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James Madison walks away from Vols, 10-3

By Mark Burgess (Contact)
Originally published 08:39 p.m., March 5, 2008
Updated 08:39 p.m., March 5, 2008

U-G-L-Y - there weren’t any alibis.

Tennessee hitters struck out 10 times, including seven times looking at strike three.

Seven UT pitchers combined to walk 11 batters and give up 11 hits.

The Vols’ defense committed four errors.

Add those elements together and you get a 10-3 loss at home to James Madison University on Wednesday.

“This is definitely a little frustrating,” senior second baseman Andy Simunic said. “We can’t blame the pitching staff because they’ve been awesome this year.

“We just kind of struggled today.”

Tennessee (4-4) dropped its third consecutive game going into this weekend’s three-game series at home against Eastern Michigan.

After beating No. 3-ranked Texas on Friday, the Vols have lost to Texas Tech, Oklahoma and James Madison.

“The game was similar to Morehead State, Furman and all three games this weekend, except we didn’t pitch today,” UT coach Todd Raleigh said. “We beat Furman 2-1. We still had our four errors, we still left 11 on base today, but we just didn’t pitch.”

It’s not a routine the Vols want to fall into with the SEC season just around the corner with LSU coming to town March 14-16.

“We’re just trying to keep everybody’s heads up and stay positive,” Simunic said. “It’s a struggle. I don’t want to lose and it’s tough to swallow a three-game losing streak, but we’ll keep going and get after it.”

The Vols dug themselves a hole when starter Joey Rosas was touched for four runs in the top of the first inning.

Setting a trend, he walked the first two batters he faced before giving up a two-run homer to Steven Caseres and a triple to Matt Browning.

The Vols answered with two runs in the bottom of the first, keyed by an RBI double from freshman PJ Polk, but UT was out of answers after that. Jarred Frazier’s solo home run in the eighth would be the Vols’ only other score.

Meanwhile, James Madison was racking up two runs in the fourth off Zane Stone, two in the fifth on a solo homer off Stone and four walks from D.J. Lefler, one in the seventh off Danny Wiltz and one in the eighth off Aaron Everett.

Polk and Frazier led UT’s offense, each going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

“I think we’re just trying too hard,” Raleigh said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are young and playing and probably shouldn’t be.

“Leadoff guys need to find a way to get on. Middle guys need to drive the ball in the gaps. But everybody’s trying to do too much and nobody’s doing their job.”

Notebook: Junior shortstop Danny Lima and sophomore catcher Yan Gomes were benched against the Dukes. Lima has committed five errors and is hitting .182 in the early going. Gomes is hitting .111 after being one of UT’s top hitters as a freshman last year.

Raleigh said sophomore Cody Grisham and freshman Blake Forsythe have outplayed the veteran duo so far ... Freshman Kentrail Davis wasn’t in the lineup resting a bad finger and sore hamstring ... UT has 17 errors in eight games.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

       11 Comments

Posted by chrisw2967 on March 5, 2008 at 11:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I bet former coach Rod Del. is having a good laugh about now.

Posted by rabidvolfan on March 6, 2008 at 12:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

PATHETIC!!!! What a joke that we ran of Delmonico, a coach that went to 3 world series with 2 runner up national championships. Now we get to enjoy this garbage. Congratualations Hamilton and you big money boosters, who instead of wanting a winning coach, wants someone to kiss their hine end all the time.

Posted by pdhuff on March 6, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hmmm, 5 errors and hitting .182. Sounds like me years ago in summer softball league. No wonder we had Bud on ice after the games.

17 errors in 8 games. Might be the sons of some of our old team. LOL

Posted by bigbluevol on March 6, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Learn to spell rabid. Honestly, that's the only thing that's truly pathetic. Raleigh's style of play is totally different than your beloved Delmonico. For all of your love of Rod, it's pretty funny that you hate Fulmer so much. He's won a national championship and the conference and had other great years. He's done more than Rod ever did, yet you're all about Delmonico. Go root for FSU.

Posted by bbfan on March 6, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

RALEIGH WHAT A LOSER!! Who thought he could coach DI?? I am laughing along with Delmonico.. This guy is sitting ALL Americans because according to him they are not giving there all.. Maybe we should sit Raleigh..then again it is to funny to watch him lose..Never thought I would be routing for the other team but this guy is a JOKE

This guy is going to turn UT into the laughing stock of SEC Baseball. I look forward to watching it happen. WHAT A JOKE

Posted by mj54 on March 6, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

We are in this position because of Delmonico. Raliegh has a tough job ahead of him. He's got to repair the frayed relationships with the state High School coaches that Delmonico severed by being an arrogant jerk.

Rod, in all his wisdom, didn't even try and recruit in state guys like Kingsport DB's Derek Trent, who is at ETSU and tearing up SEC teams. But so far we've got some good recruits lined up for the coming years and it will be a little bit before we get rid of the Delmonico small ball crap and get some good guys in here.

Posted by bowerst on March 6, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Who cares? Our basketball team just won an SEC championship.

Posted by rabidvolfan on March 6, 2008 at 9:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Big Blue Vol, let me help you understand how to judge a coach. After a coach has been somewhere a while, if the program is better than it was when they got the job they are a good coach. If the program is worse than it was when they got the job, they are not a good coach. Now relate that between Fulmer and Delmonico.

Posted by bigbluevol on March 7, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Let's do that. Fulmer inherited a team that hadn't won a National Championship since the 60's. Hadn't won an undisputed one since 1951. After only 5 years, he did that. The program hasn't dropped off to a level below that of his predecessor. Delmonico achieved some success, but had no level of consistency at all. Not to mention the fact that he was dogged by off field rumors and innuendo that reflected negatively on him and the university. As much as I appreciate your attempt to teach me, your lesson is unbelievably poorly structured. Why don't you give Raleigh more than 8 games (now 9) before you judge him. Go root for FSU and worship RD while you do the tomahawk chop.

Posted by bigbluevol on March 7, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Let's do that. Fulmer inherited a team that hadn't won a National Championship since the 60's. Hadn't won an undisputed one since 1951. After only 5 years, he did that. The program hasn't dropped off to a level below that of his predecessor. Delmonico achieved some success, but had no level of consistency at all. Not to mention the fact that he was dogged by off field rumors and innuendo that reflected negatively on him and the university. As much as I appreciate your attempt to teach me, your lesson is unbelievably poorly structured. Why don't you give Raleigh more than 8 games (now 9) before you judge him. Go root for FSU and worship RD while you do the tomahawk chop.

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