Tennessee baseball stretched its winning streak to three games on Tuesday night by knocking off Queens 14-3 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discussed Blake Grimmer’s big game, Brandon Arvidson’s two strong relief outings and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said.
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On Tennessee redshirt freshman Blake Grimmer taking advantage of his first career start
“Yeah, I mean, I like the fact he was able to do it in a game in front of other eyes, and, you know, get credit for it, if that’s the right way to say it. But he’s been doing that when you guys aren’t here, against, you know, we got good arms, in my opinion. And trying to find a way to, obviously, with late pitching changes, trying to find a way to spread the wealth and get all those pitchers involved, but sometimes they’re left just competing against our guys, which I think is still good action, and he’s been having success there.
“He hit his third homer, but he should have four. I mean, he hit one — if you remember to deep right center, right up against the wall, hammered the thing. That might have been the windiest day I’ve ever coached at Lindsey Nelson.
“So I like the fact he loves it here. He’s been a great teammate, even though he hasn’t gotten as many carrots at the end of the road as he would like to get. And I like the fact he’s being rewarded for his hard work. He’s done it quietly in waiting (for) his opportunity, but he’s also been ambitious.”
On what he’s noticed about Tennessee utility man Dalton Bargo’s approach at the plate in recent games
“You got to have your feet under you. You got to be standing up to see it. I mean, not falling all over the place. And I’m just kind of being a smart alec, because, you know, the kid has really stayed in — he’s now a young man — he’s really stayed in his swing nicely the last few weeks. Not over swinging, not trying to do too much, and he’s got a real pretty swing, first of all, visually, but also a functional swing. And then he’s a guy that’s always hit, so like any baseball player, you never want to hear the phrase trying to do too much, but when he’s staying within his swing and also going up there and being who he is, which is a hitter, good things are going to happen, and they’re happening right now.”
On his communication with a player when they deserve an opportunity to play because of how they are practicing, but it’s hard to find the moment during a game
“If you see a guy get sour, you kind of start to avoid them. If you do kind of voice your opinion and say, ‘this is ridiculous,’ or you want unnecessary meetings, or stuff like that, it kind of sets you up for failure. Now, he’s got to go out there and get a hit and if he doesn’t, it’s kind of like, you know, so he’s kind of wrote the book almost on how to go about it. So I hope other guys, whether they’re younger or older, have paid attention to that. And by no means does he have the world figured out. And he could go 4-for-4 with four grand slams if you put him in the lineup every day. But I think the process of it has been very well done for him.
“It’s frustrating for me, and the only thing I can do is come in here and cry to you guys about the seven-run rule. And these guys were, you saw it, they got after it, they competed, and they wanted a full day’s work. And that’s kind of what we wanted, and it allowed us to, obviously wish we had one more inning so we didn’t have to split an inning between guys, but we’ve lost over two games of repetitions. That’s like 18 innings of pitchers. You know, that’s Nic Abraham doubling his innings instead of just coming in and getting one out for us. And it’s affected the hitters as well.”
On if he will try and schedule teams who don’t want to do a run-rule moving forward
“Absolutely and also, the other thing is, baseball is a big karma sport. You know, you call it baseball gods, if you want. I realized, like I said, Georgia beat the living hell out of us last year on a Friday. So it can happen either way. But yeah, it’s kind of gotten weird too. I think, tonight it didn’t happen till the bottom of the eighth, but now, if you keep playing a game, kids start acting weird. I’ve noticed it. Kids on our team and other teams start acting weird. They don’t know what to do, and the fans don’t know if the game’s over or not. I don’t like it, and yeah. If you get me on the right day, I’ll tell you my ultimate theory that I think could put an end to it in a hurry if I said it out loud on camera, but it would hurt.We’d be taking a bullet.”
On what’s impressed him about Andrew Fischer’s recent hot streak
“I think with two strikes, he’s been way better. And I think he’s, overall, the same guy he’s been his whole career. And the thing about him is he’s kind of the type of, you know, game day player. He likes the fire burning a little brighter, or a little drama to things. When that kicks up, his play kicks up. But the areas, technically, I think he’s gotten better in because he’s walked a bunch this year, he’s always had a good— is with two strikes, competing. And with runners in-scoring position, hunting down RBIs instead of trying to hunt down a 500 foot homer. Which I kind of— we don’t want that to go away. There’s a time and a place, but he’s playing team ball right now. It’s fun to watch.”
On how he’d assess Brandon Arvidson’s outing
“I mean, you don’t need to say it, do it. We’re halfway through the year, and what he said was, I’m capable of doing a lot for this team, and he’s kind of been right on the fringe of some things and we took an approach earlier in the year where it’s like, hey, let’s get him a bunch of reps out there that aren’t long, but let’s bring him back two days later and get him back out there. And basically he showed that he wants the ball, but also hopefully to himself. And maybe it’s my job as a coach telling him this— he showed himself in the mirror, like, that’s who— if you can be that guy tonight, then you can be that guy any night, and that guy is pretty good. I don’t give a dang what situation or what competition, or if it’s home game or away game, we can utilize that. What he did tonight.”
On if they originally planned to use him multiple innings
“The plan wasn’t even to use him, to be honest with you, and the game got tight, and whether he realizes it or not, I think he’s a really gifted kid and in one of our better arms, so I thought he was the right man in that situation. Especially with some of those lefties coming up. But he’s kind of equally good to righties. And then it was go one inning, and then, that’s kind of what you want to be, is don’t let the coach take the ball out of your hand or make it really hard. And he wasn’t, the only one who did that. You know, Crabtree was pretty good, but Breedlove was very efficient and looked good in his innings. So all you can do is do what Grimmer does. Work hard for your opportunities, and when you get them, go out there and play, and your actions kind of speak louder than words.”
On Austin Breedlove’s efficient outing
“I looked at the pitch count thing, too, to kind of measure out guys, and he was one of the lowest ones. It probably would have been lower if he would have landed his breaking ball. It kind of took two breaking balls – it’s tough on a reliever. And today was kind of a non-traditional relief performance, but you want to be able to involve that breaking ball right away, especially if it’s as good [with] the different looks [that] he has. So, you take away those first two breaking balls that took him to settle in, somehow, you pull those clips out of the video, and you could argue he was the best guy of the day for either team.”
On Ariel Antigua’s 0-5 night at the plate
“Really well-struck ball to right field. He saw a bunch of pitches. He obviously played really good defense. I mean, the one play to his right, [he] almost made a spectacular play where he was really deep in left field. Really, he’s like a catcher, and I know Levi (Clark) definitely doesn’t want to hear that, (Cannon) Peebles doesn’t, Stone (Lawless) doesn’t, those guys can all hit, but if you’re playing those positions – Hunter Ensley, if you make a catch crashing into the wall – Ariel plays great short, our catcher does a great job with the pitchers and Frank (Anderson), it’s a win for the Vols. And then whatever you add on top of that is a bonus.
“He’ll be fine. He needs to stack reps, and yeah, uncharacteristic that he didn’t necessarily contribute on the stat sheet, but there were some ABs in there where he was seeing the ball well, and obviously the one to right field was something to get excited about. He does need to use the whole field.”
On Gavin Kilen health status
“Gavin is better. Making progress, for sure. He’s been able to swing a little bit. We’ll probably go slower than he wants on that, but, you know, we’ll see. There’s a good chance he could at least do something this weekend.”
On handling the road environment last week, heading to South Carolina this weekend
“Last week was good for the guys, just to be in an environment because it’s rowdy everywhere you go. And somehow Reese Chapman made friends with those guys out in right field. They didn’t like me. I know that based off the chant they had going on. You kind of learn to love it a little bit. But you got to get used to it regardless of what’s going because every place has got a little different style. And this is one of the biggest parks. I think, I wasn’t in the SEC at the time, the first huge park in the country. Wichita State was one of those. But South Carolina’s is bigger and like a minor league state. So, it’s a fun park to go to. Obviously, winning is the most fun, and it’s a very difficult place to play. And [South Carolina] coach [Paul] Mainieri is back in the league and yet they’ve got some returning coaches that know the program really well over there. So, there’ll be some stuff for us to figure out and prepare for the next couple days. [It] won’t be our first road trip. So, you’d like to think the guys will, regardless of what stat sheets say, start to get a little more familiar with what it takes to have success on the road.”
