Everything Tony Vitello said on a midweek win over UNC Asheville

Tennessee won its first midweek game of the season to continue its perfect opening week as the Vols handled UNC Asheville 29-4 Tuesday evening from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Below is a written transcript from Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello on the win and what’s ahead this weekend with Samford.

On Dalton Bargo’s big day after a rough first weekend…

“No and he’s got a knack for responding, when he’s not happy, with determination. Seems to be a more simplified approach and, again, more determined. Just kind of on a mission to do what he wants to do. Now I think we’ve got enough history of that pattern is how do you find a way to keep it simple and stay determined to accomplish whatever your mission is knowing that you’re not going to do it every time so it’s going to require a short memory when you don’t and build confidence and maybe get to do interviews with you guys when you do.”

On responding to adversity in the second inning…

“For sure. And you speak of timeline, we started the game early and I know John Wilkerson mentioned it on the radio and I’ll say it now as a platform to our fans. We start our season maybe early. Let’s just call it that. So those times are kind of fluid. We want to take care of our arms (Asheville coach) Scott (Friedholm) wants to do the same thing with his group. We’re trying to hit that sweet spot so we can play. Then eventually we’ll stick to the actual game times no matter what. But today we started early and started with a bang with Arvidson throwing really well in the first and then Dean leading the game off the way he did. Then going back out there Arv was throwing the ball well and they get a guy that backspins one into the jet stream and he’s a strong dude and there’s a couple dudes on base for various reasons. Yeah, you have a little bit of a mess.

I think in that moment, you’ve got to respond the right way. Nine innings is a long time if you’re going to have a back-and-forth game like we had early on there, nine innings is a long time. You got to be ready to stay the course and respond the right way when things don’t go well. Our guys did that immediately.”

On what he liked about Arvidson’s start…

“He was around the zone. He did have the one walk in the inning that maybe that inning doesn’t get put together the way it does, but he was throwing the ball well and I’m just glad he’s now in a rhythm because since he’s been here, nothing major, but he and a couple other pitchers just haven’t gotten in a rhythm where they’re out there consistency. Just seeing him out there and getting reps is huge. Same thing for, Hunley was the only one that came out there in the middle of the inning but that’s a good little repetition is what I was telling him there. Come in in a big jam and I think the guy who hit the homer was the first guy he faced. Right now, you want to win and want everyone to do great but really you’re shooting for longer term goals. So to get guys repetitions that are valuable and give them a little bit of a rhythm is huge.”

On what he liked about Jay Abernathy in his first career start…

“Yeah. You guys were complaining that he didn’t start so we gave him a start. He made the most of it and I think he, again I like when he comes off the bench. I like the fact that he can play a lot of different positions. But kind of that vibe you got in the fall was whatever team he was on or when we played outside opponents, when he was in the lineup he kind of brings a different dynamic to the whole deal. Just that feeling but also that statistical fact is nice to see. He and some of those other freshmen are getting real comfortable real fast. So I hope that they stay the course because things will get more challenging as we move forward.”

On the 1-2 combination of Dean Curley & Gavin Kilen atop the order…

“I like how well they get along. I like how well they work together and compliment each other on the field. They seem to kind of even push each other a little bit. So, that’s kind of a more behind the scenes answer. Up front, what you get – you got a righty and a lefty. And then you got two guys who are pretty versatile. I mean, Gavin is a little quicker runner, but both guys are good base runners and can be a threat or at least run the bases smart for you. They can beat you a lot of different ways on with the bat and they can play anywhere on the field, too. Versatile dudes who are good leaders. More than anything, you want your best players to want to be good teammates. They don’t want to stand out from everyone else and look down on others. Those two guys are good enough to say ‘I’m the best player’ or this or that. ‘I’m the best player at this position’ and they work together in a way that’s productive for the guys around them.”

On Nic Abraham and Brayden Krenzel being able to play catch up on the mound…

“A lot of it is [Brayden] Krenzel’s savvy. We put him in a situation a couple of weeks ago – or it might have even been less time – he threw his best pitch he’s thrown here. I’m not too into velo [velocity], but velo wise, location and just the way it came out with the most hooting and hollering around him. Probably a credit to his background. His dad was obviously a big-time athlete, a professional athlete. So, he’s got a bit of that savvy to him. I think that was part of the ingredients, but also, just a determined kid. He is pretty well-rounded on the mound in a bunch of different ways. Showed you he could field his position. He has got a little savvy.

And then Abraham – from the first pitch on. Frank’s [Anderson] quote in the locker room, we were just there going over things, he came in there and threw the first pitch like ‘I’m here to get something done today.’ That’s the vibe he gave off. That’s a very mature approach. Dean’s [Curley] first at-bat ended dynamically and maybe it will end up on Twitter, but the whole at-bat was very professional at-bat. I think [Andrew] Fischer said that in the dugout when he hit the ball. And Abraham, for a freshman, his outing was very professional. Maybe we make a defensive play and he gets out of there, but we kind of had it mapped out where we were bringing [Austin] Hunley in no matter what.”

On Reese Chapman hitting No. 9 in then order…

“A little bit of balancing out the left-right deal and also, trying to make sure from top-to-bottom, I sure like that deal. I don’t know if it was Kendall [Rogers] or who, I’ve recycled that deal from Round Rock in 2020. Didn’t even finish our year. But, we really didn’t know what we had and played really well down there. One of the media members mentioned you could flip our lineup upside down and it kind of look the same. Reese could be a leadoff hitter if need be, but we’d kind of like to have the top-to-bottom kind of balance strength deal that we’ve had. We have been very fortunate the past few years. Part of that is good recruits. Part of it is Coach E [Josh Elander] doing a good job with our hitters. And part of it too is that lineup realizing it is nine against one and not necessarily one-on-one at all times.”  

On the pitching plan for the weekend…

“Liam (Doyle) will pitch, you know, hopefully on Friday. It’s obviously going to get a little dicey around here (weather) for a couple days. And, you know, they’re (Samford) good. Last time we played them, we split over there in Nashville, and so we need to put our best foot forward, and I think that involves Liam throwing with a full bullpen behind him, and Marcus (Phillips) will throw game two. We’ll kind of, well for now, we’ll do what we did the first weekend (vs. Hofstra), you know, use those two guys. Give Marcus the respect of preparing, and also, he’s earned it, but also really just kind of focus on game one.”

On all nine of Tennessee starters today getting a hit and scoring a run…

“That means, I think we are closer to putting that little feather in our cap that … we do have a well-balanced attack, but I think the bigger thing was the walks accumulated, and I’m sure on their side, they want their pitchers to throw more strikes, but it takes two to tango, and little more early in the game is what I’m getting at. We had some guys really lay off important pitches or battle their way. Dean (Curley) did it once into a base on balls. So knowing the strike zone and competing when you maybe get down in the count to get back to even or just to fight your way on base, to me, was the biggest thing that stuck out.”

On the discipline to not expand the strike zone throughout the game…

“I don’t think you want to be the weak link. And I think also, you know, because it is an offense where we don’t have as many guys on the position side as we’ve had the last few years, body count wise. So everybody’s going to be involved, hopefully all year long. You don’t want to be left out, and you don’t want to be the weak link. And then, having said that, it’s a group that’s kind of, you know, Bargo for a second there, I thought he’d catch, he’d maybe play four different positions in one night. So as he’s moving around, that means other people could slide up. So I think you got some people that are salivating, or a little hungry, too, for more action as it relates to, you know, not giving that bats away.”

On what makes Samford such a good college baseball program…

“I don’t know. I mean, I’ve said it earlier and, I mean, it’s kind of disgusting to say, but they kind of been an SEC, you know, they probably feel like we’re helping these people out too much with some of the guys. You know, you got Sonny (DiChiara) moving on. Everyone knows what he did and how good of a dude he is. He came from there, but there’s others too, and that doesn’t tell the whole story, but that kind of lets you know that they’re good at recruiting players that maybe are overlooked a little bit. It’s a great school and a great area. There’s good ball down there, and then clearly they develop players, and we’ve seen that firsthand. Like I said, we played them last fall, and that was probably the most contentious moment we had as a group last year. I mean, we were blessed beyond belief last year. So there were very few times there were blow ups or having to correct behavior, but our guys needed to play better in order to beat a team like that.

“So it’s just a good group of ingredients and a good coaching staff and all things combined, you got an opponent that’s a pain in the butt for not just us, but Auburn and Alabama and anyone else in our league that they play whether it be on a weekend or during a Tuesday affair.”