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Tony Vitello previews FSU rematch, talks pitching plan after 2 days off
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Tennessee is once again gearing up to play Florida State.
The Seminoles have won a pair of elimination games to force a rematch with the Volunteers. UT and FSU helped open the College World Series with a thrilling 12-11 game that went to Vitello’s squad on a walk-off.
During a Tuesday media opportunity, Vitello was asked if it helps team being already familiar with the Noles.
“I think it gives you a little bit of an understanding of what you’re looking at, but each day is different. In particular here,” Vitello told reporters. “Everybody that you’re gonna face is gonna bring a different starting pitcher to the table that day, different relievers available, and then a different mindset too. Again, every day has got its own flavor to it.”
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The Vols are getting back to it after last playing on Sunday. As the 2-0 team, UT got a breather while elimination shook out.
FSU will be playing its third game in four days. The Noles beat Virginia in the Sunday 0-1 elimination game. They followed that up with a 9-5 win over North Carolina Tuesday in the 1-1 elimination game.
Vitello thinks his squad benefited from having a rest day before getting back into the tournament routine.
“Monday’s the big one. Monday’s the big one,” the Tennessee coach said. “Here you kind of get into a routine where you, you have a day off typically in between, so you just kind of roll with it.
“But there’s been a lot of emotion lately. So the mental fatigue and physical fatigue certainly isn’t anything these guys can’t play with, especially in that stadium. But it helps kind of get you back to neutral and, you know, heal up any, you know, owies you got like you’re talking about. But yesterday was a big one. Today was kind of back into our routine and a little bit back to to normal business.”
Having two days off gives the Vols a substantial pitching advantage.
UT used 6 pitchers in the opening-round contest against FSU: Chris Stamos (0.1 IP, 8 pitches), AJ Causey (1.2 IP, 45 pitches), Kirby Connell (1 IP, 17 pitches), Aaron Combs (3.1 IP, 60 pitches), Andrew Behnke (0.1 IP, 7 pitches) and Nate Snead (2.1 IP, 39 pitches).
In the winner’s bracket game against UNC, Tennessee only needed 3 arms. Drew Beam logged 73 pitches over 5 innings, while Connell gave another 22 pitches on 2 IP and Snead logged 27 pitches on 2 IP.
Now all pitchers, including Connell and Snead, have had two full days of rest. Vitello was asked about getting Zander Sechrist involved after a week off. The skipper also referenced Chris Stamos when talking about the pitching plan.
“I think more importantly, last year (Sechrist) didn’t get an opportunity to throw here. So for my peace of mind, I’m anxious to see him out there on the mound and he will start for us. And then, you know how he does, it’s like same thing, every day’s different.
“So when we get out there in the first inning, regardless of who it is, if it’s (Stamos) or somebody else, we’re looking to hunt down three outs as quickly as possible and then we’ll move on to that next inning, whatever it might be.”
Tennessee and Florida State will play the middle game of a tripleheader. Weather in Omaha caused the Florida-Kentucky game to be moved from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning (11 a.m. ET). The CWS aims to have UT-FSU underway at 3 p.m. ET.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
