Tennessee drops the series opener to Vanderbilt as Kumar Rocker dominated and the Vols’ defense made some mistakes you can’t make.
Vanderbilt 5 8 0
Tennessee 0 2 3
W — Kumar Rocker, L — Chad Dallas, S — Nick Maldanado
Notes
The story of the game was Kumar Rocker, who bounced back from his first poor start of the season with a dominant seven inning performance. Rocker allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out eight and turning in three 1-2-3 innings. Tennessee had a couple chances and a few deep outs including a near two-run homer from Evan Russell that would have cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 3-2, but the Vols weren’t able to get the timely hit when they needed.
You just can’t make some of the mistakes Tennessee made in the field against a team like Vanderbilt. The Commodores struck first when Logan Steenstra couldn’t stay down on a low liner and the ball got past him, allowing Vanderbilt to take an early 1-0 lead. Then in the eighth inning, Vanderbilt speedster Enrique Bradfield Jr. reached on an infield hit. First a Connor Housley pick off attempt allowed Bradfield to take second and then Bradfield stole third with Pavolony’s throw going into left field, allowing the runner to come home.
Chad Dallas was very solid for Tennessee allowing five hits, three runs, two earned runs, zero walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings. Dallas kept the same theme for his home SEC starts, allowing just two solo homers and little other damage. Through three home SEC starts, Dallas has allowed just seven earned runs, all on solo homers.
Tennessee saved most its major bullpen pieces, throwing Will Mabrey, Connor Housley, Redmond Walsh and Elijah Pleasants. Walsh and Pleasants turned in some solid bounce back performances. Neither allowed a baserunner as Walsh turned in a scoreless inning and Pleasants turned in a solid 0.2 inning outing.
Despite being ejected from tonight’s game, Tony Vitello will be available to manage tomorrow. The Vols will look to even the series up with Will Heflin on the mound against Jack Leiter.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on the ball hit down the line that led to his ejection
“I never have (seen a play like that). I asked kinda what the deal is and I’d be lying to you if I knew what the result of that was. It would have had to take an awkward bounce for it to stay fair. I’d never seen it and we didn’t get an explanation for what the rule is or how it should have been handled so that’s what I went up there to do and we never really got past anything— I don’t know what was going on past me but that was the main topic. I was going to talk to the umpire 1v1. Like it or not, I’m the representative of this team so whatever the team is doing behind me is secondary to what I’m doing because again hate it or love it I’m the representative of the team so as I stand here tonight our team lost 5-0 so I’m the one who has to answer to that and make some adjustments so that we perform better next time.”
Vitello on if he was trying to get ejected to spark the team
“As I stand here, I don’t know if I can swear but with everything that I know and live for and will live for— I had zero interest in getting thrown out of the game. I don’t quite know what the phrase was that caused that to happen but my back was turned and when I asked for what was said I think I heard a suggestion of something that I didn’t say but there was none of that. Our team didn’t need a spark our guys were in the game the whole night and when they weren’t the fans caught their attention and had them in it.”
Vitello on the frustration of making defensive mistakes when the level for error is so small
“It can be frustrating but at the same time if you see a guy caught not in the right position or kind of not in grind mode in defense— it is the one part of baseball where you can afford to give up the intensity a little bit then I think you’re more upset or more frustrated. Otherwise it’s something that you want to make an adjustment, you want to have high standards but you do have to move on from mistakes because they will happen in this game with all the repetitions that you do.”
Logan Steenstra on what happened on his second inning error
“He hit a hard ball and I didn’t stay down on it enough. I thought I was going to catch it in the air but it had enough top spin that it got under me and I should have made the play but it is what it is.”
Dallas on if his mindset is different facing an elite pitcher like Rocker
“Obviously every game you acknowledge who the other guy is on their team on the bump, but I really treat every game the same. I know what baseball is baseball and anything can happen. I try to keep the score down as low as possible every game but I have trust in my team in the position players and hitters to succeed when they’re up there. I’m not sure that it’s anything with the other pitcher but you do obviously acknowledge who their guy is and go after their hitters.”
Dallas on what happened on his two homers
“To be honest, the first one— I’m trying to think of and replay it but I don’t really remember the pitch. I remember the second one. Me and Pav actually talked about it afterward, I thought it was a really good pitch. It was kind of a back door cutter around the knees, maybe upper shin but just tip your cap to the other guy for putting a really good swing on a pretty good pitch.”
Vanderbilt 5 8 0
Tennessee 0 2 3
W — Kumar Rocker, L — Chad Dallas, S — Nick Maldanado
Notes
The story of the game was Kumar Rocker, who bounced back from his first poor start of the season with a dominant seven inning performance. Rocker allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out eight and turning in three 1-2-3 innings. Tennessee had a couple chances and a few deep outs including a near two-run homer from Evan Russell that would have cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 3-2, but the Vols weren’t able to get the timely hit when they needed.
You just can’t make some of the mistakes Tennessee made in the field against a team like Vanderbilt. The Commodores struck first when Logan Steenstra couldn’t stay down on a low liner and the ball got past him, allowing Vanderbilt to take an early 1-0 lead. Then in the eighth inning, Vanderbilt speedster Enrique Bradfield Jr. reached on an infield hit. First a Connor Housley pick off attempt allowed Bradfield to take second and then Bradfield stole third with Pavolony’s throw going into left field, allowing the runner to come home.
Chad Dallas was very solid for Tennessee allowing five hits, three runs, two earned runs, zero walks and seven strikeouts in seven innings. Dallas kept the same theme for his home SEC starts, allowing just two solo homers and little other damage. Through three home SEC starts, Dallas has allowed just seven earned runs, all on solo homers.
Tennessee saved most its major bullpen pieces, throwing Will Mabrey, Connor Housley, Redmond Walsh and Elijah Pleasants. Walsh and Pleasants turned in some solid bounce back performances. Neither allowed a baserunner as Walsh turned in a scoreless inning and Pleasants turned in a solid 0.2 inning outing.
Despite being ejected from tonight’s game, Tony Vitello will be available to manage tomorrow. The Vols will look to even the series up with Will Heflin on the mound against Jack Leiter.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on the ball hit down the line that led to his ejection
“I never have (seen a play like that). I asked kinda what the deal is and I’d be lying to you if I knew what the result of that was. It would have had to take an awkward bounce for it to stay fair. I’d never seen it and we didn’t get an explanation for what the rule is or how it should have been handled so that’s what I went up there to do and we never really got past anything— I don’t know what was going on past me but that was the main topic. I was going to talk to the umpire 1v1. Like it or not, I’m the representative of this team so whatever the team is doing behind me is secondary to what I’m doing because again hate it or love it I’m the representative of the team so as I stand here tonight our team lost 5-0 so I’m the one who has to answer to that and make some adjustments so that we perform better next time.”
Vitello on if he was trying to get ejected to spark the team
“As I stand here, I don’t know if I can swear but with everything that I know and live for and will live for— I had zero interest in getting thrown out of the game. I don’t quite know what the phrase was that caused that to happen but my back was turned and when I asked for what was said I think I heard a suggestion of something that I didn’t say but there was none of that. Our team didn’t need a spark our guys were in the game the whole night and when they weren’t the fans caught their attention and had them in it.”
Vitello on the frustration of making defensive mistakes when the level for error is so small
“It can be frustrating but at the same time if you see a guy caught not in the right position or kind of not in grind mode in defense— it is the one part of baseball where you can afford to give up the intensity a little bit then I think you’re more upset or more frustrated. Otherwise it’s something that you want to make an adjustment, you want to have high standards but you do have to move on from mistakes because they will happen in this game with all the repetitions that you do.”
Logan Steenstra on what happened on his second inning error
“He hit a hard ball and I didn’t stay down on it enough. I thought I was going to catch it in the air but it had enough top spin that it got under me and I should have made the play but it is what it is.”
Dallas on if his mindset is different facing an elite pitcher like Rocker
“Obviously every game you acknowledge who the other guy is on their team on the bump, but I really treat every game the same. I know what baseball is baseball and anything can happen. I try to keep the score down as low as possible every game but I have trust in my team in the position players and hitters to succeed when they’re up there. I’m not sure that it’s anything with the other pitcher but you do obviously acknowledge who their guy is and go after their hitters.”
Dallas on what happened on his two homers
“To be honest, the first one— I’m trying to think of and replay it but I don’t really remember the pitch. I remember the second one. Me and Pav actually talked about it afterward, I thought it was a really good pitch. It was kind of a back door cutter around the knees, maybe upper shin but just tip your cap to the other guy for putting a really good swing on a pretty good pitch.”
