At the start of this year, you talked about how you don't want like wins, losses. That wasn't the thing. It was a culture of toughness. Was there a moment in the season where you thought, ok, baseball is back to that culture that we've been wanting it to be. Yeah, I really thought that Saturday versus Pitt was a defining moment for us and we sort of answered with a great response. You know, we lost Santucci on that Friday night last Friday in March and we were really intentional about addressing the injury the next day in our pre game meeting and talked about the fact that, you know, it wasn't going to be one person that stepped up to replace Santucci productivity. We needed to all be better. And, you know, that Saturday game, we came out and it was kind of back and forth early and Pitt had us on the ropes with a chance to win the series and, you know, we just kind of summoned something from inside and, and we were really tough over the back half of that game. And then we came out on Sunday and really had one of our more complete performances of the season to win the series. And it was in that moment where I was like, ok, these guys aren't, aren't, aren't going to cave in to the injuries. Uh, these guys are going to fight and then we went on the run in April after that. And, you know, I, I thought that was the moment for us where, ok, these guys answered the call. Does it mean anything more to your coach where, where you guys kind of slid towards the end of the regular season and didn't perform the way you wanted to in the AC C championship and, and still be able to perform the way you guys did when it mattered most in the regionals. Does it mean any more that you guys were able to advance, you know, with that type of diversity on your head? Well, I, yeah, I think one of the things I try to do is reflect a lot after the season is over with on, uh, what, what we could do differently, what we could do better. And I think that'll be something that I spent some time in reflection about it. After that we get through the season was like, maybe, maybe we let the pressure of trying to host a regional impact our play in the month of May. And I think we all me included, got wrapped up in, hey, if we, if we play well here over the next two weeks we're going, we're going to host a regional in Durham and that's something that's never been done before. And I think we played a little bit tighter because of that. I don't think we played bad baseball, but I don't, I don't think we were the loosest version of ourselves. And I think once we got through the AC C tournament and it was, it was a realization that hey, we're going to have to go on the road now in the NCAA tournament. Well, that pressure was off and we just kind of loosened back up and got back to who we were. And, and, you know, and so I put some of, some of our struggles in May candidly are on me and we get in that position again in the future. I've got to do a better job of managing, you know, all the distractions that come along with being discussed as a potential host site and, and, and keep guys in that good frame of mind that, hey, we're just competing today. This is a team that has had a lot of success on the road this season, the win at BC, the win at Virginia, obviously this weekend, what's allowed them to be so composed when they're not here. Yeah, it's interesting for whatever reason. Um, and I, I, I think a lot of it is because these guys really like spending time together and, and when you're on the road, it forces more time together and, and so it's bus rides, it's team meals, it's hanging out in the lobby. Uh, and, and these guys genuinely enjoy that. Like, they, they, they, they, they, they like spending time with one another and, and, and so I think we, we've been looser on the road and they, they've kind of like, really embraced this persona of being a great road team. They call themselves road dogs and, and, and that, that's just been kind of adopted into the culture of this season. And so I don't have any doubt that we, we'll embrace being on the road this weekend. Could you speak to what it took to get MJ from N C State to the lineup for this past weekend? Yeah, I mean, first off, it's a great job by Aldo Platt, our athletic trainer and our sports medicine staff because I think the biggest thing, you know, with, with that particular injury and the ability to come back and do anything on the back side of it is like you got to get the swelling out of there, right. And so we really, he couldn't do anything physically until they were able to flush some of that swelling. And our athletic medicine staff in particular out did a terrific job with that. And then from there, it's just M J and it's just a mature guy who knows who he is as a player who is really tough and we let it, it was his decision the whole time, you know, even last Thursday before we had our pre regional meeting, you know, you got, you got to hand in your roster at that regional meeting on the Thursday before the regional starts. You know, he and I met that afternoon and we were still undecided about whether or not he was even going to be on the active roster. And that's a day before he hits three home runs and I just sat down with him. It was just, he and I, and I just said, hey, man, what do you want to do? Like this is your call. You've earned the right to make the decision. If you think you can play, then we, we want you to give it a go, but nobody's gonna question you if you feel like you can't and, and he, and he wanted it and he's, he's a mature, tough guy and certainly has, you know, uh, from there taking it and run with it. Chris, talk about your journey as a coach. What did you learn? Your first two trips? Coaching is super regional that you can use your team. That's a great question, you know, I mean, I, I, I, I, I, I think the theme for us ever since the NCAA tournament started was it's not about winning a regional, it's about extending our season and it's about being able to spend more time with each other and embrace that because that is a genuine joy for these guys and I want to keep the focus on that and not on, hey, you know, this is, the conversation is not going to be about, we're two games away from Omaha. The conversation is going to be about, hey, we go out and win this week and we get a chance to play another week together and, and, and these guys really have embraced that now compared to when you played them, you know, back in April. Yeah, they're, they're playing a lot better, you know, I mean, we, we caught them at a good time. I mean, they, they kind of had their lull at the end of April, you know, lost the series to pitt at home and, and we got them at home and, you know, we had our little bit of a lull if you want to call it that in early May. And I think over the course of the marathon, it is the college baseball season. I think everybody has that kind of two week stretch where you don't feel like you, you've got it all put together. But outside of that stretch at the end of April, they've been as good as anybody in the country, right. And they've been really good in May and they've been really good here down the stretch. So we know we're kind of playing a different team than we played then at that point in time. Connolly early wasn't in the rotation for them. He was pitching midweek and, you know, so he presents a challenge because he's a guy that we haven't seen yet because he was throwing midweek for him at the time. But the one thing I have as much respect for Brian o'connor as anybody in college baseball. And I, I've made no bones about it like we consider what they've done to be a blueprint for our program here at Duke. So we know they'll be prepared. We know they'll compete really well. We know they're going to play really hard. So, you know, we just gotta try to play really good baseball and try to keep up with them. Chris has a program, you all didn't make a super regional until 2018 and now you've gone ahead and you're tied for most super regional appearances by an AC C team since then. How, what, what changed there? How can you speak to that difference in this, this program? Well, I mean, a lot of it is just the, the, you know, our ability to go out and get on players, you know, the right kind of guys, I think, you know, when we broke through and finally got to the NCAA tournament in 2016, I think it's the first time in 55 years. You know, all of a sudden the conversation with top recruits became a little bit different because it was, hey, yeah, it's always been, you can go to Duke and get a great education, but you can have a chance to win or you can have a chance to play in a pro season. And after 2016, we showed that. And then in 2018, that team finished the year, top 10 in the country. They went to a super regional. They were really one inning away from going to Omaha. I think again, it, it, it, it opened up the door for us with a, with a different type of recruit and we've been able to get in the door and get in the home of a, of a, of a recruit that maybe we weren't able to in the first five years I was here. And so that, that's a big part of it is just what the doors have been opened from a recruiting standpoint. And, you know, another big aspect of it is just the culture or the, the expectation that's there now for success. And, you know, I don't, I don't think anybody in that locker room was surprised when we went down there and played well this past weekend in Conway, but you talk about getting players you talk about. Also, there's things you've done in the portal. How in particular was a guy like uh M J brought here from D three? Like what kind of story is that the kind of behind the scenes story of getting him from that level to here? Yeah, so I, I, I don't mind saying this, you know, um our, our, our, our 2021 class recruiting class was a, was a top 10 ranked recruiting class in the country. Um And then we, we knew our 22 class coming in was going to be really good and, and we made a conscious decision and I made a calculated error in deciding that, hey, you know what, we're going to not be very active in the portal. And we're gonna bring these young guys in and, and they're gonna play and, and you know, that that's gonna be our, our, our model. And when 2022 started, uh you know, and I looked around the AC C because my expectation was in 2021 was the, the COVID year, right? So you had all these older teams, I thought that most of us were going to be young again in 2022. But instead, we were really young and a lot of the other programs that had had success in the AC C had gone out and stayed old by being active in the portal. And I realized very early in the 2022 season, hey, we've made a calculated mistake here. We need to be more involved in the portal. And we had a very candid conversation in my office in March of 2022 to say, man, we got to go out and start to get active in the portal. And that's literally one of the very first guys that we found was M J Mats. And, you know, he was a guy that had put up great numbers at a smaller school and, you know, and was a proven defender at first and it had good numbers in the summer. And so he became really the first guy. We said, look, let's go get this guy. And then from there we filled in with some other guys like Alex G and Jason White and, you know, and then Jay Beshear this past summer, but that has to be a big part of our recruiting model moving forward. It's not going to replace our, our need to go out and sign great classes of traditional high school prospects. But we've got to also supplement that group of high school recruits by going out and getting the right guys in the pool. And for us here at Duke, that's mostly going to be grad guys, right? Because it's hard to transfer into Duke as an undergrad transfer. You got, you got to come from a great school, you got to take in the right classes. But for us, you know, we can find guys that maybe they graduated, uh they've had proven careers, they've got four years worth of numbers and they've got another year left to play and bring them in and offer them the opportunity to get a world class graduate degree and, and, and, and play in the AC C and and you know, that's a, that's an attractive combination this weekend. Obviously, both Charlie and Alex through almost 120 pitches and four and two appearances. Are they going to be ready to go? And what's your approach for starting pitching this weekend? Yeah, we're still sorting through it. So we're still seeing how guys are bouncing back, so we haven't made any final decisions yet. Fully expect both those guys to go this weekend. And Charlie has been our best bounce back guy all year and Candidly Alex is bouncing back better at the end of the year than he has at any point. You know, his, he was struggling more with recovery back in February and March than he is right now. He's actually feeling really good post outings. So I fully expect both those guys to be a full go. What day they throw? I think we're still figuring out we'll see how they feel in practice today before we make any final decisions. I know you said going into the year that it was going to be an unconventional rotation and then you lose Santucci the last day of March. How normal has it gotten to feel where you're going out to the mound 56 times a game. Well, first, I don't have to do it very often because B K Brady Kirkpatrick does mo most of our mound trips, which is great. So he's the one that has to log all the miles going back and forth to the mound. But, um, it's, it's been a hard way to manage. You know, it really has. I mean, it, it forces you to make a lot more in game decisions and you feel like your margin of error is more narrow because, you know, you're, you're, you're trying to, you're trying to pick the right point in time to bring this next guy in to match him up best for success. It's a lot easier when you just run a guy in there and say, hey, we'll see you in the sixth inning or, you know, or pat him on the butt after every inning. Um, but it's gotten more normal as we've gone, you know, and it, it's been the right approach for us. I think we knew even back in the fall that, hey, if we're going to have success, we're going to have to do it this way. We're not going to be able to just run a guy in there and let him go three times through the line up. And I think I saw a stat yesterday that our starting pitchers over the course of the season and that includes even when Santucci was healthy, are averaging about three innings a start. And so, you know, it's put a lot of stress on our bullpen. I know Jim asked me back two or three weeks ago, like, are these guys going to run out of gas before the finish line. And, you know, like that's a, that was a genuine concern that I had is like, if you have to lean on the bullpen too much, do those guys fatigue and are they as sharp at the end of the year? But, you know, uh right now guys are still in a good place and still performing at a high level and a lot of the, the credit for that goes to the way we train in the weight room and keeping these guys strong physically. And, um, you know, we, we, we're not gonna change now, you know, we are who we are here down the stretch. Yeah, he'll be available. Yes. Can I ask you a quick question about your offense? Uh, it's one thing to get predictions in the middle of your lineup, but all Bright Storm looks the guys that you bottom through, you get, you can roll out a no hitter line up with no weak spots, you know. How does that help? Yeah. And we've got some, you know, and, and the way we've kind of built the line up, we've got some power down there at the bottom of the lineup, you know, luck hit a couple of home runs and big spots this weekend out of the nine hole and Luke Storms, I think, got 13 home runs on the season. Um, and, and so we, you know, there have been some days where we've, we've gotten real run production. Out of 6789 in the line up and, and, and that's been huge and, you know, we've been, we've been pretty reliant on hitting the ball of the ballpark. I mean, you know, a large percentage of our run production comes from the via the home run. And you know that from that standpoint, Conway was a good draw for us because it's a park that lends itself to a lot of balls leaving the ballpark and, you know, we hope that uh this Sharo Park plays on the smaller side this weekend and not on the bigger side. What did it say about Alex Stone to be able to kind of adjust to all the pictures that you're throwing at him behind the plate, but then also be able to turn around offensively and put up numbers. Yeah, it's incredible. It's, it's, it's, it's having to adjust to a lot of different pitchers and, and he, I, I listened to the interview that you guys just had with him. He's being modest. It's, it's, it's way harder than he makes it out to be to, to have that many guys come in the game and, and have to manage that many arms. Um So he's done an unbelievable job handling our staff. We've given him almost no opportunities for rest, right. We've given him very few off days throughout the course of the season and, and yet he's still been such a, a great offensive player for us, it takes a lot of toughness to do what he's doing and he's shown, shown that and he's shown tremendous leadership. How much of that is a testament to his personality as a person as well to be able to get along and work with so many different pitchers and be able to develop kind of a trust and a bond. No question. I think that's huge. And I think, you know, um, his rapport with these guys, the trust that they have in him, the respect that he has amongst this team. All of those things weigh into being able to, to, to do the job that he's done. So well, coach the other day you tweeted pack a lunch, part one. Do you have a lunch that you pack every day when you come to the ballpark and part two, how is that team kind of embrace that blue collar mentality? Noon time with your hashtag you guys use? Yeah. So I am a, I am a, I am a pack of lunch person like I don't ever, I, I don't, I, I, I've got a little uh cooler that I bring it to the office and I, I'm not, I don't ever go out to eat for lunch. And so our, our assistants don't like that, you know, I'm never the guy that says, hey, let's go grab a bite to eat somewhere. I just sit at my desk and eat lunch. I got it from my dad, you know, he always packed the lunch too. Um, you know, and, and I was talking with the guys one day and I just said, uh, hey, I want us to be one of those teams that like if you get us and, and it's gonna happen, like you might get us, but you got a pack a lunch to do it. And, uh, and from that point forward, uh those guys have really embraced that slogan and it kind of goes along with the lunch pale that we have in our program that we, that we pass around and, and carry to the ballpark with us every day. So those guys have really bought into that and, and, and I'm, I'm grateful for, it's been really cool. They, they wear their pack of lunch shirts everywhere we go and it's, you know, again, these guys have such a cool spirit and they've just, their buy in has been so good.