Tennessee baseball is a game away from advancing to the super regionals for the fifth straight season after knocking off Cincinnati 10-6 on Saturday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Marcus Phillips turned in one of his better starts of the season while the Vols’ offensive stars turned in big performances.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discussed Phillips’ improvement holding runners, a strong approach at the plate and much more. Here’s everything Vitello said.
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Opening Statement
“It’s nice to have, you name it; donors, alumni, fans, administration that are very supportive of our team. I kind of recycled a message nonstop about this weekend when it’s, get ready or get excited, or good luck. Embrace the chaos, because it is that time of year, and I don’t know that this game was more chaotic than the one before us, but both were kind of what you’d expect. All hands on deck as it relates to pitchers, a lot of good swings out of all four teams. Fortunate at the end of the day to be one of the teams that was able to win.”
On what Marcus Phillips has done differently the last couple of weeks to control the run game differently
“I think just improved. Progress has been his M.O. since he’s been here. Part of it is due to credit of hard work and the coaches working with them, but also there’s a pretty good combination he’s working with of being blessed with a lot of talent, and yet, especially last year and the year before, so far away from being as good as he can be. And I’ve kind of said it reluctantly, that probably his best days in baseball are a long way from here. So that’ll be good for pro ball stuff, but for now, it’s just nice each time he goes out, again, you don’t always get the byproduct on the score that you want, or the scoreboard shows it, but there’s been significant progress and that was an area he’s improving at, and has improved at, and has made progress.”
On what he’s liked out of Tennessee infielders Gavin Kilen and Dean Curley this weekend at the plate
“Well, Dean’s the one that sticks out. He’s just freed himself up to play, and he’s done very well defensively, he’s done well on the bases, and then the at bats have been really good. And to be honest with you, it’s kind of obnoxious, like any kid you’ve ever recruited, if you’re recruiting coordinators, guys hitting the ball hard, but right at people. And that’s probably an overused statement as a hitter, but he’s hit a lot of balls hard that he hasn’t got credit for in recent weeks. But he’s also doing it so often that he is getting some credit. So it’s great to see.
“And then, you know, Gavin is kind of this year’s Billy (Amick), a little bit. Billy was in such a great groove. He has the appendicitis thing pop up, and it kind of takes him out of his rhythm a little bit. I think Billy hit a homer in the first game back, but at the same time, it did take him — if you go, it’s a sample-size game — took him a couple weeks to kind of get back into a groove. And I think Gavin has been very accepting of his new role at short has played well there. The base running has been special out of Gavin, and I think he’s most known because he can hit.”
On what went into his decision to start Liam Doyle in Game 1 this weekend and Phillips in Game 2
“Yeah, I mean, I’m just thinking through it as you say it. It’s been a year of a lot of decisions to make. It seems like there’s been more. There’s a lot of 50-50, or this could work, or that could work, but as it relates to the last four or five weeks of pitching, I don’t say it arrogantly, because I definitely don’t have all the answers, but as coaches, at least putting our collective heads together, there was no doubt at all with kind of the vision we had is, after the Auburn series, let’s not ask too much of Liam. We knew the tournament might require somebody to come around quick, but we like the — you know, it’s a left-right combo, and it’s gone well for us. I’ll take either guy in either situation. You guys have done it probably already, but there’s been a bunch of weekends where one’s better than the other, or one’s our best guy out of the two, but it’s a great one-two punch, and not really looking to go with strategy other than, like I said, didn’t want to wear Liam out with the blister at the time — which is fine — and then he was asked to do a lot in a short amount of time, with the Auburn thing, with the relief appearance.”
On the vibe around the team
“Yeah, I mean, the vibe on one hand, the whole year has been good. It’s been kind of like Marcus as an athlete, progressing and pushing forward all year long, starting with meetings here in the fall. At the same time, if I’m going to be critical coach guy, it hasn’t been as good as it can be this weekend. And it’s called the team sport for a reason. You need every single guy to really enjoy this. And there’s been some guys either trying to do too much or frustrated because they’re not perfect. Or just other things you notice. And again, it’s just being a coach. I mean, it’s been great, but I think it can be even better. I mean, this is such a special deal. Marcus mentioned the crowd. I mean, to play at home maybe makes it a little bit sweeter. But overall, just to be involved in this thing is great. I never got to do it. I’m jealous, at least not as a player. So just need to enjoy it. So I think it’s been good. It can get even better.”
On Dean Curley freeing himself up, what that looks like
“Yeah, I talked about it in the mid game interview. But I think this game is stressful. Especially if you let it. You got the two roads diverged in a wood thing, and these kids have more choices than ever now. Whether it’s what to watch or what to look at on their phone or who to listen to, and it’s difficult to choose wisely all the time. And I mean, Dean, I would trust that guy with about any task, or if I needed something done with my family, I would trust him in those situations. So I’m not saying he makes bad decisions, but even if it’s not something you say out loud or a tangible thing or a decision you can see— all these guys, there’s so much in front of them. So which thing do you want to listen to? And I think at this point. it gets real tiring to listen to complaints or critique or for a kid to stress himself out. And again, want to be perfect, or want to do this or that, and eventually we’ve all been mad before. It’s exhausting. I can hold a grudge as well as anybody in the room, as can a lot of other Italians. It’ll wear you out. So eventually you just say, I’m still mad, but I can’t do this anymore. I’m over with it. So that’s the best parallel I can think of a guy, and he’s one case, but there’s others too. I just want to play, man. It’s kind of like Hunter Ensley. Not a lot of time left in a Vol uniform. Just wants to play. And it looks pretty good, even when it doesn’t look good on the stat sheet for him.”
On if he knows what the pitching plan will look like Sunday, his confidence in it
“No plan for tomorrow. I mentioned to the team, I don’t even think we’ll know whether we’re home or away until that game is over with, excuse me, we won’t know start time, whether we’re hitting on the field or in the cages. So I think the biggest thing for our guys, and I think I said it, we want to know who we play. So the biggest thing is for our guys to relax. Parents, friends, family get excited, and that’s a good thing. Enjoy that, but they’ve got a responsibility to themselves to relax a little bit. This stuff is emotional and that can be as fatiguing as the physical stuff. So relax, hang out, be a kid, and then show up about the time we usually do where they can get some fuel in them and start to slowly move around. But who knows if the game will be quick or long tomorrow, and as it starts to kind of take shape, we’ll probably get closer to a firm decision. But that’s as sincere of an answer as I got. Frank and I talked in the dugout for a second while the guys huddled up in right field and was kind of wait and see what we got. But yes, there’s a lot of guys I trust. So as far as feeling good, it’s playoff time. I’d like to think everybody kind of feels the same way. They trust their guys. They’re in this position for a reason, but at the same time, embrace the chaos, and it’s a good time of year for guys to expect and be prepared to do something maybe they haven’t been asked to do. But again, that’s this time of year.”
On AJ Russell being up-and-down in the bullpen, if that forced them to use him
“No, we avoided that. I was back in the tunnel having a conversation to where nobody could hear about that, and we hadn’t really. This guy (Marcus Phillips) was making it difficult to take him out of the game. We thought there was maybe a window or a match up that we had keyed in on. That would mean go time a little quicker, but that was kind of the plan. I think one of you guys asked me if it’d be ideal for him to start, maybe it’d be ideal for AJ, he has built that pitch count up a little bit. But I think the best approach for our team was to focus on today and do whatever it would take to get it done. And just like in Hoover, (Brandon) Arv(idson) got a big out so he can’t be left out. But Marcus and AJ, it’s not cemented that they’re a combo, but it worked out in our favor tonight.”
