University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols welcome USC Upstate Tuesday
March 24, 2008 | Baseball
The Tennessee baseball team???s Tuesday night game against USC Upstate is the Volunteers??? lone home game sandwiched between last week???s five-game road trip and an upcoming stretch of four consecutive road dates. First pitch Tuesday is set for 7 p.m., and the game against the Spartans marks UT???s first midweek night game of the season.
The Vols are 11-2 this season at Robert M. Lindsay Field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and are riding an eight-game home winning streak.
Junior right-hander Ty???Relle Harris (1-0, 1.15 ERA) will start on the mound for Tennessee Tuesday, while USC Upstate sends junior left-hander Phillip Myers (0-0, 5.68 ERA) to the hill.
Harris is coming off a strong performance at Louisville last week, during which he allowed just two earned runs through seven innings to earn his first win as a Vol. Opponents are hitting just .186 against the Fairfield, Calif., native.
Sophomore catcher Yan Gomes and freshman left fielder P.J. Polk have been Tennessee???s top hitters recently, leading the team with batting averages of .350 and .313, respectively, over the last five games. Both players pounded out five hits during last weekend???s series at Georgia.
The Spartans bring a 10-12 (7-5 A-Sun) record into Tuesday???s game and are hitting .278 as a team with a 5.78 staff ERA. Senior first baseman Andrew Runion leads the club with a .363 batting average and 29 hits. Junior catcher Phillip Morgan, meanwhile, leads the Spartans in home runs (three) and RBI (24).
Tennessee leads the all-time series with USC Upstate (formerly South Carolina-Spartanburg) 3-1, dating to 1987.
Tennessee assistant coach Bradley LeCroy and Spartans assistant coach Russell Triplett were college teammates???both infielders???at Clemson. And when LeCroy vacated the position of volunteer assistant coach at Clemson following the 2005 season, Triplett took over that post in 2006. Triplett is now in his second season as USC Upstate???s infielders coach.
Fans can access a free audio webcast of Tuesday's game online at UTsports.com.
