What Tony Vitello, Chris Lemonis and players said on heated moment in Friday's SEC Tournament

HOOVER, Ala. — Things got pretty dicey in the bottom of the fifth inning of Tennessee’s 6-5 win over Mississippi State on Friday at the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament in quarterfinal action at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex.

Vols hurler Drew Beam had just been touched up by the battling Bulldog offense. Mississippi State had scored three runs off in the frame off one hit and a hit batsman to that point, and Tony Vitello was coming to take Beam out of the ballgame in favor of fellow righty Aaron Combs.  

“We did our best to keep pulling behind our guys, not make it about the other team,” Beam recalled. “Just kind of have each other’s back and pull our weight and not worry about the other guys.”

Business has picked up between Tennessee and Mississippi State, big time

It’s extremely heated in Hoover pic.twitter.com/Y7r2DEqzLq

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) May 25, 2024

Members of both Mississippi State dugout and Tennessee’s infield huddle on the mound appeared to be barking back and forth at one another during the change. Players and coaches began spilling out of the home dugout down the first base line and Bulldog assistant coach Jake Gautreau had to be physically restrained from going after the Tennessee huddle.

Blake Burke, Christian Moore and Cal Stark were the three Tennessee players who were walking towards the Mississippi State dugout. Umpires, coaches and players on both sides quickly intervened before there was a real kerfuffle on our hands.    

“Kind of the same thing. We kind of got off track for a second, worried about them,” Burke agreed. “We just wanted to get Aaron Combs’ back and that’s what we did after that, and we played our game and ended up winning the game.”

Tony Vitello said after the game that the conference stepped in and asked the teams to not shake hands following the conclusion of the ballgame due to tempers being flared.

“From my vantage point, which it’s my vantage point, we thought we were out of the inning a couple times. So, I haven’t seen the video where you actually have better perspective, but from our dugout, we thought we were out of the inning a couple times, and that’s our guy,” Vitello said of the situation and Beam. “So, I was boiling out there, to be honest with you. I tried to not show it. I didn’t say anything to the umpire or anything like that.

“I’m not used to a bunch of guys hollering out my name and not reacting. So, I’m Italian. Maybe I brought it on myself, but I didn’t say anything to anybody. Just not used to that. I mean, if our players are yelling out Dave to the Coach Van Horn in any form or fashion, we got a problem. So that’s just me. And, again, maybe I bring it on myself. So, I reacted and then they reacted, and then after that, to me, the umpires did whatever they needed to do to handle it.”

Through various social media posts that caught the incident on camera, Vitello can be seen looking towards the Bulldog dugout and saying something in retaliation.

Lots of boos from Miss. State as Tony Vitello and the #Vols have quite the exchange with the Bulldogs. pic.twitter.com/Cdq6nYNhl3

— Paige Dauer (@PaigeDauerFDP) May 25, 2024

“And the other thing is, if anything, I should have been — maybe they were yelling my name to thank me because with that emotional swing Drew had, we should have had somebody ready earlier and should have taken him out of the game.”

Similarly, the Bulldog players had similar mindsets to that of Beam and Burke.

“I don’t really pay much attention to it,” outfielder Connor Hujsak said afterwards. “It’s about us in our dugout and whatever goes on, it goes on. It’s all about us, so that’s all I got.”

Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis believes the situation got a bit out of hand for a moment, but that wa all it was.

“Like Connor said, just talking back and forth and probably got out of control,” the coach said. “So, I was actually underneath. I came out late. So, I didn’t even see the initial stuff happen.”

Tennessee plated three runs in the seventh and eighth innings that erased a two-run deficit following the State five-run fifth inning. The Vols went on to win 6-5 and move on to play Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon in semifinal action.