University of Tennessee Athletics
2004 Season Review
June 28, 2004 | Baseball
June 28, 2004
RESULTS | STATISTICS
| VIDEO | AWARDS
It was a tale of two seasons combined into one as the 2004 Tennessee Volunteers improved in the win column for the third straight year while advancing to the NCAA and Southeastern Conference Tournaments for the first time since 2001.
The Vols bolted out to the best start in school history at 29-5 and a 9-3 record in the league before finishing 38-24 and 14-16 in the conference.
Head coach Rod Delmonico became the sixth-winningest coach in SEC history as he improved his coaching record to 588-324 in 15 years. He guided the Vols to their 12th 30-win season in the last 14 while making his seventh NCAA appearance. He picked up win No. 558 against Tennessee Tech March 3, advancing past long-time Florida coach Dave Fuller into the sixth position.
The schedule was tough as usual as Tennessee played 33 games against ranked teams. It played nine teams that reached the NCAA tournament and five that made the College World Series.
Designated hitter Alex Suarez not only led Tennessee with a .330 average, but also was the only Vol named All-SEC as he garnered second team honors. Outfielder Eli Iorg made the SEC All-Tournament team and pitcher Luke Hochevar made the NCAA Kinston Regional All-Tournament team after tossing an eight-hit 1-0 shutout. Outfielder Michael Rivera became the first Vol since Chris Burke in 2001 to earned SEC Player of the Week honors after his five-game performance against Niagara and Siena when he hit .632 with a .947 slugging percentage on the week.
Not only did the Vols earn accolades on the field, but also a school record 13 student-athletes made the SEC Academic Honor Roll after posting a minimum 3.0 grade point average. Patrick Hicklen and Dusty Johnson were two-time honorees as well as being one of five to receive their degrees following the spring semester. The others were Joey Andrews, Trey Bridges, Brian Cleveland, Nick Crowe, Scot Drucker, Rob Fitzgerald, Hochevar, Todd Martin, Beau Massey, Ben Riley and Derek Tharpe.
The team set a school record with 154 doubles and Drucker showed his durability by making 32 pitching appearances, breaking Todd Helton's 1995 mark of 30. The pitching staff also posted 493 strikeouts, the fourth-highest total in history.
As a result of a successful season, the major leagues plucked five Vols from the roster, including Tharpe who was the highest pick, going to Oakland in the sixth round. Drucker was also chosen by Oakland in the 13th round followed by Iorg (Chicago Cubs 15th), Hicklen (Kansas City 16th) and Cleveland (Florida 16th).
Tennessee opened the season with a resounding series sweep over Morehead State. The Vols outscored the Eagles 54-1 in the series, setting records for most runs in a series as well as setting the single-game victory margin at 28 with a 29-1 thrashing in the series finale.
A trip to Miami was next where the Vols hung with the No. 3 Hurricanes, by taking one game and should have had two until back-to-back home runs in the ninth of game one spelled doom.
The Vols then went undefeated on a 13-game home stand and extended the winning streak to 15 games following a pair of wins at No. 20 Mississippi State in the conference series opener. Along the way, they shattered the school record with 22 straight home victories, breaking the previous standard of 15.
In a midweek game at East Tennessee State, the Vols set another record as they pounded out 10 doubles in a 20-2 thumping of the Buccaneers.
After a series loss to No. 13 Auburn, Tennessee reeled off another eight-game winning streak that included a pair of sweeps against Kentucky and eventual SEC co-champions Georgia to improve to 29-5.
After the sweep of the Bulldogs, Tennessee peaked at No. 6 in the polls and suffered through a four-game losing streak that began with a tough 12-inning 8-7 loss to Division II Carson-Newman and a sweep by No. 7 Ole Miss. That would mark the start of five straight league series losses until the Vols snapped a six-game losing skid versus Florida by taking the first two games of the series to finish fifth in the Eastern Division.
As the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament, the Vols knocked off the No. 1 seed and conference co-champions Arkansas in 13-innings as they fought off two Razorback rallies in the ninth and 12th innings in which they tied the game. South Carolina dropped UT into the losers bracket in the next game, setting up a rematch with Arkansas. The Razorbacks took that contest as the Vols finished tied for fifth.
With a top 25 RPI, Tennessee was one of a record nine SEC teams to advance to the NCAA tournament. The Volunteers were sent to the site of it latest regional success -- Kinston, N.C. UT defeated East Carolina in the 2001 Super Regional to advance to its third College World Series.
As the No. 2 seed, Tennessee faced UNC Wilmington in the opening round. Just like 2001, the first day of the tournament was washed away. Once the games started, the Seahawks used a five-run seventh en route to an 8-5 win. Now in the losers bracket, Tennessee would have to win four straight games to win the regional. Hochevar kept hopes alive as he tossed an eight-hit shutout and Suarez drove home the only run in the eighth as UT won 1-0 against Stony Brook. A rematch with Wilmington ensued, but the Vol bats fell silent after taking a 3-0 lead after the third inning. The Seahawks scraped for a pair of runs in the seventh and won with another pair in the ninth ending Tennessee's season shortly after midnight.
| 2004 Honors and Awards | |
| Player | Awards |
| Joey Andrews | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Trey Bridges | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Brian Cleveland | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Nick Crowe | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Scot Drucker | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Rob Fitzgerald | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Patrick Hicklen | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Luke Hochevar | NCAA Kinston All-Regional Team; SEC Baseball Good Works Team; SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Dusty Johnson | SEC Academic Honor Roll; Thornton Center Top Senior Award; All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year award by National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) |
| Todd Martin | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Beau Massey | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Ben Riley | SEC Academic Honor Roll |
| Michael Rivera | SEC Player of the Week, March 15 |
| Alex Suarez | Second team All-SEC (Coaches, SEBaseball.com) |
| Eli Iorg | SEC All-Tournament Team |
| Derek Tharpe | SEC Academic Honor Roll; Baseball America's midseason top senior college pitcher (April 9) |
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