Tennessee evened up the weekend series with Vanderbilt thanks to a five run eighth inning.
Vanderbilt 4 7 1
Tennessee 8 7 1
W — Sean Hunley, L — Luke Murphy
Notes
Let’s start with Evan Russell. The senior struggled horribly for the pre conference slate but has gotten back to his original self in conference play. He seems to turn it up a notch in the biggest games and moments and that was the case today as he hit three home runs including the go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning. Jack Leiter had given up just one home run all season and Russelll took him deep twice (Tennessee’s team took him deep three times). Russell must love that top level competition. He took projected top 10 pick Jaden Hill deep twice earlier this season.
Will Heflin has been his best this season in his two starts after Tennessee lost a Friday night start. He was really solid the whole game and excellent the first 5.2 innings. It looked like he was going to cruise for another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth but a bad Jake Rucker error kept the inning alive. After an infield hit Heflin made his biggest mistake of the night, hanging a 1-1 pitch and C.J. Rodriguez made him pay with a three run, go ahead homer. I was surprised Vitello left him out there for the seventh, and Vanderbilt did make them pay with a solo homer, but around that the former Morristown West standout was solid, retiring the three other batters faced. Heflin finished the game with seven innings pitched, giving up five hits, one walk, four runs and just one earned run while striking out four. Also, credit Heflin for what he’s been able to do this year after Tennessee’s lost on Friday nights. Arguably his two best outings of the year were at Alabama and today.
I wrote this week that you likely weren’t going to get a poor performance from Kumar Rocker after his struggles last week. Tennessee was able to give Jack Leiter his first issues of the season (relatively), hitting three solo home runs and giving themselves a chance to win once Leiter passed the ball off to the bullpen. Here’s some stats to show just how impressive what Tennessee was able to do off Leiter was. Entering today’s game, Leiter had given up just three earned runs on the season and two in SEC play. Leiter had also given up just one home run entering today. Tennessee handed Leiter as many earned runs as he had given up the rest of the season and Russell doubled the number of homers he’d allowed. Today's game also marked the first time Vanderbilt has lost with Jack Leiter on the mound, not just this season but in the shortened 2020 season as well.
Tony Vitello said the early signs on Connor Pavolony are good as there’s no fracture in his hand. That’s massive news for this team. Looked really bad initially and it’s hard to state just how big of a loss that would be.
Tennessee makes it to Sunday with the starting pitching advantage and a chance to win the series. On top of that, all the main bullpen guys should be available after the starters gave Tennessee 14 innings in the first two games.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on Will Heflin having his two best performances after Friday night losses
“What you’re looking for after you take one on the chin Friday night is the next day some stability, some maturity and some consistency and kind of knowing what you’re going to get, all things in those categories and that’s why he’s in that spot. It tends to show up on all days but in particular when you need it most when you take one on the chin.”
Vitello on what went through his mind on Evan Russell’s go-ahead grand slam
“He kind of shocked me. The ball wasn’t carrying that great, some of their hitters would be frustrated by that but also some of ours. All I wanted was to get that run in from third so when I saw a little elevation to the ball I was excited about that. Also wanted Evan to get going in case it was a ball in that spot. Anyone who’s played at our park knows the deepest part of that park is that corner close to where it says 385— now he hit it a little bit to the left of that, but any ball can get caught or any ball can get hung up and dropped. I’m running like a mad man to run and Evan is probably smarter than me in that situation because he felt the way it came off the bat but you felt like that last one was kind of to the wall and the fans blew it out with the energy that was in the park.”
Vitello on responding to the gut punch of the sixth inning
“When you get punched in the gut there’s a sort of feeling where you’re deflated and you’re stunned for a minute. You aren’t involved in the game if you don’t feel that on either side. You look at any SEC game— especially the one today— the blows that go back and forth. When you receive one you aren’t human or you’re not invested if you don’t feel something. We could see some things and we may have lost a clipboard in the dugout. I was not the culprit for this one on this evening, but then it was let’s get back to playing baseball. … It was impressive.”
Will Heflin on the crowd today
“Honestly, that’s something I haven’t experienced in my time here, a crowd that was that electric and that into the game. I’ve been in front of some crowds here where there’s a lot of people but not that invested into the game. You could really feel it as a player. It’s almost like we’ve caught up to the other places in the league. It used to be we’d go on the road and those would be the best environments that we’d play in in some of those more historical baseball parks and now it’s like you know what we have great fans too and all we needed to do was give them a reason to come. It’s awesome to be a part of it. It makes you feel good and it makes you really excited to come back to the park tomorrow.”
Heflin on if Evan Russell deserves a statue
“That would be a good looking statue. We might put some people to shame if we put up a statue of Evan Russell, that may make people jealous but at least a road or a stop sign or something. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes but I don’t think anybody is going to forget Evan Russell for a long time here. He’s from Lexington, Tennessee which when most people here Lexington they think of the University of Kentucky but he’s from a small town in Tennessee just like myself so for him to come here and put the stamp that he has and the moments he’s had, it’s unbelievable but he’s a great guy and I couldn’t be happier for him. It really comes as no surprise.”
Evan Russell on his mindset with the bases loaded in the eighth
“The previous ABs I was on the heaters so I figured he was going to try and get ahead with the breaking ball. Walking to the plate and hearing the crowd, that’s probably the loudest I’ve ever heard that stadium and to feel every hair on my body standing up, it kind of gave me some confidence to attack this first pitch because the odds are the pitcher was a little more nervous than I was. I think the crowd helped me out in that last AB, I’m not going to lie.”
Russell on punching the wall in left field when Rodriguez’ homer went over him and the team’s ability to bounce back
“That was a big moment. Early in my career I saw moments like that happen all the time where we don’t make some defensive plays and you give a team like that momentum and all of a sudden a homer puts them up. To see that happen on our field in as big of a moment was frustrating a little bit but with the lineup that we had I knew we’d be able to grind it out and at least give ourselves a chance. … We’re never down until we’re out.”
Vanderbilt 4 7 1
Tennessee 8 7 1
W — Sean Hunley, L — Luke Murphy
Notes
Let’s start with Evan Russell. The senior struggled horribly for the pre conference slate but has gotten back to his original self in conference play. He seems to turn it up a notch in the biggest games and moments and that was the case today as he hit three home runs including the go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning. Jack Leiter had given up just one home run all season and Russelll took him deep twice (Tennessee’s team took him deep three times). Russell must love that top level competition. He took projected top 10 pick Jaden Hill deep twice earlier this season.
Will Heflin has been his best this season in his two starts after Tennessee lost a Friday night start. He was really solid the whole game and excellent the first 5.2 innings. It looked like he was going to cruise for another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth but a bad Jake Rucker error kept the inning alive. After an infield hit Heflin made his biggest mistake of the night, hanging a 1-1 pitch and C.J. Rodriguez made him pay with a three run, go ahead homer. I was surprised Vitello left him out there for the seventh, and Vanderbilt did make them pay with a solo homer, but around that the former Morristown West standout was solid, retiring the three other batters faced. Heflin finished the game with seven innings pitched, giving up five hits, one walk, four runs and just one earned run while striking out four. Also, credit Heflin for what he’s been able to do this year after Tennessee’s lost on Friday nights. Arguably his two best outings of the year were at Alabama and today.
I wrote this week that you likely weren’t going to get a poor performance from Kumar Rocker after his struggles last week. Tennessee was able to give Jack Leiter his first issues of the season (relatively), hitting three solo home runs and giving themselves a chance to win once Leiter passed the ball off to the bullpen. Here’s some stats to show just how impressive what Tennessee was able to do off Leiter was. Entering today’s game, Leiter had given up just three earned runs on the season and two in SEC play. Leiter had also given up just one home run entering today. Tennessee handed Leiter as many earned runs as he had given up the rest of the season and Russell doubled the number of homers he’d allowed. Today's game also marked the first time Vanderbilt has lost with Jack Leiter on the mound, not just this season but in the shortened 2020 season as well.
Tony Vitello said the early signs on Connor Pavolony are good as there’s no fracture in his hand. That’s massive news for this team. Looked really bad initially and it’s hard to state just how big of a loss that would be.
Tennessee makes it to Sunday with the starting pitching advantage and a chance to win the series. On top of that, all the main bullpen guys should be available after the starters gave Tennessee 14 innings in the first two games.
Quotes
Tony Vitello on Will Heflin having his two best performances after Friday night losses
“What you’re looking for after you take one on the chin Friday night is the next day some stability, some maturity and some consistency and kind of knowing what you’re going to get, all things in those categories and that’s why he’s in that spot. It tends to show up on all days but in particular when you need it most when you take one on the chin.”
Vitello on what went through his mind on Evan Russell’s go-ahead grand slam
“He kind of shocked me. The ball wasn’t carrying that great, some of their hitters would be frustrated by that but also some of ours. All I wanted was to get that run in from third so when I saw a little elevation to the ball I was excited about that. Also wanted Evan to get going in case it was a ball in that spot. Anyone who’s played at our park knows the deepest part of that park is that corner close to where it says 385— now he hit it a little bit to the left of that, but any ball can get caught or any ball can get hung up and dropped. I’m running like a mad man to run and Evan is probably smarter than me in that situation because he felt the way it came off the bat but you felt like that last one was kind of to the wall and the fans blew it out with the energy that was in the park.”
Vitello on responding to the gut punch of the sixth inning
“When you get punched in the gut there’s a sort of feeling where you’re deflated and you’re stunned for a minute. You aren’t involved in the game if you don’t feel that on either side. You look at any SEC game— especially the one today— the blows that go back and forth. When you receive one you aren’t human or you’re not invested if you don’t feel something. We could see some things and we may have lost a clipboard in the dugout. I was not the culprit for this one on this evening, but then it was let’s get back to playing baseball. … It was impressive.”
Will Heflin on the crowd today
“Honestly, that’s something I haven’t experienced in my time here, a crowd that was that electric and that into the game. I’ve been in front of some crowds here where there’s a lot of people but not that invested into the game. You could really feel it as a player. It’s almost like we’ve caught up to the other places in the league. It used to be we’d go on the road and those would be the best environments that we’d play in in some of those more historical baseball parks and now it’s like you know what we have great fans too and all we needed to do was give them a reason to come. It’s awesome to be a part of it. It makes you feel good and it makes you really excited to come back to the park tomorrow.”
Heflin on if Evan Russell deserves a statue
“That would be a good looking statue. We might put some people to shame if we put up a statue of Evan Russell, that may make people jealous but at least a road or a stop sign or something. We’ll see how the rest of the season goes but I don’t think anybody is going to forget Evan Russell for a long time here. He’s from Lexington, Tennessee which when most people here Lexington they think of the University of Kentucky but he’s from a small town in Tennessee just like myself so for him to come here and put the stamp that he has and the moments he’s had, it’s unbelievable but he’s a great guy and I couldn’t be happier for him. It really comes as no surprise.”
Evan Russell on his mindset with the bases loaded in the eighth
“The previous ABs I was on the heaters so I figured he was going to try and get ahead with the breaking ball. Walking to the plate and hearing the crowd, that’s probably the loudest I’ve ever heard that stadium and to feel every hair on my body standing up, it kind of gave me some confidence to attack this first pitch because the odds are the pitcher was a little more nervous than I was. I think the crowd helped me out in that last AB, I’m not going to lie.”
Russell on punching the wall in left field when Rodriguez’ homer went over him and the team’s ability to bounce back
“That was a big moment. Early in my career I saw moments like that happen all the time where we don’t make some defensive plays and you give a team like that momentum and all of a sudden a homer puts them up. To see that happen on our field in as big of a moment was frustrating a little bit but with the lineup that we had I knew we’d be able to grind it out and at least give ourselves a chance. … We’re never down until we’re out.”
