What Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said following fall scrimmage in Chattanooga  

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with members of the media who were in attendance for Tennessee’s fall intrasquad scrimmage Saturday afternoon in Chattanooga at the Lookout’s AT&T Field.

The Orange and the Grey tied 7-7 in the nine innings played.

On the environment at the Baylor-McCallie football game on Friday…

 “It was incredible. How that guy [David Gabriel-Georges] is not the No. 1 rated tailback in the country, I don’t know. No. 1 environment the country last night, arguably, and then not an argument was it was the No.1 game of that particular Friday for sure. So, I was blessed to be there. Was kind of wanting to check out that game to begin with. Obviously, we have recruited athletes from both schools in multiple sports. You can see why. The alumni’s enthusiasm kind of reminded me of Vol Nation. Overall, it was a phenomenal game, but you knew it was a matter of time, if you were handing the ball off, the game was probably going to go Baylor’s way. But they will meet again, so maybe it will be a different outcome the next go-around.”

On if Henry Ford gave him any type of heads up on what that environment was going to look like…

“Yeah, and Amari Jefferson is on our team and he was originally a baseball commit to us. Other people, I am forgetting names as I would like to give a lot of people credit. I got super nervous getting out of my car. I was in my practice close still and I wanted as neutral colors ever. I grabbed the wrong hat and didn’t realize I had a navy hat – had a very neutral grey on – but had a blue hat on. So, I’m not on anyone’s side. I don’t want my tires getting slashed. I heard there were people throwing eggs and shooting some paint balls in the past. Hopefully everything was peaceful and the completion was on the field.”  

On seeing the crowd in Chattanooga…

“Yeah, it was surprising for how great of a crowd it was. There’s a lot going on and a lot of times, we played these games on a Sunday when there’s no college sports going on. Major League Baseball playoffs – it is a different timing wise than we used to do. The people showed out and they were enthusiastic. They were into the game and most people stayed until the end of the game, which for an intrasquad or split-squad situation, was surprising to me. But our guys kind of kept them on the edge of their seats all the way through that thing, which was nice.”

On transfer Blaine Brown hitting throughout the fall…

“When he says in his swing – it’s two very different individuals, it’s Blake Burke and him. But Blake Burke was a kid who as a freshman, when he took his best swing, you wanted to take a picture of it or make a painting. It was so gorgeous. A pretty swing is a better way to say it. Little more manly way to say it. Just a really good-looking swing. Blaine’s is like that, too, when he uses it. But a lot of these guys get charged up with adrenaline, want to impress and want to earn a job. Sometimes he will get out of that swing. But when it’s as effortless and kind of true to who he is – like the first couple of Abs that he had – it’s as good of a swing that we have on our team.”

On what he learns about freshmen in this kind of environment for the first time…

“I think they learn more about themselves than we do, because what we are going to do – and call it low standards if you want – we are going to kind of chalk it up to the first time a lot of people have played at this level of competition in front of this many people. The people show out and there’s a sense to kind of give them their money’s worth. So, all those factors involved, when you combine it with the guy’s first time – whether it is Appy’s [Cameron Appenzeller] first time or Ethan Moore at second or all the freshmen who played today – I wouldn’t say it is a mulligan, but they need reps. The more reps you get the more comfortable you are doing it. That’s a big part of why we are doing it. So, I think they probably learned a lot about themselves just being in this environment today.”  

On being able to interact with different Tennessee fans in Chattanooga…

“I think it is a blast for the guys. They were kind of saying that as they were shaking hands at the end. I think out whole staff and support staff enjoys a change of scenery and a heightened sense of everything, whether it is environment or competition. For me, I am glad the questions have been general about the game so far because it kind of stinks. You’d like to do the: interact with the fans and be locked into the game. It is normally just us playing someone else, but kind of had to juggle two teams and make sure guys were in the right spots. The world was spinning pretty quick for me, nonetheless, it is always a blast.”

On the quickness of this event getting put together…

“Well, not when we originally got hired. Coach [Josh] Elander, for reporting purposes, has great pictures of SEC games and nice weather in our first spring and there’s nobody in the stands. There’s a few people who have been really loyal to this program through thick and thin, but there was nobody. Now, we have been able to do some historic things such as crowds in our park or record crowds in minor league stadiums and record crowds in other SEC venues in the regular season. So, that was not a part of our plan, but I think we enjoy it. If there is some talk about us, certain teams that we have had where – we got a lot of fans and we got a lot of people that are the opposite of that, whatever that is – that’s cool. College baseball is growing and we kind of want to do our part.”

On what Virginia transfer Henry Ford has added

“I think a sense of maturity because he’s a really intelligent kid. And he’s not afraid to chime in and he has a feel for when to do it. Whether it’s in a meeting or in a group setting or just approaching a coach. So there’s a definite sense of maturity which is key because our team is so young. We have so many new faces and we don’t have that type of team where you’ve got a bunch of guys returning — especially on the position side of things. So he’s not the only one either. There are guys on both sides of the ball, pitches and position guys, that are new to our program but haven’t been shy about leading. That theme needs to stay consistent for us to be the best version of ourselves.

“And obviously, he’s really talented. Didn’t have his best game at third but he’s been great at third base on the days prior to this and can patrol the whole outfield so he does a lot of things for us other than just hitting balls far.”

On freshmen RHP DJ McDowell and OF Taylor Tracy

“Well Tracy has done that (hit a home run) already— maybe it’s four home runs in 15 at-bats. Don’t expect him to — J.P. Arencibia hit three in his major league debut and is a phenomenal player but you have to realize over the course of a sample size, a guy is not going to be King Kong his freshman year though I’m all for him proving me wrong. But it’s been pretty positive at the plate for him. Then on top of that, just to be honest, I think the steam had built more on the offensive side for him with the draft as opposed to the pitching side but the pitching side has been really really good. So it’s kind of nice with him and Hank and Blaine Brown, like which are they better at? Which are they going to be? I don’t think we have those answers but if all three guys want to push forward with doing both things or doing the pitching deal and hitting, they got every opportunity in the world because they’ve shown they’re pretty dang good at it.”

“He was good. He saved the day because the way we had the pitching lined up it was going to be a stretch to get nine innings. Nic Abraham was a swing man for us on both teams. That’s how it ended up. We were able to get through nine innings because of him throwing strikes and he’s been that guy. DJ has been really good. First inning, he got batted around real good at Lindsey Nelson Stadium but he’s never stopped throwing strikes and for the most part he’s gotten outs.”

On what this team’s identity has been to this point

“That’s interesting because so far it’s been one of enthusiasm and energy. They want coaching and I think the team chemistry is where it should be for this point in the year. If we stay static in this spot it’s not going to be pretty down the road. But those are just some thoughts that roll out. I’m hopeful I’m right about the pitching. I think much more than last year, we’ll have some guys that will be excited about their role and have some pieces instead of just, who’s the next best guy. It’s a lot to put together a full SEC weekend on the mound. And then offensively, whether it’s Coach Q or Coach Elander or our guy just working hard, we’ve done well on the offensive side in our time in Knoxville and we want to keep that momentum going and if you just base it off today, there were some really good looking swings. So I think we’ll be able to handle the bat a little bit. Defense, we’ll see. We’ve been moving guys around like crazy. Nobody complains, which I love, because there’s been guys I’ve coached before who complain. So they’re just geeked up to try and earn a spot somewhere out there defensively.”

On Kennesaw State transfer RHP Bo Rhudy

“I think kind of picking up where Tanner Franklin kind of handed him the baton. Those guys were buddies and I know he learned a lot about the program from Tanner once he decided to make a move. Ill tell you what, kind of the same deal. Great teammate, not scared to compete and when he’s gotten in there he’s shown kind of a different look. That was kind of the talk about him this summer in the Cape Cod. He had a successful summer and all the scouts kind of said it’s a different look. It’s a different arsenal than your average guy. And when you start losing relievers or starters or wherever these guys end up, the more you can mix up the looks to the offense— the more difficult it’s going to be on them.”