1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - One-On-One with DP: November 9th, 3pm - Cam Chick (Husker Baseball)

Episode Date: November 9, 2021

One-On-One with DP: November 9th, 3pm - Cam Chick (Husker Baseball)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the couple Chevrolet GMC Studios. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, presented by Beatrice Bakery, on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticket FM.com. Welcome, everybody, happy Tuesday. I want to thank you folks for joining us on a Tuesday afternoon. It's busy. It's busy.

There already been wins today. Hussars hoops. The ladies went out in Dominated Maine, as they should. have you know the rules 402 464 5668 5685 that's the starter haman text line fireway Honda lincoln hotline called the same number hit me with a what's up dp you got to add to that today today though you got to add to that today because we brought somebody we needed somebody hit lead off we needed somebody to play up the middle that's how are we going to get down you solid rock solid up the middle let's bring in husker baseball's camp chick sir what's happening how we doing thanks for having me

Oh, this is good, bro. This is good. It's going to be some fun times ahead of us all. So some of the folks know your story, some don't. So let's go back. How does Cam Chick get to the University of Nebraska? Yeah. So I'm from Columbia, Missouri.

Born and raised. My dad went to Missou, played baseball there. So a little bit of a rivalry between Nebraska, Missouri back in the day. But just growing up playing football and baseball, a majority in my life. So sports has been around since the start, and that's kind of what defined me for sure. And through high school, the recruiting process really took off after my sophomore year with teams like Missouri, Missouri State, K-State. And then my very last one was Nebraska. Coach Irsted, Coach Sova, Coach Kirby, all called me up for a visit. Just fell in love.

Fell in love with the atmosphere. The facilities are second to none. The people here, the support staff. Everything was just the best I'd seen in the nation. So it was a no-brainer for me. And then also playing for the number one overall pick, a guy who had 14, 15 years in the bigs, gold gloves. I remember walking into his office that day on the visit. And he had three gold gloves up on the shelf thrown back in a corner like it was just nothing. Just don't mind those things. And then his World Series ring was right there on the counter next to you. And it was just like, wow. I want to be there one day. baller baller that's amazing so when did you know first of all that this baseball thing was special to you

and you to it when did you know i'd say probably around nine or ten um i'd always had to bat around since i was three and my dad was a high school coach for about 13 14 years so i've been around baseball i grew up with high schoolers so that was the best part about is i was playing with kids that were 10 plus years older than me so i had to had to be able to take the stuff that they give me and and as well as compete with them. So that's really what pushed me. But 9 and 10 is when I started traveling around the country and playing. And that's when I realized I want to do this every week.

I want to do this every day. And hopefully this can be my job growing up. What was it about Lincoln that you said, you've been around, like you've been around games. You've been around the country seeing this thing. But then you got here. What was it about the town? It just saw how they treated everyone.

Everyone was super nice. Hello, waves. How are you doing? and it was just something about being with Coach Irstead, obviously that just attracts people, but the respect that he got when we were walking around the campus, around the stadiums. And it was just one of those things where I could just feel the energy that the town had for Nebraska and the Huskers and something that I want to be a part of because we got the best fans in the nation. So having that support every single Friday, Saturday, Saturday, and then midweeks was something that I just dreamed of.

And obviously we packed the house almost every game. four or five thousand and so it's it's you live for that all all the big moments and then now leading up the last year again to play on the biggest stage it's just an opportunity that i just am so blessed and would never take it back for the world we're talking to cam chick from the huskers baseball program and you mentioned coach erstat and he is such a unique personality what was it other than the gold gloves about coach ersted i mean like he's been there yeah but as a person who was it He made sure he knew my parents' name right off the bat.

Remember the name from the phone call. And he remember he played football. So he would text me every couple Fridays, asked how I did, what the scores were. But the biggest thing for me is he didn't question my size. So that was what really attracted me to him was he didn't ask, you know, how tall is your family, the gene pool I was in. And it was more just he saw me as a baseball player and a baseball player alone as well as a person. And so I was really able to connect with them because all he wanted was the best out of me. And I could tell that right away.

It was one of those things where I got chills talking to him. I felt comfortable. I was able to open up and tell them everything I was looking for and obviously asking what he was looking for out of me. And he shot me straight, told me I'd have a chance to come in and play. But it wasn't given to me. So I came in, I was able to earn it, and he had my back every game, every weekend and all throughout the year. Who's the toughest coach you know? Is it dad?

Is it Erstad? Is it Bolt? Who's the toughest coach? I'm going to have to say Coach Markuzo. Okay, okay. Coach Markuzzo, our infield coach. He gets the absolute very best out of us every single day, every rep. Every rep for sure.

I wouldn't say every day. Every rep. Every single rep. His biggest thing is you can't take a rep off because in the game you take one play off and that could be the turning point and a disaster, a big inning. And he gets the very best. He turned me into a better defender than I could have ever imagined coming in. Do you have a preference about where you play?

I played second base my whole life, so I love playing second. But being able to play the outfield a lot last year, I played majority in the outfield. and it was fun to be able to use my speed, run around, catch balls. It gets a little boring sitting out there. It does get a little boring. I'm not going to lie. But talking to, you know, I get to talk to Jack Style. I talked to Schwelley last year, Max, and I'm on the infield.

But we're in the outfield that you're lone man. There's no one to talk to. See, that was kind of my solace. I was centerfielder. I like being out there, you know, just like I was in my own head. head, the king of my domain, right? Like, this is all mine. This is all mine.

Every ball is mine, unless I allow you to catch it. And then occasionally the left field bullpen would be occupied. And so I got to listen to the home team whenever we're away, listen to them chirp me a little bit. But it's always fun. Speaking of chirping, let's go to Little Rock. Let's go. Yeah.

What was that like for you? Like, what was the environment? The fans, I mean, it had to be incredible. and from TV and from radio alone, fans are incredible. But for you as a player, what was it like? Yeah, just the moment stood out. Heartbreaker, but the home run that Charlie Welch hit, that really sealed the deal on that Sunday,

I've never experienced the ringing in the ears while playing until that moment. Like when the ball left the bat, it was just an eruption, just screams. But backtracking, Our fans showed out and put up a fight against the 15,000 of theirs. We had about 1,500 and they let them know that they were there. But it was the best environment I probably ever played in and might ever play in unless I have a chance to go on and play somewhere bigger.

But that I will go down. It's probably one of the most fun six days of my life. You and I were talking. And recent local news is about a change in leadership in a program and you've been through it and you've been through it here. For you as a player, what's it like when you find out that your coach or somebody on the coaching staff is moving along and you've got to adapt and readjust? What was, what's that like for you? First, when he broke the news, it was like sadness because you came in. He was your guy.

And for the year straight, he was like your second dad. You're away from your family. He's the one taking care of you, guiding you throughout your college career, especially as a freshman that's when you're most vulnerable. You know, you're coming in, you don't know much. So that initial shock, for sure, a lot of teary eyes in the locker room when that meeting was brought together. And then initially after that, you feel you're happy that he made the decision. You know, it's all about him.

You've got to make sure that he's happy first, and that was probably the best decision he's made. And then on the flip side, getting new coaches, you're nervous. A lot of nervous jitters going into it, especially starting in the new fall with them. You don't know how they come to work. You don't know their practice plan. You feel like a freshman all over again, in all honesty. You're starting over fresh. It doesn't matter if you were a starter, reliever, a guy who came off the bench, pitch hitter.

It was one of those things you got to start fresh. And for all of us, we took it out as a challenge. We loved it. And Coach Bolt came in with high energy. His whole staff did. I know you talked to Coach Arvill a lot. He's a super high-energy guy. But, yeah, they just came in right away and stilled to compete in us,

made sure that we knew that they were going to compete for us, and they were going to bring everything they had every day. And it kind of just clicked. But, yeah, for the first month or two, it's kind of like a job interview, I would say. You're just trying to show them what you got, and they're also trying to gain your respect as well and trust. To parallel that to football and say, if you're an student athlete and this happens in season,

right yeah walk me through what's in the head of of these football players this week like isn't this just an odd week you've got a buy week and then you've got wisconsin like that's what's going on in their heads sad i mean it's middle middle of the season you don't want to see anyone go especially your whole offensive staff and you got that going right now um you would hope they don't change it up on them because that'll be the hardest thing is you have one week to prepare with a whole new staff and possibly a whole new offense, which I hope that doesn't happen. But yeah, I bet it's pretty hectic in the locker room. But the thing is, I know a bunch of those guys, and they're really close.

And so that's the biggest thing is I would say that I know from baseball perspective, we kind of came together as a team, even stronger whenever coach Eust had left. Because it was kind of like in that process where you didn't know who your coach was going to be, we had to stick together and make sure, you know, spirits are high, and we had each other's back no matter what. And I'm sure that's what they're doing right now. You know, you have an awesome leader in offense with Adrian. That captain, he's always there, boosting the morale.

He's got everyone's back. So I know he'll take care of it for sure. And you've got a bunch of those upperclassmen and the offensive side that I won't take along from the Giacomator for sure. Cam Chick from Husker Baseball. And for players, there's so much chatter, so much communication. Social media now gives immediate access. For you, what's the boundary that you set? because when things are going well, it's fun to be around.

When it's not going well, how do you boundary that? Yeah, that was kind of a rule Coach Bolt brought in. It was kind of just like social media is it's good at sometimes, but it can also be your biggest enemy. So our thing is we don't try to get caught up in anything that's going on in social media. We don't reply. We don't try to get in the feuds because we're all a circle. And everyone outside of that circle doesn't have the same beliefs

and attitudes as us in the circle. So as long as you stay with our group and our immediate, you know, family at that time, especially within that's 120 guys. As long as they just stay within their guys, there's nothing much that can break that when you have each other. It's a year for the record books. I mean, you win the Big Ten championship. That final weekend, like not knowing,

you were telling the story Kobe Webster and CJ, but not knowing going into that last weekend that this was possible. Like we could finish this thing here. When did you find, how did, when and how did you find out that that championship weekend was actually a championship weekend? Yeah. So we, you know, all of us in math majors at the time. Right. Trying to add up all the points, all the standings, be like, all right.

So if we do this, this, this, we have a chance. And Mojo Haggy in the back of the bus on our way to Indiana threw something out. He was like, guys, I think if we sweep, we clinch. And all of us were like, bro, stop. Like, don't put that on us. Don't put that on us. And then as the weekend started going, one of our representatives from the school was actually there. And the upper classmen were telling us that he traveled to Penn State four years ago when we clinched the Big Ten championship.

And they were saying that he only comes when championships are on the line to present a trophy. So then after game one, he came that Saturday morning. So we're like, all right, we got to win under our belts. We see him there. And so we started to get the little jitters, but the chatter started happening. After game one, we came back, a heck of a game. And then coming into game two, Coach Bull kind of slipped it in there a little bit. He was like, you know, you finish out this weekend, something good is going to happen.

Like, you just stay our approach, play our game, good things are going to happen. And then come in Sunday, that's when the news got dropped on us. that like, hey guys, Michigan's game got moved up. If they lose and you guys win, it's over. You clinch it. Luckily, their game got moved up four hours before us because of weather. So the grace of God, something happened. We end up seeing in the seventh inning, they came in and said, hey, guys, Michigan lost.

And we're up 9-0 at this point. And so it was one of those things where it was like, wow. How did you stay focused in that then? Yeah, exactly. It's like we've got to finish this out. And that last pitch was thrown strike three. and it was just like weight lifted off our shoulders where I like since August 23rd

all the way till now our goals we set out we're accomplishing them we're still on our on the journey but the biggest one the conference championship it's ours and can't take it away from us see that's how I know you're a dude right you just said a thing that I've been preaching and that I work from is that all those little boxes that you have to check along the way

to get to your mission the mission has to be loud yeah like the squad has to know and you've got to agree to it that listen we want to win series win game one win the series right let's move along let's go through that checklist of what that pyramid looks like for you guys yeah so coming in obviously the end goal is omaha winning national championship those two boxes front and center okay leading up to it it's game by game and then come saturday you'll know at that point if you win the series or not so then the box is checked let's win this series let's win this series let's win series and I think at one point we were eight in a row of series ones. So it was kind of like game

by game and then come Saturday I was like, all right, we just won. We won the series. Let's go sweep now. So you win Friday coming in, win Saturday. You're like, all right, series is won, but it's not over. Let's go sweep. Restart all over again. And especially the days where the boxes seem a little bigger whenever it's the four game weekends because then you're like all right win game one you win game two we haven't won yet we can still split win game three and it's like all right series is ours let's go let's go sweep them and so we just stuck with that approach every single weekend every single game we were looking ahead you know because there's some games we were facing a top three rounder the next game but we couldn't think about that because right now we're facing the friday night guy they're saving

them for saturday sunday so it's one of those things where we couldn't look ahead because we had a focus on the moment that we had at hand. And, you know, we had some games where we, you know, waver from that approach. And it was one of those, you got to battle back in the seventh or eighth inning, stressful, pull your hair out kind of games. We're in Michigan State and we're facing a guy who's throwing nine and two-thirds with 16Ks against us and somehow we battle back for a fourth inning win. And then don't get the shot and got to go home and fly home. Right. One of those games where it just keeps going. And so that was the fight that we showed all season was, you know, this pitch, this at bat, do your job, do this, do that.

and stack and stack until that final box is checked in the weekend. You just mentioned about six different games that popped in mind for you. What was your favorite game of the season? That Michigan State game, I wouldn't say it was my favorite. It was probably the most stressful and most mentally tiring game I've ever been a part of my life. So I thought it had been your leading bomb that might have got. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, yeah. In the regional, that was, I had struggled the past two weeks. I was hitting a slump, which I don't like the dude at the end of the year, but it happens. And I was able, I took a, they sat me for a game, and that was probably the best thing ever. It was one of those where they got to the point where I was like, I need a break, I need to watch from the bench and figure it out. Came in, game one, we're down 3-0, and thank God for the guys in front of me. They got on, they did their job, second and third, I got to a two-oh pitch,

and I was just looking for a fastball, and he left it up and in, and I was able to get a good swing on it. Yank! And then after that, it's kind of like hitting is just a domino effect. After that, it was hit, score, hit, score, and we end up beating them by three or four runs. But that was a really fun game. But I think the most fun I ever had was game five,

or four in the regional against Arkansas when we beat him. And Shuella came in after playing shortstop for five innings, and threw five shutout. innings and just set him down and and that was I knew like that was last time I was ever like within within that weekend because he had thrown he was done he wasn't going to be able to do it so I was thinking you know we lose tomorrow that could be my last time ever seeing him pitch in front of me and play with him and a guy that so selfless you know comes in after not pitching for two years and finds a way to become one of the most dominant closers in the nation and just

finds a way to put us all on his back and takes to the promise in that game and that that will go down as one of my most favorite games is just watching him deal it cam it's funny too because you guys battle but you guys had fun yeah was that was that because you were winning or because you guys are fun and then you won because you had fun together which one came first I think it's just because we loved each other that was probably last year in my freshman year the two close as teams I've ever, ever been a part of in my entire life. We're all at each other's house every weekend, you know, we're going out to eat on the weekends, weekdays, we're literally

in the clubhouse. We would spin until almost midnight curfews on the weekends playing two ball in the hotel conference room. And most people don't even know that. But our curfew would be at 1130 or 12 if it was a later game. And we'd all be in there sweating. You would think we just got a workout in. We're all competing. having fun. Those are little things that I'll miss from that group was we were always together because with the COVID you couldn't leave. Right.

So we had to find ways to entertain ourselves in the hotel room and we were able to do that. And so it was more we were just having fun with each other. And it was just I was literally playing with my family in the backyard is what it felt like. How did you, how did you and your lady, she's an athlete? How did you guys get through it? Like that's a weird year, like to go through individual protocols and then have to worry about, okay, here's another responsibility on top of all the other responsibilities. Well, her season got canceled in the fall, so she played in the spring with me, which made

it even more stressful because it was like, we can't do anything, we can't jeopardize because you get sick, then I'm sick because we live together. And if you get sick, someone else is most likely going to get sick on your team, and then you guys might be able to play and vice versa. And so it was one of those things where we had to enjoy each other. We had to get along because we've got to spend a lot more time together. How about that? Yeah. How about that? But so this is the other thing that.

So athletes, especially college athletes, are just a unique breed of human being. Yeah. You have two strikeouts and you come home and you are in your own space in your own universe. She could have had a good night or a bad night. Yep. How do you work it out? It's just a feel thing. You got to read

Like whose day was worse? You got to read the room You got to read the room For sure Because she didn't get to come to a lot of the games last year So it was more of She was checking Twitter Or watching it on the app

But it was one of those things You got to just know And sometimes we don't even like to talk about it Whether it's a good or bad game Either way It's kind of we just Once we walk through the front door Sports is out of the way

And we're just at home So that's the best part about it Yeah It's necessary. It's great when you have it. Yeah. But a lot of folks, again, last year, last year was a boundary center for a whole lot of people. So let's go through the checklist this year.

You've got a whole bunch of new talent in the building. A lot of returning stuff. You got dudes that could fill up a roster pretty quickly, even at the Big Ten level. Where do you put this lineup? The group of guys, the roster from first to last. Where do you put them? Is this on caliber for what you were used to? Are you guys going to have to work on things?

Where do you put this roster? Yeah. With the small sample size from the fall, seeing the scrimmages, I think we have a lot more big hitters. I would describe it. Guys who have one through nine all have pop. You know, last year we had a lot of scrappy guys, and you also need that in the lineup.

And so with being fall scrimmages, you're not bunning a lot. you're more focused on hitting and, you know, getting your swing grouped out. So come springtime, it'll be really nice to see what guys kind of evolve into that position, the role like Mojo had, Jackson, all those guys who find a way to just get the ball and play and use their speed and then, you know, can still put the ball of the ballpark. And so I think this year it'll be a pretty young lineup, but talent-wise, it's great. It'll be fun to watch.

Power. So this is not a hit and run group. This is a group that can go yard, three run, home run, situation. Yeah. Yeah. But we still, we'll still play our game, still be scrappy, still play fast, confident. Oh, yeah. You're going to run. Like, you're going to run around. Like, that's kind of. We'll use our speed. Yeah. And then the pitching staff, what do you see? We have a lot more depth this year. We brought in a good amount of pitchers. We got a couple of transfers who have seen big time stars. It's big time some SEC guys. McCarville from GCU, another powerhouse and division in baseball. So just guys who have experience, and then Chase Shannonman bringing him back on staff, Cody Frank as a reliever.

Just all those guys that were a big part last year and then adding on these new guys. It's just it's been fun to see. You just won through 15 or however many pitches we have. Everyone comes out there and competes, has a ton of pitches, locates, so it'll be fun. there's lots in store and full disclosure we're going to put mr chick to work yeah we're going to put him to work and bring him into the 93-7 ticket family and have some conversations and you and bryce matthews and we'll cross over and do some some different programming with basketball players and baseball players and football players but young man you're the right kind of guy and i'm looking

forward to one getting to know you better two going along on the ride with you guys because i tell you what from every husker baseball fan who doesn't get to say it to you man thank you for what you guys did last last spring that you guys look you picked up an entire state and held them on your shoulders whether you know it or not it was amazing to watch and we're looking forward to the raining defending Big Ten baseball champions. We appreciate it. All right. We'll throw it to break.

All right. We've got another Husker. Mark Manning, wrestling. He just texted. He's going to call, but that's okay. More Husker talk when we come back. Download our app by searching 93.7. The Ticket in your app store.

You're listening to One-on-One-on-One with DP on 937 the Ticketin-Fm.com.