The standard will never change as long as Tony Vitello is the head baseball coach at the University of Tennessee. The Vols always want to be the last team standing once the final out at the College World Series in Omaha is made.
Tennessee broke through to win the program’s first national title last season. As they begin their pursuit of back-to-back NCAA crowns, the Vols are planning for a “fresh start” and a unique identity.
“They kind of want to put their own stamp on this particular year,” Vitello says.
Tennessee opens the season at home against Hofstra for a three-game series beginning Feb. 14 at a newly-renovated Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols are a consensus top five team in every poll, including No. 2 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and USA Today polls.
Tennessee returns 16 players from the national championship squad, led by Dean Curley, Nate Snead and AJ Russell. The Vols added impact transfers in Liam Doyle (Ole Miss), Andrew Fischer (Ole Miss), Gavin Kilen (Louisville) and Alberto Osuna (North Carolina). Osuna was a late addition to the team, joining the Vols two weeks ago. The powerful first baseman ranks fifth all-time for the Tar Heels in home runs (45).
“I think we’re all excited. The returning guys, kind of letting the new guys and freshmen know, this is kind of how you do things. This is kind of how you get around the league, winning the postseason stuff like that,” senior outfielder Hunter Ensley says. “So, we’re excited to get going. Hopefully we’re able to make [another] run.”
Last season, the Vols (60-13) became the first team from the Southeastern Conference to eclipse the 60-win mark in a single season. The 60 wins were the most of any team since Florida State in 2002 and the most of any national champion since Wichita State in 1989.
The Vols won the SEC’s regular-season championship, the SEC Tournament championship, Knoxville Regional and Knoxville Super Regional. They went 7-0 while facing elimination in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, including coming back from down 0-1 in the best-of-three College World Series championship series against Texas A&M.
The already-tough SEC is even deeper this season with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas. Tennessee was picked to finish No. 2 in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll behind Texas A&M
Six UT players earned preseason all-conference honors: shortstop Curley (first team), second baseman Kilen (second team), third baseman Fischer (second team), Ensley (second team), and pitchers Liam Doyle (first team) and Snead (first team).
Although the Vols will have their own distinct identity this season, the past success under Vitello has provided a solid foundation to guide the players and bring them confidence.
“It’s still kind of the same thing we’ve put together the last few years. I think the great thing about it is we’ve definitely won a national championship now and we kind of know what it takes and how to navigate to get into the championship series,” Ensley says. “So, that definitely gives us a little bit of confidence, knowing that we’ve done it before.”
Glimpsing the future
The Vols will play 38 regular-season home games, 15 road games and three neutral-site games. Season tickets have already been sold out. The Vols begin with an eight-game homestand, which will provide fans with a glimpse of the construction progress at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
“It’s high, it’s tall. … It’s unfinished … But you can tell with the structure in the steelwork being up there and where that really helps us with recruiting and fans. They can’t see the finished product, but they’re starting to see what it’s going to look like and it’s got everybody super excited,” Vitello says. “And the cool thing is after this season there’ll be even more work to be done. I like the fact that it’s that way, so we’ll have a little bit of an unveiling this year and even more next year.”
Vitello and the Vols received numerous opportunities stemming from the NCAA title run. They appeared on TV shows, attended big events and signed autograph after autograph. Last Thursday, they were recognized at the State Capitol in Nashville. Because of the program’s success, Tennessee was selected to be one of the college teams included in the EA Sports video game MLB The Show ‘25.
But the book on 2024 has officially closed, and the Vols are ready to embrace all this season has in store.
“The one positive about Vol fans, they’ll celebrate better than anybody in the country,” Vitello says. “The one other caveat that comes with that is they’ve celebrated so much and talked so much about things, I think our guys are ready to move on and kind of use this blank canvas they have and start splashing some paint on there. If I could go crazy with the analogy there. Picasso.”