Tennessee’s No. 2 preseason ranking has been justified after all.
It just took longer than expected and was accompanied by a lot of turbulence.
The Volunteers became the eighth and final team to qualify for the College World Series early Tuesday morning with a 5-0 blanking of Southern Mississippi in an NCAA super regional. It was a game that was never really in doubt down the stretch for a team that had significant doubts two months into its season with a 23-14 record that included a 5-10 mark in Southeastern Conference play.
“We were not the No. 2 team in the country in February and March, but we talked about how we very well could be that team and how we would obviously like to be one spot better,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said early Tuesday morning in a news conference. “I hope our guys don’t punch me, but I don’t think we’re that yet, but the whole idea was for this group to understand we had to carve our own way out by being a team that consistently makes progress and figures things out.
“That’s what they’ve done, and it’s been a challenge. About halfway through the year, they took ownership of the team, and they have continued to push forward. They’ve got more room to continue to do that.”
Tennessee (43-20) will open the College World Series on Saturday against LSU (48-15), which began this season ranked No. 1 and began the NCAA tournament as the No. 5 overall seed. The matchup between the Vols and Tigers will have a 7 p.m. Eastern start and will be televised by ESPN.
The Vols hit their lowest point on April 18, when they fell 12-5 to visiting Tennessee Tech, but Griffin Merritt’s walkoff home run and stellar relief pitching by former starter Chase Burns three nights later catapulted Tennessee to a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt in 12 innings that led to an unexpected sweep of the No. 4 Commodores.
Tennessee would go 11-4 in the second half of its SEC season, and a one-and-done showing at the league tournament was more than atoned for when the Vols outlasted Clemson 6-5 in 14 innings in an NCAA regional round thriller.
“There was a surge of confidence at different parts of the year,” Vitello said. “It came in segments. It came this weekend when we lost the first game.”
The first couple of weeks of Tennessee’s season contained an eight-game suspension for transfer shortstop Maui Ahuna and a three-game suspension for Vitello. The Vols lost their second outing of the year to Grand Canyon, which didn’t make the NCAA tournament field, and they opened SEC play by getting swept at Missouri.
Mizzou would go just 7-20 in league games the rest of the season, while Vitello slowly and steadily assembled his new faces. All five of Tennessee’s runs in the Hattiesburg clincher were produced by transfer players — Merritt (Cincinnati), Zane Denton (Alabama) and Ahuna (Kansas) — which may help prove why this could be Vitello’s best coaching job with the Vols.
“He’s been awesome, and he’s one of the reasons I came here,” said Denton, who had key three-run home runs against Clemson and again late Monday night. “I wanted to play for him. He teaches us life lessons along with baseball, and he gives us a lot of freedom to take ownership of our team and do what we want, too.”
Said pitcher Drew Beam: “He’s always there for us and having fun with us. He creates a good atmosphere to be in, and that’s what guys come to Tennessee to play in.”
Vitello will wait before weighing in on any praise. His Vols missed out on the College World Series last year as the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 seed, and his squad two years ago got to Omaha but lost twice before tasting victory.
“We’re still going,” Vitello said when asked to rank this year with others. “There is still some season to go, so it’s an unfinished tale, but there is a lot of stuff that has gone on. Losing is part of the deal, and the end of last year was painful, but a few hours later, a very challenging period in our program started.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.