FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Tennessee baseball centerfielder Hunter Ensley and right-handed pitcher AJ Russell met with the media following the Vols’ 11-4 season-ending loss in game two of the Fayetteville Super Regional to Arkansas.
The pair shared their own answers to what it’s meant to be a Volunteer and what they’ll remember about their years in orange. Plus, Ensley described what plagued the offense in the pair of losses this weekend and Russell looked back on giving up a crippling grand slam in the fourth inning.
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See everything the pair of players said after the game below.
HUNTER ENSLEY
On what it’s meant to him to be at Tennessee the last five years:
“Yeah, it’s been everything I dreamed of growing up. This is always the place that I wanted to play at. Fortunate to spend five years here, and I feel like we accomplished a lot in five years. It’s pretty exciting seeing the way this program is going. There’s a lot of young, talented guys that are coming back, so I expect them to be in a similar situation like this next year.”
On what was going through his mind from the time the game ended to the press conference:
“How grateful I am for the five years I put in here, and all the hard work that was put in for five straight years with I guess now hundreds of different teammates, obviously, some of the memories reflect back to my freshman year, guys like Blade Tidwelll, Gilbert, I can go completely down the list. But just super grateful for for the coaches and the support staff and all my teammates and obviously the fans and the whole state of Tennessee, how much support they’ve given us.
On what was so difficult about facing Arkansas’ pitchers
“Yeah, I mean, obviously, that’s one of the best pitching steps I’ve seen, for sure, especially for five years. Five years is a long time, but they just have a lot of guys with different looks. Obviously good stuff, high velo, high spin rate. Just a ton of different looks that are difficult for the hitters. And it’s a really good team. And, obviously, if you’re not scoring some runs against them, they can score some runs as well. They got a really deep lineup one through nine.”
AJ Russell
On what it meant to him to be able to pitch for Tennessee this season coming off Tommy John:
“Yeah, absolutely everything. We kind of talked just about how much I wanted to get back for these guys, and then also for him, and to be able to throw just in general this year. It’s been everything to me. It’s kind of hard to put into words right now. I’ve just done everything I wanted to do.”
On what was going through his mind from the time the game ended to the press conference
“Just for me, just how much I love and how much I’m going to miss these guys, and you miss playing with them, and miss competing with them, and miss just hanging out within the locker room or doing things on daily basis. For me, it was a lot of fun to come through every day and just compete with these guys.”
On the grand slam he gave up after entering in the fourth inning
“I thought I made a good pitch. It was spun well and carried a little more than I anticipated it would spin. I kind of thought it was a fly out off the bat. It got out and he just made a good swing on it. On through nine, like he (Hunter Ensley said) can do that. They’re really good and if you make a mistake, that stuff happens.”
