University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Announces 2003 Baseball Schedule
September 05, 2002 | Baseball
Sept. 5, 2002
KNOXVILLE -- Home series against Miami (Fla.), Louisville, West Virginia, Morehead State and Bowling Green State highlight Tennessee's 2003 non-conference baseball schedule that was announced by head coach Rod Delmonico Thursday. The Vols will also play an exhibition against the Tennessee Smokies at Smokies Park in Sevierville, Tenn., for a second straight year.
Tennessee plays 27 games against 10 teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season, including College World Series runner-up South Carolina. Three other opponents -- LSU, Arkansas and Miami (Fla.) -- all reached Super Regionals.
The Vols begin their travels by heading to Charleston, S.C., to play in The Citadel Tournament (Feb. 14-16) against Old Dominion, The Citadel and NCAA Regional representative James Madison. A game at McCormick Field, home of the Asheville Tourists, the Single-A farm team of the Colorado Rockies, is set for Apr. 29 versus UNC Asheville.
"I don't know if you can find a tougher conference than the SEC," said Delmonico, who is entering his 14th season at Tennessee. "The league was No. 1 in the RPI last year and that speaks volumes in itself. We are going to have one of the younger ball clubs in the Southeastern Conference with all of our newcomers. Hopefully the early part of the season we can get some wins and get our young guys some confidence that will help them in the league play."
The Vols, who return three starters and 13 lettermen from last year's squad, open the season and 35-game home slate with a three game series against Morehead State, Feb. 7-9, at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Following The Citadel Tournament the next weekend, Tennessee opens a season-high 10-game homestand against Bowling Green State (Feb. 21-23), West Virginia (Mar. 1-2), Louisville (Mar. 4-5) and Miami (Mar. 7-8)
SEC action kicks off for the Vols Mar. 14-16 when the Vols travel to Auburn. Tennessee then returns home to play host to South Carolina, Mar. 21-23. Not that there is any easy time when playing in the Southeastern Conference, but the start of league play is going to be a tough stretch for the Vols by continuing with a series at Florida (Mar. 28-30), followed by back-to-back home tilts versus Mississippi (Apr. 4-6) and Georgia (Apr. 11-13). UT closes out the home portion of its schedule with a seven-game homestand against Alabama (May 2-4) and Arkansas (May 9-11) with a non-conference game versus Belmont (May 7) sandwiched in the middle.
Tennessee makes other conference road trips to Kentucky (Apr. 18-20), LSU (Apr. 25-27) and finally Vanderbilt (May 16-18), to close out the regular season.
The Vols have additional non-conference midweek home games against Purdue (Mar. 19), Tennessee Tech (Mar. 26), Wofford (Apr. 1), East Tennessee State (Apr. 2), Tennessee Wesleyan (Apr. 9) and UNC Asheville (Apr. 16). UT will made three midweek road trips to ETSU (Apr. 15), Tennessee Tech (Apr. 22) and UNC Asheville.
The conference season will conclude with the SEC Tournament at the Hoover-Met Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., from May 21-25.
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