3. Don’t beat yourself
It’s simple. The most likely way Miami beats Tennessee is if the Vols consistently shoot themselves in the foot. Which they have had a propensity to do during the second half of the season.
Miami can hit, it plays strong defense and its top arms have had really good seasons. The Redhawks are no slouch and this is the sport of baseball after all, where it’s best to expect the unexpected. Tennessee has far more talent at the end of the day, however. UT’s physicality must be overwhelming in order to not allow the mid-major to hang around.
“It’s a very well-balanced team,” Vitello said this week. “The starting pitcher (Cooper Katskee) that we’ll see racked up 11 wins. I don’t care where you’re at, who you’re pitching against, there’s certainly credit due there. First-year coach (Brian Smiley) that has their guys playing the right way. His guys have always played well defensively, the teams he’s coached, but it’s not a team you could say, they’re great defensively, or it’s all about pitching, or they hit a bunch of homers or steal a bunch of bases. All it is, is one quick glance at their stat sheet and their season, they’ve been very well-balanced throughout the whole deal, and they had to win their tournament to get here. So they’re playing good baseball at the end of the year.”
