Your Initial Impression After The First 2?

[cwells52]

I know I know, it's only 2 games but the strides that have been made from this time last year to the team that we saw play today are incredible. I thought our pitchers performed well and worked their way out of tight spots several times when things started to look bad. Will Maddox is well Will Maddox making several incredible plays to rob Purdue of base hits and a couple of runs. At the plate we were more aggressively patient, making Purdue pitch too us and when they made mistakes we capitalized IMO. Christin Stewart hit the ball great going 5-8 on the day and on a warm day where the ball would travel, I think 2 of those shots would have been homeruns. I also thought that Serrano had a nice outing on the mound for this first ever start and settled down nicely after hitting the 2 Boilermakers and giving up the 2 runs. Overall I was very happy with the effort on the field today from the Vols and look forward to seeing how they perform tomorrow.

 

[volfan411]

I think today was a great start and really look forward to this season and seeing this team grow.

I was wondering what happened to Esparza? Did he leave the program or did he get injured.

 

[vol66]

I know I know, it's only 2 games but the strides that have been made from this time last year to the team that we saw play today are incredible. I thought our pitchers performed well and worked their way out of tight spots several times when things started to look bad. Will Maddox is well Will Maddox making several incredible plays to rob Purdue of base hits and a couple of runs. At the plate we were more aggressively patient, making Purdue pitch too us and when they made mistakes we capitalized IMO. Christin Stewart hit the ball great going 5-8 on the day and on a warm day where the ball would travel, I think 2 of those shots would have been homeruns. I also thought that Serrano had a nice outing on the mound for this first ever start and settled down nicely after hitting the 2 Boilermakers and giving up the 2 runs. Overall I was very happy with the effort on the field today from the Vols and look forward to seeing how they perform tomorrow.

Agree with all of the above. This time last year, a lot of the good battles at the plate today would have been strike outs last year. Now they are hits or walks.

We weren't tested to much in the field today (another departure from last year), but when we were, we made the plays. When the dbl play was there we got it, but we didn't make a wild throw if it wasn't. Shows maturity imo. Maddox made one spectacular. gold glove, ESPN worthy play.

Kyle Serrano, had a bit of a tough outing, though for a freshman, and compared to last year, was it really a tough outing or were our expectations kinda high? I'm actually glad he had to face a little adversity, that will help as we go I reckon.

Hunter Martin did well and Williams looked really good to me, steady.

Let's see if they can pick up the sweep tomorrow, see if they can handle some success.

Could not have gone much better though, exciting.

 

[RollerVol]

Agree with all of the above. This time last year, a lot of the good battles at the plate today would have been strike outs last year. Now they are hits or walks.

We weren't tested to much in the field today (another departure from last year), but when we were, we made the plays. When the dbl play was there we got it, but we didn't make a wild throw if it wasn't. Shows maturity imo. Maddox made one spectacular. gold glove, ESPN worthy play.

Kyle Serrano, had a bit of a tough outing, though for a freshman, and compared to last year, was it really a tough outing or were our expectations kinda high? I'm actually glad he had to face a little adversity, that will help as we go I reckon.

Hunter Martin did well and Williams looked really good to me, steady.

Let's see if they can pick up the sweep tomorrow, see if they can handle some success.

Could not have gone much better though, exciting.

I know, right. Very impressive. Be nice to go to SECCG this year. We'll see....
GO VOLS!

 

[vol66]

I think today was a great start and really look forward to this season and seeing this team grow.

I was wondering what happened to Esparza? Did he leave the program or did he get injured.

Esparza had a decent summer in Green Bay, I'm guessing it was one of those mutual decision deals. I believe he's at So. Cypress CC. in California.

Pitched 5 and 1/3 innings yesterday.

 

[fryeguy93]

Our younger pitchers were obviously uptight and throwing high. Which to CDS is a cardinal sin.

However, they worked out of their self made jam most of the time.

Stewart may be contending for SEC POY this season. You can tell the pitchers are scared to death of him.

Simcox was really uptight at the plate early on but settled in well by end of his day.

The Vols did a great job batting with two strikes. Houser comes to mind.

Purdue threw in the towel late and played a lot of young pitchers.

Boilermakers had a freshman, who in his first appearance balked on first pitch and then walk the first man in 4-straight pitches.

 

[ShowmeVols]

Encouraging . . . but inconclusive.

We have a lot of non-conference home games this season against teams whose RPI was worse than 200 last year. I'm fine with that scheduling strategy for giving the coaching staff a chance to see what they have and to build confidence in a young team. But we shouldn't attach too much significance to winning games we should win.

Even so, I think Hoover is realistic this year.

 

[ReebaVol]

Lots of baseball left, but I liked what I saw. We finally look like an SEC lineup and the pitching is young but talented.

 

[LocoVol]

Lots of ball to go but got to be excited with the start.

 

[ShowmeVols]

Comment about Vols by Aaron Fitt at Baseball America in his weekly chat:

"I do get a “defiantly confident” vibe coming out of Knoxville — and honestly, that approach has worked very well for Serrano in the past. When he feels good about the talent on his roster, he’s not afraid to tell people about it, and his teams tend to feed off his confidence. I also like Tennessee’s talent, and I think it would be a regional team in any other conference — I just saw nine or 10 other SEC teams in the preseason that I like just as much or more. I would not be at all surprised to see the Vols make a regional this year; I’m very intrigued by that club. But it won’t be easy in the SEC."

 

[sport3500]

After the sweep of Purdue, if the pitching staff can continue to give UT 6 or 7 strong innings every time, this team has a chance to compete for the SEC championship this season.

 

[Zues1]

Reserved, but hopeful

 

[txbo]

I saw some really good stuff coming from those young arms. When they settle down, they could be nasty.