NCAA announces suspension for Tony Vitello following ejection vs. Alabama
Tennessee has announced the suspension for baseball coach Tony Vitello following his ejection against Alabama. After a heated argument with an umpire on Saturday, Vitello won’t be on the bench on Sunday against the Crimson Tide.
“Tony Vitello received a four-game suspension from the NCAA following his ejection and actions in Tennessee baseball’s 9-2 win against Alabama on Saturday,” wrote Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel. “Vitello is eligible to return in UT’s game at Florida on April 24. He is slated miss Sunday’s series finale against Alabama, Tuesday’s game against Bellarmine and the first two games at Florida. Pitching coach Frank Anderson, who was ejected prior to Vitello, will serve a one-game suspension and will return for Tuesday’s game.
“Hitting coach Josh Elander will serve as the acting head coach with Vitello and Anderson suspended. Anderson, who was ejected prior to Vitello, received an automatic one-game suspension as an assistant coach.”
Initially, Tennessee suspended Vitello for only one game. Then, the NCAA stepped in and upped the suspension to four games. Additionally, the Volunteers baseball leader won’t be able to appeal the suspension, according to the NCAA rule book.
To illustrate, Alabama’s Zane Denton hit a line drive off of Tennessee starting pitcher Chase Dollander. The Vols got the out to close out the inning, but Dollander fell to the ground in pain. Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson quickly came out of the dugout yelling at the Alabama dugout and had to be separated by the umpires.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello wasn’t far behind as their trainer was looking at Dollander. Both coaches were arguing with a number of umpires when Anderson was then ejected. That escalated matters and Tony Vitello started arguing with third base umpire Jeffrey Macias. They argued for about a minute before Macias ejected Vitello. Then after he was ejected, Vitello took his hat off and marched towards Macias and bumped him. Macias jumped back a bit once he was bumped and the two were then separated by the other umpires.
In a twist of irony, Vitello was ejected one year ago to the day on April 16, 2021 in a loss to Vanderbilt. Third base umpire Jeffrey Macias tossed both Anderson and Vitello. Macias was the home-plate umpire in Tennessee’s 6-3 loss on Friday night and in the Vols’ 8-4 loss to Texas in the College World Series last year.
On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this article.