For the first three innings on Saturday, it looked like the Tennessee Vols were going to cruise to a second straight win against Evansville while punching their second straight ticket to Omaha. 

But in baseball, nothing is ever easy. And no lead is ever big enough. 

Evansville rallied in the fourth inning to cut the Vols' lead to one. In the fifth inning, Evansville took the lead. And in the sixth inning, the Purple Aces pushed their lead to five. Tennessee staged a late rally, cutting the lead to two in the ninth inning before ultimately coming up short. 

Tennessee and Evansville will play again on Sunday evening for a chance to play in the College World Series. The Vols' entire season comes down to one game. 

If the Vols lose and fail to reach the College World Series, there will inevitably be a portion of the fan base that views the season as a failure.

But anyone who truly knows the game of baseball knows that winning any sort of post-season tournament isn't that easy. There's no foolproof way to march through the gauntlet of teams that stands between Tennessee and a national championship. Baseball is a frustrating game at times and the best team doesn't always win. 

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, of course, knows this as well as anyone. Baseball has been his primary focus on a day-to-day basis for essentially his entire life. He knows the grind that it takes to win a championship. And he also knows that sometimes the most talented team gets beat. Sometimes the best team doesn't have their best game on the day they need to have their best game. 

And so if the Vols lose on Sunday, Vitello won't be one of the folks that looks at the season as a failure. 

"No, I mean there’s no way it’s not a successful season," said Vitello on Saturday when asked about avoiding an unsuccessful season. 

"If you’re bored and you’re on your phone too long or you get involved in social media chats, which will be up for you all (writers/reporters), not our players, you could paint all kinds of different pictures tomorrow," added Vitello. "But really what it is, we’re fortunate to host Evansville, one of the best teams in the country, and we’re trying to win the series tomorrow.”

Painting the picture that a trip to Omaha is required to deem the 2024 season as as success for the Vols is demeaning to the journey that Tennessee's players have been on the last several months. The games from February to June — every one of them — and the Vols' standing as the No. 1 team in the nation entering the NCAA Tournament is the true story of this team. Sometimes you can do everything right in a baseball game and still lose. It doesn't mean the team wasn't elite or special. It just means on that day, the breaks went the other way. 

Win or lose on Sunday, this Tennessee team is special. And it will go down as one of the best UT baseball teams in program history. One weekend in June doesn't change that. 

Of course, Vitello and the Vols will take the field on Sunday with every intention of winning. And if they don't win, there's going to be a lot of hurt in the dugout — more hurt than any fan feels. The story isn't over yet, but when it ends, whether that's on Sunday or with a dogpile celebration in Omaha, the narrative should be that this Vols baseball team was undoubtedly elite. 

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