Tennessee began its 2024 postseason journey strong on Friday night with a 9-3 win over Northern Kentucky in Knoxville Regional play from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Following the contest, Tennessee skipper Tony Vitello, third baseman Billy Amick and relief pitcher AJ Causey answered questions from the media in a press conference setting. Here’s a written transcript from the postgame presser as Tennessee handled Northern Kentucky on a Friday night.
Tony Vitello Transcript
Opening Statement…
“Yeah, I don’t have anything special. The guys played pretty good ball tonight. Also, it’s very
unique when you start this tournament no matter who you are because the set of
circumstances are just different. It is on our home field, so that helps a little bit. They
handled that stuff really well, so it benefited them. I think also they knew ahead of time
they were going to be in a really competitive game. It’s good for us to get back on the field
and compete. Obviously, we needed to rest a little bit after the (SEC) tournament, but the
tournament helped us a lot because the fire was hot. Other than us getting our butts kicked
in the first game, the fire was hot the entire time. I think the guys, at least we try to let them
know, anticipated that being the case tonight. The lineup we’re going to see, the starting
pitcher, it’s good to be back in the middle of all this stuff. It’s too much downtime, maybe
just for me, but it’s good we get to write our own narrative and less text messages and
comments and me getting called Lou Holtz talking about their team and things like that.
That’s a real team. There aren’t any bad teams in the tournament. I don’t know what the
scores were today, but I’m sure every favorite didn’t win. There will be more chaos
tomorrow. This is chaos; it’s very competitive and everybody is dangerous. Now, hopefully
our fans, which some of them probably see 9-3, but people that know baseball know how
dangerous that lineup is. Our hitters made their pitcher look not as good as he is, because
(Tanner) Gillis is a guy. So, maybe that didn’t help a lot.”
On what was going through his head to put in AJ Causey mid at-bat in the first inning…
“They showed you what they’re capable of doing right away, and every inning matters.
We’re trying to win the inning. We ended up not scoring in the first inning, but they’re up
one and we want to keep it at one instead of two. If you ask me now that the game is over
what your ideal inning is for (Chris) Stamos, it’s replicate what he did in Hoover. We took
him out early, he was throwing well enough he could’ve stayed in the game regardless of
what inning it was, but in that particular instance we felt like the best thing for us was
Causey. He’s ready and willing at all times. At a normal Friday, or game one, the way we’ve
used these two guys together we would burn both of them. We made the switch so early
the one benefit is you get Stamos out. We’re in a tournament. That was Kirby’s (Connell)
last hitter, which I’m sure no one wants Kirby out of the game. We’re in a tournament, and
it’ll help that we have Stamos back for whatever role is necessary.”
On the importance of Causey pitching deep into the game…
“It was massive, and it’s the most pitches he’s thrown in one game. I think at the end, he
was still pretty sharp. At least this time, we took him out in the dugout, so he couldn’t give
me the sad face or try to fight me on the mound with it. In the tournament, Ben and Clay
were talking about it on the broadcast in the first game because we had that on in the
office, it’s a tournament. It’s four teams, and every inning kind of has something to do with
the next, so what he did for us was enormous.”
On the availability of pitcher AJ Russell…
“No, he’s not active and probably will get looked at again. We haven’t fast-forwarded there,
but just off playing catch, there’s no need to battle the soreness factor, step one, and step
two would be to make sure he’s good to go and should be throwing at all. What he did for
us on Sunday was great, I think it was obvious, though, with his couple outings he did give
us, that he hadn’t really been what his best version of himself is since Texas Tech. If
anything, I think it alleviates the cloud, for these guys, too. Not just him, but also us, what
is [and] what isn’t. So, at least we are on one side of the fence than the other. Everyone
knows we’d rather be fully on the other, but at least there’s some clarity there, so
he won’t be active. He’s going to get looked at, and we’ll figure that out.”
On whether he has seen any difference from Billy Amick at the plate the past fewweeks…
“I think he’s at times comically the same guy every single day for the most part, regardless
of what’s going on. I think it took a while for Christian Moore and Blake Burke to get to that
point where they were like that as well. (Hunter) Ensley has kind of always been there, and
(Dylan) Dreiling is fiery. Now you have a whole clump of them that I think provide that
consistent approach. In this game and in high school, my dad coached in high school, and
everybody knows that, sitting on the bench watching those single elimination deals is just
insanity. I think our state still does that. I don’t want to misspeak with all of the stuff going
through my head. It’s baseball; you need a good sample size to determine what is going on
with a guy. Just because that sample size says it doesn’t mean that. (Nick) McClanahan
threw as many strikes tonight as I think he has all year. He is outstanding. Anything can
happen on any given night, but if you’re going to take a step back and judge where a guy is
at as a player, to be fair you’re going to need a decent sample size to do so.”
On what stands out about Indiana…
“At first you hear all of these things, and I was dreading people texting me about music. All
of this stuff is going on all week, I don’t listen to it, but if it is loud enough, you hear. People
claiming that either they are not good, or they shouldn’t be in the tournament is madness.
If you peel back the curtain, you have a team that had injuries early in the year that they
have had to overcome. Prior to those injuries, there is a lot of deserved hype behind the
team. There are a bunch of future big leaguers on the team. They have got a pretty proud
winning tradition too. They have been here before, and they are a well-coached group. So, I
think as they work through some issues, as we did too early in the year, they have started to
find themselves. They are a complete team, I bet it just looks different from how they
mapped it out in August. They are gutsy. Big-time stuff effort they got out of their starters,
and the lineup one through nine did damage today. The one category that was brought up
was doubles, but they are a well-balanced team.”
On the interaction between AJ Causey and Chris Stamos when switching positions…
“He was heated. You want the delicate balance. On a personal note, these guys have
made it so fun for me because what you want is the guy that is getting pinch hit for to be
absolutely furious because he wants to be in the box, but furious for two seconds and then
recognize that ‘I am his teammate and I have a job to do.’ Then his teammate is about to
take his spot, and we are all better off if that guy does well so you might as well support
him and give him some advice or good vibes or whatever it might be. There was a moment
of madness out there, but it was a quick moment and his teammates helped him and he
did it too. That’s why I love that guy being on our team, man.”
On the long break between games…
“They earned the Monday off, and then I think the way we orchestrated-don’t roll your eyes
Billy- I think we have mapped out a really good week. A good balance of work but rest, and
we explained to them stuff that was going on to prepare them, but we didn’t have a twohour meeting or anything. So, I think that part was maybe easier but it’s just who is going to
write your narrative. I have met with a couple guys in the office, and I don’t know if it had
any benefit, but at the very least it gave me peace of mind because instead of sitting back
and being frustrated we addressed some things that were out there with a couple guys.
Long story short, the maturity and leadership on this team, I assume that they are writing
their own narrative, but there are a lot of narratives these days with these kids and their
phones, free time and interviews, which is great they are getting attention, but which one
do you want to write or which one do you want to pay attention to so that is where my
frustration comes in.”
Billy Amick Transcript
On whether the crowd getting into the game despite the 1-0 deficit motivated theteam…
“We’ve been in plenty of situations this year where something wasn’t going the way we
wanted it to, and the crowd is on our side. It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t change our
mindset towards the game or our determination to get things done. We just make sure we
do our job, whatever it is. Whether it’s getting a guy over, getting a guy in or getting a
groundball, whatever it is we are going to treat it the same no matter what is going on.”
On where he is with his confidence after he hit a three-run home run today…
“We’ve all been swinging it well in batting practice. We had a really good approach going
into this guy starting the day, and he did have good stuff. We did a really good job. That’s
what makes us so good. Any guy can get you on any given day. That’s what I’m most
excited about personally is the way our offense has been the past couple of weeks.”
On Dylan Dreiling and Hunter Ensley’s home runs…
“Yeah, those two always seem to come up in big spots, like Hunter (Ensley) in South
Carolina or Dylan (Dreiling) all year. Those two guys have always stayed steady every day.
They’re consistent, and they’re very valuable pieces to our lineup as you guys can see.”
On how far he felt he hit his home run…
“Yeah, well, you know it got out. That’s all I know.”
AJ Causey Transcript
On pitching through lead-off batters reaching base…
“Honestly, it doesn’t really change. I still try to make elite pitches [and] try to hit my spot.
Whether a guys on third, first or nobody on, it never really changes for me.”
On whether he knew he recorded his first successful pick-off…
“I actually got to work with (Drew) Beam this weekend, because his pick-off is
phenomenal. I was trying to do exactly what he did. We were talking in the dugout
afterward, and I was like, ‘Finally.’ It was awesome.”
On whether he had a successful pick-off in high school…
“I don’t think so. It definitely was my first in college. I was a position player in high school.”
On the interaction between him and Chris Stamos when switching positions…
“He was just like ‘I love you’ and I was really like, ‘I love you, too.’ That’s about it.”
On how his role has changed throughout the season…
“Honestly my focus is what I was trying to do on the mound. I went from just trying to throw
strikes to trying to execute elite pitches on the black. That’s honestly the only thing I can
tell you that’s changed mentally about it.”
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