Tony Vitello says early deficit vs. Kentucky is great test for Tennessee

Tennessee found itself in a hole in Sunday’s rubber match game against Kentucky after the border-state rivals split Friday and Saturday installments.

Sunday, Tennessee got on top first with a two-run homer but Kentucky was quickly able to get back in the mix thanks to a couple of solo homers. But the Wildcats erupted in the bottom of the fourth to score four more runs and take a 6-2 advantage into the fifth.

In that fifth inning, Volunteer coach Tony Vitello stopped to chat with the SEC Network broadcasting crew to break down the series.

“Yeah, back and forth with good baseball,” he briefly summarized of the weekend before explaining his major error today. “Last inning wasn’t good baseball on our part, should’ve made a change when I wanted to there, so that’s on me.”

However, says Vitello, this is a great gut check for his group.

“But we’ve got a bunch of guys that like being in the fight and bouncing back, so we’ll see if they’re ripe for that test today.”

Next, Vitello was asked about first baseman Blake Burke, who performed well at the plate and in the field through 2.5 games in Lexington. This is a guy he really loves watching grow.

“I mean, he’s greatly improved defensively, and also, incredibly matured as a hitter. I don’t know, day dreaming in the hotel about different games and situations, just it’s been a pretty impressive three years with that kid, and this year’s obviously not complete. When his time is done that’s going to be a pretty good story.”

Of course, Tennessee is baseball’s most unstoppable offense, particularly thanks to their patience at the plate, but Tony Vitello says that’s not something you can credit him for, but rather, third base coach Josh Elander.

“That’s the guy over there next to the camera, third base Coach Elander is really good at breaking down things with our hitters. It’s good, they’re disciplined in the box. If they followed their head coach, their discipline would probably be that of a third grader.”

Elander serves as the Tennessee’s third base coach as well as the associate head coach to Vitello. And his teaching really came through as the Vols certainly showed they are “ripe” for the test, as Vitello laid out, scoring five runs in the sixth to re-take the lead after getting down by four runs in the fourth inning.