Tennessee baseball head coach Josh Elander met with the media following the Vols’ 3-1 win over Virginia Tech Sunday at Globe Life Field.
Elander shared his thoughts on pitching performances from Evan Blanco, Mark Hindy and Brayden Krenzel as well as Levi Clark’s improvement at the plate.
RECAP: Tennessee Baseball’s Pitching Shines in Low-Scoring Win Over Virginia Tech
See everything Elander said after the win below.
On senior LHP Mark Hindy working Tennessee out of a jam in the sixth inning, if they identified that as a spot to use Hindy because of his success pitching against Virginia Tech while at Duke last year:
“Yeah, a little bit. But Stove (Zach Stovall) and I talked about it late last night, some of that matchup stuff. We had some lefties back-to-back, but also the righty that was kind of mixed in there. We like the matchup there as a lefty. Hindy did a great job. He got ready quick and executed those pitches. It was good to see a good mix of the heater and the slider. With those guys, you want to make sure when you have those matchups that other teams aren’t just hunting one side of the plate or the other one pitch. So that was good to see him mix and match and get those big outs.”
On Tennessee sophomore RHP Brayden Krenzel earning a three-inning save to close out the win:
“It was electric. I mean, the fastball is up to 97, pitching in the bottom quadrants of the zone, running some up late change was good, sliders as good as I’ve seen him throw. So ton of confidence in Krenz, really good to see. And there was really no decision to be made as well as he was throwing the ball, he was going back out there in the ninth no matter what, and got it done.”
On how he would assess Tennessee senior LHP Evan Blanco’s start:
“Good. In the strike zone a little bit more. He was struggling — it was little humid in here this morning — so kind of spraying it a little bit, we had to go do some rosin deals or whatnot. But he’s just gonna compete. I thought he did a really good job. Think he’s mad at me. Two weeks in a row I know he wants to stay out there a little bit longer, and he will, but I just thought we liked those matchups right there with Hindy and he did a good job of getting it done.”
If Evan Blanco has taken a step forward with his breaking ball since he transferred from Virginia over the offseason:
“Yeah, Coach (Josh) Reynolds has done an amazing job with those guys in the lab. I mean, he loves using the TrackMan, the Edgertronic for development, right? So when you get that objective information, and you’re working with Zach Stovall, you can separate those shapes a little bit more where he’s got the over the top (curveball) — he’s still got the gyro element — but they get a little bit more sweep on it, too.
“Those gyros, you can get a lot of swing and miss, but they get hit sometimes too, right? So even if it’s just a one over the top to keep guys off balance, but it’s true four pitches for strikes at any time.”
On strong back-to-day days for the bullpen, if he judges that as the group turning a corner:
“We just need to get them out there as much as we can. Like, you know, I’m obviously happy we won today, but we didn’t get Bo Rhudy in the game, right? That’s a really good arm we need to get out there, and we’ll get him out there pretty quick on Tuesday. But again, really good to see Krenzel. We just want guys to execute and get out.
“So as far as specific roles, we got five games this week, so we’re gonna figure out where those guys get slotted, but it’s gonna change each year. I just want those guys to come in and compete. And I thought they did a really good job after we didn’t do that on Friday.”
On how he assesses the offense after it scored five runs against Arizona State and three against Virginia Tech:
“It could be better. There’s no doubt about it, right? I thought the freshman (Ethan Grim) for VT did a great job today, riding that heater at the top, guys just missing underneath the baseball. So we need to pay attention. Why are they having success? And making sure we can counter it, adjusting a little bit. I thought some guys went up to the plate, maybe chasing hits a little bit at times, which is never a winning formula.
“Levi (Clark) crushed another ball to center. I think that leaves everywhere but here and maybe Polo Grounds, or whatever it may be. But some really good things, some signs with Blaine (Brown) staying on a breaking ball yesterday, Levi taking some good swings, and Henry (Ford) barreling the ball. We’ll get him back in a little bit better window moving forward in the next week.”
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball’s Pitching Shines in Low-Scoring Win Over Virginia Tech
On how satisfying the sixth inning was with Mark Hindy pitched well and the offense takes the lead in the bottom half:
“We talk about it all the time. There’s so much that goes into it the night before, looking at matchups or lineups or what we think we’re going to do. So, we really talked about, as a staff, just having a plan and sticking to it. You got to be able to adjust on the fly, but if the numbers are there to help you, we feel good. And we talked about it. Our staff did a good job of sticking with the plan today. But hats off to (Mark) Hindy for executing, because that could have got messy there if it went the other way.”
On how he feels about his club now compared to when they got here:
“We’re learning more. I think. Friday, we got punched in the mouth, but a really good club in UCLA. Good response yesterday. We got to play some close ball games. That’s what we want, good competition. These guys get to play in a Major League Stadium. Sometimes you throw them out there, you can see them a little bit of deer in the headlights. So, let’s get that out of the way. Get the guys out there and have them play ball. So, we definitely got better. But I’m really excited for five games at home next week, and getting those guys a lot of reps at our home park.”
On how Levi Clark has improved behind the plate:
“Massively. He’s keeping the ball in front. Throws out the guy, I know it’s kind of a delayed steal or maybe a missed hit and run –I’m not sure exactly what they were trying to do – but just playing catch. That’s what we want. Good job by Manny (Marin) being strong around the base. That slows down the other team, and that’s been a thing that’s got us in the past. But again, he’s doing a really good job on the edges, with looking at the trackman stuff, stealing strikes and whatnot. So, that’s a weight off some of those other guys’ back, and we have the big picture in mind with Stone (Lawless) with the job he does back there. We need to get him (Clark) back there some more.”
On what Landon Mack and Tegan Kuhns’ do for the team moving forward:
“We feel great about those guys, regardless of who the matchup is, right? You want toughness, stuff, but those guys have some grit, and they’re going to attack the strike zone with good stuff. Again, I know T (Tegan Kuhns) got tagged a few times, but I thought he threw the ball as well as he has, threw some good sliders.
“Mack, some competitiveness, good to show. We’ll reel him in a little bit, but I want him to be himself. Both of them have some swing and miss. It’s a little bit of different profiles on the heater, but again, a lot of the similar qualities that are conducive to success over the long term, those two both have it.”
On if Blake Grimmer and Garrett Wright will play this week:
“I think we’re getting really close. Grimmer took BP back to back days. That was a good sign. G-Wright was swinging the bat well in BP. We’ll see. We’ll get back Monday – we have the fight tonight, get back, then reset. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, hopefully have some opportunities to get those guys out. I know that gives a little bit more versatility, but we want to move these guys around, see what they can do, but some of these older guys with a lot of experience and games under their belt, it’ll be good to plug these guys back in the lineup if they continue to earn it.”
