Tennessee baseball dropped its series finale against Texas 13-6 on Sunday afternoon as its makeshift pitching staff faltered in game three of the weekend series.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed the bad day for the pitching staff, Reese Chapman’s two home runs and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
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On his assessment of the pitching staff
“Not good enough. Just looking at some notes from the game, 10 walks, gave up four homers, nine or 10 runs with two outs. Just weren’t able to finish things, and just need to attack the strike zone better. When you get to double-digit walks, you really don’t even need to look at the score at the end of the game, because it’s not going to end up being a good deal. So need to be better, need to make adjustments with Mack out. We were going to have to mix and match all day today. I thought some of the guys competed well, but it needs to be better all the way around.”
On what went wrong for Taylor Tracey
“Just wasn’t throwing strikes, just walking guys. And again, just missing — the zones are tight in the SEC at times, but again, some of the misses weren’t competitive right there. Again, he’s been good for us at times this year and just needs to make those adjustments for his next time up.”
On what he saw from Will Haas and Chandler Day
“I thought Day did a good job of kind of slowing down things a little bit. I mean, that turned into a mess real quick there. But then Haas, the stuff is good. It’s just we’re having to kind of monitor him still as he gets away from getting healthy.
“But those two, make up, good, stuff, throwing it over the plate. Both those, I think Haas walked one guy or whatever it may be. But good opportunity for those guys to figure out what they can do in SEC play. So those two have been good, and I think they’ll continue to be better.”
On having the game 7-4 in the sixth inning before it got away from them
“I thought the offense did a good job just punching back, in that first inning to really tie the game, hit the reset button. But we’re trying to just bridge how do we get to Rhudy where, ‘Hey, we can get, maybe 40, 50, 60 pitches.’ And at that point in the game, three-run game, should be, hey, anybody should be able to come in and compete over the white and give us a chance. And didn’t get that done right there. And then they’re able to blow it open with a big swing off Rhudy. And they forced our hand getting him in a little bit earlier than we wanted to. But just needs to come in with a little more conviction. I know it’s not the coziest spot with the bases dumped.
He’s throwing strikes, we can live with that. But I thought our stuff was a little bit better after the homer. So, don’t wait around, let’s cut it loose out of the gate.”
On how to balance a bad Sunday with a series win
“I think you have to take some perspective. I talked to the guys last night about how you win late in games or how you finish games. You got to communicate, you got to be tough, and then you got to dominate the fundamentals.
“We did not do that today in any capacity. Again, when you walk 10 guys, you can’t do that, especially with a program like the Texas Longhorns. Again, they’re hitting the ball out of the yard today.
“I think really, it’s a flush — ‘Hey, we won the weekend, it’s a win, but there’s stuff we need to make adjustments on. There’s plenty of baseball left.’ But also, too, just dealing with — it’s going to get hotter here down the stretch. I’m sure it’ll be hot in Oklahoma and it always is in Hoover. So making sure our guys have what puts them in a position to have success not only on Tuesday but the rest of the way with this group.”
On Reese Chapman having a big weekend in his final home series
“He’s an easy guy to root for and a true Volunteer. It means a lot to me and a lot of people I know. He’s just a special player, just elite makeup, and then it just gets better. That at-bat today off of Burns or whoever it was, that was one of the best at-bats I’ve seen in a long time.
The guy’s throwing three different pitches. They’re all premium by any metric that you look at, and just fighting and trying to win. That’s what he’s trying to do, and I think he puts us in a position to win. But thankful every day he’s here and Reese is a warrior.”
On striking out 13 times on Sunday
“I thought our guys did a good job the first two days. I mean, even with this pitching staff able to scratch six again on a Sunday, and that’s some really arms good over there. If you start with Ruger (Riojas), he was mixing and matching, he throws four or five different pitches.
I’m sure you saw he’s dropping some slots at times, too. So it’s again, moxie, poise, he can do some different things. We tag him early, then he flips, he starts just jamming heaters by us. So kind of the game within the game of our guys making those adjustments, got him early, but need to adjust a little bit more.
“And then you got big stuff with (Thomas) Burns, and (Haiden) Leffew was here last year with Wake. It’s a big lefty. It’s a portal guy with three pitches for strikes. And then, (Sam) Cozart, that’s a pretty dang good arm there at the end, too. So I thought our guys did a good job of kind of scratching and clawing and keeping us in the game because if we don’t get out of the gates in that first inning, it could have got ugly real quick.
“But facing good arms is going to be the theme the rest of the year, but our offense should have a lot of confidence moving forward after facing some really good arms this weekend.”
On punching back two games in a row, if that’s new or not
“I think it’s probably a little bit of combination of both. I mean, we’ve been in that position. I prefer if we throw the first punch, that would be nice, which we’ll have the opportunity to do this week moving forward. But I think it’s good, especially with the offense. There’s been some resiliency there. Understanding, hey, whatever it may be, what kind of offensive day or day of the week, let’s just work together and find a way. I just don’t think the emotional swings are as big as they were early in the year with the younger club. I think they’re getting a little bit better about that. That needs to be the theme down the stretch because there’s going to be plenty of back and forth to come.”
On winning series against three of the best four SEC teams
“I think they’re all good. You got to try to rank them. It’s a waste of time. Everybody’s good. Anybody can win on any day. And I think this year is even more of an example than maybe years in the past. And each year is mutually exclusive, a little bit different. But I think for us, it’s the fundamental things we talk about all the time, is fighting to score first and score more than 6 runs and limiting our free 90s. When we do that, we’re a pretty darn good group. But again, we beat two of the better starters in the SEC, and they’re all good. But at the same time, I think they just need to realize each day you got to finish and you can’t be satisfied with one win or two wins.”
On if he thinks his team plays with a different edge against better opponents
“That’s a good question. I don’t think so. I think a lot of it, the first two games, I thought our crowd put us in a position with just the environment that they created, put some pressure on the other team. I think it truly is a home field advantage when we get rocking and rolling. And looking back to Alabama, the way they supported us there to be able to win two games in a doubleheader, looking back, that’s a pretty darn big day for this club. But, no, I don’t think so.
“I think our guys respect the league. We talk about respecting everybody and then fearing none and making sure you’re on the hunt and attacking. But, no, ad nauseam, we tell them that anybody’s good, anybody can win any day. So I think our guys are truly bought into that.”
On if he has any update on Landon Mack’s injury status
“Yeah, no updates at this time. You know, today being Mother’s Day, I know everybody’s, again, wants to know about what’s going on there. But we’ll have more of an update next week. And as soon as we have that, we’ll let you guys know.”
