Tennessee coach Tony Vitello punished his players’ poor hitting by turning their dugout stools upside down

What a corny way to motivate your players.

With their season on the line, Tennessee needed a heroic performance during a College World Series elimination game on Tuesday. To beat juggernaut LSU, the Volunteers would need all hands on deck — great pitching and timely hitting at the plate.

They got neither. And the latter poor plate appearances in a 5-0 shutout loss were rather frustrating for Tennessee coach Tony Vitello.

Vitello expressed this frustration by trying to light a spark under his players in one of the most peculiar ways: He turned their dugout stools upside down, taking away the option to sit when not playing.

It, quite obviously, didn’t work.

There’s a certain point of diminishing returns.

For me, if my players weren’t hitting well, I’d probably just chalk it up to bad luck and a poor afternoon. It wasn’t our day or our season. You live, and you learn. But with the Volunteers up against the wall, I suppose Vitello thought he had to pull out all the stops — or, in this case, turn them over — in order to motivate his team.