Hagen Smith on solid game in first of doubleheaders while Peyton Stovall glad to be playing again after fracturing foot on big day at plate and Wehiwa Aloy on big day at the plate.
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00:00 It was awesome, man.
00:02 You know, first off, I want to thank
00:04 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
00:06 you know, and
00:08 what he's done for me and the long
00:10 road for me, but it's
00:12 been great, man. You know,
00:14 just working super hard. Can't thank Corey
00:16 and Dr. Reeves enough for what they've done.
00:18 And, you know, overall, man,
00:20 it's awesome and I'm super
00:22 grateful to be out here with these guys. Dave said
00:24 something on the pregame show on the radio that
00:26 this last week maybe had gone really
00:28 well for you to the point that you're able
00:30 to accelerate your comeback by a few
00:32 days. Yeah, so we actually
00:34 I want to say
00:36 like Sunday after
00:38 we played last weekend,
00:40 you know, kind of the plan
00:42 as far as like looking at the x-ray,
00:44 we weren't going to start running maybe till
00:46 like tomorrow or Monday.
00:48 And, you know, the x-ray came
00:50 back good and they said
00:52 that I was able to, you know,
00:54 start running stuff and it went really, really well
00:56 and I haven't had any pain in my
00:58 foot. It's been good.
01:00 You know, so they just kind of want
01:02 to ease me back in and DH
01:04 and but yeah, it was
01:06 it was long first two, two and a
01:08 half weeks and, you know,
01:10 after that day by day, I could really
01:12 tell the difference and how much just
01:14 healthier it was getting. So I can't
01:16 remember if it was your first at bat or your second
01:18 but you got tested there pretty quick with the infield
01:20 single. As far as running,
01:22 are you 100% running right now? Do you feel
01:24 like you can get you can improve in that area?
01:26 I'd like to say I was 100, but I felt
01:28 really slow that first that
01:30 first at bat that I
01:32 had. I felt like I was running in
01:34 slow motion, but I'd probably say, you
01:36 know, really close 85 90,
01:38 you know, just ramping
01:40 back up and so
01:42 I'd probably say pretty
01:44 much pretty close.
01:46 Hagan, it seemed like you kind of got a rhythm there in the third
01:50 inning. Your fourth inning was much better too. So do you
01:52 feel like on a normal day, if it weren't short rest, you
01:54 probably would have been able to find a rhythm and go maybe six
01:56 innings and type type of day like today? Yeah,
01:58 for sure. Yeah, I just couldn't
02:00 find it on my stuff early. I was missing
02:02 arm side mechanical adjustments
02:04 and then coach Hobbs and I talked about
02:06 between innings and then kind of made adjustments
02:08 started going a little bit better. But obviously,
02:10 the pitch count we talked about wasn't able to do that.
02:12 David, obviously you've been
02:14 swinging a lot better here these last like 10 days
02:16 or so. Do you feel like you're like settled
02:18 in at this point? You're no longer like pressing
02:20 or worried about, you know, you the slow
02:22 start at the play. You feel like you're kind of back
02:24 so to speak. Kind of. Yeah,
02:26 I'm not so much settled
02:28 in yet because we can always get
02:30 better. And yeah, I just been
02:32 playing loose. It's relaxing.
02:34 Just letting,
02:36 my teammates, the coaches
02:38 always believing in me
02:40 and yeah,
02:42 pretty much it. I think the home run you hit was
02:44 468 feet. Do you, have you
02:46 ever hit a ball that far or is that
02:48 normal? That was probably my
02:50 second longest home run.
02:52 Yeah, I hit one last year. I was farther.
02:54 I like how you act like you don't know.
02:56 I guess, Hagan, you know, for you and Brady both, you know, it wasn't like you had your best stuff. It wasn't like a peak performance, but how good is it that both of you guys had 17 strikeouts,
03:08 eight innings that you're still able to be so
03:10 effective on a day when you might not have your best stuff?
03:12 Yeah, I thought Brady did really well.
03:14 A lot better than me, honestly.
03:16 He didn't have his best stuff
03:18 like me, but he went out there and competed
03:20 and it was awesome to see. Same thing as everybody else
03:22 that pitched today.
03:24 Peyton, you said, you mentioned there the
03:26 two weeks were maybe tough. Just was it
03:28 the injury itself, like the pain, just
03:30 watching the guys, just kind of what was maybe
03:32 difficult about this stretch, being
03:34 on the sideline? So I think it was like a mixture
03:36 of kind of like everything you just said.
03:38 I was like super excited
03:40 to finally get back on the field and
03:42 being healthy with my shoulder and
03:44 freak accident happens and
03:46 felt like somebody just kind of like punched me in the gut.
03:48 It was super upsetting,
03:50 but I knew that I needed
03:52 to be the best leader that I could be at the
03:54 possible time and
03:56 show these guys that
03:58 the way to win and stuff like that.
04:00 But it was super tough.
04:02 The first probably week, I was
04:04 in crutches and a boot, so
04:06 I really didn't put any weight
04:08 on it. I was super careful with it, super cautious,
04:10 listened to everything that the trainer and doctor
04:12 said.
04:14 So that first week, I really couldn't move my
04:16 foot out of the boot.
04:18 But if I did, it
04:20 would be painful and stuff. And kind of
04:22 like I said, it was just week by
04:24 week. It'd be Monday from Monday.
04:26 I could tell a huge
04:28 difference and it was getting better
04:30 and stuff. And then we kind of progressed
04:32 to a smaller boot
04:34 and stuff like that. But
04:36 overall, just like the whole not being able to
04:38 start the season,
04:40 playing and also the pain.
04:42 So just make sure of all
04:44 of it. - Behiva, what's
04:46 Peyton kind of been like when he
04:48 hasn't been playing? How has he
04:50 been with the team?
04:52 You're new here, a guy that's a captain.
04:54 What's kind of been... How has he maybe
04:56 impacted the team without playing? - Yeah, so
04:58 he's been a leader for us.
05:00 Just
05:02 helping guys
05:04 on and off the field.
05:06 After a bad at-bat or something, he'll come by,
05:08 say like, "You're good," and just
05:10 keep on going, competing for the next
05:12 A.B. And yeah, he's just been there.
05:14 Been there for all the team.
05:16 - Behiva,
05:18 what's been the key to turning your swing
05:20 around the last week or so?
05:22 - Just
05:24 relaxing. And just
05:26 like swinging at my pitches
05:28 that I can drive
05:30 and pitches in the zone,
05:32 especially.
05:34 - Behiva, what's it been like playing
05:36 with Nolan Souza in the middle of the infield
05:38 the last couple of weeks? - Oh, it's fun.
05:40 It's fun, yeah.
05:42 Both from Hawaii. This is
05:44 probably
05:46 first time happening in the SEC.
05:48 Yeah, he's been
05:50 going off too and just being
05:52 there with him,
05:54 which is fun. - Does that make it
05:56 more special for you that you're both from Hawaii?
05:58 - Yeah, very special.
06:00 And then a lot of things in my cap.
06:04 - Payton, for you,
06:06 you hit the home run trotter on the bases and then that goes
06:08 to review. What's going through your head when
06:10 they're taking a look at the home run to make sure that it was
06:12 fair? - Please,
06:14 the call, Stan. Please.
06:16 That would have been
06:18 another gut punch. That would have felt like
06:20 me fracturing my foot again.
06:22 It was, you know,
06:24 when I hit it, I kind of knew.
06:26 It looked like it went right over the foul pole.
06:28 So I knew
06:30 they were probably going to look at it
06:32 with whatever the call land on the field
06:34 stood. I've got to give a lot of credit
06:36 to Coach Warnes, our first-base coach. He was
06:38 working over there when the ball was in the air.
06:40 He played a big part in that.
06:42 But I was just praying
06:44 that it was not going to be fouled.
06:46 - Did he play a big part?
06:48 - So he was...
06:50 So after I hit it, or after
06:52 the game, he was like, "You owe me." I was like, "Why?"
06:54 He was in the...
06:56 When it was in the air and the umpire
06:58 was looking at it, he was in the umpire's
07:00 ear, yelling, "Fair, fair, fair."
07:02 And he said,
07:04 "Next thing you know, the umpire just went like this."
07:06 So I guess I
07:08 owe him.
07:10 - When you get the two out hits like you have today, does that
07:12 speak to confidence at all?
07:14 That you're seeing things well?
07:16 - Yeah, it speaks like I could
07:18 handle myself with two strikes.
07:20 Trying to not do too much.
07:22 And just putting the ball
07:24 in play hard.
07:26 - It seems like BVH has
07:28 been building you up for
07:30 SEC play next week. Have you been
07:32 looking forward to it at all? That maybe
07:34 the pitch count, the leash comes off a little bit?
07:36 Or not really focusing on
07:38 building you up and just one start
07:40 at a time from the beginning? - Yeah, just kind of
07:42 one start at a time. I haven't really looked at
07:44 pitch count. We've talked about it, but
07:46 it's not really in my head. I know
07:48 when I come out, there's going to be guys coming in after me that are going
07:50 to do the job even better than I could.
07:52 - Pagan, for you, as
07:54 the leader of the pitching staff, seeing Gabe Gackle
07:56 do what he does week in and week out,
07:58 what does that say about him to you?
08:00 - I mean, he's a dude.
08:02 We saw that in Arlington. That was kind of his first
08:04 big showing. Came in, I think his
08:06 bases loaded one out.
08:08 And he got out of it. So that just kind of showed him he could do it
08:10 back in the game. So it's really awesome for us.
08:12 - So kind of like a deep breath out
08:14 now that he's been in these high leverage
08:16 situations now when he goes out to try to close the game?
08:18 - Yeah, just kind of a sigh of relief.
08:20 We saw him in the fall and spring scrimmages
08:22 that he's really, really good. So it's good to go see him do it
08:24 than the actual game.