OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee baseball plays its first game of the College World Series on Saturday against LSU.
A major reason this team has made it to Omaha is because of many players taking on different roles and succeeding in them. Pitcher Chase Burns is one of them.
Burns started his freshman season for the Vols and did the same this season. However, the pitcher struggled much more in 2023 as a starter. There was a stretch of four starts against Missouri, Texas A&M, LSU and Florida where he allowed at least five runs in each game. Against Missouri and Florida, he let up seven runs.
Going into a pivotal series against Vanderbilt, head coach Tony Vitello elected to start bringing him out of the bullpen. That news was tough to hear for Burns
“At first it’s hard being a starter all your life and your freshman year," he told WBIR. "But you know, I think I’m pretty adaptable. “
He did adapt.
In the first game of the series against Vanderbilt, Burns came in out of the bullpen and dazzled in a 12 inning thriller. Burns went three innings, striking out seven and allowing just one baserunner.
The Vols went on to win that game, which many point to as the turnaround of the season for UT.
“It’s just mindset. I can be in any role in any situation I don’t really care what it is. I’m going to help my team 100 percent of the way," Burns said.
He has been doing it in the postseason too.
In a 14 inning marathon for the Vols in the NCAA Tournament Regional against national four seed Clemson, he shined again as UT won. Out of the bullpen, he went 6.1 innings, allowing just one run and striking out eight batters in his longest-career relief appearance.
Then came the moment many will remember about this postseason. In Game 3 of the NCAA Tournament Super Regional against Southern Mississippi, he punched 102 miles per hour on the radar gun, dealing a fastball that got a strikeout in the seventh inning to close out the frame. Burns' reaction went viral.
“Throwing those numbers up it’s pretty fun, it’s pretty cool," he said. "It’s a lot of hard work that goes into it and after the fact of the celebration it was me blacking out and a lot of adrenaline. Social media blew up a bit. It was pretty fun and cool though.”
Vitello has been impressed with what Burns has brought to this team in his new role.
“He's been incredible out of the bullpen with his ability to get outs," the Vols head coach said. "He's kind of changed our team's mentality too with you know the emotion he pitches with and having fun out there again as an athlete. He also gives our guys confidence that the back half of the game is one that we can wine each time we go out."
Burns said Vitello will try to take him out of games sometimes and Burns will tell his coach he doesn’t want to come out.
The pitcher said he thinks that Vitello thinks he’s a "psycho" because of it now. However, Burns is proving he can go the long haul in games.
Burns said his skillset and emotions bring momentum to this team. He plans to continue bringing that spark.
“The adrenaline rush is just insane. I'm not an adrenaline junkie but coming from the bullpen to the mound is a surreal moment," he said.
Tennessee and LSU play at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
