Tennessee baseball found its groove in a desperately needed weekend sweep of Vanderbilt. The Vols jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the series finale before coasting to a 10-5 Sunday victory.
After one of his worst starts of his career last weekend, Drew Beam was fantastic on the bump while Maui Ahuna was elite defensively behind him and solid at the plate.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello discussed Ahuna and Beam’s performances, what this series means for his team and much more.
Here’s everything Tony Vitello said.
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On the defense from Maui Ahuna this weekend and if that’s what they expected coming into the season
“Yeah, no question. And whether it be the fall exhibitions we had or other moments where he’s been a 100 percent or just into it, I mean, obviously, he needed to get in a rhythm playing and he’s been extraordinary over there. Yeah, some of those guys just don’t flat out make (those plays). But the best part about it was the high level of consistency because he got so many repetitions today, in particular with (Drew) Beam and (Seth Halvorsen) locating the way they did.”
On what impresses him most about Ahuna’s baseball IQ
“You would like to be able to teach internal clock, how long the guy gets there and also the first step on a ball, but you really can’t. You can make suggestions. He’s really gifted and to be honest with you, I’ve said this about a few guys and I’ve been fairly correct with guys that we have here — he’s a long way from being as good as he can be. Getting healthy, we give him some trouble about putting on weight and he’s done that with Coach Q (Quentin Eberhardt), but he’s a long way away from what he needs to be to make it to the big leagues as far as weight and strength goes. Always making adjustments offensively, so his best days are well ahead of him and we’ll look forward to his best days while on our campus still being ahead of him as well.”
On Jake Kendro starting at second base with Christian Moore suspended
“Get excited. Our guys were attention free maybe in part because of it and Jake got one out there. They were just talking back in the locker room — I didn’t see this — but kind of looked out of his normal element in pre-game, maybe a little nervous before the game, but when the game starts, you just play. Dang, this far into the year, as much time as these guys have put in the weight room and everywhere else out here, you gotta be excited to be out there and bounce around and that’s what he did. He helped us defensively as much as anything, but goes without saying, that deal there where he hit that ball to left field and (Cal) Stark started that inning was pretty dang big.”
On the importance of getting results to validate how good this team can be
“This is a very sincere answer. We need to understand the goal is to win series and find a way to execute it, but in all sincerity — I don’t know how to say it without trying to sell you on something — it was way more important for our guys to find who they are. I don’t know if it was the series or the loss to Tennessee Tech or that we’re deep enough into the year or maybe one of the guys said something, but that was a fun group to be around the last few days, and a totally different group. I would have said that to you regardless of how today’s game went today for sure, and then even Friday was different. Day 2, they kind of built upon what they had been doing. Just personality, conversations, comments — some of them maybe need to go away a little bit — but they’re trying to be creative. They got me doing some show they came up with … that they’ve made up in their own minds. That’s baseball. Be who you are, and us finding our who we are was a bigger thing.”
On who they are
“I think a team that plays loose and is capable of a lot of things, but a team that needs to make up their own mind about what they’re going to do at the park every day, what they’re capable of and not put too much value on anything else because anything else is always going to be there. It’s not just our team. I know I’ve been crying about that a little bit, but this is SEC baseball. You’re going to have more media, more fans, better facilities, more attention, all kinds of chatter, fans are going to go back-and-forth with each other on Twitter. That isn’t going anywhere, but you don’t have to put value on it, and I think when you’re investing more time in coming up with a goofy show or having your guys’ back or putting in extra work or things like that, you don’t have time for anything else. I think it’s a fun group to be around that is also a dangerous group when they’re playing their best. We can leave it at that for now.”
On Drew Beam’s outing
“Now, he’s been pretty consistent. That was an outlier of an outing, and Arkansas did a good job against him. For whatever reason, it was a little dicey for him last weekend, and you figured he’d come back with a little extra determination. Like last year, he always seems to be smelling blood a little bit when he’s got an opportunity to finish a series in this fashion. Overall, to me watching him pitch — I’ll go back and watch video — but I think he was better than his stat line says. As good as he was, I think he was even better.”
On Chase Burns succeeding in his bullpen role
“He pitched well at Arkansas. It would be kind of hard to argue with it if you are watching that game, and just his behavior. It wasn’t part of the plan to use him on Friday. Again, we kind of said ‘Do you want this thing?’ And his eyes lit up and did whatever was asked. To me, I didn’t have any interest in putting him on the available list today unless he went to one of our other guys, and he went to Richard [Jackson] and Frank [Anderson] and said he could give us one or two innings. For a while there, it didn’t look like we would use him, but you look smart anytime you use him, especially the way that ninth inning went.
“And hey, Combsy (Aaron Combs)… a really emotional out. I mean, their best hitter on paper, or most dangerous hitter on paper (RJ Schreck), and after kind of a quirky deal, too, where I guess he noticed the shot clock, all that stuff. That was pretty good, so we could’ve ran him back out there, too. It’s nice to know he’s turned into what he can be on the mound, because Frank is really high on him.”
On what Maui Ahuna’s success offensively and defensively can do for the team
“It changes the dynamic of the lineup, because he really can be anywhere in the lineup, but he seems to take comfort in being in that leadoff spot or that first spot. As of late, he’s kind of adjusted with two strikes, and so now, even if he doesn’t do something on the stat sheet that is productive, his at bats are more competitive. And then in the field, it’s something our pitchers want. Frank is ‘throw strikes, throw strikes, throw strikes,’ well, you got to give those guys good feedback. And having a guy like that behind them that can shore up a defense, and other guys playing really well defensively, too––C Scott (Christian Scott ) made a non-easy one early there––it provides good feedback for the guys, not that they shouldn’t take confidence. And like Halvy (Seth Halvorsen) overcomes a situation where maybe he thinks he’s out of an inning. It’s how you approach it. You get right back up there and do it again, but it sure is nice when you got someone doing it all behind you.”
On what he anticipated Hunter Ensley’s role being entering the season
“Good indication was he went out to Santa Barbara. One of my favorite coaches in Coach Pintard— probably that nicest, I mean Santa Barbara. One of the nicest places you can go play in the summer to go play and they always win and he had a great summer. It looked like a really good sign for him. We kind of mixed him around. Even first base, we were looking for ways to get him involved in the lineup so ultimately it’s fair to say he forced our hand. Coaches like to say that all the time, ‘I don’t make out the lineup, you do’ and a lot of that is true and he’s made it an absolute must that he needs to be in the outfield and of course on the offensive side as well. That’s my favorite type of player. I know this portal thing and COVID even are making all these rosters older but a Trey Lipscomb, a Jake Rucker, a Hunter Ensley. A guy that maybe gets a little bit of a taste and more and more. Those are the best guys or the guys I like being around the most. Not that I don’t like anybody else.”
On the availability of Wyatt Evans
“It’s probably a deal now where he’ll redshirt. We’ve got some lefties that are throwing the ball well for us and you come into the year with expectations of upping your innings— getting to 20, 30 innings and that would be a pretty good roll of the dice. That would be like you’re in Vegas trying to win some money and my money is on him the next time he suits up and throws for us because he throws strikes, he’s not scared and has really good stuff but he’d been sore off-and-on ever since the summer and you guys have been great about coming out and watching and learning about the team. You’ve seen him throw really well but there’s other times you’re not seeing him where it’s not feeling right or he has to take days off so just not enough momentum there and maybe better safe than sorry there.”
On if there’s an update on Zach Joyce
“Decent chance, and I’m out of my lane here, decent chance kind of some scar tissue. A lot of times when a guy has Tommy John that can happen where scar tissue forms and breaks apart so if that is the case it’s probably going to take some time for soreness to go away and all that. Again, I’m out of my lane and speaking for him, probably a little scare for him. It’s been an interesting career starting at Farragut, over at Walters (State) and here and different things happen so probably a little bit of a mental side too of catching his breath and getting his feet back under him.”
On if Joyce could pitch again this season
“Yeah. For sure. We’ll kind of see how that builds up.”
