“I think we’re just going to kind of roll and stay true to our roots, roll with what we got,” Vitello stated. “We’ll start with Stam on Friday, and then we’ll go from there with what we see fit, and we’ll just treat the game that we’re playing that particular day as if it’s almost kind of the only game we got.”
During the double-elimination College World Series, which is organized like an NCAA Regional weekend, teams are given a day off in between games. Vitello acknowledged that certain clubs may use a different strategy on their day off.
“I think it definitely can for certain teams,” Vitello said. “I think it definitely can if are you a different team. With our team, kind of what my mind is thinking, because I’m thinking of different scenarios, is we’ve kind of played Tetris all year long and tried to make it work with who is available that given day, what maybe we think a matchup is, how a guy is throwing.”
Stamos will be making his 10th start of the season as he continues his role of an opener in his only year at Tennessee. The 6-foot-4 lefty transferred from Cal last offseason as a graduate with one year of eligibility remaining. Stamos is 3-0 in 20 appearances this season with an ERA of 4.02. He’s allowed 15 walks and tallied 35 strikeouts in 31.2 innings of work, as opponents are hitting .193 off of him.
Tennessee junior RHP AJ Causey is expected to follow Stamos on the bump as he has done for nine straight weeks now. Causey has been dominant since moving into a relief role. During that span, Causey has gone 8-1 with a 2.57 ERA and has earned the win in seven straight outings.
In 11 relief appearances this season, Causey is 9-1 with a save and has a 2.38 ERA with 75 strikeouts and just 12 walks in 56.2 innings.
Florida State will start sophomore LHP Jamie Arnold on the mound, Seminoles head coach Link Jarrett told the media on Thursday as well. Junior lefty Carson Dorsey had started the previous two Fridays to help the Seminoles win game one of both the regional and super regional.
“Arnold will go, and then you’re going to use some relievers you would think at some point in this thing,” Jarrett said. “It would be great if we didn’t. But then you get to rest. So you can recalibrate guys that you may not be able to do so in back-to-back days of competition like this.
“The number of guys that you use throughout the course of an ACC or an SEC weekend or a regional tournament or super regional, it may not get to that if things go really well for you. If your starter can get you some length and a reliever will get you to the finish line, if you can repeat that script, it might even be the same couple of relievers. Then how quickly can a starter within the realm of health and reality come back? All of those things are different here. It’s good, and it probably allows for even a better type of baseball.”
Arnold is 11-3 with an ERA of 2.77 in 17 starts and 100.2 innings this season, as 16 of his 17 starts have gone at least five innings. He has recorded 155 strikeouts and only walked 22 batters while holding opponents to a .216 batting average against.
“The one thing about Arnold from having seen him up in the Cape Cod, I watched a video because he played with one of our guys, he’s very similar to a kid I coached name Rick Segoni,” Vitello said. “A real low slot and a really whippy arm. I think when Florida State started their year the way they did, he had a lot to do with it. When you have a great pitcher like a (Paul) Skenes, it helps you on that gameday and then it helps on all the other days too for obvious reasons.”
ESPN will air the Tennessee vs. Florida State game starting at 7 p.m. ET.Play-by-play commentator Mike Monaco, analyst Kyle Peterson (formerly of Stanford), analyst Chris Burke (formerly of Tennessee infielder), and reporter Kris Budden will be on the call.
Tennessee and Florida State are on the same side of the bracket as North Carolina and Virginia. Earlier in the day at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN, the Tar Heels and Cavaliers will square off. On Sunday, June 16 at 6 p.m. on ESPN2, the winners of the two games will compete in the winner’s bracket; on the same day, Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN, the losers will play an elimination game.
