OMAHA, Neb. — Tennessee baseball is one win away from advancing to the championship series at the 2024 Men’s College World Series. It’s three games away from the program’s first national championship.
The Vols moved to the final of Bracket 1 on their side of the eight-man field with a 6-1 win over North Carolina on Sunday. They’ll be back in action on Wednesday afternoon at 3:06 p.m. ET following two days off. With a win, they would advance to the championship series to play for the national championship.
Tennessee will face Florida State in a rematch. UT scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat FSU, 12-11, in thrilling fashion on Friday night in both team’s first game in Omaha.
Former Tennessee baseball coach Rod Delmonico joined Josh and Swain with Josh Ward and former Vols receiver Jayson Swain on 99.1 The Sports Animal in Knoxville to share his thoughts on the current state of the program.
Delmonico shared his thoughts on the job Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson have done, Christian Moore’s legendary performance, how he has seen Vitello grow as a head coach, his relationship with Vitello and much more. Here’s everything Delmonico had to say.
His thoughts on what he has seen from this Tennessee baseball team to this point this season:
“Well, I’ve been very impressed with their team. They really have a complete team. They’ve got tremendous hitting. They can steal a base if they want to, but they really don’t need to. Great defense, well coached. Tony’s done an amazing job at Tennessee, so proud of him. But it did take another Italian to get that thing fixed, I have to say.
“And then Frank Anderson, I think Frank Anderson is one of the top three pitching coaches in the country. He might be the best pitching coach. If you look at his pitchers, they throw three pitches for a strike. Changeup, as you well know, is the best pitch you got. And all of his pitchers have three pitchers they can throw for a strike. Very competitive.
“It’s a complete team. The other night they played North Carolina and North Carolina, I’ve seen several times on TV, North Carolina is a very, very good team, and Tennessee made them look average. That’s how good Tennessee is.”
If he’s noticed Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson make adjustments to how they’ve coached over the last couple of seasons:
“Well, I think it’s the law of average sometimes. You can have a great team like they had a couple of years ago and it just doesn’t go as far as you think they should go. It’s just so competitive out there. Everybody’s good. And wh
en you get to Omaha, there’s only two teams that get to Omaha. There’s a team that’s happy to be there, and there’s a couple of teams there that were just so happy to get there. And if they do well, they’re happy.
“And then there’s a team that goes to win the national championship. And LSU was really good under Skip Bertman. When they got there, their mission was to win the national championship. And I think that’s where Tennessee is right now. They’re on a mission. It’s to win the national championship. They’re tired of just being happy to get there, not saying that they were in the past, but it’s a growth process. And you’ve got two coaches that have been there. They know how to win. If they’ll listen to their coaches, and they’ll keep playing like they did the other night. The other night, they just beat them. It wasn’t like we’re going to play and get a lead and kind of coast. They just took the fight out of North Carolina. It made North Carolina look far inferior than they really are.”
Omaha. There’s a team that’s happy to be there, and there’s a couple of teams there that were just so happy to get there. And if they do well, they’re happy.
“And then there’s a team that goes to win the national championship. And LSU was really good under Skip Bertman. When they got there, their mission was to win the national championship. And I think that’s where Tennessee is right now. They’re on a mission. It’s to win the national championship. They’re tired of just being happy to get there, not saying that they were in the past, but it’s a growth process. And you’ve got two coaches that have been there. They know how to win. If they’ll listen to their coaches, and they’ll keep playing like they did the other night. The other night, they just beat them. It wasn’t like we’re going to play and get a lead and kind of coast. They just took the fight out of North Carolina. It made North Carolina look far inferior than they really are.”
“I would
say that. They’ve got great leadership with their seniors. Like I said earlier, there’s nothing they can’t do. They can play defense. I mean, heck, the other night, you got guys coming off the bench hitting missiles out of the ballpark. I mean, they have good depth. I think it’s the strongest team that Tony and Frank have had, no doubt. And if they keep playing the way they are, then at the end of this thing, they’ll be very proud of what they accomplished.”
“Well, first of all, it’s a lot of experience. If you go back and look at Frank’s coaching tree, he turned Texas Tech around and made them a contender. He goes to Texas and they win a national championship. And we’re having a difficult time winning one under Augie (Garrido), one of the greatest coaches of all time. Goes to Oklahoma State and does a tremendous job there. And then if you look, he goes to Houston and nobody knew who Houston was. The only thing we knew about Houston was the Houston Rockets. And all of a sudden you got a baseball team that’s got first round picks.
“So it doesn’t surprise me what he’s done at Tennessee. It’s what I said earlier, his guys throw three pitches for strikes and compete in the zone with a fastball, changeup and an off-speed pitch. Composure’s really good. You look at his pitching staff, that’s coaching. He coaches them up, gets the most out of them. So it doesn’t surprise me when he’s had an injury or two, or a player leaves, that he’s able to be able to, you know, keep it right where it is. He’s really, really good.”
What it means to him to see Tennessee in the position that it’s in:
“Well, you have to understand, I put 18 years of my life there, you know. Helped build the new stadium, things that we were able to accomplish, was blessed to have some tremendous players that played for me. But I had three boys grow up in that dugout. You know, my kids grew up on that baseball field, throwing balls against the wall and catching, and so I’m very proud. You don’t put your heart and soul in something like that and build it to a certain level and then happy that it falls apart. I’m proud of Tony, Frank, what they’ve done, the players that they’ve recruited, and the tradition that they’ve continued and built on what we did. Very proud of that. So proud of Tony and the staff.”
How much Vitello leaned on him when he got the job; what their relationship is like:
“Well, we’ve texted a lot. You know, I’ve probably given him some pointers here and there, and he’s reached out to me as well. And we’ve had a great relationship. I don’t know if that’s because he’s Italian and I’m Italian, or we’re just baseball coaches or what, but we like to eat at the same restaurants. I know that. But yeah, we’ve stayed in touch. And you know, I texted him the other night. I thought the loss he had in the (super) regional was good. Told him that. That’s good. It’s gonna help you win in Omaha. Because sometimes you need a loss like that to regroup and understand that you’re not totally invincible, that anybody on any given night can beat you and you’ve got to have your A game. And usually it’s the team that plays the best wins today. It’s not the best team. And so you have to keep that in mind. We have to be our best every day that we go out. And that’s what they’re doing. They’re showing up with their A game and they’ve done that in the World Series twice now. So they just got to keep going.”
“Well, you have to look at Florida State, which I know a little bit about. They just don’t have a bullpen. Link’s (Jarrett) done a tremendous job getting them from where they were last year to this year to the World Series, one of the best coaching jobs in the country.
“But also North Carolina is a team that, I thought that would be a close game. I really did, because I saw them in the regional where they played LSU and pitched really well. Their bullpen is strong. They’ve got (Vance) Honeycutt, one of the probably five or six best position players in the country. But Tennessee dismantled them. And both teams. And so right now, it looks like Tennessee’s got a real good chance to come out of that bracket. And should.
“On the other side, it’s kind of a toss up. We’re not sure who’s the best team over there. (Texas) A&M played well last night. But Kentucky’s been sort of the Cinderella team. Do they still have more left in? So it’s gonna be interesting to see who can come out of that bracket.”
If Tennessee would rather play Florida State or North Carolina on Wednesday:
“Well, I think you would want to go against Florida State only because their bullpen has proven this year, it’s not as good as North Carolina’s bullpen. North Carolina’s got a couple of dogs in that bullpen that really get after it. And they’ve really had some clutch hitting. But when you get to this point, everybody has clutch hitting, clutch pitching down their stretch. The eight teams that get there, you can look at what Florida State’s done with not a great bullpen and went, hey, they figured a way to get there. Same thing with Kentucky. They don’t have a lot of power, but they play the short game really well, and they just find a way to win. And that’s really what you have on all eight teams that get to Omaha. They find a way to win at the end of the year.”
“And then it’s who gets to Omaha, can play loosey-goosey, can stay focused. And then, as you well know, being involved in athletics, you gotta have a break or two. And it just seems like, you know, ball’s gotta hit that pebble on the turf and go left or right sometimes, or, you know, somebody gets jammed and it falls in. Or check swing and the guy gets rung up. You just never know. I mean, just the breaks, just the little things that happen on the field sometimes. Guy drops the fly ball, like a couple of years ago with Arkansas, and then Oregon State wins the national championship. You know, you’re a catch from winning it, you drop it, the other team wins. So gotta have a little bit of luck as well.”
