Tony Vitello talks Tennessee's SEC Tournament pitching plans vs. Alabama
When Tony Vitello was asked Tuesday about his pitching plans for Tennessee’s SEC Tournament opener Wednesday morning against Alabama, he ran down the list of all the arms the eighth-seeded Vols will have available against the ninth-seeded Crimson Tide.
“Just that Marcus (Phillips), (AJ) Russell, (Nate) Sneed, (Tanner) Franklin are all rested,” Vitello said. “(Dylan) Loy and (Brandon) Arvidson have been our two lefties we’ve leaned on the most. Those guys are as fresh as you’d think.”
Tennessee (41-15) and Alabama (41-15) are scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time start Wednesday in Hoover, with the game televised by SEC Network. Alabama advanced with a 4-1 win over No. 16-seed Missouri on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s Tennessee-Alabama winner advances to face No. 1 Texas (42-11) on Thursday in a 4 p.m. ET start.
Vitello noted that Loy and Arvidson haven’t pitched since Saturday’s loss at Arkansas.
“Arvs coming off a good outing,” he said, “and D-Loy has been one of our most reliable guys.”
And Brayden Krenzel proved his worth in 2.2 innings pitched out of the bullpen against the Razorbacks, too.
“Heck,” Vitello continued, “we basically had to take him out because of pitch count, not because how he’s throwing.”
Tony Vitello: ‘Odds are’ Marcus Phillips will be the starter vs. Alabama
Ultimately, Phillips seemed to be the answer to the question.
He was Tennessee’s Saturday starter most of the season, before getting the nod in Thursday night’s series-opening win at Arkansas, with Liam Doyle starting Friday’s game.
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“Odds are he’d be the starter for us,” Vitello said of Phillips, “and then we would just go in that order. But I don’t think with him, or maybe some of our other guys in this tournament, we’re looking to win, that’ll be the pursuit that we’re on.”
‘We’ll kind of try and throw the kitchen sink at them’
Phillips is 3-4 with a 3.72 ERA over 14 starts this season, pitching 67.2 innings. Doyle on Monday was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year after going 9-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 14 starts, pitching 79.1 innings.
“We’re also not looking to go crazy with pitch counts,” Vitello said, “in particular with the guys that are on short rest.”
Phillips gave up three runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings at Arkansas on Thursday. Doyle pitched 4.2 innings on Friday, giving up eight runs on 11 hits, both season highs.
Tegan Kuhns started Saturday, followed by Austin Breedlove, Loy, Krenzel and Arvidson. Kuhns pitched two innings and Krenzel’s 2.2 innings was the longest outing from the bullpen.
“All those guys will be available and we’ll kind of try and throw the kitchen sink at them,” Vitello said. “In what order? We hadn’t discussed. We haven’t been together … now that we know who we’re playing, we’ll just kind of pow wow together and try and decide what order ideally we’d go in.”
