Camden Sewell says 2022 exit created 'stepping stones' for 2023 success

Last year, the Tennessee Volunteers cruised in the 2022 Regional but stumbled but fell the next week in their Super Regional despite being the best team in the nation to that point. The Vols, who were the host team in both the Regional and Super Regional, lost to Notre Dame in the third and deciding game, 7-3. That was a crushing loss as the then No. 1 team in the nation and top seed in the tournament came within one game of reaching the College World Series.

That was far from the result Tennessee had anticipated heading into the tournament. But that failure in 2022 created the ‘stepping stones’ for success in 2023 for the Volunteers, according to pitcher Camden Sewell.

“Oh, yeah, I mean, honestly, last year wasn’t how everyone wanted it to end, but I think everything that happened last year kind of put the stepping stones together, whatever you want to call it, for this year and to kind of deal with the adversity and everything that came with it,” said Sewell.

“And we have dealt with a lot of adversity this year, but we’re coming together at the right time. So that’s what we’re excited for.”

Sewell and other players reflect on roller coaster season

Sewell and some of his Volunteer teammates also talked about this year’s team’s hot play through the first two rounds and some of the lows of the regular season. In comparison to last year, Tennessee has had an up-and-down regular season. But, the Volunteers have rallied to give consistent terrific performances throughout the postseason. The result: a College World Series berth, which the dominant 2022 team failed to achieve.

So, is this run just a hot streak from this roller coaster Tennessee club, or have this year’s Vols finally turned the corner to becoming steady performers at a high level? Volunteer sophomore Jared Dickey thinks it’s the latter. This is no fluke run. Instead, the fellas in orange are just playing some good baseball in the months that matter.

“I wouldn’t really call it a hot streak. I would just kind of say we’re playing good baseball right now,” Dickey declared ahead of the CWS. He says Tennessee is fully capable of playing as well as anyone and they just needed some time to mesh with one another to bring out this level of play.

“That’s what this team is capable of. Like I said, finally coming together as a team, it’s allowed us to be comfortable with each other on and off the field, and it’s allowed us to just mesh together and know that we’ve got each other’s backs no matter where we’re at.

Senior pitcher Camden Sewell echoed very similar sentiments, saying that “the main thing for us was still being together as a group and getting the opportunity to come together every day to the field, whatever it may be, travel. Be together and spend more time together, and we’re excited to keep it rolling.”

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this story