The Tennessee Volunteers soon will be competing in the most coveted venue in college baseball, and it's a sizable venue at that.
Tennessee has earned one of the eight spots in the College World Series, which starts Saturday inside TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. The Vols (50-16) don't play until Sunday afternoon against Virginia (35-25), but Tennessee's coaches and players have been fielding questions about the difference between TD Ameritrade and their home pad of Lindsey Nelson Stadium since their plane touched down Wednesday.
"It is a big ballpark," senior left fielder Evan Russell said Friday afternoon on a Zoom call. "We just got done practicing on it, and there are some big gaps. The outfielders will have a lot to cover, but the bigger the ballpark, the more fans we get in the stadium.
"I think we can beat you in a lot of ways. Our lineup is pretty balanced. We have a lot of speed, especially at the top of our lineup. I don't think anyone in our dugout is worried about the size of the ballpark, because I think we have some pretty physical guys."
TD Ameritrade's capacity is 24,505, which is roughly 20,000 more than Lindsey Nelson Stadium housed last weekend for each game of the super regional sweeping of LSU, yet it's the dimensions within the white lines that Tennessee will be focused on most against the Cavaliers.
Lindsey Nelson Stadium is 320 feet down the left-field line, 390 in center and 320 down the right-field line, with left-center at 360 and right-center at 350. TD Ameritrade, by comparison, is 335 in left, 408 in center and 335 in right, with left-center and right-center both at 375.
"It does play bigger here," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said. "There is a lot more foul ground. I think our park is like a lot of parks throughout the country. Based on weather, it could go one way or the other. When you've got guys like (LSU's) Dylan Crews and (Tennessee's) Jordan Beck hitting, there are going to be balls that leave the park, and it was the same thing with Wright State's lineup, but we've also had several games where it's 3-1 or 4-3."
Vitello isn't concerning himself with the noticeable jump in the size of the field due to Tennessee's deep run late last month at the Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Alabama. Hoover Met's dimensions are 340 feet down each line and 405 in center, with left-center and right-center each 385.
"Hoover is kind of a modified version of this," Vitello said. "It's a huge, neutral crowd. There is media attention. There are police escorts. It's a park that plays bigger, and it might be one reason why some SEC teams in the past have had success.
"I think there are a lot of things there, including the way the park plays, that make it a little bit of a precursor or an advantage going into this tournament."
Tennessee, incidentally, hit 16 homers in its five recent NCAA tournament games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols tallied seven homers in five SEC tournament games at Hoover Met.
Of course, what doesn't favor hitters favors the pitching,
"It's incentive to throw strikes," Vitello said. "Our guys on the mound - their brand name is trying to attack. You do get rewarded when you throw strikes, not only in our park but especially here, so I think that incentive is there. There is no reason for our guys to change doing what they've done to get us here."
Said Russell: "Chad Dallas, Will Heflin, Sean Hunley - I think they're going to have a bit more confidence. Our guys throw strikes, and if it's going to be hard to leave the yard that day, I think that plays to our advantage."
Vitello announced Friday that Dallas (11-1, 4.10) will start against Virginia.
Vitello honored
Vitello was named Friday as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Mike Martin National Coach of the Year winner for 2021, becoming just the second Vols baseball coach ever to earn such distinction.
In 1995, Rod Delmonico was named national coach of the year by Baseball America. Tennessee's 50 wins this season are the most since Delmonico's 2005 Vols won 54.
"It's one more thing that I owe gratitude for our players for," Vitello said. "It also means we made wise decisions in who we hired around us, because those are the guys that are putting together the nuts and bolts of the program."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.