Raleigh taking stock of Vols

Todd Raleigh spent Sunday afternoon watching his 11-year-old son Cal play three baseball games.

It was a chance to unwind. It was a chance to reflect on his first season as University of Tennessee baseball coach.

By Monday morning, he was feeling better about everything.

"I think we accomplished a lot of things," Raleigh said. "I knew it was going to be an uphill battle. We won 13 games in the league last year and 12 this year, minus three first-round draft picks (J.P. Arencibia, Julio Borbon, James Adkins), plus some other guys like Tony Delmonico, Lance McClain and Craig Cobb.

"To be honest with you, I think we did a good job."

That doesn't mean Raleigh was at all satisfied with the Vols 27-29 record or 12-18 finish in the SEC.

He still gets irritated when he thinks about a late-season SEC swoon that included two home sweeps at the hands of Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

He still gets annoyed by the mid-week losses suffered to the likes of James Madison, Lipscomb, Belmont, Tennessee Tech and his alma mater, Western Carolina.

"We had a really bad two-and-a-half week stretch and I think that's the thing that sticks in everybody's mind," Raleigh said. "I'm disappointed in that bad stretch and our middle-of-the-week performance. Those are the two things when I look back that bother me more than anything else."

Then he looks at the stats put up by a team predicted by league coaches to finish last in the SEC.

"When I look back, who of our players really had a bad year?" Raleigh said. "Cody Brown doubled his home runs and went from a .250 to a .300 hitter. Jeff Lockwood doubled his home runs. Shawn Griffin doubled his home runs.

"Our three true freshman (Kentrail Davis, Josh Liles, P.J. Polk) played almost every game in the outfield and hit about 25 home runs between the three of them. Everybody got better."

He also takes comfort in the knowledge that help is on the way. Pitching depth was the primary culprit Raleigh points at for most of the Tennessee woes.

"It's definitely the No. 1 priority, no doubt about it," he said. "Pitching is the name of the game. It has been for the last 100 years and it will be for the next 100 years.

"This year we just weren't consistent enough and deep enough."

The help on the way - barring losses to the major league draft - could come from UT newcomers Hunter Daniel (Bearden), Matt Ramsey (Farragut), Adam Adkins (Goodpasture), Clayton Gant (University School of Jackson), Steven Gruver (Canfield, Ohio), Stephen McCray (Young-Harris Junior College), Josh Allman (Swain County, N.C.) and Casey Kelly (Sarasota, Fla).

Kelly, also a star UT quarterback recruit, is a longshot since he's likely to be a first-round draft pick.

But throw in Dylan Hochevar, younger brother of former Vol Luke Hochevar and a redshirt this season, and pitching depth shouldn't be an issue in 2009.

Something that will always be an issue with Raleigh is Tennessee's horrid track record in the NCAA's APR (Academic Progress Rate).

He inherited one of the worst APR rankings in the nation and it is costing the Vols the maximum 10 percent scholarship penalty down to 10.53 available scholarships next season.

"I told the players the pillars of this program are going to be academics, attitude and work ethic," Raleigh said. "This APR thing isn't going away. You can't sweep it under the rug. We have to deal with it and we've got to get better.

"But we did extremely well in the classroom this semester. We've kind of restored some law and order."