TENNESSEE 2012 VOLUNTEER BASEBALL 14 CWS Appearances on Staff | 36 All-Americans | 15 1st-Round Picks | 3 SEC Championships TENNESSEE (22-15, 7-8) vs. MISSISSIPPI ST. (21-16, 5-10) April 19-21 |Dudy Noble Field | Starkville, Miss.
Tennessee 2012 Record: 21-14, 7-8 SEC Head Coach: Dave Serrano First year at UT (311-154-1)
VOLUNTEERS STARTING ROTATION THURSDAY - 6:30 CT RHP Zack Godley (4-2, 3.81) FRIDAY - 6:30 CT RHP Robbie Kidd (2-0, 3.19) SATURDAY - 1 CT RHP Nick Williams (2-4, 3.15)
Mississippi State BULLDOGS STARTING ROTATION
2012 Record: 21-16, 5-10 SEC THURSDAY - 6:30 CT RHP Chris Stratton (7-0, 2.98) Head Coach: John Cohen FRIDAY - 6:30 CT RHP Kendall Graveman (2-2, 3.25) Fourth year at MSU (107-103) SATURDAY - 1 CT TBA
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TENNESSEE VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
Weather Forecast
Mississippi State leads the all-time series Friday Saturday against Tennessee, 50-25, including a 28-11 mark Thursday in Starkville. Senior Zach Osborne is a career .280 hitter in seven games against the Bulldogs and the only member of the current UT squad with a home run Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy T-Storms against MSU. 81° | 59° | 10% 70° | 54° | 60% Junior Davis Morgan was 4-for-11 (.364) with 80° | 56° | 10% a double and two RBIs in the series against Mississippi State last year in Knoxville. Overall: Mississippi State leads 50-25 TENNESSEE TIDBITS In Knoxville: Mississippi St. leads 17-12 Tennessee currently ranks 51st in the NCAA RPI with wins In Starkville: Mississippi St. leads 28-11 over No. 5 Kentucky, No. 8 South Carolina and No. 1 Florida. At Neutral Sites: Miss. St. leads 4-2 The Tennessee bullpen has an ERA of 1.59 over its last 14 Last 10 Meetings: MSU leads 7-3 (W5) games (12 ER in 68.0 IP), including 11.1 shutout innings in its sweep over Alabama. During the run, eight pitchers have com- LAST 10 MEETINGS bined to strike out 60 and hold opposing hitters to a .225 average. 4/27/2008 Starkville (8) L. 3-7 In 15 appearances out of the bullpen, junior RHP Nick 4/10/2009 Knoxville W, 6-1 Blount has a 1.00 ERA (2 ER) over 18.0 innings of work. During W, 4-2 that time, he has struck out 15 and walked just three. He is 10- 4/11/2009 Knoxville 4/12/2009 Knoxville L, 9-10 for-10 in save opportunities, including a remarkable seven in W, 15-13 seven straight games from March 27-April 6. As a starter, he had 4/16/2010 Starkville 4/17/2010 Starkville L, 7-11 an ERA of 6.45 over 22.1 innings. L, 6-14 With a double in the third inning against Alabama on 4/18/2010 Starkville Knoxville L, 5-16 March 30, UT senior Zach Osborne became just the 15th play- 5/6/2011 Knoxville L, 3-5 er in school history to record 200+ hits. He currently has 209 5/72011 which places him 12 out of the top 10 (221 - Jeff Christensen). 5/8/2011 Knoxville L, 2-5 Freshman Richard Carter has been the team’s hottest hitter with six hits (5 singles, 2 doubles) and five RBIs in his last seven at-bats. He had the first four-hit game by a Vol this year vs. ETSU on April 17, going 4-for-4 and driving in two runs.
Series Breakdown
weet This... Important facts about today’s game are included below in 140 characters or less. Freshman @RichardC1025 has been @Vol_Baseball’s hottest hitter with six hits and five RBis in his last seven at-bats. UT senior shortstop @ZOzzie2 is just the 15th player in #Vols history with over 200 hits, having accumulated 209. In addition, @ZOzzie2 has the highest fielding percentage among all regular @SECSportsUpdate shortstops this season at .984 2012 Tennessee Volunteer Baseball Game Notes
2012 SCHEDULE
(22-15, 7-8 SEC)
Date Opponent (TV) Time/Result FEBRUARY 17 Fri. Northern Illinois W, 7-1 18 Sat. Northern Illinois W, 10-5 19 Sun. Northern Illinois W, 7-2 21 Tue. Western Kentucky W, 8-7 (13) 24 Fri. Seton Hall W, 9-2 25 Sat. Seton Hall W, 3-2 (11) 26 Sun. Seton Hall W, 10-2 28 Tue. MTSU L, 5-4 (10) MARCH 2 Fri. vs. Houston & (ESPN3) L, 7-4 3 Sat. vs. #16 Texas & (LHN) W, 5-4 4 Sun. vs. #4 Rice & (ESPN3) L, 11-1 7 Wed. Ball State W, 9-7 9 Fri. Louisiana-Monroe W, 4-0 10 Sat. Louisiana-Monroe L, 8-6 (10) 11 Sun. Louisiana-Monroe L, 7-4 13 Tue. Tennessee Tech (FS South) L, 5-1 16 Fri. at #19 Georgia * L, 4-0 17 Sat. at #19 Georgia * L, 10-5 18 Sun. at #19 Georgia * W, 3-0 21 Wed. Florida International W, 4-3 (11) 23 Fri. #2 Kentucky * W, 4-1 24 Sat. #2 Kentucky * L, 6-2 25 Sun. #2 Kentucky * L, 6-0 (7) 27 Tue. Mississippi Valley State W, 5-2 28 Wed. Mississippi Valley State W, 8-4 30 Fri. Alabama * W, 10-8 31 Sat. Alabama * (CSS) W, 4-2 APRIL 1 Sun. Alabama * W, 5-3 (7) 4 Wed. Memphis (FSSO) W, 6-3 6 Fri. at #10 South Carolina * W, 5-4 7 Sat. at #10 South Carolina * (ESPNU) L, 2-1 8 Sun. at #10 South Carolina * L, 6-1 11 Wed. at ETSU L, 4-3 13 Fri. #4 Florida * L, 3-1 14 Sat. #4 Florida * (SPSO) W, 5-4 15 Sun. #4 Florida * L, 8-1 17 Tue. ETSU W, 5-4 19 Thu. at Mississippi State * (ESPNU) 6:30 p.m. CT 20 Fri. at Mississippi State * 6:30 p.m. CT 21 Sat. at Mississippi State * 1 p.m. CT 24 Wed. Austin Peay 7 p.m. 27 Fri. at Auburn * 6 p.m. CT 28 Sat. at Auburn * 3 p.m. CT 29 Sun. at Auburn * 1 p.m. CT MAY 4 Fri. Vanderbilt * 6 p.m. 5 Sat. Vanderbilt * (CSS) 1 p.m. 6 Sun. Vanderbilt * 2 p.m. 9 Wed. at Memphis (FOX SS) 6:30 p.m. CT 11 Fri. at Ole Miss * 6:30 p.m. CT 12 Sat. at Ole Miss * 4 p.m. CT 13 Sun. at Ole Miss * 1:30 p.m. CT 15 Tue. at MTSU 6 p.m. CT 17 Thu. Arkansas * 6 p.m. 18 Fri. Arkansas * 6 p.m. 19 Sat. Arkansas * 4 p.m. Home Games in Bold *-SEC Game & - Houston College Classic (Minute Maid Park)
PROBABLE UT STARTERS Avg. HR RBI Notes C
21
Ethan Bennett
So. .181
2
9
1B
30
Davis Morgan
Sr. .284
1
14 Hit .390 (23x59, 11 RBIs) during month of March
Second on team with nine career home runs
2B
1
Will Maddox
Fr. .312
1
14 Has a team-leading 11 multi-hit games this year
3B
11
Zach Luther
Jr. .248
0
4
SS
12
Zach Osborne
Sr. .279
0
13 Just 15th player in UT history with 200+ hits (210)
RF
5
Chris Pierce
Sr. .292
1
14 Stole home vs. Alabama (3/30), first Vol to do so since 2010
CF
7
Chris Fritts
Jr. .271
2
23 Diving catch vs UF earned top billing on SC Top-10 Plays
LF
23
Richard Carter
Fr. .409
0
7
DH
20
Drew Steckenrider Jr. .226
5
17 First player to hit HR off of SC’s Michael Roth this year
Has hits in eight of his last 10 games (11-for-39)
Has six hits and five RBIs in his last seven at-bats
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