The final weekend of college baseball's regular season found Tennessee in a battle at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with its eye on the SEC standings.

Same scenario as last year, but with one substantial difference.

This time, the Vols had their eye on the top of the standings, not the bottom.

The 2004 Vols had to win their next-to-last game to clinch the eighth and final berth for the SEC tournament.

The 2005 Vols were playing for a championship Sunday.

They didn't get it, as it turned out. Florida completed its sweep at Vanderbilt. Tennessee's bats fell silent in a 4-1 loss to Georgia.

"We finished second,'' said UT coach Rod Delmonico, "and from where we started, I'll take that.''

Delmonico should be able to take it to the bank.

Tennessee's postseason performance has yet to write the final evaluation of this team. But it can already be said that Delmonico delivered one of his better coaching jobs with his back to the wall.

In fact, Delmonico's boss did say it.

"I think Rod's done a great job,'' UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Sunday.

"In some ways he was challenged last year after the season and I think he's responded to that challenge by the way our team has competed this year.''

After a disappointing NCAA regional showing last June, Hamilton, a rookie athletic director, took a long look at his baseball coach.

Hamilton didn't get out the hook. But he stood pat: no raise; no contract extension.

Thus Delmonico opened 2005 with only two years left on the five-year deal he signed in 2001.

Furthermore, he started the season with a team projected to finish near the bottom of the SEC East for a fourth consecutive year.

Look at the Vols now.

They led the SEC in hitting and slugging percentage. They built a solid team around star pitcher Luke Hochevar and got major contributions from freshmen James Adkins, J.P. Arencibia and Julio Borbon.

They're heading to the SEC tournament as the No. 3 seed, finishing with the second-best record in the league (18-11).

In contrast to last year's collapse, this team won nine of its final 13 games.

This year, Hamilton has bid to host an NCAA regional tournament. He took a pass last year.

This isn't the first time Delmonico has made contact when he was behind in the count. In fact, 2005 looks a lot like 2001.

After the 2000 campaign, UT baseball was in a slump. Coming off three sub-par seasons, Delmonico had only two years left on the five-year deal he signed in 1997.

But in 2001, led by Chris Burke, the Vols finished second in the SEC East, hosted an NCAA regional and advanced to Omaha.

After tying for third place in the College World Series, Delmonico signed a new five-year deal.

And now the pattern repeats itself.

The Vols finished fourth, fourth and fifth in the SEC East. The coach's contract shriveled from five to two years.

And again Delmonico has come up with a big season when he needed one.

"I never looked at it that way,'' he said.

"Steve Spurrier said it best. Sometimes when coaches lose, they work just as hard as the coaches who win. And that's so true.''

There are numerous reasons why Tennessee showed such improvement from last season to this.

Staying healthy might be the biggest. Having Hochevar's golden arm for an entire season, Delmonico said, allowed the Vols' offense to relax and get busy.

"You'll notice we won nine out of 10 Friday nights and we won convincingly,'' Delmonico said. "A lot of those nights we got 12 or 14 hits.''

Center fielder Josh Alley said this team has a more unselfish attitude.

"I don't want to mention names,'' Alley said, "but there were some guys last year who just weren't good team guys.''

It all added up, like timely hits strung together to produce a five-run inning.

There's a lot of baseball to be played before the Vols can complete the parallel to 2001 by making it to Omaha. And Hamilton won't address the precise terms of his coach's future until the final out.

Even so, Delmonico should be past having to worry if he has a future.

"I'm sure it was in the back of his mind,'' Alley said, "but his coaching didn't change any.''

Last winter, Hamilton waited through a painful basketball season, hoping for evidence to maintain confidence in the leadership of coach Buzz Peterson. In the end, it wasn't there.

This spring, it's been a different story.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.