Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue recap the 2026 Stanley Cup Finals in which the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights four games to two. The guys also recap UNC Baseball’s run in the College World Series thus far.
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Dave Nathan, Play-by-Play man for UNC Baseball, joins SportsTalk to tell us about how the Tar Heels have made their way to Omaha and how they can sustain their success as they face off against Ole Miss on Friday. Scout Hughes and George Hoyle give a rundown on the Stanley Cup, NBA Finals, and the World Cup.
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Livie Newell, a 7th Grader at Kerr-Vance Academy, joins SportsTalk with Doc Ayscue and Scout Hughes to speak about Livie’s journey through bowling and to also talk about an upcoming national tournament for her.
From left to right: WIZS’s Doc Ayscue, Livie Newell, Livie’s Father John.
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Scout Hughes and Steve Lewis cover a whole set of topics, including the College World Series being set, the Spurs talking one away from the Knicks at MSG, and why a Canes win is a must have for Carolina in Game 4.
College Baseball Scores:
NCAA Baseball Tournament – College World Series
MiLB Scores:
Tuesday
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Scout Hughes and Doc Ayscue talk about how the Tar Heels made their way to Omaha for the College World Series when they beat Southern California in the Chapel Hill Super Regionals. The guys also give their picks for Monday’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
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Scout Hughes and George Hoyle celebrate Crossroads Christian Baseball, Bunn Baseball, and Roxboro Community Softball for representing the Kerr-Tar Area well by winning the State Championships in their sports. The guys also take about the NC State vs. Virginia Football game being moved from Brazil to Charlottesville, VA.
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Brice Garand, Head Coach of the Louisburg College Softball Program, joins SportsTalk to speak about the Hurricanes run in the NJCAA DII Softball World Series.
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FlingGolf is taking over the links at Kerr Lake Country Club this weekend for a three-day pro-am tournament.
The Kerr Lake Open begins Friday with a doubles match at 1 p.m. The individual tournament days are Saturday and Sunday. And whether you’re a ranked player in the national league or just wondered what the heck FlingGolf is all about, there’s a place for you this weekend, said David Norton and Sam Scannell (rhymes with flannel).
“You can be brand new to the sport – never picked up a FlingStick – and still come out and play,”
Scannell, currently ranked #2 in World League FlingGolf, said he wants to make Kerr Lake Country Club the Southeast hub for this curious young sport that basically involves playing golf with something akin to a lacrosse stick.
Norton joined the FlingGolf community a few years ago, but Scannell has been onboard since its inception back in 2012.
Players use the same FlingStick to hurl golf balls from the tee to the fairway, from the fairway to the green and then putt into the cup. There’s no need to know a wedge from a driver or a putter from a wood – players just use one stick, Norton explained.
This weekend’s tournament will bring top players from all over to the local club, Norton said. There are close to a dozen teams signed up, and he expects more to register. They hope to have 40 or so participants.
If you’re curious about how the game is played, come on out to Kerr Lake Country Club this weekend and see firsthand what it’s all about.
Following the tournament, the two hope to be able to host some clinics at KLCC to help spread the word about FlingGolf and help anybody who wants to learn to play.
They’d like to eventually get a team together that will travel to tournaments across the nation.
Norton said, “Accolades and the wins are fine, but it’s more about the growth of the sport at this point, which is cool.”
Register for the Kerr Lake Open at the country club’s website https://www.kerrlakecountryclub.com/ or call 252.492.1895.
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Doc Ayscue continues down his list of the great athletes while he was a coach for Vance Senior, Northern Vance, Southern Vance, Vance County, Eaton-Johnson and J.F. Webb.
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With about 10 days in his new role as Louisburg College’s head baseball coach, William Hardin has hit the ground running, with recruitment in full swing, meeting current players and getting ready for the upcoming season.
But like they say, it’s not work if you love what you do.
“I do care deeply about Louisburg baseball and Louisburg College,” Hardin said on Thursday’s SportsTalk segment with WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle.
And now, he’s coaching at the very school that gave him so much as a young junior college athlete who headed off to Elon College (before it became a university) and then settled into a coaching and teaching career at the high school and college levels.
His coach at Louisburg was the venerable Russ Frazier, and Hardin said he’s had many conversations with his former coach since he took the job.
When Coach calls, Hardin says he drops whatever he’s doing.
“It’s like two people taking who have best friends forever,” Hardin said. “All the advice he gives me, I take it.”
Another role model who helped shape Hardin as a coach is longtime AD at Greensboro’s Page High School – and fellow Elon ballplayer Rusty Lee.
Hardin said he learned the value of being proactive from Lee, so when someone calls him to share the name of a possible recruit, Hardin calls. Right then.
“My job is to get on the phone right then and there, not wait a week,” he said.
He’s hitting the recruiting pretty hard now, and he said he has until mid-August to “say yes to as many quality players as we possibly can.”
He said he’s ready to build on the success that previous head coach Blake Herring had with the Hurricanes, and elevate the program a little bit in the process and return to national relevance.
One way to do that is through hard work. Another way is by showing players you’re passionate about your school, your program and your players.
“I do have a lot of passion,” Hardin said. Recruits have remarked about seeing and feeling that passion, which tells Hardin he’s doing the right thing and doing it the right way.
“The day I met the players, I had probably five or six alumni with me who showed up,” Hardin said, which created a “buzz” among current players and in the Louisburg fanbase and alums.
There are some good players coming back for the upcoming season, and Hardin said right now, he’s looking for arms.
“The more arms we get, the more chance that we can win those weekend series,” he explained. He said he’s going to look at those weekend series as if they’re the conference tournament. “We want to win that two out of three, we want to sweep,” so the team can develop that mindset of playing baseball hard for a short period of time.
A pitcher’s speed is great, but Hardin said there’s a place in the lineup for pitchers who can provide long relief, short relief – players he can put on the mound for specific tasks.
“We’re looking for arms that come in and get people out,” he explained. “It’s about hitting your spots and mixing your pitches…throwing off the timing and the balance of the hitter – that’s what it’s all about.”
He’s doing all the things a college head coach needs to do, at a dizzying pace – networking, recruiting, learning, planning and strategizing.
“That’s something I’ve been eager to do all my life, is to be a college coach,” Hardin said. “But there’s only one place I really wanted to be and that’s Louisburg College and that is the truth.”
To be able to coach at the school that gave him his start that included playing college baseball and a career as a coach is not something Hardin takes for granted.
“It changed my entire life, being able to go to school there,” he said.“Everything I have is attributed to Louisburg College.”
He said he’s livin’ the dream right now – a great family, a job he loves at a school that he loves.
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High School Baseball Playoffs
NCHSAA
4A – State Championship Series – Best of 3
Game 1
Game 2
Congratulations to the Bunn Wildcats on winning the 4A Baseball State Championship!
