A message was sent to the Tennessee baseball team on Sunday.

It came from first-year head coach Todd Raleigh and it came in the form of a lineup change.

Sophomore returning starters Jeff Lockwood and Yan Gomes had to watch from the bench as UT (2-1) defeated Morehead State 8-4 to take the first series of the season.

Raleigh clearly wasn't thrilled with the Vols' 4-1 loss to the Eagles on Saturday.

"Hopefully, it's a big message, yeah," Raleigh said. "I've been very clear and up front to focus on the process, not the outcome. You're going to have to play hard.

"If you don't play what I consider as hard ..."

You're going to sit.

Gomes went 0-for-7 in the first two games of the season and Lockwood was 0-for-4 and stranded four men in his one start Saturday.

"They didn't do anything crazy bad," Raleigh said. "But I know there's more in there."

The Vols' started four true freshmen and the coaching staff also made a late pitching change. UT started junior college transfer Joey Rosas in order to save redshirt freshman Bryan Morgado for today's 3 p.m. game against Furman at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

"We just thought it would be a better matchup against Furman," Raleigh said. "We're trying to get our pitching in line a little more for this weekend (a three-game road trip to the Houston College Classic with games against Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma)."

Rosas, a ninth-round selection of the Washington Nationals in 2006, picked up his first victory by going five innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out five.

The Vols' bats woke up from Saturday's slumber with 13 hits.

Designated hitter Shawn Griffin hit a solo home run in the third to make it 2-0 and Cody Brown added a two-run homer in the fourth to make it 6-0.

"Our plan was to come out and jump on the first pitch and we did that," Brown said. "We didn't stop the whole game. We just tried to play with no pressure and we just competed."

Tennessee irritated Raleigh again by stranding 13 runners.

"That's unbelievable," he said. "I think we're fighting the game a little bit right now and having to work for everything.

"We got eight runs, but it seemed like we had to work a lot for them."

Tanner Moore, starting at first base in place of Lockwood, went 2-for-3 and scored three runs.

The freshmen - Kentrail Davis, Josh Liles, Blake Forsythe and P.J. Polk - combined for five hits, three runs and three RBIs.

UT's bullpen struggled at times for the second consecutive game.

D.J. Leffler gave up three hits and three runs in two innings. Danny Wiltz earned the save and didn't allow a hit in the final two innings.

Notebook: Junior shortstop Danny Lima (2-for-5, RBI) made the defensive play of the game, diving to snag a low line drive to his right and throwing back to second for a double play in the third ... Morehead State starter Trey Smith was 6-foot-8, 175 pounds ... The Vols are playing five home games in six days to open the season, with Furman today and Austin-Peay (3 p.m. Wednesday).

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.