48:35] he was like hey do you have any standout guys and sent him away sent my name over to him and then I went on a visit and I fell in love with it. So you say you want to get out of

[00:48:45] Illinois down to the south is that a weather thing that kind of drew you down here? Yeah I just not a big fan of cold baseball cold baseball sucks no there's nothing good about it.

[00:48:55] Yeah absolutely well your first year here we had the the snow storms in January I'm sure you kind of had some drawbacks whenever all that happened. No yeah I as soon as I pulled into

[00:49:05] the part our parking lot where I live and it started snowing right there so I brought it down with me. Awesome stuff well I know one thing too that's kind of an interesting story

[00:49:15] is you were a three-sport athlete in high school you were a left-handed quarterback I mean was baseball always your true calling you thought that was where you belonged in college or was there

[00:49:23] any offers I know you had a good football career. No yeah I definitely always wanted to play baseball in college I mean I've always that was the sport that I've always been the

[00:49:31] best at and growing up baseball has always come first I would go to tournaments and stuff and then go and do football stuff after that but I played basketball my freshman year and then

[00:49:46] I stopped playing for that because I did fall ball and it kind of interfered with that and like training for baseball because I knew I wanted to go play college baseball but no it was a lot

[00:49:54] so like I'd go on the weekends to do tournaments and stuff and then I'd turn around after Sunday's tournament and then go throw routes on Monday and it was just a lot but

[00:50:06] it was worth it it was a blast. How do you commit to football like that I know a lot of guys who like you say you have the talent to play division one baseball how do you still

[00:50:13] commit to football when you know you've got the you know the future of baseball? Well coming from a small town he kind of everybody knows everybody so he kind of almost had to play I played ever since I've grown up ever since little peewee ball but

[00:50:27] no it was just just growing up in small towns he kind of almost had to. Absolutely well you talk about all that time playing baseball and I know you were kind of

[00:50:36] a dual you were a dual sport or dual side of the diamond when you played in high school you played the field you hit when he came to college was that kind of was there ever during the conversation with Myers about potentially playing the field about about

[00:50:48] swinging the bat at any point? No never never got the opportunity to swing the bat didn't never got that film over to him. No he never did well I mean it's never too late I mean

[00:50:57] that's kind of the new thing nowadays is both ways I mean would you think if that opportunity ever came forward you you would you would jump out at it? I mean I wouldn't

[00:51:04] say no I definitely don't bet it but I doubt it. I'm interested where do you stand as far as the other pitchers go that they own the POs you know where do you stack up as far

[00:51:13] as hitters go in that group? I gotta be pretty up there I mean it's I gotta be up there compared to what we had. Who do you who I mean as far as the pitchers go who do you think is

[00:51:21] the best hitter out of you guys? Well definitely Trace he's the two-way but I'd say probably Bryant Branich I'd say probably he's probably he's a pretty solid athlete on our team. How often you guys get in swings in? We did we did we did it one time

[00:51:41] we did a fall world series and before like the team got to practice and stuff we split off and then the hitter or the pitchers got to got to hit and then the feelers got to go shag so

[00:51:53] it switched the role a little bit. There you go that's your time to shine I mean you gotta be swinging for the fences then get yourself an opportunity right? Yeah absolutely well let's

[00:52:02] take it back to baseball you filled your time in high school with playing multiple sports and now you're at the college level it's your first summer. I know getting you on here was difficult

[00:52:11] because you're a busy guy you know tell me what are you doing now if you're not playing summer ball or playing in a wood bat league anywhere what are you doing to kind of fill

[00:52:18] your time and stay in shape for next season? So probably I'd say I would try to get in six days a week workout get that in run as much as possible just getting more better shape and

[00:52:33] kind of knowing getting this year last year under my belt kind of seeing what other guys look like and how I want to how I want to see myself and where I want to be with my below

[00:52:42] and everything just kind of foresee the next future and kind of helps me to get where I wanted to be in the fall hopefully in the summer hopefully so yeah. Does Myers kind of

[00:52:54] have you on a pitch count or anything like that does he have you limited as in regards to baseball activity in the off season? No so right now I'm on no I haven't touched baseball since I left

[00:53:04] MTSU. He said I threw too many innings so I wasn't going to the wood bat league in the summer so I wasn't gonna do that but I'm supposed to ramp it up like four weeks once

[00:53:15] before I get down there again so just no baseball right now. And just strictly weight training is it something that that is prescribed by the MTSU strength and conditioning staff

[00:53:23] or you kind of have your own comfort there back home? Right now I got my own we got I go to a facility right now but I think we'll get one soon that's how it went last year I got mine sent

[00:53:34] to me. Okay absolutely well so I think it's funny too because you grow up in high school and you're throwing hundreds of innings it feels like throughout the whole entire year and it's kind of a different drawback you know how are you kind of taking to that where

[00:53:46] you're not throwing every weekend of the summer? Well so it was honestly once I started to get the starting roll it was a lot nicer before I got the starting roll it's tough because you got

[00:53:59] to get your arm hot every day and be ready to go in and throw 100% so that was a tough part but once I started to get the starting roll I mean it was a lot nicer because I could kind

[00:54:07] of gauge my body and no one did get my lifts in that week and kind of know when to ramp it up a little bit. Was that a conversation you have with the coaching staff from kind of

[00:54:17] taking that reliever role there to the to the starting position role? Yeah they I Meyers asked me and coach Nick asked me if I'd rather relieve or start and I told them that I'd rather start

[00:54:28] because like for one reason I just pitch better when I start I don't know what it is but something about it. Is it I always think myself I was never at that level but I went into

[00:54:37] college playing as a reliever and I just love the aspect of going in there and getting hot and just having to throw one inning of baseball that always kind of got me going

[00:54:44] but it's kind of the long game with starting pitching is that kind of I think where guys love the longer time to prepare and they kind of it's a mental game you know where you're prepared

[00:54:53] to throw four five six innings so I'm just where's your head space when you're kind when you're trying to I guess weigh out your options from relieving versus starting? I'd say with starting you have a little bit more of a cushion before you get pulled

[00:55:06] we get you get once you start getting relieving going you walk a guy or you get a couple hits around that you get pulled more earlier or if you start you get bases loaded you get a chance

[00:55:15] to get out of it if you relieve you get bases loaded you kind of get pulled so I'd say you get more of a cushion when you when you start the games. And to being a freshman

[00:55:23] it's got to be an interesting dynamic because you're kind of the new guy on campus but you kind of you took over the the ace role there on the weekend so I'm interested on those conversations there and I know you've had some struggles but obviously you had some

[00:55:35] bright spots you had some really good ball games this year what is the evaluation you've give yourself as well as your fellow coaches? I'd say overall I'm happy with how the year went

[00:55:47] I'd say going into the next year I'm just going to try to be more consistent not so much up and down just kind of stay just dominant and I'd say just stay consistent. What does that consistency

[00:55:59] look like for you ideally? I'd say just try to get five innings or more every game just solid innings in and then just try to obviously keep the lead get the win and get the lead but

[00:56:13] not always works like that. What is your what is kind of an objective goal for you are you looking to increase velocity spin rate or are you trying to work in a new pitch mix what

[00:56:24] are kind of some things you're working towards next season? Well change-up can always get better change-ups my probably not my best pitch right now that I got but it's it works but not great it's either sometimes hit or miss but I'd say definitely work on the change-up and

[00:56:40] then obviously get to be a little up that's always a key factor I think. Trying to create depth between that fastball and the change-up? Yeah 100%. So when that change-up is rolling do you always feel like like much like we'll draw back to the Liberty game like if you

[00:56:56] felt like that pitch is going is that where you feel like you're at your best? 100% yeah if I had the team going then that's when I'm pitching my best I'm the most confident on once that gets wrong. What is your pitch mix outside of the fastball the change-up?

[00:57:11] Fastball, slider, change-up that's the three. Okay is there ever is a room do you ever experiment with that fourth pitch potentially? I threw a curveball in high school and Meyers

[00:57:22] was never a big fan I haven't too many pitches or anything so but if I went on the mound I could throw it a little bit of a feel for it again but I could I could get it going again.

[00:57:34] So as he just says no curveball your first day on campus he said we're going to stick with the the slide change? Yeah so depending on the day I sometimes I throw my slider

[00:57:44] with more of a higher spin rate so it's more of a tighter and it kind of dies or I can throw it not as hard and it kind of like almost like a sweeper so it's kind

[00:57:51] of sometimes I throw like a sweeper so it's basically kind of like the mix between a slider and a curveball but I mean it's it's almost the same pitch I'd say it's same grip.

[00:58:01] Right it just depends like you said some days it's on and some days it's off that like you said that slider can be a slider and some days it can be a slurve curve mix it's just

[00:58:09] it's kind of how it goes right? No yeah it's definitely a feel pitch every especially change-up it's all one day it could feel different in your hand or it's all feel. Tell me too your catcher um Rudder you know he's he's graduating this year hopefully has

[00:58:24] some aspirations and he's on earlier in this episode what kind of a relationship were you able to create with Briggs um as being kind of your one two batter you had? No we had a great relationship I mean I couldn't have asked for anything more uh it was

[00:58:37] I we were almost on the same page all the time and when when I started to struggle a little bit he could kind of sense it and then I don't know how but when I would uh

[00:58:45] when I'd struggle a little bit he'd know to come out to the mound or something and kind of know what to say to get me back in the right headspace. What are kind of some

[00:58:53] things you've taken from him because he tends to carry himself like I say he's going for a professional career now hopefully we'll hear some news in regards to the draft for him but what are kind of some things you've learned from him from where how he carries himself?

[00:59:04] He really is a kind of a class act as you mentioned at the top. No yeah he's definitely a class act I mean just uh I mean just to take from him how

[00:59:13] I'd say impressive how well spoken he is I mean he's always he every time he'd talk I swear he'd use those big words I mean I've never heard anybody talk like that but he'd

[00:59:25] use some big words. Absolutely well let's get off of baseball for a second I know that you're back home in Illinois is that right? Yes sir. So tell me what do you I know you say you're working you know we know you're training and all that good stuff

[00:59:38] but you say you're doing work as well right now? Yeah so my friend's dad has a landscaping company so we're doing that uh during the day and then working out at night. My goodness and that's pretty labor intensive but it's probably better that you're in Illinois right

[00:59:52] now at least with the time we're doing this interview it's 100 degrees down here in Murfreesboro. No yeah today was 95 I mean it definitely keeps you in shape that's what I I almost like about it landscaping definitely keeps you in shape. Is this something you knew

[01:00:03] you were going to do at in the summer you knew you were going to go back home and do that job like that? Yeah I've done it for the last couple years but it's my

[01:00:12] his dad just it's kind of nice because you get to kind of pick your schedule a little bit and it's nice because I only work for three days three months out of the year so you can kind

[01:00:21] of have me and then I get to leave without any you think. It's the grind of being a baseball player I know my short stint you're trying to find something to do to fill your time if

[01:00:31] you're not playing in a woodbat league it's kind of like it's almost therapeutic you might say. No yeah it's definitely nice to kind of get away from baseball for a little bit it was

[01:00:40] was a lot for a while but I'm almost excited to go back and get going in Tennessee. Absolutely well Chandler I appreciate your time I know it's a short little time here but I'm glad we got some

[01:00:51] insight with you I mean you're up and coming I would say you already earned that ace rotation spot so there's a lot of things to be excited about for you this upcoming year

[01:01:00] I wish you nothing but the best and again I appreciate you coming on to the show. Thank you a lot thank you for having me.