If you’d told me heading into 2012 that after seasons, Dave Serrano and Tennessee would not make a regional, I’d have thought you were crazy. I STILL think that Serrano is a good coach. He didn’t forget how to coach when we came to Knoxville from Cal State Fullerton… and Fullerton and UC Irvine are major college baseball teams…. Why it hasn’t taken off at Tennessee yet, I don’t know. The UT fans I’ve talked to through the years say that he plays too much little ball. Serrano himself has indicated that he placed too much of an emphasis on hitters when he first got the job and wasn’t able to attract quality arms. I do know that Tennessee has been the worst fielding team I’ve seen in the SEC over the past two seasons.
Tennessee is in a familiar spot. They check in with a good non-conference record (14-2) and a poor SEC record (0-6). Tennessee opened the season in Memphis, taking a series from the Tigers. A west coast trip saw the Vols beat Loyola Marymount in a mid-week game, then sweep their way through the Tony Gwynn Classic in San Diego, beating Seton Hall, San Diego State, and UC Irvine. Tennessee opened their home slate with a sweep of Norfolk State, then took 2/3 from Cincinnati. After blasting Austin Peay in a mid-weeker, Tennessee kicked off league play with South Carolina coming to Knoxville. And for the second year in a row, South Carolina opened up conference play with a sweep, outscoring the Vols 23-7 on the weekend, although the Saturday game did go to extra innings. Tennessee beat Marshall in a midweek game, then travelled to Starkville to face the Bizzaro Bulldogs. Miss State was also coming off an opening weekend sweep, and evened their conference mark against the Vols, outscoring Tennessee 26-12 on the weekend. Maybe the Tennessee folks got to eat at The Little Dooey, which in my view, is the extent of happenings in Starkville.
The Vols are off a 6-0 midweek win against Tennessee Tech.
Friday night, we’ll see Hunter Martin, a smallish senior righty from Murfreesboro. We saw Martin in the bullpen last year. On the year, he’s made 6 appearances, all starts, and sports a 3-2 record. His 33 2/3 innings leads their team. He’s struck out 39 hitters and walked 5. The opposition is hitting .275 against him and he’s posted a 3.48 ERA. Martin isn’t on the level of Alex Lange or Keegan Thompson, but he’s been around. Friday night will be his 30 start in a Volunteer uniform and his 56th appearance overall.
On Saturday, we’ll face off with Garrett Stallings, a freshman righty from Chesapeake Virginia. This will be Stallings’ first career start. On the year, he’s appeared in 12 games, posted a 2-0 record, and thrown 25 innings. He has a 3.24 ERA and a .258 average against. He has 19 K’s and 3 BBs.
Sunday, we’ll square off with Zach Linginfelter, another freshman righty, a bigger guy, from Sevierville. Linginfelter has appeared in 9 games with 4 starts and thrown 25 1/3 innings. He has a 4.97 ERA. He has 27 K’s and 9 BB’s. The opposition is only hitting .221 against him.
I thought we’d see Zach Warren in the rotation this weekend and he has (I think) started each weekend for Tennessee. I don’t know if he’s hurt or simply moving into the bullpen after struggling his last two times out.
As a staff, Tennessee has a 3.99 ERA and .252 average against. They’ve only walked 56 hitters in 196 innings. We’ve walked 109, but in 230 1/3 innings.
Offensively, Tennessee is lead by Jeff Moberg, who is probably the only player left in the SEC to hit against Patrick Boling. Moberg played in 16 games last year, in what was his senior year, before getting hurt and missing the rest of the season. He got off to a great start and I’m sure he was missed. The NCAA granted him another year of eligibility. We’ll see the super senior from Murrieta California hitting leadoff (maybe) and playing 2b. He’s hitting .393/.466/.640 with a team leading 5 HRs, but only 16 RBI. He’s also tied for their team lead in steaks with 4. I’ll be interested to see if they move him down in the lineup to try to create some more RBI chances. Morberg is a righty.
Jordan Rogers is hitting .407/.464/.640 with 4 HRs and a team leading 19 RBIs. Another senior righty, Rogers hails from Bartlett Tennessee. We should see him hitting 3rd and playing 3rd.
Pete Derkay is a freshman from Acworth GA. We’ll probably see him catch some this weekend. Derkay is hitting .338/.495/.437 with 1 HR and 8 RBI. Derkay is a lefty hitter.
As a team, Tennessee is hitting .304/.396/.446. They’re 25-37 in the stolen base department. I imagine we’ll see them playing aggressively in that department this weekend. They’re fielding .973 as a unit.
I wrote about this the other night… realistically, it’s going to be tough for the loser of this series to finish above 13th place this season. For us, overcoming 2-7 or 1-8 and not having the tiebreaker to Tennessee will a big hill to climb. Same for Tennessee at 0-9 or 1-8 and without the tiebreaker against us. The coaches for both teams know that and I imagine the players do too. Tennessee also knows that Florida is on deck next weekend, while we are going to see a much improved Missouri team. Serrano may well have saved his job against us last season. He may need to beat us this weekend if he’s going to hang around for 2018. This is a series that we absolutely can win… and it’s been a long time (2007) since we lost as series in Knoxville. Tennessee isn’t as great of a matchup as you’d think they’d be at 0-6, given some of their offensive numbers. But we’ve arguably played a harder conference schedule than they have so far, and we’ve definitely acquitted ourselves better. Big, big weekend for both teams here…
Tennessee is in a familiar spot. They check in with a good non-conference record (14-2) and a poor SEC record (0-6). Tennessee opened the season in Memphis, taking a series from the Tigers. A west coast trip saw the Vols beat Loyola Marymount in a mid-week game, then sweep their way through the Tony Gwynn Classic in San Diego, beating Seton Hall, San Diego State, and UC Irvine. Tennessee opened their home slate with a sweep of Norfolk State, then took 2/3 from Cincinnati. After blasting Austin Peay in a mid-weeker, Tennessee kicked off league play with South Carolina coming to Knoxville. And for the second year in a row, South Carolina opened up conference play with a sweep, outscoring the Vols 23-7 on the weekend, although the Saturday game did go to extra innings. Tennessee beat Marshall in a midweek game, then travelled to Starkville to face the Bizzaro Bulldogs. Miss State was also coming off an opening weekend sweep, and evened their conference mark against the Vols, outscoring Tennessee 26-12 on the weekend. Maybe the Tennessee folks got to eat at The Little Dooey, which in my view, is the extent of happenings in Starkville.
The Vols are off a 6-0 midweek win against Tennessee Tech.
Friday night, we’ll see Hunter Martin, a smallish senior righty from Murfreesboro. We saw Martin in the bullpen last year. On the year, he’s made 6 appearances, all starts, and sports a 3-2 record. His 33 2/3 innings leads their team. He’s struck out 39 hitters and walked 5. The opposition is hitting .275 against him and he’s posted a 3.48 ERA. Martin isn’t on the level of Alex Lange or Keegan Thompson, but he’s been around. Friday night will be his 30 start in a Volunteer uniform and his 56th appearance overall.
On Saturday, we’ll face off with Garrett Stallings, a freshman righty from Chesapeake Virginia. This will be Stallings’ first career start. On the year, he’s appeared in 12 games, posted a 2-0 record, and thrown 25 innings. He has a 3.24 ERA and a .258 average against. He has 19 K’s and 3 BBs.
Sunday, we’ll square off with Zach Linginfelter, another freshman righty, a bigger guy, from Sevierville. Linginfelter has appeared in 9 games with 4 starts and thrown 25 1/3 innings. He has a 4.97 ERA. He has 27 K’s and 9 BB’s. The opposition is only hitting .221 against him.
I thought we’d see Zach Warren in the rotation this weekend and he has (I think) started each weekend for Tennessee. I don’t know if he’s hurt or simply moving into the bullpen after struggling his last two times out.
As a staff, Tennessee has a 3.99 ERA and .252 average against. They’ve only walked 56 hitters in 196 innings. We’ve walked 109, but in 230 1/3 innings.
Offensively, Tennessee is lead by Jeff Moberg, who is probably the only player left in the SEC to hit against Patrick Boling. Moberg played in 16 games last year, in what was his senior year, before getting hurt and missing the rest of the season. He got off to a great start and I’m sure he was missed. The NCAA granted him another year of eligibility. We’ll see the super senior from Murrieta California hitting leadoff (maybe) and playing 2b. He’s hitting .393/.466/.640 with a team leading 5 HRs, but only 16 RBI. He’s also tied for their team lead in steaks with 4. I’ll be interested to see if they move him down in the lineup to try to create some more RBI chances. Morberg is a righty.
Jordan Rogers is hitting .407/.464/.640 with 4 HRs and a team leading 19 RBIs. Another senior righty, Rogers hails from Bartlett Tennessee. We should see him hitting 3rd and playing 3rd.
Pete Derkay is a freshman from Acworth GA. We’ll probably see him catch some this weekend. Derkay is hitting .338/.495/.437 with 1 HR and 8 RBI. Derkay is a lefty hitter.
As a team, Tennessee is hitting .304/.396/.446. They’re 25-37 in the stolen base department. I imagine we’ll see them playing aggressively in that department this weekend. They’re fielding .973 as a unit.
I wrote about this the other night… realistically, it’s going to be tough for the loser of this series to finish above 13th place this season. For us, overcoming 2-7 or 1-8 and not having the tiebreaker to Tennessee will a big hill to climb. Same for Tennessee at 0-9 or 1-8 and without the tiebreaker against us. The coaches for both teams know that and I imagine the players do too. Tennessee also knows that Florida is on deck next weekend, while we are going to see a much improved Missouri team. Serrano may well have saved his job against us last season. He may need to beat us this weekend if he’s going to hang around for 2018. This is a series that we absolutely can win… and it’s been a long time (2007) since we lost as series in Knoxville. Tennessee isn’t as great of a matchup as you’d think they’d be at 0-6, given some of their offensive numbers. But we’ve arguably played a harder conference schedule than they have so far, and we’ve definitely acquitted ourselves better. Big, big weekend for both teams here…
