Hunter Ensley walked into the batting cages at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for his postgame press conference following Tennessee’s 3-2 series-opening win over Vanderbilt on Friday night. On his own accord, Ensley closed the garage doors to block out the noise from the fans outside and walked to the assembled media.
The small, rather trivial task said much about Tennessee’s senior centerfielder. Ensley’s teammates jokingly call him “grandpa” but he is the know it all, do it all force for Tennessee baseball in a season of transition.
“The influence and kind of the calm and the leadership,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said postgame. “I think he’s started to direct traffic a little bit more this time of year, which is needed.”
Ensley made nearly too many big plays to count in the Vols’ rivalry win Friday night. The fifth-year senior had a strong night at the plate when offense was hard to come by for both teams. He roped a single down the line in the first inning that “gave confidence” to an ailing Tennessee offense against Vanderbilt ace JD Thompson, proving meaningful despite getting thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.
Two at-bats later, Ensley got the double he was looking for with a hard hit liner in the right-center gap to leadoff the sixth inning.
“Don’t forget about the slide at home plate,” Vitello added.
One at-bat after Ensley’s sixth inning leadoff double, Dalton Bargo lined a single to left field and Ensley scored on a bang-bang play at the plate where he just slipped his hand under Vanderbilt catcher Colin Barczi’s glove to steal a key insurance run.
Ensley wasn’t done sabotaging Barczi’s night. With one-on and one-out in the top of the seventh Inning, Barczi hammered a hanging breaking ball deep to centerfield. Ensley made a spectacular leaping catch to, at the least, rob Barczi of a RBI double.
Vanderbilt’s Braden Holcomb was so confident the ball would hit or clear the wall that he was already around second base. He beat the ball back to first base but forgot to touch second base on his way. A review proved it and led to an inning ending double play in the most improbable fashion.
“Hunter’s catch itself was a game saver,” Vitello said. “That’s the only way really to describe it.”
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Ensley’s made so many jaw dropping plays in centerfield over the last three years that hard ones are starting to look routine. That proved true in the eighth inning when he made a difficult running catch towards the wall and on the game’s final play when a rare misread on a hard liner forced him to make a sliding grab to seal the win.
“I don’t know a better defensive center fielder in the country,” Tennessee ace Liam Doyle said. “Obviously he’s made a ton of great plays. You always have some confidence he’s going to catch it.”
Ensley’s good at everything on the field and is great defensively in centerfield. But he’s “more valuable” to Tennessee for his calming presence and leadership.
“I’ve had five seasons here now and pretty much have seen everything so I feel like I’m a good resource for those guys to talk through situations like this,” Ensley said.
“It’s good to always have that guy that’s been around,” Doyle said. “A guy that has a ton of confidence not only in himself, so he can demonstrate it, but just as a team as a whole. The SEC is tough, man. You’re going to win some games and lose some games but he’s always kept us on the straight line. Great leader, great player.”
That experience and leadership is particularly important for a young Tennessee team that entered this weekend losers of four of its last five series. He sent a text of encouragement to teammates earlier this week and is a trustworthy voice in the locker room.
“It was just, get it done,” Ensley said. “I think we’re to the point in the season, we’re in May, you have to show up to win games. That’s why we’re here. And my message really to everyone (was) it’s not really the team on the other side. For us, we just have to go out there and compete better.”
“It’s also going to be a deal where no one is not going to respect anything that comes out his mouth,” Vitello said. “And he’s not a big yapper. So, if he says something, it has value.”
With the postseason nearing and Tennessee struggling to find its footing, the Vols need every bit of on-field production and off-field presence that Ensley can provide. Friday’s opener was a perfect indication.
