Tony Vitello reveals Tennessee's level of frustration with recent struggles in series finales

For the sixth consecutive time, Tennessee entered a Sunday series finale having split their first two games. Losing to Vanderbilt 7-5, they’ve now lost four-straight SEC series thanks to a loss during a game three.

After the game, head coach Tony Vitello revealed if there was any frustration with the recent string of game three losses. He said he feels as though his team needs to start executing better in the first two matchups.

“I think they’ll be ready for Tuesday. We have one senior (Colby Backus) and it’s senior day, so that kinda goes without saying. And I think they’ll be anxious to get back out on the field. I think you saw that at the end of the game,” Vitello said.

“But, yeah, it’s (frustration) quite obvious. I mean, the ideal thing is to have a Sunday starter that can carry you, you know, into the fifth, sixth inning like they’ve got going on over there, but that didn’t happen for their guy today. It was a battle of both bullpens. And, again, it was a back-and-forth battle, but they were better than we were today. The only thing I’d say is— you’re dead on with the 1-5, but the whole weekend kinda has involvement with the whole weekend. So we need to be better not just with the conclusion of the weekend, but things leading up to it too.”

Tennessee would defeat Vanderbilt 3-2 in the series opener on Friday. Liam Doyle (9-2, 2.17 ERA) logged 12 strikeouts compared to three hits during the victory. It was another quality start for the Tennessee ace. However, a similar story was not able to be written during Saturday’s game two. Vanderbilt would even the series with a 10-6 victory, setting up the Sunday rubber match.

The two programs split runs in the first, second and fifth innings, respectively. However, a three-run sixth inning from the Commodores gave Vanderbilt a 6-3 lead. Tennessee would only be able to earn two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Vanderbilt tacked on an insurance run in the ninth inning to secure the series win over the Volunteers in Knoxville.

Now, Tennessee turns its attention toward a Tuesday night for a one-off matchup against Belmont for Senior Day. They’ll wrap up the regular season on the road with a weekend series against Arkansas before beginning the SEC Tournament on May 20th.