Tony Vitello Speaks on Home Crowd Advantage

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello spoke on the home crowd advantage they felt against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday evening.

Tennessee's Christian Moore (1) and Tennessee's Cannon Peebles (5) celebrate after Moore hits a home run during a NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Knoxville, Tenn. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello spoke on the home crowd advantage they felt against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday evening.

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello knows he has a special team this season, and their performance in the Knoxville Regionals indicates that. The Vols have beaten their two opponents by a combined twelve runs, igniting their home fans and enabling them to go on long runs that help swing the game early.

That crowd was on full display this weekend and will be again tonight. Vitello took the podium after Tennessee's win against the Indiana Hoosiers to contextualize what those home fans meant to this team and if it was what he imagined when he took the job.

"I think so, but I think we've had it. It's weird around here," Vitello explained. "Good baseball guy here is watching the regional and the stadium has changed every time he's been here and it's like, well it changes every time for us too. So it's always kind of been what you're describing, but it just takes on different feels to it with a second deck of the porch, third deck of the porch and then it felt like I was a football coach for a minute with the offense couldn't hear— the quarterback couldn't hear the play coming in there. This technology we use is whatever, but it was pretty cool to see the crowd interfering with the PitchCom and then getting excited and then certainly kind of putting pressure on the pitcher. Again, Foley's got literally big league stuff and our guys made it tough on him, but I think they got kind of a John Stockton assist there from the crowd."

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