Vol Baseball Provides Spark and Hope to Deserving Fan Base
Dom Palumbo, UTSports.com
The story has been retold so many times, it often feels as if the news has become an iPod shuffle.
We know the stories, we just don’t know when we’re going to hear the narrative.
That was the case for Tennessee baseball for the last 12 months.
COVID-19 took their chance away.
What was shaping up to be a fantastic 2020 campaign vanished into thin air because of a global pandemic that effectively shut down society.
Entering this new and uncertain season, the Vols’ roster talent was still very much intact, but would the team’s results end up representative of that talent?
Overall, the regular season answered that question emphatically in the affirmative.
The Orange & White won the SEC East for the first time since 1997, logged victories in eight of their 10 SEC series and fought their way to 20 SEC victories—the program’s most since 1995.
The season was highlighted by dramatic and emotional home victories over Vanderbilt and Arkansas as well as a run to the SEC Tournament Championship Game that ended a 13-year losing skid in Hoover.
Yet, there was still a hurdle to overcome.
The last time the Vols hosted and advanced past an NCAA Regional was in 2005. That team that made a memorable run to Omaha and the College World Series.
This year’s version of the diamond Vols shares several similarities with that 2005 squad, including an attitude and a moxie that’s difficult to describe until you’ve experienced it in person.
For a fanbase that has, of late, experienced numerous difficult losses and gut punches from SEC rivals across the board, this Tennessee baseball team was—and remains—refreshing.
Whether it’s the “Daddy” hat that appears after every bomb over the fence, the charismatic and energetic gesticulations of Drew Gilbert on the basepaths, or the intense and fiery presence of the team’s fearless leader, Tony Vitello, posted up at the entrance of the dugout for every pitch.
These Vols play with a confidence that assures fans that, no matter the situation, they’re ok and they’ll find a way.
Last weekend’s Knoxville Regional seemed to have all of that and more.
The initial draw was tough. The nation’s top offense in Wright State. ACC Champion, Duke. And mid-major Liberty, whose athletic department is steadily removing the “mid” from its competitive reputation.
It was tough to not hear the outside noise.
“This is the tournament’s toughest region.”
“The Vols have been dealt three two-seeds.”
“What happens if the Vols don’t prevail?”
Doubts lingered among many prognosticators before a single pitch was ever thrown.
Thoughts of, “Of course Tennessee draws this set of opponents.”
#3 NATIONAL SEED
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) May 31, 2021
?? @Vol_Baseball ??#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/Qb6aZneTdw
On Friday, in front of a sold-out Lindsey Nelson Stadium, some of those questions and doubts began to morph into tangible realities.
After Tennessee jumped out to a 5-2 lead, Wright State slowly chipped away at the deficit it faced, eventually taking an 8-5 advantage into the night’s final frame.
The stadium was tense. The atmosphere seemed as if it didn’t know how to feel.
At the dish?
The Vols did what they’ve done all year.
They plugged away, found their pitches and got themselves on base.
Eventually, Tennessee loaded the bases for Gilbert.
A moment bursting at the seams with heroic potential materialized.
The wily center fielder dug in, recognized the situation he found himself facing and knew exactly what he was going to do with the moment.
First pitch: fastball at the belt.
The sophomore took a swing so aggressively, every soul in the stadium understood he had just one thing on his mind.
Second pitch: hanging curveball that hovered right in the danger zone.
Gilbert somehow swung even harder at this one. But this time, the connection was made.
In cinematic fashion, the unmistakable ping of bat on ball, the immediate hush as a stadium watched a ball launched toward the moon, the pause of admiration by Gilbert as he signed the masterpiece he had just completed, the game had ended and the Vols had won.
Pandemonium ensued (as it does from time to time here on Rocky Top).
Every run to a title is defined by a momentum-shifting victory; the opponent matters little in the end.
Vitello said the Vols, “stared death in the face,” on Friday, but escaped.
DREW GILBERT!!!!
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 5, 2021
GOODNIGHT!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/eyjGUvevU0
On Saturday, UT mashed five homers to defeat Liberty, 9-3, placing itself in the driver’s seat in the nation’s toughest region.
Entering Sunday, there was an oozing optimism around Tennessee’s campus.
Early in the day, Liberty pushed through a rain delay to dominate Duke and set up a rematch of the quadrant’s two best teams.
Best fans in the biz ??
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) June 6, 2021
Who's ready to rock this afternoon? pic.twitter.com/c7KGq8unaR
This was a game that had postseason written all over it.
The sides battled through a few early scoreless innings before the duo of Max Ferguson and Jake Rucker manufactured the night’s opening run in the third.
In the fifth, Gilbert stamped his name in the scorebook with a two-run blast that gave UT a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Liberty rallied to get a run back in the sixth, but a stellar start from married man Will Heflin, coupled with 3.2 innings of near-flawless relief work from Sean Hunley, pushed the Vols through to the Super Regional round for the first time in 16 years.
When senior Evan Russell cradled the final out in the webbing of his glove Sunday, that was the moment it felt real.
The stadium erupted.
The feeling was not one of relief, but one of exuberance.
What felt lost just over a year ago, was finally here and, boy, was it well worth the wait.
“Tony V”—as Tennessee fans have happily nicknamed him—paraded his way through the crowd, giving fist bumps and high fives, but mainly saying thanks.
Thanks to a collection of fans who believed all year.
Thanks to a collection of fans who showed up during a season so strangely impacted by COVID.
Thanks to a collection of fans who made Lindsey Nelson Stadium a fortress in the Vols’ three most important games of the season (thus far).
While there are still obstacles to navigate as the nation pushes through to the other side of the pandemic, last weekend made all of us feel like we had a small bit of normal back.
Sports are back.
The Vols are back.
And for the first time in program history, Tennessee baseball will suit up at home for a Super Regional.
While there is still work to do—and plenty of it over the next week to make it back to Omaha—the playlist of somber storylines that once illustrated what could have been, has been replaced by a greatest-hits album of power ballads blaring aloud all around us.
