Tennessee baseball bounced back from a disappointing weekend where it lost two of three games at Alabama on Tuesday night by knocking off Xavier in the first game of a nine-game home stand at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Following the win, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discussed bouncing back the right way, Kirby Connell’s developing role and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said.
More From RTI: How Tennessee Baseball Got It Done Against Xavier on Tuesday Night
On importance of bouncing back with a win
“Incredibly important. One of the better teams we’ve had here. I don’t know if they’ve lost two games in-a-row, or some stat based off series. By the end of the year, kind of the last game is the only stat that really matters. When you look back on a team when they take a stand and show some resiliency, that’s what’s important. Really, our guys have done that in my opinion. We came out in a really difficult environment on Friday and played well. [Drew] Beam kind of spoke to who he is and our team is by bouncing back, holding it together and throwing as long as he did. I could say some things about Sunday too and today. They had a good approach in pregame. You could tell there was some extra determination. We were also loose. Beat a good team that’s very physical and obviously has some good arms and has done some things against good opponents. Billy doesn’t mess around playing people. All in all, I think good signs are here but as the season progresses, you want to make sure those lessons learned and those good signs to work on the field.”
On if he can learn a lot about his team through adversity
“I think you do. You’d like for it to spread out throughout the entire spring or not pile up on you. It’s fun – or it’s nice I should say – if you get some harsh lessons and win the game too. I think maybe we’ve even had that a time or two this year. But yeah, you have to understand what it’s like to not go well and why it’s not going well to truly learn, have a little extra determination and to know how to navigate through some of those situations when they come up again as it heats up getting into May and June.”
On having players who were apart of last year’s slow start to SEC play
“Yeah I think so. I think there’s a good amount of guys, too, that could say both. In the ‘22 season, or even shrink that number by just a few, that know what the ‘21 season was like, there were a lot of ups and downs in that and highs and lows. So there’s an entire body of work there now with at least our coaching staff being here to preach from, from our standpoint, or for the players to talk about in the locker room as far as how to approach things. So it’s got some value.”
On what he knows about Ole Miss
“Not too much. I’ve got to work on that – maybe take a five-minute session before I come in here on Tuesdays, you guys typically ask. I was getting made fun of by a great baseball guy today that just… my knowledge isn’t that good if it’s outside of our circle, but with those guys coming in, we’ll dive in as much as possible. We do know some of those guys that they picked up in the transfer portal because we’re tracking that just like every other team. They got some guys we recruited out of high school that chose to go there as well. So, we’re a little bit familiar with the personnel. But if you’re talking about the program, [I’m] all too familiar. They’re going to be aggressive on offense. They’re going to be really well-coached pitching wise. Coach B(ianco) has a national championship ring for a reason. I won’t say he built it from dust, but I think some people lose sight, no matter where you live in the country, of what he has created down there not just with the program, but the entire environment surrounding the baseball program.”
On Ariel Antigua getting his first at-bat
“Yeah, the foul home run, I think it was over the fence. And then the one where maybe on an offensive night would clear it, and then during BP (batting practice), I didn’t tell him that he was going to get his first at-bat, and I don’t know that he was, but that was as energized as I’ve ever seen him in the batter’s box during pregame batting practice. And it kind of carried over into the game. I would rather have a guy be too excited than not excited enough. And he’s always excited to be on the field. You can play devil’s advocate and be really critical of him, but even from that standpoint, you’d never be able to say that he doesn’t love to play baseball and that he doesn’t like being on the field. Hopefully that’s infectious during his entire time here and not just this year.”
On if he’s seen Dylan Dreiling lead others at his position group
“Yeah, I’ve seen that and that’s got value to it. Really, I think the whole group there’s maybe a couple guys that become the alpha in certain situations but it’s pretty fluid whether it’s (Chris) Stam(os), Peebles or Billy— guys that have only been here for one year. Or some of the younger guys too like Ariel (Antigua) chime in. I’ve literally seen him coaching guys up on the infield. He’s not the only one too. It’s pretty fluid across the whole roster. All the catchers will help each other but that part’s nice. The thing that stands out more about Dylan is the way he’s starting to walk around, move around and act. He acts like a pro. He acts like a veteran and not just in college baseball but in baseball in general. He’s got really good presence and it showed last Sunday— that at-bat he had to put us in a situation to tie the game was pretty incredible. His buddy Reese Chapman kind of did the same thing tonight when they brought in the lefty. Reese had maybe the at-bat of the night even though it was a walk. So maybe Dylan’s been coaching Reese up that way.”
On Kirby Connell’s steadying presence in the middle of the game, if they feel more comfort with him going longer outings
“I think in years past he was kind of growing up and had older guys around him that were really good. Well now he’s kind of the guy, and there’s going to be a moment where there’s nowhere to run. It’s either him or nothing. A do or die or whatever you want to call it. I think he’s probably more comfortable and we’re more comfortable now then ever with that, but we’ve always trusted him. He’s had saves in SEC games and come in in really big moments. I do think now his presence and pitchability maybe sets him up where he can go a little bit longer but it’s all just circumstances and if you’re ever going to drive home in your call and it’s not going to go well for some reason, I don’t think you’re ever going to second guess bringing that guy in. He’s very valuable and I dread the day he’s not on the little list we have of pitchers that are available but we actually had to deal with that in the beginning of the year with him being a little bit sore. So that was the appetizer but I’m not looking forward to the full meal. He’s great to have around and we’ll put him in situations we feel that are best and it’s nice that he has a resilient arm too. He’ll be ready to go on Friday if needed.”
On Marcus Phillips exiting the game early
“According to the Doc and Woody, I kind of stay hands off and let those guys report back to us. We’ll be conservative. He won’t be rushed back into action. But as of right now, they think something popped up tonight because it was cold out. Just a little discomfort in his hand, so unless something changes, knock on a lot of wood, nothing crazy there.
On the plans for the starting rotation this weekend against Ole Miss
“I’m not quite sure what they’ll do against us. We’ll have Causey and then Beam, and then worry about Sunday when it comes. Options are starting to become a little more vivid. But again, we have to worry about Friday. Tonight was nice to kind of have a Roger Clemons approach and put a stop to frustrating meetings in the outfield post game. But you could call Friday as an opportunity to do that too because it’ll be the first SEC game since we came up a little bit short last SEC game.”
On how far away he is from being comfortable with the amount of arms he’d be comfortable trusting
“It’s kind of getting guys mixed in, in different situation. I think there’s some guys, too, that could be valuable pinch-hit guys off the bench, and we just haven’t had those type of situations. And there’s not a lot of guys in our lineup who are matchup guys, where you don’t really want to see them face a righty of a lefty. So the 10-run rule thing, we’ve been short on some reps offensively and defensively.
“But pitching wise, I think we’re just getting to know these guys better. I don’t think it’s necessarily — I mean, if they’re wearing orange, I trust them, their teammates. Let’s rock and roll and see what happens. It just helps to know a little bit more who the guy is and how he’s going to act and how he handles different situations. We just haven’t had that many reps pile up in actual spring games. But I think as each day goes by, we’re learning more and more about this group.”
On an update on sophomore utility man Dalton Bargo (hamstring)
“This weekend, it’d be reasonable to think that he could swing the bat. I think to play a position defensively is a little bit off in the distance, maybe a couple weeks away. We’ll see where he’s at baserunning and how we want to handle that, too. But I think it’s reasonable to say that he could swing the bat some time soon.”
