Vols ‘tensed up’ at the plate in loss to Texas A&M
HOOVER, Ala. — Tony Vitello heard the noise. He disagreed with it.
From where the Tennessee baseball head coach stood in the team's dugout at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Tuesday, the 7-seed Vols' woes in a 3-0 SEC Tournament eliminating loss to 10-seed Texas A&M wasn't from a lack of trying.
Tennessee mustered just one hit— a single from Christian Scott in the sixth inning—as Aggies left-handed starter Troy Wansing left the Vols little chance of repeating last season's tournament championship run in Hoover and improving their chances of hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament.
"Certainly guys trying," Vitello said. "Some tough guy in the stands didn't think they were, but I can guarantee you our guys are trying; otherwise, they're not on the field this time of year."
The performance was similar to the struggles Tennessee had at the plate earlier in the season, before the Vols pulled off a turnaround that included 11 wins in their last 15 conference games.
Tennessee had seemingly found consistency on offense behind Griffin Merritt, Jared Dickey, Maui Ahuna and Scott, but the Vols went a combined 1-for-28 and were shutout for just the second time in two years.
Even when Tennessee batters made hard contact, Texas A&M fielders were in place to snag the ball and momentum.
"We certainly had some struggles earlier in the year, but I think we got some things sorted out to where we found out what our best defense was, corrected some base-running mistakes," Vitello said. "And then our at-bats on the whole, if you look at baseball, it's a game of percentages, have been pretty good. You take one day. anything can happen with the weather, with the starting pitcher, wind is blowing one way or the other.
"There's a lot that can happen, so you've got to go out there and play and I thought our guys did that."
Wansing's performance was a surprise. He entered the game with a 5.98 ERA and had allowed 60 walks in 40.2 innings pitched.
On paper, Tennessee had the lineup to get to Wansing early, but 5.1 hitless innings put the Vols in an uncomfortable spot.
"It didn't seem like we had much room for error," Vitello said. "Seemed like one of those games where (Texas A&M) was doing well on the defensive side and offensively things tensed up a little bit when we didn't get to the guys as early as we thought we did."
Tennessee's showing in the batter's box started in the dugout.
Vitello cited the tension among players that spilled over onto the field but as Tennessee turns its attention to regionals, it will have to get back to the "formula" that changed their approach midway through the regular season.
"I kind of just start to see that it's not going well for us and there's a different air in the dugout and in maybe a walk to the plate and in the box. You encourage one another," Vitello said. "Heck, it didn't happen today, but maybe even things spill over to where guys get fired up and you have word with somebody or a coach has words with a player. That can be healthy again because everybody is competing.
"And for this team in particular, I think the formula that works is kind of there. Putting it into play is another thing."
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