With this Tennessee baseball team, Tony Vitello feels more ‘loose’

Tennessee was moments away from opening its third College World Series appearance in four years against one of the best arms in college baseball in Florida State's Jamie Arnold, but the Vols' head coach felt more relief than suspense as he looked at his players.

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"I took a moment to look around the room," Vitello said. "It's, like, we're going up against arguably the best pitcher in this deal...I don't like the fact he's throwing against us, but I like this group I'm looking at now. I'll do battle with this group and have fun with this group with a loose dugout any day of the week."

For Vitello, that feeling, the one he felt Friday and has felt many times before it this season, is Tennessee's biggest achievement to this point. It carried the Vols to an SEC regular season and tournament championship, a come-from-behind walk off win over the Seminoles in their CWS opener and it's what has them on the cusp of their first national championship in program history.

Pressure? If this team feels it, it hasn't shown.

Tennessee players sat in that same, small locker room Friday on the eve of Game 1 of the CWS championship series against Texas A&M (7:30 p.m. ET, TV: ESPN). There was no tension. Players sat back in chairs and laughed, but when they were asked about what was at stake in a little over 24 hours, the same theme was repeated.

"I like this group over anybody," Tennessee outfielder Hunter Ensley said. "Everytime we show up to the field, my money is on this group."

"I think I can look around this place, at any guy, I'm very confident that they're going to go out there and they're going to give it their all for each one of us," catcher Cal Stark said. "That just shows how close we are."

There have been very few examples of this Tennessee team giving way to the pressure of the moment and they haven't shown an ounce of it since they arrived in Omaha.

That started long before the Vols got here.

There was something different, Vitello thought, about this team in the fall. They wanted to be together and it didn't matter where. The clubhouse wasn't the extent of their relationships and they didn't wait until fall practice to get together.

"We decided that we wanted to start hanging out with each other a lot earlier, kind of get that process going," outfielder Kavares Tears said. "So whenever the season comes around, we're all moving together in one direction."

That direction brought Tennessee to its final and biggest stage yet and the path was paved with memorable plays that will forever be ingrained if the Vols can win two more games.

There was Ensley and Tears putting their bodies on the line to snag balls without a seconds hesitation before smacking into the wall. Cannon Peebles working a long at-bat to draw a walk and help set up Christian Moore and Blake Burke's heroics to beat Florida State and avoid putting the Vols' season on the brink.

There was the commanding starts from pitchers Drew Beam and Zander Sechrist and the relief outings from Kirby Connell and Nate Snead that closed the door on North Carolina and Florida State again to reach the finals for the first time in 73 years.

Tennessee gets at least two more days to make even more memories together.

"We're fighting for one more day together everyday," Ensley said. "The max we have right now is three more days in the same uniform. After that, we're all going to go our separate ways...We're going to really cherish these three days. If we have four, even better."

Vitello has followed suit. Nearing the biggest series of his coaching career, he is taking after his players the same way he did that night before playing Florida State.

"I'm kind of at the point where I'm just following these guys," Vitello said. "There are certain tasks I have to do, and there's direction I give them, and they'll listen. But kind of following them right now. Makes it nice."

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