Tony Vitello explains mindset for Vols headed to Hoover for SEC Tournament

Tennessee won the Southeastern Conference regular season title for the fifth time on Saturday when the top-ranked Vols defeated No. 24 South Carolina 4-1 to cap off the weekend series in sweeping fashion.

The Vols (46-10, 22-8 SEC) and No. 2 Kentucky (39-12, 22-8 SEC) finished with the same marks in conference play, but Tennessee owns the tiebreaker having won the series in Lexington back in April in two games to one fashion. UT will begin play in this week’s SEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Ala., on Wednesday at approximately 5:30 pm eastern time.   

Tony Vitello’s 2023 squad went one-and-done at the conference tournament a season ago, but this year’s squad is in a different position this go-around.

“You always want to compete when you step on the field but, but we want to manage it the right way. We’re in a different spot than we were last year for sure,” the skipper told the media Saturday afternoon. “And then this year’s unique under its own. And I guess what I’m getting at is we’ve already met as a coaching staff and there’s certain things we want to make sure we accomplish while we’re there. So, you’d like to win, but we’d also like to check those boxes.”

The Vols will be looking to secure their fifth ever SEC Tournament championship – the first since 2022 – in their 20^th appearance in Hoover and for only the second time as the No. 1 seed in the current format. Still, with regional play right around the corner, Tennessee will be looking to get certain guys work to prepare for the games that are truly win or go home.

“I think it’s possible to scheme and check some boxes and still go compete,” Vitello reiterated. “So, if you’re scheming ahead of time, whether it’s pitch counts or making sure a guy gets an outing or an at-bat, at no point should that guy or you not be pushing forward to win the ball game. But I think you can do both. And because it’s not a do or die tournament, fortunately because our guys having some success, I think you can do that.”

Entering the weekend series with South Carolina, the final series of the regular season, Tennessee was projected by D1Baseball.com as the No. 2 national seed in the NCAA Tournament while Baseball America had the Vols as the No. 3 national seed.

Both outlets had Kentucky as the No. 1 overall seed while North Carolina was the No. 2 in Baseball America’s projection. D1Baseball had West Virginia (No. 2), Xavier (No. 3) and Bryant (No. 4) in the Knoxville Regional and Baseball America had Tennessee hosting Louisiana Tech (No. 2), Indiana (No. 3) and Wright State (No. 4).

Vitello led Tennessee back to college baseball’s postseason for the first time since 2005 with a 40-win season 2019, his second year on the job. 

Tennessee was sent to the Chapel Hill Regional, hosted by North Carolina, where the Vols lost 6-1 to Liberty to start the NCAA Tournament. They bounced back with a 10-3 win over UNC Wilmington and a 6-5 win over Liberty before being eliminated by UNC in a 5-2 loss. 

In 2021, after the COVID pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, Tennessee won 50 games and went back to the College World Series for the first time since 2005. The Vols beat Wright State and eliminated Liberty in the Knoxville Regional then swept LSU in the Knoxville Super Regional. Tennessee went 0-2 in Omaha, losing to No. 8 Virginia then No. 2 Texas. 

The Vols won 57 games in 2022 and beat Alabama State, Campbell and Georgia Tech in Regional Play, but were upset by Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional. 

Tennessee’s 44-win team last season advanced out of the Clemson Regional, beating Charlotte and Clemson, then came back from a game down in the Southern Miss Super Regional to go back to Omaha for the second time under Vitello. In Omaha the Vols lost to LSU 6-3, bounced back with a 6-4 win over Stanford but were sent home after a 5-0 loss to LSU.