Photo via Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee baseball picked up its fourth straight win Wednesday night, coasting past Oakland 11-2 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Following the game, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander discussed Ariel Antigua’s first career home run, multiple players making their season debuts and much more. Here’s everything Elander said.

More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Coasts Past Oakland For Midweek Victory

On Vols freshman two-way player Taylor Tracey making his first career start on the mound

“t was really good, just attacking the strike zone and really the pitching staff as a whole tonight, the big thing was no walks. We’ve made it a big theme, like just compete over the white, you got good defenders behind you. I think it was good for our offense to get out of the gates, too, to give those guys some breathing room. But I believe Taylor (Tracey) punched out seven of the nine, and threw a lot of strikes. So, left handed, 92-93 (mph), a good changeup. That’s a good place to start. He was originally going to go two, but I liked what I saw. I wanted to see if he could get one more. That’s a good sign going into the next week.”

On Bowling Green transfer catcher/centerfielder Garrett Wright making his first start of the season after dealing with a broken hamate bone

“Yeah, it’s cool. There’s just a lot that goes on behind the scenes, right? I mean, there’s guy’s — know, Garrett, his dream school was Tennessee. And now he’s here, and then he gets (hurt) in the preseason — the hamate (bone) is just one of those deals that can go at any point. It’s nothing that he did right or wrong, but he’s going to hit the pause button, and then (Blake) Grimmer is battling the back a little bit. Those guys are working their tail off behind the scenes, and so has (Will) Haas and (Jax) Bishop. So today was a really cool day to be able to get everybody in the mix and everybody doing their job, but guys that are working hard behind the scenes that — especially Grimm — I mean, Wright, too, as well. Really good day for both those guys.”

On his favorite swing from Tennessee utility player Blake Grimmer’s 3-for-4 outing in his first game of the season

“You know the answer to that. That (opposite-field) line drive down the left-field line. That’s hard to do, and I know we talked about it before, but again, Reese Chapman did that in high school when we’re out recruiting him — Blake Burke, the same thing. If you’re left-handed and you can stay on a ball like that and drive it true down the left-field line, it’s pretty special, right? So again, just maturity. Sometimes that first at-bat, maybe a little bit out of control, even an older guy, but just staying on (the ball) — and the one before that he hits in the left-centerfield gap that almost leaves yards. It’s just maturity and a guy who knows how to have success. Just good to see him back healthy in there and doing his thing.”

How often he envisions Blake Grimmer at first base and Garrett Wright in centerfield:

“Yeah, I think a lot of (it) — we were just talking about in the locker room — some of that stuff is still TBD, right? So again, we’ve challenged the players, like plant your flag, where do you want to play. But until we get the result, and we’re trying to find what is, not the best nine players, but what is the mix of the best nine, you know? And again, that’s with the versatility that we have with the group. But again, I think on the infield spot, that’s kind of where it starts. I mean, again, Jay (Abernathy) can go outfield or infield, can do a lot of stuff, was a high school shortstop. But eventually we want these guys to show up to the yard, and they kind of write the lineups themselves.”

On if Garrett Wright is healthy enough to catch yet

“I don’t think so, not yet. I mean, I think if we were in the postseason, we could really kind of talk about it. But again, that’s probably the last piece to get there, and we’re not there yet. So he’s done some stuff off the machine. We’ll get some bullpen stuff, more live stuff, but, again, catching off a machine, or catching Landon Mack throwing 98 is a little bit different animals. So we’ll keep the big picture in mind, but really cool for him today. Just, it’s a different kind of a throwback player. Drops a bunt, like that was on his own, just out of nowhere and he’ll get hit by a pitch. So there’s some grittiness there that I like, that he adds to the line up.”

On if they have had any players previously who are so on-base heavy

“Yeah, I don’t think so. I mean, it’s just such a different profile, right? It’s a stockier, right-handed hitter and again, but he takes pride. And we were just joking today in our hitters meeting about all his hit by pitches. I believe that was his 50th of his career, 51st tonight. And he was like, I don’t wear an EVO shield, so we’re all kind of laughing, because it kind of scared us the way he said it, to be honest with you. He’s a good, tough-nosed player, and it’s a good kind of comedic relief when he’s out there with the guys.”

On Ariel Antigua hitting his first career home runs

“Yeah, it’s almost like I was rooting for him as a fan, right? I mean, he’s working his tail off behind the scenes. And again, Ariel had a tremendous fall. He’s one of our best players offensively, objectively, if you look at the numbers, and I understand the fall is different from the spring, but his first at-bat here, I remember he hit a ball foul like two miles. I don’t know if anybody ever remembers that. But again, he’s always hit. So we just want to go out and play right. I think he’s again, playing the game of maybe trying to do a little bit too much, or the competition— we got to figure out what we got there in the middle of the field. So that was a step in the right direction for him, but just handling the right way of coming to the field and making sure he’s getting his work in. And I tell him, be patient but stay ready because, you know, the ebbs and flows of the season and how guys do. I mean, we’re going to continue to mix and match with those guys.”

On what it looks like when Antigua is not trying to do too much

“I think if you go like, just kind of like coach mode, when he’s charging at the ball or he’ll lose posture over the plate. Again, it’s like he’s trying to go get it instead of letting the ball come to him, right? And I think a lot of a lot of hitters run into that at times. So again, I think when you get early in the year and you’re not getting the results that you want, our job as coaches is to get them back on track as best as quick as we can. But sometimes, again, those guys start chasing hits, and that’s a dangerous place to be. So again, we’ll give him good info with the hard contact percentage or quality at-bats. Or there’s things that we can objectively give him like, ‘Hey, are we on the road to success here?’ But a lot of it comes down to the controlling emotions and the decision making in the box, and commitment to doing or having the behavior that’s going to help you have success in the long term.”

On if Chris Newstrom at shortstop is viable or if it was to see if he could do it

“I mean, I think he can do it. He was a high school shortstop out in the Phoenix area, and always played there. Him and Ty Southisene. I know he never made it to campus. Watched them play a million times. But like I said, we’re trying to just mix-and-match and find the best nine, right? So, again, whether it’s a defensive look like we went with when we played down versus Virginia Tech, or maybe we’ll go with a little bit more blend of offense and defense. And ultimately, again, we need to settle on what are our 9, 10,11 guys. But it’s still to be determined. That’s why these games, every game before SEC is so valuable, and we’re excited for the challenge this weekend too.”

On what he tells Levi Clark and Manny Marin right now

“I met with Levi today. I just told him I want him to get a mental reset. That’s it. Sometimes that’s what you need, is to just sit back and watch the game. Remember, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be fun.’

I saw from the box, and I told him – don’t mind sharing with you guys – [he’s] just trying to do too much. Effort level, trying to hit three home runs in one at-bat, you can’t do that, right? I think sometimes the outside noise you have to control at this point in the year. ‘What’s going on here? Why aren’t you doing this and that?’ But I still have 1,000,000% faith in Levi Clark, and he’ll be back out there on Friday night hopefully just watching the game and slowing down a little bit.”

“It will be good for him and Manny, too. I’ve told him, ‘Hey, we’re going to mix and match. I’m going to keep doing it until one of you guys doesn’t give me a choice,’ kind of like (Brayden) Krenzel did down in Texas. [I’m] not going to pull them out of the game when he’s throwing the ball like that. So, those guys are all capable. They’re all competing. But like I said, I want one of them to kind of plant their flag and say, ‘Hey, this is my job.’”

On how nice it was to get Will Haas and Jax Bishop on the mound

“Just a huge credit to our training staff and Dr. Klenck and Jeff Wood and Josh Reynolds. Those guys are almost ahead of schedule, and they’re in that kind of honey hole right now where they’re past the eight month mark, but they’re also keeping the big picture in mind. 

“They were working hard behind the scenes. I thought I saw a little bit of jitters, which I think is normal. I saw Haas’ mom, they came all the way down from Minnesota to be here. So, that’s a cool moment, because there’s a lot that goes back, where you get hurt, you kind of disappear for a little bit, and you just kind of keep grinding away. 

“But I told them both. I said, ‘Hey, I know you guys gave up homers. I could not care less. You attacked the strike zone. You were right back in it after that, you got good defenders behind you.” So, credit to a lot of people for getting those guys back out there, and I think they’ll continue to build as we get that pitch count up. Two completely different looks with Jax throwing sinker, change[up], and Haas, it really is a lower-slot, tough look with a premium changeup.”