Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello met with the media following the Vols’ 10-0 series-clinching run-rule win over Florida Saturday night in Knoxville.
Vitello shared his thoughts on Marcus Phillips’ great start, the high-quality defense on display from his team, Dean Curley’s big hit in a 9-run 7th inning and more.
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See everything Vitello said below.
On what he saw from Marcus Phillips in a career-best outing on the mound:
“Improvement, which has kind of been the case. Last year, it would come in bunches, or maybe the graph would be a little more scattered. This year, there’s been a steady incline of improvement. I could break it down, it’s a long list of little things, but they all pile up into who he is as a teammate and person and competitor, and obviously pitcher. And I’m excited for him because I think he can – you’re going to give up runs and you’re going to give up hits – but I’m excited for him because I think there are years past here where he is going to continue on an incline.”
On where Phillips’ confidence is at:
“His confidence has always been high. It’s how to portray it and what’s his best personality out on the field. That’s just been my – he might have a different answer – that’s been my perspective or my visuals that I’m seeing. I think he has a lot of confidence in the guys behind him. It showed today. I mean, if he would’ve made a play, which I’ve seen him make that exact play, and you guys have, too, if you’ve been following our season, we would’ve had three ESPN-type plays in a row with Stone (Lawless), Gavin (Kilen) and then him.
“So while he is a really good defender, too, I think he trusts his guys behind him. And there are going to be hits that are given up. But with Jay (Abernathy) running face-first into the wall – which our crowd was awesome his next at-bat, plus I think they love Jay, it’s kind of hard not to like Jay – but I think his confidence is really high in the team in combination to himself which is fun to see.”
On Jay Abernathy’s ‘swagger’:
“He likes to compete. He’s got a calm toughness about him. That didn’t come from us. We obviously try to instill that in guys, but it’s a lot easier to recruit it than it is to coach it, and you could pick a bunch of different skills he has to say, ‘Well, he’d be a great commodity to have,’ or a great guy to have on the team. But I think that toughness was something we noticed right away in the fall.
“You get to know these kids as much as you want, but sometimes you just don’t know until you’re around them. And that is very evident, but I think he likes to play. Some of those other guys do, too. Part of that is just being okay with, ‘This is who I am. I’m going to go see what I can do.’ It’s not always going to work out in your favor, but he’s pretty skilled as are some of those other freshmen, and not being afraid to compete or jump in the fire, like you’ve seen out of this weekend, only helps that skillset shine through.”
On Stone Lawless’ day and the Cannon Peebles-Stone Lawless catcher duo:
“They’re different, which is fun. Different personalities, different skillset, one guy is a switch-hitter, they just go about things differently, and I think they really complement each other well. Last year, a really good storyline was just that catching group. It was the deepest one I’ve ever seen, and the way they helped each other was incredible. The unselfishness that was there… heck, you get a guy like Stone (Lawless) and he’s a potential draft pick, now all of a sudden, he’s redshirting. That’s not an easy pill to swallow. I think it ended up being the right thing, and trust me, he contributed to that team as much as you could imagine last year.
“But it just speaks to the unselfishness and complementary factor of the guys we’ve had. Chuck (Charlie Taylor), we miss him. But we’re awfully blessed to have those two guys, and if we have to do something offensively or pinch-run or something crazy, Levi (Clark) and (Dalton) Bargo are waiting in the wings, but those two guys are just very special to have [as a] 1-2 punch.”
On Dean Curley’s at-bat that led to a bases-clearing double:
“Those pitches combined with Jay’s (Jay Abernathy) at-bat. So, a lot of times, before something happens, something happened. I think our guys took good swings against a tough pitcher – I mean, it’s a good arm, and you saw how good the breaking ball is – our guys took good swings, and Jay laid off some pitches. Now that guys are on base, maybe he’s trying to be a little more careful in the zone, and Jay had some unbelievable takes.
“So, there was a build-up to that at-bat, and then the at-bat itself was incredible. Seeing as many pitches as he did, and then [he was] able to get something. Dean is the type of guy that will adjust as the game is going on, he’ll think through the game, he’ll compete in all situations, and it’s what makes him a good baseball player. Again, you can’t have success all the time, but you want it to happen a high percentage of the time. I wish I could go back in time. He’s got the right baseball brain.”
On the biggest challenge in facing a talented Florida pitching staff and Saturday’s starter Aidan King:
“Not getting overly frustrated, because there’s a couple of innings there, I think it might have been the fourth today – there were moments yesterday – where it’s like, I mean if I’m just your everyday average fan up there and I love the Vols and I saw a couple of the innings over the last couple days, I’d be like, ‘What the hell are we doing? Are we coaching these guys at all? Where’d we get these from?’ But you’ve got to kind of ride out the storm a little bit when you’re seeing – I mean, (Liam) Peterson’s throwing it from way up here and basically dunking it in there.
“It’s why you don’t worry too much about pitch counts in the SEC. When I was in college, we were always about driving up that pitch count and getting to the guy that’s [not as good]. Well, (Luke) McNeillie came (on Friday) slinging it just as good. So I think you can’t get too down, is the bottom line, and you’ve got to ride out the storm.
“We’ve seen the guy they’re going to throw tomorrow (Jake Clemente), and he’s put that together against us a little bit last year and other teams, too, so they’re always going to have great arms. The state they’re from, Sully’s (Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan) got input on those pitchers and knows what he’s doing. So you’ve got to stay even-keeled.”
What Marcus Phillips did to be at around 76 pitches through five innings after Liam Doyle threw more than 100 pitches at that same point on Friday night:
“I think he got some more ground balls, which gave our guys – we’ve got a good defensive infield – gave our guys a chance to make plays behind him. And if he goes back and watches – gosh dang it, I forget which hitter it was – he tried to muscle up on a guy 3-2 and he walked the guy. And it was his only walk of the day, I believe, his only walk of the day – was muscling up on a pitch, and Liam kind of did that a few too many times yesterday. I can really only remember once Marcus did it. So I think that was a little different. So staying within yourself and truly attacking those guys and trying to get them to swing the bat.”
What changed for the Tennessee lineup in the nine-run seventh inning after scoring one run up to that point:
“I think it’s the flip side of it, too – like their lineup, (Brody) Donay is as big as it gets, they’re dangerous, too – but if our guys will take the right approach, you can only hold them down, over the course of three days, I’d like to think we’re going to get something going. So I just think it was a unique inning where we had seen such great stuff, there’s not much else you can throw out there that’s going to surprise our guys or get them shaken or anything like that.
“So as long as they get in there and compete, something might break through, and when it does, it’s how it happens. If you’ve got a talented offense and they’ll keep pushing forward, the wall may be only moving an inch, but eventually it might fall over or knock it down. Again, ‘breakthrough’ is kind of the word, because I can’t – the box score doesn’t really make sense, if you look at it.
“But at the same time, if I was the Average Joe Fan, it was a really fun inning to watch to end the day, so it’ll be important for our guys to celebrate that mentally, but physically rest up and be ready to go for what is obviously Sunday. I don’t need to say it’s important, because it’s Sunday.”
If he has a starting pitching plan yet for Sunday’s series finale:
“No, we don’t, and those guys (Florida), already mentioned they’ll throw (Jake) Clemente. So we don’t want to hold out information from them or take part in any shenanigans that aren’t necessary, but it’s basically everybody’s available and we’ll try and pick what we think is the best option. But that’ll kind of be the theme of the day, is what’s the best option for us to go out there and compete on the mound, like I said, with good defense.”
On the Tennessee baseball and basketball teams playing Florida on Sunday and the Vols facing the Gators in the SEC tournament final at the same time as the third game of this series:
“It means today we lost fans. And now the park – I was like, dang, man, Kyle Peterson’s doing this game. This is a big deal. It’s on TV. We don’t need people seeing visuals of empty seats, which is rare at Lindsey Nelson. But I kind of like the strategy. Again, if I’m the Average Joe Fan, which I try to be sometimes, I would have gone with I’m going to split this down the middle. I might be an inning late (to watch the basketball game against Auburn), but no big deal.
“So the park was full and great that they appreciated great baseball today. But what it means is our fan base has their hands full tomorrow, but also regardless of how the day goes for them, they should be – just like our game at Ohio State – you can nitpick if you want, but you should be celebrating the fact that you’re involved in some really fun stuff from a bunch of different angles, whether it’s women’s basketball or anything else.
“Sean just told me, Barows our SID, that we’re playing Florida tomorrow, so I just found that out. It’s kind of weird. It’s kind of fun, but two really good athletic departments.”
How big the performance of third baseman Manny Marin had on Saturday:
“Yeah, I mean, his defense is the biggest thing. It’s kind of like (Cannon) Peebles and Stone (Lawless) back there (at catcher). Stone, his last at-bat was tough. Peebles was right on pitches yesterday, but didn’t get anything. And I feel like I’ve got high standards, but who cares, like what you’re doing behind the plate for us is huge.
“So same thing. Manny has been able to break through with yesterday’s first RBI and today’s first RBI, but the defense is kind of what we’re talking about before I walked in here in the locker room. So if guys can just be present and attack the task that they have in front of them, they’re out there for a reason. Again, if you keep competing, there may be some icing on the cake, which he’s fully capable offensively. He really showed that at Oklahoma State and has done so in some others – or against Oklahoma State – but the defense has been good from him and others.”
