Tennessee baseball won its fourth game in as many days when they knocked off LSU 4-3 at the Hoover Met to win the SEC Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon.
Following the game, left-handed pitcher Dylan Loy, catcher Cal Stark and Hunter Ensley met with the media and discussed following up the SEC Regular-Season Championship with a SEC Tournament Championship. Here’s everything the trio said following the game.
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Cal Stark
On the pitching staff’s depth expanding
“I think we have always had depth. We just got to be able to show it this week. It was good for guys to get out there, show what they can do. You know, I think it just adds to their confidence. You know, this was big-time baseball on a big stage. So I think it just adds to their confidence going forward.”
On what was working for Dylan
“I think as a freshman coming into the ballgame like that, I thought he would be a lot more amped up and stuff. But I could see him out there breathing which was a good sign from me. And he just competed his tail off. I think he was throwing everything for strikes. Made the adjustments when he needed to and just, you know, let the defense work, which is always a good sign.”
On the back pick at first to get out of the seventh inning
“Something me and Blake obviously enjoy doing. So we kind of talked about it earlier on in the game. Certain opportunity, stuff like that, we were always looking for it. So he just put it on. I got a good pitch to do it on. Made a good throw and that’s really it.”
On what he learned about this team this week
“I think that’s a lot of different ways that we can win a ballgame. Building off of that, like Hunt said, there’s a lot of guys that can be put in and get the job done. We’re not relying on just a handful of guys, and I think top to bottom, all of them, 40 of us can go in and I feel like we’re confident that we are going to put our best foot forward and hopefully win a baseball game.”
On this week preparing them for the NCAA Tournament
“I mean, I guess extra baseball. Extra at-bats. Extra innings that our pitchers can throw. More work. You know, more reps. More ground balls, stuff like that. I think just stacking the reps and the ABs just builds us doing into next week. I think that’s the positive side of it.”
Dylan Loy
On what was working so well for him
“So basically I just went in trusting my guy behind the plate and what was working so well was just the connection between me and him and him calming me down throughout the whole thing.”
On being an East Tennessee native and pitching well in the SEC Tournament Championship
“Wearing the orange means so much to me, and being able to bring back the trophy is one of my lifetime goals growing up.”
On his emotions of one of his childhood dreams coming true
“Third inning, I came off the mound and expressed probably too much emotion for it being that early in the game and so I tried to channel that and just calmed down. But that’s kind of what I was feeling.”
Hunter Ensley
On what was working well for him during a 4-for-4 day at the plate
“I was just trying to slow everything down today. Huge crowd. Obviously a great opponent that we have the utmost respect for in LSU. So really for me it was just getting in the box, slow everything down and breathe as much as possible to relax.”
On what he learned about this team this week
“I think one thing for sure: There’s a lot of guys who can get the job done. We showed that on the offensive side defensively and especially on the mound. It was a big weekend for guys to step up and there was for sure a few guys that absolutely did.”
On the crowd split for the championship game
“Probably 50/50. You always know when you play LSU they are going to bring a lot of purple and gold. The other half was orange and white, so it was a great show out. It was a lot of fun.”
On what he learned from winning the SEC Regular Season and Tournament two years ago but not making it to Omaha
“I think for right now, all we can do is keep playing our best baseball regardless of the results of the ’22 year. Just because we win this tournament has no correlation between a regional or super regional.
For us, the guys in the locker room, focusing on the next day, really, the next task mentality, and going game by game.”
On Billy Amick’s home run
“Yeah, that guy is a stud, first of all. I mean, maybe the results were not there all weekend, but I think you can go back from every single game and pick out a couple positives that guy had at the plate, whether it was moving a runner, hitting a ball hard just right at somebody.
But I mean, getting a result, for sure helps the confidence, and a game like that, it can really get you going.”
