KODAK, Tn. — Tennessee baseball held game two of its Orange-and-White Fall World Series on Friday night as Team White defeated Team Orange 7-0 at Smokies Stadium. The result tied the series 1-1 ahead of game three at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday.
On the mound, Dylan Loy and Ryan Combs had strong outings while Dane Morrow hit the lone home run at the plate.
Following the scrimmage, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello met with the media where he discussed what he saw in game two, the outstanding turnout and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said.
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On what he like about Dylan Loy in his outing
“Loy was good because he was competing in the zone. A couple of mistakes to some lefties but if you’re consistently in the zone, the percentages are going to be in your favor so you can get away with mistakes like that. You basically buy yourself room for error when you’re throwing the ball really like he did, like (Michael) Sharm(an) did to also start for the other team. And Combsy (Ryan Combs) did as well. Those guys were good about being in the zone and at-bats probably could have been more competitive too. So who’s doing well, who’s at fault. It’s kind of tough to say but you’d like to give the pitcher some credit.”
On what’s impressed him about Ryan Combs, taking over for older brother Aaron
“He didn’t come in with any sort of trying to be his brother or one-up his brother or anything like that. Anyone that’s been around him, he’s his own guy. It’s a refreshing, authentic personality which I’d kind of think is representative of our program. He’s throwing the ball well too.”
On what’s similar and different about Ryan compared to Aaron
“Probably fun to be around, good teammate, willing to take direction. Both guys are really good at fielding their position which can be an X-factor. Both guys aren’t scared. And when you look at the pitchers we’ve had, we’ve been blessed with some good arms that Frank (Anderson) has helped and they’ve made a bigger jump because their stuff is really good. But I feel like we’ve had as many guys as anyone in the league that maybe don’t have big league stuff but maybe aren’t afraid to compete and we’re willing to give them the ball. Whether it be Kirby, Zander, Stam(os), Redmond and both Combs brothers now. I don’t want to leave anyone off because those are my favorite kind of guys. Though the big stuff guys are fun to watch too.”
On freshman Dane Morrow’s big night, fall as a whole
“Dane has really used the opposite side of the field, taking the ball to left field very well. I believe in Nashville, but he’s had some really strong at-bats where he’s taken strong pitching the other way. But tonight you saw him open it up to the pull side there and hit a homer. Some guys have shined the last two games and others haven’t, but if you look at our group on the whole, I think everyone has put at least a couple good days together at a time. So good for him, he’s doing well and I know he wanted to get out there and win because the team fell short when he, like some other guys, could have done some things better on the bases.”
On the benefit of potentially using Dylan Loy as a weekend starter
“I think his experience. He’s done a little bit of everything for us. He’s Mr. Reliable, in my opinion, which has earned him a lot of latitude as far as how we use him, whether he has success or not— he’s going to be in the mix and I think a lot of it is based off of last year but also how he has attacked this year in particular. We’ll see. We have a handful of guys that we either inherited as banged up or injured a little bit. And AJ Russell is trying to come back. I’m willing to bet that when we start the year, there’s going to be more opportunities than there will be come May or hopefully June.”
On Levi Clark’s home run in game one, his power
“I think made it to campus, originally when we recruited him it was just kind of, great student, great family, good kid. Could play any position. He was catching, pitching, playing all positions in the field and he could swing it a little bit, he’s always had a knack for hitting. But he’s just kept getting stronger. But originally, through the recruiting process, he was not as strong as he is now. That ball he hit in Chattanooga was impressive. It was loud, it was hit to the biggest part of the park and it went well over the fence and it was off an excellent pitcher.”
On how sophomore catcher Stone Lawless has developed at first base and what the balance has been with working him at multiple spots
“Last year is where a lot of that took place behind the scenes, was you got extra time, why wouldn’t you go over to first base? It’s not like he didn’t catch all kinds of bullpens, but being a guy that wasn’t playing in the spring and wasn’t worn out by any means — he’s a big, physical dude — but he’s always looking to work hard, he’s got great energy. Mix in some reps at first. We told him that and he took it and ran with it, and did a thousand percent, or 100 miles an hour, however you want to phrase it. I think now you’re seeing the benefits. And that’s what happens with a lot of kids, at least in our experience here is, you guys see kind of the end result of something that started maybe 365 days prior to that and the guy was on a mission to get better.”
On the attendance being 7,867 and what that means for the program with recruits in the building
“Yeah, it was incredible. I got a bunch of texts from people that said, ‘congrats on the crowd.’ So I think pictures were circulating a little bit. On a football weekend, when that’s probably where people’s focus is, and it’s not necessarily baseball season, it was just unbelievable. And they were active, and they were into it, and most of them were here until the very end. So a very special environment to be able to do this Fall World Series deal.
“I hope with roster changes, we can keep doing this because, you know, some people may phase it out by the end of the year because we play outside opponents, but for us, with how many leaders we lost last year, it’s important for us to do this. And again, I hope with the changes coming, we can do it. You know, we have a kid that’s an infielder misjudge a ball in the outfield. The lights are usually a little tricky here anyway. We’re yelling at our catchers because there’s no one available to catch a pitcher in between innings and a catcher was on base to end the inning. So it’s kind of, you know, in pitch counts and things like that, we’re having a tough time dividing into two and getting after it, as much as people want to say, we got too many guys. Come to the park and watch what we got right here, which is why we have the recruits doing it.
“But anyway, just blessed overall for this whole deal that took place tonight. I hope our guys finish the fall the way they need to on Sunday, but we won’t be doing it in front of a crowd like this.”
On telling John Wilkerson and Vince Ferrera earlier this week that on Wednesday in Chattanooga, he thought to himself for the first time that this year’s team had a chance to be good
“First of all, I mean, our first year here, our interviews weren’t very important, but now the fan base is a little bigger, I was wondering if I said something wrong there, or if it was the time to say it. But I was just being honest, and I told the team. I just said that’s it. Like whatever that is, or it is, just that vibe and that readiness before that game was perfect. And I don’t know if it was because of the rain or the big crowd or, you know, it’s near the end of the semester, whatever. Maybe there was extra smack talk between the two teams, but it was even better than our game against Troy and against Western Kentucky, which is impressive because it’s just the team split into two. Encouraging sign, but you got to do it more than one night, and so far, I’d say, you know, tonight was a little sloppy, but the competitiveness has been there throughout this week.”
