Tennessee took the series opener against Kentucky Friday night using five home runs and a seven run third inning to beat the Wildcats 10-6 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Andrew Lindsey turned in one of his best outings of the season while AJ Russell and Hollis Fanning were solid out of the bullpen.
Here’s everything Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said after the game.
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On playing small-ball well outside of one error
“Sometimes when you’re younger or you haven’t experienced things, you have to in order to understand the value or the importance. We’re not exactly a get in your face coaching staff unless something really goes awry, but we explain it and then you kind of have to live it and the living part is more valuable. We’ve seen it first-hand, that communicating or base running, just executing a small thing or even tonight — it probably got lost in the mix — but just discipline at the plate led to two innings that were really important. You gotta understand the importance of that, so, again, coaches can speak it, but I think where you learn the true value is when it doesn’t go well for you and then you kind of have regrets. Right now our guys are playing with no regrets and they’re improved in a lot of different areas. Doesn’t make them perfect. They made no errors tonight. We had one on the scoreboard. There’s a couple of things you’d like to differently, but they’re having fun, they’re playing together and we’ve certainly improved in a lot of different areas.”
On how impressive catcher Cal Stark was defensively
“It was outstanding. If you just go off the stat sheet, we erase three of their baserunners and obviously he had a big part of that, and you win by, you can kind of start to come up with all sorts of theories. It wouldn’t necessarily be conspiracy theories. But the biggest thing he does is just come with energy, preparation, communication is a really important part of his game. And no matter whether it’s him or Chuck (Charlie Taylor) in there, you get at-bats where you feel like — if you’re not cheering for them and watching every pitch, you’re doing them an injustice to them or the team. It’s just the type of guys they are. But also every at-bat is a fight with those two guys, so look forward to Chuck’s next at-bat and of course it’s been good to have Cal back there defensively and offensively.”
On what allowed them to have success against Kentucky starter Travis Smith
“That was the game. We didn’t have anything strategy wise or anything that really stood out. Obviously you get to this point, you’ve got plenty of statistics to go off of and the guys watch video or stuff like that. He’s good. He’s good. And he’s a tough kid. He’s been through a lot, but our guys for whatever reason were really dialed in against what he was doing and made it challenging on him. Even when we didn’t produce, so, our guy won the starter battle I guess because (Andrew) Lindsey was so good, but he got some help from his teammates and I don’t think it was really their intent, but he needed — or he deserved their help I should say. It was nice to see him get his first win. That guy (Smith_ will bounce back and be pretty good from here on out and the rest of his career, but our guys did a pretty nice job.”
On how Andrew Lindsey was so effective
“Kind of a similar deal to what he’s had going on. Now, we got out there, and I think he was at 105 pitches, I didn’t look at the exact, and he wants to keep going. And he takes care of his body enough to where he can keep going. I think each outing has been, get a little higher in the pitch count, get a little more comfortable, get a little better at handling the run game and little things like that. He’s not a newborn. He’s not starting from scratch. He’s got experience, but it just seems he’s kind of settled into what he’s doing. If you look at his first outing versus this one, they’re not that much different, other than maybe we played a little bit better defense behind him and have kind of found ourselves adjacent to him a little bit.”
On where Lindsey has grown the most in his five starts
“That’s a tough one. Each time, kind of when things get a little gritty, not doing The Griddy, but when it requires some grit, I think that might be it. And again, you got to kind of experience it a little bit. He’s a guy with a good track record, and I know our guys weren’t big fans of having to face him in scrimmages. So, his stuff has been good. He hasn’t created a new pitch or anything like that. Like some of our other guys, he’s been really consistent for us. But also like our entire team, as it gets a little more challenging and we get closer to summer time, he seems to be the best version of himself.”
On how much different Hollis Fanning is right now
“It’s crazy. He’s turned himself into a draft pick. It was a guy that was an in-state guy that’s a good student that likes the University of Tennessee, and [we thought] ‘let’s give this guy a chance because he throws strikes.’ And, of course, he played in that Knights organization, those guys marketed him as much as you can, like, ‘I’m telling you, this guy wins games for us.’ He’s always thrown strikes for us. He’s always been a good guy to have around. But the big picture thing is, he’s gone from, ‘Yeah, let’s give this guy a chance,’ to he’s a draft pick. He can go get 96, 97 (mph). It’s a little different look. He’s gotten a lot better in a lot of different areas. And they showed, I mean throughout the game, they’re number one for a reason in that category. So, to come in and kind of slam it shut so he could move onto the next thing was big. I know in the stands you might be thinking, ‘You scored double digit runs,’ or this, that or the other… there’s no rules here. This is a pretty good battle, and both teams went out there and did the best they could with whatever situations there were. And he certainly capped it off by doing the best he could with that opportunity.”
On why Jared Dickey is hitting so well
“He’s getting close to what he was in January and February. You guys came to some of the scrimmages. It was a little bit out of control, almost to the point where we kind of started to bunt him or move him down to do something because it was insane. As the season started, it kind of went away from a little bit of pressing or whatever it might be, but the guy is a bat. He’s very consistent for us defensively. I do think he can catch. I do think when his pro opportunity comes this summer, why not try him behind the plate if you want. Speed-wise, I say he’s decent, but he’s a competitive, good baserunner and he’s a hitter. That’s why we recruited him, that’s what he is and that’s why he’ll get drafted. He has good ability to hit, and like Andrew Lindsey and like our team, he has kind of settled in to play ball and not worry about all this other riff raff. I’m in on this at-bat right, and he’s pretty talented when he does that. And also, he brings a lot of character to the table.”
On how complete of a hitter Jared Dickey is
“It’s multi-faceted. He kind of had a unique freshmen year, so this guy is still a sophomore by paper. Coach (Tim) Jamieson, who was my coach at Missouri, had a complete hitter (chart), and he had all these circles that all kind of touch each other and meet in the middle to make a great hitter. It was all these different categories, so it’s a lot. For him, it started with the body transformation. You have to be athletic, and you have to take care your body. And then here in the cage, not only does he take a ton of repetitions, but he has a plan, too. He’s not just in here swinging to swing. I’m sure there is someone on the team who has taken more swings, but I don’t know if there is someone who has done it with more intent and more of a specific plan than what he wants to accomplish. The mentality is there, and part of it is he’s been through a lot of adversity and part of it is he’s a great kid from a great family. The athlete he’s turned himself into, how hard he works on his swing and the mentality are the three things that would be the biggest components I can think of right now.”
On the challenge of figuring out the starting designated hitter
“Not fun. I mean this is supposed to be a positive deal here, we won. You had (Ryan) Miller, KT (Kavares Tears), (Austen) Jaslove and (Dylan) Dreiling all standing there with batting gloves on in the last inning. By no means was it, it’s just a free for all for at-bats. I mean they had a good lefty on the mound and we’re trying to get something done there. We go with Jaslove and Dylan will have his opportunity at some point tomorrow and he’s got probably as bright a future as anybody that can swing the bat on our team if we’re going to talk about pro ball and stuff like that. It’s a challenge but we weren’t saying that at the beginning of the year. In February and March you guys probably thought I was crazy or would criticize the lineups when they wouldn’t work and when they would just go with that. Now we have a good problem. We’ve got a bunch of guys that want to help us win and a bunch of guys that can help us win. We meet up there. We met up in my office today and we’ll discuss what we think a plan is and go with it and see what the scoreboard says at the end of the day but right now it’s a fun group to be around and I know our coaches will prepare and our guys will compete so let’s roll with that.”
On if AJ Russell surprises them at this point and if they view him as a sophomore at this point
“Yeah. I think like Dreiling he has an elevated level of maturity for whatever reason and also he’s got ability. You get good feedback from your hitters during scrimmage season or if they just face him for whatever reason. He’s got good stuff and he likes to compete. I know he wants to be out there and the cool thing about him that maybe sometimes the other guys can recognize and learn from a freshman. Sometimes you’re always wanting to learn from the other guys but you go out there and he can have a conversation and the heart rate’s right here. He’s not afraid to laugh at a joke but he’s taking his craft very seriously. It’s a pretty good balance of things he’s got going on there. Could have brought him in earlier, could have left him in longer but looking forward to his next opportunity he gets to compete.”
