Tony Vitello talks Tennessee baseball's win over Belmont, previews South Carolina series

Tennessee baseball completed its regular-season home schedule with a 9-5 win over Belmont Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols outlasted multiple weather delays and scored four runs over the final five innings to break a 5-5 tie and improve to 36-17 on the season. 

Here’s everything head coach Tony Vitello said after the game, discussing the win and looking ahead to Thursday night’s game at South Carolina, in the final SEC series of the regular season:

Tennessee’s motivation to play Tuesday night despite the weather delays and it being the last home game of the season

“I can’t speak for others, just to play ball. I’m very happy we played as much as we did. Once you kind of set it, a rule is a rule. I’m not sure Coach (Dave) Jarvis, he was excellent to work with today. I mean, he the reputation he does over in Nashville for a reason. He could not be a nicer guy. But obviously he’s on the competitive side of things too. They have to travel tomorrow. Their conference deal kind of switched as well. So with both teams traveling, we didn’t want to go too late tonight. And with the weather, we made it no innings after 10 o’clock. (Andrew) Behnke was good tonight. Might have been his first strikeout of a lefty. And he did it with one minute in time (left). I know he didn’t have anything to show for it, but three guys got at-bats in game. So that’s what we want. We’re supposed to be developing these guys, so in order to do so, they need to work hard outside of game day, but we also need to kind of reward them and evaluate them on game day. That’s how Hollis Fanning has put himself in the position he has, by being evaluated on practice day, that he’s been working hard on those days and then getting in front of us and everybody else on a game day and throwing strikes. And obviously has good stuff, too. Just want to play, man, and find out who is better as part of it. But on a Tuesday this late in the year, to me, it’s kind of more about keeping guys involved and keeping them on track to develop … with the 10-run rule thing, I know we lost over a game this year of innings, so that’s a lot of at-bats that you would like to see Ryan Miller get and a couple more appearances that you’d like to see Fitzy (Jake Fitzgibbons) or somebody get, JJ Garcia. But we’ll take what we got tonight. Maybe they’ll let us add a game or two when those numbers start piling up for the 10-run rule, for those people that like it.”

How Hollis Fanning pitched (3.0 IP, 7 strikeouts, 2 hits, 0 runs) for Tennessee

“He was outstanding. Basically made it impossible to take him out of the game. Part of it was the score dictated that. You’d like to, hopefully at home, separate yourself a little bit and create a little more flexibility, where you can get guys in and out of there. But at that point in the game, he made it hard to take the ball out of his hand. I was going to ask him how he was feeling, but the radar gun and the way he was throwing it kind of made it look like he was fresh. In reality, he got in as much work as he could have this week, because he’s made a couple other appearances. But at the start of the day, after five innings, we’re not playing them again. So it’s over with if the rain comes. (Bryce) Jenkins comes in there basically for a save, if it’s only five-inning game. But it turned out what it was.”

Tony Vitello: Jared Dickey ‘could do something for us this weekend’

Working with Hollis Fanning the last couple seasons, him waiting his turn

“I think he’s always been the same guy, mentality wise, around the park. He always likes to sing. I don’t know how good of a voice it is. But he always likes to sing. He’s not afraid to compete. He’ll put in his work. He’s a low maintenance guy. And then on game day, there have just been varying results, I think with varying personality. And the Tennessee Tech outing stands out. Last year, here, we give him a start and basically we’re kind of providing him an opportunity to win the fourth starter role and it didn’t go very well. And I don’t think ti went that way because he doesn’t have good enough stuff or he wasn’t trying hard. It’s just some of these guys need to get out there and find their personality with two strikes. Or come into the pen in a jam or how they’re going to handle a start. Different situations that can come up in a game. That’s experience. All these freshmen in this league are so talented. They can go out there and get it done. But you’ve got to kind of be with your cleats in the ground, filling out or vibe’ing out a situation to understand the way you need to trust or try something to see if it works or not. I think right now he has found his game day personality.”

Tennessee’s Blake Burke getting a couple hits against Belmont and what he needs to do to get back on track in SEC play

“I really think just to stay athletic in his swing. I say running at the ball, it may not make sense. Maybe charging at the ball. But ultimately when he’s athletic in his legs, it looks like a really pretty swing and it also becomes a productive swing. I think he and Coach E (Josh Elander) got in the cage and got after it, working on that in particular. But then also just some conversations around the park. It’s something he wants to get better at. It’s a little bit of a feel. You look at how many at-bats he’s tallied up last year, combined with this year, there might be a guy that’s out there that is a leadoff guy, like a Jackson Gray for Kentucky, that leads off every game. He might have more at-bats just in this one year than Blake does in his entire career. And on top of that, he’s got about four years on him age wise. So, you know, he’s learning. He’s getting better as he goes.”

If he expects to have Jared Dickey available for the Tennessee-South Carolina series, what it was like to have him at first base coaching against Belmont

“Strange, but he liked it. After a while he started speaking up a little bit. Ricky (student assistant coach Ricky Martinez) was a warrior on the field. That’s a good thing. As a coach, he’s done a tremendous job for us. But he had a 102-something fever. He needed to go home. And the rain delay basically allowed Woody (Tennessee trainer Jeff Wood) a chance to say go home. So Jared took over that role. But he’s important to have around in the locker room. It will be the hotel this weekend, just on the field. Kind of being a part of things. Whether he’s able to play or not, it will probably be the hitting that comes first, before the defense. But I think there’s an opportunity where he could do something for us this weekend.”

How good it was to have Zach Joyce back on the field for Tennessee

“That was great. You could hear it in the guys, the tone of their voices when they’re yelling out from the dugout. It’s impossible not to like that guy and his whole family really, to be honest with you. But just good to see him out there, especially after a scare. It was a scare for everybody. And then when the information was there, I think he was still scared. And for good reason, I think all of us would be. But just for him to settle back in, composure wise, and get out there and pitch was one thing. But to be able to pitch in some difficult stations — probably if it’s not so wet, he makes that play and he has basically, I wouldn’t say flawless, but a pretty dang good night. All in all, great to see him out there and it was also good stuff.”

Up Next: Tennessee at South Carolina, Thursday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

His thoughts on Tennessee’s weekend series with South Carolina, how important the weekend is for Tennessee

“Yeah, I think they’re playing right now. Every SEC game is weighted the same, but you’d like to make progress as the year goes on. I can’t speak for where they’re at with everything. I know they’ve had some really good wins. They go into Fayetteville and win a game, which we weren’t able to do. I think there’s no beating around the bush. We need to go on the road and play better overall. Or, if you really want to look at it, I think we really need to pickup where we left off with our trip down to Georgia. Kind of replicate that same mentality, that same effort and see where it gets us. Maybe pay attention to what are the one or two areas that maybe all of us, including myself, can do a little bit better over the course of the weekend. Finals will be over for everyone officially. I’ve kind of jumped the gun on that a little bit. But by the time we get on that bus, that will be the case. We’ll get in there, do our normal pre-series practice that each of the teams do. We’ll just start a day earlier. Our best way to try to win a series is to compete in the first game. They’re at home. It’s a tough place to play. I’m sure they expect to hold court or hold serve there. I don’t know what our guys’ mentality is other than they glad they won for their seniors tonight and they’re able to get out of here and get packed up for tomorrow.”

What this senior class has meant to the Tennessee program

“Yeah, it’s a pretty cool group. It’s a little more odd for our sport, not that others don’t deal with a professional draft. But for ours, then there’s COVID, and a couple guys, Ethan Payne is one, that has been around and been part of a lot of different things in this program. Then you’ve got Griffin (Merritt) and Zane (Denton), and I don’t mean to select a few, three out of the six, and leave anybody out. But even in their short time, they’re created a lot of history. I mean, Griffin has a couple home runs that, I would like to think there are a few places he could go to get a free meal or free whatever it is. I mean, I’ve got students over the dugout wanting me to go to Cool Beans. I’m not going there, but maybe Griff shows up there and maybe he gets some complementary NIL. I’m not trying to create any deals. But that group has made their mark. And we’ve had to make progress here in a bunch of different areas. It doesn’t happen with just one or two individuals. And it certainly isn’t going to happen for a coaching staff without getting help from the players. A special group. Glad they’re able to be recognized. And some of those guys had really good nights, too.”