Tennessee baseball survived a midweek scare against Southern Indiana on Wednesday night, narrowly beating the Screaming Eagles 2-1.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello met with the media to share his thoughts on the tight win, including what he saw from starter Zander Sechrist who turned in his best performance of the season (if not career), Kirby Connell who was great in an extended relief outing, and what the pitching plans are for this weekend’s series against Illinois.
Everything Vitello said following the game is below.
On his thoughts following the 2-1 win….
“It was a win and that’s what you are looking to do. I talked with our guys all the time – I’ve either had the fortune or misfortune of being both a pitching and hitting coach. It can be aggravating at times when one side snips at the other or somebody chimes in about how the pitchers didn’t get it done or the hitters didn’t get it done. There’s a flow to the game and sometimes it is a low scoring game. Sometimes it’s high. This was just not going to be a high-scoring game. It was going to be a little bit based on will or skill more so than anything. The two lefties [Zander Sechrist and Kirby Connell] that we had put their will on display. As did probably a guy who has been challenged more than anyone in our locker room to show up every day. Because it is so impressive when CMO [Christian Moore] has that will to win in a regional at Clemson but this is baseball and eventually he’s going to play pro ball. It’s an everyday thing. He and some others just wouldn’t be denied especially in the batter’s box. He and Blake Burke and that play he made going to his left was incredible. But going back to your think, I would say that you’d like for a win to be more appealing to people or appealing to our dugout, but you find a way to win. If there was something really pleasurable about it – those two lefties are out there a bunch for us. There’s probably been guys in the past or this year that say they throw harder than they do and how they should be out there. Well, they are reliable. If you have ever seen then movie The Departed, being reliable is pretty important. That’s why they are out there. At the same time, those two guys have been taken out of games real quick and real early for various reasons too that the coaching staff decides is the best thing for the team. All they ever do is show up for the team with the same attitude every single day. Same leadership. Same will to get better and this was a game where Zander was going to bet a true start. He made the most of it and then we weren’t going to anyone else but Kirby, regardless of what the score was. He got it done and he had Zander’s back and his team’s back and a couple of his teammate’s backs in the field.”
On Kirby Connell’s season to date pitching in high-leverage situations…
“I think he’s got a ton of experience under his belt. A lot of work. Little things about fielding his position. Manipulating the baseball to the best of his ability playing catch every day. Volunteering to help out with the coaching staff in certain situations so he can see things from different angles. You see him. Whether he’s the first pitcher in – he’s always active and always involved. The thing we want – we can talk about a couple of other decisions or lineup stuff – every day when you come to the park and you’re a coaching staff, you want to put the kids in a position to succeed so ultimately the team, which is the most important thing, is in a good position to succeed. You always understand when you show up to the park, it may not work out. When you sign up for this thing or you show up to compete against somebody – even if it is just in ping pong – you can win or you can lose. Assuming you play until it’s over with. If you do lose, you want to be able to go home at night and get some sleep. If Redmond Walsh loses a game for a – I’m not a good sleeper but I’d fall fast asleep on that one. It wouldn’t bother me a bit. So, that’s just kind of an example.”
More From RTI: Zander Sechrist, Kirby Connell Shine as Tennessee Baseball Narrowly Defeats Southern Indiana
On Zander Sechrist’s extended outing:
“I think he’s got that ability. Again, a lot of times, we’ve had a lot of really good arms waiting in the wings that were just trying to get creative and find ways to get out there. So, I think he’s always kind of had that ability, but also tonight, he was executing with what was available to the pitchers, and also I think we made a couple of plays behind him. It was just overall a good combination. Again, why he’s out there, why you throw out the term reliable is he has good presence, he throws strikes, he doesn’t really get bothered almost to the point where you kind of want to shove him sometimes. He can’t really get phased regardless of what’s going on around him, and I say that in jest, but that presence and that strike-throwing ability is something that is a huge security blanket, and that’s kind of what I was referring to when I said, you want some feel good when you’re writing out the lineup and you want some feel good when you’re driving home to wherever it is you live.”
On a slow night offensively:
“There were a couple of things attributing to that, but what was in control of our hitters was making an adjustment against a pitcher that was doing very well for them. You see a guy with a different slot, he’s trying to get you to hit into ground ball situations, and you do it over and over again, you’d like to see some sort of adjustment. So, there was a little bit in our control that could have been better form our guys. Then some frustration from things that are out of their control creeps into those at-bats and makes the at-bats worse. So, that’s just not a formula for scoring. But, when you get punched in the gut, now all of the sudden, you don’t have time to analyze to fret or worry or wallow in self pity, you better get to work. And we were very fortunate, kind of talked about it when we were out on the mound making the change for [Derek] Schaefer, who got a big out for us, was we got the right guys up to bat. And those two older guys (Christian Moore and Blake Burke) would not be denied, and you could feel that whole vibe from our dugout. For somebody who didn;t come to the game, it could be written or seen as a moral victory for the other team, or not a good win, or somewhat of a loss, I think you know what I’m getting at, ‘We should win by more,’ ‘We’re an SEC team, and they’re not,’ or whatever. This is baseball. And it was one more way that our guys found a way to win. And I’ve been around teams that when it gets to about the sixth inning and it’s going the way that it is, they’ll just wilt and envision themselves losing. We had some leaders step up, but also I think the whole dugout felt the same way: We’ll find a way. We’ll find a way to get it done ugly.
On Chris Stamos:
“He threw a bullpen. It’s kind of up to us. You could accuse us of not being good at a few things or me not being good at a few things. One will be that we will always be conservative with those guys, especially early in the year. So he’s ready. [AJ] Russell looked really good throwing today. We’re making him go through a couple of more steps than Stamos because he took more days off. So kind of just building back up. But if there’s any delay in using him (Stamos), it will probably be my fault.”
On the pitching plan for this weekend’s series against Illinois:
“[Drew] Beam will throw on Saturday. After that, we will kind of see what’s available. I think we have to worry about Friday because we’ve had two midweek games, both have been strenuous. We’ve used a lot of guys in different situations, so we’ll see who is available behind [AJ] Causey. But, we probably just need to focus on Friday, and again, that reliability word is there on Saturday which makes it nice. But who will be used after those two starters (Causey and Beam) is more important than who will be left on Sunday. It’ll be a challenge. The schedule is lined up the way it is for a reason. We want it to basically be an SEC weekend. We’re fortunate enough to be at home, but I think this will simulate us going to Alabama as good as anything playing the Illinois team that we are. If you look at those scores, they’ll be very similar to what we’re going to see.”
