Tennessee Vols head coach Tony Vitello uncharacteristically pushed the wrong button on Saturday and it cost UT in game one of the College World Series finals against the Texas A&M Aggies. 

The Vols never led on Saturday against the Aggies after falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning. 

It was that top of the first inning where Vitello made the mistake that cost the Volunteers and put Tennessee in a position where the program now has to win two straight games against the Aggies to win the College World Series. 

Vitello's decision to start Chris Stamos against Texas A&M was questionable before the game even started. And a few pitches into the game, it was obvious that Stamos wasn't going to escape the first inning for the third time in his last four starts. 

Stamos gave up two runs in just a third of an inning against the Aggies, putting the Vols in an early hole that the program couldn't crawl out of on Saturday night. 

The Vols had won eight straight games that Stamos started going into game one against Texas A&M. It was easy for Vitello to go with a "if-it's-not-broke-don't-fix-it" approach. 

But that approach ignored the fact that Tennessee won those games despite Stamos giving up early runs in seven of those starts. The last time that Stamos didn't give up a run in the first couple of innings of a start (Stamos, who functions as an "opener", hasn't gone longer than 3.1 innings in a start this season) was on April 25 against Missouri. 

Considering that Stamos didn't make it out of the first inning in two of his last three post-season starts, it would've been fair to assume that he was going to have some trouble against Texas A&M (especially since the Aggies saw him for 3.1 innings in the SEC Tournament in May). 

What happened early in Saturday's game shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. If you paid attention to the last few games that Stamos started, you could see this coming. Vitello, who has pushed almost all the right buttons this season (and since arriving in Knoxville seven years ago), should've seen it coming. 

I understand that it's tough to go away from what got you to the finals in Omaha. Using Stamos as an opener has been resulting in wins for the Vols, despite the LHP's recent struggles early in games. But game one of the College World Series isn't a situation where you go with "what's been working". Instead, it's a situation where you go with what "what works best to beat Texas A&M". 

There's no guarantee that a different decision would've played out differently for the Vols. But starting Stamos was always a decision that was probably going to put Tennessee in early hole. 

And in the College World Series, you can't afford to give the opposing team early momentum. 

Now the Vols have no room for error as they have to win two games in a row against the Aggies. The good news for Tennessee, though, is that their two best options — Drew Beam and Zander Sechrist — will get the ball for the next two games (as long as the Vols can get a win on Sunday with Beam on the mound). 

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