Tony Vitello previews left side of Vols’ infield
Tennessee will feature a new shortstop and third baseman in 2023, replacing starters Cortland Lawson and Trey Lipscomb.
Transfers Maui Ahuna (shortstop, Kansas) and Zane Denton (third base, Alabama) are slated to replace Lawson and Lipscomb.
Ahead of the 2023 season, sixth-year head coach Tony Vitello discussed Ahuna and Denton transferring to Tennessee.
“For Zane, where this happened, this happened, this happened, then he gets sick, and he has time away, and all this while he’s trying to transition into a new environment,” Vitello said of Denton when arriving at Tennessee in the fall. “It’s so awesome to just see a smile on his face and kind of become one of the guys is probably his main goal right now. Because he, you know, he can swing, he can play defense, he knows the league. Now his body is kind of where it needs to be, again, a couple of illnesses is a setback and time away last semester, but he had to deal with stuff that even an adult shouldn’t have to all in one semester. I got to think if anyone’s eager to be out there on the field, it’s him.
“Then Maui is a super lovable kid and everybody knows he’s highly skilled, but same thing, you’re wrapped up in a culture and an experience. For two years, you kind of feel like that’s who you’ve become and now you got to reverse it. It’s one thing about the portal. I don’t know if I should say this, but sometimes you got to, you got to take everything into consideration. Maybe the grass is greener on our side, in his instance, because there was a coaching change. You don’t just step on a campus, and just because you’re a good player all of a sudden, bam, here I am. There’s some time, and again, refreshing to see how he interacts and how he goes about his business with some of the things we do as opposed to first semester, and not that he was doing anything wrong, he’s certainly well schooled by coach (Ritch) Price’s program coming in here. It’s a new environment and those two guys need to reflect what we got going on — and they’re starting to do that.”
