There’s no turning back. Tennessee is going to do things their way and accept the consequences.
The fur coat, the daddy hat and the celebrations were all still in full effect throughout a 8-6 loss to Notre Dame. Love it or hate it, that’s who these Vols are. It has gotten them this far. Why change things now? One loss isn’t going to result in a change of course that got Tennessee into the Super Regionals as the No. 1 team in the nation.
It would be rather easy to sit back and say that the Vols should button up some of their antics now that they’re just a Super Regional series win away from advancing to the College Baseball World Series. That’s not going to happen and it probably shouldn’t.
It was swagger that got the Vols this far and it was swagger that kept them in the Notre Dame game, which looked like a lost cause in the fifth inning as Tennessee trailed 8-2. Fortunately for Tennessee, the bats came alive and tightened the gap to the eventual final score.
Any other team in the nation would have been considered out of hope midway through the game with a lopsided score staring them in the face. Not these Vols. They like a good comeback story. Tennessee had two comeback wins in the regional round. The Vols trailed Campbell 4-0 through four innings and won 12-7. The Vols also trailed Georgia Tech 4-3 through eight innings and won 9-6.
This Tennessee team’s mindset doesn’t know how to lay off the emotional throttle. They just keep plugging away no matter how dire things look. Against Notre Dame, things looked pretty dire.
The Vols were on the verge of imploding in the bottom of the fifth inning after a called strike drew what looked like the ultimate expletive from outfielder Drew Gilbert. Let’s just say that didn’t fly. Gilbert was thrown out of the game along with pitching coach Frank Anderson, who charged the field like he was a bull in Pamplona.
That should have essentially been the end of the game. Nope. That’s not how these Vols roll. The Vols kept plugging away, scored four consecutive runs and made the Fighting Irish dig into their bullpen a bit early, which should help Tennessee when they reconvene with Notre Dame on Saturday at 2 p.m. Pitching decisions will be key for both teams for the rest of the series as the Vols had to rely on more throwing arms than they would have liked in Game One.
The fifth inning also resulted in Tennessee fans returning to what is becoming an embarrassing tradition: throwing trash on the field. If you believe what you see on a random person’s social media like I did, Tennessee cut off beer sales because of the issue. Let’s hope that was the case. That would be an excellent executive decision.
Tossing objects onto the field was somewhat understandable when Tennessee faced off against Ole Miss in football last year. After all, former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin was leading the Rebels, who had allowed (or instructed) his players to flail on the ground in fake agony just when Tennessee’s offense started rolling. There were plenty of emotions involved. It was embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as it happening twice in a year.
Aside from cutting off beer sales, I have an idea. How about whomever is sitting next to someone that throws a beer is allowed to punch the suds chucker in the face and not be charged with a crime? I’m typically not a fan of violence but this entire trash thing has gotten out of hand. It’s embarrassing and not what the Vols want to be known for. A great home crowd can suddenly look like a bunch of morons because a handful of people didn’t get enough attention from their mommy. Just stop.
Let’s move on.
Pitching will be the most intriguing aspect of Game Two of the series. Tennessee manager Tony Vitello had to dip in the bull pen a bit earlier than he would have preferred when starting pitcher Blade Tidwell struggled out the gate, giving up three dingers and five runs.
The good news is this baseball team isn’t used to losing. That’s evident by their 56-7 record. Here is a more important analytic considering Tennessee is one loss from what would be an incredibly disappointing end to a great season. The Vols have only lost consecutive games once this season.
Some teams might have dinged confidence after being beaten at home by an underdog that was supposed to have trouble scoring runs, especially home runs. That was a gut punch for sure. However, these Vols are almost certainly not worried after losing the first game of a three-game series. These Vols have an amazing amount of confidence.
That’s why they’ll keep doing things their way.
