Tennessee baseball has slipped up for the first time in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

After flying through the regionals and taking the first game against Evansville, the Purple Aces took Saturday's matchup 10-8 to set up a winner-take-all match tomorrow.

Here's what coach Tony Vitello and players Cal Stark and Blake Burke had to say afterward.

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Opening statement:

"Obviously, it’s a little different weekend, but we say it in our conference: you’re in a threeround bout, and you're going to have to take blows and give blows. We were fortunate yesterday, but today they delivered a couple more blows than we did. Thrilling for the fans who were one away from being in a really good position, but it didn’t happen that way, so we’ll roll into Sunday, which is always an important day. It’ll be one to one, and we’ll get after it."

On what went wrong after three scoreless innings to start the game:

"I don’t think anything drastically changed. They have a good lineup, and they’re certainly going to compete. At no point are they ever going to go away easy, so they were able to put some things together. You go back, and anytime you make decisions with pitching, if you get some zeros or ones out of the deal, then it went well and maybe you made some accurate decisions. If it doesn’t, maybe we could’ve made some better decisions in those situations."

On Drew Beam’s outing:

"From my perspective, it was very sharp early on. I think the biggest thing, a couple times you try to be careful with guys and it gets sideways, whether it be with a base open or a particular situation. I can’t speak for Drew, but that’s the only thing that really stood out to me."

On whether the Vols’ early lead led to complacency at the plate:

"Nah. They switched pitchers, and it took us a minute to adjust to making a guy get in the zone and then also the tempo of what he had going on. If anything, you’d like to look back and maybe adjust a little quicker and have a plan immediately for who you are facing. But other than that, I don’t think there was anything to detract from that. You’ll take runs any way you can get them. It’d be nice if there were some guys on base when you hit homers, but it’s the first inning and it went down the way it did. Kind of a unique situation."

On what the differences in the at-bats were during the seventh and eighth innings as compared to the ninth inning:

"I think forcing the pitching into the strike zone was a big difference. A little bit of adjusting where you’re trying to strike the ball whether it’s above, below or wherever it might be. I think the biggest thing was commanding the strike zone as best as you can at the plate."

On the status of Zander Sechrist and the plan for him Sunday:

"He’s good. He obviously took that shot pretty good and was bruised the next day, but that Monday it was all laughs. I don’t think it was laughs for him when it occurred, and I’m sure it stiffened up at some point. That’s kind of been a non-issue for the week. That’s our guy in the locker room. That’s our guy on the field. He has the ball, and we’ll worry about the rest later. I don’t think we’ve done anything to gas anybody out this particular weekend."

On how important it was to get the rally going in the ninth inning and force a pitching change:

"You’ll take a win anytime you can get it, so I’m sure they’re elated on their side. Our guys are too young and too competitive, and they’re upset right now that they got left on deck or they could’ve done some damage. When it is a true series in the SEC, every little thing counts. Fortunately, this year we have benefited from it, but there are also some series where we’ve made it tougher on ourselves or were not able to come up because of different pitches or innings that are involved in that. They all have weight to them. Obviously, the game ended in the ninth inning, but I think it helped more than our players will even know."

On whether he felt like there was tension in the dugout throughout the game:

"Not for us. I think there was frustration at certain points. You want to be winning the game, and there’s a flow to it. You’re out there during batting practice. Both times they’ve shown up to the park loose anytime I’ve seen them on video. I think that’s the unique thing about our group is that they play with a lot of intensity. For the most part, we’re mature enough to manage it and stay loose. Each game has its own flow to it, and there are ups and downs throughout the course of the game. If anything, I’m trying to follow these guys’ lead as opposed to directing. That’s kind of how this year has gone."

On the weight of tomorrow's game in the overall success of the season:

"There is no way that it is not a successful season. Basically, the way the numbers go, we don’t need to worry about anything other than tomorrow. The numbers go: you want to play at home, you would like to be playing first in a regional if you can, then if you are fortunate enough to get to a super regional, then it’s a race to two wins. That’s really all it is. If you are bored and you're on your phone for too long, or you get involved in social media chats, which will be up to you all, not our players, then you could paint all kinds of pictures tomorrow. But really what it is, is we are fortunate enough to host Evansville, one of the best teams in the country, and we are trying to win the series tomorrow."

On how much his team still controls its destiny:

"I don’t think much is up to chance. I mean you make your own breaks. I think what is important is for guys to look to the guy next to them, right or left, front, back, and understand that you have to play for that guy. It is very easy when stakes are 'high,' or there are emotions going on, or our fans are standing on their feet, to reflect inwardly and kind of worry about what you have going on yourself. The best way to be a good teammate and play a team sport is to have that energy go outward and make sure that you are looking after your guy, whether it be Cal looking after Blake or vice versa because Blake knows that Cal has got his back. That is what I think you can control. The results may go up and down, but when you have a group of guys who do that, it makes it a fun environment, and it also makes it an environment where you more than slightly put the percentages in your favor."

On whether Christian Moore will play in the field or not on Sunday as he deals with his leg injury:

"No, he’ll play second base tomorrow. His leg was sore [and] was a little iffy, and that was the decision. It was 100 percent the way to go today, and the decision tomorrow will be to play him at second base. That’ll be 100 percent the way to go."

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On how the SEC weekend series prepared this team for a game three on Sunday:

"I think it’s a benefit. You have the series on the line is what you have. It helps to have a vision of what it looks like, and it helps to have reps. You can think of any sport you want, but you want as many repetitions as possible. The one thing about practice is it’s tough to put yourself in a practice or training situation where you can replicate things like today or things like tomorrow or other opportunities we’ve had on game day. So, no question it’s a benefit."

On Drew Beam’s outing:

"I thought he looked good early on, [and] he made really good pitches. Just couldn’t find that put-away pitch. That’s just how it goes sometimes."

On what gives him confidence that the team will respond tomorrow:

"We’ve been in a lot of one-to-one series throughout the year, so we know what it looks like, we know how to treat the game [and] stuff like that. Just keep that same mentality coming back to the field tomorrow."

On what gives him confidence in Zander Sechrist tomorrow:

"“It’s a 1-1 series. He’s been the guy to throw then, so he knows what it’s like. He’s been that guy every time we’ve had a series on the line. Knowing that gives the whole team that extra boost of confidence that he can go out there and throw it well."

On their mindset going into the ninth inning and how they plan to transition that earlier into the game tomorrow:

"I feel like we always have confidence. We’re one inning away. When we got some runners on base. We kind of had some confidence going in there. I feel like we just need to have better at-bats throughout the game tomorrow for us to have a chance."

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