The question was posed to Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello in a news conference Saturday afternoon following Evansville’s 10-8 victory over the top-seeded Volunteers, which forced Sunday’s winner-take-all contest in their NCAA super regional.
Does tomorrow’s game weigh a bit more for you guys, meaning if you guys lose, it could be another unsuccessful season?
“There is no way it’s not a successful season,” Vitello immediately responded.
After Sunday night’s 12-1 trampling of the Purple Aces that clinched Tennessee’s third trip to the College World Series in four seasons, Vitello was far more passionate about Saturday’s question. He began by stating that Vols junior first baseman Blake Burke, who was a freshman on the 2022 team that went 57-9 but was upset by Notre Dame in the super regional, didn’t appreciate the question at all and then went into Webster’s definitions of success.
All the while becoming more and more animated.