Nichols: Vitello’s Vols combine old-school success with newfound swagger for statement SEC sweep

“Guess who just got back today?

Them wild-eyed boys that'd been away

Haven't changed, had much to say

But man, I still think them cats are crazy”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 50 years, you know those words form the first four lines of Thin Lizzy’s 1976 hit single, “The Boys Are Back in Town.”

According to an article in Rock Music Revival, the lyrics stemmed from a unique story involving Phil Lynott, the band’s lead vocalist and bassist.

During his childhood in Manchester, England, Lynott practically grew up in a bar his mother owned. There, he often encountered members of the Quality Street gang, which was essentially part British Mafia, part social club.

He observed how group members talked, fought, acted, and associated with those in and outside their circle. That exposure eventually led him to write the lyrics seen above.

In turn, those lyrics became part of a song that’s now synonymous with the idea of friends reuniting to take on the world together.

That notion certainly fits Tony Vitello’s ninth-ranked Tennessee team. The Vols took the college baseball world by storm this weekend, pulling out a statement-making sweep over a long-standing SEC power, No. 16 LSU.

“I feel like we’re in the talks to be one of the top programs in the nation,” said Evan Russell, who murdered three baseballs in Game Two to tie a single-game home run record. “We knew right out of the gate that we were better than that team talent-wise. I feel like the hard work is paying off and people are starting to see us get rewarded for it.”

That reward featured a 3-1 on Friday, but Games Two and Three were a bit more dramatic.

Walk-offs galore

Tennessee trailed 8-7 late Saturday, as it looked like Russell’s record-tying dingers would be in vain.

Fortunately for the Vols, weather intervened. Play resumed at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday after lightning forced a suspension of Game Two on Saturday night.

Tennessee took advantage. After seven total home runs and two extra innings in a two-day Game Two, UT clinched the series with a Drew Gilbert walk-off homer that bounced off the wall for a 9-8 win.

The game might go down as one of college baseball’s wildest this season, and Vitello group emerged victorious.

“Proud but also relieved,” Vitello said of the win. “And really happy for Evan Russell. To see him get rewarded is awesome.

“I don’t mind saying it, but it would’ve been disappointing to lose a game with a performance like that for a Tennessee Vol. Really glad we were able to salvage that.”

Because the end of Game Two was pushed back to Sunday, Game Three was only set for seven innings, per an SEC mandate.

Still, the dramatic flair continued, as a 2-2 stalemate forced another round of extra innings. And, at the end of Game Three, Luc Lipcius picked up right where Gilbert left off in Game Two.

With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Lipcius ripped a walk-off single to score Liam Spence for a 3-2 victory.

The Vols chased the redshirt junior into the outfield, mobbing together in a mass of cream-colored jerseys and orange hats near the tri-star logo carved into the grass.

TWO WALK-OFFS IN ONE DAY‼️ ‼️ @Vol_Baseball sweeps LSU for the second time in program history! 🧹 pic.twitter.com/mefHSffdp1
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 28, 2021

Making up for lost time

UT’s Bayou Bengal bludgeoning put the Vols at 21-4 on the season, 5-1 in conference play to tie Vanderbilt and Kentucky for first in the SEC East. It’s Tennessee’s best conference start since 2001, and the Vols are 5-0 in extra innings this season.

In reference to the Tigers, Friday’s win marked Tennessee’s first win against LSU since 2014. Sunday’s series win clinched the Vols’ first series win over the Tigers since 2009, and the third game gave UT its first sweep over LSU since 2008.

Finally, this weekend marked the first SEC baseball series in almost two years at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The last conference stint at Lindsey Nelson was in May of 2019 against Ole Miss. 2020 SEC play was, of course, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so Vitello and his team were happy to get back into the in-league slate at home after beating Georgia in Athens last weekend.

“It’s nice to win the games, but the vibes kind of started a little bit in Georgia and a lot here in Knoxville,” said Vitello. “It’s kind of a ‘pinch yourself’ deal where it’s like, ‘Here we are. We get to do this.’ I’ve said to the team many times, I just want to play as many games as possible this year.

“It was a struggle mentally for everybody not to get to do what you work for, and what you enjoy doing. So every time we get to go out there, even if it’s a rough day or a long day or a rainy day, everybody’s going to appreciate it to the fullest. I know I do, and with the way these guys play, I think they do, as well.”

Knocking down walls

But for Vitello’s Vols, this weekend wasn’t just about the return to conference action in Knoxville. It was about showing they belong on the same field as those conference foes, even in a league as consistently stacked as the SEC.

“It’s a team belief thing,” said Vitello. “We feel good about any situation we’re left in.”

Continued Gilbert: “I think we’ve come to understand that we can win a battle just in the dugout, just from a psychological standpoint.”

It’s hard to overstate how vital that mental edge can be. That shift is one of the biggest improvements made in Tony Vitello’s four years on Rocky Top, and it was reaffirmed with comments from Russell and pitcher Sean Hunley, two veterans who have witnessed the transformation firsthand.

“Three years ago I was on the plane coming back from Baton Rouge, kind of feeling sick to my stomach,” said Russell. “So I know the position that LSU’s in.

“(In 2018) that was us getting walked off. Now that we’re on the other side of the table, it feels kind of nice.”

Added Hunley: “Freshman year, we went to LSU and lost on a walk-off. The biggest difference is, then we showed up like, ‘Wow, we’re here.’ Now we show up expecting to win and have all the confidence in the world.”

The change in scenery was good for the Vols on the field, but also for the environment across campus.

This weekend made Tennessee — which boasts College World Series appearances in 1951, 1995, 2001 and 2005 — feel like one of college baseball’s “places to be” for the first time in a long time.

“I think it says something about Knoxville as a baseball community,” Vitello said of these past three days. “Call it a sleeping giant. There’s talk about a Double-A stadium... there’s a lot of good baseball here. So it’s there. They just needed to be riled up a little bit.”

Granted, the “Scruffy City” is already on edge with the Vols on a hot streak.

If the city were to follow through with Vitello’s reference by bringing the Smokies back to downtown Knoxville (think of an environment like The Battery in Atlanta), the excitement would be electric.

Still, that kind of facility shift will have to start with Tennessee, specifically Lindsey Nelson Stadium, if Knoxville is to be as “riled up” as Vitello mentioned Sunday.

But the Vols have already started breaking barriers.

“They’ve kind of knocked down some walls, figuratively and literally,” Vitello said. “They’ve gotten certain people to say, ‘I’ve got your guys’ back.’”

Assuming that list of ‘certain people’ starts with the name Danny White, Tennessee is already on a faster track to success than it has been in the last 10 years, at least in the SEC baseball arms race.

It’s shameful to think that an outdated cement box like Lindsey Nelson — however historic it may be — exists on the same campus as the shiny, brick-covered Neyland Stadium, or football and basketball facilities with lockers the size of space modules.

And that’s without even comparing the Vols’ baseball field to other similar structures across the SEC. Mississippi State’s Dudy Noble Field, Ole Miss’ Swayze Field and even LSU’s own Alex Box Stadium beat Tennessee’s facilities by a mile, even with locker room updates underneath the Vols’ home stands.

The Bulldogs unveiled the “New Dude” in 2019 after a three-phase, four-year expansion. Ole Miss completed a $19-million-dollar project on Swayze in 2018. And LSU added significant upgrades to “The Box” between the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Nelson has been renovated three times — in 1995, 2010 and 2018 —after being built in 1993. The most recent change featured a mere turf replacement, although that turf has admittedly worked wonders on rain-soaked weekends.

Still, to the victor go the spoils? Not where Vitello’s Vols have been concerned.

But it seems White is trying to remedy that, and not just with what Vitello hinted at on Sunday.

After the series-opening win against LSU on Friday, Vitello said White discussed how exciting it would be to see a full stadium post-pandemic.

Vitello also reiterated some of his and White’s “dreamy” aspirations for what the Vols’ home turf could look like in the future, and the Vols’ AD will have to come through in facilities and financials.

With the way he’s brought the Vols back to prominence, Tennessee’s fourth-year skipper deserves whatever facility upgrades and financial contributions are needed to keep him in Knoxville for the long haul.

But, until those renovations and retainers arrive, we can take a page out of Vitello’s postgame message from Saturday.

After Game Two was suspended for lightning, the Vols’ coach gathered his team in the locker room. There, they had “a great conversation about future, past and present,” and Vitello reiterated how his team “showed up for the present moment” on Sunday.

The same should be said of UT baseball fans: show up for the present moments, and cherish the transition into warmer weather, even in a 90s-era hotbox like Lindsey Nelson.

Because, not unlike flowers through a sidewalk, this Tennessee baseball team is beginning to bloom. Sweeps — and statements — like this weekend are rare, and Vitello was emphatic about what these wins could do going forward.

“Momentum is a real thing in sports,” he said. “Wins like (Sunday) can give our guys momentum literally throughout the entire year. (LSU) is a top program, there’s top talent, and there’s a shortstop who’s making plays that Big Leaguers may not make in certain situations.

“It does mean a little bit more, and it does give you confidence.”

We’ll see if UT can carry that success into Tuesday’s tilt against Western Carolina before it travels to face an Alabama team that got swept by Ole Miss this weekend.

But the real test will be if Vitello’s Vols can bottle up that momentum and ride it through April, May and June.

If that answer is yes, and this team keeps its same level of swagger, then one could again look to the words of Phil Lynott — not just about baseball in Knoxville, but about certain tournaments in Hoover, Alabama, and Omaha, Nebraska, too:

“The boys are back in town again”

I mean, wouldn’t it be fun to watch Drew Gilbert do a bat flip at TD Ameritrade Park?

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