Down to his last strike and Tennessee’s last out, Dylan Dreiling took a swing at a low pitch from Nick Maldonado.

One year before Dreiling became one of the heroes of the Vols’ first-ever College World Series title, the freshman pinch-hitter lifted a ball deep towards the right-center field wall at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on April 21, 2023.

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The ball cleared the wall and Tennessee sprung back to life to tie rival Vanderbilt before walking off the Commodores in the 12th inning, 4-3.

It was the catalyst for the Vols to win the series and turn an underwhelming season into the program’s second CWS appearance in three years.

The 2025 Tennessee team is hoping its upcoming series with Vanderbilt this weekend in Knoxville can provide the same kind of jolt.

“I think the moments in time that’ll live on forever were a result of guys just continuing to compete regardless of what’s going on,” Vols head coach Tony Vitello told reporters Tuesday. “And then the teams, like you’ve said, where it’s not perfect, and then it kind of comes together at the right time.

“Those are teams that stay positive and stick with their routines and don’t try and reinvent the wheel as far as what they’re trying to do.”

This weekend would be a “right time” for No. 15 Tennessee (38-11, 14-10 SEC).

The Vols have lost three-straight series for the first time under Vitello, and have lost four of their last five.

Their most recent skid was a series loss to Auburn that included two lengthy weather delays, and a doubleheader having to be completed on Sunday.

Tennessee’s slide has caused them to drop in the rankings in the last three weeks and in postseason projections, though it remains a top 16 national seed and regional host.

Taking a series from Vanderbilt and Arkansas on the road next weekend to cap the regular season would send the Vols into the SEC Tournament with momentum.

The struggles pale in comparison to that 2023, team, though. Tennessee began league play 5-10 before beginning its surge against Vanderbilt.

The Vols started strong, going 27-2 before dropping its first series in more than a year to Texas A&M last month.

Tennessee followed up that hiccup with a road series win at ranked Ole Miss the following week. If it weren’t for a ninth inning collapse in Game 1 at LSU, the Vols would have taken that series.

For Tennessee, its woes have come in the form of inning-extending errors and base-running mistakes, despite the All-SEC caliber season that starting left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle has had.

But Vitello doesn’t think the Vols need to make drastic changes to go on a run.

“I don’t think there’s a whole lot that needs to change,” Vitello said. “(Vol Network’s) John (Wilkerson) pinned me down on the radio. And if you could change one thing, what would it be? I think at this point we need to make sure we’re putting the pitchers in the right situation. We’ve got a good staff…There’s ability there. We need to put those guys in a good position to succeed.

“And when those guys get the ball, even if it’s out of the norm or out of their comfort zone, they need to just execute who they are.”

The Commodores (34-15, 14-10) have won two of their last three series, including a sweep of Georgia and in recent postseason projections are a top eight national seed.

Vanderbilt’s pitching staff is led by Friday starter J.D. Thompson and Sunday starter Conner Fennell, and have been key the Commodores’ success to this point.

Thompson, a left-hander is 4-4 on the season with a 3.95 ERA, while the right-handed Fennell is 5-0 and has a 3.20 ERA.

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“Don’t know a ton other than good amount of returning players,” Vitello said. “A couple incomers that are young, they were always kind of on the circuit where you saw them doing all the popular stuff, where the best players get invited to and they’re fully capable of getting innings and being productive as freshmen in the league, kind of like some of the guys—some of our guys know some of their younger guys. So we’ll take a look, see what we got. And probably what we got is another SEC team.

“Which means they’ll be organized, they’ll be well coached, they’ll compete and they’ll challenge us to play our best ball over the course of three days.”

Vanderbilt ranks in the bottom half of the league in hitting with a .427 slugging percentage and 48 home runs, though.

By comparison, Tennessee ranks third in the conference with a .574 slugging percentage and 107 homers.

There have been times, during the Vols’ recent downturn, where they’ve struggled at the plate, but Vitello sees a simple fix there, too.

This weekend would be the opportune time to do it.

“You’re never going to be perfect,” Vitello said. “But the hitters mentality, they need to understand that they don’t need to go up there and save the day every at-bat. We need a different mentality each day, or an improved mentality.”

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