Tony Vitello offers reason for optimism for Vols baseball ahead of SEC Tournament
The Tennessee Vols finally ended their road woes this weekend by taking two out of three from the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia in the final series of the regular season. Tennessee is now set to play the Texas A&M Aggies in a single-elimination matchup on Tuesday in Hoover. If the Vols can get past […]
The Tennessee Vols finally ended their road woes this weekend by taking two out of three from the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia in the final series of the regular season.
Tennessee is now set to play the Texas A&M Aggies in a single-elimination matchup on Tuesday in Hoover.
If the Vols can get past the Aggies — Tennessee swept Texas A&M earlier this season — they'll play the LSU Tigers on Wednesday.
Tennessee is hoping to repeat as SEC Tournament champions for the first time since they won three straight conference tournaments from 1993 to 1995.
The Vols have had an up-and-down season in 2023, but they appear to be on the right track after a rocky start.
UT head coach Tony Vitello thinks the tough start to the season provided Tennessee with plenty of important lessons. And he thinks those lessons combined with the Vols' positive momentum means that Tennessee's best baseball is still in front of them (whereas last season, the Vols peaked "too early").
"I think if you compare to last year which we’ve said all along is not fair, if you kind of want to look at a different way to go about it we have here with this group a bunch of lessons learned and a lot of momentum," said Vitello after Tennessee won the rubber game against South Carolina on Saturday. "Maybe kind of coming together in the locker room in different ways and of course in the dugout and kind of marching forward. I think the question you have to have over your head is have we played our best ball yet? And I don’t think that’s necessarily the answer would be yes."
"So kind of that momentum forward is key and obviously any win you get in the league puts you in a better position for whatever the NCAA decides to do," added Vitello.
The path to a championship won't be quite as easy this year as it was for the Vols in 2022. But this 2023 Tennessee baseball squad might be better equipped to win a championship than last year's squad thanks to the adversity they've faced this season.
