University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Take on James Madison Wednesday
March 04, 2008 | Baseball
The Tennessee baseball team returns to Robert M. Lindsay Field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Wednesday to host James Madison. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. The Volunteers are looking to halt a two-game losing skid, while the Dukes are venturing away from Harrisonburg, Va., for the first time this season.
Both clubs bring identical 4-3 records into Wednesday???s game. Tennessee???s starting pitcher will be junior left-hander Joey Rosas (1-0, 3.00 ERA), while JMU sends senior left-hander Trevor Kaylid (0-1, 5.68 ERA) to the hill.
Offensively, the Vols continue to be paced by junior third baseman Cody Brown. The Knoxville, Tenn., native leads the team in batting average (.435), RBI (7), slugging (.652) and on-base percentage (.533) while sharing the team lead in hits with senior second baseman Andy Simunic with 10. Simunic is a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen-base attempts this season and leads the team with five runs scored.
Tennessee is batting .261 as a team and has been hampered by errors early in the season (1.9 per game).
James Madison is led by 11th-year head coach Joe ???Spanky??? McFarland. The Dukes are picked by Collegiate Baseball to finish fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association this season after a ninth-place finish a year ago.
The Dukes??? top hitters are junior outfielder Matt Townsend (.435, 10 hits, six RBI) sophomore first baseman Steven Caseres (.346, nine hits, four RBI) and senior utilityman Joe Lake (.333, nine hits, seven RBI). As a team, James Madison is batting .280.
Tennessee leads the all-time series with James Madison 2-0, dating to 2003. Wednesday???s game will be the first meeting in Knoxville. First-year UT head coach Todd Raleigh owns a 1-0 career record against the Dukes but is quite familiar with the school. He spent four seasons as an assistant coach at James Madison from 1995-98.
NINTH TELEVISED GAME ADDED TO TENNESSEE SCHEDULE
Tennessee???s total of televised regular-season games increased to nine recently when it was announced that UT???s game at Auburn on March 29 would be televised regionally on CSS. First pitch remains at 3 p.m. CT.
The Vols have two games set to air on Fox Sports Net, four on SportSouth and three on CSS.
A complete listing of UT???s televised games can be accessed online at UTsports.com.
