Tennessee baseball’s season came to an end Tuesday night at Charles Schwab Field as the Vols fell to LSU 5-0. It was a disappointing loss to end the season that embodied Tennessee’s flaws this year.
But any season that ends in Omaha is a good one. That’s the nature of the sport and the best way to win the National Championship is to keep making the College World Series and keep chopping away at the oak tree.
This Tennessee team was very unlikely to knock down the door and claim the Vols’ first ever baseball National Championship. Tennessee’s offense was limited and the Vols faced a loaded field, especially on its side of the bracket. There’s a strong argument to be made that the 2023 Vols were the least talented of any of Tennessee’s last four teams, but they made it the furthest.
They made it deeper than any Tennessee team since 2001 largely because of its improvement and togetherness. The 2023 Tennessee baseball team embodied what we love about sports.
Tony Vitello spent over six months telling people his team didn’t deserve the No. 2 preseason ranking bestowed to them. He told anyone who would listen in the preseason and said it again Tuesday night after LSU ended Tennessee’s season.
Vitello was quickly proven correct. Tennessee sputtered out the gates and well into conference play. The Vols went 5-10 in the first half of SEC play, digging themselves a massive hole in their quest to make the NCAA Tournament.
A team with an abundance of new pieces and high preseason expectations fell flat on its face. Vitello called it “awkward” in the fall. The Vols struggled to become a team and losing made it even easier to crumble. In the age of the transfer portal, Tennessee could have easily grown apart.
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Instead, Tennessee came together. They earned a comeback, walk-off win against rival Vanderbilt to save its season. They earned another walk-off next weekend against Mississippi State. Tennessee responded to a heartbreaking loss against South Carolina in 50 minutes before destroying the Gamecocks in game two of a doubleheader to finally earn its first road series win of the season.
Tennessee followed up a strong final month of the regular season with a magical postseason run— doing it the hard way. One of the higher two-seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the selection committee sent Tennessee to No. 4 Clemson.
Down to its final strike twice, Tennessee rallied to take the lead in the ninth inning and outlasted the Tigers in a 14 inning thriller which ended Clemson’s 17-game win streak.
Despite boasting a better resume than Southern Miss, the NCAA sent Tennessee to Hattiesburg for the super regionals. Tennessee dropped game one and fought countless weather delays to claw its way back to Omaha. Even in its final win of the season, Tennessee turned a four run deficit into another comeback victory for the program’s first win in Omaha since 2001.
A team that folded at the first sign of adversity the first six weeks of the season stared it in the face and didn’t flinch in its climb back to the College World Series. The growth was special to watch in person 50 times this season.
Then there were the stories of the players that made it all happen.
Andrew Lindsey went from coaching 14U baseball a season ago to sparking life into the Vols as a Friday night starter. Camden Sewell pushed himself to the brink physically and mentally to spend one more year in the Tennessee baseball program. Seth Halvorsen was pivotal for Tennessee after missing all of last season with an injury. Griffin Merritt overcame a horrible start to SEC play to become one of Tennessee’s best hitters. Christian Scott finally broke through as an everyday starter after four years as a bench player.
Tennessee stayed together, steadily improved and overcame adversity constantly to make 2023 one of the best seasons in program history. These Vols represented what we love about sports.
One Response
This is what i like about watching this team (thanks to Tony and his coaching staff ) These young men would get knock down come back next game playing like so what we will win this one I watch for tears to flow I never seen any . They would get hit with the ball rip that padding off that wrist or ankle run to first base and then they would look to see if whatever part got hit was still attach to the rest of there body keep on playing. I look for these young men to do good in life after Tn baseball is over. Just a great grand mother who loves to watch Tn Vols Baseball,Basketball Football. I was raised that if its bad enough to go to hospital lets go otherwise get up and keep on doing what you were doing.