Tennessee opened the 2018 season and the Tony Vitello era Friday night at Lindsay Nelson Stadium.
The Vols dropped its season opener to Maryland, 4-0, on a rainy afternoon that delayed the game until 7 p.m. Maryland’s Nick Dunn hit a pair of solo home runs as the Terrapins out-hit Tennessee 11-6 in the opening game.
Vitello was not happy with his team’s performance in his first game as UT’s head coach.
“I learned that you’re not going to get anything done when you’re timid,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s at the plate, on the field, or on the mound. In this case it’s more about at the plate. We had guys who were flat out nervous.”
Game two of the series was postponed on Saturday and rescheduled for a Sunday doubleheader.
In the first game of the doubleheader, UT starting pitcher Garrett Stallings performed well allowing one run on three hits, but left the game in the sixth inning after being hit in the hand by a line drive.
The Vols could not hold onto a 4-2 lead heading into the eighth inning and ultimately losing 10-4.
But the bats came alive in the final game of the opening series as Vitello recorded his first victory as UT’s head coach, winning 13-6. Andre Lipcius drove in a career-best six RBIs and hitting a grand slam. Tennessee scored 10 of its 13 runs in the first two innings of the game, setting the tone of the series finale.
Vitello said that he does not think his team can put up 13 runs every game, but he expects his team to play better than the first two games.
“I don’t know that we can put up 13 runs every game,” Vitello said. “As a matter of fact, I know we can’t put up 13 every game, but we can certainly perform better than we did the first two games.
“Hats off to Maryland’s pitchers. That’s a regional team we played. A regional team usually has two starters that you can really trust, and those first two guys were tough but they’re no different than what we’re going to see in the SEC. We need to do a better job against those guys, but I’ll take the effort we had in game three.”
Tennessee’s next game is a midweek home game against in-state foe Lipscomb with first pitch slated for 3:30 p.m.
