In Tennessee baseball's renovated Lindsey Nelson Stadium, a record number of fans have filed in to watch the Vols in the Knoxville Regional.
During Saturday's win over Indiana to secure a spot in the regional finals, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello tipped his hat to the fans.
With the Hoosiers throwing Connor Foley who is capable of hitting triple digits and shutting down the best bats in the country, the Vols jumped on him early. After just three innings, Tennessee had scored nine runs.
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What helped the offense was disrupting communication between Foley and the incoming pitch signal. With pitch-com technology, he had trouble hearing what pitch was called and there had to be a meeting at the mound.
After the game, Vitello likened the situation to a football game where the quarterback is struggling to set up his offense.
"It felt like I was a football coach for a minute with the quarterback not being able to hear the play coming in there," Vitello said. "This technology we use is whatever, but it’s pretty cool that the crowd interfered with the pitch communication and then got excited. Certainly, it put pressure on the pitcher. Connor (Foley) has big-league stuff, and our guys made it tough on him. They got kind of a John Stockton assist there from the crowd."
When Vitello took over the Vols program, it was hard to imagine this would ever be a reality. Lindsey Nelson Stadium looked almost unrecognizable from today and there were sparse crowds throughout the season.
Just this off-season, Tennessee has added permanent seats down the third-base line as it continues to renovate toward its goal.
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Everything Tony Vitello, Tennessee players said after downing Indiana
Vitello said he thinks this is what he imagined when he took the job but he recognized that its always been there. The renovations are just the icing on top.
It’s weird around here," Vitello said. "A good baseball guy here is watching the regional, and the stadium has changed every time he’s been here, and it’s like well it changes every time for us too. It just takes on different feels to it with the second deck of the porch, third deck of the porch."
The Vols are now a win away from notching a berth in the super regionals for a fourth straight season. Tennessee has gone to the College World Series twice under Vitello including the 2023 season.
This time, like 2021 and 2022, the Vols will have the benefit of hosting a super regional if they survive. Having a home field advantage that Vitello likened to a football game certainly helps.
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