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I'm Brian.

Hey Dad, we are 30 days away from the first pitch at Dutie Noble Field to start the 20-23 season.

And joining me now, very pleased to have Coach Chris Salmonas, the skipper of the Diamond Dogs, here with us.

Kind of cliche, coach, but was this the longest offseason of your life? By far. By far. So we're ready to get back. First day of classes today. So, man, we got them all here. We're working out. Weather's beautiful, and we're ready to move on. I can tell you that.

Yeah, we need this kind of weather on opening day. I don't know if we can pull that off or not, but if we can, it'll all be good for us. The last time you and I talked was right, I think maybe fall ball was just about to wrap up, and now you're a month away from the season. What can you learn about your team in that time frame where they're not really practicing, they're working

out, you're not, you're not, you're a month away from the season. What can you learn about your team in that time frame where they're not really practicing, they're working out, you're not on the field with them as much, but what can you learn about your team in that time? Well, I think the biggest thing for us in that time frame is getting healthy. We had the injuries coming out of the fall and knock on wood. We're in pretty good shape right now. Guys are back.

Callum Clark's playing. Amani Larry's playing. Aaron Downs is playing. You know, Hunter Heinz is back swinging. So I think that's the biggest thing for us is getting those guys back and seeing how that looks as a group, you know. And so it's been fun to have them. and then a lot of the young kids, you know, one of the things I think our staff does the best,

Jake Gautro, Kyle Cheese Pro, Scott Box Hall is that time from there to the end that we get them is a lot of individual and hopefully we can make them better. And we came off the field my first year in Kobe White. He couldn't throw it inside the backstop.

And, man, they worked really hard, and he came out with one of our best players,

you know, three months later.

So making those adjustments from what they did on the fall to where they get to the spring is a sign of a good staff.

Speaking of Coach Cheeseboro, how excited are you with the NCAA ruling on the third assistant?

We're very excited about the ruling.

He's still on a tryout mode is what we told him.

So we're keeping him on his toes.

No, I'm just joking.

She's been with me for a long time.

Actually, you know, we had the vote in 19, and we lost it.

You know, everybody thought we're going to get it.

That's one reason he came.

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