Tennessee baseball used a six-run eighth inning to knock off Northern Kentucky 12-6 on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols could not afford to drop the midweek game for their NCAA Tournament hopes and survived the scare.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed bounce back pitching performances, preparing for Mississippi State and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Survives Midweek Scare Against Northern Kentucky
On what he is seeing from Blake Grimmer in this hot stretch
“I think he’s just settling in and the thing that’s cool is he is hitting all kinds of different pitches: sliders, curveballs, heaters and that second one he hit tonight was crushed. I got a new perspective from where I’m standing (in the dugout), but when guys are able to hit homers and essentially just walk where they are completely under control and they can sit there for a minute, that is a dangerous spot when they can get there.
“He’s seeing baseballs right now and that’s what we need in the middle of the order. Hopefully it continues.”
On Bo Rhudy and Brady Frederick bouncing back
“It was phenomenal. We need them. I challenged the ‘pen after last weekend. We talked about it again after the game tonight and Frederick made some adjustments. We talked about some different deals. I just thought he’s really been getting ambushed. The one (Cade) Arrambide hit out to left was a tip of the cap slider. You never see a pitch from that angle. But the second one was really middle-middle that darted out to right. So just got to make some adjustments. That’s what it’s about. So hopefully you guys saw a little bit different slots and was doing some different thing with the heater, creating some different shades where they’re not able to cut one side of the plate and just focus on one side. That was a really good response.
“And then Rhudy, didn’t want to use him tonight to be honest. I thought at that point in the game, we drop a pop up and that can not happen, regardless of twilight or lights in our league. You can’t be giving out those free 90 feets. He did a really good job of putting out the fire right there and doing some different things. And that theme for the group needs to be very simple, keep making those adjustments and keep competing. That was a good response by those two.”
On how nice it was to see the offense explode in the eighth inning
“It was really good. It starts with Manny taking a walk, not trying to do too much. And then you get on there, you got to take advantage when they give you free 90 feets. And I thought it was awesome (Nathan) Eisfelder gets his first start, had some really good swings, makes a nice play in right-center. And there’s no ego right there. Hands off that at-bat to Tyler (Myatt) and Myatt crushes one again, and then just working together. Trent, it was nice to see him get his first home run, I know he was pretty excited. And his teammates were for him too, which is probably one of the coolest things and the best signs you can see is when those teammates are equally or more fired up for you, but just a lot of good things and not trying to do too much. And we need to be able to put up those four or five six spots when we can.”
On his assessment of his offense’s ability to hit the ball to all different parts of the field
“Yeah, I think you can look at some different things, numbers, they’re not where they need to be. If you look at just specifically in SEC play, and there’s some guys that are hitting lower, maybe towards the .200 mark that I think have a chance to be impact players in this league. And not even to that halfway point. So again, we’ll continue to make adjustments. We’re going to see some different looks but I got a ton of confidence in those guys. I think really the focus needs to be instead of, hey, what’s my average? It’s are we executing in spots? Are we using the whole field? Are we in a position that is putting the offense as a whole, and our team, to have success? And I think that’s where the focus has been with the guys, instead of, hey, where am I hitting? Or what’s my average? And whatnot. But it can always be better, but we’ll continue to grind away with those guys.”
On what he envisions sophomore Tyler Myatt’s role being right now given how good he has been in pinch-hit situations
“Well, I think the second-base spot has been very fluid all year long. And you know, Ariel (Antigua) is in a better spot now with his shoulder, he’s in a good spot. Was nice to get him back out there tonight with what he can do defensively.
“But (Myatt) just needs to take the same approach to starting. I know that’s an easier said than done thing, but not trying to do too much, and he’s really just squaring it up. I thought when he came off the bench on Sunday, maybe just a little bit underneath the ball trying to leave the yard, which is normal human nature, and that’s why you want to be the hero, or whatever it may be. But he needs to stick with what works, and that seems to be that low-heart rate and getting into good counts, and then driving balls when he gets there.”
On the latest with injured Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless (multiple facial fractures)
“Stone is — he actually looks a lot better. Was pretty scary there for the first few days. I mean, the eye was essentially swollen shut, and he’s going through the process and the prognosis was, ‘hey, we’ll kind of wait and see,’ and we’re still a little bit there, but little bit more cautiously optimistic than we were. But any sort of definitive timeline, we’re going to have to let it play out a little bit more. But if you saw him today, it looks just kind of like a bruise on his eye, and it’s good to see him looking normal again at this point.”
On if Stone Lawless will need surgery at some point
“Yeah, that’ll be down the road. The first thing will be, have to get that nose fixed. The way it hit him, and the orbital bone, and then it basically went two different directions right there. So that’ll be the first thing. We’ll have to get that box checked. But we got great people in the room and in the building that’ll get him taken care of. I know he’s chomping at the bit to get back out there.”
On why Tennessee freshman Nathan Eisfelder earned the start in right field
“Well, we talked with the team, just when you go with the bench, like (Tyler) Myatt coming off left-handed, or Jay’s (Abernathy) left-handed, we need another right-handed option right there, and he’s been limited (in his) at-bats. Nate had a so-so fall, but was a really good high school recruit, and played IMG, and he’s a winner. Behind the scenes, we talk about development all the time, but it’s an everyday thing around here. So Wednesday, these guys are getting live ABs or challenges, and (he) continues to leave the yard and put up quality at-bats. I just thought it was time to give him a chance because he’s earned it every single day. I thought he did a good job of kind of checking that box. We’ll continue to see how we mix-and-match there, but like Ben alluded to, if we’re not getting the results offensively that we want, I think you have to be able to mix and match a little bit, and try some different things.”
On where Tennessee sophomore RHP Brayden Krenzel is at right now amid his struggles
“That’s a great question. You know, that was one thing we wanted to get him out there tonight. I know that they’re continuing to work on some things with the delivery to get him back in the strike zone, because objectively, when Krenz is Krenz, the stuff is gross. It’s really, really good stuff. It’s 98 (mph) with a really good breaking ball, but there’s been a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde right there. So it’s our job as coaches to work him through that, and I’m confident our pitching staff and everybody to get him there, but we’d like to get him in there tonight, but we’ll get him some work on the mound tomorrow, and then we’ll get him back out there.
“I talked to him pregame. He’s in a good headspace, and we just need him to get in that right spot and get back to attacking like he does, because he’s really, really good when he does that.”
On the lengthy talk to the team in the outfield after the game, if it was to prepare for the weekend or to fix mistakes from tonight
“A little bit of both. I mean, Sunday, that’s a pretty emotional — and there’s a lot of words that I could use for that Sunday game. Just sitting there, we talked about the pop up. Like, that’s one thing that bugs me. I learned a long time ago, anytime you win, it’s a good day, period, right? But if you don’t fix the things that can hurt you down the line, it’s going to hurt you and you’re not going to win games. So, just talked about some pop up stuff, some competitive stuff right there.
“But my challenge for the team was, we’ve been through the mud here a little bit, right? So, it’s very simple. The next time we’re there, whether it’s Friday, or two weeks, or three weeks, it’s, ‘Hey, oh no, here we go again,’ or it’s, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before. No problem.’ Link up with the guy next to you and let’s go compete. But just need to pay attention to eliminating the free 90-feets. We’ve talked about it with those guys, but just wanted to make sure that, hey, we’re excited about the win. But also, too, we need to make sure as we continue to get better and make these adjustments, we can talk about these close games, but we have to make the behavioral changes and then execute better to get to where we want to go. So that was more just kind of the all-encompassing thing of the last couple weeks, and that had their attention there at the end of the game.”
On if there’s potential for more starting rotation or staff changes this week and if he’s considered using Cam Appenzeller twice on weekends
“Yeah, Cam is a really special arm and turned down a lot of money to come to school. So that’s one, especially with being — he’s a freshman, right? So first time he’s gone through this and I’ve seen with Frank (Anderson) and the guys over the years, you have to be careful with those guys because this is going to be the biggest workload jump they’ve ever had going from high school to their first year of college. So, that’s something in the back of the mind, and what I love about Cam is how he is so low-maintenance, but also I will never take for granted how lucky we are to have him on campus and never put him in a position where he’s not in a position to have success long-term.
“So, we’ve talked about some different things. About, ‘Hey, do we do some changes or whatever?’ But we’ll get through (Wednesday). The guys will compete a little bit, but I don’t really anticipate any huge changes. We just need to be better at the end of games.”
On what stands out about Mississippi State
“Not a ton. We saw them down there (in Arlington, Texas). They were at the same tournament. I know it’s a lot of players from Virginia and a lot of players from Mississippi State. They essentially took a lot of those great players and stacked them into one team. Ace Reese is the focal point in the middle, who is one of the most feared hitters in the country. But as we look into the SEC, now, as we get into the bigger deal, we’ll have to look at, hey, what is the stats for the whole year versus just SEC? There usually can be some discrepancies or differences there that you can attack in different ways.
“But it’s a talented club that’s coached very well. (Brian O’Connor) is a championship-level coach. He’s done it, been to Omaha as a player and then, obviously, as a coach. We’re excited for the challenge and some warmer weather. (We’ll) get down there and see what we got.”
