Tony Vitello evaluates how Tennessee offense got to Quinn Mathews

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello revealed how the Volunteers’ offense got to Stanford starter Quinn Mathews in the 6-4 win.

Mathews went 4.2 innings Monday, gave up 10 hits and 4 earned runs. While he got six strikeouts, he gave up all four runs in the fifth inning as Tennessee erased a 4-0 deficit.

All of a sudden, the Volunteers disrupted his rhythm.

“Now that he’s out of here, I think it’s easier to say,” Vitello said postgame. “He changed the energy of the game when he came in. And it was frustrating for everybody because we got a chance to score in the first inning and don’t do it. We got the right guys up at the plate, we don’t do it. And then Doe is cruising or gets two quick outs, I should say, has a chance to get us in the dugout and keep this thing going.”

Vitello and Tennessee had a game plan for Mathews. But that quickly went out the window early on when the Volunteers couldn’t muster any runs.

“We felt we had a good mindset and game plan for Mathews,” Vitello said. “I think the guys were excited about the challenge because last week during our — whatever you want to call our schedule was in Hattiesburg. We had to sit there and wait for the Texas-Stanford game to finish so we knew what time we played the next day, which was the biggest game of the year.”

Overall, Mathews provided a challenge, but Tennessee was more than ready in the end.

“Guys were excited about the challenge, and I think we had a good game plan,” Vitello said. “The offensive approach was there. But it was kind of a kick in the gut to think all of a sudden we’re going to be ahead in the first, now we’re down in the first.

“And that was a theme early in the year. We expected to do great things right out of the chute, and when it didn’t go well guys got deflated. Somewhere along the year we learned to respond the right way: When it gets tough, you’ve got to get a little tougher, whatever cliché you want to throw at it.”

Mathews was the reason why Stanford was i position to win Monday, but a valiant offensive effort kept Tennessee’s season alive.

“I think we grew up as a team, handled situations better like that, when you’re down 4-0, we’ve come back 4-0,” Vitello said. “But to be honest, since he started to come into games, instead of starting, he’s completely changed the vibe when he’s out there. The guys get energy from it.”