Tennessee baseball picked up a 5-1 series-opening win over Texas on Friday night as Tegan Kuhns turned in a career outing against the fourth-ranked Longhorns.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed Kuhns’ dominance, getting to Texas ace Dylan Volantis early and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
More From RTI: Tegan Kuhns Dazzles As Tennessee Baseball Takes Series Opener Over Texas
On if he was intending to take Tegan Kuhns out when he went for a mound visit in the seventh inning
“No, I wasn’t. At that point, again, I just thought he— I mean, incredible performance by him tonight in so many ways. But they get a couple hits right there. And I’ll be honest, I think he finished at 113 (pitches). That’s the most, I think, we’ve run anybody this year. So, just want to give him a breather. I was giving Arv a little bit more time to get moving, but I just went out there and I said, ‘hey, you’re not giving me the ball, man. You got one more out to get.’
So I just thought it was a good moment for us to kind of take a little reset, a little deep breath. And what a performance by T. I mean, he was immaculate tonight.”
On why he went out for that mound visit instead of pitching coach Josh Reynolds
“That’s a good question. I just ran over to talk to Reyn(olds) and said, hey, I’m going to go give him a second right there.’ It was just kind of a spur of the moment. But no, that’s not really something that was like, one or the other, I’m doing this versus you. But T and I go way back. I’ve known T for a long, long time. Not that Reyn hasn’t, but again, just wanted to kind of hit the reset button for him right there.”
On if his heart jumped in his throat when Casey Borba hit a long foul ball following the mound visit
“Yes, it did, because that ball was hit a very, very long way. Borba is a good hitter. And again, I think the wind was kind of pushing some of those balls that way. I mean, they tagged a couple that just went foul. But at that point in the game, Arv, again, believe in Arv. But I thought that was Tegan’s game and just betting on his makeup there at the end.”
On if there was any debate about putting Kuhns out for the seventh inning at 98 pitches
“No.”
On why he felt confident extending him
“Sure. I think the easiest thing was the stuff. I mean, we’re able to have the iPads in the dugout so you can still see the vert number. You can still see velocity. He’s throwing 94, 95. And even at Kentucky last week, there were some 91, 92s at points. And again, I just think the mindset— he went from last week, he didn’t like how it went. He made the adjustments and made the decisions all week to put his body in a position to have success. And that’s credit to Ryen and (strength coach) Keegan (Knoll) and (trainer) Woody (Jeff Wood) and all our people.
But I mean, it was still humming in there and the break was good. He actually mixed in some sliders that he hasn’t really thrown over the last few weeks, and then some changeups to a guy like (Anthony) Pack who’s been a monster in this league. So, you got a four-pitch mix and elite makeup and competitiveness, that’s how you get 7 innings and 15 punchouts.”
On how Kuhns attacked the top of Texas’ lineup
“I think it was the strikes. I mean, that’s not a fun three to navigate. I mean, those are two of the most famous guys in the portal, and then I remember seeing Pack running around playing at the East Cobb and all that. He’s always just been able to kind of make a mess of the game in a good way for his team. But those three right there, I think really just pouring strikes. I mean, he was throwing a lot of heaters at the top of the zone.
“If you look with (Carson) Tinney, they had some good battles where he’s smoking some balls foul. And maybe they’re sitting on the breakers, the kind of cat-and-mouse game. But I think when you get going 95, 96 with good takeoff and good vert at the top of the zone, you get some of those sword swings that opens up the depth of the breaking ball at the bottom. He did just a really good job competing tonight.”
On the importance of Kuhns’ performance given struggles in series openers, time of season
“Yeah, they’re all important. I know that’s a great and fair question to ask, but it’s been a minute since we won a game on Friday night, so this is a big one. I told the guys to enjoy it. They need to for the rest of the night, but then they need to turn the page. A lot of people have their family in this weekend, so it’s always good to win on Friday night. Can’t take it for granted. I’m looking here, looking at Dylan Valantis, what he brings to the table. I mean, that’s two major leaguers going at it head to head. So again, that’s SEC, but what an environment on Friday night. Our fans were amazing, great weather, fireworks. It was just a really cool day for our guys, but they need to enjoy it and then turn the page and be ready to go tomorrow.”
On taking an early lead against a dominant arm like Dylan Volantis
“He’s a hard guy to prepare for just because it’s so different. He’s so high-handed. It’s a 7-foot release height. He’s throwing curveballs basically out of the sky. He’s got cutter, changeup, his fastball up to 94, but he can even put it in his pocket at times where he’s going to go cutter and kind of mix and match. But real credit to Chuck (Jeroloman), our hitting coach, and our players for grinding. We actually put a chair, like 3 chairs on the field and a spinball machine on top to try to emulate literally coming out of the batter’s eye. So really good job. We did it the last two days and then our guys just really committed to it. They were kind of joking that, ‘Oh, it’s not as good as what’s like the one we set up, it’s not really human on the deal right there. But he’s a phenomenal pitcher, one of the best pitchers in the SEC. And you just got to take advantage when you get him. We got him early. And great job by Tegan to keep us in it.”
On needing to take advantage of opportunities on Friday nights, if tonight was a sign of growth for the lineup that it was able to get to Dylan Volantis when it had the chance
“I think so. I mean, just want to get out of the gates, especially when you get an arm like that. You don’t want to let them get settled in. I thought our guys did a good job. I mean, I know sometimes people (say), ‘hey, why you swing at the first pitch,’ but Garrett (Wright) just kind of sets the tone, hits a missile to right center on a heater and not trying to do too much right there.
“They’re all big, I know, with Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but if you look at it holistically, we haven’t played well enough on Friday night, and I think Tegan set the tone for us tonight, and our bullpen did their job.
“We have a lead late in the game, need to hold it. But again, those little things like, if you look at the (seventh) inning; we get a base hit, Blaine’s fighting to stay inside of the baseball, we bunt a guy over, we were going to bunt again, then we get a couple more 90 feets. Then (Blake) Grimmer, not trying to do too much, just shoots the ball in the four hole. Those two runs gives you an immense amount of breathing room. So just good to see the guys working together to win in all phases tonight.”
On how nice it was to watch Tegan Kuhns pitch with so much emotion
“Yeah, it was cool. I mean, just the way he just continued to compete. You know, again, we talked about the ball that just goes foul, that’s hammered, that could stun some guys, and maybe might have done it to him a little bit last year as a freshman, but just to have the presence (of) next pitch, no problem, right? Just to stay in attack mode. I’m sure he’ll remember — I mean, you know, that’s a big punch out there, throws a slider to get (Casey) Borba, goes crazy. Reyn (Tennessee pitching coach Josh Reynolds) and I were talking at that place like, ‘yeah, he’s out of bullets now.’ I said, ‘don’t worry, I’m not running him back out there at that point.’ Tegan taking what he wanted was a cool night.”
On Tegan Kuhns’ fastball being up to 96 mph and his curveball up to 76 mph, how difficult that is for hitters to face
“100%. I think just the separation between the two and they come out of the same window. One’s going like this (motions up), and one’s going down in a hurry. So if you really try to cheat to one or the other, you can get in trouble real quick. And then the fastball has just enough life at the top where guys, they’ll sword it at times, where basically they’re just trying to (swing) and then they realize it’s up, because you face a guy like that, you have to try to get the ball down. But then the problem is, then you got the breaker coming out of the same window, so you got conflicting angles you’re trying to cover at the same time.
“But I really think the difference was Reyn did a good job with him, that, I think we maybe threw eight or nine sliders throughout the night. But there were some big ones that he threw and some good changeups. You start going all those different quadrants with stuff, and then separation, and the shape, and the velocity, ’its a pretty dynamic package.”
On what Tennessee LHP Brandon Arvidson has done well his last two outings
“Just competed. I mean, he’s got really good stuff. He sent a message in our GroupMe this morning, basically that, ‘hey, we’re going to win this game.’ So it’s kind of cool to see, just kind of out of nowhere.
“Just a guy that’s pitched in some big moments for us. He was phenomenal for us last year versus Texas in Hoover. This time of year, it’s about the about the players, and I just think they were so good tonight. I just think the mentality was good and attacking together, and playing together to win. But Arv, when he throws strikes, it’s pretty darn dynamic. He gives up a homer, no big deal. I love his compete when he gets out there, his maturity. And, you know, couple hits scattered, but four punch outs, no walks. We’ll take that any day of the week.”
On if Arvidson sent the message in the staff and players GroupMe:
“Yes, yes. I don’t know what goes on in the players GroupMe. I don’t ever ask. But yes, that was in our whole one.”
On if there is much conversation in the team’s GroupMe or if it’s just mostly communication about the team’s schedule
“It’s scheduling and then any kind of coaching stuff or whatnot. All the coaches can kind of input some stuff right there, but we always give the players ownership that this is their program, and if they want a message they want to share with their teammates — I’m sure they’re a little particular about which one goes in ours versus theirs, but that was a good one to see this morning. And then to be able to say that, and then come out and do it, that’s what we need to be about around here. So credit to Arv for doing that.”
