Tony Vitello on Zander Sechrist: 'I just like the way he's competing'

Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello was pleased with what he saw out of starting pitcher Zander Sechrist in Game 3 of the College World Series final on Monday.

Sechrist pitched the Volunteers through the first 5.1 innings of the contest against Texas A&M. He finished with seven strikeouts and six hits allowed as the Vols led 3-1 at the time of his exit.

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Vitello joined ESPN for an in-game interview during the fifth inning in which he had high praise for his pitcher.

“I think just the way he’s competing,” the coach said. “That’s an overly simple answer, but he’s like anybody that’s out here. He’s got good enough stuff to compete. Both these lineups are good so when you get out there, you’ve gotta compete with the best version of whoever you are. He’s a quirky fellow, so I’m just gonna go with I assume this is what he’s got for us.”

Sechrist was also the pitcher who got the start when Tennessee punched its ticket to the College World Series final with a 7-2 win against Florida State on Wednesday. He put in 6.1 innings of work in that game while striking out three batters and giving up five hits and two runs.

Vitello opened up on his options to potentially replace Sechrist later in the game, with both Kirby Connell and Nate Snead waiting in the bullpen.

“Most likely Snead would be next,” he said. “Lloyd and Kirby are two leftys that can follow suit with him, More than likely Snead would be next and we’re getting pretty close.”

Snead ended up entering the game in the sixth inning with the Vols leading 3-1 and we’ll see if he can close it out.