Dan Fleser
During an SEC Network postgame appearance Thursday night, Tony Vitello shared the fact that Tennessee baseball players Gavin Kilen and Brandon Arvidson are roommates.
The Vols coach was expounding on the roomies’ performances in a 7-5 comeback victory over Texas at the SEC tournament. The living arrangements aided Vitello in trying to explain the synergy behind their play. Maybe a wellspring of competitiveness can be found at the same address.
Both players, in different ways, played pivotal roles in the outcome. Infielder Kilen was the man for the moments, first hitting a home run in the 10th inning. When that wasn’t enough, his encore was a two-run double in the 12th. He credited associate head coach Josh Elander and the analytics staff, as if their intel served as a script for his clutch hitting.
“All our analytics guys and Elander do a great job preparing us to do good when we get an opportunity,” Kilen said, “and I just got a good pitch to do that a couple of times.”
Reliever Arvidson, meanwhile, did his part in getting the game to those moments with 5.1 innings of sterling relief. The left-hander allowed just four hits and a run while striking out nine, affording Tennessee the opportunity to overcome an early 4-0 deficit.
Before crowding into the same spotlight on Thursday, the two Vols shared a backstory of perseverance this season as well.
Kilen, a transfer from Louisville, earned SEC and national player of the week honors within the first two weeks. He had hit eight home runs by March 7. But then he was sidetracked by injury, appearing just once between March 18 and April 11.
Arvidson took the late-bloomer route, stringing together four consecutive effective outings the past two weeks, allowing just one run, issuing one walk and recording 14 strikeouts during a combined 8.2 innings. His curve ball was out of this world against the Longhorns
“He’s 6-(foot)5 and throws it over the top of his head from the moon,” Kilen said. “I’ve never been able to hit it.”
The pitch kept Arvidson in favorable ball-strike counts, which enhanced his effectiveness.
“I mean that’s kind of been the focus all year, and why I faced some struggles earlier in the year is just falling behind hitters and clawing my way back into counts,” he said. “So, just getting ahead has been big for me.”
The worst pitch he threw on Thursday wasn’t a pitch at all but rather an errant pickoff throw to first base in the bottom of the 10th, enabling Rylan Galvan to race all the way to third. The throwing error was instrumental in Texas overcoming Kilen’s homer to draw even.
“I kind of let (Kilen) down there,” Arvidson said, “and then he got me back the second time. It’s just awesome.”
Well, it was kind of embarrassing, too. At first, Kilen thought his double was destined to be another homer, off the scoreboard in his estimation. He was a spectator before becoming a baserunner and only got to second base.
“I was almost kind of scared to look in the dugout,” Kilen said. “I probably should’ve been on third base if I had been running hard.”
From the dugout, Vitello looked on with a big-picture view of what was happening. The Vols needed this victory badly to have a chance at hosting an NCAA Regional. And they wouldn’t have won without the roommates coming through.
So, for the same reason he didn’t mention Arvidson’s throwing error, Vitello, when asked, didn’t criticize Kilen’s brain cramp either.
“The thing is, the guy’s competing his butt off.”
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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri, who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters, U.S Basketball Writers and Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at danfleser3@gmail.com.