College World Series: Tennessee to open with Virginia on Sunday

For the first time since 2005, the Tennessee Volunteers are headed to Omaha to take part in the College World Series. The final eight teams standing will battle it out for a national title, and the action is set to begin this weekend.

The Vols took out LSU over the weekend, beating the Tigers for the fifth straight time this season. It was an offensive clinic, filled with dingers and an electric environment at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

For Tony Vitello, it’s onto the next one.

“We’ve got a chance to win another tournament, which, you know, we were almost able to do in Hoover, and we’ve won our last two,” Vitello said on Sunday. “So we’ll move on to the next one. And, you know, it’ll be a fun group to be in that environment and take on that challenge. And then, you know, the the obvious stuff is it boosts recruiting, it boosts season-ticket sales next year, it creates a capacity problem at our stadium.

Tennessee will get going on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET against the Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia beat Dallas Baptist on Monday to advance out of their super regional, sliding into an opening matchup against the Volunteers.

The Cavaliers are 35-25 on the year. ESPN2 will carry the action live on Sunday afternoon.

The College World Series consists of two four-team brackets, featuring a double-elimination format. The two winners of each bracket will then meet for a three game series to determine a champion.

Stanford and N.C. State will kick off the event on Saturday, while Vanderbilt and Arizona will follow. Those four teams make up the first bracket. Tennessee lands in a bracket with Virgina, along with Texas and the winner of Mississippi State/Notre Dame.

Click here for the full schedule.