Tennessee Baseball's postseason history during the Tony Vitello era

Tony Vitello had a different perspective on the topic last week. In his eyes, Tennessee Baseball team, the defending national champions, aren’t defending anything. 

Instead, these Vols are simply after what’s next.

“I think this team is not defending but pursuing,” Vitello said during the SEC Tournament in Hoover. “I think pursuing is just, again, to get better and come to the park every day. We really have not played our best baseball.”

That’s what Tennessee (43-16) will be hoping to find in the coming weeks, with the NCAA Tournament starting with regional play on Friday.

The Vols will find out Sunday night if they’ll host a regional as one of the top 16 seeds in the 64-team field or if they’ll play on the road when the full bracket is revealed on Monday.

Vitello led Tennessee to its first national championship in just his seventh season at the helm, after taking the program back to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 — for the first time since 2005 — and taking his team to the College World Series three times in the last four seasons. 

Here’s a look at Tennessee’s complete NCAA Tournament history during the Vitello era: 

2019

Vitello, in just his second year on the job as Tennessee’s head coach, took the Vols back to the NCAA postseason for the first time since 2005. 

Tennessee won 40 games, finished third in the SEC East and was sent to the Chapel Hill Regional as a No. 2 seed. 

The Vols started the regional appearance with a 6-1 loss to No. 3-seed Liberty. They bounced back with a 10-3 win over No. 4 UNC Wilmington and a 6-5 win in a rematch with Liberty. But No. 1-seed North Carolina ended Tennessee’s season, 5-2, in the final game of the regional.

2021

After the COVID pandemic cancelled the 2020 season — Tennessee was 15-2 through 17 games at the time of the cancellation — the Vols earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament during a 50-win season. 

Tennessee hosted regional play at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the first time since 2005 and started things with a bang, with Drew Gilbert hitting a walk-off grand slam to beat Wright State 9-8 in the first game of the weekend. 

The Vols then beat Liberty 9-3 and 3-1 over the next two days, advancing to the Super Regional round, where they would host No. 14 LSU.

Tennessee beat LSU 4-2 in Game 1 of the three-game series, then punched a ticket to the College World Series with a 15-6 win over the Tigers in Game 2.

The Vols were two-and-done in Omaha, though, losing 6-0 to No. 8 Virginia and 8-4 to No. 2 Virginia. It was Tennessee’s first College World Series appearance since 2005 and only the fifth in program history.

2022

All Tennessee did the next season was win 57 games and earn the No. 1 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament. 

The Vols swept through the Knoxville Regional, beating Alabama State 10-0, Campbell 12-7 and Georgia Tech 9-6 to advance to the Super Regional round at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Notre Dame was the Super Regional opponent after advancing out of the Georgia Southern Regional and the Irish started the three-game series in Knoxville with a 8-6 win.

Tennessee answered wit ha 12-4 win in Game 2, but Notre Dame pulled the upset in Game 3, winning 7-3 to stun the Vols and end their dream season. 

2023

Most of the 2023 season was anything but a dream. The Vols won just 38 games during the regular season and were one-and-done in the SEC Tournament, shutout in a 3-0 loss to Texas A&M. 

Tennessee had to go on the road for Super Regional play, sent to the Clemson Regional, with the host Tigers as the No. 3 overall seed in the bracket. 

The Vols beat Charlotte 8-1 to start the weekend then beat Clemson 6-5 a day later after Zane Denton hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning with Tennessee down to its final strike.

Tennessee then beat Charlotte 9-2, going to the Super Regionals but staying on the road at Southern Miss. There, the Vols dropped Game 1 5-3, then rallied with an 8-4 win in Game 2 and advanced to the College World Series with a 5-0 win in Game 3.

The Vols lost to eventual national champion LSU in their first game in Omaha, 6-3, then beat Stanford 6-4 two days later. It was Tennessee’s first win in the College World Series since 2001.

LSU got in the way again, though, ending Tennessee’s Cinderella run through the postseason with a 5-0 win.

2024

Last season Tennessee was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years after winning the SEC’s regular-season championship and tournament and sitting on 50 wins when the bracket was revealed.

The Vols swept through Northern Kentucky, Indiana and Southern Miss in the Knoxville Regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, then went three games with Evansville in the Super Regional.

Tennessee won 11-6 in Game 1, but was upset 10-8 in Game 2. With the season on the line, the Vols answered wit ha 12-1 win in Game 3 to clinch another trip to Omaha for the College World Series.

The run to the program’s first national championship started with a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth to beat Florida State 12-11 in the CWS opener. 

Tennessee would then beat North Carolina and Florida State to advance to the College World Series Final against Texas A&M.

The Aggies took Game 1 9-5 and Tennessee answered with a 4-1 win Game 2. The Vols clinched the title with a 6-5 win in Game 3 to win the national title, finishing the season with a program-record 60 wins.