The SEC baseball series of the century this weekend was sure to resonate no matter what transpired between rival teams from Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
But who’d have ever guessed the name for which it’ll be remembered:
Mike Honcho.
Proof in two words that college baseball at present has become Tennessee coach Tony Vitello’s world, and everyone else – Tim Corbin’s prestigious Vanderbilt program included – is in the shadow. The top-ranked Vols left no doubt about that the past three days.
“They were the far better team – in really every way,” Corbin said.
Three UT wins at Hawkins Field. Easy ones, too, by an overall count of 16-4. Tennessee’s program-record win streak, at 19 and counting, now includes the first sweep by a visiting SEC team at Vanderbilt since 2009.
And that started with Mr. Honcho.
SWEEP:Tennessee baseball sweeps Vanderbilt to cap best SEC start in program history
For anyone still unaware, Tennessee’s Jordan Beck hit a solo home run in the first inning of Game 1 that was taken off the scoreboard. He was ruled out by umpires after Vanderbilt’s catcher noticed and pointed out that Beck’s bat didn’t have the proper sticker approving it for use.
Vitello then did an in-game interview with ESPN’s broadcast team in which he joked, “I don’t even know that Jordan Beck should be at (the) University of Tennessee. He forged his transcript. He’s actually a 35-year-old man named Mike Honcho.”
It was so entertaining and so funny, everyone was too amused to consider how Vitello was downplaying and distracting from one of his players being caught using an illegal bat, a potentially embarrassing and serious circumstance.
There were suddenly Honcho T-shirts. Tennessee baseball’s own Twitter account reveled in the Honcho stuff, as did media covering this series. During Saturday’s broadcast on SEC Network, commentators repeatedly referenced Vitello’s interview, even asking Vols pitcher Chase Burns about it in the dugout.
Point: Seasoned political operatives don’t spin bad news this effectively.
Counterpoint: Vitello’s Vols were winning anyway, and doing it mostly with their arms, not their bats.
Vanderbilt pitched well in this series, but Tennessee’s staff was better. The Commodores scratched out little offensively against all three Vols starters, a trend that worsened for Vanderbilt as it went.
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