Tennessee baseball head coach Josh Elander met with the media following the Vols’ 9-2 series-opening loss to Kentucky Friday in Lexington.
Elander discussed Tegan Kuhns’ rocky start, the offense’s struggles against Kentucky starter Ben Cleaver and more.
On what went wrong for Tegan Kuhns:
“I thought he was firing strikes early. He did a really good job of getting out of the first. That could have gotten messy pretty quickly, leaves those guys stranded at second and third. But leaves a hanging breaking ball, guy (Ethan Hindle) hits one into the wind, and tip of the cap, he just stayed on one to right. Really was the difference with 5 runs right there, just 2 pitches that weren’t executed well.
“(He) gave us some length, which is good going into tomorrow, but when the wind’s blowing out like that, you have to keep the ball down a little bit better.”
On if there was a thought of taking Kuhns out of the game in the fifth inning:
“No, he was only at about 70 pitches at that point. Facing a younger guy in the lineup, tip of the cap, breaking ball, gets to the bottom and hits it. But right there on Friday night, you need length. Starters with 70 pitches need to be getting close to 100 this time of year.”
On what led to the offense’s struggles against Ben Cleaver:
“Just a tip of the cap to (Ben) Cleaver. It’s a guy that has kind of thrown under the hitting speed, a lot of 83, 85 (mph), but too many pull-side ground balls, pop-ups, and first-pitch outs. It’s not a good strategy against anybody that you face. Too many pull-side ground balls, and that’s one we talk about a ton. We’re going to have to make that adjustment quickly.”
On the challenge of losing several series openers, having an uphill climb for remainder of series:
“It is hard. I told the guys we’ve continued to choose to do it the hard way, so we need to find a way and bounce back tomorrow. They got their guy that they like on the mound, but we just need a better effort all the way around in every capacity because we did not play well tonight.”
On if there’s a commonality to the struggles in game ones:
“That’s a great question. I think we’ve mixed and matched on who we start, who gets us out of the gate. We’ve made some adjustments with the lineup, whatever it may be, but again, at this point in the 8th SEC series of the year, these guys need to know what SEC baseball is about on Friday.
“If you come out and have an offensive approach like that and boot the ball around a little bit and don’t execute pitches, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing or what day, you’re not going to get it done.”
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On what he saw from Taylor Tracey in the seventh inning:
“It’s just the free 90s (free bases). What it comes down to, these few walks at the end. He’s got good enough stuff and his numbers are fine throughout the course of the year. And those guys want innings in SEC and sometimes you get on the road. You just got to go in there and compete. But when you start giving up free 90 feet, that’s not a good strategy at any point, especially when the wind is blowing out like it was tonight. You get some guys on base and you don’t execute one pitch, it can cost you three runs in a hurry.”
On if Garrett Wright caught Tegan Kuhns based on him doing so the past month:
“Yeah, those two have been a great pair together. And again, when you look at defense, you want to make sure the pitcher is taken care of. And those two have had some good back-to-back-to-back outings together. But really good job by Stone (Lawless) coming off the bench right there – hitting a laser right there in the 6-hole. Hopefully (it) will carry over to tomorrow.”
On moving Levi Clark up in the order and what he has liked about is production of late:
“Just looking at SEC-only stats, he’s driving in runs for us. That 5-6 spot, whether it be Reese (Chapman) or whoever is in the mix there, (if) those guys do their job at the top, they’ll have a chance to execute and drive in some runs. Mixing a walk, take some good swings tonight, and he needs to continue doing that for us.”
On the message to the team after the game:
“Just got to hit the reset button and got to play better. I think little things like. There’s so many things we could talk about tonight that we didn’t do well, but we need to flush. We got a 2:00 (p.m.) game tomorrow. Need to hit the reset button and be ready to compete. We’ve been in this position before, so whatever those guys have done last week or some of the prior weeks, I need to lean on that and be ready to go in the morning.”
On if there’s a comfort level with Evan Blanco on the mound Saturday:
“He’s been throwing the ball well for us all year and we need him to keep doing that. I think he’s a guy that’s capable of throwing on any three of the weekend days and wanted to mix and match a little bit. Obviously, (Landon) Mack going on Sunday, give him a little more breathing room. A couple chances to get back on the mound. Before being in the game. But Blanco has been awesome where he’s like, ‘Just let me know when I’m going and I’ll be ready to go.’ Just needs to attack the strikes on the ball.”
