Everything Tony Vitello said following a Saturday loss to Vanderbilt

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello took part in a postgame press conference following Game 2 between the Vols and Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday night that saw the visitors win 10-6. The following is video and a written transcript from the Vitello presser.

Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee and No. 11 Vanderbilt conclude the weekend series from Lindsey Nelson Stadium Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock ET on ESPN2.

If there’s anything more that can be said about the self-inflicted wounds, if Tennessee just needs to find a way to execute…

“No, I mean, defensively would have been the best way to slow down their offense. (Voice of Tennessee baseball) John (Wilkerson) kind of mentioned that there was no slowing them down. Defense would have slowed them down. Slowed them down, wouldn’t have stopped them. They took some good swings. We had some guys not throw as well as they’re capable of. I don’t know how (Austin) Breedlove could have thrown the ball any better. Guy put a good swing on it. 

“So again, not to take credit away from them, but we could have turned the fourth inning into a two-run inning by getting over to cover the base and then the sixth inning by turning a double play, or maybe just kind of being able to edge out a play here or there, could have changed that number as well, but they came back as we knew they would with their best punch. Took some good swings and again, on the defensive side and the pitching side, which those two are married together, we weren’t as good as we needed to be.”

On Tennessee RHP AJ Russell’s second relief appearance of SEC play…

“He technically jammed the hitter, but the guy was able to put it over our shortstop’s head and get it in front of (Dalton) Bargo, and so he gets what he wants, RBIs out of the situation and AJ doesn’t. But from that point forward, I thought he threw the ball well. 

“I think a ball or two got away for a hit by pitch. The double-play ball was hit hard, but it was a double-play ball. It’s the SEC, balls are going to get hit hard. But I think more than anything, he was able to build his pitch count up a little bit and able to get past the whole, where am I at in this whole thing, come back thing? Trying to throw the ball through the wall, he just started to pitch a little bit and compete, and it was valuable for him, but it also was valuable for our team, because obviously there’s going to be bullpen innings that are needed tomorrow at some point.”

On what adjustments Tennessee can make after Vanderbilt stole eight bases…

“Nothing. (Cannon) Peebles threw two guys out. We got a different starting pitcher tomorrow, so the other guy (Marcus Phillips) needs to get better at it, or he’s not going to pitch.”

On what went wrong for Marcus Phillips…

“I think, again, the A&M game, other than LSU, it’s kind of been about five, six innings, four runs. And, again, we’re in the fourth inning. It’s 4-2, and we didn’t get over (to cover first). It was kind of a quirky play. Vastine hit the base, hit the white base, and Fisch(er) was able to still maintain the play. And Vastine can run, but the inning got extended right there with the mistake. So it turned into the five run inning deal. And I think ultimately that kind of changes things a little bit down the road for how the rest of it all went too.”

On if they’re in a routine with rubber games, if they need to mix anything up…

“No, I think you better be ready for more of the same. What’s going on this weekend is better be able to take blows and give blows. I mean, that’s kind of going to be the deal. Punches thrown back and forth. Last night, tonight, really good plays defensively. We’ve seen some guys that could pitch in the big leagues tomorrow, on both sides, both lineups. Now both teams should be relatively familiar with. I mean, both of us have the capability of maybe altering a guy or two, but you show up to the park, you have fun during pregame, and no reason to stop having fun. It’s baseball. You have fun during the game, but obviously it’s a competition at the highest level where, you’re trying to finish the weekend on Sunday. That’s why Sunday is an important day. And see what we get.”

On how frustrating the sixth inning was after cutting into Vanderbilt’s lead in the fifth inning…

“Yeah. I mean, guys put the ball in play from their point. Couple guys could have made a pitch with either two strikes or just in general, could have made a defensive play. Those are all could’ves. You know, we could have won 10-6 instead of them, too, if some things would have went different. So I think the bottom line is you got to turn the page from what went on today, and the sooner you start getting ready for tomorrow, the better. But, yeah, clearly frustrating to have things spiral a little bit in a couple of those innings where you feel like you got things under control, and then it kind of turns into a hot mess.”

On if he liked the fight from the dugout in the game…

“The guy that had been labeled as their closer didn’t close the game, but it comes in the game and he’s got good stuff. Takes two really good swings out of the gate for the home runs, but there was also good at-bats after that. And a credit to the right fielder, he’s in a good position to make the play, but also had to have a good first step and make a diving play. So, again, kudos aren’t going to get us anything here, but if that ball gets down from Newey (Chris Newstrom), we turn the lineup over. You got two base runners on and maybe it gets a little more hairy. But the bottom line is, I thought yesterday, the scoreboard wasn’t that indicative of it, because it was a one run game. I thought we were the better team yesterday. They were clearly the better team today.”

On AJ Russell’s outing and saving a lot of the arms for Sunday…

“It makes a couple guys completely fresh that probably need to be that way in order to perform at their best. (Tanner) Franklin and (Nate) Sneed and (Dylan) Loy are always guys that are eager to go and are resilient. Call it stamina wise, but to have them have a break, it certainly helps. Loy, a tough one. He did his job getting the lefty. You got to switch hitter up, had two strikes on the guy and just doesn’t quite get the pitch he wants. So, that was a tough one, but two very short outings for him. So, AJ helped us, and he helped himself.”

On if Tegan Kuhns will start on Sunday…

“More than likely. More than likely. Like all Sundays, it’s going to be a team effort, whether it be the guys in the dugout, as you mentioned, or just in pre-game in general. And then there’s going to be nine innings, or maybe more, that need to be filled by Tegan (Kuhns) and other guys. And then our offense, we need contribution from everybody, whether it’s a hit by pitch or just a two-strike battle or whatever. They scored two innings where they scored in bunches. And two is nice, it’s better than one, but that’s not considered a big inning. And we had too many blank spots. And I’m not talking about hits. I don’t even look at the hits. Just quality at-bat wise, we had too many blank spots to really get something kind of cooking.”