Tennessee baseball could not complete the series sweep of Wright State, falling to the Raiders 6-0 on Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. It ended a six-game winning streak for Tennessee and was the first shutout loss of the season.
Following the game, a frustrated Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed his disappointment in the offense, Sunday struggles and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
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On what led to Tennessee LHP Evan Blanco’s struggles in the sixth after not allowing a hit through the first five innings
“I thought he threw the ball great, really, up to that point. I mean, he was cruising, had all the pitches going and kept those lefties off balance. But again, your leadoff guy gets on and then give another free 90, it can be a mess real quick. It’s just a rude reminder that at any point the game can turn at any point. But again, we talking about protecting 90 feet.
“But overall, he did a tremendous job today. I thought he really gave us a chance to win, and just frustrated with our offensive performance in a multitude of ways, but part of it is because of how well he threw the ball. He should have had a chance to win the game for us, right there.”
On what ways he’s frustrated with the offensive performance
“Yeah, just immaturity across the board. I mean, guys taking huge swings when we’re down three. I mean, in between on heaters and changeups, a lot of pull-side ground ball misses, and I think we hit 12 or 13 fly ball outs. You know, 50-plus degree launch, and the math is very simple on that, you’re out when you do that.
“So for us to not make the adjustment collectively, or to coach them better to where they can make those adjustments throughout the game, left a really bad taste in everybody’s mouth after otherwise, a pretty good week for our crew.”
On how to make the offensive adjustments needed it going forward
“Yeah, there’s a lot of different ways, but it needs to be a commitment from the players, too, to make the adjustments within the game and control their emotions, and not try to do too much. I think you get those bigger swings, and it’s just self awareness, like we talked about yesterday. I mean, guys trying to do too much, you need to work together, get some traffic on the bases in that scenario. And this offense is more than capable, but to this point, it has not been anywhere close to what the standards of this team and what the previous teams here have been.”
On what he takes from a 4-1 week, but losing the series finale to Wright State in frustrating fashion
“Well, I think the main thing is we can be better, right? We got a lot of baseball in our belt this week. And to me, the bright spot of the day is Manny Marion responded to being challenged a little bit and says he wants to play some more baseball. So he will, because he earned that today.
“And then some of the guys, my question was, ‘are we going to do this or not?’ Right? We’ve been going back and forth with the lineup or whatever, but the lack of consistency there a little bit is concerning. But it was good to see Manny compete and some other guys.
“But again, guys throwing strikes. Appy (Cameron Appenzeller) is making a big jump. I thought (Bo) Rhudy again, for the most part, is showing he can do some stuff. And then we feel really good about (Brayden) Krenzel, and obviously Tegan (Kuhns) and (Landon) Mack. So I think we got the pitching in a good spot, and then just got to get that offense rocking and rolling — and long term, I still feel good about the group. I do. But there’s some different changes that need to be made there.”
If he feels like he has a grasp on who the best nine Tennessee hitters are
“I mean, we feel like we have 10, 11 guys that are capable of playing every day in this league. So at the same time, they got to do it, right? At this point, we can talk about talent or potential, but it’s time to kind of close the gap, and our guys need to get going. So again, we’ll look at matchups and stuff. When you get to the league, you have more information, especially when you get to SEC play, right? So put those guys in better positions based on pitch profiles and what the swing profile is or whatever. But at the end of the day, our guys just need to compete better on offense, and we didn’t do good enough today.”
On if the offensive approach issues were from the jump or if they increased as the game went on
“No, again, I don’t know. The flavor just wasn’t good today, right? I mean, BP and the lead up to, it was great. I thought the guys did a good job getting out of bed with the time change and everything, and no different than pregame the previous days. And again, I think maybe some frustration there, whatever, but just got too many pop ups. I mean, if you hit pop ups in this league, you’re going to be out. I mean, anybody can catch a pop up, right? So again, need to get on top of the ball a little bit more. It’s not like the stuff was overwhelming, and credit to the Wright State starter. (He) Did a good job of pitching on the edges, but nothing that we’re not going to see throughout the year. So we need to adjust better.”
On what impressed him most about Manny Marin’s response to Elander’s challenge
“Again, I just thought he’s competing. That was good to see him in the eighth inning. He hits that double right there. I was like, okay, here we go. Showing a little bit of fire there for the first time in a while. My challenge to him has been, whoever’s going to play shortstop in the middle— I want you to command the field. Have some mojo and make sure you’re directing traffic and all that too. So he makes a really good play early in the game. And I thought he competed very well today. But at the same time, it’s just one day. We are looking for guys to stack quality days and finish weeks. And that’s the frustrating thing, again, that we did not finish this week.”
On if the play at the plate in the third inning was just making Wright State play catch
“100%. Yeah, we got two outs right there. Again, Henry scorches that ball 105 (mph) but I’ll send that guy 99 out of 100 times right there. And credit to the defense. I mean, they did a good job. Levi went straight in like he’s taught. They were strong around the base. So another good play for Wright State today.”
On if there’s any adjustments Blanco can make to stop giving up free bases
“I think he just needs to get with (pitching coach Josh) Reyn(olds). Whether it be some pitch calling, and we’re trying to hit all the quadrants of the plates so whatever it may be. But long term, I got a lot of confidence in Evan Blanco, right? I mean, he threw the ball very very well today. Again, we just got to realize we talked about it a ton. Those 90 feet, especially when you get to league play, you give out a free 90. There’s a guy that can pop one at any point right behind it, but the way he competed in the strike zone today, if you can do that over a long period of time, it’ll give us a chance to win a bunch.”
On the frustration of ending a good week with a loss on Sunday
“I mean, we need to make some adjustments— the coaching staff too, because again, today is unacceptable, right? I mean, to get shut out on our home field. There’s only so many times I’ve worn this uniform, we’ve been shut out over the time. So the guys need to take it personal. It needs to burn a little bit, and they need to remember it when we go to work tomorrow. Because , again, We got another week on deck, but hit the reset button tomorrow and keep the big picture in mind, but this needs to be some sort of change in behavior moving up here.”
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