Tony Vitello discusses mindset after lightning delay vs. Southern Miss

The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team unfortunately had to deal with a lengthy 1 hour 33 minute lightning delay on Saturday evening in their Hattiesburg Regional matchup vs. the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Volunteers trailed 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning before umpires convened on the field and made the call to suspend play due to lightning being in the area. Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello took some time to speak with the ESPNU broadcast crew shortly after they resumed play.

Tony Vitello talked about how his team was able to manage the lengthy weather delay on Saturday afternoon

What did his team do during the 1 hour and 33 minute delay?

“Just waiting to play. They were kind of scattered all over the place. We’ve got an area behind the dugout which is concrete. Most of them were back there. But it was just hang out and being ready to play because we even had to meet right before the start of the game to make sure we wanted to start the game. There was more lightning in the area, so hopefully we can just play ball,” said Vitello.

What does the Tennessee head coach think his team needs to do to bother Southern Miss pitcher Billy Oldham?

“I think to get over the emotions,” Vitello began. “That’s on us as coaches to make sure they’re ready to play and of course, both teams are going to be geeked up. You kind of saw a couple of different things early in the game. That our guys were really emotional. Again, easy to understand why, but you’re gonna have to get over what happened in the first few innings and just play to win. Whether it be this at bat, this inning, or even better, just this pitch.”

Unfortunately for Tony Vitello and the Tennessee Volunteers, shortly after his interview the game entered a second lightning delay. Play had only resumed for 15 minutes, before umpires convened and decided to send both teams to their dugouts. The game was televised on ESPNU and the Vols trailed 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Saturday night’s game was moved to Sunday

Tennessee and Southern Miss are simply going to have to wait until Sunday to finish up Game 1 of the Hattiesburg Super Regional. The decision to put the game on hold overnight came after several lengthy weather delays.

The resumption of Game 1 will take place at noon at Pete Taylor Park. Southern Miss led 4-0 when the game was most recently halted, in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tennessee will have a runner on base and one out with Christian Scott in to bat.

The second halting of play came after just 13 minutes of baseball sandwiched between a one hour and 35 minute long delay and what is now, technically, about an 18 hour weather delay.

Moving Game 1 into Sunday changes when Game 2 will be played.

The second game in the Hattiesburg Super Regional between Tennessee and Southern Mississippi will start on Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time or 55 minutes after the completion of the suspended Game 1. 

On3’s Andrew Graham also contributed to this article.