BATON ROUGE, La. − Tony Vitello doesn’t think Dean Curley’s recent fielding woes are physical after the Tennessee baseball infielder made two ninth-inning errors in the opener against LSU.
“Just mental,” the Vols coach said. “There’s always physical parts to it, but just mental.”
Curley had a throwing error and a fielding error in a three-batter span to start the ninth inning in No. 6 Tennessee’s 6-3 loss to No. 5 LSU at Alex Box Stadium. The Vols (34-8, 12-7 SEC) allowed six unearned runs and the Tigers (35-8, 13-6) walked off the win on a Jared Jones three-run homer in the early morning hours following a 3-hour, 25-minute weather delay.
Curley has five errors in his past eight games on 25 total chances, a fielding percentage of .800 that leaves Vitello balancing instilling confidence in Curley while also being unsure of what the sophomore will do in the field.
“Now we need to win,” Vitello said. “We needed to win (Friday), too. We are getting towards the stretch part of the season, obviously, getting to May. We need to find a way to put nine guys out there that are going to help us win.”
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Curley has 11 errors this season, but three were in one game against Radford on March 4. He had 15 with .935 fielding percentage as a freshman at shortstop on UT’s national title team last season.
He has struggled since the start of the Ole Miss series with his defensive consistency. He threw wildly wide of first on April 12 for a sixth-inning error on a slow chopper then took his time throwing to first and allowing Ole Miss’ Luke Cheng to reach for an eighth-inning single. He made another throwing error in the first inning on April 13, firing a throw well wide right of first base.
LOSS: How Tennessee baseball threw away opener at LSU in walk-off loss with ninth-inning errors
Against LSU, Curley got a high chopper from Ethan Frey to open the ninth. He took a crow hop and threw to first, but the throw was high and pulled first baseman Andrew Fischer from the base. Curley booted a grounder from Jake Brown two batters later to put two runners on as the inning unraveled.
“I don’t know that anybody for either team gets the guy on the first play,“ Vitello said.
The Californian has bounced around the infield this season, spending time at second base, shortstop and third base. He also has played some first base. He looked comfortable and smooth at second base in UT’s series against Kentucky.
Designated hitter is an option as Curley works through the defensive woes.
KILEN: How Gavin Kilen’s return to second base changes Tennessee baseball for LSU series
Ariel Antigua has proven he has to play shortstop because his fielding skills are elite. Gavin Kilen, who has mostly played second base, could play shortstop or even third base. Fischer also could slide back to third base, but he has been reliable at first base. Manny Marin and Jay Abernathy are options at second base. Marin can play third. Blake Grimmer also could play third base.
