Past failures have prepared this Tennessee squad for Omaha challenge – the baseball, fans and everything else.

OMAHA — It’s the grandaddy of them all! Well, not quite, but the College World Series has been going on since 1947 and it’s been played in Omaha, Nebraska for all but two of them. It’s a spectacle and considered one of the greatest college sporting events of the year – every year – regardless of individual sport or level of play. It’s a week you’ll never forget as a player or even a fan. It’s simply one of those bucket list items for all involved.

“Everything about it is so fun from start to finish that it’s hard not to get lost in it,” former Tennessee first baseman Luc Lipcius said on The Porch this week. “You just feel so much like a celebrity. It’s like, are we even playing baseball?”

And that’s a topic of conversation for every team each year. It’s balancing all that is Omaha – the fans, the media, the events, the Jell-O shots. Embracing it all, enjoying it all, but also remembering that you’re there for a reason.

Tennessee’s 2021 team will go down in history. Fans will always remember that team for many reasons. But truth be told, the Vols were the new kids on the block that year and it was a difficult process to handle with all that came with advancing to the College World Series for the first time in 16 years.    

“Let’s face it, nobody likes to say it, but we were just happy to be there,” Lipcius admitted of the 2021 run.

That doesn’t mean the Vols weren’t trying to win ballgames or taking it seriously. They were focused. They were prepared. But Omaha is a beast and you’ve got to be mentally prepared for the circus just as much as the game.

So, can Tennessee do that this go-around? Easy answer is of course, they were just there. True – but the roster has flipped since then and only one current member of the Tennessee baseball team even played in the 2021 College World Series. That’s reliever Camden Sewell.

“I think enjoying the moment and enjoying the environment and everything that’s going on, but still focus on the task at hand and not get too caught up in all the outside activities and everything like that,” the reliever said Thursday at the CWS opening press conference. “That’s kind of the approach that I feel like needs to be taken this time versus last go-around.”  

Tennessee RHP Camden Sewell walks out to practice ahead of 2023 College World Series. Credit: UT Athletics Communications

The head coach echoed the comments and was thankful Sewell brought them up.

“I think that 2021 group will tell you, Liam Spence and Fergie [Max Ferguson] and [Evan] Russell aren’t scared of anything, but I think they kind of locked up. Instead of staying true to themselves, they were not, and it hurt us a little bit in that particular case,” Vitello said.

So, what’s different? Experience talks. Sure, only Sewell played in the last one, but countless other guys were on that team too. Kirby Connell was one of the squad’s most dependable relievers. Christian Scott played in over 30 games. Other guys like Jared Dickey, Hunter Ensley, Charlie Taylor, Kyle Booker, Ethan Payne, Zander Sechrist and Austen Jaslove – they were all around. They won’t all play in this one either, but they are in that clubhouse.

Also, the 2022 season happened and a lot of those guys did have roles. Tennessee was the best team in the country by a landslide for pretty much the whole year. They were the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. They swept both the SEC regular season and tournament titles. They hosted and blew through the Regionals before falling a game short of a repeat trip to Omaha.

That hurt.

“Honestly, last year wasn’t how everyone wanted it to end, but I think everything that happened last year kind of put the steppingstones together, whatever you want to call it, for this year,” Sewell reflected. “To kind of deal with the adversity and everything that came with it. And we have dealt with a lot of adversity this year, but we’re coming together at the right time. So that’s what we’re excited for.”    

Lessons learned, albeit, the hard way. But now you know and you can approach things a differently.

“As far as them having this feeling of we made it – yes that will be there – but I think there’s enough returners from the team last year to realize, ‘hey we lost where it mattered the most so let’s not do that again,’” Dickey said. “And then you have even the more veteran guys who have been to Omaha with that mentality of we made it. It’s great that we have that leadership that can trickle it down and be like, ‘hey guys, I know this is really cool, but we’ve got to lock it in – we’re still playing baseball against incredible competition.’”

One other factor of note when comparing the two Omaha trips is the schedule.

The 2021 squad handled LSU in two games at home to punch their ticket. This year, the Vols capped the regular season on the road at South Carolina and went straight to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. They got some time after the first-round exit, but then they hit the road to Clemson for Regionals and then to Hattiesburg for Supers – where you endured over 23 hours of rain delays and punched your ticket at 1 am ET Tuesday morning. You then caught a flight home that next morning and turned around not even a day later and headed to Omaha.

“There was too much downtime, and there was too much media and hype, the Daddy hat stuff. I think it became a distraction. It kind of took most of the attention of our guys instead of just focusing on the game. This time around, I think the guys are just trying to get some rest,” Vitello continued. “They’re probably just trying to get back to neutral and enjoy this thing. It’s probably moving a lot faster. I think the nature of the schedule could benefit us this go-around.”

Well, the time has come. Tennessee is about to play against some really, really good baseball teams. And they are about to see some of the craziest baseball fans in the country up close and personal in a legendary venue. Everyone knows who they are now. How will this year’s Vols handle it?

Considering the path these guys have been on for the past 2-3 years, they are arguably as prepared – if not more prepared – than anyone else that’s here in Omaha.

“Now this team, they are going to have a lot more eyes on them because everyone knows Tennessee now,” Lipcius concluded. “So, they are just going to soak it in.

“This is exactly the makeup of an Omaha championship team. It’s never the team you most expect and it’s never the team you least expect. It’s that team right in the middle – just a solid team and that’s what we are.”

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