Everything Tony Vitello said after Tennessee's series-opening no-hitter vs. Texas A&M

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media on Friday night following the series-opening combined 10-0 no-hitter in seven innings over Texas A&M from Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Below is a written transcript from the Vitello postgame press conference.

Up Next: Tennessee and Texas A&M will play a doubleheader on Saturday to conclude the three-game series from Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Game 1 of the twin-billing is set for 3 p.m. Eastern Time with Game 2 following at 7 p.m. ET.

On if he’s ever been a part of two no-hitters in the same season…

“No, I don’t think so. You know, it’s got a little asterisk to it, or [it’s] a little different tonight with the seven-inning deal. But I think, obviously Liam’s (Doyle) good and their guy (Ryan Prager) is good. It’s such a contrasting style matchup there. But two of the best lefties in the country, and then Dylan (Loy) was outstanding in that last inning. But I think the kind of hidden story there is (Cannon) Peebles. Everyone knows Frank’s (Anderson) good at his job. Again, everyone knows those pitchers are good, but he did a great job back there. He’s going to go home remembering the line drive getting caught, their left-fielder (Sawyer Farr) had a hell of a night defensively, but I think everybody else is going to go home knowing that he did a great job back behind the plate. And now with Ariel (Antigua) kind of accentuating it, our baseball fans realize how important it is to be good defensively at some of those spots.”

On what’s different about Cannon Peebles this year compared to last year defensively…

“I could break it down in a bunch of ways. He’s more mature and just things that come with age, but he’s way better at receiving. And it’s not like he was a slouch before, but he’s gone from being ‘okay’ at the very start of last year to’ good,’ and now it’s a plus. It’s an advantage to have him back there as it relates to receiving. 

“So, there’s other little things to break down, but again, if we’re going to go [with a] short answer, which I’m not very good at, or [a] main answer, it’d be the receiving part.”

On what the deal was with Liam Doyle’s hand in the 6th inning…

“Yeah, just a blister. I was freaking out because, you know… you don’t really know what’s a good decision until the scoreboard tells you, and sometimes the scoreboard is a liar, not just for me but for everybody. You want to put the guys in position to succeed, and he’s always going to want to be out there. I’ve already had a couple back-and-forths with him this year of, ‘Let me stay out there,’ in all good fun. But I mean, he wants to be out there, and it probably was time to get him out.

“He got behind (Caden) Sorrell, and Caden, who is a good hitter, struck that ball really well. [It] just happened to be right at Manny (Marin). [It was] kind of fortuitous there, call it a break if you want. But I think when you’re competing the right way, like Liam (Doyle) did tonight, he just seems to be inching along with his career, and congrats to Doe (Chase Dollander) for going to the big leagues, but I think when Liam makes it, he’s going to be in a different spot than he is right now because he keeps seeming to inch along on just a little better at resetting, a little better at handling this, a little bit better with off-speed, there just seems to be a fun process to watch of [him] inching along, getting better in a bunch of different areas.”

On if Liam Doyle has dealt with the blister issue before tonight…

“That was the first time. Like I said, I was freaking out. Very poor composure. I didn’t know what was going on at first, and then Frank (Anderson) just calmly went out there, and we didn’t get charged for a visit because it was kind of a health check-up, and there wasn’t really anything you could do for it. It was just causing a little bit of a distraction, if you will, more than anything.”

On how tough it is for strikeout pitchers to keep the pitch count down…

“I think it’s a little tougher for the defense when Mark Buehrle is pitching. The defense knows I got to be ready today and it’s going to be quick and there’s going to be all this action. And that was his reputation in the big leagues, according to JP Arencibia, who played with him. And then with Liam, he can lull you to sleep a little bit on defense and we need to play better defense behind Liam because no one’s fighting more out there than him. But, you know, mistakes will happen. And then as it relates to Liam’s deal, if you are a guy who tends to be higher on the strikeout total, it’s not going to happen. But I do know in his case, the more you’re salivating or hunting strikeouts all the time, you’re adding a couple more pitches than you need to, if that makes sense.”

On nodding his head and giving a thumbs up to Andrew Fischer after first home run…

“Yeah, just thought, where he was as far as how he was seeing it – and we’ve all seen it before. I mean, he’s a man’s man. He’s a wrestler. He wants to hit the ball 500 feet. He’s always go, go, go. And you see that in the box sometimes not serve him very well. He knows that he’ll laugh about it and he can make adjustments from pitch to pitch. But [Ryan] Prager’s the guy who, pun intended, actually preys on that a little bit and a lot of change ups, a lot of breaking balls get you off balance. So, for him to be calm and smooth in a swing against a pitcher like Prager, was impressive to start with. And then how he struck the ball was more impressive.”

On being able to enjoy this run-rule win more since it was a no-hitter…

“I think in time or for the kids that were involved tonight, but D-Loy [Dylan Loy] has got to bounce right back and throw tomorrow, probably within reason. He’s been a guy that’s been on the mound almost every game for us, but within reason. It’s probably one of the two games tomorrow. But when you’re talking about playing three games in a, oh I’m bad at math. 60. Let’s call it 60-hour of timeframe [it’s actually 30], you kind of just got to kind of keep your head down and keep plugging along. Sometimes the scoreboard will lie to you and sometimes it’ll reward you. So, I think if our guys come out with the same kind of good little vibe there in pregame and come out with that tomorrow, it’ll lend itself to a good start to the first game. And you never know, that lightning and all that stuff might move up even quicker so there may not be a third game. So, we’ll worry about game two and it does make it a little harder to enjoy or worry about whether tonight or earlier in the week.” 

On Gavin Kilen’s status with hamstring injury…

“More pinch-hit status. Obviously, you’re looking at who they got in the bullpen and a right-left matchup. So, it’s more of a pinch-hit status and it was a really good matchup for him at South Carolina. But because Fish [Andrew Fischer] hit a homer, the RBI situation went away and we’re kind of left in limbo a little bit. So, it was good to get him a look because the first one, is the first one. But it’s a rare situation that it would make sense to do that. Pinch-hit, efficient and sometimes you get in that situation and you can over-complicate it. But he looked like himself and I think in there was a speed bump.”

On what he liked about Dylan Loy’s scoreless inning of work in the seventh to close the game out…

“Efficient. Sometimes, you get in that situation and you can over complicate it, but he looked like himself. And I think in there was a speed bump. I forget which outing it was. He just didn’t look like himself. But if you sandwich what took place before and then the last few outings, he’s consistent and reliable, and doesn’t guarantee his success every time, but at least you know what you’re getting out of the guy.”

On what Tennessee centerfielder Hunter Ensley told Tony Vitello after he hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning…

“He was being arrogant, which is rare, but it was a whisper. It’s not like he said it to the whole world, but, no, it was goofy. It was just a joke. I don’t remember the exact words, right. There was no foul language in there, so I’d share it with you if I can remember. But it was definitely worth a chuckle.

“He’s a good example of, he’s very intense like Luke Lipcius was, but also, he’s still a kid. He’s an older kid, but he’s having fun out there. He’s just playing ball, and I think he realizes he should relish the time he has doing this.

On former Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander being called up to the big leagues by the Colorado Rockies…

“Well, it means you got a pretty easy choice what big league game you want to go to if you’re going to go to one as a Vol, with three guys (Jordan Beck, Seth Halvorsen and Dollander) in one spot in the history of Todd Helton, and then, if you get lucky, maybe you run into the Mannings over there. So it’s definitely progress being made for the program to keep tallying up bodies that are fun for the fans and for us to watch, and great for our kids to look up to, and ask questions.

“This group asks really good questions, even like Gavin, an older guy. ‘What was this guy like?’ Or, ‘what was that guy like?’ Or, ‘what worked or what didn’t?’ So when you have positive examples that are out there for everybody to see because it’s national news, national television, it can only be a positive for the program.”

On what it says about Tennessee’s pitching development to have another former pitcher reach the big leagues…

“We’re blessed to have the best guy in the country (Frank Anderson), which, again, we’re in the middle of three games in 60 hours, if I did that math (actually 30 hours). But I don’t think that’s an opinion anymore. I don’t think it was to begin with. So the guy’s pretty good at what he does. I think it’s comical that people try and over analyze it or poke holes in it. Everybody does it differently. I played summer ball basically with JK (Texas A&M pitching coach Jason Kelly), their guy. I love their guy. He’s a great dude, and he’s really good at what he does. But over the amount of time he’s (Anderson) done it, and how well he’s done it, we’re blessed to have Frank here. 

“And then Frank would be the first guy to tell you, and he wouldn’t do it just being a good teammate. It takes an army around here, and when you’re getting the nutrition stuff, and Woody’s had all the experience he’s had in the training room. And, of course, Q (strength coach Quentin Eberhardt), and other people, and the catching has been so good with E (assistant Josh Elander) helping those guys, and Franks all over their butt too. It’s kind of a community that’s helping develop the guys. It’s not Frank getting in here and inventing some new pitch or anything like that with the guys in the — you know what, I’m not going to say (the lab). You know what I want to say. We’re in cages. So yeah, we got technology we can use if we need to.”