Everything Josh Elander said on a Friday doubleheader sweep of Alabama

Blaine Brown homered twice and drive in four runs to lead Tennessee to a 11-4 win over Alabama in the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The Vols (29-15, 10-11 SEC) also beat the Crimson Tide (29-16, 10-11 SEC) in Game 1 of the doubleheader, 10-0 in eight innings. With the Friday doubleheader sweep, Tennessee won the weekend series and picked up some much-needed conference wins.

Brown was fantastic in the second game of the twin-bill, homering twice, driving in four and scoring two runs. Trent Grindlinger tallied three hits and drove in three. The Vols exploded for seven runs in the seventh inning to take control of the ballgame.

Evan Blanco (W, 5-2) earned the win after his fifth quality start in SEC play and fourth-straight. The lefty allowed three runs on five hits in six innings of work. Myles Upchurch (L, 5-3) took home the loss after allowing four runs in five innings.   

The following is video and written transcript from the Josh Elander postgame press conference following Friday’s doubleheader between Tennessee and Alabama.

Up Next: Tennessee concludes the nine-game homestand on Tuesday by welcoming West Georgia to Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a 6 p.m. ET start. The Vols travel to Kentucky to continue SEC play next weekend.

On what it does for the lineup when Blaine Brown hits the way he did this week…

“Yeah, we like that Blaine. We’d like to see some more of him. But I think just credit to our staff and him getting to a good spot mentally and sticking with him too. Again, I know he struggled a little bit, but he has the ability to change the game in one swing and was able to do that. To be able to hit that ball left or to left center like he did— not a lot of guys can do that. Reminded me kind of of Blake Burke back in the day, how he could do that. And then gets a breaking ball and hits it in the trees and keeps it true. So when he plays with confidence and excitement and he’s not quiet, he’s pretty special. So we’re going to need more of that, but great day for Blaine.”

On why he’s been so willing to stink with Blaine Brown through struggles…

“Yeah, I mean, maybe it’s a fault. We’ll see. But loyalty is a big thing. It always has been in this building and belief in the guys. And again, he’s a guy I believe in. There’s a lot of guys I believe in in that lineup. And it’s good to see him have some success and the credit all goes to them. But I’m a big believer, working with the hitters for a long time, you’re always one swing away from getting real hot. And hopefully that’s the case for a lot of these guys because they had a great weekend swinging the bat. But, again, it’s easy to bet on makeup for good kids and we have a lot of those guys in the building.”

On the common theme in the seven-run sixth inning…

“I think just kind of the opposite of what we did last night. The team that plays catch more is going to work at a better level, is going to win the game. And it comes down to a simple bunt play, a little bit of miscommunication. Freshman that has really good stuff on the mound throws the ball away, and then all of a sudden it’s off to the races. But it comes down to who plays catch better, and we did that. 

But I thought we played really complimentary baseball today, just situational execution. I know we hit some homers, but Stone and Reese infield back less than two outs, just using the middle of the field, not trying to do too much. I know we got hosed at the plate with Grimm, but that’s still guys fighting to try to get the job done right there. We had another run on the first and third plate late to give us a little bit more breathing room and drop down some bunts, and we execute and work through the counts. So it was really good to see. It’s really tough what we did today, and our guys know that. And just so much respect for this league. It is to win one, but to win two in one day, the credit all goes to the players because their response from how they played poorly yesterday to great today is a really good sign for our club moving forward.”

On how impressive Tegan Kuhns has been in his last three outings…

“I mean, he’s going to pitch in the big leagues for a long time. I think we challenged him, we talked about it in here before, ‘hey, you got to be quicker to the plate, you got to cover up your glove, you can’t give teams ways to beat you. But his breaking ball was really good today. We won two games today because of Tegan Kuhns and what he gave us in that first game, and his competitiveness. And he shows up early and goes in there and gets his work in with (strength coach) Keegan (Knoll), gets his body right. He was eating breakfast, little stuff like that. So, it’s little habits that he’s continuing to get better-and-better at. But all the credit goes to him because he was phenomenal for us today.”

On what led to Tennessee handling the pressure and circumstances of the day so well…

“I think because we’ve been in that spot – we haven’t won on Friday night, I know that came up in here – unfortunately, we need to be better on Fridays, but we’ve been in these scenarios where your back’s against the wall and you got to figure out what you got. You can play tight and tense and try hard, or you can just cut it loose and play baseball. I thought our guys did that today, but credit to Tegan (Kuhns). The way he gets out of the gates and just attacking the strike zone, the opposite of last night. (Justin) Lebron hits a ball 110 (mph) or whatever to start the game, but it’s a strike. We can live with that and we’ll play defense from there. 

“But just credit to the offense, to blow those two games open. Situational execution, some base running, staying to the baseball, and I don’t think their bullpen got us once. Yeah, we had zero strikeouts against any of their guys out of the pen. So good job by our guys fighting to keep the ball in play.”

On how impressive Evan Blanco’s consistency has been and his performance on five days rest…

“He just continues to be a pro in how he goes about his business. He’s up here as much as anybody. His routines are crisp, and his way he adjusts, his mental game, everything. It’s a complete package when it comes to a starter with some veteran qualities. That was pretty evident when we talked to him in the recruiting process. We kind of knew what we were going to get there. 

“The value he brings to the locker room, too. Guys, if they just watch what he does, they’ll have success. He’s been tremendous for us, and he’s thrown 86 and I guess 110 (pitches) – so right up to 200 pitches (in the past five days) – he was really mad at me when I pulled him out, but that was okay. It was time to go to Arv (Brandon Arvidson) after that long inning (6th) right there. But he’s been really, really good for us.”

On if Trent Grindlinger’s approach is rare for a freshman…

“I think so. And just what he’s doing is rare right now. He crushed that ball to center field, and he’s taking some really good swings.

“He comes from a great family. They play great baseball in Southern California. That’s why we recruit over there a ton. (He) comes with some maturity, but a lot of times in those moments, we talk about effort level, pitch selection, and contact point, but if you’re out of control with your effort level, everything else is going to be – it’s just not going to work. So, a lot of times the moment – shout out to our crowd, they were amazing getting on their feet, putting some more pressure on Alabama right there in a big moment – but does a good job taking a deep breath, slowing down, ‘Hey, what is the task? What am I trying to do here?’ He’s a really good player for us.”

On how difficult Jay Abernathy is making it to keep him out of the lineup and his performance in Game 1 of the day…

“I thought that was awesome. Walk – couple walks – couple of hit-by-pitches. What he’s able to do on a ball that they don’t play catch on, we’re able to score right there. He’s a dynamic player and another guy that’s incredible makeup. He’s been awesome how he’s handled it because with Stone (Lawless) coming back, somebody is going to get pinched some way along the way. But I’m going to go out of my way to make sure he continues to get in there and he can change the game. He’s been awesome about just working. He was in there, I think, the first 28 games or whatever it may be before we made a change. And he’s going to be in there plenty down the stretch. But his selfless attitude has been very cool for our younger players to see how he’s handled it because he’s capable of being an everyday player in this league. But I hope he keeps making it harder and harder for me to keep him out of there. But he’ll be in there.”

On if there has been any common themes the last four SEC games with the offense…

“Just better swings. Nothing crazy. It’s not like we’re taking BP (batting practice) differently or doing our scouting reports differently. I think some guys are getting some ABs (at-bats) under their belt. I meant it when I said it last week. Mississippi’s pitching staff, they were very, very good. I think our guys, as they continue to see more SEC high-level stuff, they just slow down and are able to navigate at-bats a little bit better or the moment a little bit better when the crowd gets going. And what’s been really cool is Trent (Grindlinger) as a freshman, what he’s been able to do. And then G-Wright (Garrett Wright) has been hot. Even on a day— doesn’t have any hits in this game, gets on base a few times. I think they’re just settling in. That’s what we need down the stretch. And I know we’re past the three-quarter way of the year, but I’ve always felt confident in this offense and they were capable. But they need to continue to be consistent because I know it’s been three or four days now, but plenty of baseball left and more challenges and more good arms to face.”

On what went into the lineup shuffling for the second game on Friday…

“The main thing was just the splits. When you look at (Alabama starting pitcher Miles Upchurch) Upchurch, he throws four different pitches. A lot of the pitches to righties are out of the strike zone, so it’s kind of a different deal. But if you look at SEC, or just regular splits, lefties are hitting under .100 off him and with a pretty big sample size. Righties, it’s not much better, but it’s a lot better than under 100. So, wanted to stack those righties up a little bit, but also have to be cognizant of— they have (Matthew) Heiberger and some other guys in the pen with lefties. But then they have – without getting too far in the wormhole – they have reverse-splits. So, kind of playing the game within the game as you work through it as you go. But the simple thing was, Trent (Grindlinger) has just been having great at-bats.  And for all the guys, I’ll tell them in the recruiting chair, we’ll play the best guy. You’re going to earn what you’re going to get and then we’ll let you run. And he’s done that. So, I don’t care if he’s a freshman, a transfer or junior – it’s another spot to hit in the lineup. And that’s how he’s treated it and just trying to help his teammates win. But that’s where the shuffling came from.”

On how often Trent Grindlinger is giving Tennessee quality at-bats…

“A lot. It’s something we track. You know, we’ll get the updated one — usually we kind of go like, two or three-week sample at a time, because as those guys continue to get more and more at bats, but we’ll do barrel percentage, hard-contact percentage, quality-of-bat percentage. There’s all kinds of different things we like to give them that are objective, like, hey, how are we making making sure that we’re holding you accountable to what the standards are offensively, but also we’re not just looking at your batting average on the scoreboard.

“But Trent, he’s always been really good at those qualities, and a lot of guys on here, too. But that’s something we’ll get to those guys again. I know they joke about how they move up and down on the sheet, and it’s a good competitive element, but Trent has a lot of those as of late. Hopefully he continues to.”

On how important he feels Tennessee’s doubleheader sweep of Alabama is to the team’s trajectory…

“Yeah, I just think to be able to win a doubleheader in the SEC, it’s so hard to do. And just credit to our players for their approach and being able to flush yesterday because that could snowball, how poorly we played last night. I know everybody was frustrated, they knew I was frustrated. But ultimately, at this time of year, it’s — we talk about letting the horses run, but they’re driving the car at this point. So we got to get them in the right spot and then we got to let them go.

“I think it goes back to Tegan and what they did. I know this time of year everyone wants to talk about, ‘hey, what’s next for this?’ For us, it’s — I know it’s cliché — we have to get them tomorrow, they need to recover. It was a long day today. We’ll have a light day of practice on Sunday and then to be ready for next week. Because if you’re looking at two or three weeks down the road, you’re going to get lost in the mix. Our guys have done a good job of attacking each day, and I’m really proud of how they attacked today.”

On why he was willing to tell Tegan Kuhns after Tennessee’s frustrating loss in Game 1 that they really needed him to have a strong start…

“Yeah, I’m surprised he told you that. That’s awesome. I just trust him. And again, I think just being honest and vulnerable with your guys at times is very, very important. It’s a big game, and I don’t think trying to sugarcoat it or make something up — it’s like, ‘hey, like, let’s go, we need you today.’ Just incredibly proud of how he competed. But I think somewhere in there, when things are going tough, there’s the decision, are we going this way or that way — and I thought he just took the steering wheel and we went the right direction because of Tegan. So pretty awesome he did that. But no, I trust that kid. I think the world of him. He’s been really good for us.”