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Tennessee (13-15) at Georgia (13-6)
| Games 21-23 | | March 29-31 , 2002 | | Television: None | | Foley Field (3,291)
Athens, Ga. | | The Series | | GEORGIA SERIES | | Tennessee leads: 96-91
Last Meeting: June 11, 2001 in Omaha, Neb. (CWS) UT 19-12 | | Probable Pitchers | Mar. 29 at Georgia 6:30 p.m.
UT - Ben Riley, LHP, So. (2-1, 3.49 ERA)
UGA - Mickey Westphal, LHP, Fr. (3-0, 5.16 ERA) | Mar. 30 at Georgia 2 p.m.
UT - Patrick Hicklen, RHP, So. (4-3, 6.41)
UGA - Bill Sharpton, RHP, Sr. (3-0, 4.33) | Mar. 31 at Georgia 2 p.m.
UT - Jeffery Terrell, LHP, Jr. (2-4, 4.03 ERA)
UGA - Matt Woods, RHP (1-0, 4.82) or Jason Fellows, LHP (1-0, 4.86) | 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.  Listen to Vol Network Broadcast
Friday - 99.1 FM
Saturday - 990 AM/ 99.1 FM
Sunday - 990 AM/ 99.1 FM RANKINGS
BA - UT (nr), UGA (nr)
CB - UT (nr), UGA (nr)
BW - UT (nr), UGA (nr) Complete UT Release (pdf)
  Download Free Acrobat Reader THE COACHES:
Tennessee Volunteers
Rod Delmonico (Liberty 1980)
Overall Record: 13th year -- 505-265 (.656)
at Tennessee: same
2002 Schedule/Results
2002 Statistics Georgia
David Perno (Georgia 1991)
Overall Record: 1st year 13-6 (.684)
2002 Schedule/ Results
2002 Statistics |
| Tennessee at a Glance
 | | 3B Matt Sternberg is 6-for-16 (.375) over last five games with five RBI, two doubles and two home runs | Tennessee has won three of its last five games and is 13-15 on the season. The Vols are 1-5 in Southeastern Conference play for the first time since 1999 when they started 1-9.
UT welcomed back two injured starters in catcher Javi Herrera and outfielder Ryan Moffett in the first game of the Cincinnati series, Mar. 19.
Herrera had missed 15 games with a broke right hamate bone, while Moffett missed 14 games after suffering a fractured left orbital when he was hit by a pitch. Herrera has served as the designated hitter, but has yet to get behind the plate.
The Volunteers have played 13 of their 28 games against ranked opponents, going 2-11. There are 12 more games against ranked teams remaining on the schedule (Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, LSU).
Junior left hander Jeffery Terrell has been a hard luck pitcher as UT has scored one or zero runs in five of his last six starts. They average just 3.5 runs per game in his eight starts on the season.
Head coach Rod Delmonico picked up the 500th win of his career versus UNC Asheville 3/8. He became the ninth coach in SEC history to reach the milestone and the third fastest, doing it in 760 games.
Eight players have missed playing time this season due to injury (C Javi Herrera, OF Ryan Moffett, 2B Hunter Rigsby, P Ben Riley, P Jay Sadlowe, 2B Nick Crowe, INF Rob Fitzgerald , P Brandon Crowe). The five position players have missed a total of 57 games due to injury.
GEORGIA SERIES
Tennessee holds a slim 96-91 series lead since the first meeting in 1909. The teams have met at least once every year since 1948.
Georgia has taken the last two series while winning five of the last six games. Prior to that, Tennessee had won 21 of 23 meetings and six of seven series.
The Bulldogs have won the last two series in Athens, taking two of three in 1998 and the only two meetings in 2000 due to a rainout.
The Vols defeated the Bulldogs at the College World Series last year in a slugfest, 19-12. This after Georgia swept Tennessee in Knoxville to win the Eastern Division by two games over UT. A LOOK AT GEORGIA
Georgia is 13-6 overall and leads the SEC Eastern Division with a 5-1 mark. The Bulldogs took two of three from Arkansas in the opening weekend before going on the road and sweeping Vanderbilt. Only a 10-inning loss to the Razorbacks kept their record from being perfect.
They are averaging 10.7 runs per game in SEC action while batting .363 with 11 home runs. Clint Sammons has hit all four of his home runs in league play, while Marshall Szabo, Matt Cavender, Chaz Lytle and Darryl Blaze are batting over .400 in the SEC.
Reliever Jeffery Carswell has yet to give up an earned run in 13.0 innings, while Mickey Westphal is 3-0 in four starts. ON DECK
Tennessee returns home for a season-high eight-game home stand beginning with a non-conference tilt against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Apr. 3 at 7 p.m. The Vols then play host to Kentucky, Apr. 5-7, and Florida, Apr. 12-14, before concluding the home stand with ETSU, Apr. 17.
SEC NOTES
Tennessee is 1-5 in the Southeastern Conference for the first time since 1999 when it started 1-9.
The Vols have been held to six runs in each of the first two series. The last time they were held to 12 runs in back-to-back SEC series was 1989 against Auburn and Mississippi. UT scored six runs in each series as well.
The Vols are 0-3 three on the road in the league after getting swept at Alabama.
Tennessee will be glad to quit playing teams from the state of Alabama as it went 1-6 against Alabama (0-4) and Auburn (1-2).
Walter Sevilla got off to a hot start in SEC play by going 7-for-12 (.583) with two doubles and three runs scored against Alabama. He came back to hit in two of three versus Auburn and leads the Vols with a .417 average in conference play.
Dennis Gomez has hit three home runs in six SEC games. He slugged two in the first two games of the Alabama series and one in UT's lone win over Auburn. He has hit in five of six league games, batting .333. Four of his six hits have gone for extrabases.
Sevilla and Gomez have accounted for 11 of UT's 12 runs in SEC play. Sevilla has scored four times with one RBI, while Gomez has three runs scored and three RBI. MEDICAL UPDATE
PROBABLE -- RF Ryan Moffett (small fracture on left eye orbital vs. Bowling Green State 2/17)
C Javi Herrera (broken left hamate bone vs. Bowling Green State 2/16 -- 4-6 weeks following successful surgery 2/19)
OUT FOR SEASON -- P Brandon Crowe underwent "Tommy John" surgery on his right elbow last July. He was a perfect 6-0 in 2001 with three saves and a team-leading 3.68 ERA. HERRERA ON BENCH AWARD LIST
Sophomore catcher Javi Herrera is on the official watch list for the Johnny Bench Award which goes to the top collegiate catcher. It is the second straight year Herrera has been a candidate for the honor.
The finalists will be announced at the College World Series with the presentation of the award in late June. MOFFETT: McWHORTER AWARD
Senior outfielder Ryan Moffett has been chosen by Tennessee as a recipient of an SEC post-graduate scholarship and is a finalist for the 2001-02 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.
Each finalist receives a $5,000 scholarship for post-graduate studies. The winner of the McWhorter Award will receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
Moffett is one of four baseball players in the league named as a finalist. DELMONICO GETS CAREER WIN NO. 500
Head coach Rod Delmonico picked up career win No. 500 with a 6-4 victory over the UNC Asheville Bulldogs, Mar. 8. He became the ninth coach in Southeastern Conference history to reach the 500-win mark, doing it in 760 games which was the third-fastest in league history.
With 505 wins, he needs 11 more to pass Auburn's Paul Nix for seventh place.
As Tennessee's winningest coach, Delmonico has accounted for nearly 33 percent of the school's total victories.
OFFENSIVE NOTES - UT recorded a season-high three straight 10-plus hit games from 3/17-20. They have 12 games with 10 or more hits, including two 20-hit games against Minnesota 3/3 and Morehead State 3/6.
- The Vols have been held to five or fewer runs in seven of the last eight games and 18 times this season.
- Tennessee has doubled in 23 of 28 games on the season, with a season-high five done four times, most recently against Cincinnati 3/20.
- The Vols have four multi-home run games, with a season-high five coming at Minnesota 3/3. They have homered in five of the last eight.
- Tennessee stole a season-high seven bases vs. UNC Asheville 3/10. The Vols are averaging 1.8 steals per game, led by Walter Sevilla's 12 and Jordan Czarniecki's 11. They have been held without a steal seven times.
- After starting the season 13-of-14 (92.9%) in the stolen base department, the Vols have been successful on just 37 of their last 56 attempts (66.1%).
- Despite going 4-for-23 (.174) with the bases loaded this season, the Vols have managed to drive in 27 runs. They have done it on 10 walks, four sacrifice flies and seven ground outs.
- UT is batting .253 with runners in scoring position. They have been held to one or less hit with RISP 12 times, including hitless six times. Over the last eight games, they are batting .167 (12-for-72) with RISP. UT went 2-for-23 in Alabama series and 3-for-21 in Auburn series.
- The Vols have played eight error-free games this season, including the last two and three of the last five. They have played 17 games with one or no errors.
PITCHING NOTES - The Vols have a 3.91 ERA over the last six games with 44 strikeouts and 20 walks in 53 innings.
- The staff has allowed four or fewer earned runs 17 times. They had a four-game stretch 3/2-6 (Florida Atlantic, Minnesota, Morehead) where they posted a 1.95 ERA.
- Tennessee has posted at least a dozen strikeouts six times, most recently vs Auburn 3/22.
- The Vols have hit 11 batters over the last nine games. They plunked just 11 in the first 19, and eight of those came in the first five games.
- Tennessee's starting pitchers are 10-11 with a 4.72 ERA. They have worked at least 5.0 innings in 14 of the last 16 games.
- UT's bullpen is 3-4 with four saves and a 5.06 ERA. The pen has worked at least four innings 12 times.
- No pitcher on the active staff for the 2002 season has more than one year experience pitching at the Division I level.
TERRELL NAMED NATIONAL AND SEC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Tennessee junior left hander Jeffery Terrell was named the Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball National Player of the week and the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week after throwing the first nine-inning no-hitter in school history versus Bowling Green State Feb. 15, 5-0.
The no-hitter was the eighth in school history and the first since five pitchers combined to no-hit the College of Charleston in 2000.
Terrell threw 108 pitches and allowed just two base runners on a hit batsmen in the fourth inning and a walk on a 3-2 pitch in the ninth. He retired 15 straight batters at one point and finished with seven strikeouts. 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. |
