Everything Tony Vitello said on Tennessee's Opening Day victory

Tennessee made short work of Hofstra on Opening Day Friday afternoon, defeating the Pride 15-0 in seven run-rule innings from Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 2 pm ET.

Tony Vitello met with members of the media shortly after the ballgame concluded to breakdown the win. Here’s a written transcript of the Tony Vitello press conference.

On if this is the Liam Doyle Tony Vitello expects….

“Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you – with all due respect – it kind of looked like us last year trying to hit him. And that’s more a compliment to him. But I do think he is a different athlete in a different pitcher than he was last year, just in an improved form. But you know, he is always been talented, he’s always been a competitor. He’s always got a lot of personality he brings to the table. So, it’s just fun being on his side and seeing that progression in those areas he’s already good at. And then also some areas that aren’t strengths of his yet are kind of starting to become that.”

On areas of strength for Liam Doyle…

“I think the biggest thing is just physicality wise. I mean, he’s in a lot better shape than when he first got here and part of that was attributed to taking a summer off, a summer away from everything. But I think he’s hungry for success this year, but also these kids start eyeing how long of a career they can have or what they could do at the next level once they have success in our league. Or just success at a high level of college baseball. Really. He did that a little bit last year as a freshman. Did it a lot last year as a sophomore and, and now he’s kind of finding his way at our place. And again, I think when the guys realize that they kind of realize the eating, the sleeping, the routines, the preparation, it’s part of their job because they know that their job is more than likely going to be playing baseball, especially for a guy like him as opposed to coaching it for a guy like me.”

On what went into the starting two corner infielders…

“Peebs [Cannon Peebles] and Andrew [Fischer] had been a little sore along with about six or seven other guys. It’s kind of the nature of our schedule. You could see our guys did their work over the break. The problem is we get back and you’re around the team and you have technically a month only by NCAA rule to prepare for the season. So, everything’s go, go, go. And you typically see guys soar in one area or another, especially with the throwing stuff. So, we want to play for a long time. We hope we’re eyeing things down the road that are just as valuable if not more valuable than today. So, just try not to press the issue. And if you ask him or Peebs [Peebles] or Fish [Fisch] and Peebs in particular, and then a couple of our pitchers too – [Bryson] Thacker, I can tell is one guy who’s looking to break the ice and get out there too. We’re going to be a little – I’m going to be a little more conservative so that if you know there’s some added soreness, it’s just because it’s not because we as a coaching staff rushed them a little bit.

And then the other guy over there [Manny Marin] just played better than everybody since he came back. There’s been some other guys that have played well too. So, we’ll start a few new guys tomorrow and we’ll see what else we got said he’s played better.”

On what Manny Marin has done well to earn the start…

“Not that he didn’t play well in the fall, but you could just see it and other guys have had it too. I mentioned it in one of the sit downs we had or press conference we had. Some of those guys have made the depth conversation a little bit more interesting when we’re talking upstairs about guys. And also he just swung the bat really well and some of them aren’t even at-bats where he gets a hit. He did hit a couple homers in spring training period, but it’s just more, you can tell how well he is seeing the baseball and how aggressive – yet loose his swing is at times. And he showed that a couple times tonight too. Manny.”

On if there was an emphasis not to celebrate last year too much…

“Yeah, that was more administration and marketing wanted to— they did such a good job with that logo. They wanted to cover that up and unveil it today. And I’m not even sure what moment they actually did it, but our guys saw them put it on the wall and had talked about it and then they’d go and peek behind the curtain or tarp they had over this. So our guys kind of already were comfortable with that. The timing of the rings was unique but we wanted to get those to the guys ASAP because they’d been asking like crazy. So we just kind of did an impromptu thing with the returning players and had to use mail for the opposing. And then Aaron Combs came to my office today and I thought it was his brother. I had no idea he was going be here. So that was kind of a last minute thing too. And we wanted to honor him and also kind of felt like a good, finally put the thing to rest is kind of what you’re getting at. He threw the last pitch of last season and the first pitch today. And I don’t know if that even makes sense, but for me it just kind of felt like a clean break and let’s move on to the new era or just the new group really. And last year does have something to do with this year. We’ve got experience, there’s guys that have seen things that work, that don’t work. Fans obviously take a lot of pride in it, but it is also a new story that the kids were excited to start writing today. And just chapter one.”

On Tanner Franklin’s body looking different like Liam Doyle…

“Yeah, he looks better physically but he looks like he’s using this, he just is moving more athletically if that makes sense. I mean Frank’s got a knack for getting guys to be efficient with their delivery, but just the way he walks around and the way he moves is just more athletic and I think he’s in a good spot with that. And I mean Beth (Schwartz) is our nutritionist and she’s a absolute superstar and we always used to give so much credit to (strength coach) Q(uentin Eberhart) because you know, it was new to the ball fan scene guys so physical like they are and Q gets credit for that. 

But now it’s kind of become, you know, I don’t want to say Batman and Robin because I don’t know who the heck’s— Batman’s better than Robin. 

So it’s become more kind of 1A, 1B with those two. But I really think they had a lot to do with the success of last year’s team down the stretch because we did play a lot of games if you count Hoover and everything and you saw guys getting stronger as they go. So whether it’s those two helping them or him just being ambitious, I think he’s another one of those guys. It’s like maybe instead of sitting behind a desk, I might be able to do this for a couple years if not more in the big leagues. And maybe that’s motivating.”

On if it’s easier to turn the page with the number of newcomers…

“Yeah, I mean I’ve joked or I haven’t even joked, I’ve just kind of said it with the portal and the draft being at the end of the summer, opening it up for sophomore draft eligible guys and then just added turnover for a couple other various reasons. It’s almost like more junior college level where you have that type of turnover. Not quite, but that’s kind of what it seems like a little bit. But yeah, I think the other thing that makes it easier to turn the page, I think this group did it a long time ago and this is a big compliment to our fans. It’s just kind of in a back channel way. They’ve asked for so many different things and appearances and celebrated so many different things and our guys have signed stuff. I think a while back our guys were kind of like, all right, we like it. We’re not complaining but let’s, let’s move on to what business we got in front of us.” 

On pairing Tanner Franklin with Doyle…

“Well I don’t know that it’s your question but the thing I liked about him tonight, a few of my favorite things were the fact that he got out there after that long inning and was just filling it up. Kind of looked the same after a long stretch there during that long inning. You know, Hunter High went straight to Ariel and said thanks for the opportunity. Basically with two outs Ariel kept the inning going and gave Hunter High an opportunity to get that at bat. But yeah, get getting back to TFrank, I think a lot of times I stay out of the way too much and it’s like, wait a minute, how do we get from point A to point B with this pitcher? But whatever him and our Frank Anderson got together on, I just think everything he’s throwing is moving a little bit more but it’s all within the zone. Because his balls always jumped, as far as his fastball. And now with his off speed pitches, you’re seeing the movement from the side, from the dugouts moving that much. But everything is within the channel or the tunnel towards the plate. Which obviously that’s what you gotta do as a pitcher is attack the plate and attack hitters.”

On what he likes about stacking Dean Curley and Gavin Kilen at the top two spots in the lineup…

“It’s great. I thought, in the field they settled into those two positions I guess for today. You guys have been to scrimmages, they’ve kind of alternated back and forth. That’s what I wrote on the board. So that’s kind of what they came up with there. But also they came up with the lineup on their own too because they’ve been the two most consistent guys. (Andrew) Fisch(er) was in here visiting with you guys, he missed some time. So those three have been the most consistent. It just, Gavin and Dean have more at bats than he (Fischer) do(es) in scrimmages and  they’ve been good leaders with how they’re professional with their at bats. They’ve obviously got talent to boot. So yeah, you like that level of consistency and experience at the top.”

On what substitute he liked the most today…

“Well, Hunter High, I sure do like him because he’s such a competitor and he’s got a big heart. He was a big part of that, but I don’t think he’s capable of hitting the ball even one centimeter further than he hit it tonight. So I guess that’s another backhanded compliment a little bit. But I just like, I like guys and he hasn’t even swung at that great the last couple weeks. He’s capable of doing better for a longer period of time. That was one great at bat. But I just like when guys compete every day like he does with a level of intensity that is considered game day or I mentioned Hoover, it’s an SEC Tournament level intensity to everything they do. Even if it’s just a practice swing off the T in here. That’s who he is. So I like seeing guys like that get rewarded with the playing opportunity and then it’s more than icing on the cake, but it definitely is an extra layer there, bonus when it goes well for him, like it did for him.”

On being back in front of fans…

“You know, it was weird because, I don’t know, scrimmages are scrimmages. You try and simulate it, but it had been a while since we played here and you get used to the spots everybody’s standing in and then of course you got a couple new coaches and there’s new players and kudos to our team and they had some guys take some good swings and do some good things here and there too. It’s hard on opening day, it’s new and you have a tendency to maybe try and do too much or kind of feel awkward or out of sorts. But I think now that’s behind us and you can get after and play. But yeah I feel like our guys will certainly embrace last year. The guys that were a part of it. And I think maybe some of the other guys will use it as a little bit of motivation because they’ve heard enough about it. I think they probably want to have their hand in something special of some sort.” 

On starting the season with a drama free win…

“I think it was nice to get a bunch of different guys involved. It does help with the pitching kind of joystick things a little bit. We don’t have a full staff of guys that are healthy. And then also we wanted to have scrimmages built up to the series, so we had some good healthy arms that weren’t available tonight too. So you just don’t want anything getting derailed. And when it’s a margin of victory where you can kind of joystick and control things a little bit, it makes you feel better about the next couple days ahead because, you know, it’s great to have one night, but this team needs to— we’re talking about this team’s new journey and their own personality and their own story. To be really good, you got to learn how to put together a good full weekend. And if you play far enough, it’s a weird weekend, it’s three days in a row and SEC could be Thursday, Friday, Saturday. But you got to find a way to put together a good three days. And this is step one this particular weekend.”