The early moments that proved Tennessee Baseball was capable of greatness

An Ole Miss player knocked over a Tennessee fielder in game three of a weekend series between the Vols and Rebels during the 2018 season. In the dugout, freshman Evan Russell was the only Tennessee players who responded with fire.

Tennessee dropped the series finale 5-0, but Tony Vitello and the Vols found something in the way freshman Russell responded. Vitello and his staff inherited a squad with a defeated mentality. But players like Russell, incoming freshmen and results on the field changed Tennessee’s baseball culture over the course of Vitello’s first two seasons.

These are the moments that helped propel Tennessee to its first-ever national championship.

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Texas A&M Series 2018

Seven years before Tennessee defeated Texas A&M in the finals of the College World Series, Vitello and the Vols won a key SEC series against the Aggies.

Tennessee won two of three games against No. 14 Texas A&M in Knoxville. It was the second of three SEC series victories for the Vols in Vitello’s first season as head coach and was the first ranked series victory of the newest era of Tennessee baseball.

SEC coaches picked Tennessee to finish last in the conference in 2018, but the Vols went from 8-22 a year earlier to 12-18 in Vitello’s first season. Tennessee was still a long way from where they needed to be, but it was a step forward in year one.

The team meeting after the end of the 2018 season

During a team meeting after the 2018 season, Vitello fully understood the defeatist mentality of the program he inherited.

One player said he never believed Tennessee baseball would even make it to a regional. The lack of belief from certain players after a year in which the Vols were likely two SEC wins away from making the NCAA tournament was shocking.

Vitello drew a line in the sand and made it clear to the players what the program was going to be and that they weren’t going to take a backseat to anyone in the SEC. It didn’t revolutionize the mentality of the program overnight, but it did lead to change.

A Garrett Stallings gem gives Tennessee a winning program

Tennessee was excellent in pre-conference play in 2019. But once SEC play started, it looked like the same old Vols. Tennessee started 4-8 in its first 12 conference games and it looked like it would have an uphill battle to make the SEC Tournament.

That’s where things stood when No. 2 Georgia came to Lindsey Nelson Stadium midway through conference play. Tennessee scored two runs against Georgia’s Emerson Hancock to win Thursday night’s series opener, 2-0.

Then Tennessee’s ace Garrett Stallings pitched a complete game shutout to secure the series victory in game two. It gave the Vols a crucial series win for their postseason hopes and was the first top 10 series victory of Vitello’s tenure.

While many players on the 2018 team and some on the 2019 team lacked confidence, veterans like Stallings, Garrett Crochet, Andre and Luc Lipcius, and Evan Russell believed in themselves and the program and were instrumental in Vitello’s early days.

Max Ferguson Injured at Kentucky

It was a week later when Tennessee went to Lexington and swept Kentucky to improve to 9-9 in SEC play. The biggest moment came in game three when Max Ferguson broke his hand on a hit-by pitch. Ferguson didn’t want to leave the game, telling his coaches in the dugout that maximum effort was the program’s bare minimum standard.

That mentality was evident in a freshman class that featured Ferguson, Jake Rucker, Camden Sewell, Trey Lipscomb and Connor Pavolony. From day one on campus, these players had the competitiveness and mentality to make Tennessee a respected program again.

Ferguson’s reaction to his injury showed what that group was about. Director of Baseball Performance Quentin Eberhardt still uses the quote often.

Ricky Martinez Big Swing

Tennessee was 10-14 in SEC competition entering the final two weeks of the 2019 season. With an away game to Florida and a home series against Ole Miss, Tennessee had to go 4-2 to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

The Vols split the first two games in Florida and desperately needed a game three win. They trailed 4-1 in the seventh inning when Ricky Martinez hit a three-run homer into the left field bleachers.

Martinez was a solid defensive shortstop and a strong contact hitter, finishing the season with a .279 batting average. He was not a power hitter. The game-tying home run in Florida was his only long ball of the season. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as Tennessee won 5-4, with Sean Hunley pitching three scoreless innings to close the game.

Stables. Again.

Stallings did it again a week later, throwing a complete shutout in the first game of the series against No. 15 Ole Miss.

Tennessee won the next day to improve to 14–15 in SEC play and earn the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 14 years.

A taste of the post-season

What would have been a ninth-inning tying home run by Christian Scott fell into the glove of Auburn right fielder Steven Williams on the warning track.

Tennessee’s stay in the SEC Tournament ended after one game and Scott’s outing said a lot about where the program was. The Vols were close, but had a lot more work to do.

The same was proven a week later when Tennessee finished in second place at the Chapel Hill Regional. When the Vols returned to Knoxville, many of the veteran players who lacked confidence a year earlier couldn’t believe what they had missed.

Tennessee knew it could win and that sooner or later it would win.

July 17, 2019

Drew Gilbert committed to the Vols just weeks before he was set to enroll in classes at Tennessee. Gilbert originally committed to Oregon State, but withdrew his commitment following a head coaching change.

Vitello has often spoken about how Gilbert changed his life by the way he impacted Tennessee’s baseball program. By pairing Gilbert with a handful of key veterans and the rising sophomore class, they gave the Vols exactly what they needed to reach the next level.

Who knows what would have happened in the lost 2020 season, but Tennessee was incredibly talented. A year later, the Vols reached the College World Series for the first time in 16 years. It was the start of the best four-year run in program history, culminating in the program’s first national championship.