Feb. 20, 2017

LIVE STATS WATCH: THEW.TV GAME NOTES 2017 RECORD BOOK 2017 SCHEDULE

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Tennessee Baseball heads to the west coast this week, taking on the Loyola Marymount Lions in a midweek matchup at George C. Page Stadium on Wednesday, Feb. 22, slated for 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) in Los Angeles, Calif.

More Info

Game Time & Broadcast Info

Opponent: Loyola Marymount Lions
Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)
Venue: George C. Page Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Live Stats: LMULions.com
Watch: TheW.TV (Stream)

Tennessee (2-1)

Roster Schedule 2017 Stats 2016 Final Stats

Loyola Marymount (2-1)

Roster Schedule 2017 Stats 2016 Final Stats

For the third consecutive year, the Vols opened their season on the road. Following UT's Opening Weekend series in Memphis, the Big Orange heads west for a single-game matchup at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, Calif. (Feb. 22) before travelling to San Diego to participate in the Tony Gwynn Classic on Feb. 24-26.

After a four-game stint in California, the Volunteers will return to Knoxville for their first home series of the season vs. Norfolk State on March 3-5.

On the season, the Volunteers are scheduled to play 15 of their 55 regular season games against five 2016 NCAA postseason participants, including 2016 SEC Tournament Champion Texas A&M.

Wed. Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) - Fr. RHP Zach Linginfelter (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. Soph. RHP Codie Paiva (0-0, 6.00 ERA)

Tennessee vs. Loyola Marymount Series

Overall: First Meeting
Dave Serrano vs. LMU: 10-3-1 (5-3 with Cal State Fullerton; 5-0-1 with UC Irvine)

Entering 2017, the Tennessee Baseball program owns a 3-1 all-time record against teams in the West Coast Conference.

Looking At The Lions

Loyola Marymount (2-1) enters the midweek matchup with UT having just won a three-game series vs. No. 19-ranked UC Santa Barbara.
Senior Phil Caulfield stole seven bases to help lead his Lions to their series win over UCSB (1-2) in an 8-2 victory on Sunday. His seven stolen bases matched a program record for the Lions previously achieved three times, including most recently on March 3, 2013 vs. Bradley.
Sophomore right-hander Codie Paiva (0-0, 6.00 ERA) gets the start against Tennessee freshman Zach Linginfelter on Wednesday night. Paiva made one relief appearance in the UCSB series, allowing two runs in 3.0 innings of work. Last season, the Hawaii native pitched to a 1-0 record and a 1.57 ERA over 11 appearances and one start.
Entering 2017, LMU was picked to finish seventh overall in the West Coast Conference by the WCC Preseason Coaches' Poll and D1Baseball.com.
The Lions return two All-WCC players from 2016 in senior Phil Caulfield (First Team) and sophomore Niko Decolati (All-Freshman). Caulfield is also a 2017 Preseason All-West Coast Conference selection.
In 2016, the Lions used 48 different lineups in 53 games en route to a 26-27 record.
LMU has played for the WCC Championship in two of the last three years (both losses to Pepperdine in 2014 and 2015). The Lions last earned a WCC Championship and NCAA berth in 2000.

The 2017 Volunteers

The Vols' 2017 roster boasts 17 newcomers including 14 true freshmen, two JUCO transfers and one graduate transfer.
Through UT's first three games, 13 total newcomers made their Tennessee debuts in 2017 (including 10 freshmen).
Despite losing seven positional starters from the 2016 season, UT returns 18 lettermen including six true seniors.
Senior Jeff Moberg returns to action following a season-ending knee injury on March 15 last year.
Moberg played a career-best campaign over his first 16 games of the season, leading the NCAA and SEC with 28 runs scored, 1.75 runs scored per game, and ranking tied for second with nine doubles during that span. His .415 average also ranked T-4th in the SEC.
Senior Jordan Rodgers returns to third base for the Vols, hitting .282 with 56 RBI as a junior in 2016.
To begin SEC play last season, Rodgers led the NCAA in RBI and finished the year tied for fourth in the SEC with 56 RBI. On April 1, 2016 vs. Kentucky, he also became the third Vol in Tennessee history to hit for the cycle.

Vols On The Preseason Charts

Baseball America

Top 100 College Draft Prospects: Zach Warren (No. 64) and Kyle Serrano (No. 93)
2017 Top 20 SEC Prospects: Zach Warren (No. 17)
2017 Top SEC Freshmen: Zach Linginfelter (No. 5)

D1Baseball.com

Top 200 Starting Pitchers: Zach Warren (No. 35) and Will Neely (No. 186)
Top 50 Relief Pitchers: Kyle Serrano (No. 28) and Hunter Martin (No. 42)
Top 50 College Catchers: Benito Santiago (No. 28)]
Top 50 Second Basemen: Jeff Moberg (No. 24)
Top 50 Third Baseman: Jordan Rodgers (No. 24)
Top 150 Outfielders: Brodie Leftridge (No. 31) and Justin Ammons (No. 132)
Top 100 College Freshman Prospects: Zach Linginfelter (No. 18), Garrett Stallings (No. 54) and Pete Derkay (No. 57)
Top 30 SEC Draft Prospects: Zach Warren (No. 12), Brodie Leftridge (No. 16) and Kyle Serrano (No. 29)
Impact Freshmen in SEC: Zach Linginfelter (No. 9), Garrett Stallings (No. 25) and Pete Derkay (No. 26)

Perfect Game

Top 100 College Juniors: Zach Warren (No. 31) and Brodie Leftridge (No. 54)

California Love

Tennessee's 2017 squad includes six California natives, including Head Coach Dave Serrano and Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Aric Thomas.
Vol veteran Jeff Moberg hails from Murrieta, Calif., where he was a standout shortstop for his Vista Murrieta High School and was named a 2010 and 2011 All-Southwestern League MVP.
Graduate transfer and current UT shortstop Reggie Southall claims Inglewood, Calif. as his hometown and came to Tennessee from the University of Southern California. At USC, Southall hit .266 over 42 games (31 starts) as a redshirt junior in 2016. He also played two years of varsity baseball at Serra High School in Gardena, Calif.
Sophomore righty Daniel Vasquez - native of El Cajon, Calif. - was a four-year letterman and 2014 state champion at Granite Hills High School. He was named to the 2014 Cal Hi Sports All-State First Team and helped his Eagles to a Division Championship.
Orange, Calif. native and Vol freshman Alex Sosnowski played four years of varsity baseball for Villa Park High School in Villa Park, Calif., where he hit .344 as a senior in 2016.
Although born in Knoxville, redshirt junior Kyle Serrano grew up in California before transferring to Farragut High School.

Familiar Foes

LMU Head Coach Jason Gill and UT's Dave Serrano - both mentees of Oregon Head Coach George Horton - coached together on the 2012 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. As the manager in 2012, Serrano added Gill to his staff as assistant coach and helped lead the squad to a 12-5 record, including a bronze medal after finishing 5-2 at Honkbal Week hosted at Pim Mulier Stadium in the Netherlands.
Lions assistant coaches Bobby Andrews and Ronnie Prettyman both played for Dave Serrano's 2004 National Championship team at Cal State Fullerton.

Memphis In The Meantime...

Tennessee went 2-1 in its Opening Weekend series vs. the Memphis Tigers at FedExPark in Memphis, Tenn., marking the first time for the Vols to face Memphis in a three-game series in Memphis since 1981.
With the pair of wins, UT moved to 17-21 in the all-time series vs. Memphis.
Tossing 6.0 scoreless innings in his first start of the season, Knoxville native Will Neely helped lead Tennessee to a 10-0 shutout victory and clinch the series vs. Memphis on Sunday.
Offensively, freshman Andre Lipcius put together a 4-for-5, 2 RBI performance with a team-leading three doubles vs. Memphis. He became the first Vol to record three doubles in a game since Matt Duffy did so against Georgia on May 8, 2010.
The Volunteers lineup combined for 18 hits in the Sunday finale, their most since Feb. 28, 2016 vs. Central Michigan (19 hits).

2016 Season Recap

Tennessee finished its 2016 season with a 29-28 record (9-21 in SEC) and clinched a postseason bid to the SEC Baseball Tournament for the third consecutive year. The tournament berth marked the first time for the Volunteers to appear in the league's postseason tournament in three straight seasons (2014-16) since 1995-97, previously as part of the SEC's six-team and eight-team playoff formats.
The Vols turned an SEC-leading 58 double plays in 2016 and finished the season 13th in the country in double plays turned per game.
Tennessee was also the only SEC team to have three players with more than 50 RBI to end the season, including Cincinnati Reds first-round pick Nick Senzel, St. Louis Cardinals' 14th-round pick Vincent Jackson and returning senior infielder Jordan Rodgers.
Following the Detroit Tigers' first-round selection of Christin Stewart in 2015 and Cincy's second-overall selection of Senzel in 2016, the Vol Baseball program witnessed back-to-back first round picks for the first time since 2005-06.

On Deck for the Vols

Tennessee continues its week-long California trip with a visit to San Diego, Calif. to participate in the 2017 Tony Gwynn Classic, set for Friday, Feb. 24 - Sunday, Feb. 26.

The Volunteers are set for a Friday doubleheader, playing the Seton Hall Pirates at 4 p.m. ET, followed by a matchup against co-tournament host San Diego State at 9 p.m. ET. Sunday's opponent is TBD.