Published: Sunday, May 16, 2021
The three-game series between visiting No. 1 Arkansas and No. 5 Tennessee was a emotionally-charged one that extended past Sunday's final out.
Just after the Razorbacks (39-10, 19-8 SEC) rallied to beat the Vols 3-2 to take the series and the overall SEC lead, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and Tennessee coach Tony Vitello appeared to have a verbal altercation.
Van Horn brushed off the encounter with Vitello, who was his Arkansas assistant for four seasons from 2014-17.
“First off, Tony’s a really good guy and he’s a really good coach,” Van Horn said. “It could have been something that was going on during the game, could have been about recruiting, could be about a lot of things — probably pick one of all or all three. That’s between me and Tony.”
Vitello admitted whatever he said to irk Van Horn was probably a matter of bad timing.
“(Van Horn) had some things to say, thought we did a good job, was an excellent series and all that,” Vitello said. “It was probably poor timing on my part, but I brought up some off-the-field stuff. It is really not that big an issue. That’s probably more than I should say about it.”
Later in his news conference, Vitello touched on the two teams exchanging words when talking about how hard his team competed during the three games that were all decided by one run.
“I think they competed their butt off and did it the right way,” Vitello said. “I know that is my fault at the end there. We have got guys milling around and talking to each other. Really you have got heavyweight bouts. They showed up with the right mentality every day and the results fluctuated. But they competed throughout the weekend.
“This is kind of what super regional weekends look like — huge crowds, outstanding opponents. Every pitch means something, lot of intensity, back-and-forth stuff and it comes down to very small margin win or loss.”
Tennessee (39-13, 18-9) has hosted two big weekends against Arkansas and No. 2 Vanderbilt this season. The Volunteers lost the series with a Game 3 loss both weekends.
“We have two doses of that, and they have been on our field, too,” Vitello said. “Having said that, coming up short doesn’t feel good and to people who are now on board with what we are doing, it is probably not good enough for them either.”
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Van Horn, Vitello address postgame exchange - WholeHogSports
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