Tennessee baseball was the away team against Wake Forest in game six of the Knoxville Regional.
Why? Because the Vols had been the away team less than the Demon Deacons so far in the regional. Each had been the home team once prior to Sunday night’s game. Wake Forest had been the away team twice and UT just once.
Therefore, Wake Forest got to be the home team against Tennessee in the Knoxville Regional at Tennessee’s home stadium.
Conveniently for Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons were able to hit in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game. Wake loaded the bases with no outs and Jack Winnay worked a four-pitch walk-off walk to win the game, 7-6.
In the post-game press conference, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello expressed his frustrations regarding the rule and suggested things could’ve ended differently had Tennessee been able to hit in the bottom of the final frame.
“Not used to being the visiting team on your home field,” Vitello said to begin his opening statement. “Usually, if we have a bottom of the ninth, by percentage, we feel good about it. Not a good way to end the game, and there were sloppy parts to it, whether it be the weather or other things that were going on, but otherwise, a pretty good back-and-forth battle there.
“Obviously, they had the last word there in the bottom of the ninth and it went their way.”
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While Vitello didn’t specifically rip the rule, the fact it was the first thing out of his mouth in the press conference was telling.
When you take a step back and think about the rule, it makes little sense. Tennessee did enough in the regular season to earn a Top-16 host spot. Playing in your home stadium is obviously the biggest advantage of that. But the NCAA makes a clear effort to make the regionals as neutral as can be, even though Tennessee is hosting.
Furthermore, the fact that Tennessee hadn’t even been the home team more than Wake heading into Sunday night’s game makes this particular case stand out even more. Now, Wake Forest has been the home team in Tennessee’s own stadium at the Knoxville Regional MORE than the Vols have. It’s hard to make that make sense.
It would be difficult to find any who would disagree with Vitello here, especially Tennessee fans. Fortunately for both of those camps, Tennessee will be the home team in game seven of the Knoxville Regional against Wake Forest on Monday.
The two sides will square off at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with a Super Regionals berth on the line.
3 Responses
No, what cost you the game was your pitching decision on who you put in. Your pitching game was disastrous. Nobody’s fault but yourself.
LOL.
UT HAS EVERY ADVANTAGE ON THE PLANET & GONNA STILL CRY ABOUT SOMETHING? HOW MUCH HE MAKING PER YEAR AGAIN?
SORRY, NOT SORRY
I agree