Will Tennessee make a fourth College World Series trip in five seasons with an opportunity to defend its 2024 national championship?
Check back in four months.
Are the Volunteers better than Hofstra?
Most definitely.
Tennessee completed a three-game sweep of the Pride on a blustery Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, building a 12-1 lead after two innings before coasting to a 13-1 seven-inning victory. The No. 2 Vols outscored Hofstra 46-2 in the three seven-inning contests, averaging 2.56 runs per inning.
“I think we have some guys who like to play,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference. “I’m a coach, so I like practice days and scrimmage days, but the bottom line is that games aren’t scrimmages. You’ve got to come out to hunt, and you’ve got to come out and compete, and that’s regardless of the temperature or wind or any other set of circumstances.
“You find out a lot about your guys on game day, and I think we’ve got some guys who like to get in there and compete.”
Tennessee’s three starting pitchers during the weekend series — Liam Doyle, Marcus Phillips and Nate Snead — hail from New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wisconsin, respectively. Conditions for Snead’s first pitch before a crowd of 4,814 were 43 degrees with 17 mph winds.
Snead threw three innings, with the junior allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three batters.
“Today was about going out there and pitching and not overdoing anything,” Snead said. “It was freezing out there, so it was about trying to get back into the dugout and under the heaters as fast as possible.”
Hofstra did take its first lead of the series Sunday, scratching out a first-inning run on a bunt single, a steal, a groundout and a sacrifice fly, but Pride starting pitcher Branden Brown allowed 10 runs on four hits, seven walks and two wild pitches while recording just four outs.
Reese Chapman provided the big blast of the finale for the Vols with a grand slam to left field in the second inning that put them up 11-1.
“I thought it was good just seeing a bunch of young guys get in there,” fifth-year senior center fielder Hunter Ensley said. “We have tons of depth, and I thought the freshmen came ready to play, but I think what impressed me the most were our pitchers. From the start of Friday to today’s last pitch, I thought we stayed in the zone and threw multiple pitches for strikes.”
Ensley was asked if this was the best freshman class he had seen during his years in Knoxville, but he opted for the 2022 crop that was headed by Blake Burke, Kavares Tears and Christian Moore.
Tennessee returns to action at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, when the Vols host UNC Asheville (3-0).
Working a puzzle
Vitello was asked after Sunday’s sweep about trying to get so many talented players the opportunity to compete.
“It’s a sore topic,” he said. “I was the guy who often was at the very end of the bench dying to get in, so I like to involve a lot of other guys, and so do the other coaches. They almost to a fault work with every player the exact same way just trying to get guys better regardless of what their role is.
“We signed up for three nine-inning games this weekend, but this is what we got. We only had 21 total innings, but I thought all of our guys were hooked up.”
Missing in action
One promising freshman who didn’t compete against Hofstra was Tegan Kuhns, a 6-foot-3, 189-pound pitcher from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who was his state’s Perfect Game player of the year.
The right-handed Kuhns has been battling an illness.
“He tried to come up here and get in uniform yesterday,” Vitello said. “We appreciate the competitiveness, but it’s not the time of year to be pushing it. Also, we want to limit how many guys get sick.
“When he comes back, he’ll be chomping at the bit. He’s a fun one to watch compete.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.