Tennessee baseball run-ruled UNC Asheville 11-1 in eight innings on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols started slow but then put it on late thanks to big hits from Manny Marin.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed Blaine Brown returning to the mound, guys playing freely and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
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Opening Statement
“Just want to start real quick with sending condolences to Phil Garner and his family. Mr. Scrap-Iron. Got to know him plenty of times over the years. I know we spoke at our First Pitch banquet a few years back and saw him a few months ago rolling through the facility. It’s pretty cool, just talking to Burkey (Chris Burke) those guys. What an impact he had, not only on the players of Tennessee or in his personal playing career, but all his accolades. Just heard what an amazing baseball guy and amazing person he was. So, just wanted to start with that for his family.”
On deciding to start Blaine Brown on the mound on Tuesday
“Blaine, he’s just been working really hard behind the scenes and it was a big deal in recruiting when we were talking to him, it was very important to be a two-way player and have a plan and that’s something we invested a lot of time in the recruiting process. The last time out verse ETSU wasn’t as clean, so we want to take a little bit of a step back (and) give him some extra time with Reyn (Josh Reynolds) to work on some things. But it’s 93-94 (mph) with really good stuff. And I thought the difference with tonight was he really just slowed down. He scattered a few pitches. They were basically saying prove you can throw strikes. They start with the fake bunt-take to start the game. But just a little bit better presence. And I think the more he gets out there, he’ll continue to get better and better. But that’s something we’ll look at different ways to get him in there, but it’s a good arm and he needs to be in the mix.”
On if there was any urgency to get him back into the mix and maybe create an option out for the bullpen – especially since he is a lefty
“I do like where we’re at with some of the lefties. We have some options and some different looks and the difference on the weekend would probably be more of coming out of left field. So that’s something to navigate on the position side and how we navigate that there. I like how the guys have thrown the ball, but we’re always looking for more, especially as we go throughout the course of the year. Lefty-righty matchups. And I know so many coaches now try to get it where it’s left, right, left, right. You got to be careful with when you bring a guy in, because you might have a matchup and then you better have a guy ready right behind it. So, any more options. I challenge those ‘pen (bullpen) guys, please, more reasons to put you in the game. I’m all for it.”
On if Blaine Brown’s routine has changed throwing the baseball behind the scenes since he has not pitched in a game in over a month
“We have to limit some of the stuff. For him, it’s those two-way guys. I know we have some really talented ones on the way coming in. They have to do less and sometimes they don’t want to do that because they’re wired like more, more, more. How do I get more reps? So, I think it starts just with communication and how we go about it. But Reyn (Josh Reynolds) does a good job with him where, maybe he’ll miss a base running deal at this point in the day. We’ll do it at the end, so he can go to his throwing and do that progression. But what we do with him is, he does his early hitting just like he’s a hitter and then hits in the first group of BP (batting practice). Then we don’t let him shag (fly balls) or anything. He just goes inside and gets some grub and gets set up. Then he goes through the normal starter routine. He’s a guy that it’s easier for him to get hot and settle in going through that full routine versus trying to balance coming out of left field or playing a couple innings. So again, we got to challenge him to be able to put him in in different roles. But Blaine just likes to be out there and play ball, so it’s good to see him back out there.”
On what he saw from Brayden Krenzel on the mound
“Massive. We need him. We need him. Ben (McKee) talking about some bullpen stuff. And I thought he did a good job of, walks a guy (and) instead of the thing snowballing or pitches continuing to scatter, just pouring sinkers at the bottom of the zone. And (pitching coach Josh) Reyn(olds) worked with him on just the tempo of the delivery, like moving a little bit faster. He has, like, a hyper mobile arm, really whippy. So sometimes when guys kind of get, we call it less me, or try to go A, B, C, D, as a sequence, instead of just hey, like, let’s compete with conviction right here. I thought he did a good job of again, just even the ball hit to right, or the ground ball that was hit, it’s not really loud contact, but that’s a guy we’re going to need in the league and midweeks, and the more we can get them out there, the better we just got to put them in good spots for position to have success.”
On what has led to Krenzel’s struggles
“Well, some of it’s just been spraying it, right? He hits a guy with a breaking ball a few weeks back, and he’s actually torching lefties. If you look at the splits, he’s doing a really good job. But he needs to be a guy that come in and can punch guys out or gets you a ground ball. But when he’s good, he can go 3-4-5 innings. We all saw what he did against Virginia Tech early in the year, and he’s still young. People forget. I know he had a lot of success for us last year, battled through some sickness, but when he’s on, it’s pretty dang good. So we need to make sure we get in there more often than not.”
On if he’s seen Manny Marin doing anything different at the plate as of late
“Not really. Nothing crazy like approach wise. I mean, he’s doing an amazing job versus left handed pitching. If you look at it, it’s a huge, huge difference there. But I think he’s playing fun, or just having fun playing ball. And if I go back to one thing at Mississippi State, we work on safeties (squeezes) down away. We don’t execute one at Vanderbilt. And so again, we work on being on the hunt off the base, making sure our steps are in a good spot. And he slides in head first, and just his smile like running off the field— like that wasn’t a hit, that wasn’t a double, was nothing selfish. It was just him executing a play to get Jay an RBI and helping our team win. So it’s a pretty, pretty special deal when the guys get past, ‘hey, what about my average, or this or that, or how can I help this team win?’ And the freedom it can let guys play with across the board. He took some great swings and he crushed that breaking ball out tonight. But is playing some great defense too. And if you look at Mississippi State, again, I know we’re past that now, but that ball he kept in the infield and played catch to be able to throw that ball to Ariel (Antigua), not a lot of guys make that play in this league. And there’s some really good defenders on the dirt.”
On guys playing with less pressure at the plate
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things, but I think it’s a mentality shift, where sometimes when things are going your way, you can focus on, hey, what is my problem? How do we get to solutions? How do we get there quickly? And again, our process has been very similar. Those guys have done everything that we’ve asked them to do, but I think— we got some scars, and that’s letting the guys kind of play freely. We’ve been on the road and been swept. We’ve gone the road and swept somebody. We’ve won close games, lost close games. So as you take punches, you learn how to dodge some at times, and throw some as well. So our guys have just done a good job of riding the wave, and it can go both ways very quickly. But I think the more competition our guys get into, the more they’ll play free. And it’s good to see them start to do that.”
On what needs to happen for Tennessee to take advantage of the momentum it created with its sweep of Mississippi State
“I think a lot of things we talked about postgame. I think limiting the free-90’s. I thought our pitching staff did a tremendous job not walking guys, not really hitting guys, not giving them a chance. And our outfield defense was really good. I mean, Blaine (Brown) made some good plays. Jay (Abernathy) ran a ball down. Reese (Chapman) did the same thing in right field.
“And then executing on offense when the time calls, because, you know, there’s gonna be homers hit in this league, but moving a guy here, or infield back, there was a couple spots tonight we needed to be better in that but, you know, using the whole field. We did a lot of things well, but we also made some mistakes down there, too. Made two mistakes on the bases, getting picked off versus a lefty, and a youthful mistake that we addressed, at second base, that we got away with on a Friday night.
“But you know, again, we like where we’re at, but you can’t be satisfied. Just got to keep going. We’re only halfway through this thing. There’s a lot of back and forth to come.”
On the latest with injured Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless (facial fractures)
“He’s looking a lot better. His nose, we joked he looks prettier after he got that thing fixed, and if it was up to him, he would have tried to play today, but, you know, we’re going to lean on Woody (trainer Jeff Wood) and those guys to go through. Just where he got hit, there’s a process and a checklist to go through, and he wants to be as aggressive as he can, but I’ll lean on Dr. (Chris) Klenck and Woody.
“But what seemed was — I remember rolling him over at Vandy, it scared me with the way he looked right there at home plate. And he looks really, really good, and hoping to get him back out there soon.”
On if Lawless will begin baseball activities this week
“Yeah, he’s moving around already. And again, I don’t know the exact progression. Woody and I are going to sit down tomorrow, because I know he’s just getting his feet back underneath him, but just great to have him back in the dugout. Was a little weird out there at Mississippi State not having him there, because a lot of people don’t know we traveled — Tony (Vitello), Frank (Anderson) and I made the decision — traveled as a freshman, just because of what he brought as a teammate being in the dugout. So it’s good to have him back out there.”
On what he’s noticed about Tennessee’s offense since he made the move from third to the dugout:
“Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe have to ask them on that. I just think, I trust Craig Bell to coach third base at a high level. He’s done it for a very long time. He’s done it in Omaha, he’s done it in national championship games and done it in the league. Him and I have an easy way to communicate, and our players know what the expectations are over there. But I think the easiest example would be, is instead of being at third base trying to worry about an outfield arm, now I’m saying, ‘Okay, if we score two, let’s go to this guy,’ and I can easily get the bullpen going. It’s just easier to manage.
“And then I love just being able to have — haven’t really been able to do it ever, just because I’ve always coached the base as a coach — but just to sit there with Reese, or Manny comes over and, you know, we’re able to have a little conversation of the different shape of the breaking ball, what’s the cue to make sure we get one we can really drive, and all the credit goes to the players there, but it’s just easier to kind of manage the whole game, and that’s what I need to do.”
On the status of Tennessee sophomore Chris Newstrom after he didn’t travel to Mississippi State because of an internal issue
“Yeah, Newy is back with the team. Just had an internal matter with him. Completely behind us now, so he’ll be available in any capacity, and I know he’s excited to contribute to this team and help us win when his name is called upon.”
On what he knows about Ole Miss on Tuesday
“I mean, it’s a championship-level program, you know? I think it’s crazy if you look at — I was texting with a couple guys between Mississippi State, LSU, us and we’ve played a lot of national-championship winning programs back-to-back over the last four or five years, but I played against Coach (Mike) Bianco’s clubs as a player, and they were always aggressive, and he’s an amazing coach. I know Coach (Ross) Kivett knows (Mike) Clement very, very well, and he’s done a really good job in this league for a long time.
“But when you think of Mississippi, you think of power and starting pitching. That’s always been their M.O. I know they ran their starters pretty good, you know, all three games versus LSU. But again, this year, in this league, it’s crazier than it’s ever been. It’s, you better hook it up, because it’s a good opponent, and anybody’s capable of winning on any day, so you just got to be ready for the bell to ring, because it’s going to be a challenge regardless.”
