After a 4-3 win over Ole Miss, Tony Vitello explains that Tennessee continues to scratch and crawl at the plate to pull out wins. (1:45) The University of Tennessee campus was snarled in traffic earlier this week. The parking garages were full. There was a sea of orange-clad fans on the campus. It was about the time most people were finishing up their workday. Manning was not in town for an all-day autograph session, nor was Kenny Chesney or Dolly Parton in town for a free concert. Josh Heupel did not open up a spring football scrimmage. Why all the gusto? Tennessee's baseball team was playing a game at home against Western Carolina, which they won 11-1. The place was sold out, 4,607 strong, making it the largest attendance for a Vols game in school history and the fourth largest for any Tennessee home game. The stands at Tennessee used to be half full for SEC series, and the team used to come in and look up into the stands. The best part is that we are not playing our best baseball. If the Vols want to win their third straight SEC series and stay atop the college baseball world, they will need their best baseball this weekend. The three-game series between the two schools begins Friday night on the ABC network. The last time Tennessee won a series in Nashville was in 2009, when they swept the Commodores. "You want to get to a point where the challenge every year is what it is for Duke basketball," said fifth-year Tennessee coach Tony Vitello. The Vols advanced to the College World Series last year for the first time since 2005, which was their last NCAA tournament appearance prior to the arrival of Vitello. He has made Tennessee baseball a must-see event in Knoxville, and a proposed project budget of $56.8 million has been earmarked for Lindsey Nelson Stadium improvements. Danny White, Tennessee athletic director, notes that the estimate is very much an indicator of what Vitello has meant to the program. Tennessee made him one of the highest-paid baseball coaches in the country with a 1.5 million annual salary after he was heavily pursued by Texas A&M. On the field, Vitello has brought an edge to a Tennessee team that plays with a fiery flair that has endeared itself to the orange-blooded Vols fans but rubbed plenty of rival fans, teams and coaches wrong. We embrace it. Drew Gilbert, the center fielder with the in-your-face energy in the locker room, said that they don't care if you like us or not. In February, Arkansas veteran coach Dave Van Horn sounded off on certain things he didn't think had a place in baseball. The Vols are right up there when it comes to shenanigans, but he never mentioned them by name. The two men had a heated exchange after one of their games last season. I heard some rumors about that. We still talk, but I don't know if that was directed at us or not. A lot of people try to force a team image out there and think a lot of things are choreographed. A lot of what our guys have done has just popped up, or if a guy in the dugout has an idea, the kids roll with it. If you win some games, other people will pay attention. It will become something that people will poke fun at you about if you don't. The Vols are the kings of shenanigans, from teammates swarming to put on the pink and Daddy hat, a holdover from last season, and, new to this season, a full-length coat on every player who hits a home run. According to the players, the official name of the coat is the Cheeah coat. Homer. Put on Daddy hat. Put on HR coat. Repeat. 3-0 Vols as we get ready to start the bottom of the third.#GBO // #OTH // #BeatWCU pic.twitter.com/OgnQnVBm6V
Gilbert thinks the hat is the same one used all of last season and that it may smell a bit foul.
Gilbert thinks it is, but he knows there is a lot of homers in that hat.
The extra-base hit celebration is a Gilbert creation and is a cover-your-face kneel-down to the baseball gods once you get on second or third base.
Gilbert, his face and cheeks covered in eye black and wearing a pair of sunglasses, laughs when asked to explain it all.
He said that it doesn't mean anything. We made it up. It evolved. It is strange, just something that is funny. It is different. That is why we do it.
He knows that such antics make him and his teammates a target.
I enjoy competition. Gilbert said that he likes when people are coming after him.
The Tennessee team loves having fun, but also loves winning. Through 25 games, the Vols are 24-1 and have their best start in school history. They have gone 89 consecutive frames without trailing and have swept their first two SEC series.
The Vols went into Oxford and won 12-1, 10-3) and 4-3 on Sunday, when sixth-year senior Redmond Walsh struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the win.
The question is: Can you sustain the standard that has been created? We have won some games, but if you are going to line up with what Mike Martin did at Florida State, what is going on?
The Commodores have long been the gold standard in the SEC under Tim Corbin, who is in his 20th season as head coach. They have been to four College World Series championship finals in the past eight years.
We know they are a good team, but this team has a different confidence that most teams don't. Every week it leaves something for us to prove. When people try to bring us down, it makes that flame even bigger.
One of the two UT freshman pitchers from the midstate area is a two-sport star from Blackman High School. He has been the starter on Sunday, with Chase Burns starting on Friday. They have allowed just seven earned runs. There were 70 strikeouts against 15 walks.
The 2020 season was canceled because of COVID-19, and Beam only pitched two years of high school because of injuries. He said that he didn't see any real interest from him.
They talked to me a few times, but never recruited me.
Chase Dollander, a Georgia Southern transfer, is the Saturday starter for the Vols. The three weekend starters all played in the 90s. The most talented returning pitcher from a year ago, Blade Tidwell, didn't pitch this season until Wednesday's game against Western Carolina after missing the first part of the season with shoulder soreness. A projected first-round MLB draft pick in 2022, Tidwell says he is healthy and ready to fill in wherever the Vols need him the rest of the way.
Ben Joyce has become an internet sensation. In his first season at Tennessee after battling back from Tommy John surgery in 2020, Joyce uncorked a pitch against South Carolina that was 104.1 mph. The fastest pitch thrown in baseball last year was 103.4 mph.
Tennessee catcher Evan Russell told him to not blink.
The Vols have just been able to climb to the top of the rankings. The Vols lead the country with 66 home runs and have scored 10 or more runs in 15 of their 25 games, including eight or more runs in four of their six SEC contests.
Guys who aren't every day players are hitting home runs. Freshman Christian Moore is second on the team with eight homers in 41 at-bats, while freshman Blake Burke has four homers in 29 at-bats. The leadoff batter has seven home runs. He worked his way into the starting lineup after losing a lot of weight.
Gilbert said that this is the most talent he has had in three years. We can roll out a bunch of different lineups and compete with anyone.
This Tennessee team epitomizes the character of Lipscomb. He waited his turn and is now producing in a big way. Prior to this season, he had only made 11 starts in the previous three seasons.
The type of team and family the coaches have built here is what it is. That goes a long way, not only on the baseball field, but in life.
It is part of the culture that Vitello was determined to create in Knoxville, a culture built on trust and a culture that thrives on inner-team competition.
The guys who are afraid of competition will be weeded out. Some of the guys like that have been good players. These kids are fighters for most of the time. If you stick with what goes on here, you will get what you want.
First baseman Luc Lipcius, first baseman Russell and second baseman Walsh are referred to by Vitello as the "grandpas" of the team.
Lipcius and Walsh are in their sixth season in the program. Russell was the starting left fielder on the College World Series team a year ago. He moved to catcher in the off-season to stay in the lineup and open up another spot for the many talented players that have been brought into the program.
Russell walked on to the team out of high school and has never received athletic scholarship money. He would have it no other way as a coach.
Russell is one of seven players on the team with five or more home runs. He didn't let my status as a walk-on stop me from seeing the field.
Russell showed that he belonged on the field. During his freshman season, he was involved in a collision at first base in a game.
Russell was the only one to come out of the bench in defense of Derkay.
The whole thing has changed since Coach V came here.
Russell joked that there would have been a lot of players suspended.
A group of players who expected to be here all along is a different Tennessee team that is a newcomer to the top of the polls.
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