Tony Vitello speaks on challenges of reaching College World Series and stigma of being No. 1 seed.

Tony Vitello spoke with the media on the difficulty of getting to the College World Series and the stigma around being the No.1 seed.

Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello during a NCAA baseball game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Tennessee won 4-1 against South Carolina. / Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA

No.1 Tennessee will kick off the opening round of the College World Series tonight against Florida State at 7 pm ET. The Vols are making their second consecutive appearance in Omaha for the first time in program history as they look to become the first No.1 seed to win a national championship since 1999.

Head Coach Tony Vitello spoke with the media ahead of the Vols matchup against Florida State, discussing the challenges of reaching the College World Series and the stigma associated with being the No. 1 seed.

"Sure, it's a number. First of all, it's difficult to get here, and once you are here, it's even more difficult to win. Part of that is the talent that's here. So the seeding to me kind of evaporates. It's valuable in the first round because if you line up those four teams, the 1 seed is normally going to get the team that maybe is not as potent as the others. But once you get here, there aren't really any underdogs or anything like that." Vitello went on to say "I talk with Sully (Florida State head coach) throughout the year, and they have a team like we had last year. There's plenty of talent, but they kind of had to go through figure out what combination works and overcome some things, and kudos to them for making it here. All you have to do is stand next to Cags for two seconds, and there's no more underdogs. They had to go on the road again like we did last year. Anybody can beat anybody. Everybody knows that. Then you mentioned the numbers, whether it's 1999 or just numbers game in general, it really is a numbers game. Now there's a championship series. There wasn't one when I was younger. Really the only four teams that matter are us and the three that we're in that group with. Out of four teams, one of them has to come out. Just like those other three teams, right now our guys are saying, well, why not us?" Vitello said.

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