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What a difference three weeks can make in the highs and lows of a college baseball season.

It wasn’t long ago Tennessee was ranked No. 30 in the nation and in the thick of the SEC elite.

“Three weeks ago,” UT first-year coach Todd Raleigh said, “if we beat Mississippi State on Friday night — and we led 3-2 going into the ninth — we have the second-best record in the SEC.”

The Vols (25-27, 11-16 SEC) lost that lead, lost that series, lost their momentum and now they’re simply hoping for a strong finish with a three-game series beginning Thursday night at South Carolina.

UT snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory at Furman on Tuesday, but the Vols haven’t won an SEC series on the road all season and South Carolina (35-18, 13-14) is tough at home.

“We know what kind of team they have and we know how well they play at home,” Raleigh said. “It’s obviously a tremendous challenge in front of us.

“We’ve been struggling and haven’t played that well against SEC competition the past couple of weekends.”

The Vols were swept at home by Vanderbilt and Kentucky, but still have a remote shot at the SEC Tournament. They need to sweep South Carolina, hope Mississippi State can sweep Arkansas and hope Auburn can’t sweep LSU.

“We just have to get back at it and hope to win some games,” Raleigh said. “Mathematically we’re still not out of it, so we have to play every game like it’s do or die.”

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.