Ahead of Tennessee’s elimination game against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, head coach Tony Vitello discussed the team’s pitching operation for this weekend in Hoover.
First, he addressed the return of AJ Russell to the mound, who gave one inning of work in the Vanderbilt loss in his first appearance since suffering an injury.
“It was great,” said Vitello. “You know, he had to grind out a couple months of frustration and wanting to be out there, not feeling his best. Just to get him out there was great, because he’s a true competitor and he’s in it like crazy in the dugout.”
Russell’s badly wanted to get back out there, and Vitello is just happy that finally happened for him.
“You know, these guys want to be involved in the game to feel like they’re apart of it. And then on top of it, everybody including himself knows he can get some pretty valuable outs for us.”
Next, Vitello addressed his plan for Chris Stamos, the Vols’ starter for the game against Texas A&M.
“Yeah, we’re looking to get him a postseason outing. You know, he’s been involved in big games but not a lot of postseason experience coming from Cal. So we’re just trying to get him involved in general.”
However, there’s not a ton of pressure on Stamos to be lights out, since this is a pretty dangerous Aggie lineup he’s facing.
“You’d like to see him throw well at the same time. And if he’s ever going to be challenged, it’s going to be today with what (Texas A&M) has hanging out in the top of the order, and really, as much depth as any order.”
In fact, Vitello’s goal for the whole pitching staff is just to stay calm and not let any damage done get in their heads.
“To not get frustrated,” he commented of the message to his pitchers. “Because law of percentages say, over the course of nine innings, you’re not going to hold this type of team down. So you got to be able to take blows and give blows at the same time. That’s been a strength of our pitching staffs, but in particular this one, because it’s been a little bit of a bend-don’t-break type defense.”
Like many coaches this weekend, Tony Vitello has a close eye on how the innings are being doled out among his pitching staff in these final few games before the NCAA Tournament.
The post Tony Vitello addresses AJ Russell’s return, reveals pitching plan for Texas A&M game appeared first on On3.