Tony Vitello evaluates where Tennessee is entering postseason

Tennessee entered the postseason last season as the consensus best team in the country with a 49-7 record and the favorites to win the College World Series. The Volunteers then ran through the SEC Tournament and the Knoxville Regional before being upset by Notre Dame in the Super Regional.

It was a disappointing finish to one of the more remarkable seasons in recent memory.

With the postseason starting this week with conference tournaments, Tennessee is a top-15 team in the country with a 38-18 record. But it is not the runaway No. 1 team in the land.

Throughout the season, Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello has tried to steer clear of comparisons to last year’s group. He emphasized that again after the final regular season series of the year.

“If you compare to last year, which we’ve said all along, it’s not fair,” Vitello said. “What we have here with this group is a bunch of lessons learned, a lot of momentum, maybe kind of coming together in the locker room in different ways and of course in the dugout, and kind of marching forward. The question you got to have over your head is have we played our best ball yet? I don’t think that’s necessarily the answer would be yes. So kind of that momentum forward is key. Then obviously any win you get in the league puts you in a better position of whatever the NCAA decides to do.”

The SEC Tournament opens Tuesday and No. 7 seed Tennessee will kick off its postseason against No. 10 Texas A&M.

2023 SEC Baseball Tournament Schedule

*All times in CT

Tuesday, May 23

Game 1: No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 6 South Carolina — SEC Network — 9:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Tennessee — SEC Network — After Game 1
Game 3: No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Kentucky — SEC Network — 4:30 p.m.
Game 4: No. 12 Missouri vs. No. 5 Auburn — SEC Network –After Game 3

Wednesday, May 24

Game 5: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 3 LSU — SEC Network — 9:30 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 2 Arkansas — SEC Network — After Game 5
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 Florida — SEC Network — 4:30 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt — SEC Network — After Game 7

Thursday, May 25

Game 9: Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5 — SEC Network — 9:30 a.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7 — SEC Network — After Game 9
Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 5 — SEC Network — 4:30 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 7 — SEC Network — After Game 11

Friday, May 26

Game 13: Loser Game 11 vs. Winner Game 9 — SEC Network — 3 p.m.
Game 14: Loser Game 12 vs. Winner Game 10 — SEC Network — After Game 13

Saturday, May 27

Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 11 — SEC Network — Noon
Game 16: Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 12 — SEC Network — After Game 15

Sunday, May 28

Championship Game — ESPN2 — 2 p.m.