Tony Vitello shares how Dave Van Horn impacted plan for bullpen management during NCAA Tournament

Up 2-0 in the Clemson Regional, Tennessee was in the driver’s seat entering Sunday’s game against Charlotte. But Tony Vitello still has an interesting balance when it comes to managing the bullpen considering another game would await Monday if the 49ers pull off the upset.

Coming off a 14-inning victory over Clemson late Saturday — a game in which Vitello called on Chase Burns and Seth Halverson out of the bullpen — Vitello acknowledged the need to potentially think ahead. However, he pointed to an example from his playing days at Missouri to show how he thinks through these scenarios.

In fact, that game was coached by a current SEC rival: Dave Van Horn, the current Arkansas coach who was at Nebraska at the time.

“It was actually Coach Van Horn’s team in the Big 12 Tournament — Nebraska, as you remember,” Vitello told the ESPN+ broadcast crew. “They taught us a nasty lesson. Similar situation.”

In that 2000 matchup between Vitello’s Tigers and Van Horn’s Cornhuskers, Missouri took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning. Nebraska then tied the game in the bottom of the seventh, and Missouri left its starter in to start the eighth, which is when the Cornhuskers scored the go-ahead run to eventually win the game 4-3.

That game, Vitello said, is why he has to focus on the current game rather than get caught up in what could be next.

“You’ve got to be all-in on the game you’re playing,” Vitello said. “But at some point, you’ve got to have conversations about, ‘What if or this or that.’ We’ve done that, and we’ll do it to our best. But for now, with this game going on, that’s what — I think I can speak for both teams — we’re all-in on this deal right here.”

Tony Vitello on recovering from 14-inning victory: ‘I don’t know how you do’

Vitello only used two relievers in the victory over Clemson, but acknowledged there’s plenty more to recovering from a game of that nature. The players had to get some sleep, but also followed the late-night action to see how the rest of the tournament played out.

It’s all part of the craziness of June as teams try to make the charge to Omaha for the College World Series.

“I don’t know how you do,” Vitello said of recovering from a marathon game. “You have to figure that factored into the first game a little bit. Not my place to judge. But for our guys in particular, it was like, ‘When are you going to go to bed?’ Your phone’s going to be blowing up for a couple hours, they’ve got to eat. Then, that adrenaline’s got to come down, and then you’ve got to reset and do it all today. Of course, you guys are covering the game real well, and our guys are watching it to see what’s going on.

“It’s an interesting few hours, but it’s that time of year where you’ve got to manage a lot of different things on top of what is already a real competitive game.”