University of Tennessee Athletics
Getting on Base Key for Polk
April 09, 2010 | Baseball
April 9, 2010
Austin Baird
UTSports.com
If you know what to look for in a box score, you can tell how well a game went for a team without seeing the final score.
For some teams, it's the number of extra-base hits from the middle of the lineup. For others, it's how many innings the starter threw.
For Tennessee, check and see how many times leadoff hitter P.J. Polk reached base, and you'll have a pretty good idea how things went for the Vols.
"(When Polk and No. 2 hitter Khayyan Norfork) are hitting the ball and making good contact, it helps open things up for Cody (Hawn) and everyone who hits behind them," UT coach Todd Raleigh said. "When they're not, well, it's a different story."
When Polk gets on base, it means a happy ending. In all 15 wins this season, Polk has reached base at least twice.
But the reverse is true as well. The Vols haven't won a game when Polk is hitless or reaches base just one time, although that has only happened seven times in 30 contests.
The junior outfielder's .483 on-base-percentage leads the team. So do his seven homers, 15 stolen bases and 24 walks.
In contrast, in the team's losses, he's batting just .241 with four RBIs.
"I think I've been a sparkplug for the offense this year," Polk said. "It's something I take pride in and work hard at every night. Obviously it doesn't always happen but that's the goal and that's what I expect for myself."
Polk's contribution has been significant, beginning with his freshman season in 2008 when he started 42 games. But Raleigh says he's turned a corner this year and has established himself on a national level.
The difference, says Raleigh, goes back to his work ethic, his increased maturity and the coaching of first-year assistant Bill Currier, who joined the Vols after the University of Vermont discontinued its baseball program.
"Coach Currier has been drilling us ever since the beginning of the fall," Polk said. "That's making the difference now. I'm trying to stay within myself and get on top of the ball...and use my speed so I can get on base and get things started for us."
He's done that and more in the past few games.
After hitting .524 and helping Tennessee's baseball team win four of five games, he was named Louisville Slugger national player of the week and was named SEC player of the week for the second time this season.
Awards and national attention is nice but winning down the stretch is Polk's only concern for the time being.
Even with two wins against No. 11 Ole Miss last weekend - the Vols' first wins in SEC play - UT is in a three-way tie with Georgia and Kentucky for the final spot in the SEC tournament.
"[The wins at Ole Miss] did a lot for this team and showed that we can play with anybody," Polk said. "Now we have to play at that level night in and night out so we can prove where we stand in the conference."
This weekend's series against No. 8 Florida will be just as important.
"Every SEC series is big but this one means that much more," Polk said. "We'll go out there and fight."
