Everything Josh Elander said following Tennessee's 13-6 loss to Texas on Sunday

Tennessee took a crucial series from No. 4 Texas this weekend, winning two of the first three games before dropping Sunday’s game 13-6 to the Longhorns. Following the loss, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed the outing.

What was just your overall assessment of the pitching staff today?

Not good enough. Just looking at some notes from the game, 10 walks, gave up 4 homers, 9 or 10 runs with 2 outs. Just weren’t able to finish things and just need to attack the strikes a little better. When you get to double-digit walks, you really don’t even need to look at the score at the end of the game, rather, because it’s not going to end up being a big deal. So need to be better, need to make adjustments with Mac out. We’re going to have to mix and match all day today. I thought some of the guys competed well, but it needs to be better all the way around.

You mentioned not being able to finish anything. What did you see go wrong for Tracey after his first two batters?

Just walking guys. And again, just missing. The zones are tight in the SEC at times, but again, some of the misses weren’t competitive right there. Again, he’s been good for us at times this year and just needs to make those adjustments for his next time up.

What did you see from Haas and Day after Tracey battled through some adversity?

Yeah, I thought they did a good job of kind of slowing down things a little bit. I mean, that turned into a mess real quick there. But then Haas, the stuff is good. It’s just we’re having to kind of monitor him still as he gets away from getting healthy.

But those two make up good stuff, you know, throwing it over the plate. Both those, I think Haas walked one guy or whatever it may be. But good opportunity for those guys to figure out what they can do in SEC play. So those two have been good and I think they’ll continue to be better.

7-4 in the 6th, I mean, given what you were dealing with, with the news yesterday, were you feeling like you were kind of where you wanted to be in some regards? I know you didn’t want to be down 3 there, but sort of holding it together?

I thought the offense did a good job just punching back, you know, in that first inning to get, you know, really tie the game, hit the reset button. But we’re trying to just bridge how do we get to Rudy where, hey, we can get maybe 40, 50, 60 pitches. And at that point in the game, you know, 3-run game should be, hey, anybody should be able to come in compete over the wire and give us a chance. And didn’t get that done right there. And then they’re able to blow it open with a big swing off Rudy. And they forced our hand getting him in a little bit earlier than we wanted to. But just needs to come in with a little more conviction. I know it’s not the coziest spot with the bases dumped.

He’s throwing strikes, we can live with that. But, you know, I thought our stuff was a little bit better after the homer. So, don’t wait around, let’s cut it loose out of the gate.

Talking to the team after the game, how do you balance the message of this result not going the way you wanted, but also knowing that you’re able to get a series win?

I think you have to take some perspective. I talked to the guys last night about, you know, how you win late in games or how you finish games. You got to communicate, you got to be tough, and then you got to dominate the fundamentals. And we did not do that today in any capacity. Again, when you walk 10 guys, you can’t do that, especially with a program like the Texas Longhorns. And, you know, again, they’re hitting the ball out of the yard today.

So I think, uh, really, it’s a flush. And hey, we won the weekend, it’s a win, but there’s stuff we need to plenty to make adjustments on. There’s plenty of baseball left, but also too just dealing with— it’s going to get hotter here down the stretch. I’m sure it’ll be hot in Oklahoma and it always is in Hoover. So making sure our guys have what puts them in a position to have success not only on Tuesday but the rest of the run with this group.

What was it like watching Reese have the weekend that he did, you know, potentially being the last time at Lindsey Nelson?

He’s an easy guy to root for and a true volunteer. It means a lot to me and a lot of people I know. A special player, just elite makeup, and then it just gets better. That at-bat today off of Burns or whoever it was, I mean, that was one of the best at-bats I’ve seen in a long time.

The guy’s throwing 3 different pitches. They’re all premium by any metric that you look at, and just fighting and trying to win. That’s what he’s trying to do, and I think he puts us in a position to win. But thankful every day he’s here and greases work. Offensively today, a lot more strikeouts than the last 2 days.

What did you see differently with guys at the plate in that regard?

Yeah, I mean, I thought our guys did a good job the first two days. I mean, even with this pitching staff able to scratch six again on a Sunday, and that’s some really good arms over there. If you start with Brugger, he was mixing and matching those four or five different pitches. I’m sure you saw he’s dropping some slots at times too. So it’s again, moxie, poise, he can do some different things. We tag him early, then he flips, he starts just jamming heaters by us. So kind of the game within the game of our guys making those adjustments, got him early. We need to adjust a little bit more.

And then you got big stuff with Burns, and Lafevor was here last year with Wake. It’s a big lefty. It’s a portal guy with 3 pitches for strikes. And then, you know, Cozart, that’s a pretty dang good arm there at the end too. So I thought our guys did a good job of kind of scratching and clawing and keeping us in the game because if we don’t get out of the gates in that first inning, it could have got ugly real quick.
But facing good arms is going to be the theme the rest of the year, but our offense should have a lot of confidence moving forward after facing really good arms this weekend. Second straight day where y’all punch back after Texas jumps out to a lead.

Do you feel like this team has learned how to punch back over the course of the season, or you feel like they’ve had that trait and it’s just kind of starting to click here late?

I think it’s probably a little bit of combination of both. I mean, we’ve been in that position.
I prefer if we throw the first punch, that would be nice, which again, we’ll have the opportunity to do this week moving forward. But I think it’s good, especially with the offense. There’s been some resiliency there. Understanding, hey, whatever it may be, what kind of offensive day or day of the week, let’s just work together and find a way. I just don’t think the emotional swings are as big as they were early in the year with the younger club.

I think they’re getting a little bit better about that. That needs to be the theme down the stretch because there’s going to be plenty of back and forth to come.

3 of y’all’s 4 SEC series wins against 3 of the better SEC teams y’all have played against. What do you make of that?

Well, I think they’re all good. I think, you know, you got to try to rank them. It’s a waste of time. Everybody’s good. Anybody can win on any day. And I think this year is even more of an example than maybe years in the past.

And each year is mutually exclusive, a little bit different. But I think for us, it’s the fundamental things we talk about all the time is fighting to score first and score more than 6 runs and limiting our free 90s. When we do that, we’re a pretty darn good group. So, but again, we beat 2 of the better starters in the SEC and they’re all good. But at the same time, I think They just need to realize each day you got to finish and you can’t be satisfied with one win or two wins.

You got to find a way to hit the reset button and stay in it because you can get beat or win any day in this league this year.

Do you think that your team has a different edge about them? Maybe the bigger the name across from them or the ranking? Because you have played your best against what’s perceived to be the better teams in this league.

That’s a good question. I don’t think so. I think a lot of it, the first two games, I thought our crowd put us in a position with just the environment that they created, put some pressure on the other team. I think it truly is a home field advantage when we get rocking and rolling. And looking back to Alabama, the way they supported us there to be able to win 2 games in a doubleheader, looking back, that’s a pretty darn big day for this club. But, you know, no, I don’t think so.

I think our guys respect the league. We talk about respecting everybody and then fearing none and making sure you’re on the hunt and attacking. But, no, it’s— we ad nauseam, we talk about it. Telling anybody’s good, anybody can win any day. So I think our guys are truly bought into that.

Have you gotten any more information on Landon and maybe moving forward what the plan might be?

Yeah, no updates at this time. You know, today being Mother’s Day, I know everybody’s again wants to know about what’s going on there, but we’ll have more update next week. And as soon as we have that, we’ll let you guys know.

Are you doing anything for Mother’s Day after this?

I actually have my mom in town and then I’m excited to go see my girls. So, silver lining to a tough day is, again, won the weekend, get to go see some family. So, excited to see them.