Tennessee baseball completed the series sweep of Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon, knocking off the Bulldogs 7-2 in the weekend finale. The Vols jumped out to an early lead and slowly extended it throughout the game thanks to clutch hitting.
Following the win, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed how important this weekend was, Evan Blanco’s start and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
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On how big this weekend was for Tennessee baseball
“Massive. Turning point. It needs to be a mojo change for our guys to know wherever we go and play in this league we’ve got a chance to be in the game. Got a little hairy there late again, but the guys did good in the dugout to make sure and work through each pitch and the next task. Great job by (Bo) Rhudy to hit a little reset there and get us out. Same thing with the weekend. Offense doing a good job of giving us some breathing room. We get down there late and get out of the gates. Those are two really good arms we faced in a tough environment today. A phenomenal win for our club.”
On the situational hitting and the two out approach this weekend
“Credit goes to two places. One, Chuck Jeroloman is doing a great job with those guys as he gets more settled in and vice versa with the crew. Also, to the players. They are just letting it happen instead of trying too hard, I think, at times. That was the issue early. There wasn’t an issue with the approach or anything like that. Just guys trying to maybe do a little bit too much. Again, guys staying through the baseball. Manny (Marin) shoots that ball over the second baseman’s head. Levi (Clark) drives the ball down the right field line right here. Those are huge runs that completely changed the pace of the game. Really good job by the players and our guys to get that done.”
On how good it was to see the bullpen have a really good weekend
“It starts with Appy (Cam Appenzeller) on Friday and what he gives us. With (Landon) Mack and Appy, if we can just go two, we can kind of mix and match a little bit there. Chandler Day seems to settle in a little bit better and compete and throws strikes. Fred (Brady Frederick) did a good job getting us out of that – I think that was the eighth or whatever it may be. We’ve just got to limit those free passes late in games. Those are dangerous anywhere in this league. But (Bo) Rhudy did a really good job coming into a fire, slowing down a little bit. That’s as good as I’ve ever seen him throw the ball there in the ninth inning.”
On Tennessee going to freshman LHP Chandler Day in high-leverage situations the last few weekends
“Simple, toughness, toughness. He’s not scared when he gets out there. In this league, if you’re scared, you’re going to get eaten alive. And he continues to attack the strike zone, and he’ll continue to get better and better, but that’s all we ask, (for) those guys to come in and compete, and he gives us a tough look when they’re facing those lefties.”
On the 2023 team getting off to a slow start in SEC play, if he’s used that as an example with this team
“Yeah, I think, again, just always, we talked about throughout the end of the fall and the spring, is what’s next in this league. And you look back at other teams, but you have to give each team the right to, hey, settle into what team they’re going to be, because they’re all a little bit different.
“And we’ve done it different ways. In ’22, Drew Gilbert and Jordan Beck are running the show with Doe (Chase Dollander) and (Drew) Beam on the mound. And ’23, we’re looking at, you know, we’re 5-10 going into the ninth inning versus Vandy. It can turn on a dime, but our guys have done a great job — the theme has been the door swings both ways and just be ready for this thing to turn and again, we have a long, long way to go, but this is a massive weekend for our club.”
On the next step for Tennessee with five weekends still left in SEC play
“You have to respect — again, the door swings both ways, right? So we can’t get giddy. We have to make sure that we looked at, ‘hey, what were the differences between the end of the games earlier in the year, versus how we handled this?’ And I think playing in an environment like this, I just can’t wait to get back to Lindsey Nelson Stadium. We got back-to-back home weekends. We’re gonna have some really good weather, and should be a little bit more offensive as the weather warms up. But just excited to keep going, but a long, long way to go. We’ll make sure our guys are focused on the next thing, which will be (UNC) Asheville on Tuesday.”
