Tony Vitello offers first impressions of South Carolina matchup

In the final weekend of the regular season, head coach Tony Vitello and the Tennessee Volunteers are welcoming the South Carolina Gamecocks to Knoxville.

Ahead of that matchup, Vitello praised the Gamecocks. In particular, he pointed out how strong South Carolina’s bullpen has been this season and the balance that South Carolina has in its lineup.

“I don’t know how they did last weekend,” Tony Vitello said. “But as far as when you kind of run into them and looking at opponents or stuff comes up – I know their bullpen has guys with really good stuff. Shocker, in our league. So, that’s kind of a theme. We will start to pick those guys a part a little bit as far as preparing or at least take a look at them.”

South Carolina is coming off a difficult weekend, getting swept by Georgia. With that, the Gamecocks are looking to snap the losing streak and turn things around before the SEC Tournament. So, Tennessee will catch their best shot.

“And then offensively there’s just a lot of experience in there and there’s balance too between left- and right-handed hitters. A couple of guys that went from Vanderbilt to there. A couple of guys that have been there a while. Then, a couple of guys who played last year that were young,” Vitello said.

“By age, you’re never going to be too old in this league – especially if you’re a sophomore – but when you rack up a bunch of at-bats and kind of see what it all looks like, and now we’re at the end of the second season, now you are kind of an older guy who has experience.”

This season, South Carolina is 33-18 overall with a record of 13-14 in SEC play.

Tony Vitello explains his diehard fandom, loyalty for other Tennessee sports

Tony Vitello has chosen to embrace all Tennessee sports, which he explained as coming down to a matter of loyalty to the school.

“Yeah, I mean, when I was younger, my dad coached at a high school where there was that vibe and he was at the same high school for 46 years. There’s a lot of loyalty there,” Vitello said.

“I was always jealous of places like Nebraska. The whole state seemed to stop when they had a football or basketball game or women’s volleyball or anything. I’m fortunate enough to be apart of a state and program where it’s kind of like that and everybody lives and breathes with the Vols regardless of what they’re doing. I’m in it. It’s nice they write the paycheck but I truly love where I live. It’s the vibe of the state, it’s why there’s a ton of people moving into the big cities in our state.”