Tony Vitello not losing confidence despite bottom of the lineup struggles

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tennessee’s offense is one of the best in the country. Even with the week-long ‘slump’ the bats are working through, this Tony Vitello offense is one of the best in the Southeastern Conference and will still be one of the best in the nation heading into postseason play.  

But during Friday’s doubleheader split with Florida, where Tennessee won the opener 6-2 before falling 4-3 in the nightcap, the bottom-third struggled mightily.

“I think thought process is a big thing,” Vols skipper Tony Vitello told Volquest after the doubleheader. “How much do you believe in yourself and what are you trying to accomplish when you’re up there? Those guys have been through so many battles. They’ve obviously got talent, which adds to the confidence.”

We’ve seen this order working together for much of the season, and when it is, it’s dangerous. Friday wasn’t one of those cases and it showed.

The bottom-third of Tennessee’s game one lineup consisted of Reese Chapman, Bradke Lohry and Cal Stark while Dalton Bargo made two at-bats coming on as a pinch hitter midway through. The four combined to go 0-for-9 with five strikeouts and one sacrifice fly. In the nightcap, it consisted of Dean Curley, Chapman and Stark while Cannon Peebles and Kavares Tears tallied three at-bats off the bench. The section combined to go 1-for-9 with seven strikeouts and two walks in the loss.     

“To me, it’s about having self–belief – which is why you’re in the lineup,” Vitello continued. “If you don’t have that self-belief, go over to the board and read your name out loud to yourself and then get in there and have some sort of approach that’s going to be beneficial to the team.”

Hunter Ensley, who usually bats in the bottom-third of the order, hit fifth in both games of the double header. Curley hit sixth in game one while Bargo hit in the sixth slot in game two. Combined over the two games on Friday, Tennessee’s fifth and sixth hitters registered 2-for-14 clip with one RBI, eight strikeouts and one walk.

“We won the first game against a really good opponent and a guy who was a closer [Brandon Neely] for a near national champion,” the skipper said. “So, there’s depth there. There’s some guys that need to realize that we have depth for a reason and they are a lot better than they’ve showed, in short instances or relatively recent instances, I should say.”

Meanwhile the top-four hitters of Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick and Dylan Dreiling carried the load with a combined 15 of the 18 total hits in the ballgames for Tennessee. One key piece of the lineup that’s been missing through the first two games of the series is Tears, who is dealing with a lower body injury.

“It’s a change,” Vitello answered when asked how his absence affects the lineup. “He’s a difference maker. He’s one of the guys and they are all pulling for him. I think our team has a unique amount of passion for us and I think sometimes, like me and some other guys on the team, that passion can boil over to a lack of composure. But KT has got as much of it as you can imagine ad when it is directed in the right energy, it’s a real special energy.”  

Getting Tears some action late in game two on Friday was a good sign, regardless of the result (strikeout). Vitello believes he can work his way back into the lineup for the series finale on Saturday while defense might come later. If Tears is back in the cleanup slot, everyone bumps back down for the most part. Dreiling goes back to hitting fifth while Ensley is at sixth or seventh. It creates a deeper order and takes some pressure off everyone else.

Regardless, this team is too talented to strikeout 29 times in two games while leaving a combined 17 men on base. The bottom-third or bottom-half of the order is much better than it showed in the doubleheader action and the staff knows it.

“We got so many guys – plenty of guys – who are not too far away from whoever our best hitter is. The drop off is not that steep. The drop off can look steep if the thought process is not the right way or you don’t have the proper approach,” the coach concluded. “Usually, those two things go hand and hand. So, if one disappears the other one might too and it looks like a bad AB [at-bad] or bad AD, or a bad day I should say.

“I don’t know if we hit any homers today or I guess we hit a couple of whatever it might have been, but we don’t need anyone to hit a home run that counts for seven runs. We just 1-9 to take a bite out of whoever the pitcher is.”  

Tennessee and Florida square off for the game three rubber match on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern time.