Tony Vitello states Tennessee fans should 'appreciate consistency and not expect dominance'

On Monday, Tennessee defeated Wake Forest 11-5 to win the Knoxville Regional and advance to super regional play. While Tennessee ultimately secured a convincing victory, some fans weren’t satisfied with the Volunteers’ performance in the regional.

On Sunday, Tennessee fell 7-6 to Wake Forest, which put the Volunteers’ backs against the wall on Monday. After Tennessee’s must-have win on Monday, Vols head coach Tony Vitello responded to fans’ lofty expectations.

“Our fans should appreciate consistency and not expect dominance in any sport,” Vitello said. “I know it’s an SEC school, so that’s going to fall on deaf ears, but they make mistakes. Like [Andrew] Fischer said, they work their butts off and there’s a lot of passion. At the very least they’re playing for each other as much as anything and they’re playing for UT right after that.

“I made mistakes tonight. I wish I could have made it a zero, although this lineup Wake’s got makes it impossible to make it nine zeros. Could have made a couple decisions different, but wouldn’t have it any other way than having Liam [Doyle] throw the last pitch.”

Tennessee fans were biting their nails on Monday when Wake Forest took a 2-0 lead early in the game. Alas, the Volunteers didn’t allow the Demon Deacons to enjoy their lead for long, rattling off seven runs in the fourth inning alone.

Despite Wake Forest’s best efforts, it couldn’t make up the ground lost. Tennessee ensured its victory by scoring an extra three runs in the final two innings of the game.

With the win, Tennessee will advance to face off against Arkansas in the Super Regionals. The Razorbacks were the Volunteers’ final opponent in the regular season.

Tennessee lost the three-game series, posting a 1-2 record against Arkansas. Tony Vitello is excited to have an opportunity to exact revenge.

“When you’re in the backyard, at least the neighborhood I grew up in, it was still everybody meets out on the street and you play a bunch of games and whenever I lost—maybe my dad did it to me—I was kind of a little punk, but I always wanted to run it back,” Vitello said. “Let’s redo it.

“So, at the very least, my first reaction is we want to be playing this time of year, as does anybody that’s left. I don’t know if any other games are still going on. I haven’t followed much of that stuff, but it’s a blessing to be playing and this team has been confident going on the road, but at the very least they get a chance to redo the thing.”