Vols only team in their bracket without recent Omaha familiarity

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee hopes to continue its season of celebrations in the College World Series, which opens for the Volunteers against Virginia.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee hopes to continue its season of celebrations in the College World Series, which opens for the Volunteers against Virginia.

Nobody has a larger gap from its most recent appearance at the College World Series in this year's field than Tennessee, but the Volunteers are hardly playing the Cinderella role in Sunday afternoon's contest against Virginia.

The Cavaliers have made five of the past 12 CWS fields and won the 2015 national championship, but this season's team was anything but a title contender with an 11-13 record entering April. Even more recently, when Tennessee was adding to its shining 50-16 season with five consecutive NCAA tournament wins, Virginia was constantly residing on death's door, losing its opening game in the regional and super regional.

Virginia arrived in Omaha, Nebraska, having won six consecutive elimination games and has the worst record in the elite field at 35-25.

"I think, like our club, they've got some personality to them," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said this past week on a Zoom call. "Their coaching staff has been together for quite some time. They know how to navigate their way through tough times of the season, and then also how to build up their team toward playing your best in May. That's what we all want, and it's what we say, but if we could sell that and do it every year, you'd make more than a million bucks.

"It's a challenge to do that, but they found a way to play their best ball at the end, and, like our team, they've got a balanced attack."

Tennessee's opener with Virginia (2 p.m. on ESPN2) will represent the first CWS appearance for the Vols since 2005, and their players are eager to see how they measure against programs that more commonly call Omaha their season-ending home. Mississippi State and Texas, who face each other Sunday night, are in the bracket with the Vols and Cavaliers.

"I think it's awesome," Tennessee left fielder Evan Russell said. "I grew up watching Texas, Virginia and Mississippi State going to Omaha pretty consistently. I think it's pretty awesome to see that we've kind of slid in and made a mark this season, and we're surrounded by teams that have been here consistently, so I think we're ready to take that challenge.

"The beauty about it is not many people on the other teams have been to Omaha themselves. There are a few on Mississippi State, but with the COVID year, it's hard to really rely on being here. I think this is kind of a new atmosphere to a lot of people, and I think it's going to come down to who competes more and who can relax at the plate and on the mound."

Vanderbilt, the 2019 national champion, is the favorite among oddsmakers for this year's title, while Texas and Tennessee have the next best odds. The top two longshots entering this year's showcase were the Atlantic Coast Conference tandem of Virginia and North Carolina State, which beat Stanford 10-4 in the CWS opener Saturday afternoon.

Tennessee's 50-win season includes its first Southeastern Conference Eastern Division title since 2007 and its first trip to the SEC tournament final since the league expanded to 14 teams and adopted its current format.

"I think that's why our kids selected to come to our place," Vitello said. "They wanted to compete in the SEC and find out what you can do against the best, and a lot of it was coming to Tennessee and trying to revitalize the program, so those are both things that are great challenges. I think it's in their DNA to welcome a challenge.

"As we sit here ready to enter a new tournament amongst three other teams, I think it matters a little bit who they are and what they've got, but more than anything, it's kind of on our shoulders to be who we are and stay true to what got us here."

Russell believes the Vols are ready for this moment, citing the makeup of the roster.

"Our team is led by guys like Luc Lipcius and Chad Dallas and Will Heflin and Sean Hunley," Russell said. "It's hard to really get tense and take everything serious whenever you have guys that can go out there play and not worry about anything. There is no one in our locker room that makes this life or death."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

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