University of Tennessee Athletics
Davis, Hernandez Named Orange & White World Series MVPs
November 14, 2008 | Baseball
Nov. 14, 2008
Tennessee head baseball coach Todd Raleigh announced Friday that centerfielder Kentrail Davis and left-handed pitcher Nick Hernandez have been named the Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher, respectively, from the 2008 Orange & White World Series.
Davis led his White team to a 4-3 series victory over the Orange team with a 10-5 come-from-behind triumph in a rain-shortened game seven played Nov. 7.
Davis finished the fall with a .524 batting average, 11 hits, one home run and nine RBI. The SEC and NCAA National Player of the Year candidate also stole four bases while walking eight times.
"Kentrail was our most consistent position player," Raleigh said. "We keep track of stats such as productivity and he did more things, we thought, to win ball games for us than anyone else. A lot of our guys had a good fall, but Kentrail was the most consistent player on a day-to-day basis."
Hernandez had a record of 1-1 with a 1.06 ERA during the fall season. The junior threw 17 innings, allowing two earned runs on 11 hits while striking out 13 and walking only two. He led his team to victory in the second game of the series, pitching four scoreless innings before handing things over to the bullpen. Hernandez allowed only one hit while he struck out five batters, in that performance.
"Nick was our most consistent performer on the mound," Raleigh said. "Every time that he pitched he gave us a good chance to win that day. We had a lot of guys that really stepped up and did a good job, but you have to pick one, you can't have two or three. That's not to slight the other guys, but I think Nick was the most consistent from top to bottom, no question about it."
Raleigh said that the fall season gave the coaches an opportunity to evaluate the players in game-type situations that are hard to reproduce in practice. It also provided a good foundation for the upcoming 2009 season.
"We are so much further ahead than we were last year as far as getting our plays in and getting our system in, so I think we got to focus more this fall on baseball and trying to win the game instead of learn the game."
VOLS 2009 SCHEDULE RATED FOURTH-TOUGHEST IN SEC
Tennessee's 2009 schedule was recently rated by SEBaseball.com as the fourth-toughest among Southeastern Conference teams. The Vols non-conference slate this coming season includes games against two-time recent national champion Oregon State, Western Kentucky, Louisville, Coastal Carolina and Georgia Tech, just to name a few.
"I think kids want to play against the best possible competition," UT head coach Todd Raleigh said. "We play many of the top teams in the country ever year just by virtue of playing in the SEC. But we can control the non-conference portion of our schedule. I think it's important to play against high-caliber teams so that we are prepared once we start SEC play. A strong schedule helps in recruiting, it helps in player development, it helps your RPI and ultimately it helps your attendance because our fans are smart and they want to see good baseball."
