WATCH: Tennessee nation cheers for Tony Vitello during victory parade as Vols clinch the historic College World Series title
The Tennessee Volunteers are still on cloud nine after winning the 2024 College World Series over the Texas A&M Aggies on Monday night. Whenever a team wins a championship, it is a cause for celebration and that is what Tuesday was all about.
During the 2024 College World Series victory parade in Knoxville, the Tennessee Volunteers were celebrated for their first-ever national championship in baseball. During the parade, coach Tony Vitello was signing autographs as fans were walking alongside the car he was riding in to celebrate the victory.
Tony Vitello has been the Vols coach since 2018 and has finally won a College World Series after making three NCAA Super Regionals in 2021, 2023, and 2024.
Tony Vitello will have to upgrade this Tennessee Volunteers program in 2024
The Tennessee Volunteers obviously have a lot of talent throughout their roster and as a result, they were the top-ranked team in all of college baseball. However, with the rosters in college athletics constantly changing, the team is going to look a bit different than it did during this season.
The biggest point of concern is that the three main pitchers (Zander Sechrist, Drew Beam and AJ Causey) are all eligible for the 2024 MLB draft and could begin their journey to the major leagues.
There is a chance that all three pitchers will not be in Knoxville next season and that would be 44 combined starts and 271.2 total innings no longer with the program.
Tony Vitello cannot rest on his laurels and needs to find three potential replacements to fill their shoes. Either Vitello needs to get confirmation on the players returning or get aggressive in the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Either way, he is recruiting for the next few years and could move some of his current roster around to starting roles but this could be a lot of heavy lifting in order to make sure this Tennessee team remains a threat next season and beyond.
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