Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello celebrated another College World Series day off Sunday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
He then gave a seven-minute opening statement at the post-game press conference to address his perspective on success. Vitello’s spiel followed Saturday’s 10-8 loss to UTA, which had Tennessee’s season decided in Game 3 of the Knoxville Super Regional.
Vitello revealed that he worried first baseman Blake Burke, who sat with Vitello at the press conference.
Here’s what Vitello had to say after the Vols won 12-1 to get back to Omaha.
“Congratulations to our fans, for sure. I mean, the cheers and certainly the loudest from everyone in here. Congratulations to our players, congratulations to Evansville.”
“So I’ll leave it at that. And then when we talk about their program, Coach (Wes) Carroll has been in a lot of hotels as a recruit and I have. So you guys are wrong. I’m going to add Mike to my opening statement. From where we left off (Saturday), someone asked one of my players a question that bothered me. To cut me off, Cut me out, but I’ve been in a lot of hotels running around this place by myself and watching games and while I’m at it, I think anyone who’s thinking of visiting the place we’re recruiting now and thinking this is the place and put your hand out and see how much money we’re going to give you, don’t waste our time and your time. Don’t waste it.
“But the question was basically about the season and if we lose (Sunday) it’s all for naught, and Blake Burke wasn’t too happy about that. That day, I was a little wild, ‘B, you weren’t with me in the gym or anything like that.’ But he kept his composure, you’ve seen me in practice, I’ll say for a second because he’s been No. 1 for most of the season , but to be honest, when we first took over, I was surprised that Kentucky won our league, and then we weren’t No. 1. They were No. 1 in the division, even though it wasn’t a very competitive league, but somehow we were No. 1 in the writers’ poll, but we didn’t have to work very hard to get there. .
“But still to me the word success is very important in this class. We get these people to write down what success is and we teach them to define what a successful at-bat is or what a successful outing is. Whatever it is, Noah Webster – Webster’s Dictionary says very smart. You can choose what a person and a measure mean, which is great together.
“I get a choice for me. I was around my father a lot. He couldn’t tell me what to do. I don’t think for myself – I work for people here, but when I come, I’m my own boss. For me, success is part of the team. It means that I consider myself a teammate to these people. Making decisions.” I have to and if you put all my decisions in a bucket for the weekend, I had more wrong decisions than right decisions and some success today I’m not so sure if we pinched it yesterday (Shane) Harris is going home because he wants to go home (to Omaha) but you know what, success for me means good. My teammates, the one thing I mentioned after last year, after we beat Clemson, was that I was in the bathroom crying every day 100% success. If you don’t play that well, I don’t really give a shit about where Evansville left off. So we won’t win .so I consider this more of a success this year, but definitely because of that team especially where they are.
“And I think 2022 has grown. We could have won 30 games in 2022. Jared Dickey, who made a great post on social media today, changed his whole body after quitting baseball and was one of the best teams. Among the other great things that happened about him, as an individual, he made the team. Did you not like it?
SIDE ARMER How AJ Causey Became a Cheat Code as Tennessee Baseball’s Ace Relief Pitcher
“And one thing I want to say for sure about Evansville, Mr. Ramsey, T, I believe. I apologize if I got your first name wrong, for the last time in the game. No rubbing, no bending your fingers, okay? You know you shouldn’t play in Omaha. Blast, stitches, hurt your shoulder, more than that. To play in the game today, I saw a lot of stress that the guy had when we watched the video. I was worried, Omaha, that guy is an absolute success, and when he grows up, he can look at all the eyes and say, “When I play,” I know what his batting average is. They say, ‘Hell yeah, there’s that guy.'”
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @by Mike Wilson. If you enjoy Mike’s cover, Consider digital subscription It allows you to access it all.