What Tony Vitello said after Tennessee Baseball's 7-5 win over Northern Kentucky

Everything head coach Tony Vitello said after Tennessee Baseball’s 7-5 win over Northern Kentucky Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville:

His decision to flip Dean Curley and Gavin Kilen in Tennessee’s infield and the lineup and how he thought it worked out

“We had a bunch of conversations over the weekend and then on Monday, too. And I think that’s something at the beginning of the season we thought we would do anyway. We even talked about doing it mid-game. But you get off to a good start, which is hard to argue. I mean, it was a good start. So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the next thing you know, we got a hamstring injury that kinda throws things out of the loop. But blame it on me for not getting here faster. But here we are. We we know what it’s going to look like when we take the field and it’s either going to be good enough or it’s not. So that’s what it’ll be. 

“And then same thing with some of the other things we did with those really talented kids. We got Ariel (Antigua) and Manny (Marin) defensively. But anyway, we just went with the best lineup we thought we could go with tonight. At the same time, being reasonable, with (Cannon) Peebles wasn’t even in the conversation. But, again, Stone (Lawless) showed you he’s fully capable. And we don’t win the game without Stone tonight. And then we kinda did our little match up deal with with the left fielder, with with Newy (Chris Newstrom) was a good choice against the lefty that started. And then it was good for him to get some reps because he gets cheated in Oxford with being sick. 

“And then, it is a group of position guys where you wish you could make out a 12-man lineup, but we can’t do that. So coming full circle in the month of May, we’ll go with pretty much some similar stuff you saw tonight.”

What he saw from Tennessee starting pitcher Brayden Krenzel and what his role could look like this weekend against Auburn 

“Well, I was just talking with John, and you could have low standards and say, uh, he hadn’t been out there in a couple months, he’d been sick. Really good hit lead-off hitter (at Northern Kentucky). One of the better lead-off hitters in the country. But you still need to pump strikes to the guy, and that’s kind of been his MO anyway. But the good thing about that guy, who’s a dangerous base runner too, and (Northern Kentucky’s Tyler) Shaneyfelt getting on base, it was able to remind us this kid’s got unique composure for a freshman. 

“Again, I was joking with John. I need to quit giving his dad so much credit because mom gets credit too. But he’s kind of got the quarterback poise and presence you want when things are maybe getting a little hairier, there’s extracurricular stuff going on out there. And so I know he threw the ball pretty well, but I was more excited about the composure. And so he’ll go to the bullpen this weekend, and that’s where he’ll be this year. For the rest of the year, he’ll be a guy that I think we have seen can get us out of a jam. And trust in him at the end of the game is not just from me, it’s from all the coaches. Doesn’t go well for whatever reason, can sleep with that just fine. And if it does go well, it’s probably because of that poise and also the good stuff.”

The importance of Michael Sharman’s pitching for Tennessee in Tuesday’s win

“It was good. Maybe he heard the question ‘Why’d you bring him in in the game on Sunday?’ and it didn’t make him happy. Because normally, the way that question is worded is why did you do that? Or (you) shouldn’t have done that. But he’s earned the right to be in the mix of — and I’m being smart aleck. You can give a courtesy chuckle if you want. But he’s — (laughter) thank you. Sounded like Beavis and Butthead. He’s earned the right to be in that group of guys that we can trust. And the way they’ve got Hoover laid out, and then the other crazy stuff can come up, he’s a starter option for us. But you guys have seen how it goes on the weekend. We need every option available. He’s shown that he belongs in that group. Talking about riding your horses or playing your guys. In May, he’s put himself in that category. But it was important for him to right the ship tonight more than anything. I was talking about him personally, but for our team, it was massive. It was the game. And, again, we couldn’t have won without Stone’s effort, and some other guys did good things, but it was the game.”

Tennessee’s offensive approach, having a number of hard hit outs

“Yeah. There was. I think the guys had their own conversation and just to be cautious about, sometimes this offense can explode. It’s capable of doing that. But when it doesn’t some guys think I got to do it all myself and be a hero and launch a ball. And next thing you know, you pile up like six or seven at bats that were kinda worthless. And tonight, as you mentioned, some hard hit outs or I hate to say it, maybe, again, sounds like low standards, but even some of the strikeouts you saw some things in there that were a positive or it was a 3-2 count, couple foul foul balls. It was a borderline strike three or a well located strike three. I’m not criticizing anybody. So the the value of at bats, they’re all equally important. If you can stack up a bunch of them that are quality or team orientated, then it’ll all pay off.”

If Hunter Ensley exited due to anything health related

“No. No. Just a change there so he should be good to go this weekend.”

How he wants his team to respond to a bad month

“I mean, that’s and if people wanna get critical, that’s fine. But if you take a step back, realistic step back and analyze a month, if you win one more game which there was one and and then there’s other teams we’ve played where we kinda won some games. We’re like, man, we kind of— we very easily could’ve lost that one. But if you just win one more game, it’s not a month of championship caliber, but it ain’t a bad month either. So I think you got to put it into perspective a little bit. And then, also, I think for this team, I think you want them to respond with making adjustments and unwavering confidence. If it was the ‘21 team, I’d want them to like bow up and Chad Dallas to be dancing in the locker room to keep everybody loose. And Fergie (Max Ferguson) and Liam (Spence) keeping everybody intense, and no one’s going to disrespect and all that. This team’s got a different flavor to them …But, for me, they’re a very confident group, but they’re a little bit more even keeled, a little more mature than some of the ones we’ve had in the past. So that’s great, but you can’t get complacent and ah it was a doubleheader or that guy was on today. You need to make adjustments to failures that you have or losses you have in the past. So that would be my answer. Unwavering confidence and make adjustments when they’re needed.”

If it’s good for players to learn about the thin margins now compared to the postseason

“No doubt. I think in ’22, we were victimized a little bit by not learning some of those lessons. In ’23, it helped us. And last year, there were some things that popped up on the radar screen. They just weren’t as noticeable because it was, the way the year ended. I guess, is the way to say it. But there were some things that went on probably a few more than you’d like this year. But if you’re going to kinda mix up your best batch or whatever you’re making as a team or just call it, you know, come together as as the best team possible, kind of need to know what good looks like, what bad looks like, and also what worst case scenario looks like. And then push forward.”

Auburn having a strong season after having a down year in 2024

“Well, I mean, again, I’m perspective guy. I think people get a little, sometimes — that’s why I’m not on there (social media). It’s a topic I’d like to talk about with social media, but we’ll — maybe if you guys don’t have questions about it, we’ll leave it alone. But perspective wise, we’ve only been here for a real short time. That guy (Butch Thompson) has been there for a while, and he’s been really good. And if you check his resume before he was there, he’s always been really good, and he knows the league. So there’s gonna be years where they’re a little — when you got Sonny (DiChiara) in the middle of the lineup, it’s gonna be a better year than maybe the next year or the previous year. 

“So they’ve always been good. They’ve always been well coached. They’ve always been competitive. But I think this year, they’ve got a lot of older hitters. They found a guy, transfers from Baton Rouge, and they found a guy that’s a perfect niche for them on Friday. Got a big arm behind him, and then a couple other things going on, on that roster. 

“But I just think they got probably a good group of guys. They probably feel good about the way they’re playing as far as the guys in the locker room. But the program they have down there, it’s the same to me, and that’s more of a compliment than it is.”

How Tennessee’s AJ Russell is feeling after his first SEC start, his possible role for this weekend

“He’s good. Health wise, I think if he’d go back in time, he’d be a little less feely, feeling things out there and a little more just go and get it. We’re kinda to that, again, to that point a year, whatever we’re gonna go get, he’s gonna be a part of it, and he’s the leash is gonna need to get a little longer. That’s more us than him. So he needs to go get us more outs than he got last weekend. 

“And in what capacity, I think in my head, I kinda have an idea, but we’ve had some really good recent convos as a staff, and I value all those guy’s opinions. So we’ll make a decision when we need to. No need to rush.”

Christian Moore returning to Knoxville with the Rocket City Trash Pandas, Moore telling the media earlier in the day that he wanted to surprise Vitello, but Vitello beat him to the punch with reaching out:

“Yeah, I don’t want that guy surprising me. We don’t need him popping up around the corner without knowing. So it’s good there has been correspondence. I appreciate the surprise approach. 

“But I know he’s going to come over here (to campus). We’ve talked about how do we get over there (to the Knoxville Smokies). Some of the kids have seen the ballpark. I’ve driven — well, I’ve been in it now too, but it’d be cool to see. You got, where do you balance that out with handling business? I’m always — it may not seem that way, but I’m kinda always freaking out. I think the guys are too. They want their ducks in a row for Auburn, is the next biggest thing. So we’ll try and balance that out, but it’ll be cool to have them back in town. And it’ll be the first of many that now cycle through Knoxville. And I know, 35-40 minutes (to the old Smokies stadium in Kodak) is not that long of a drive, but when you’re busy and you’ve got games and recruiting, it’s a big difference. And our kids, some of them don’t even have cars. It’s going to be so much easier to stay in touch and watch these guys. So it’ll be fun to see him for sure.”