Tony Vitello reveals Chris Stamos will pitch for Tennessee on Friday at College World Series

There’s a lot to think about once you get to the College World Series in Omaha, with the move back to a four-team, double-elimination tournament requiring a lot out of pitching rotations if you want to advance to the championship series.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello admittedly has thought about his rotation quite a bit. The Omaha impact is real and can change the normal approach.

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“I think it definitely can for certain teams,” Vitello said in a media appearance ahead of the College World Series. “It’s weird not being able to see you right now, but I think it definitely can if are you a different team. With our team kind of what my mind is thinking, because I’m thinking of different scenarios, is we’ve kind of played Tetris all year long and tried to make it work with who is available that given day, what maybe we think a matchup is, how a guy is throwing.”

That won’t be the case necessarily with the Volunteers in Omaha. The top-rated team in the field, Tennessee is likely to stick with what’s been working.

Vitello outlined just that plan in his news conference.

“I think we’re just going to kind of roll and stay true to our roots, roll with what we got, I should say,” he said. “We’ll start with (Chris Stamos) on Friday, and then we’ll go from there with what we see fit, and we’ll just treat the game that we’re playing that particular day as if it’s almost kind of the only game we got.”

The Volunteers will likely be quick with the trigger, though. Stamos has not lasted long in either of his postseason appearances so far.

He threw just 0.1 innings in a Regional start against Northern Kentucky, giving up a run on two hits. In the Super Regional against Evansville, he got through just 1.1 innings, giving up two runs on two hits.

Tennessee will be looking for more out of him.

The second starter in Omaha would likely be Drew Beam. Beam made it 3.2 innings against Indiana in the Regional, giving up four runs on four hits. He then went 4.2 innings against Evansville, giving up five runs on five hits.

Needless to say, Vitello will be hoping for better out of his likely top two starters in the College World Series.

Tennessee opens play on Friday against Florida State in a game that will begin at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.