PRESSBOX STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
As the press box is being built, so is a new weight room and nutrition center. Until the weight room is complete, the Pokes have to use a “makeshift” weight room. This is a photo of how you have to make do with what you have. It hasn’t stopped the football team from getting in their summer work.
WILL WADE BASKETBALL CAMPS ARE SIGNING UP NOW!
GOOD NEWS FOR BRIAN KELLY
Five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, the top prospect in the country who has been committed to LSU since January, told On3 earlier this month that he will not be taking any other official visits.
Underwood’s coach at Belleville (Mich.) High School, Calvin Norman, echoed that sentiment last week.
“One thing about Bryce and his family — his dad is one of my coaches — they are mean-what-they-say type of people,” Norman said. “If they say they’re with you, they’re with you. They don’t veer from that.
“There’s gonna be no somebody-coming-in-at-the-last-minute-and-changing-his-mind. That’s not gonna happen.”
Underwood is a senior this year at Belleview which is about 20 minutes from Michigan’s “Big House”. When asked about why LSU, Bryce said he saw LSU coaches much more than the Michigan coaches. Bryce is a big Michigan fan and goes to their ballgames but was dumbfounded by the fact the Michigan coaches never came by. Maybe the MIchigan staff was more worried about the NC game and applying for jobs? LOL, still no excuse, but as Bo Schembechler would say ” I guess Underwood is no Michigan Man!
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES MISSING STAR POWER!
Last year the Series was packed with star players like Paul Skenes. Last year’s star-studded CWS featured 10 of the 16 college players who were selected in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft. This year, however, only four of the top 30 players on Keith Law’s most recent draft rankings (which includes high school players) will be playing in the CWS — No. 10 Jac Caglianone (Florida), No. 14 James Tibbs III (Florida State), No. 21 Cam Smith (Florida State) and No. 21 Ryan Waldschmidt (Kentucky). Texas A&M’s Braden Montgomery is also on the list — at No. 5 — but is sidelined with an injury.
Five other players on Law’s top-50 list will be in Omaha: No. 37 Christian Moore (Tennessee), No. 40 Vance Honeycutt (North Carolina), No. 43 Blake Burke (Tennessee), No. 49 Dylan Dreiling (Tennessee) and No. 50 Ethan Anderson (Virginia).
With fewer stud pitchers in this year’s classic, expect the long ball to make a huge impact. How important is the home run in today’s game? The four SEC teams that advanced to the College World Series were among the top five home run-hitting teams in league games. Georgia, which lost in Game 3 of the Super Regionals, led the conference with 73, followed by Tennessee (72), Texas A&M (68), Florida (58) and Kentucky (56).
Individually, six of the SEC’s top nine home run hitters (in league games) will be in Omaha, with Georgia’s Charlie Condon (19), LSU’s Tommy White (16) and Georgia’s Corey Collins (13) missing out.
To illustrate how much the game has changed in a decade, SEC teams hit a combined 667 home runs in league games in 2024. In 2014, the height of the “dead ball” era, that number was 185. That’s a 361 percent increase.
Zem's Gems 
what do you think of TCL baseball and can the gumbo gators be successful in Lake Charles?
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I think it is a great opportunity for the players. It has been around for 20 years and we tried it in McKinney for a couple of years, but just too many things going on. They brought in a pro fast-pitch women’s team with big names like Jenny Finch, etc. but it lasted only a couple of years. The Gators have a shot because they are drawing pretty well because of great marketing. Travel costs were a big deal in the first 15 years because teams were far apart. With BR, Lafayette, and LC being a short distance, it is better situated to be successful. I hope they make it because it is a good competition for the players.
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