Tennessee baseball responded from a heartbreaking series opening loss at LSU by knocking off the Tigers 9-3 in game two of the weekend set Saturday night.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discussed his team’s bounce back, Marcus Phillips’ strong outing and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said.
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On being the aggressor and responding to Tennessee’s frustrating loss in the series opener
“It’s different and I wish I could do something, or say something, but we didn’t even meet last night. It didn’t make a lot of sense. We got to bed, probably everybody, around four or five. So what are you going to do other than, you show up, and you hope your team acts and competes the way that you want them to. I’m just telling you right now, they did a good job, but our assistant coaches were on an absolute mission. Not that it’s been bad in the past, but just different level of determination, positivity and pushing forward. The guys had no chance but to follow that group, and of course follow Marcus Phillips, too.”
On what it looked like from Tennessee’s assistant coaches to set the tone for the game
“How do you not come out and have flash — you get back to the park and I mean, you have two options: you can look forward or you can look behind you. I don’t know which way you’re supposed to go. If you look behind you, it ain’t good. But there was just a lot of looking forward and extra communication.
“On top of that, you have to execute certain stuff and I think what we did on the defensive side of things and offensive side of things, as far as executing and preparing guys to execute was, I was sitting back on my heels. I kind of joked during the in-game interview that I need to stay out of the way. It was impressive. That’s the best I can’t put it into words.”
On how important Tennessee pitcher Marcus Phillips’ outing was
“It was good for him to get a carrot or a gold star. I know some extra guys have got on base and guys were advancing on him the last two weeks, but if you really look at the numbers the last few weeks, he’s been good for us as a starter. He’s given you what you want. But it was good for him to get rewarded with good results and have even better command. I like it for him, but the bigger story is for the team, he kind of put a stake in the ground — or whatever you want to say — and said follow me and he wasn’t going to let his teammates down. He’s a guy who around the facility, I hate to single a guy out, but talk about family, he’s kind of adopted that philosophy. You guys have been around him. It’s a pretty impressive kid.”
On Tennessee catcher Cannon Peebles’ productive at-bats throughout the course of the game
“I think, you know, probably what’s best for him — and maybe I shouldn’t peel back the curtain this far — is he’s a guy that wants to be out there all the time, and I know it’s not easy for him to sit on the bench at times last year: pinch-hit, DH and then catch every now and then. We’ve always liked to use two catchers. Stone’s (Lawless) is fully capable. If anything, you guys saw how he handled Marcus earlier in the year in particular.
“But I just think the more he plays and gets in a rhythm, the more he’s just going to be a ball player. As opposed to early in the year it’s, now it’s his job, it’s junior year and we’re supposed to be good, and he’s going to dominate. You’ve been around him, too. He’s always got all those thoughts. But really just play ball. Especially if you’re that good. I would love to go back in time and just play ball and keep it that simple if I had that skill set.”
On Marcus Phillips’ evolution
“To steal answers from the broadcast, I was talking about how Frank has gotten together with four or five different guys like Tanner Franklin, Andrew Schultz back in the day, and the goal has been to smooth it out and increase strike throwing ability. And he’s done that with Marcus but the velo has gone up in parallel with it, or I don’t know congruency? If you watch Severance I might get fined for too big of a word there. But I just think the evolution that was envisioned was take advantage of how big and strong he is and yet also get it in the zone. And the combination has been better command, better stuff. But also, I said on the air too, I hope I didn’t come off the wrong way because he’s a great kid, but last year he was just a kid. And this year, he’s a man. He’s very professional about how he goes about everything and in the hallways he has a big presence. He makes you feel like you’re seeing one of your family members when you see him. It sounds corny but he does.”
On a strong offensive approach, if he liked their at-bats
“Yeah, I think they were determined. There was a lot of stuff that went on last night. Starting with the guy (LSU starter Kade Anderson) who is a first rounder. I probably would say he would volunteer to raise his hand and say that he was on. He was on. I know he would have liked to get credit with a win. But there’s a lot of things that fueled those hitters and they were determined to come out today with competitive at-bats. Fortunately the results were there for a lot of them.”
On if Ariel Antigua’s production is just a product of him being in the lineup everyday
“Yeah. We’ve always talked about reps. He’s capable and hey, at the end of the day. I said it to Todd Walker yesterday, I’ve got the final say. It’s my responsibility to juggle that infield the right way. It’s not been easy. You’ve had a couple different injuries that’s actually led to Fisch being a really good first baseman for us, in my opinion. There’s been some unselfishness that’s led to guys being willing to do whatever. But I don’t know what the magic combination is. I know that’s what I’m supposed to do but we’ll get there by May. But it’s nice, again, guys are versatile. Guys are unselfish and the more Manny and Ariel are in scenes like this, a place where the fans are real passionate and the competition is high— he’ll be better down the road.”
On the significance of offensive production from Reese Chapman and Dalton Bargo
“I think it just changes you even feel after BP is over and the game is going to start. When Bargo is relaxed as a person and also true to his swing and relaxed in his swing, it’s phenomenal. Then Reese at times last year would hurt himself getting too big with his swings or trying to do too much and maybe even speaking out of what I see the first two years, maybe even some doubt. Now he comes to the dugout with good presence and when he’s locked into a good approach that he’s worked hard on with Coach E(lander), that combo is good. It’s a huge boost.”
On who will start on Sunday
“I don’t know that. Maybe they do know who they’re going to start. I haven’t heard word from them. We had all hands on deck. So whoever is starting has already thrown. I don’t know if we’re expecting to get five, six innings out of anyone. There’s also been 75 things that no one expected that have happened in this series. It’ll be a Sunday.”
