Tony Vitello outlines goals for SEC Tournament

Tennessee heads to the SEC Tournament in good form, sweeping South Carolina in the final series of the regular season. Head coach Tony Vitello has not seen his team lose two out of three against an SEC opponent since mid-March, winning nine out of 10 series. This places the Vols are the one-seed in Hoover, hoping to come out as champions.

Play will begin for Tennessee on Wednesday, facing either Florida or Vanderbilt at 4:30 p.m. CT. Vitello was asked what his main goal of the week was, hoping to make sure the pitching stays in rhythm. It can be a stressful time of the year, having some long games on consecutive days.

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Strategically using certain pitchers and not overusing any arm is key in Vitello’s mind.

“To have the pitching sorted,” Vitello said. “You want to use a certain amount of guys, get them action. It’s been a little bit. You like to keep guys in somewhat of a rhythm but it’s also an imperfect time of the year. So, they need to be willing to go at whatever time and take on whatever role… We’ll use as many of them as possible and not wear anyone out to where they’re breaking their record for personal amount of pitches thrown.”

Every team can go into their conference tournament with a pitching plan, hoping to execute perfectly. But this is baseball and something will go wrong at some point. Whether a pitch count gets too high too early, some runs cross the plate, or an extra innings game throws everything into a loop.

Vitello is challenging his staff to be ready for whatever is thrown their way. There are no specific roles in the postseason and everybody must be all hands on deck.

“There could literally be something come up where it’s the first time they’ve done it all year,” Vitello said. “But you take the ball and you run with it. Because we’re in a race to get 27 outs and however we can get them, we’ll take it.”

Lucky for Vitello, Tennessee was one of the best staffs in the SEC this season. The Vols finished second in overall 3.68, only behind Arkansas. If there is one area of a roster to carry you through a lengthy postseason, you want it to be the pitching staff.