Everything Josh Elander said on an 8-1 midweek win over Presbyterian  

Tennessee belted a pair of two-run home runs in the four-run sixth inning to pull away from Presbyterian in Tuesday’s 8-1 midweek win over the Blue Hose from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The Vols (32-17) hit four homers in the content while Presbyterian managed just three hits in the contest. Blake Grimmer and Trent Grindlinger launched a pair of solo home runs in the second inning while Levi Clark and Garrett Wright belted two-run homers in the sixth. Stone Lawless and Jay Abernathy drove in a run apiece in the eighth inning.

Ethan Baiotto (W, 3-0) earned the win on the mound after retiring all eight batters faced in the 2.2 inning relief effort. Domaine Vann (L, 0-1) is the losing pitcher in the ballgame after allowing two runs off four hits in two innings of work.    

The following is video and written transcript of the Josh Elander postgame press conference following Tennessee’s midweek victory over Presbyterian in nonconference play.

Up Next: Tennessee welcomes Texas to town for the final weekend series of the regular season. First pitch on Friday is 6:30 p.m. ET and will be streamed on the SEC Network+.  

On how nice it was for Tennessee infielder Blake Grimmer and designated hitter Trent Grindlinger to hit home runs in the third inning after they struggled at Kentucky:

“Yeah, it was needed. I think we’ve turned the page to this week. (Blake) Grimmer crushed that ball to right, and I think Trent, that’s probably the furthest ball he’s hit here — or as a Vol so far. So good job. Both those counts, advantage count, want to get the bat head out right there, contact out front. I think both of them, it was nice the ball stayed true. They’re not around that ball or anything. That’s a good sign going into the weekend.”

On how important Trent Grindlinger has been to the middle of Tennessee’s lineup:

“He’s been phenomenal. I think, just what he brings to the clubhouse and as a teammate, he’s just a good, light-hearted, great — I mean, he brings a lot of intangibles that make our club better, and a guy that was patient. We always tell them be patient, but stay ready. Gave him some opportunities, and really hasn’t given me a choice. Now I have to put him in there, and again, to be a freshman and hit in the in the middle of the lineup, and drive in runs and hit the ball at the ballpark. There’s a lot of things he’s doing well, and I think a lot of guys on our team just need to look at it. He brings a consistent approach. He uses the whole field, and the way he works through at-bats is wise beyond his years.”

On how good it was to get Stone Lawless back in the lineup after he took a foul tip off his catcher’s mask at Kentucky; if he was pulled from the game Sunday just to be cautious:

“Yes, it was. I mean, I went out there. That ball stung him, and I was just kind of looking at him there for a second. So I walked out there, and I’ve known Stone a long, long time — since he was 14-years-old. We’ve talked on the phone a lot over the years in the recruiting deal. So I thought I had a pretty good read, like he was kind of shaken up right there, and (trainer Jeff Wood) did a phenomenal job. There was nothing with the stuff that has happened in the past. It just stunned him.

“So with the concussion protocol, you’re able to actually get him out of the game, and you can even bring him back in at some point. He was fighting me to go back in there, but I was just kind of looking at him, you know, looking at the situation. So again, that was one of the main things tonight, was get him in there, let him get a bunch of at-bats, get his feet back underneath him, and he’s in a good spot going into the weekend.”

On why Tennessee freshman LHP Cameron Appenzeller has struggled in his last few outings of SEC play:

“Yeah, I think it’s just the SEC is a monster, as you know. You guys have all been here. You’ve seen — I’ve seen Drew Beam, Chase Dollander, lot of guys have those days where they just get crushed, and there’s no other word for it, but what Appy is doing is he’s throwing strikes. He’s a freshman. His workload is — this is more than he’s ever done. I think it’s a big challenge for those guys as a freshman, but I got a ton of confidence in him, I really do. I think it was kind of just a little bit of an anomaly up there in Kentucky, throwing strikes. Those guys — I mean, the wind’s blowing out — getting to the heater a little bit, but he’s a guy that’s going to compete and give us a chance to win. Got a ton of confidence in him down the stretch, and we’re going to need him, but part of the SEC is you have to make adjustments along the way. I know he has the aptitude and the ability, and the people in the building to help him get to where he needs to go, but I think mentally, I talked to him before we got back on the bus from Lexington, and we chatted yesterday, and I know guys are working with him. The guy wants to win. He’s a competitor, so I’m excited to be able to get him the ball again soon.”

If there’s any thought to lessoning Cameron Appenzeller’s workload:

“No. I mean, if you really look at the workload, how we’ve handled it, as far as we haven’t really run him anywhere close to 100 (or) 120 pitches. We’ve made sure to be extra careful. I don’t think we’ve even run him twice in a weekend, in SEC play. I think it’s more of just like, if you look at the calendar year of going from high school senior to freshman, that’s the biggest jump that they’re ever going to make. So not necessarily something specifically with him, but just bird’s-eye-view of dealing with arms of his caliber over the past year. I think you have to keep the big picture in mind. But physically, he’s in a great spot. It’s not like he’s wearing down and all of a sudden he’s throwing 86-87 (mph). The stuff is still good. He’s up to 92-93 up there in Lexington, and again, teams are going to make adjustments on how you’re having success, and then they have to do the same, but again, he’s going to be a big part for us down the stretch.”

On the challenges Texas presents:

“It’s a championship-level program. I mean, I grew up 15 minutes from the University of Texas, and obviously know Coach (Jim) Schlossnagle very well. He was my college head coach, but just the program, (associate head coach) Nolan Cain and what those guys do, he’s a guy I’ve run around on the road recruiting (with). He does a great job. And Max (Weiner), their pitching coach, again, kind of a different style, but his results are undeniable on what they’ve been able to do over there.

“But it’s a very talented roster. There’s high draft picks all over the place. There’s big velocity, there’s different looks, and they have some freshmen from the West Coast that are playing well right now. It’s a very balanced group and very competitive, but that’s what the SEC is. And if you look across, there’ll be more, maybe some more familiar faces across the way, just from either recruiting or back in the day. But it’s another really, really good opponent at home in Knoxville, and we’re excited for the challenge.”

On what it will feel like standing across from Schlossnagle, their communication level:

“Yeah, I mean, he’s always been amazing to me. Someone I’ve kept in touch with a ton and, again, there’s a lot of people that I wouldn’t be standing here (without), and he’s definitely one of them, and I don’t take that for granted. But, again, he knows my family and my kids and all that. We stay in touch a ton and but, again, I get that could be the narrative and whatnot, but this is Tennessee versus Texas at home and in May. And I’m excited for our fans to get here and support us. This is a big weekend for our crew, and I’m just excited to see because we didn’t play well enough last week in Lexington, and I think it left a bad taste in all of our mouth, and we need to play better this weekend. I know our guys are excited.”

On if he was surprised by the poor showing on Friday and Saturday after winning the Alabama series:

“It’s just a reminder, in this league, every day is mutually exclusive. If you get too excited or too sad, or maybe sad is not even the right word. If you get on your heels each day, you have to be able to hook it up. And again, that’s what’s part of this league is. You can win 10-0, lose 10-0, but it’s how do you do over the course of the 30 SEC games that you play, and they all bring you new challenges, whether you’re at home or on the road, or you’re playing this kind of team or that kind of team. But great job by our guys on Sunday, just a traditional crazy Sunday SEC game. Punches being thrown back and forth. The smoke gets hot there at the end, but our guys finding a way to get out of there. And now we got, again, three or four more games at home this week, and we’ll attack each one.”

On if there’s any discussions about mixing up the rotation:

“Yeah, we’ll have those discussions. We’ll start them tomorrow. I think the one thing, just to be overly honest, is (we) have to be cognizant of the next week (Thursday-Saturday series at Oklahoma) with that would bounce guys back up again another day, if we did make some changes. So we’ll dive into that. But again, I’m excited to see Tegan, Blanco. It’ll be those three in some capacity, for sure, but excited to see how some of those guys bounce back. And then it was good to see Mack make some adjustments and have some success up there in Lexington.”

On players pressing being a recurring issue for this team:

“I think you just got to remember that a lot of these guys on this roster, it’s the first time they’ve been through the league. So we’re trying to tell them, it’s like, you got to make sure you’re playing to win, not playing to lose. And again, I don’t think our guys have had any issue with that. I just think all encompassing what comes with the SEC, whether it be social media or all the big names or the prospects these guys have played. And again, these guys are cognizant of everything that’s kind of going on behind the scenes and whatnot. But their focus needs just need to be on each game. The challenge is when you play, again, the thing is we talked to them on the bus after the game. There’s some games that, when it’s over, it should bug you for a while, and it did. And I think it did our guys on Saturday night, and then you got to adjust. Because if you sit there and you relish and it’s about, okay, how do you get from what are the problems? Well, these are solutions. This is how we get there. I think our guys did a good job of that. But home stretch here. I mean, we’ve had success on the road, not success, success at home, not success at home. So at this point in the year, the narrative needs to be, how do we play our best ball in the day that we’re at? And then we’ll figure it out from there as we go.”

On his reaction to the SEC implementing the ABS challenge system for the SEC Tournament:

“I think it’s a great idea. I’m just excited to see how it plays out. I haven’t read like the full memo yet, but I know the players were texting last night. Is this real? Because they always joke in the fall, like, if one of coaches are the umpire, they’ll just tap their hat. You know, they think they got it figured out.. But again, just to be honest like SEC umpires, our guys have been great. I mean, they do a good job of, again, there’s so many systems and how you can look at. I mean, some of those guys are wildly talented and making sure they don’t call strikes out the strike zone. So it’ll be a good test. Will add another little bit of a coil into the conference tournament. And I know Hoover’s an awesome event. It’s one of our— it’s a fun deal to go to each year.”

On if they will have guidelines and rules for when guys can use it:

“I think so. There has to be some sort of strategy to it for sure. So again, it probably would good to connect with some of our pro ball connections, and how are they using it and what capacity? Because I know there was, there’s been so many different things, but it is still new up there as well. But there has to be some sort of strategic element, and we’ll definitely make sure we get those questions answered before we get down there.”