Everything Tony Vitello said on a 5-1 Sunday win over Arizona

HOUSTON — Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media on Sunday afternoon following a weekend in Houston for the Astros Foundation College Classic.

Below is a written transcript from Tony Vitello’s postgame press conference on the Vols’ win over the Arizona Wildcats.

Up Next: Tennessee returns home for a pair of midweek evening contests against Radford (Tuesday) and Xavier (Wednesday). Both games will begin at 6 o’clock eastern time.

If Tennessee accomplished everything he wanted to this weekend:

“I don’t know. I think you always get a little greedy as far as getting guys at-bats and utilizing guys, but I think you also are looking to find out as much about your team before conference play rolls around. We did that based off the competition we had to face, the circumstances we were in, and certainly the setting and playing in this big league ballpark, in front of fans and media attention and things like that.”

On several Tennessee newcomers having big weekends in Houston:

“They did and they got to see what an SEC weekend will look like. (Arkansas pitcher) Blaine Knight is one of the best pitchers ever in the SEC and one of my favorites. We basically faced him (in Arizona starter Smith Bailey). If anything, Bailey, I think, has a better mix at this point than Blaine did his freshman year. With all due respect, like I said, love Blaine, but it just kind of speaks to him and also the job Oklahoma State did, and we were able to get to a good arm from Rice. That kid’s (Blaine Brown) got a bright future too. So a little bit more familiar with what competition is going to look like down the road.”

How valuable Tennessee RHP Nate Snead is when he can record a save in game one and pitch in long relief in game three:

“It’s huge. Obviously C-Mo (Christian Moore) was incredible down the stretch. I mean, really, the whole year too, but did some things, and (Dylan) Dreiling got College World Series MVP. But if you’re going to go — I think we played 75, 76 games last year — and get into an argument (about) who was our most valuable player last year, you would have to give Snead some votes. Or if you had 100 people, he would get some votes. And so would some other guys which made it a great team. But similar to last year, he’s a valuable Swiss Army knife for us, and a lot of it starts with him being willing to go into each week not knowing what he’s going to do.

“I think there’s good communication from him and from us. Especially yesterday, before the game, he gives us a good idea what he’s thinking, and we’ll do the same from our end. So that’s rare in this age.”

On what is going so well for Tennessee’s pitching through the first 11 games of the season:

“I mean, Frank (Anderson) is the easy answer. We talked the other day about, (Tanner) Franklin and (Nate) Snead are two guys that are poster boys for our portal recruiting, but just development as well.

“We talked about their starter (Smith Bailey). I mean, Tegan, that was kind of fun. It reminded me of (Chase) Dollander and (Blade) Tidwell going at it. Two freshmen (Bailey and Kuhns). They’re both lean. Can’t call them skinny, but both lean and both really good arms. So Coach Anderson and (Arizona’s) staff are working with really good arms.

“But I also think some guys like Franklin are noticeably better and further along in their progress. And you’d like to think we just started March, so as we march towards May, you’d like to think those guys will continue to improve and get a little more familiar with different adversity and circumstances that can arise.”

On what he likes about redshirt sophomore LHP Brandon Arvidson’s stuff:

“Yeah, the swings. I mean, he’s given up, I think, a couple homers, and even gave up one in that last scrimmage before we played. But they were all very similar. And, you know, they were well-struck balls to be home runs. But it’s not like guys were taking real comfortable swings and launching balls off him.

“So hitters don’t look comfortable. We feel comfortable because he’s big, he’s strong, he’s athletic, and he’s got great stuff. He’s still just a pup. He didn’t pitch his freshman year. He redshirted, and then last year at a junior college, he’s at San Jacinto in one of the biggest stages you can be JUCO wise. But I think, you know, like Marcus (Phillips) and some other examples, you’d like to think as the season goes on, he’ll progress and continue to work to make improvements with Frank.”

On why Tegan Kuhns got the start and what he saw from him:

“He ain’t scared. He wants the ball, and we took him out because it would have been unfair for him to go out there for a third inning when he’s only gone one-inning set at the most for us since January. But I wasn’t looking at the radar gun. His stuff to me looked good. Obviously, a guy put a good swing on one. But he wants the ball in his hand. And that’s evident. He’s pitched in big situations and has been successful. I think it’s because he’s talented enough to be in that situation, but also he likes being in that competition. He’s not scared.”

On if there was a single performance that stood out to him this weekend:

“I think Jay [Abernathy] was used to throwing that ball from short to first, and it was a little longer throw today, but that was a pretty awesome throw. [It was] more just getting guys out there. I don’t think anyone did anything that we weren’t expecting. It’s just great to have Dylan Loy back in the mix and to get [Ryan] Combs in a situation where it’s a big stadium and clearly a regional, super regional, maybe Omaha team. And the same goes for Stone Lawless, who redshirted last year. Having to catch an entire game and do a good job… so it was more just getting guys out there. Pretty blessed to have Ron Polk standing right here right next to us.”

On what he saw from Andrew Fischer:

“Just not trying to do too much. I mean, you come into a new setting and you want to prove you belong, and you want to make an impact. And then, you also want to win. I think he wanted to win as much as possible when the conversation started this summer. That was kind of a big theme for him. So you want all these things, and with that want-to, with [Cannon] Peebles and him and [Dalton] Bargo, you’ve seen a little bit of trying too hard. But also, guys know what he’s capable of doing. So if I’m not mistaken, he leads our team in walks.

“Sometimes, you get a pitcher out there who will give up more hits than the other team but wins the game because he’s filling up the zone. And then, he also might look up and we only got five hits, but we’re well ahead of the other team because they haven’t been throwing strikes. So, it’s all kind of a part of the game, and those numbers will work itself out as long as there’s good at-bats, and when he doesn’t have ants in his pants in the box and realizes how afraid we were and other teams are when he’s in the box and has that sense of calm, you’re going to see more balls like today. But also, we had some balls struck yesterday that would have been well out of our park or a few others.”