Everything Tony Vitello and players said following a Hattiesburg Supers victory
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Tennessee baseball and skipper Tony Vitello are headed back to the College World Series after blanking Southern Miss 5-0 in the decisive game three of the Hattiesburg Super Regional.
Below is a written transcript from Vitello, along with starting pitcher Drew Beam and third baseman Zane Denton.
Vitello’s opening statement…
“Three things come to mind. First thing is the guy to the right of me (Drew Beam), I mentioned it in the outfield, there’s so much you want to say, but everybody is acting a fool, so I just jump in on that. We were a little short last year from going to the World Series and the thing that was missing in my mind and it was very painful for me the rest of the summer — I can handle a loss. The other coaches can handle a loss. It was an epic year, but it was a weird weekend and this guy never had the ball in his hand. This was certainly a strange weekend as well, but seeing him out there throwing and knowing we met as coaches today, and I told them all when we were done, ‘You want to know why I’m fine with no matter what happens tonight? It’s because we get to see him throw.’
“And then the other thing was, I wish we could have done this in Knoxville in front of our fans because they’ve meant a lot to us. But it’s a challenge to win in the postseason and we had to go do it on the road. No one wants to hear it, but there were a lot of difficult circumstances this group had to overcome and I’m proud of it.
“Then, the third thing is just Coach (Scott) Berry. If it’s us, or whoever wins a National Championship, we’ll throw a party in Knoxville, or congrats to whoever else it is. But that’s the definition of champion. That guy. You can ask anyone who played for him, anybody that’s been around him and anyone that’s competed against him. The game is losing a good one, but he left his mark. There’s no question.”
Beam on how hard it was for him to not pitch in the super regional last year and what tonight meant for him…
“Yeah, obviously, I want the ball in my hands, but I had some struggles at the end of the last year. I didn’t take care of my body the way I needed to. We emphasized that this year. Q (strength coach Quentin Eberhardt) helped me out with that a lot. So, this year when I had the ball in my hand and had the chance to throw, I was going to take it and I gave my all.”
Tony Vitello on not thinking this team was No. 2 good preseason, when he knew this team could be good and how good he thinks they can be now…
“I think there was a surge in confidence in different parts of the year. It came in segments and to be honest with you it came yesterday even though we lost the first game or the continuation part. So it’s come in segments and to revisit that team meeting, I always try to be honest with you guys. You all have a job to do just like we do and I’m not trying to undersell the team but we were not the No. 2 team in the country in February and March. But the comment was, we very well could be that team. Obviously we’d like to be one better, and I hope these guys don’t punch me but I don’t think we’re that either yet. The whole idea was understand this group and kind of carve our own way out by being a team that consistently makes progress and figures things out. That’s what they’ve done and it’s been a challenge and halfway through the year they took ownership of the team, the players that is. They’ve continued to push forward and they have room to continue to do that.”
Drew Beam on what was working well tonight and the challenge of the rain delay…
“What worked well for me tonight: curveball spinning good, had the changeup, had the command of a few pitches early. We worked counts differently, worked guys backwards. Coach A(nderson) had a great pitching plan going into the game so we knew how to attack all the hitters, figured out the first two days. Getting to watch that helps out a lot. Yeah, we just had a good game plan and then rain delays didn’t really affect. Was just ready to get the ball in my hands so sat around and waited for that call, waited for the time we were going to start and was excited when we got a chance to go.”
Tony Vitello: “Is that the first time you’ve ever thrown under the lights?”
Drew Beam: “First time this season. Last year, yeah, first real night game. SEC Tournament against Kentucky I guess.”
Tony Vitello to media: “Sorry. Step Brothers. We interview you.”
Tony Vitello on Chase’s emotion getting out of the seventh, what he’s brought out of the bullpen…
“It was incredible. The moment before was pretty special. You have to have a lot of conversations in the dugout. He’s at 100 pitches. I don’t want to speak for them (USM), but I’d like to think they don’t want us to take him out of the game. That’s one way to think of it but he’s also earned the right to take ownership of the game so we sent him back out. Two seeing-eye singles and he gave me the stiff arm, but he doesn’t throw 100 like Burnsy. We took him out and that Combs deal, man, was incredible. First of all, it gave us time to get Chase hot. Chase came to the park saying he could get us three-to-six outs and he threw for us last night so we wanted him to finish the game for us basically. Come in maybe in the middle of the eighth and finish the thing. But you could see things start to develop. I couldn’t find Burns. If he were here you could ask him where he was but I couldn’t find him because I saw Dickerson coming up in the lineup. I shook his hand (Dickerson) out there. I love our players but that guy is a butt kicker to keep it PG-13. He’s a special guy. I hope they remember him forever around here and they might get to watch him on TV in the big leagues. With him coming up, I thought that was going to be a swing moment in the game so why not give it to the big dog right there? That emotion he shows is reminiscent of what took place earlier in an SEC weekend (Vanderbilt) for us and it helped swing this whole season. It gave the guys a rallying point. It gave other team’s something to fear at the end of the game and he did it again and it was pretty special. It lifted our guys and gave our guys confidence that we had ownership of the game. Sorry, I sound like Tom Izzo. Lot fewer wins than that guy but I sound like him.”
Vitello on where this season ranks amongst the most gratifying of his career…
“That’s tough. We’re still going, so, you really don’t get a chance as an assistant and it’s so much more fun. You can act wild, or more wild, play games in your head — we’ve got to be responsible for what the next step is. There’s still season to go. So, I think it’s an unfinished tale. But there’s a lot of stuff that’s gone on. Started literally — losing is part of this deal. This is what we signed up for. You win some and you lose some as they say. So, the end of last year was painful, but immediately, like a few hours after our season was over, a very challenging period in our program started with a lot of different things. To be sitting on this stage advancing is very memorable. Tough to put into words.”
Denton on how challenging of a weekend it was with all of the delays…
“It was definitely pretty challenging, but it kind of goes with the theme of our whole team this year. We want that adversity. We feel like a lot of things have gone against us all year, but just battling through it together and getting better each day and we’ll find ourselves where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Beam on how challenging of a weekend it was with all of the delays…
“Yeah, we didn’t know when we were going to play. Most of us were sitting up there watching that Stanford and Texas game, knowing at the end of that, we’d figure out when we were going to play, so, we didn’t really have an answer until late, but we were just excited. Most of us were itching to get back out there. Wish we could have played again last night, but it’s not ideal. Everybody was just ready to get out here and play another game. That’s just how the vibes were and that’s how we felt.”
Vitello on how challenging of a weekend it was with all of the delays…
“It’s good we’ve had some conversations. I said it to the team, but I appreciate greatly everybody that was a part of that team last year. Guys like Trey Lipscomb and I could go on and on. They have one of the most memorable college seasons ever, one of the most talked about, and then they also helped these guys learn some lessons. And when you advance to Hoover and beyond, you’re still playing baseball, but there’s other games you still have to play. And that’s one of them. Managing times and itineraries and things like that. These guys having learned those lessons helped us get through. We’re already playing a hell of a team, but then there’s other stuff that goes on. There’s some friendly things being said from the stands to all of us. There’s a lot to take on, but that’s part of the deal. You have to win a bunch of battles. Not just the ones on the field.”
On Tony Vitello coaching this season…
Zane Denton: “He has been awesome. He is one of the reasons I came here. I wanted to play for him after playing against him last year and talking to a bunch of the guys about how he teaches us life lessons along with the baseball. But he also gives us a lot of freedom to take ownership of our team and do what we want to.”
Drew Beam: “He is more than a coach for us. He is a friend to us. He is an adult figure to us. He is always there for us, always having fun with us. You can talk to him about anything. He creates a good atmosphere to be in. That is what guys love to come to Tennessee and play in. So just having him around the field and having him cutting it up with us, it makes it fun to play. There is a reason we all play baseball. We had fun playing it when we were little. We just love to play it. Playing for a coach who loves it just as much as you do makes it that much more enjoyable.”
On the fifth inning at-bat and his postseason home run streak….
Zane Denton: “So that at-bat, I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit like any at-bat. I worked a 2-0 count and had a pretty good feeling I was going to get a heater. Just tried to cheat to it a little bit. Luckily, I got it and got it in the air and it went far enough. No, I can’t really remember a stretch like that. I’d like to mix in a couple hits, but it is working right now.”
