WATCH: Vols Baseball coach Tony Vitello goes nuclear, gets ejected vs. Alabama
Things got off to a heated start tonight in the first inning of the Tennessee–Alabama baseball matchup. Last night, the Crimson Tide stunned the top-ranked Volunteers 6-3. On Saturday evening, it didn’t take long for things to get heated up. Alabama’s Zane Denton hit a line drive off of Tennessee starting pitcher Chase Dollander. The Vols got the out to close out the inning, but Dollander fell to the ground in pain. Tennessee pitching coach Frank Anderson quickly came out of the dugout yelling at the Alabama dugout and had to be separated by the umpires.
Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello wasn’t far behind as their trainer was looking at Dollander. Both coaches were arguing with a number of umpires when Anderson was then ejected. That escalated matters and Tony Vitello started arguing with third base umpire Jeffrey Macias. They argued for about a minute before Macias ejected Vitello. Then after he was ejected, Vitello took his hat off and marched towards Macias and bumped him. Macias jumped back a bit once he was bumped and the two were then separated by the other umpires.
Watch it here.
In a twist of irony, Vitello was ejected one year ago to the day on April 16, 2021 in a loss to Vanderbilt. Third base umpire Jeffrey Macias tossed both Anderson and Vitello. Macias was the home-plate umpire in Tennessee’s 6-3 loss on Friday night and in the Vols’ 8-4 loss to Texas in the College World Series last year.
Vitello is likely to draw a suspension following his ejection and contact with an umpire. We’ll have to see what type of suspension he receives in the future.
Tennessee currently leads the Crimson Tide 6-2 in the top of the 7th inning. Alabama currently leads the series 1-0 on the weekend, but it looks like the Vols are looking to tie it up after tonight.