Tony Vitello, Jared Dickey praise Cal Stark for leading Tennessee to big inning in Game 2 win

Tennessee had its back against the wall entering the fourth inning of Sunday’s super regional matchup against Southern Miss. Facing elimination, the Vols trailed 4-0 as they came to the plate.

Like Tennessee has done time and time again recently, the Vols responded, scoring six runs in the fourth inning on their way to an 8-4 win.

One of the biggest at bats of the fourth didn’t result in a hit but was instead a walk drawn by catcher Cal Stark.

Tennessee had cut the Southern Miss lead to 4-3 in the fourth inning with two outs and the bases empty when Stark came to the plate. Stark ended up working a nine-pitch walk, fouling off three pitches with a 3-2 count, and Tennessee went on to score three more runs in the inning.

Following Game 2, Vols coach Tony Vitello praised the at bat by Stark and added that it was key to Tennessee coming out on top.

“There was a lot of fight with the whole group and Cal Stark was kind of our leader. I mean that was an incredible AB. He grinded it out,” Vitello said. “We didn’t have that stuff going on earlier in the year where we responded like that after a difficult inning or picked each other up, whatever it might be. But as the season went on, we’ve come together. So look forward to tomorrow and seeing if we can continue to do that.”

Vols outfielder Jared Dickey, who drove in a pair of crucial runs in that fourth inning, added that Starks was clearly exhausted out on the field.

However, he continued to fight and came up big as Tennessee kept its season alive.

“Earlier in the year we wouldn’t do that for each other. Just how close this team’s gotten – it’s really special,” Dickey said. “I think we’re just showing great things right now. Credit to Cal. He’s been working his butt off. He probably works harder than most people I know. You should’ve seen his face in the fifth inning or sixth. He looked like he was dying. But he’s just putting his life on the line for us, so it’s awesome to see.”

Tony Vitello reveals what makes Jared Dickey so clutch in the big moments

Speaking of Dickey, he is someone who has regularly come up big in clutch situations for the Vols.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello spoke about what makes Dickey so clutch following Sunday’s win.

“To not sound too corny, Jared Dickey’s always at his best,” Tony Vitello said. “An interesting beginning to our relationship and his time on campus and ever since then, every day is an incredible day to be around Jared Dickey, and I’d say it whether he’s sitting here or not.”

Vitello emphasized that in many ways, Jared Dickey has been a parallel to the team as a whole this season.

“Maybe again, parallel to our team, in August it wasn’t a fun team to be around. It was awkward and there was a lot of space between the players and the coaches, the player and the players even, the players and the managers on a couple of occasions,” Vitello said.

“And, since then, we’ve been coming together, and, again, I think the cool thing about these guys, it was an emotional win, but there was a quick reflection on it and then move forward to tomorrow and give us another day so we can try and come together a little bit more.”