Vols Open Home Season Friday

February 14, 2002 | Baseball

Feb. 14, 2002

QUICK FACTS

Tennessee (1-5) vs. Bowling Green (0-0)

Games 7-9

Feb 15-17, 2002

Television: None

Lindsey Nelson Stadium (4,000)

The Series

Tennessee leads 2-0
Last Meetings: 1993 in Knoxville, Mar. 12 -- UT 2-1, Mar. 12 -- UT 8-3

Probable Pitchers

Feb. 15 Bowling Green State 3 p.m.
UT - Jeffery Terrell, LHP, Jr. (0-0, 3.52 ERA)
BGSU - Kyle Knoblauch, RHP, So. (5-3, 6.54 ERA in 2001)

Feb. 16 Bowling Green State 1p.m.
UT - Ben Riley, LHP, So. (0-0, 5.23 ERA)
BGSU - Doug Flere, LHP, Jr. (medical redshirt in 2001)

Feb. 17 Bowling Green State 2 p.m.
UT - TBA
BGSU - Keith Laughlin, LHP, So. (3-2, 7.79 ERA in 2001)

2002 Tennessee
Season Ticket Information

RADIO: The Vol Radio Network. The games can be listened to locally in Knoxville on WNOX (990 AM/99.1 FM). The team of John Wilkerson and Jeff Jacoby make the call. Pregame is 15 minutes prior to first pitch.

Friday - no radio
Saturday - 99.1 FM
Sunday - 99.1 FM

Listen to Vol Network Broadcast

Rankings
BA - UT (nr), BGS (nr)
CB - UT (nr), BGS (nr)
BW - UT (nr), BGS (nr)

THE COACHES:
Tennessee Volunteers
Rod Delmonico (Liberty 1980)
Overall Record: 13th year -- 493-255 (.659)
at Tennessee: 13th year -- 493-255 (.659)
2002 Schedule/Results
2 002 Statistics

Complete UT Release (pdf)
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Bowling Green State Falcons
Danny Schmitz (Eastern Michigan 1979)
Overall Record: 12th year -- 299-275-4(.517)
at ASU: 8th year -- 273-143-1(.656)
2002 Schedule/Results
2002 Statistics

Projected Lineup

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Pos - Name	2002 Stats	Quick Notes
C - Javi Herrera	.240-0-5	Is 2-for last-12 (.167), Had two hits and three RBI at Miami 2/2
1B - Dennis Gomez	.368-0-1	Hit in last four, going 5-for-12 (.417), Has two two-hit games
2B - Nick Crowe	.214-0-0	Hit in two of last three, going 2-for-7 with a double
3B - Matt Sternberg	.200-0-2	Snapped three-game hitless streak with 2-for-5 vs. ASU 2/10
SS - Walter Sevilla	.292-0-0	Hit in two of last three, going 2-for-11 (.182), Stolen a base in five of six games
RF - Ryan Moffett	.320-2-6	Hit in all six games, Matched HR total from last year, Scored in four straight
CF - Jordan Czarniecki	.318-0-2	Hitless in last two, going 0-for-6, Season-high 4-hits at ASU 2/8 with a double and two RBI
LF - Brandon Hopkins	.333-1-2	Hit in first five games, Hit 10th career HR at Miami 2/3
DH - Adam Smith	.200-0-1	Started four games as DH, Hitless in last two after three-game hit streak
or Hal Bibee Jr.	.000-0-0	Started two games as DH, Is 0-for-6 with one run scored

GAME NOTES

Tennessee at a Glance

Senior Outfielder Brandon Hopkins needs 10 hits for his 150 hits milestone.

Tennessee has lost four straight and is 1-5 for the first time since 1984. UT's last four-game losing streak came from Apr. 6-11, 1999. The last five-game losing streak came with two games at the end of the 1993 season and the first three games of of the 1994 campaign.

After going 1-5 on a six-game road trip to start the season against top 20 teams Miami and Arizona State, the Vols return home for a six-game home stand against Bowling Green State and Eastern Michigan.

Head coach Rod Delmonico is seven 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 493-252 in this his 13th season. 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 1,526-1,156-14 (.569), including a 101-44 (.697) all-time record in the month of February. The Vols are 47-16 (.746) over the last five years in February.

HOME OPENERS
Tennessee has won its last two home openers since a 9-1 loss to Louisville in 1999. Head coach Rod Delmonico is 10-2 in home openers, having also lost to Clemson in 1996.

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 his right hand in batting practice and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks. He underwent successful surgery, Monday, Jan. 28.

THE BOWLING GREEN SERIES
Series: UT leads 2-0
at Knoxville: UT leads 2-0
Tennessee leads the series with the Bowling Green State Falcons, 2-0. The only meetings came in a doubleheader Mar. 12, 1993.

Year	Site	Result
1993	at Knoxville	UT 2-1 (7 inn.)
?	at Knoxville	UT 8-3 (7 inn.)

A LOOK AT BOWLING GREEN
Last year's Mid-American Conference East Division champion Bowling Green is picked to finish third in the division with two first-place votes and 69 points. It trailed Kent State and Miami (Ohio). Ball State was picked to win the Western Division and the league tournament.

The Falcons, who won the division for the third time in four seasons, return 20 letterwinners from a team that finished 36-18 a year ago overall and 18-9 in the conference.

Three second-team All-MAC players are back for the Falcons, Tim Newell (Sr., C), Corey Loomis (Jr., 2B) and Len Elias (Sr., OF). Newell hit .333 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs, while Loomis batted .369 with 10 homers and Elias hit .397, which was sixth in the MAC last season.

On the mound, the Falcons lost second-team all-conference hurler Craig Menke (6-1, 3.45) to graduation but return sophomores Clayton Booth (5-2, 7.36 ERA, 5 saves) and Kyle Knoblauch (5-3, 6.54).

ON DECK
Tennessee concludes its six-game homestand next weekend against the Eastern Michigan Eagles, Feb. 22-24. Game times are 3 p.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Note: Saturday's game has been moved to 1 p.m. due to a men's basketball game at 4 p.m.

This will be the season opening series for EMU.

DELMONICO NEARS 500 WINS
Head coach Rod Delmonico is seven wins shy of milestone win No. 500 in his career. He ranks ninth in all-time victories among Southeastern Conference coaches with his 493 career wins.

SEC ALL-TIME COACHING WINS
Name, School	Record
1. *Ron Polk, Miss. State/Georgia	967-470
2. Skip Bertman, LSU	870-330-3
3. *Keith Madison, Kentucky	697-566-5
4. Hal Baird, Auburn	634-328
5. *Roy Mewbourne, Vanderbilt	631-581-9
6. Dave Fuller, Florida	552-350-5
7. Paul Nix, Auburn	506-374-1
8. Steve Webber, Georgia	500-402-1
9. Rod Delmonico, Tennessee	493-255
*Active coaches

OFFENSIVE NOTES

The Vols have swiped 13 bases in a row and are 13-of-14 on the season. Walter Sevilla has five, while Ryan Moffett is second with four.
UT is 0-for-11 with the bases loaded and is batting .213 (13x61) with runners in scoring position.
Tennessee has scored four or fewer runs in five of six games.
The Vols have pounded out 10 hits in three games, outhitting opponents three times.
UT has not gotten much production off the bench as substitutes are just 3-for-20 (.150) with one RBI.

PITCHING NOTES

Tennessee's starting pitchers are 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA. They have worked fewer than five innings in four starts and opponents are hitting .351.
UT's bullpen is 1-2 with one save and a 4.15 ERA. They are holding opponents to a .203 average, but have issued 13 walks in 21.2 innings.
The Vols have lost two games in which they had the lead.
Led 4-1 at Miami 2/3 Lost 9-4
Led 4-2 at ASU 2/8 Lost 7-4
No pitcher on the active staff for the 2002 season has more than one year experience pitching at the Division I level.
The Vols return only 10 wins from last year's 48-win season and just 173.0 innings. Here are their career stats.

MILESTONES WITHIN REACH

Coach Rod Delmonico needs 7 wins for 500
Vols need 24 wins for 1550 all-time victories
Vols need 8 wins for 550 all-time SEC victories
Brandon Hopkins needs 10 hits for 150

VOLS TO PLAY SMOKIES
The Tennessee Volunteers are scheduled to play the Tennessee Smokies in an exhibition on May 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Smokies Park in Sevierville, Tenn.

It will be the first time the Vols have played against the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The teams were scheduled to play April 7, 1988 at Bill Meyer Stadium, but the game was rained out.

The last exhibition game Tennessee played was in 1994 when the Vols were beaten by NBI Canada at the College Baseball Classic in Seattle, Wash., 14-3.

Back in the 1910s and early 1920s, Tennessee regularly played exhibitions against Major League teams traveling north from spring training in Florida.

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.

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 REUNIONS
Javi Herrera, a member of Team USA in 2001, reunited the first two weekends of the season with former Team USA teammates Mike Esposito of Arizona State and Miami third baseman Kevin Howard and pitcher Kiki Bengochea.

THE TRAVELING VOLS
Tennessee will log over 11,000 miles in travel this spring with trips to Miami, Arizona State and Minnesota on the schedule in addition to five Southeastern Conference roads trips to Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.

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.

TWO-SPORT ATHLETES
For the first time since 1995, Tennessee will have a two-sport athlete. In fact, the Vols boast two in pitcher Justin Reed and outfielder Chris Heath.

Both players are freshmen redshirt football players. Reed is a punter, while Heath is a defensive back.

Here's a look at a few of the former two-sport Vols.
1993-95 - Todd Helton (1B/QB)
1983-84 - Alan Cockrell (OF/QB)
1974-75 - Randy Wallace (3B/QB)
1973-75 - Condredge Holloway (SS/QB)

CROWE ON USA JUNIOR TEAM
Freshman infielder Nick Crowe played on the Silver Medal winning USA Junior Team last summer in Camaguey, Cuba. With the 9-2 finish, the team secured a spot for the United States at the 2002 International Baseball Federation World Junior Championships. It was the highest ever finish for the U.S. The team outscored its opponents 120-17.

Crowe was one of five American's named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .471 with six doubles, one home run, 10 RBI and 13 runs scored in 11 games.

He, along with pitcher Jay Sadlowe, are listed among Baseball America's Fab 50 Freshmen. Sadlowe is No. 30, while Crowe is No. 37.

TEAM CAPTAINS NAMED
For the second consecutive year, the 2002 Tennessee Volunteers will have team captains. Sophomore pitcher Patrick Hicklen and sophomore catcher Javi Herrera were chosen as captains for the season.

Last season, 2001 SEC Player of the Year Chris Burke and 2002 Volunteer Assistant Coach Devon Nicholson shared co-captain honors.

ARIZONA STATE SERIES RECAP
A few notes from the Arizona State series, Feb. 8-10

A total of four Vols were ejected in the Feb. 8 game -- Head coach Rod Delmonico, Asst. coach Larry Simcox, Brandon Hopkins and Dennis Gomez
Jordan Czarniecki went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI in series opener
UT issued 11 walks in the series opener, while striking out 15 times, both marks are one shy of school records
Vols fall to 0-6 at ASU and 1-10 in the series versus the Sun Devils