Tony Vitello disappointed with early mistakes in CWS Finals matchup vs. Texas A&M

The No. 1 overall seed Tennessee Volunteers find themselves in a serious hole on Saturday night. The Texas A&M Aggies have jumped out to a 7-2 advantage in the bottom of the fifth inning of their CWS Finals matchup in Omaha, Nebraska. And at the beginning of the bottom of the fifth, ESPN’s Kris Budden caught up with Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello to hear his thoughts.

Tony Vitello was disappointed with the early mistakes

“Just not playing good ball. We’re kind of in the same spot. We had this same conversation against Florida State. You know, a couple of mistakes on defense. A couple of pitches that maybe needed to be thrown a little bit better. And offensively, it hasn’t been bad but we’re in a position where we could knock this guy out of the game (Ryan Prager), which would be a huge achievement. He’s their ace. And he’s pretty dang good. So, a little bit away from where we need to be,” Vitello explained.

It was his lineups third time in the order up against Prager. What did his team need to adjust offensively to get that done and get him out of the game?

“I think just shorten up the swings. You know, he’ll mess with ya. It’s a slow, slow tempo and then he mixes it up a whole bunch. And if you overswing you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. I’ve seen some guys to take shorter swings. You know, we’re not gonna hit a home run or anything like that, but they’re still going for us,” Vitello noted.

Right on cue, Prager was benched in the bottom of the fifth inning. He was replaced by righty Josh Stewart. After four innings of work, Prager allowed eight hits and two runs, while firing six strikeouts. It will likely be his last game in a Texas A&M uniform.

Kaeden Kent blasted a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to put the Aggies up 9-2. And Tennessee would battle back to put a few more runs on the scoreboard, but it wouldn’t be enough. Texas A&M won Game 1 of the CWS Final 9-5. They’re now only one win away from bringing home the 2024 National Championship.

Texas A&M currently sits with a 53-13 overall record. They’re the No. 3 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They punched their tickets to the CWS Finals after they defeated the Florida Gators twice in Omaha, along with the Kentucky Wildcats. The Aggies have yet to lose a game in the College World Series, currently boasting a 3-0 record. After they defeated the Gators a second time, the A&M pitching staff had 680 strikeouts on the year, a new program record.

Tennessee currently sits with a 58-13 overall record. They’ve been one of the most dominant teams in college baseball this year and there’s a reason they had the No. 1 overall national seed coming into this year’s NCAA Tournament. They’ve gone 3-1 overall in their time in Omaha. They squeaked past FSU 12-11 in one game, handled UNC 6-1, and defeated the ‘Noles again 7-2. It’s the first time since 1951 that Tennessee has advanced to the CWS Final.