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The NCAA 2021 Knoxville Super Regional tournament kicks off on Saturday, June 12 with the Tennessee Flights hosting the LSU Tigers.
The two teams met in a regular season game, and things didn’t end well for the Tigers. LSU lost all three games this weekend and head coach Paul Mainieri has publicly expressed his frustration.
Much of the issues he addressed were the behavior of fans and players throughout the series.
Shortly after the series staged at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Mainieri said in an interview that his team performed in “an extremely hostile environment. He goes on to say that fans and players have been “mean” throughout the weekend.
The other team weren’t handling things very classy, quite frankly, he said.
Now the Tigers are gearing up to face the Flights again in Knoxville, and this time a College World Series ticket is on the line.
It’s no surprise that Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello has been asked to comment on this situation, and Vitello has supported his players and fans. In fact, Vitello encouraged fans to come forward and be even rowder than last time around.
You know, about this coming weekend, if it’s like last weekend, do it, Vitello said. So if you want to call it mean, do it like that.
During the last meeting between the Tigers and the Vols, fans were at limited capacity, allowing only 3,689 fans inside the stadium. This time around, more fans will be in attendance for each game, and Vitello hopes to use that to the advantage of his team.
Vitello also acknowledges that the SEC has some of the biggest, most beautiful and loudest stadiums in the country, and he believes that while his team will not have the most beautiful and tallest stadium, he knows that they can at least make some noise.
“I think what we have is our fans are trying to compete with what’s going on at Baum Stadium or Alex Box Stadium or Starkville,” Vitello said.
Vitello continues his response by acknowledging how much easier it can be to determine exactly what an individual is saying in a smaller crowd.
“You had a smaller crowd then, so you can hear the exact words people are saying with those smaller COVID crowds, and you had a group of five or six guys who probably had pops all over the place. [LSU first baseman] Tre Morgan on first base, ”said Vitello.
Vitello still shares his respect for head coach Paul Mainieri, and the game this time around should be even more interesting and entertaining than the last.
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