Tennessee went up seven runs in the fourth inning and looked like it might coast past Kentucky for an easy game two win Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. But Kentucky had other ideas scoring six unanswered runs before a pair of big plays from Zane Denton helped Tennessee withstand the push and win 10-7.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello discussed Denton’s huge contributions, Chase Burns’ impressive relief outing and much more.
Here’s everything Vitello had to say following the win.
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On if he was going to tackle Zane Denton in celebration after Denton’s diving play in the eighth
“No, he’s too strong for me to tackle. I was trying to get — I don’t know. I kind of blacked out for a second and then when I got there he was on the ground so I kind of towered over him for a second. We made some really nice defensive plays today and some that get lost in the shuffle there. C-Mo (Christian Moore) going to his left and a few other. Obviously Cal (Stark) has done a good job, but that was the biggest defensive play for either team today and somehow he stumbled down to the ground, but when he is between the lines he’s pretty graceful.”
On if he has an update on Jared Dickey after he came out of the game after injuring his right shoulder
“Not in particular other than better safe than sorry in the situation — I don’t know. Maybe we brought it up last night too much and it came to fruition. We got guys that I think are dying to get out there and that are capable of doing damage out there. KT (Kavares Tears) just missed one against a really good pitcher. Really good swing. So we’ll see what we got tomorrow. Obviously he (Dickey) was phenomenal at the plate today and has been big for us leadership wise, too. So regardless of what his status is, I think his presence is still going to bring value to the team and then we’ll see when we need to get him back out there.”
On if Dickey injured his shoulder
“Yeah, sliding in. Doc Klenck said one thing to me and there was too many vowels in there and I don’t know what he said.”
On if Chase Dollander tweaked anything
“No, a cramp. And a few guys cramped to be honest with you. And KT just missed a home run, so if anyone wants to apply for our strength coach job — Q (Quentin Eberhardt) is a cook more than anything. He’s cooking ribs tonight. So maybe we’ll put him on that duty and I’ll take over the strength coach duties and make sure the boys are hydrated, but if you think about it, we haven’t really played in muggy weather this year, anywhere. I mean, we’ve gone down to the state of Georgia and it just hasn’t happened. Today was kind of the first sticky day and some of those guys were cramping up a little bit. Fortunately they got time between now and tomorrow to take care of their bodies.”
On Tennessee answering Kentucky’s six straight runs
“It was huge. These guys have a little bit of a knack for whatever reason at responding or answering back when maybe things don’t go our way or maybe the other team does damage and it’s a great attitude to have because you consistently feel like you’re moving forward regardless of what’s going on. I think part of that is the chicken and the egg thing. Part of it is the mentality we’ve had for the last few weeks has been more, push forward, regardless of what it looks like because it’s always going to look dicey at times. I think it was a byproduct of that and it goes without saying those two runs were great for Burnsy (Chase Burns). I mean, you trust him in a one-run game no doubt, but he and I will take as many as we can get.”
On Zane Denton’s ‘overall’ game
“His approach, one thing we were just talking about, Jared [Dickey] is so good about being in the box and attacking the at-bat the way he wants to maybe based off of the situation, maybe who the pitcher is, what he’s trying to accomplish. And Zane [has] always been an accomplished hitter and a talented one, and it just seems to me, without asking him, there’s just a much better approach in certain situations, whether it’s with two strikes, or against a pitcher who’s got unique stuff, or an RBI situation, whatever it might be. Probably experience helps. But again, I think when you’re wanting to win and you’re on the hunt to try and w
On Chase Dollander’s outing
“I thought he was really good. It was important for us to get a chance to take the lead today. When you win on Friday, you could think, ‘Well, the other team is more determined to win than we are.’ And we got one. So, I’m speaking as if I was coaching for any other team, I think you want to take that lead so you feel like you’re in charge of the series, you’re in charge of the game. And he throws up a big 0 there (in the first inning), and then overall, if you look at what he did for us for over the course of 5+ (innings)… pretty good. Because these guys aren’t going away for nine innings. Up and down the lineup, [they have] competitive and talented hitters. For him to give us the base or foundation that he did was tremendous. And not using [Chase] Burns last night, we were trying to do whatever we had to do to get to him. Maybe a little bit earlier than we wanted. He probably got to… we’ve talked in the office, 45 (pitches) with him going out there and letting it loose the way he has is ideal, but he used 50 pitches today and obviously got the job done.”
On if it’s surprising teams keep shifting on Dickey
“A little bit, I guess. I don’t mean to speak for them, but maybe when you’re trying to strategize, you’re just playing the percentages and you want to go off of that. Again, it’s tough to speak for anyone else, but I think it’s good that our hitters take serious in practice the ability to bunt or with two strikes, to hit the ball that way or wherever it might be.”
On the four-run second inning
“It was great. Obviously, we’ve hit a few homers this weekend. But there’s a bunch of different ways you can help a team win. Blake Burke, he hits them farther than anybody during BP (batting practice), but another thing we just discussed is last night it was the walk that he helped us with or hurt the opponent, and today it was the single. As the game goes on, if you’re searching for ways on ‘how do we have to win?’ You’ll end up finding that there’s a bunch of different ways to do it. I like it when he or any of the other big guys in this conference, [Jac] Caglianone or whoever it might be, hit a long one, it’s really cool. But at the end of the day, you’re trying to have more than the other team on the scoreboard, and that can come with Cal Stark getting hit by a pitch or Blake Burke just getting a single, good base running, whatever it might be.”
On Jared Dickey’s leadership
“I don’t know if it’s the best word for a bunch of baseball dudes, but love comes to mind. A lot of you have met with him before, and he just has a lot of good energy coming out of him. He’s got love for his teammates, he certainly has love for the game and he has a passion for hitting. I think he has a love for this place. A lot of his behaviors and the way he goes out there kind of stem from that, and our guys feed off that. No one wants to be around someone who is negative all the time or has the opposite of what energy we’re talking about with him. That’s one of several guys that has helped kind of sway the dial from, ‘Hey, it’s great to be at the park, but it’s not as good as it could be,’ to now it kind of being a fun spot to be in. This was a competitive game, and I don’t know why you would expect any else out of an SEC game. There were quirky things that happened, and what I said to them out there is, ‘You take the scoreboard however we can get it.’ At breakfast all the way through nine innings, maybe a little minor hesitancy when they put together a tough inning out of our group, but I’ll show up and do that every day, all day until I’m … I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”
On if the potential of hosting a regional has been in his head
“I said it earlier, so I’ll kind of just use it as a cliché but keep pushing forward. There’s new things that are going on in the locker room and the dugout, certain personalities. Obviously, there is a lot less shifting of lineups and things like that and pitchers where we put them, but Burnsy is new to that spot still. (Dollander) seems to keep getting better as the season goes on. Those are just a few examples. We just have to keep pushing forward, and again, it’s overstated, but let the results of the scoreboard take care of itself tomorrow and keep pushing forward. Regardless how many games we play in this stadium the rest of the year, they’re dwindling, so take advantage of those opportunities. School is out for the summer, so come here and play ball.”
On what went wrong for Camden Sewell
“He said it wasn’t coming out— instead of feeling like he’s in charge he was just trying to get through. By that I mean just find a way to get an out. And they had a really good approach against him as well. With Coach A’s standards and how competitive Cam is and kind of was after the game I called him down. Like, ‘dude we just won the game and you gave us four really big outs.’ A big part of last night, because you’re playing a whole series, and fortunately our offense did some things that could potentially help us tomorrow. But on the pitching side of things we were able to do whatever we had to do last night to win the game and get us in a position where we could use that trio we wanted to use today. Go from Do(llander) to Sewy and eventually we were hoping to get to Burns. Go to Burns a little earlier than we want to because it didn’t work out for Cam but he got four outs. Talk to an SEC coach that doesn’t want an out. With Do kind of cramping up and them doing a good job battling and getting the pitch count up he was a valuable bridge, in my opinion, to the day. I assume the next time out he’ll be better.”
On what Chase Burns did to respond well to the first batter he faced not going well
“I think early in the year, to no fault to him because I was in the same boat. It kind of affected us a little bit as a team. You kind of start to have the mindset like man, it’s not going our way or where’s our breaks or we’re not doing well in this area as we should. That lever has shifted in my opinion mainly because of off the field. It’s poured out into on the field now where regardless of what’s going on, keep moving. Keep doing what you need to do. Maybe it’s been the flip to the bullpen but really I think it’s more the environment around the team. It’s going to get tough. Especially if you come out of the bullpen and you’re doing what he’s doing. It’s going to get tough right away because of the situation we bring you in or it’s going to get tough because you’re getting the other team’s best punch. He’s handled that in a pretty incredible fashion if you ask me. If you put all the outings together and today one thing that hasn’t been said yet is he was out there for a while. New role, we use him a bunch in a short amount of time, a little bit of soreness let’s call a timeout and make sure he’s good so that was his first time out there in a little bit and you know how geared up he is. Maybe a little bit of overthrowing or maybe some good patience on their team but what he gave us today was a series win. That’s nice.”
