| | | | | Arkansas Razorbacks | 14-12 | | Series Results Since 1994 | | 1994 | Fayetteville | 2-1 | W | | 1995 | Knoxville | 3-0 | W | | 1996 | Fayetteville | 2-1 | W | | 1997 | Knoxville | 3-0 | W | | 1998 | Knoxville | 1-0 | W | | 1999 | Fayetteville | 0-3 | L | | 2000 | Knoxville | 1-2 | L | | 2001 | Fayetteville | 2-1 | W | | 2002 | Fayetteville | 1-2 | L | TENNESSEE vs. ARKANSAS Tennessee and Arkansas have met 26 times with the Volunteers holding a slim 14-12 series advantage since the first meeting in 1992.
Arkansas has won three of the last four series, including taking two of three in the their trip to Knoxville in 2000.
In fact, the last two series have been played in Fayetteville due to reshuffling of the SEC schedule. The teams split those two series.
Tennessee won 10 of the first 13 meetings, while Arkansas has come out the victor in nine of the last 13. The Vols are 7-3 in Knoxville, but Arkansas has won three of the last four games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Head coach Rod Delmonico is 14-12 against Arkansas. Tennessee at a Glance The Tennessee Volunteers (27-21,10-14 SEC) are coming off an SEC series win over the No. 22 Alabama Crimson Tide this past weekend. It was the third league series victory for the Vols who climbed into a tie with Vanderbilt for third place in the Eastern Division, 1 1/2 games behind second place Florida and three games behind first place South Carolina.
The Volunteers have won three of their last four games after suffering through a four-game losing streak. They have also won two straight conference games after dropping seven of their previous eight.
Tennessee is 4-8 against Western Division teams having won one of four series. It is 8-4 in SEC play at home.
Fourteenth year head coach Rod Delmonico picked up his 200th Southeastern Conference victory in a 12-9 win over Georgia 4/11. He sits with a 204-191 mark in league games, while ranking seventh all-time in SEC history with 546 wins (299 losses). He needs 11 victories to tie Florida's Dave Fuller (557-354-6 from 1948-75) for sixth.
Tennessee has faced off against six top 25 teams this season, going 6-12. It swept No. 10 South Carolina, took two from No. 22 Alabama and one from No. 10 Auburn while being swept three time by No. 8 LSU, No. 14 Miami and No. 15 Florida.
Tennessee is 5-11 on the road this year, picking up wins at The Citadel, ETSU, UNC Asheville with one each at Auburn and Kentucky. UT won two neutral site games against Old Dominion and James Madison in Charleston, S.C.
The Vols are 17-7 in non-conference play this year, having won seven of their last eight. They have one remaining non-league game against Tusculeum on May 12 in Knoxville to make up for the Belmont game on May 7 which was canceled.
UT tied the best start in school history at 8-0 established by the 1992 team. It was the longest win streak since two eight-game streaks in 2001. After getting off to the 8-0 start, Tennessee jumped back into the national polls at No. 24 by Collegiate Baseball. The Vols were ranked as high as No. 17 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Mar. 3, while settling at No. 22 in the ESPN/Sports Weekly and No. 23 in the Collegiate Baseball polls.
The Vols drew 7,754 fans for the Miami series which was the largest attendance for a three-game series since drawing 8,889 for the LSU series in 1997. The season-high crowd of 3,105 against Miami 3/8 was UT's largest regular season draw since 3,337 versus LSU 3/29/1997.
When the Vols win, they win big as as 13 of the 27 wins have been decided by five runs or more. They have also won nine games (1/3 of total victories) in their final at-bat this season. They are 4-6 in one-run games and 7-10 in games decided by two runs or less. VOLS RANK 52ND IN LATEST RPI
After going 3-1 last week, Tennessee moved to No. 52 from No. 61 in the latest RPI rankings published by Boyd Nation at www.boydsworld.com. It peaked at No. 15 following a sweep of South Carolina. The Vols have been aided in their schedule strength by playing six ranked teams over the last nine weekends in Miami, Auburn, South Carolina, Florida, LSU and Alabama. This weekend's opponent, Arkansas, is No. 20. UP NEXT
Tennessee closes out its seven-game home stand versus the Division II Tusculum College Pioneers Monday, May 12 at 7 p.m. It is a makeup for the May 7 Belmont game which was canceled. The Volunteers finish the regular season at Vanderbilt, May 16-18. Game times are 7 p.m., 6 p.m. and 1 p.m. CT. SEC TOURNAMENT COUNTDOWN
Tennessee sits in third place in the SEC Eastern Division tied with Vanderbilt, 1 1/2 games behind second place Florida and three games behind leader South Carolina. In the simplest terms, Tennessee must win two more than Florida and one more than Vanderbilt over the final six games to lock up second place in the division and reach the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2001.
The Vols trail South Carolina, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Alabama by three games. Tennessee owns the tiebreaker over South Carolina and Alabama, while Ole Miss has that tiebreaker. The Vols play Arkansas this weekend. | Remaining schedules of teams within striking distance: | | ? | Vanderbilt
(10-14) | Florida
(11-12-1) | S. Carolina
(13-11) | Ark.
(13-11) | Miss
(13-11) | Ala.
(13-11) | | May 9-11 | at Kentucky
(6-17) | at Ole Miss
(13-11) | at Alabama
(13-11) | at UT
(10-14) | UF
(11-11-1) | SC
(13-11) | | May 16-18 | Tennessee
(10-14) | Kentucky
(6-17) | Georgia
(8-16) | LSU
(16-7-1) | at AU
(15-9) | at MSU
(14-9) | | Opp. Totals | 16-31 | 19-28 | 21-27 | 26-21-1 | 26-20-1 | 27-20 | VOL HITTING NOTES | UT CAREER STOLEN BASES | | 1. | 145 | Mike Basse | 89-91 | | 2. | 134 | Stevie Daniel | 99-01 | | 3. | 124 | Chris Burke | 99-01 | | 4. | 87 | Clay Greene | 96-97 | | 5. | 56 | Jeff Christensen | 98-01 | | 6. | 55 | Ronnie Hartsfield | 78-81 | | 7. | 53 | Bobby Gaylor | 84-86 | | 8. | 51 | Bill Hatfield | 73-76 | | 9t. | 50 | Jordan Czarniecki | 02-03 | | 9t. | 50 | Alex Sanmiguel | 92-93 | Tennessee has 47 hits over its last four games (.329 average) while scoring at least 10 runs twice during that span. The Vols are batting .295 on the season which is ninth in the SEC. - They are batting .363 (16-for-44) with runners in scoring over the last four games.
- The Vols slugged a season-high four home runs against UNC Asheville, doubling the previous high of two done seven times. They have 34 home runs this season and are on a pace to hit 39 after hitting 38 last year.
- Tennessee leads the SEC with 73 stolen bases. Leading the way is Jordan Czarniecki who paces the individuals with 28 in 34 attempts. He is UT's active leader with 52 and needs five more to vault into fifth place on UT's career list.
Czarniecki also ranks second in league in on-base percentage (.462), fifth in runs scored (50) and third in hit by pitch (14).
- The Vols have amassed 32 doubles over the last 18 games, compared to just eight in the previous 14.
- UT's nine steals versus Morehead State 2/8 marked the fifth highest stolen base effort in school history. The Vols were a perfect 9-for-9 with Walter Sevilla stealing three, Jordan Czarniecki and Chad LeGate getting two apiece while Brian Cleveland and Javi Herrera had one each.
- Tennessee homered in a season-high seven straight games, collecting eight round trippers from 3/23-4/2.
- The Vols collected their first triple in 18 games when Josh Alley sliced a three-bagger to right field against ETSU 4/2. It was the first triple since the West Virginia game Mar. 2. They have just seven this season which would be the lowest total since hitting six in 1988.
- In UT's 21 losses, they are 26-for-157 (.165) with runners in scoring position. They have scored 65 runs in those defeats, being held to two or fewer runs 10 times.
- They have collected at least 10 hits in 23 games and plated at least 10 runs 11 times. UT has its biggest offensive output of the season in a win over Louisville 3/4 when it scored 18 runs on 19 hits. It also exploded for 16 runs on 19 hits against Georgia 4/12, and had 14 runs on 18 hits at UNC Asheville 4/29.
- UT has at least four doubles seven times, including a season-high six versus West Virginia 3/2.
| | | PINCH HITTING SEC SERIES | | ? | AVG | H-AB | RBI | BB | | AU | .800 | 4-5 | 3 | 0 | | SC | .200 | 1-5 | 0 | 0 | | UF | .250 | 1-4 | 0 | 2 | | UM | .000 | 0-2 | 1 | 4 | | UG | .556 | 5-9 | 5 | 2 | | UK | .250 | 1-4 | 0 | 0 | | LSU | .000 | 0-4 | 0 | 0 | | UA | .000 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | | Total | .343 | 12-35 | 9 | 8 | VOLS GET CLUTCH HITS OFF THE BENCH
Tennessee's bench has been a productive unit thus far, as the reserves are hitting .338 with nine doubles, two triples, two home runs and 36 RBI. Vol pinch hitters are excelling as well, going 24-for-72 (.333) with 14 RBI and 18 walks. Pinch hitters have reached base safely on 44 of 93 plate appearances (47.3%).
Jimbo Watson leads all pinch hitters with nine hits and has a .450 average. He has reached base safely in 13 of 24 plate appearances for a .542 on-base percentage. He hit his first home run coming off the bench at UNC Asheville 4/29, a three-run shot.
Josh Alley has four pinch hits, while Alex Suarez and Jeremy Cabbage have three pinch hits apiece.
Justin Branson became the first Vol to hit a pinch-hit grand slam since Justin Altmann against UT-Martin in 1996 when he slugged his first career home run against Georgia 4/11.
In the Auburn series, Watson, Cabbage, Suarez and Branson combined to go 6-for-9 with five RBI as reserves. Watson had four RBI in UT's 9-6 win. His two-run pinch hit single in the seventh tied it at five while he capped a three-run eighth with another two-run single. Brett Chappell had a triple and two sac bunts with an RBI vs. Ole Miss 4/6. In the Georgia series, UT pinch hitters went 5-for-9 with five RBI.
PITCHING NOTES
- Thanks to posting a 2.00 ERA in the Alabama series, the team ERA dropped from a season high 4.08 to 3.95 which is sixth in the SEC.
- After giving up 42 runs on 47 hits in the LSU series, the Vols stiffened against Alabama by limiting the Crimson Tide to 13 runs (six earned) on 18 hits.
- The Vols are sixth in the SEC in opponent batting average at .264, fifth in strikeouts at 366 and fifth in home runs allowed with 28. Opponents are averaging 9.1 hits and 4.9 runs per game.
- T he staff opened the season without yielding an opponent home run in the first 46 innings until Old Dominion's Brandon LeNoir hit a two-run blast in the second inning.
- They also average 7.81 strikeouts per nine innings while walking just 3.18. That's a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.5. The 1965 pitching staff holds the record of 8.91 strikeouts per nine innings.
- The pitchers have posted at least 10 strikeouts in 10 games with a high of 17 against Morehead State 2/8.
- Even more impressive is the fact that the staff has given up three or fewer walks 31 times. UT's 1994 pitching staff holds the record of 3.04 walks per nine innings. The 1996 staff is second at 3.26.
- The staff has not given up more than four earned runs in 30 contests. They have held the opponents to eight or fewer hits 25 times.
STARTING PITCHER NOTES Ben Riley -- Has lost his last three starts ... Is 2-3 in his last seven starts after going 1-2 in his first six ... Given up 13 runs (nine earned) on 10 hits in his last two starts covering 7.0 innings (11.57 ERA) with 11 walks and five strikeouts ... Ranks first in the SEC in opponent batting average at .214 and seventh in innings pitched at 78.2 ... Has worked into at least the seventh inning in six of his last nine starts ... Holds a 3.58 ERA in his last eight starts, giving up three or fewer runs six times ... Has walked 27 in his last 35.0 innings with just 22 strikeouts ... Held opponents to six or fewer hits in 10 of 13 starts ... Allowed three or fewer earned runs in 10 of 13 starts ... Pitched at least five innings in 11 of 13 starts with a season-high 8.0 twice in win versus South Carolina 3/23 and first career complete game at Kentucky 4/18 ... Got third win over Ole Miss 4/4 ... Earned win over Morehead State 2/7, striking out a season-high seven in five shutout innings ... Named SEC Pitcher of the Week honors for his performance ... Has not missed a start in his career ... Is 8-8 in 28 career starts with a 4.42 ERA ... Worked at least five innings in 22 of 28 starts ... Is 1-2 with a 4.97 ERA in May ... Is 5-6 in SEC action with a 4.77 ERA ... Vols are 6-7 in his 13 starts this season.
Last Start -- Lost his third straight start, 6-2, to Alabama 5/2 ... Allowed just Tide to their only three hits in the game in the first two innings ... Touched for six runs (two earned) while walking a season-high seven with two strikeouts.
Versus Arkansas -- Picked up UT's lone win in the series last year at Arkansas ... Gave up four runs on five hits in 6.0 innings with six strikeouts and two walks ... Vols won 14-9. Derek Tharpe -- Is 3-4 in last seven starts after going 2-1 in his first six ... Is fourth in the SEC in strikeouts with 78 and sixth in innings pitched at 80.0 ... Roughed up for 31 runs (18 earned) on 47 hits in the last 40.0 innings for a 4.05 ERA ... Struckout 39 and walked 12 during that span ... Given up three or fewer earned runs in nine of his 13 starts ... Worked at least five innings 10 times, including working into at least the seventh in seven of last eight ... Opponents are hitting .276 off him ... Threw his first CG of season in loss at Kentucky 4/19, matching career-high with 11 Ks ... Tossed season-high 8.1 innings in win over SC 3/22 ... Is 5-5 with a 3.11 ERA in 11 appearances against SEC opponents, covering 72.1 innings ... Worked 6.0 innings in win vs. West Virginia 3/2 ... Posted a career-high 11 strikeouts in first UT start vs. Morehead State 2/8 ... Owns a 10-20 career Division I record with a 4.82 ERA ... Is 9-17 with a 4.57 ERA in 35 career starts ... Has eight complete games to his credit ... Owns a 2-3 mark with a 3.86 ERA in May ... Transfer from Samford who made 14 starts for the Bulldogs in 2002 ... Vols are 7-6 in his 13 starts this season.
Last Start -- Snapped a two-start losing streak with a 10-3 win over Alabama 5/3 ... Held the Tide to three runs (two earned) on six hits in 6.2 innings with six strikeouts and four walks. Brandon Crowe -- Scheduled to make his third straight start in SEC play and fifth of the season ... Owns an outstanding 4.6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... Made his first start in over two months at LSU ... Is 2-1 in four starts this season with a 6.19 ERA in 16.0 innings ... Has pitched past the fourth in just one start this season ... Got win over Alabama 5/3 in a season-high 6.1 innings ... Earned a win over Morehead State 2/9 after pitching a designated four innings ... Had made nine straight relief appearances, picking up wins in his last two outings at ETSU 4/15 and at Kentucky 4/20 ... Logged 10.1 innings in those stints, giving up just three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk ... Tied with Dusty Johnson on UT's active wins list with 12 ... Is 7-1 in 10 career starts with a 4.26 ERA ... Owns a 6-5 mark in SEC play with a 4.62 ERA ... Recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2001 ... Is 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA in May ... Vols are 3-1 in his four starts this season.
Last Start -- Logged a season-high 6.1 innings in win over Alabama 5/4 ... Allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
Versus Arkansas -- Pitched one scoreless inning of relief against the Razorbacks in 2000, striking out one. SEC NOTES - The Vols are 10-14 in SEC play. The last time UT was 10-14 was in 1992.
- Tennessee is 6-6 against the East (5-1 home, 1-5 away) and 4-8 versus the West (3-3 home, 1-5 away). Overall it is 8-4 at home and 2-10 on the road.
- In the last six SEC series, UT is 6-12 with a 5.31 ERA in 154.0 innings, giving up 186 hits with 122 strikeouts, 74 walks while opponents hit .296.
- UT is batting .284 (172x605) over its last 18 games with 26 doubles and 12 HRs. It has scored 104 runs during that span, averaging 5.8 rpg. They have collected at least 10 hits in eight of the last 12 games.
- Starting pitchers are 7-8 with a 4.51 ERA, while the bullpen is 3-6 with a 4.72 ERA in 61.0 innings.
- The Vols are batting .324 against left handers and .265 versus right handers
- UT has done most of its damage in the second and eighth innings, scoring 50 of its 134 runs in those frames.
- The Vols have hit just eight home runs in their last 15 games after slugging seven in the first nine
- The Vols have won three games in their last at-bat (3-0 and 10-6 vs. SC and 9-8 vs. UK)
- UT held the lead or was tied entering the ninth inning in all three Auburn games
- UT's bullpen tossed 9.2 scoreless innings vs. Alabama, giving up just one hit
- The Vols are 1-4 in one-run games and 2-7 in games decided by two runs or less
- UT held to one or fewer hits with RISP 10 times
HELP OFF THE BENCH
Tennessee's bench has been a productive unit thus far, as the reserves are hitting .387 with six doubles and 18 RBI. Vol pinch hitters are excelling as well, going 14-for-31 (.452) with six RBI.
Jimbo Watson leads all pinch hitters with a .750 average, going 6-for-8. Jeremy Cabbage has three pinch hits, while Josh Alley and Alex Suarez have two each.
The Vols got some help off the bench in its three games against Auburn as Jimbo Watson, Jeremy Cabbage, Alex Suarez and Justin Branson combined to go 6-for-9 with five RBI. Watson had four RBI in UT's 9-6 win. His two-run pinch hit single in the seventh tied it at five while he capped a three-run eighth with another two-run single.
Cabbage had a pinch hit in the first games, driving in one run in the sixth in the 9-6 win. Branson had a hit and a walk in his four plate appearances as a defensive replacement in right field, while Suarez got a single in his pinch hit appearance. TENNESSEE ON TV
Comcast Sports Southeast / Charter Sports Southeast announced that it will televise all five of the University of Tennessee's Saturday Southeastern Conference home baseball games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. As a result, start time for those five games has been moved to 7 p.m. ET.
The CSS schedule for Tennessee home baseball games is as follows: Mar. 22 South Carolina, Apr. 5 Mississippi, Apr. 12 Georgia, May 3 Alabama, May 10 Arkansas CSS will also air two other home games against Georgia 4/11 and Alabama 5/4 in addition to road games at Auburn 3/16, Kentucky 4/19, LSU 3/26 and Vanderbilt 5/17.
FOX Sports Net South will show the Saturday 3/29 Florida game while the Sunshine Network will air the Sunday Florida game. Cox Sports will televise the LSU game on Apr. 26 and the Louisiana Sports Network will show the LSU game on Apr. 27. Tennessee will be on live television 15 times during the 2003 regular season. | |
