Two of the past three Tennessee baseball seasons have ended at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Where the 2024 season for Tony Vitello’s Volunteers wraps up will be decided months from now, but it will begin at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas. The No. 9 Vols open Friday night against No. 21 Texas Tech, and they will face Oklahoma on Saturday night and Baylor on Sunday night.
Tennessee’s three games will be at Globe Life Field, the home of the World Series champion Texas Rangers, and the Vols went 2-1 at this showcase two years ago — losing to the Texas Longhorns before defeating Baylor and Oklahoma — when it was held at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
“It’s going to be hard to go on this trip and not get better regardless of what the results are because of the venue, the competition, the media attention and everything else,” Vitello said this week in a news conference. “This is like SEC play with the competition and the active fan bases, and the facilities are on par with the best facilities in the country. It also gives you an idea of what (NCAA) regional play is going to be like. It’s got a little bit of that flavor as well with the travel and the media and the multiple teams in one area.
“What we want this weekend is to get better and have a good experience.”
AJ Russell, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from the Nashville suburb of Franklin, has been tabbed by Vitello to start Friday, with Drew Beam scheduled to take the mound Saturday. Vitello said there are four or five guys in the mix to start Sunday but that it’s not a big issue given everyone’s low pitch counts out of the gate.
Tennessee is coming off a 44-22 season that included a 16-14 mark in Southeastern Conference contests. The Vols were significantly stronger the back half of last spring after beginning SEC play with a 5-10 record, and they wound up getting eliminated in Omaha with two losses to eventual national champion LSU.
Vitello is quick to point out that every team can be very different from the year before, with this season’s Vols expected to be led by Beam, second baseman Christian Moore and third baseman Billy Amick. Beam was recently tabbed as a preseason All-SEC first-team selection, with Moore and Amick, who hit .413 with 13 home runs and 63 RBIs in 46 games last year as a Clemson sophomore, named to the second team.
The position with the most preseason intrigue for the Vols has been shortstop.
“There are a handful of guys who are capable, which relieves a little bit of stress,” Vitello said, “because once the season starts, that’s when you truly know what you have. Christian Moore has been a team leader, and he’s been one of our best offensive players. He’s going to be in the lineup every day, and he’s athletic enough to play that position.
“Right now, he and Brad Lohry have kind of spent the most time in our scrimmages at that position, and that’s in part to guys nursing minor injuries, whether that’s Ariel (Antigua) or Dean Curley or Alex Perry, who has played there as well.”
Texas Tech and Oklahoma both reached the NCAA tournament last season before getting bounced in the regional round. Texas Tech went 41-23 a year ago and defeated Florida in Gainesville in regional play before losing twice to the Gators, who wound up as national runners-up.
Overall maturity
Tennessee senior pitcher Zander Sechrist provided a unique answer this week when asked how he has grown since his freshman season.
“Just maturing overall in the game and knowing that I can pass this down to my kids one day,” Sechrist said, “or if I don’t go very far in pro ball or if I’m sitting in a cubicle maybe at State Farm or something.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.