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Tennessee

Tony Vitello praises Tennessee's depth

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•05/13/23
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(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

The Tennessee Volunteers have quietly put together a 35-16 overall record for the 2023 campaign thus far. They also sit at 14-12 overall in the SEC. The Vols’ baseball team has won three straight games. On Friday evening after defeating No. 15 Kentucky, 10-6, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello spoke with the media. He’s been very pleased with his team’s depth as of late and he made sure to let media members know about it.

“It’s a challenge, but we weren’t saying that at the beginning of the year. In February and March, you guys probably thought I was crazy or would criticize the lineups when they wouldn’t work. And when they would, just go with that. And now, we have a good problem. We’ve got a bunch of guys that want to help us win and we’ve got a bunch of guys that can help us win. So, we’ll meet up there. We met in my office today. We’ll discuss what we think the plan is and go with it,” Vitello said.

“And we’ll see what the scoreboard says at the end of the day. But right now, it’s a fun group to be around and I know our coaches will prepare and I know our guys will compete. So, let’s roll with that,” Vitello said.

It’s certainly been an adjustment this season for Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello. After all, his team was the best team in college baseball during the 2022 campaign and it wasn’t even really close. This year, the Vols haven’t performed nearly as well, but there’s less pressure on them heading into the 2023 SEC Tournament and postseason play.

Tennessee features a lineup with plenty of power

Like he mentioned, there’s still plenty of depth on their roster. Tennessee features five batters with double digit home runs during the 2023 campaign (Jared Dickey, Christian Moore, Griffin Merritt, Blake Burke, and Zane Denton). After being the top-ranked team in the country for nearly all of the 2022 campaign, the Vols now currently sit at No. 23 in the country, according to D1Baseball.com. Griffin Merritt currently leads the team with 16 home runs and Jared Dickey leads the team in total bases with 116.

Tennessee has one more game left with Kentucky on Sunday. Then, they’ll face Belmont on Tuesday, May 16th. They’ll close out their regular season against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Tennessee and South Carolina will have a three-game series that will be from May 18th-May 20th. That one will take place in Columbia, South Carolina.