Tony Vitello addresses early frustration, mistakes vs. Florida State

The Tennessee Volunteers entered the 2024 College World Series as the No. 1 overall seed. The Vols racked up 55 wins this year, the most in the nation. But they found themselves in a pretty deep hole in the middle of their Game 1 matchup vs. Florida State on Friday night. They trailed 9-4 in the top of the fifth inning, when Tony Vitello was interviewed by Kris Budden of ESPN.

“We’ve played good ball. Probably some frustration if you’re watching at home or cheering from the stands because we seem to handle the circumstances better. I don’t mean to complain about playing in Omaha or anything like that. This is a pretty mature group. I just think some of the plays we’ve had opportunities to make on. Obviously, we’ve gotta throw strikes and just doing a better job of playing catch,” Vitello explained.

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How does he feel his team has done against Florida State’s pitcher, Jamie Arnold? “I think with what he’s got and who he is, I think we’ve done an excellent job. We are obviously looking for one extra hit to break through. If you look at the scoreboard, we’ve put together a couple of twos but we haven’t had that one big inning. And in order to counter their damn touchdown we gave up, we’re probably gonna have to get a big inning at some point in this game,” Vitello noted.

In some ways, it was almost like he gazed into the crystal ball. Shortly after his interview, Vols slugger Kavares Tears belted a two-run shot to cut the Florida State lead to 9-6 in the bottom of the fifth. Then slugger Christian Moore blasted a solo shot to cut the FSU lead to 9-7 in the bottom of the sixth.

With the home run, Moore hit for the cycle, just the second one in College World Series history and the first one since 1956 (Jerry Kindall). It was Moore’s 33rd home run of the 2024 campaign. He blasted the ball 440 feet with a 117 mile per hour exit velocity, according to the Creighton Baseball Analytics Team.

It’s the third longest home run in the College World series since they moved the even to Charles Schwab Field.