Tony Vitello details team's adversity over the season even as No. 1 team in the nation

Ahead of the Volunteers’ Super Regional series versus Notre Dame, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello outlined the adversity his team faced throughout the season. The Vols started the year as the preseason No. 18 team in the country, per D1 Baseball, and by late March, they’d taken the No. 1 spot.

“You guys see it, there’s a little something to this group where if something goes wrong, they rally around each other,” Vitello said after the regional finals win. “They’ve responded in a lot of situations. scoreboard dictates what people write about, talk about, tweet about, unfortunately, but we’ve had a lot of situations where guys have had to bounce back. I haven’t been in the dugout a few times, which apparently helped us out if you look at the statistics.

“There’ve been a lot of times where our guys have needed to gather themselves and respond. I think they’ve done that consistently. All it does is builds self-belief. When you’re in that situation again, you like to think you’ll be able to keep your composure a bit more because you know what these guys are capable of.”

Tennessee made quick work of the Knoxville regional, going a perfect 3-0. However, they had to make statement comebacks in the final two games.

They beat Alabama State, Campbell, and Georgia Tech, and will now host the Fighting Irish at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The first pitch for game one on Friday is at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The second game is on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET with a tiebreaker scheduled for Sunday, if necessary.

Vitello confirms pitching plan for Super Regional

On Thursday, Vitello confirmed the Volunteers’ pitching plan for the showdown in the Super Regional against Notre Dame this weekend.

According to Wes Rucker, the Volunteers skipper knows who will be on the mound for Game 1 and Game 2, but Game 3 is still up in the air.

“#Vols coach Tony Vitello confirmed the Super Regional pitching plan,” tweeted Rucker. “Game One — Blade Tidwell, Game Two — Chase Dollander. Game Three, if necessary — TBD.”

First, Tidwell will begin the series, and Tennessee will be happy to have him on the hill. Throughout the season, the elite pitcher has allowed eight runs over 36.0 innings pitched. Additionally, he’s struck out 48 batters.

Next, Dollander has amassed a 9-0 record on the season, striking out 103 batters over 72.0 innings pitched. Whether it’s an elimination game for Tennessee or not, the Volunteers will be elated to have him throwing strikes for them.

On3’s Stephen Samra contributed to this report.