On the two-out hitting approach at the plate\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI think that was a byproduct of guys competing. It\u2019s a cliche thing, but grinding out at-bats. Some of them occurred with two outs, but you are seeing a guy who has really good stuff. He did jump ahead of a lot of hitters early in the game. He was throwing strikes, but our guys kind of wore him down a little it and were able to capitalize on some mistakes. Some of those two out hits were guys just flicking the ball around the park. Jay Abernathy\u2019s at-bat kind of comes to mind. The guys did it as a group and got us out to a lead. Of course, no lead is safe against the tam we are playing.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
On Dalton Bargo\u2019s play of late and taking advantage of opportunities\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI think he has always had the ability to hit. He started out as a freshman in the middle of the order. The ability and the swing are there. The mindset, too. Sometimes your strengths can be a weakness and his mindset is that of one that is an intense competitor. Sometimes he can try and do too much and you see a big swing in a situation where you had a pitch to hit. As of late, he just looks comfortable in his own skin and his swing is a lot more calm. It\u2019s ironic that the ball is jumping off hotter with less effort but that is kind of the name of the game. It\u2019s unfortunate, because that\u2019s not easy to do. But as he has matured, and he\u2019s gotten reps, I think he\u2019s understood that and he is executing it well.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
On Dalton Bargo\u2019s strides last season that set him up for success this season:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI think he learned to just balance the juggling act with the positions that he plays, where he might be in the lineup, what the situation is in the game \u2013 whereas a kid from the midwest that maybe doesn\u2019t have as many reps, even though he is from Omaha [might] just get in there and wail away. These games, as you saw, they can flip on a dime. [We] might need you to hit with two strikes, he might be a guy that is at the top of the order or [the] bottom, so he\u2019s become very versatile is the ultimate answer. And again, I think part of that is just through maturity and experience and also, he\u2019s an observer of the game. He pays attention to what is going on, and he\u2019s made adjustments in a lot of different areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Jay Abernathy\u2019s progress as a hitter:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cThere is progress, but I don\u2019t want him to hear this, but he\u2019s also what he was in the fall. He was very impressive in the fall in a lot of areas. He just needed to claim a spot defensively, and I do think he can play shortstop one day, needs more reps, but really any spot we put him, he was aggressive about getting better. He\u2019s so much better in left field and makes a very big catch there at the end of the game. But as far as being a baserunning threat and a guy at the plate, he\u2019s kind of been that guy since the fall. Now, as you start to see these crazy arms we get in the SEC, of course you are going to get better, get more experienced, get a little more comfortable overall \u2013 maybe not comfortable in the box.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then the fact he has added the bunt to his repertoire is phenomenal. In high school, these kids do so much showcase ball, you\u2019d think he\u2019s a great bunter because he runs, but it\u2019s different these days, So, he\u2019s had to hone in the defensive part, the bunting part and some other little things, but he\u2019s a gifted kid that\u2019s a great kid, and it\u2019s hard not to like that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post Everything Tony Vitello said on a series-opening win at South Carolina on Friday<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee baseball took care of business in game one of the three-game road series at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}