123 Inning Podcast

Berry Aldridge, a former DII player at Armstrong Atlantic, joined the Bananas as an intern during their inaugural 2016 season. He has worked his way up the organization is now the VP of one of college baseball's most prolific and remarkable summer teams. We talk about what makes the team so popular and why they've been able to sell out every game for the past several seasons.

Zach Cornell, #29 for Southeastern, but #1 in the hearts of Fire fans was batting .519(!!!) before the 2020 NAIA baseball season was prematurely ended. Zach and SEU were the spring's most dominating team, had won 25 games in a row and were penciled in to play in Lewiston, ID at the NAIA World Series. I spoke to Zach about the season and what the future holds for the gifted outfielder.

Robert Frey is a programmer, statistician and baseball aficionado who has brought big data to small school baseball. In addition to creating applications he helps others learn to code with baseball data.

Episode 05 - Eric Cirella, Salve Regina Seahawks by Nick Herfordt

Luke Barker was undrafted coming out of DII Chico State and it looked like his dream of playing professional baseball was over. However he decided to give it one more chance and threw in a couple of games in the California Winter League where he caught the Traverse City Beach Bums. After an excellent season there his contract was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers. In each minor league season his numbers have gotten better and better and now he is one step away from pitching in the Major Leagues.

In this episode Nick chats with Chad Miller, the owner of the new Expedition League expansion team, the Fremont Moo. Miller is also the head baseball coach of the NAIA's Fremont based Midland Warriors. As a long time advocate of college summer league baseball, Miller had only initially hoped to help bring a team to town, not to run it, but when someone was needed to step up to the plate he seized the opportunity.

While at the game Nick also met with a pair of interns from another Expedition League team, the Pierre Trappers. Richard Cosgrove and Bryce Wheary, who play DIII baseball at the University of Valley Forge, tenaciously obtained their summer positions and have been using technology to help the Trappers team develop their game.

In this edition of the 123 Inning College Baseball Podcast Nick heads down to TD Ameritrade Park in anticipation of the tenth annual College Homerun Derby.

Interviews include a sit down with Drew Russell from Intersport, the Chicago based company which runs the College Home Run Derby. Drew talks about the  development of the derby from its days at Rosenblatt Stadium to its current home at TD Ameritrade Park.

Nick also has chats with two of the derby participants, the behemoth slugger Griffin Doersching of the Northern Kentucky Norse, who took home the derby title, as well as Kentucky Wildcat TJ Collett who finished third and went on to be an all star in the Cape Cod League over the summer.

The inaugural inagural interview of 123 Inning College Baseball Podcast is with North Greenville head coach, Landon Powell. Powell has turned about the one time cupcake Crusader club into one of DII's top teams as they've won over 90 games over the past two seasons and spent much of 2019 as the top ranked team.

Prior to being a coach Powell was a standout college player himself, recieving All American status at South Carolina as helped the Gamecocks reach Omaha and the College World Series three times. He was drafted in the first round by Oakland and spent three seasons in the MLB with the Athletics.

However what makes him such an interesting and enlightening interview goes well beyond anything he has accomplished in the dugout or on the diamond. His once promising professional career was derailed as he battled chronic injury and a liver disease. As he was attempting a comeback in the New York Mets organization, his five month old daughter Izzy died from a rare autoimmune disease. Despite the setbacks his character and faith have persevered and he has transformed the obstacles and setbacks he has faced into a driving force which makes him a highly respected coach and mentor to the next generation of ballplayers.