Tony Vitello sends strong message to his Tennessee baseball team
Tennessee Vols baseball coach Tony Vitello sent a strong message to his team after a tough loss to Boston College
The Tennessee Vols' 11-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night thanks to a 7-6 loss at home to Boston College.
Tennessee is now 11-3 with a weekend series against Morehead State on deck.
Part of the reason the Vols' lost to Boston College — perhaps the main reason — was poor baserunning.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, with the game knotted at five, Vols catcher Cal Stark laid down a perfect squeeze bunt. Outfielder Griffin Merritt, however, didn't break from third on the squeeze, squandering a golden opportunity to give Tennessee the lead.
Shortstop Maui Ahuna then lined out to third to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Vols made two more baserunning errors.
One of them they got away with, and the other one essentially lost the game.
After second baseman Christian Moore led off the bottom of the 9th with a solo HR, which tied the game (BC took the lead in the top of the 9th on a solo HR), first baseman Blake Burke hit a ball down the first base line which he managed to stretch into a triple. Burke was initially ruled out at third, but a review showed he was safe.
Despite reaching third safety, it was an ill-advised decision by Burke. One of the first rules of baseball is never to make the first or third out at third — especially in a tie game.
After Burke reached third with no outs, the Vols had a great opportunity to win the game. But another baserunning error quickly ended their scoring chance.
Burke was removed from the game after his triple for pinch-runner Ethan Payne.
After third baseman Zane Denton grounded out to first (there was no way Payne could score on the grounder), DH Jared Dickey lined out to shallow center.
Payne went back to third to tag after the ball was caught. The throw from center field was off line and had to be cut off. But because Payne had to go back to tag, he was thrown out at home, ending the inning.
Sending Payne from third base was a bad idea to begin with. But the bad throw gave him a chance to score. Because he didn't stay close to third on the line drive, he was unable to score. It was a total disaster.
Tennessee proceeded to lose in the 10th.
After the game, Vitello sounded stressed about the baserunning mistakes and he said he essentially told his team that they have to want it more than the other team — especially since the Vols will be getting everyone's best effort due to their reputation as the villains of college baseball.
"It’s do you want to win or not and that’s what I said in words in the outfield," said Vitello. "That’s what I learned from my dad and all I had on the field. We have guys that are five times a better player than I was and I don’t mean to say I or bring me into it. Just speaking with a little emotion to it and you have to want to win. Usually, the team that wants to win more wins — if there’s two teams with balanced talent."
"We’re in that part of the schedule, I don’t know some of the nonconference opponents that will come here but because we’ve had a coat on when we hit a home run and a couple of other times, we’re going to get the type of effort that we saw across the way."
It certainly sounds like Vitello sent a message to his team — they have to want it more than their opponents.
Every team that steps onto the field against the Vols wants to be the team that knocks off Tennessee. The Vols' opponents undoubtedly have a little extra juice when they go against the Orange and White.
This is a good time for Tennessee's players to hear this message. Better now than a few months down the road when it's too late.
The Vols will be just fine. Losses in baseball shouldn't be scrutinized nearly as much as losses in other sports — it's a tough game. But there are still some things that need to be cleaned up and Vitello is making sure his players know that.