SEC regular-season champions. SEC Tournament champions. NCAA champions? The Tennessee baseball team is hoping to pull off the trifecta this season.
The Vols (50-11) earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Baseball Championships for the second time in three years. They will host a regional this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Tennessee opens play against Northern Kentucky Friday at 6 p.m. CDT (SEC Network). Indiana and Southern Miss are the other two teams in the double-elimination regional.
If the Vols win, they will stay home for the Super Regional to face the winner of the Greenville Regional, which includes former UT ace Chase Burns, who transferred to Wake Forest.
Tennessee is trying to return to the College World Series for the second consecutive season and third time in the last four years.
The Vols will be trying to overcome the curse of the No. 1 overall seed. No top seed has captured a national title since 1999. Tennessee also earned the No. 1 overall seed in 2022 after winning the SEC regular-season and tournament titles, but the Vols were eliminated in the Super Regional by Notre Dame.
Redshirt junior outfielder Hunter Ensley was on the team two years ago, and will take the lessons from the past to help this season.
“All we can do is keep playing our best baseball regardless of the results of the ’22 year,” he says. “Just because we win this (SEC) tournament has no correlation between a regional or super regional. For us, the guys in the locker room, it’s focusing on the next day, the next day mentality and going game by game.”
Tourney title secured
The Vols beat LSU 4-3 Sunday to win the SEC Tournament for the second time in three years. Before the 2022 title, the Vols hadn’t won the title since 1995. Their run to this season’s title showcased the depth that’s made them a favorite to win titles from the opening week.
Friday night starter AJ Russell has returned to the mound after missing more than two months with an injury. Drew Beam, Kirby Connell, Nate Snead, AJ Causey and Zander Sechrist have been the main arms.
During the SEC Tournament, the Vols received quality innings from Andrew Behnke, Marcus Phillips and Dylan Loy. A former star at Pigeon Forge, Loy allowed two hits and struck out five in a career-long 4.2 innings in the final against LSU.
“I think we have always had depth,” UT senior catcher Cal Stark says. “We just got to show it this week. It was good for guys to get out there, show what they can do. I think it just adds to their confidence. This was big-time baseball on a big stage.”
Christian Moore continues to lead the Vols at the plate. The junior is batting a team-high .382 with 28 home runs, 16 doubles, 63 RBIs and a 1.236 OPS. Junior Blake Burke, who is batting .372 with 17 home runs, was named the SEC Tournament’s MVP after recording a team-high nine hits.
Junior Billy Amick broke out of a recent slump with a three-run home run against LSU in the championship game
“It’s just good to see him smile, you know?” UT head coach Vitello says. “It’s kind of like barbed wire. The more you start getting frustrated with it, the more you get entangled. And he knows how important he is to us and he wants to do well. Yeah, he was pressing a little bit. But it’s great for the whole team to see him smile here.”
Restoring glory
Tennessee has reached the 50-win mark in three of the last four seasons, the only program in the country to accomplish the feat. Before Vitello arrived, the Vols had only done it twice in program history.
Being able to restore baseball glory at a flagship school is extremely rewarding for Vitello.
“It just means a lot to me in more of a place where the whole state revolves around everything that’s going on with the university,” Vitello says. “When I grew up, my dad’s high school was like that. It just seemed like everybody rallied around everybody and the high school flag was the biggest thing going. And I was jealous of some other programs that were out there like that that you could compete against or see on TV. And I guess, living the dream being a part of it.”
But there remains one big goal still yet to be accomplished. Vitello and the Vols want to add a second NCAA title to the program’s trophy case. Although they know winning the SEC doesn’t guarantee anything, the Vols feel confident after leaving Hoover with another tournament title.
“I think one thing is for sure: there’s a lot of guys who can get the job done,” Ensley said. “We showed that on the offensive side, defensively and especially on the mound. It was a big weekend for guys to step up and there were for sure a few guys that absolutely did.”