Tony Vitello compliments depth of Notre Dame bullpen

Notre Dame has a tough task ahead in the Super Regionals with No. 1 overall seed Tennessee coming up this weekend. But Volunteers coach Tony Vitello said the Fighting Irish have plenty of talent, as well, especially in the bulllpen.

The Tennessee headman said Notre Dame can beat teams in plenty of ways with its talented staff. Seven different players have totaled saves — a stat Vitello cited as a reason Link Jarrett and Co. have resources to gain an edge.

“It’s really deep,” Vitello said of the Notre Dame staff. “We are assured two games, but we’ll just worry about Friday for now with [Austin] Temple. [He] likes to spin it, but also [the] fastball isn’t light either, so it’s kind of your typical deal either in our conference or those that you’re going to see on a Friday night. But I’d say the depth. And we kind of talk about depth around here a lot of times because you all [reporters] bring it up and we feel confident in a variety of guys off the bench, whether it be on the offensive, defensive or pitching side of things.

“But I think in particular, pitching is an up-and-down thing for them. They’ll rely on guys in a bunch of different settings or roles, it seems like. I’m not a form master of what their team does or doesn’t do, but you can look at the save numbers and see that they clearly trust a lot of guys and guys are capable of doing different things for them. That word, depth, is probably true for both teams and I think, in particular, they certainly have it on the staff you’re asking about.”

Tony Vitello addresses praise as No. 1 team, applies strange analogy

Tennessee has steadily remained a national championship favorite for the entirety of the 2022 college baseball season, and the Volunteers are finally showing why as the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Head coach Tony Vitello addressed the consistency his team has shown over a grueling season, outright winning the SEC’s regular season and tournament titles. But that doesn’t mean his team can become complacent, and the Vols are taking things one game at a time head of this weekend’s Super Regional action.

“Last week, someone asked me walking into the park, do you want to play Campbell or Georgia Tech?” Vitello said. “And I said, ‘Well, would you like to be waterboarded by Aquafina or Dasani?’ It doesn’t matter – they’re both going to be good.

“It doesn’t matter what the score is, everybody now knows that from last game [with Georgia Tech], it’s gonna it’s gonna be hell from pitch one until the last pitch; from the start of the series until the end of the series – not just here, but across the country.”