Tony Vitello met with the media in the bowels of Boshamer Stadium. With North Carolina’s celebration raging across the hall, Vitello talked about Tennessee’s desire to get back to a regional and create a reason to celebrate the way the Tar Heels were.
Before three trips to Omaha, the 2024 national championship and a nation-best five straight super regional appearances— Vitello’s Vol baseball program got their first taste of the NCAA Tournament in Chapel Hill.
Josh Elander takes his first Tennessee team to the Chapel Hill Regional this weekend, looking for the short term success the 2019 lacked while hoping it can springboard the program to another storied stretch in Tennessee baseball history.
“I think it was a proof of concept of, hey, we’re good enough to compete with these teams,” former Tennessee reliever Redmond Walsh told RTI.
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The End Of The Streak And Early Adversity
To call Tennessee’s 2019 team green would be an understatement. Vitello’s second team in Knoxville included a mix of program veterans and talented young players. Grayson College transfer shortstop Ricky Martinez was the only player with any postseason experience.
The 2019 Vols made it to the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2016 and promptly lost on Tuesday night against Auburn. Tennessee’s trip to the NCAA Tournament ended a 14-year drought.
“We were thrilled to still be playing,” left-handed reliever Will Heflin told RTI. “And then I just didn’t really know what to expect.”
Whether it was strictly slotted practice times, formal postgame press conferences or the “pageantry” and “showmanship” of a regional atmosphere, it was all unfamiliar to Tennessee’s new regime.
“We felt like we were playing with house money,” Martinez told RTI. “It was very exciting. We were happy to do it for V(itello) at the time, honestly, because— really the whole staff just because of the work that they had put in behind the scenes.”
Tennessee entered the tournament feeling like an upstart underdog with nothing to lose and quickly gave themselves another reason to feel that way.
After extended evening thunderstorms, Tennessee ace Garrett Stallings threw the first pitch to Liberty’s Gray Betts at 10:01 p.m. ET. Betts singled to left field before two-hole hitter Jonathan Embry launched a two-run homer to right field. The Flames led 2-0 in a matter of minutes and coasted to a 6-1 victory sending Tennessee to the loser’s bracket.
Garrett Crochet Exemplifies W.I.N.
Former Tennessee director of sports performance Quentin Eberhardt had a saying:
“It was just W.I.N., whatever is necessary,” Walsh said.
Before he was a two-time All-Star and one of the best pitchers in the world, Garrett Crochet perfectly exemplified a mindset that became prominent in Tennessee’s program.
On the final weekend of the regular season, a Ryan Olenek line drive hit Crochet in the face and broke his jaw. Crochet returned to the mound exactly two weeks later in Chapel Hill against UNC Wilmington.
“The guy’s drinking smoothies through a straw,” Heflin said. “He lost some weight, and we knew we needed him. … It would have been easy for him to be like, ‘dude, my jaw is wired shut. I’m not pitching.’”
“He came in and he was a dog,” Martinez said. “I knew it was such a big deal for us to have him because he was such a force on the mound. And in the clubhouse too, just like in the locker room, his presence meant a lot.”
Crochet pitched twice in two days and turned in strong outings both times. He threw 41 pitches in 2.1 scoreless innings against Wilmington before throwing 61 pitches and allowing one earned run in 3.2 innings against Liberty.
“It was just a lift for the team,” Heflin said. “I think it showed how tough he is, but he’s so good. He was so good, and we knew kind of who he was. It was a spark for us just to get him on the mound and see him out there and the fact that he went as much as he did and threw that many pitches, certainly helped logistically.”
Redmond Walsh’s Houdini Act Sends Tennessee To Final
Redmond Walsh ended his college career tied with Todd Helton for a program-best 23 saves. But perhaps his most memorable outing was a blown save and eventual win.
“It (was) kind of my worst performance of the year that turned into my best performance of the year,” Walsh said with a laugh.
Tennessee entered the ninth inning of its rematch against Liberty with a 5-4 lead before trouble quickly arose. A single to centerfield and bunt single put two on with no-one out. Interference led to the runners advancing before a walk loaded the bases.
“I remember (pitching coach) Frank (Anderson) came out and just laid into the umpire about the (interference) call,” Martinez said. “And the team at the time, you’re on the mound visit, everybody’s kind of like, ‘hey, what’s the game plan? What are we going to do?’ And Frank didn’t talk anything about it. He just totally laid into the umpire for like a minute and a half and just blew him up. And so he was like, ‘all right, let’s get out of it,’ and just left the mound. And everybody was like, all right, this is what we’re doing.”
Walsh hit a batter to bring home the game-tying run as the bases remained loaded with no-one out. What followed was the Houdini act of all Houdini acts.
Will Wagner laced a line drive right at first baseman Pete Derkay for the first out. Then Cam Locklear hit a comebacker at Walsh who turned a 1-2-3 double play with Connon Pavolony and Derkay to end the inning.
“I thought he was going to smoke the throw home,” Heflin said. “Look, Redmond’s all-time saves leader, unbelievable human being and a phenomenal pitcher. Not good at PFPs (pitcher fielding practice), low key. okay? Because his arm action is a little funky, and when he doesn’t have time to do his toe tap and wind up, it makes you a little nervous.”
“The thing I remember the most is coming in, and Zach Daniels, chest bumping and pretty much shouldering me in the head and giving me a concussion, just the excitement and stuff,” Walsh said. “But that was kind of like the momentum swing we needed.”
Tennessee made the escape count. Capitalizing on a throwing error, freshman Jake Rucker reclaimed the lead with a RBI single in the top of the 10th inning. Walsh slammed the door in the bottom half as the Vols’ advanced to the regional final.
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How The 2019 Regional Set Tennessee Up For Future Success
The Vols pitching staff was largely depleted by the time they faced North Carolina on Sunday night. Starting pitcher Zach Linginfelter was unable to make it out of the first inning with North Carolina jumping out to a 4-0 lead.
Strong relief performances from Heflin, Richard Jackson and Andrew Schultz kept the game competitive but Tennessee never recovered with its season ending in a 5-2 loss.
“There’s no moral victories,” Heflin said. “But I do think it was really important for the program to win a few and at least make it to the final and have a real taste of what the actual regional is like, especially coming out of the loser’s bracket. And I think that really helped in ‘21 when we hosted to at least have that familiarity with how it was going to play out.”
Many of Tennessee’s high points in Chapel Hill came from players who were still on the team during the Vols’ run to Omaha in 2021 and SEC Championship in 2022.
Heflin had a breakout weekend before emerging as a starting pitcher in 2021. Camden Sewell and Sean Hunley started in the wins over Wilmington and Liberty before becoming top relievers in the coming years. Walsh posted a 2.19 ERA in 90.1 innings pitched over the next three seasons.
Rucker drove in the go-ahead run in the Liberty game. Pavolony hit a grand slam to open up the Wilmington game. Derkay, Evan Russell, Max Ferguson and Christian Scott all got their first taste of the NCAA Tournament before making major postseason contributions in the coming years.
“That was their first experience in college,” Martinez said. “Their, kind of, foundation going into college baseball was, hey, we win 40 games, we go to the postseason, we go to Hoover. I mean, there was a whole new dynamic of mindset and they wanted to elevate from there, but that was their foundation. That was their base of understanding of what college baseball was like.”
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The Similarities And Differences Between 2019 and 2026
The irony is explicit. Seven years after Vitello’s second team traveled to the Chapel Hill Regional, Elander is taking his first team to North Carolina. It’s not where the similarities stop.
“I’ve been comparing this year’s team to the ‘23 team, but they’re actually a lot closer to the 2019 team with just how young they are,” Walsh said.
“The first thing that comes to mind is just the youngness or the inexperience, if you will,” Martinez said. “Even guys that are a little bit older, but haven’t had experience in the SEC because it’s just a different animal at the end of the day. I think those are two similarities, the bumps and bruises kind of gained along the way.”
Tennessee’s youth showed itself over the first half of the season before the Vols finished the year strong, winning three of their final four SEC series to secure a seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
There are plenty of differences too. This year’s Tennessee team has more offensive talent and fewer reliable bullpen pieces.
Most notably, the expectations are now different. The 2019 team had nothing to lose as scrappy upstarts. Even with a first year head coach, Tennessee has a target on its back from its postseason success over the last half decade.
Martinez, who is now Tennessee’s Director of Player Development, knows that better than most.
“I think that’s a little bit of a different mindset with this group,” Martinez said. “In the words of Conner McGregor, ‘we’re not here to take part, we’re here to take over.’ … I think that’s the mindset in this locker room is, hey, we’re expecting to go into games and win.”
