Angels In The Outfield? Priest Blesses Stadium Ahead Of Super Regional Battle Between Southern Miss, Tennessee

NCAA Super Regionals begin this weekend and Southern Miss is pulling out all the stops in terms of preparing for battle against Tennessee, including a priest blessing the baseball stadium.

The conversation of who would host the series was made on Tuesday, as both Tennessee and Southern Miss felt they should be the home team. In the end, Southern Miss did enough for the NCAA committee to be chosen as the NCAA Super Regional hosts.

Before the Vols and Golden Eagles take the field on Saturday afternoon, 'Pete Taylor Park' needed to be prepared for the over 6,500 fans that will be in attendance. In terms of preparation or superstition, you can decide, a priest walked around blessing the stadium with holy water on Thursday afternoon.

According to Blake Levine, the priest, who social media say is 'Father Mark', walked the whole stadium, through the stands and basically every square-inch of the ballpark, including the field.

For Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, it doesn't matter where they play, nothing about this season has been easy. Now, going on the road again for another NCAA regional is just another obstacle to overcome.

"For coaches, players, fanbases. Everyone is going to give it their best go. It is a baseball game, so there’s a lot of crazy things that can happen," Tony Vitello noted. "Really, whatever competitive edge you’re looking for, it’s got to be based off of what your team has become throughout the year and there were teams last year that served as good examples for us now of, maybe the quickest path or the best path from point A to point B isn’t a straight line."

Priest Walks around Southern Miss Stadium, Blessing Every Inch With Holy WaterCourtesy of Blake Levine @Blake_Levine

Vols Looking For Super Regional Redemption, USM Hoping To Continue Scott Berry's Career

There are certainly two different storylines heading into this weekend's regional. For Southern Miss, it's all about getting head coach Scott Berry to Omaha as he is set to retire. The Golden Eagles took care of business in the Auburn Regional, tacking on at least two more games to the career of Berry, who has been fantastic for the game of baseball. A trip to the College World Series would definitely put an exclamation point on his career.

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello coaching during game three of the NCAA Super Regionals. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

As for Tennessee, it's all about redemption. A team that had it all in 2022 lost to Notre Dame in the Super Regional, failing to finish the crazy story that was last season. But this is a different team, nothing like the outgoing group that garnered headlines every weekend. No, this team has found a way to be different, with a roster of guys who did not have much impact last season.

When asked if the motto for this postseason is 'unfinished business'. Tony Vitello noted that this team has had to find its own personality, separate from the gas-lighting team of 2022.

“Yeah, a little bit of ‘let’s do this’ type of phrase or anything that would fall under that umbrella," Vitello noted. "Maybe a little extra sense of determination, but again, I think this team had kind of formulated its own personality which has started to come out a little bit more."

Either way, we're set for a raucous atmosphere in Hattiesburg this weekend, with a trip to the College World Series on the line. There's not much a priest can do once these two teams take the field on Saturday.