Tony Vitello makes ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ joke previewing pitching staff

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello made a “Let’s Go Brandon” joke when discussing his pitching staff ahead of the NCAA Tournament. If you think it came out of left field, no pun intended, it actually didn’t!

Vitello was asked about Brandon Arvidson and AJ Russell and how their roles might evolve during the postseason. Vitello seemingly never calls Arvidson “Brandon,” so he was confused.

That’s where he threw in the joke which was a reference to former President Joe Biden. In case you’re confused there, here’s an explanation of the joke “Let’s Go Brandon.” Spoiler alert, fans at a NASCAR race weren’t saying that phrase! Vitello decided to poke fun at mishearing something, we guess.

“You scared me at first with Brandon. I didn’t know who that was, Let’s go Brandon. Brandon Arvidson that is,” Vitello said. “Arv threw really well and … I could care less about that stuff, I don’t even know what I’m doing with this … But anywho, I think both those guys have shown they can go length. So whether it’s start or the second inning or the ninth inning or it’s extra innings, this time of year, it doesn’t matter. Embrace the chaos. 

“So I think both are older guys who have done (a lot), they’ve closed games, they’ve started games, they’ve done in between, and they’ll probably be required to do something, if not them, somebody else probably required to do something they haven’t normally done. And this time of year … you get the guy out in front of you, and then we’ll worry about what’s after that.”

In any event, Vitello and Tennessee open up the NCAA Baseball Tournament Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET against Miami (Ohio). The Vols will play Wake Forest or Cincinnati on Saturday. The good news is, Tennessee is the host for this regional, grabbing a top seed.

“It can be an advantage for us too,” Vitello said. “We talked in the cages one time where we won a one-run game but [the fans] were an edge for us in that one in particular. They’ve been that in the past few years so I think it would be great for them and our kids. We’re not in control of it, so we’ll let those people that are fully qualified to sit in the room and diagnose that.”

Tennessee was able to down Alabama (No. 15 in RPI) and Texas (No. 4 in RPI) in its first two SEC Tournament games, adding two more Q1 wins to its resume. Ahead of Monday’s selection show, the Volunteers were 14-11 against Q1 teams, 7-5 against Q2 teams, 3-0 against Q3 teams and 4-0 against Q4 teams.