Tony Vitello gives takeaways from Tennessee's Game 2 victory over Notre Dame

The top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers ensured they would live to fight another day by winning Game 2 of the Knoxville Super Regional series against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by the score of 12-4. After the big win on Saturday, Vols’ head man Tony Vitello gave his analysis.

“Yeah, I just think our guys did a good job of coming to the park with some determination today. It’s hard not to follow the lead of the guys sitting to the left of me. I think a lot can be said for that.” Vitello said.

“Fortunate to [win] after basically facing their best guy at least, statistically [pitcher John Michael Bertrand]. I know he’s done a lot for them to this point. I think we’re fortunate to kind of lean on him early there. But again, Do [Chase Dollander] kind of makes it easier on you, leading the way like he was. The fans were cheering. I think it was the clouds…the cloud coverage everybody was cheering for the first time. It was a long, hot day, but a good day at the park if you’re a fan. And they certainly made their presence be known again, so [we] appreciate that,” Vitello said.

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello also isn’t putting pressure on his team heading into Game 3 of Super Regionals against Notre Dame on Sunday.

“I think tomorrow it’s a ball game and you run around out there and you play,” Vitello said postgame on Saturday. “Fortunately, our guys had a situation today where they got to know what it feels like to, ‘Hey, you gotta get it done or you go home.’ But at the same time, if you go home, you go home. Home is a good place to be. It ain’t life and death.

“At least (Luc Lipcius) listens to me. He said, ‘All we’re looking for whether it’s the pitcher or a pinch runner or a guy playing defense is just to go out there and compete.’ That’s the most important thing to me. It ain’t life and death after that. We’re blessed with a lot of guys who do that. Sometimes it boils over and they take it to an extreme, but I think it’s comforting to come to work and know that guys are looking forward to competing and take challenges head on even though in this league and the postseason you get punched in the mouth and gut sometimes,” Vitello said.

The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, the Volunteers are considered the favorite by many to win the College World Series. However, Tennessee was dealt a huge blow when it dropped the Super Regionals series opener on Friday to Notre Dame. That put the Volunteers in a position where they had to win Saturday to avoid an early exit.

If they felt any pressure at all on Saturday, they certainly didn’t show it. Tennessee took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning before blowing the game open with eight runs in the fifth inning off of four home runs, including two from Lipcius. The game was never in doubt from that point on as they cruised to the crucial victory.

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this article.