Everything Tony Vitello said on a Knoxville Regional opening win over Miami (OH)

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media on Friday night following his club’s win over Miami (OH) to begin the Knoxville Regional. Below is video and a written transcript from the Tennessee postgame press conference.

Up Next: Tennessee advances on in the winner bracket of the Knoxville Regional to take on No. 3 seed Cincinnati on Saturday evening at 6 o’clock. The winner of that ballgame has a chance to claim the regional championship on Sunday and punch thier ticket to supers.

Opening Statement…
“I don’t have much of anything crazy to say, other than we watched some video on these
guys – it’s very apparent they play the game the right way. They play hard. There’s a reason
why they were able to win the [MAC] tournament. They kind of made it look easy. So, it was
a very competitive game, especially early on. I thought both of our lefties, [Liam Doyle and
Andrew Behnke], did an outstanding job. I know we mixed in [Austin] Breedlove in there, he
did exactly what we asked him to do. Behnke was very similar to what he was last year in
our regional to help kind of finish off the game for us. And then both teams can say this, I
thought our guys took a lot of good swings where we didn’t necessarily get a great result.
So that’s an approach we’d like to keep. And I’m sure Miami of Ohio is saying the same
thing, because they barreled up some balls they didn’t get anything on either. Great
environment, as well. First game was very competitive. It was loud, at least in the office,
and then the crowd doubled in size and probably doubled in noise too.”

On Liam Doyle finding his groove in today’s outing…
“It was huge. It is a tournament. I mean, it’s really a fresh start to the whole deal. There’s a
lot of information from the games we played prior, but none of them really matter. It is
about tonight, or at least was, but you do have a tournament, again, you’re in the middle of.
For him to do that, not only—I’m sure he feels good about and it helped capitalize on the
runs we were scoring in the middle of the game—but put us in a good position with our
bullpen.”

On navigating this season coming off of last year’s result…
“It was a headache going into the year and early parts of the fall. You’ve got commitments
and requests and even celebrations that maybe kind of interfere with what this group is
trying to do. I think it was kind of unspoken. And at times in our meeting room during the
season, at times, it was said out loud that we need to come together as a group. It needs to
be about this year all that good stuff that can sometimes sound corny, but it really
happened. I mean, they kind of forged together, merged together as a group with a lot of
new faces, like Liam [Doyle]. The team chemistry was built and then there was a little bit of,
call it edge, or motivation or focus, to make sure there’s a clear line of separation. This is a
new year and we’re not going to get caught with the hangover from last year, or however
you want to phrase it. We came out of the gate strong, probably you could argue a little bit
too strong. I think some people outside of this room thought you can play this game and be
invincible and roll up on people, especially in our league, which this time of year,
everybody’s capable of being the best team in any league. It was an interesting storyline,
but I thought this group did a phenomenal job with it. Then when the league started, we had
a winning record in the league. We dished out more than we took, but we took a lot too, and
it’s one of the reasons why SEC teams have fared fairly well in postseason. It prepares you
going through all that stuff.”

On if he knows Jordan Bischel and what they were able to see out of Cincinnati today…
“[He was at] Central Michigan. We didn’t play them, but one of our staff members worked
for him last year. We certainly know he’s won everywhere he’s been, despite maybe not
having the resources where others have a little more favorable circumstances, I guess is
the easiest way to say it. He’s won everywhere he’s been. And a part of it is what he likes to
do with the numbers and really implement a very specific style of baseball. Those guys, like
I said, everyone was energized here for game one of the playoffs, but they’ve got a little
extra stuff going on energy-wise and team camaraderie-wise in the dugout. And then also,
they want to do a bunch of different things on offense. So, they were able to beat, again,
another outstanding team, [Wake Forest], from a phenomenal league by using exactly the
brand of baseball that he’s tried to kind of stamp on any program he’s been a part.”

Liam Doyle Transcript

On his early-inning approach and what changed during the middle innings that caused
him to settle in…
“Yeah, just had a little adrenaline going. I was leaving pitches over the middle plate, I felt
like, and getting behind in counts. And then just towards the end of the game, started
throwing strikes, started throwing my off-speed pitches in the zone early in the count. And
[I was] just getting ahead of hitters and attacking zone, trusting my defense, and strikeouts
come with that, which is nice. But [ I was just trying to] give my team a chance to win and
play baseball.”

On how aware he is of his pitch count during the game…
“Sometimes I know, sometimes I don’t, but I still stick with my same approach. No matter
what my pitch count is at, whether it’s low or high. I’m trying to attack the zone and fill up
hitters. So, I mean, I feel like every pitcher they are lying to you if they say they don’t
necessarily know where their pitch count is around, but it doesn’t change my approach or
anything. I just kind of try to throw strikes and give my team a chance to win.”

On how his fastball is playing over the past three weeks…
“Sometimes hitters are sitting fastball, but I’ve also worked behind in counts, I feel like,
more than have the rest of season the past three weeks. So, I think when you’re down 2-0
or 3-1 in a count, it’s pretty easy to put a swing on a fastball. At this level, hitters are really
good and talented. So, the fastball hasn’t changed metrically or analytically or velocitywise, but people are putting good swings on it. They see the film from the whole season,
what’s going on, but I’m not going to change, still going to be competing, still going to throw
my fastball.”

On how he feels about Andrew Behnke looking like his old self tonight…
“I feel like having three pitching coaches, pretty much, on staff is pretty nice. It’s hard not
to get better, but hopefully he’s one of many guys that we have on our roster—there’s a ton
of talent in the pitching room—that continue to improve throughout the season and the
more the more pitching the better. So, it was good to see him go out there tonight and
succeed.”

Reese Chapman Transcript

On the positives from the offense…
“We were up there trying to compete. [Cooper Katskee] filled the zone and we were trying
to get quality at-bats and put our best swing on it. We see the pitch the best that we could
possibly see and then put the best possible swing we could possibly put on it. I think those
quality at bats added up in our favor.”

On his home run…
“It was a fastball. I was trying to stay to it as long as I could. And happened to spin it out.”

On Liam Doyle as a pitcher, the energy that he brings and how easy is it to play behind
him…
“Yeah, it’s really easy. He’s there, he’s attacking the zone and his energy wears off on all of
us. It’s just exciting to play behind him.”