Tony Vitello reveals his approach to pitching Chase Burns

Tennessee‘s gutsy 14-inning victory over Clemson Saturday night was guided by the arms of their pitching staff — including a masterful performance from RHP Chase Burns.

Vols head coach Tony Vitello didn’t expect Burns to pitch over six innings when he relieved Chase Dollander in the fourth inning, but his strong arm worked in Tennessee’s favor — even if it was against Vitello’s original wishes.

“We had a conversation before the game. I was waiting for — it was his game,” Vitello said about taking Burns out against Clemson. “It was going to be the combination of two guys that are first-rounders, that are going to have lengthy careers in the big leagues. … That was what we thought of as our best punch.”

Vitello was considering putting in Seth Halvorsen much earlier than he did, but Burns refused to exit the circle. Burns ended up pitching 6.1 innings with eight strikes to show for it. He went on to allow six hits and one earned run before Halvorsen took over on the mound in the 10th inning.

“We were going to start Halvy later in the deal if we needed to. Obviously, we didn’t fall off with his stuff. I just expected him to come to me and when he did he said to get Halvy hot but he can get the team a few more outs,” Vitello said. “Again, Halvy was pretty sharp but to me, the difference might have been, in the entire game, those extra outs when we were wanting to take him out.”

On the offensive end of the bat, it was the three base infielders that gave Clemson the most trouble. First baseman Blake Burke went 3-4 at the plate, but second and third basemen were the MVPs of the game, as Christian Moore and Zane Denton combined for 5-for-9 to go with three home runs, five RBIs and drew four walks.

One more performance like that on both sides for Tennessee, and the Super Regional berth is well within the Vols’ grasps. They’ll face the Charlotte at 6 p.m. ET in the Clemson Regional final. The Vols need one win to advance, while the 49ers will have to take down UT twice to move on.

The winner of the Clemson Regional will take on the winner of the Auburn Regional next weekend, which is made up of Penn, Samford and Southern Miss, as the regional host was eliminated from the tournament in two games.