Q&A with Zander Sechrist
By Mark Nagi
Recently, I had the chance to catch up with Zander Sechrist, who will go down in the record books as the winner of the biggest game in Tennessee baseball history.
The Georgia native was a Vol from 2021-2024 and just finished up his first full season of professional baseball with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, the Single-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
The Knoxville Focus: Why did you decide Tennessee was where you wanted to go?
Zander Sechrist: To be cliche, it kind of felt like home. I visited other schools (Auburn, Vanderbilt, Virginia, etc.) and Tennessee fit well for me with the new coaching staff at that time. I bought a Tennessee hat at one of the Vol shops, and I realized after all my visits that it was the only place I bought something at.
KF: Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello has obviously had a huge impact on this Tennessee baseball program. How would you define a Vitello player?
ZS: Someone who’s going to work hard, and even if he doesn’t get a big role in his first year there, he works a little harder to get the role next year. Just kind of, just kind of gritty, hard-nosed… and wants to win, for sure.
KF: Obviously, you were on some great Tennessee teams, but your last one was the one that finally got over the hump. What was it about that 2024 team that allowed you guys to put it all together?
ZS: We had unfinished business. We had a pretty good core there that’s been there for, you know, three or four years. In 2021, we went to the College World Series. In 2022, we didn’t go, but we should have… we were arguably the best team ever. In 2023, we finally got to win a game at the CWS, but we still just felt like it wasn’t enough. In 2024, we kind of just put it all together. Obviously, it takes a little bit of luck in baseball, and you have to have a good run with it. But I think we just put it all together a lot better than we did in previous years, probably because we were more experienced in those types of scenarios.
KF: Okay, so let’s talk about that final game of the 2024 College World Series. What is your mindset going into this? Obviously, this would be the most important game you had ever pitched. Is it nerve-racking? Is it exciting?
ZS: The sucky part about having to pitch the third game was that the second game was during the day. You’re sitting in your hotel room, and you still have plenty of time because the next game you play is in 24 hours. But once I started getting ready, all the nerves kind of started, which obviously is good because if you’re not nervous, you don’t care.
KF: Can you feel it as a pitcher to be like, okay, I’ve got some good stuff today? Or is it, like, every pitch is its own? (Sechrist went 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits, while striking out 7 Texas A&M batters to get the win.)
ZS: Oh, I can tell you what. It was so dang hot when I was warming up. I go out and stretch for about an hour before the game. It was like 104 degrees, and I felt like I threw five innings before I threw the first pitch. So, my mindset was literally to get out of the first inning. That game in particular was probably the first game I took every at bat, like mutually exclusive, which is what you should do all the time. Obviously, it was my last time pitching for the university, so I was like, “I’m going to leave no doubt here. And I’m going to treat every bat like it’s my last.” I think I just executed the right way, and you know, things went how they went.
KF: How stressful is it when you’ve left the game, because there’s nothing else that you can do?
ZS: Yeah, it’s definitely worse because, and any pitcher would say this, but you can’t control what’s going on at all. I did the best that I could do that day. And obviously, we trusted each guy that that was put into the game in every scenario. When it got late and the game was getting tight, you’re like, ‘Oh, I just want this game to be over with.’
KF: What was the feeling like after the final out? (Tennessee held off an Aggies rally to win 6-5, taking home the first national championship in the baseball program’s history.)
ZS: We all just kind of went crazy, and I kind of blacked out because when you’re celebrating, you’re not really thinking about anything except celebrating… and then when it settled in, it’s pretty fulfilling and definitely a weight off your shoulders in general.
KF: Do you think about how a lot of teams just don’t get remembered, but your role on that team at that time is something that will be remembered around Tennessee for a long time?
ZS: Deep down, you feel like you were a part of something. I always love going back to Knoxville. A national championship’s pretty sweet on your resume. I loved being a Tennessee Vol, for sure.
