KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee's historic season came to an abrupt end on Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. We look back at the Vols' series loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament in this week's baseball 3-2-1.
THREE OBSERVATIONS
Vols come up short
Tennessee was nine outs away from a second consecutive trip to Omaha.
That was until Notre Dame hit two home runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead. The Irish then tacked on three more insurance runs in the eighth to secure a four-run win to end the Vols’ season. Tennessee entered the game 49-0 when leading after six innings.
While UT’s pitching struggled over the last four innings, its bats did too, managing just one hit and two baserunners while Notre Dame held them scoreless over the final four innings. And when the two baserunners did reach, the Vols immediately grounded into a double play.
Tennessee pieced together a historic season. It’s one it should be extremely proud of, particularly when it reflects over the next couple of weeks.
Resumes fly out of the window this time of the year, however. Notre Dame outplayed Tennessee this weekend and are more than deserving of moving on to Omaha.
Shaky pitching
While the offense generated all of the headlines over the course of the season, it was the Tennessee pitching staff that led the way.
Against Notre Dame, however, Frank Anderson’s staff had a 5.33 ERA over the course of 27.0 innings. The Vols allowed 16 earned runs on 28 hits, seven home runs and allowed Notre Dame to hit .272.
Ben Joyce, Wyatt Evans and Redmond Walsh were the only three Vols to not allow a run. Chase Dollander allowed two runs as he turned in an excellent start in Game 2 to help save Tennessee's season.
Inconsistent at-bats
Tennessee scored 12 runs on 14 hits to beat Notre Dame 12-4 and even up the series in Game 2 after falling 8-6 in Game 1.
Saturday afternoon was the only time Tennessee’s bats were hot all weekend.
Sure, the Vols scored six runs in the series opener, but it also wasted a ton of opportunities while the pitching struggled. They were 1-for-16 with runners on base, 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-11 with two outs.
Tennessee wasted plenty of opportunities on Sunday in the season-ending loss as well, except this time, it failed to even get runners on base. In Game 3, the Vols were 2-for-14 with runners on base, 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-7 with two outs.
Too many of the Vols’ key contributors struggled throughout the three games. Drew Gilbert and Blake Burke didn’t have a hit, Evan Russell hit .077, Trey Lipscomb hit .214 and Jorel Ortega hit .250.
As a team, the Vols hit .257 at the plate in 101 at-bats, while Notre Dame hit .272 in 103 at-bats.
TWO QUESTIONS
Should Vitello have pulled Burns sooner?
Chase Burns was terrific in his first NCAA Tournament start on Sunday until Notre Dame was able to hit two home runs off of him in the seventh inning, which proved to be the difference in the game.
A one-out Notre Dame double brought the tying-run to the plate with the Irish trailing by two. Burns proceeded to get Jack Zyska — who Vitello called the Irish’s best pitcher — to pop out for the second out.
It looked like Burns was on the verge of getting out of the jam, but catcher David LaManna popped him for a two-run homer into the Tennessee bullpen to tie the game at 4-4. LaManna entered the day with one home run in 137 at-bats on the season.
Jack Brannigan then stepped to the plate and hit a solo home run to give the Irish a 5-4 lead. The Irish third baseman did so after hitting a foul ball that had the distance to be a homer.
“(Burns) had gotten their best hitter out,” Vitello said when asked about it after the game. “After seeing that foul-home run against Brannigan, maybe making the pitching change in the middle of that at-bat would have been wise, but I think Chase (Burns) wanted the ball. He certainly took ownership of the game.
“We felt good about the matchup against LaManna, but we should have taken him out before that, in particular after the foul-home run. Usually what ends up happening is that you strike out as a hitter after the foul-home run, but kudos to him. He smoked two balls. It wasn’t like Chase wasn’t on the map. I think it was 97 on the radar gun. The pitch before was certainly a ball, but it was a pretty crisp 0-2 pitch where you’d like to see the guy swing and miss or if it’s a little closer to the plate, maybe you get a borderline strike call.”
What’s next?
Recruiting never sleeps and Vitello will now do his best to reload for another run at Omaha next season.
Tennessee is already in the thick of the transfer portal looking to replace what it will lose to the draft. It added a commitment from Kansas shortstop Maui Ahuna on Friday afternoon and are in the mix for several other top prospects.
The Vols will certainly lose Blade Tidwell, Drew Gilbert, Jordan Beck and Trey Lipscomb to the MLB Draft at the end of July, while veterans such as Evan Russell, Luc Lipcius and Redmond Walsh have run out of eligibility.
Question marks surround Cortland Lawson, Jorel Ortega, Camden Sewell, Will Mabrey and Seth Stephenson as to what their future will look like. All five are possible draft picks, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility to see them back next season.
There will be plenty of roster attrition this offseason for Vitello’s program, but with the way he and his staff recruit, the Vols will just reload.
ONE PREDICTION
Vols will be back
It was an unfortunate and disappointing ending to a great Tennessee baseball season.
But Vitello’s program is here to stay and will be back in the mix to make it to Omaha next year. Sure, the Vols are losing a lot, but they’re also returning a lot.
They’ll return their starting rotation that features the SEC Pitcher of the Year, National Freshman of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year. They could also return Mabrey and Sewell to go along with Kirby Connell if the draft goes in their favor.
A lot will be lost from the lineup, but freshman phenoms Blake Burke and Christian Moore will be back, as will Jared Dickey, who will be coming off of a breakout season. There are others sitting in the wings as well, and you know Ahuna won’t be the only premier transfer Vitello adds.
The Vols will reload this offseason and they’ll be right back on the road to Omaha next postseason.
