Tennessee baseball began the 2024 season with a 6-2 win over Texas Tech on Friday night in Arlington, Texas, at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. AJ Russell and AJ Causey were dominant in their starting and relief outings, respectively, and the Vols’ offense had two innings in which they scored three runs apiece.
Following Tennessee’s win, head coach Tony Vitello met with the media to share his thoughts on the victory and specifically what Russell and Causey were able to do on the mound.
Everything Vitello said after the win is below.
On the great pitching:
“Honestly, the plan was [AJ] Russell, [AJ] Causey and then [Aaron] Combs. The one thing about what we had Friday, Saturday, is, you as a coach want to know what you’re getting. And AJ [Russell], as high as everyone is on him in our clubhouse and now probably some of you guys, you don’t know what you’re going to get. The one thing is, he’s able to strike some guys out, where’s that pitch count going to land? Causey deserves to start on the weekend, but he’s a great teammate and willing to take the ball in any situation. Combs is a guy we trust at the end of the game, so that was the plan, but it worked out better, and part of it was good defense and good offense to help those guys, too.”
On AJ Russell’s evolution:
“He’s put on weight. That’s a big thing. Last year, I don’t think he was as durable as he wanted to be or we wanted him to be. But as a freshman, too, just kind of the natural progression of the off-speed increasingly getting better, able to slow the game down a little bit, although I think he’s pretty special in the mentality category. And physically getting stronger. Coach Q (Quentin Eberhardt) is responsible for a lot of things, whether it be oppo home runs or him getting in the position he is to throw the ball the way he did tonight.”
On AJ Causey’s performance
“Yeah, it was tough, because I mean, it was a breaking point there. ‘Are we really going to give Russell one more hitter or not?’ And you want the guy to leave the game confident. And it’s February. We’re hoping to play deep into the spring and so, we go to our guy who a lot of our hitters claim is the toughest guy or the toughest look when you’re at the plate. All night he was really good except for that one pitch. That pitch was middle-middle according to Peebs (Cannon Peebles), our catcher. So, the rest of it, honestly, was just him being himself. And I don’t know if he’s ever been thrown into that type of situation in this environment, and in that situation where the fire was burning hot coming out of the bullpen, I thought he handled it incredibly well. You make a mistake against a good team and a good hitter, they’ll make you pay.”
On confidence in Causey in high-leverage situations:
“Again, I think if you were to just map out who deserves or who could be a weekend starter for you, I think he’s one of those guys in the conversation for the coaches, the pitchers and also definitely the hitters because they just feel like, it’s clearly a different look, but most guys that throw from down there don’t throw quite as hard. But also, the kid, when I was growing up, a dog was a bad thing. A dog was a lazy guy and things like that. And now, a dog is a warrior and a guy you trust and a guy who is competitive. Whether it’s in the weight room, it could just be stretching, he’s got some dog in him. Not just according to me, but to some of his teammates, too, in a good way.”
More From RTI: Pitching and Pair of Three-Run Innings Push Tennessee Past Texas Tech For Season-Opening Win
On what he saw from 3B Billy Amick:
“It’s good to see him wearing our orange. He’s really strong and really physical. (Strength coach Quentin Eberhardt) was kind of teasing him the other day. The way he looks in the uniform is the same. He looks like a big leaguer, but he’s kind of worked hard to reshape his body — those guys do that bod pod and it tells you everything you wanna know — and he’s in as good a shape as he’s ever been in his life. It’s not only helping his swing, but he’s got a pro career in front of him and I think he’s really running the bases well and playing defense well, too.
“Hitting is why he’s known, but I think what’s great are the other attributes, or the other parts of his game have really gotten strong as well.”
On the double-play that Causey made in the seventh inning:
“It was great because he was so close to making that one catch and then it just took an awkward bounce and you could talk about breaks or luck in a game, and Coach (Frank) Anderson is always to quick to point that as long he’s been coaching — I’m not saying he’s old — but he’s been coaching a long time. He’s always said the guys that work hard and are a good teammate and do the things you’re supposed to, just tend to get breaks. That could be considered luck or a break or anything like that. But a guy or a player who does what he does is going to find himself getting some breaks.”
On his decision to start Cannon Peebles at catcher:
“Yeah, I think we’ve got — you saw (Dalton) Bargo and Stone (Lawless) can certainly swing the bat as well, but the three guys that we trust behind the plate defensively are the two guys that got us to Omaha last year in Charlie Taylor and Cal Stark. And they did it defensively and with presence and leadership, competitive at-bats. But I think what Peebles gives us is not only a switch-hitter look and a lefty compared to those guys, but he’s really talented offensively and he’s fighting hard to shake that reputation of offensive catcher. It’s changing. It’s literally changing everyday. You saw a drastic change in the fall, but right now, there’s incremental improvement, too. We trust him in any situation and the game goes for those other two guys.”
On Peebles’ growth defensively:
“It just looks different. That’s kind of a hard thing to say. Coach (Josh) Elander puts those guys through the meat-grinder in the fall, so I think that’s why it looked so different. Nashville was our second fall game. The attendance was incredible. It was a fun environment. But I think literally the No. 1 thing we said we liked about it was the fact that Peebles looked so good behind the plate. Because early in the fall he did not just to be frank.”
