KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Baseball will look to rewrite some College World Series history as they look to win it all.
The Vols are seeking to become the first national No. 1 seed to win it all since 1999 when Miami did it.
With that, the team was asked on Thursday ahead of their first game on Friday if they had seen the statistic and their thoughts on it. Tony Vitello gave his thoughts and then, in part, talked about how social media plays its part in adding too much pressure on student-athletes.
“You said 1999, if you jump on the Google machine you’ll see that’s about when social media started and then it picked up steam,” Vitello said. “I don’t think those two things are a coincidence.”
He went on to say the team has dealt with what people were saying and opinions about the team all season long.
He pointed to the bracket setup for the NCAA Tournament Regional and Super Regional, where Southern Mississippi was put in the Regional, which UT beat to get to Omaha last season in the Super Regional on the road.
The NCAA also had Wake Forest potentially playing in the NCAA Tournament Super Regional if both teams had advanced, but the Demon Deacons were eliminated in the Regional. Former Vols pitcher Chase Burns plays for them.
“We knew some things were coming when the NCAA committee, not that there are any conspiracy things out there, but there was a couple of things that were going to happen with that [NCAA Tournament] bracket,” he said. “Everybody predicted that back in January. So our guys not only had to battle the teams we were playing against, but some of those underlying storylines that were available in our Regional and other spots like that. How you could front those storylines and those labels that people give, whether this is your seed or this could happen or that could happen — that is now a part of the competition for young kids."
Vitello has said multiple times this season that the Vols have a choice — to focus on themselves and what they’re doing, or to listen to the opinions of others and pay attention to social media.
He said his guys need to continue to compete against the right things. That starts with their first matchup in the College World Series.
The Vols play their first game of the College World Series on Friday against Florida State at 7 p.m. in Omaha.
It’s the first time they have made it to the College World Series in back-to-back seasons throughout program history. This is their third appearance in the last four seasons. It’s their seventh appearance, all time.
