Vol Club Confidential: Billy Amick
Tennessee third baseman Billy Amick joined Vol Club Confidential this week sponsored by Knoxville Smiles to discuss his transition to Rocky Top.
“I’ve loved getting to be here and play in front of this fan base,” Amick said. “It’s been a great experience. I had heard about the fans at Tennessee and how passionate they are but getting to be here and plays these games in front of all these people we can fit into Lindsey Nelson Stadium has been great. I’m just ready to get the rest of this season going and keep playing with these boys.”
Amick halted his nine-game skid without an RBI in a major way on Sunday. He drove in a run on an RBI double in the fourth and then sent the fifth grand slam of the season for the Volunteers over the left field wall. Amick joined teammates Robin Villeneuve, Cal Stark, Dean Curley and Reese Chapman who have also accomplished the feat. After the game, Tony Vitello was more than happy to see him deliver.
“It was great to just see him smile,” Vitello said. “Yesterday, a fan said something to me where, I guess I laughed a little bit, but [Cannon] Peebles laughed a ton. Today, Billy [Amick], when he crossed home plate, it’s not in the norm, I haven’t seen it, for him to smile ear-to-ear the way that he did. But I think it’s something that needs to be done. And maybe we need to do a better job as coaches creating that environment. We try to make it rowdy and try to make it fun for them. They put in so much work, but they have to give themselves permission, too, a little bit, to have fun as an individual. As a team, like I said, whatever they talked about, they came out as loose as you could want today without it teetering to the side of being silly or too loose. They certainly were focused on the task at hand and anytime you got a group doing something, there are probably individuals doing it. So, I think him and Peebs (Cannon Peebles) were probably a part of that and need to be like that probably more often.”
