Tennessee baseball head coach Josh Elander met with the media following the Vols’ disappointing 9-5 loss to Kent State in a Sunday series rubber match in Knoxville.
The Vols struggled once again at the plate while Tennessee’s array of arms struggled with command.
Kent State scored multiple runs in three separate innings, including detrimental three-run frames in the fourth and eighth.
Elander shared his thoughts on what went wrong in the defeat and if it was a surprise. Elander also discussed what the team needs to do to respond after such a disappointing weekend.
On what stuck out in the loss:
“There was a lot. I think the most frustrating thing is just losing back-to-back games on our home field. That’s not acceptable. Our guys know that, and a lot of decisions I made today were not good, so clearly my fault from the jump. But our guys know we have to be better.”
On why he thinks the team didn’t respond:
“I thought the pregame was great. The prep was good. As far as BP (batting practice), how they went about it, bounced around, and again, I thought the dugout energy was good as well. But sometimes, that’s baseball. The ball’s not going to bounce your way, but you have to play catch a little bit better, you have to keep the ball in front a little bit better and limit those free passes, which we didn’t do again today.”
On throws getting away from Stone Lawless trying to catch runners stealing:
“I think trying to rush the throw. Usually, they lose that front side a little bit, that ball’s going to take off a little bit. And again, we knew as they were getting the lead and taking it, they were going to try to do some things to make us play catch. We prepared for it this week. We just didn’t execute. So, hats off to them for putting pressure on us, and you have to play catch.”
On what he likes about Jay Abernathy leading off and if we can expect to see that again:
“Could for sure. He does just a great job. He’s using the whole field. It was really good to see him lay down a bunt today, and the speed is just game-changing speed. He’s been really good, and there’s been no ego there. Just, hey, he wants to be in the lineup. So, we could definitely see more of that for sure because he was good in that spot today.”
On what was different with Evan Blanco today and lack of control:
“That was weird, to be honest. We pulled him there, and in hindsight, wasn’t the right decision at the time. The velo (velocity) was down a little bit and the command. So, when you get that combo of both – we thought it was time to go to the next guy. It is what it is there, but ton of confidence with him. He was still getting strikeouts, a lot of swing and miss on the heater alone, even with the velo down. But we just felt like it was a good time to make a move.”
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On relief pitchers struggling with command:
“Guys got to attack the strike zone a little bit more. It was weird. Some of those guys threw the ball really, really well earlier this week or last week and earned the right to be back out there. We really just didn’t see the same zip from those guys. It’s a long season, a lot of baseball. Hats off to Kent (State) for what they did this weekend. This will be good because our guys can make the decision to be better. I’m confident that they will.”
On the message to the team afterwards:
“On your home field on Sunday — I think the theme is very similar. You can talk about doing it or you can actually do it. So, this is our first challenge. Internally, how do the guys handle it? Do they link up to the guy next to them, or do they start pointing fingers or asking questions? I feel really confident about the clubhouse and we’ve got some other guys coming back here pretty soon. The competition, how we handle some adversity, will ultimately define how we do as a group. So, this is our first test right here.”
On if Garrett Wright could play this week:
“We’ll see. He’s getting closer every day and he’s running around like crazy. He was available to play outfield or could even run the bases today. He’s getting closer every single day.”
If he feels like Tennessee’s offense started to press as the weekend wore on while struggling to hit with runners on base:
“Yeah, I think sometimes, again, with the theme, I mean, you can kind of feel it, right, when you’re watching the game. Well, this guy didn’t get it done, so let me try to do a little bit more. So it’s our job to coach them to relax, and that’s something we spend a ton of time on, is execution. I mean, that’s literally one full day of the week, that’s all we do, is execute all those different situations that came up. So again, I think early in the year, sometimes guys are maybe looking at that scoreboard a little bit too much to see what (the) batting average may be or whatever. So we just got to get them locked back into hunting some quality at-bats, and like, what is the task and how do I execute? Because, 1-9, there’s guys that have done it at a high level for a long time, and I’ve still got a lot of confidence they will moving forward.”
On his biggest takeaways from Tennessee’s series loss to Kent State:
“You just better respect the game and your opponent at all times, because anybody can beat you at any time, right? But what remains true is the fundamentals of the game are the absolutes. Like, if you don’t play catch and do the little things right, you can get beat any day. So a good reminder for our guys. It’s a very talented roster we have. We need to play better, but nobody’s invincible.”
If he feels Tennessee “played catch” and limited free passes throughout the preseason, if this weekend could be a one-off:
“Yeah, I think it is. Of course, yeah, I do think it’s a one-off. Our guys have played catch at a high level in practice, and then again, you know, Manny gets hit in the hand or whatever. There are some plays where it’s just little things, just like Reese (Chapman) diving for that ball in right. It’s, like, in the glove and then almost out. So I don’t think it’s a huge concern moving forward, but our guys, they can play catch, and we need to do so better.”
If he feels like Tennessee not being able to be on the field at times during the preseason because of weather led to their issues this weekend:
“No, I mean, again, I think maybe some fairness there, but our guys are — they’re not gonna give into that. I mean, whether it’s cold weather, inside, outside, like, you know, this is — you gotta get it done when you got this Power T on your chest and we didn’t do it today, so I’m excited to see how our guys respond. I know they’ll get back to work. We’ll have a good week, and we’ve got a good test of four good opponents next week.”
If Tennessee freshman LHP Cameron Appenzeller was available to pitch this weekend:
“Yes. Yeah, he was available today. Again, just kind of monitoring his pitch count. We wanna make sure we continue to build him up, but he’ll be ready to rock and roll this week.”
