HATTIESBURG, Miss. − Tony Vitello doesn’t normally go into the Tennessee baseball locker room. He prefers to leave that space to the players, declaring it to be their safe haven.
In early November, the Vols coach broke that barrier. He entered to post the itinerary for Tennessee’s trip to Jackson for a scrimmage against Memphis on Nov. 6. He didn’t know how good his team would be at that point. He knew the projections. He knew the possibilities. But he just didn’t know.
“I’m not trying to undersell the team but we were not the No. 2 team in the country in February and March,” Vitello said Monday. “But the comment was we very well could be that team.”
Vitello sprinted across the field at Southern Miss’ Pete Taylor Park on Monday, sliding his team and taking a spot next to the placard showing the reality: Tennessee is that team.
Tennessee (43-20) is going to the College World Series for the second time in three years. It triumphed in a zany three days in the Hattiesburg Super Regional at the end of an unorthodox path back to Omaha, Nebraska.
It featured almost 24 hours worth of weather delays, a two-day Game 1 and a four-hour delay of the first pitch Monday before a 5-0 Vols win. It ended with Vitello embracing fifth-year senior Camden Sewell by the dugout, Cincinnati transfer Griffin Merritt crouching and gazing by the first-base line, and the Vols reveling in ruling the final two games of the super regional.
“We’ve got to be responsible for what the next step is,” Vitello said. “There’s still season to go. So, I think it’s an unfinished tale.”
What Tennessee was in Hattiesburg is what it was expected to be but needed time to become. The Vols received elite pitching, especially from Chase Dollander in an eight-inning, season-saving start and Drew Beam in a tremendous, super-clinching showing. Chase Burns used his fastball as a wrecking ball, providing the tail end of a 15-inning scoreless stretch in the series for the staff.
Tennessee’s offensive transfers provided all five runs against the Golden Eagles (46-20) on Monday — Zane Denton slugging a three-run home run, Maui Ahuna whacking a solo shot and Merritt singling in the first run.
It was not a perfect super regional like UT had in winning the Clemson Regional. But it was exquisite in its own way, the Vols climbing back from an early deficit in Game 2 and continuing to rise to grasp the program’s sixth CWS trip.
This, after all, is the same Tennessee group that was swept at Missouri to open SEC play. It’s the team that fell to 5-10 in SEC play before a midweek loss to Tennessee Tech in mid-April.
There were surges in confidence along the way. Vitello recognized Burns’ relief outing in Tennessee’s sweep of Vanderbilt on April 21. Andrew Lindsey entering the starting rotation marked a change. Vitello saw another push Sunday against the Golden Eagles in a Game 1 loss.
He beheld the preseason No. 2 team looking like it always could.
“We’d like to be one better, and I hope these guys don’t punch me but I don’t think we’re that either yet,” Vitello said.
Vitello knew in November this team had to carve out its own path, a different one than the 57-win team a season ago and his first Omaha group in 2021. He needed it to make progress, navigate adverse situations and grow. It has done that and can do more in the CWS, which it opens against LSU (47-15) on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
“It’s been a challenge, and halfway through the year they took ownership of the team, the players that is,” Vitello said. “They’ve continued to push forward and they have room to continue to do that.”
Vitello found confidence amid his doubts in his November foray into the locker room. He discovered a piece of loose-leaf notebook paper with the frills still attached to the side. It was labeled “five ways to not mess up” with a different four-letter word used than “mess.”
“It was a pretty good list. That made me feel good,” Vitello said at the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Nov. 7.
Monday felt a whole lot better than good — and Vitello knows what he has.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.