Head coach Tony Vitello has led the Tennessee Volunteers to the College World Series championship series following a win over Florida State.
Following that win over Florida State, Vitello described the emotions taking the Volunteers to the CWS championship series, explaining that he is happy to see his team’s strong performance and that he feels like he’s following the team.
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“It’s kind of hard,” Tony Vitello said. “There’s a lot of hustle and bustle, like I said, after the game. And then also you want to manage it as well as you can. What’s interesting, the position we put ourselves in, Kirby [Connell], [Nate] Snead, [Aaron] Combs and there’s others, but those have been — our main three guys are fresh as a daisy — if you’re watching tombstone.”
To get to the CWS championship series, Tennessee beat Florida State 7-2. It was a game led by the bats at the top of the order and by Zander Sechrist on the mound.
“And Zander is just throwing the heck out of it and got a really low pitch count,” Vitello said. “Just kind of want to always make sure I’m doing my part in putting these guys in a good position to succeed. But Zander wouldn’t let you take the ball out of his hand today. We decided to utilize those guys.”
Tony Vitello came to Tennessee for the 2018 season. Since then, he’s turned the Volunteers into one of the top programs in college baseball. That run includes three seasons of at least 50 wins in the past four years. Still, this is the first time that he’s taken the Volunteers to the CWS championship series.
As a program, this is only the second time the Volunteers have made it to the CWS championship series. The last time was back in 1951. Now, Vitello and the Volunteers want to win their first national championship.
“That’s where my head’s at, I guess. It’s not a great answer. But it is cool to see a cultivation of just like [Blake] Burke‘s development and Kirby being a mainstay of this program and Zander, his contribution. We always say before something happens, something happens. There’s been a lot of build-up into the successes we’ve had this year and the failures, too, to be honest with you. And it’s been fun to be a part of,” Vitello said.
“As far as my emotions, I’m kind of at the point where I’m just following these guys. There are certain tasks I have to do, and there’s direction I give them, and they’ll listen. But kind of following them right now. Makes it nice.”
The College World Series championship series begins on Saturday, June 22nd. It will be a three-game series against fellow SEC school, the Texas A&M Aggies.
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