Tennessee baseball's Tony Vitello praises newcomers in Western Kentucky win

Tennessee baseball took the field on Friday night as a part of its two Fall games across the Volunteer State. The Vols hosted Western Kentucky in Nashville and won convincingly, scoring 16 runs in its 16-6 win. 

The Vols and Hilltoppers played 14 total innings. Tennessee's offense showed flashes of returning to dominance at the plate throughout the night. The Vols outscored WKU 8-4 in the first nine innings and followed that up by rallying to score eight runs to Western Kentucky's two runs in the last five innings. 

The exhibition game focused mainly on Tennessee newcomers, including transfers and freshmen. Vitello talked about starting Ole Miss transfer pitcher Liam Doyle against Western Kentucky and in his first game as a Vol. 

"The one thing that was pointed out was presence and self-belief carries a lot of weight," Vitello said of Doyle. "He definitely has that. We will see what other guys complement him and what his role is. He was a great choice to be the lead dog tonight."

Vitello was also asked about how Doyle has grown — physically and as a pitcher. Doyle has improved in the weight room and on the mound since transferring to Rocky Top a short few months ago, but Vitello still wants to see improvement. 

"My own little deal is I would like to see him hold his velocity longer into games... Not just throwing the baseball but also being as good as he can be with recovery and all the things that go into being a starting pitcher where you've got a weekly routine, and it's almost like you are preparing like a football team would."

Tony V also mentioned Ole Miss transfer Andrew Fischer's electric first-inning home run, which opened the game. It was another valuable contribution from a newcomer to the Tennessee roster. 

"It was electric because of how far he hit it. What I saw, I just think it's an interesting topic on the whole bat flip— I'm old school," Vitello continued about Fischer's home run. "I'm for just putting your head down and run or pitchers strike you out. The umpire did a good job tonight, and he was right on top of Fisch. He didn't want him doing anything crazy with the bat or anything. 

"He got the crowd into it, which I think we've kind of lived this deal a few times where it's a neutral site... I think the guys feel pressure to provide entertainment instead of just play ball. That's kind of been the vibe I've had before. But tonight, the guys were pretty even killed, and it was fortunate there were fireworks in the air in the first inning with Dean [Curley] and Liam throwing the ball the way he did and, of course, Fisch's home run."

Tennessee also leaned on some freshman hitters throughout the night. Vitello talked about several Freshmen who played throughout the game and what he liked about Tennessee's young guys at the plate. 

"Jay [Abernathy] has been good. He's really athletic in the box and tried to show off his bunt skills a little bit. But he competed with two strikes and had a couple of at-bats where he struck the ball early. Getting to the point that he's a very well-rounded hitter. He's got some fight in him for a younger kid. 

"The other guys, too. Manny [Marin] has a chance to do just about anything you could come up with right now. But you guys saw that. He looked good, and [Chris] Newstrom has a knack for finding the barrel, too. 

"Levi [Clark] would probably go back to the locker room saying either 'thank goodness I got a hit' or 'I could do way better than that' and both are true. So it'll be fun to follow those guys, and I'm leaving some guys out. You can call Stone [Lawless] a freshman, but he acts and looks like a guy that's an upperclassman. When you play that many innings, and it's that late at night, and you use that many guys, you can go on and on."

It's safe to say Tony V is impressed with how some of the young guys and transfer additions played against Western Kentucky. Tennessee has one more exhibition game on Sunday in Jackson, Tennessee, before hitting the offseason strength program hard for the next couple of months.