This Week's Scouting Report

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Season stats after today's games:

UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics - Baseball

Tennessee notes:

Serrano says Hunter Martin is out due to shoulder soreness.

Vols beat Appalachian State 5 -3

Andy Cox gets the W, Owenby picks up the save.

Grotz had a rough outing today.

Serrano on the AS win and UNLV:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEbZrCDyTTQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]



SEC Stats: Updated 2/20

The Automated ScoreBook - Team Statistics


CBD's 2014 Regional Projections as of Feb 18: http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2014/02/18/2014-ncaa-regional-projections-feb-18th/


2014 Men's College Baseball SEC Conference Home Page - WarrenNolan.com




UNLV

Rebels Ready For Trip To Rocky Top - UNLV Official Athletic Site

UNLV took 3 out of 4 games from us last year. Those games were the first for guys like Simcox, Stewart, VJax, even Scott Price.

The Vols committed seven errors. 44 runners left on base, spread across those four games.

The three losses were all one run games, the final game not decided until the 14th inning. We won the third game 8-3. Andy Cox went four innings, Trevor Bettencourt three, Cox getting the win, B'court getting the save.

UNLV is 4-0 after their opening series with Central Michigan. They are ranked #29 by BA.

The guy that started game one against us last year, Erick Feddie, was just named Mountain West Pitcher of the Week.

Coach Aric Thomas' comments from radio interview regarding Feddie :

THOMAS: We're going to see a really good guy on Friday night vs. UNLV. He'll be the best arm we've seen yet and a high draft pick.

The native Las Vegan gave up just one hit and did not walk a single batter in the Rebels' combined shutout 5-0 victory over Central Michigan. He struck out a career-high 11 batters in 7.1 innings of work.

From BA's MWC Preview:

Pitcher of the Year: Erick Fedde, rhp, UNLV.

Fedde performed well last spring and summer—in the Cape Cod League and for Team USA, commanding a 90-94 fastball and a power slider.

Other Projected Regional Teams

UNLV: The Rebels won 37 games last year (their most since 2004) but still fell short of regionals for the eighth straight year. But seven everyday regulars and two weekend starters return, giving UNLV high hopes for 2014.

The fact that Feddie was in the Cape and for USA, might be okay as Smart and Maddox got to see him again later in the year, which may be of some help.

UNLV Stats: UNLV Official Athletic Site - Baseball

All in all, this is going to be a really good test for us. We'll know a lot more about this team after this weekend's games.

Before the season started, this is one series I had the Vols losing 1-2. Based on this past weekend, I still have concerns about our young pitching, however, I feel much better about the offense and defense. Couple that with the home field advantage, which may include some weather...I'm starting to lean Vols , 2-1. What do you guys think?

Probable Starters:

Friday - UT Nick Williams, UNLV Erick Feddie
Saturday - UT Kyle Serrano, UNLV John Richy
Sunday - UT Andrew Lee, UNLV Bryan Bonnell

Richy 2013 info:

Made 19 appearances and started 11 games for the Rebels as a sophomore ... Sported a 7-5 record with a 4.33 ERA and recorded one save ...

Richy (Jr.) went up against Andy Cox last year in the second game of the series.

Richy's stats in the game: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 2 SO

The Vols won that game.

This season Richy has: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO, 2.45 ERA

Bonnell (So.) 2013 info:

Played in 21 games and made two starts for the Rebels as a true freshman ... Started first career game against Tennessee at first base on February 16

This season Bonnell has: 9 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO, 1.00 ERA


GBO!

 

[vol66]

update bump.

 

[ShowmeVols]

Appalachian State will be tougher than Purdue and provide a good measuring stick of our year-to-year progress. They finished last year with about the same RPI and ISR as the Vols.

UNLV is a likely regional team. A step up in competition to get ready for conference play.

 

[vol66]

Appalachian State will be tougher than Purdue and provide a good measuring stick of our year-to-year progress. They finished last year with about the same RPI and ISR as the Vols.

UNLV is a likely regional team. A step up in competition to get ready for conference play.

A good showing versus UNLV would turn some heads nationally wouldn't it?

 

[BigOrange51]

As Aaron Fitt stated in his chat, I think the heads are already turned. I think those heads still aren't sure what they think. I don't know if a good showing against UNLV would convince anyone, but a great weekend might make a few into believers. Even so, having believers has never won anyone anything so that wouldn't be my goal for 2 weeks into the season. At the same time, I'm not going to complain about positive publicity either.

I think we should win this series, as I feel about all home series for the remainder of the year. We are looking more like a legitimate SEC baseball team, and legitimate SEC teams win series at home. That is just how it works.

 

[vol66]

As Aaron Fitt stated in his chat, I think the heads are already turned. I think those heads still aren't sure what they think. I don't know if a good showing against UNLV would convince anyone, but a great weekend might make a few into believers. Even so, having believers has never won anyone anything so that wouldn't be my goal for 2 weeks into the season. At the same time, I'm not going to complain about positive publicity either.

I think we should win this series, as I feel about all home series for the remainder of the year. We are looking more like a legitimate SEC baseball team, and legitimate SEC teams win series at home. That is just how it works.

I think most of that is spot on. With the UNLV series, I still worry about our young starters. If the bats are for real and the defense plays well, that may be enough to cover our lack of experience on the hill. As I said above, we dropped three games to them at their place last season, all by one run, we left too many stranded and made too many errors. Clean that up and those are wins.
Certainly, there is reason to be optimistic...cautiously.

 

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updated

 

[txbo]

Great report. Thanks for posting it.

 

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SERRANO: We have a great challenge this weekend with UNLV. We're going to see some really good pitching. It's going to be a great matchup.

 

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Final UNLV update.

 

[vol66]

Great report. Thanks for posting it.

:hi:

 

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9AqLNY7ENA&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]