| Tennessee Opens 2002 Season at Miami
 | | Rod Delmonico, who led the Vols to a third-place finish at the 2001 College World Series, begins his 13th season Friday at Miami. | Tennessee begins its 93rd season of competition with a three-game series against the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes. This is the second time Tennessee has opened its season with a three-game series at Miami. It opened the 1994 season with the No. 18 Hurricanes and was swept in three games. The Vols finished that season with their second-best all-time record, 52-14, and a No. 8 national ranking (Baseball America), while Miami was No. 6.
The Vols return three regular position starters from last season?s College World Series team that finished with a 48-20 record and a third-place finish in Omaha. Miami handed Tennessee its two losses at the CWS. This is the first time Tennessee has ever started a season with a team that ended the previous one.
Head coach Rod Delmonico is eight wins shy of becoming the ninth coach in Southeastern Conference history to reach 500 career victories. Delmonico has spent his entire head coaching career at Tennessee, amassing a record of 492-250 in 12 years. His career winning percentage of .663 ranks sixth all-time in the SEC. As Tennessee?s winningest coach, Delmonico has accounted for nearly 33 percent of the school?s total victories.
Tennessee owns an all-time record of 1,525-1,151-14 (.570), including a 100-39 (.719) all-time record in the month of February. The Vols are 46-12 (.793) over the last five years in February.
PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA
Sophomore catcher Javi Herrera was named third-team preseason All-America and All-SEC by Baseball America. Herrera, a member of the Team USA National Team last summer, was a freshman All-America for the Vols in 2001 after batting .296 with seven home runs and 45 RBI. He was also noted as being the best defensive catcher in the league by Baseball America in its Best Tools section. Herrera was listed at No. 9 on Baseball America?s Fab 50 Sophomores. MEDICAL UPDATE
Tennessee will be without its most experience pitcher for the 2002 season in junior Brandon Crowe. Crowe is out for the season after undergoing ?Tommy John? surgery on his right elbow last July. He was a perfect 6-0 last season with three saves and a team-leading 3.68 ERA.
Freshman Rob Fitzgerald broke the hamate bone in in his right hand in batting practice and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. He underwent successful surgery, Monday, Jan. 28. UT-MIAMI SERIES
Series: Miami leads 6-4
at Miami: UM 4-1
at Knoxville: UT 3-0
at Neutral: UM 2-0
Miami leads the all-time series with Tennessee, 6-4, including a 4-1 mark in Coral Gables. The teams first met in 1989 as they split a two-game set. The Hurricanes swept three games from the Vols in their second meeting at Miami in 1994. When Miami came to Knoxville in 1996, Tennessee returned the favor by sweeping the Canes in three games.
The last meetings came in the 2001 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., where Miami defeated Tennessee twice, eliminating the Vols in the semifinals. The first game was a 4-hour and 21-minute marathon which set a CWS record for the longest nine-inning game. Miami won the slugfest 21-13.
The Canes rebounded from a 4-0 deficit in the second meeting en route to a 12-6 triumph and a spot in the title game where they defeated Stanford for their fourth national championship. All told, the two games played between these teams at the CWS was 7-hours and 59-minutes. THE MIAMI CONNECTION
Tennessee has more than a few ties to the Miami, Fla., area. Four Vols -- Walter Sevilla, Matt Sternberg, Javi Herrera and Dennis Gomez -- all list Miami as their home. In addition, Jeremy Kemp (Palm Harbor), Justin Reed (Punta Gorda) and Chad LeGate (Longwood) all hail from the Sunshine state. Except for the 10 players from Tennessee, Florida is the next state with the most players on the Volunteers roster. HERRERA PLAYS ON TEAM USA
Sophomore catcher Javi Herrera got very little rest last summer as he went straight from the College World Series to a summer tour with the USA National Team.
Team USA, which finished 21-7-1, traveled to Japan and Alaska while trekking across the northern portion of the continental United States playing various collegiate summer league All-Star teams and other international opponents.
Herrera became the fifth Vol to spend a summer with Team USA, joining Todd Helton, R.A. Dickey, Augie Ojeda and Chris Burke. TEAM USA REUNION
This weekend?s series with Miami will reunite 2001 Team USA members Javi Herrera from Tennessee along with Hurricanes Kevin Howard and Kiki Bengochea.
Herrera shared catching duties with Houston?s Chris Snyder, while Howard played both third base and shortstop, leading the team with 18 RBI. Bengochea was 3-1 with a 0.92 ERA in 39 innings.
Herrera will also reunite next weekend with Arizona State pitcher Mike Esposito. ON DECK
Tennessee continues its early season travels by heading to the Tempe, Ariz., to face the No. 17/18/20 Arizona State Sun Devils, Feb. 8-10. Due to renovations at Packard Stadium, the on-campus baseball facility, the series has been moved to HoHoKam Park in Mesa, Ariz. HoHoKam Park is the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs.
The Vols will have their home opening series Feb. 15-17 against Bowling Green State. DELMONICO NEARS 500 WINS
Head coach Rod Delmonico is eight wins shy of milestone win No. 500 in his career. He ranks ninth in all-time victories among Southeastern Conference coaches with his 492 career wins. SEASON OPENERS
Tennessee 58-30-2 in recorded season openers since 1897. No game-by-game results are available from 1898-99.
Head coach Rod Delmonico is 10-2 in season openers since 1990, having won seven straight. UT?s last season-opening loss came at Miami in 1994.
The Vols have scored at least 10 runs in five of their last six season openers. 11 NEW FACES
Tennessee welcomes 11 new faces to the roster for the season. Of the 11, seven are freshmen, while four hail from the junior college ranks.
Three signees -- Jay Sadlowe, Ben Riley and Walter Sevilla -- have all been drafted previously in their careers. Sadlowe was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 26th round in 2001, while Riley and Sevilla were selected in the 2000 draft by Minnesota (49th) and Milwaukee (34th), respectively.
There are three players each from Tennessee and Florida and one from Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Also joining the coaching staff for the 2002 season is two-year Tennessee letterman Devon Nicholson. Nicholson was a co-captain of the 2001 Vols that reached the College World Series. | 
