That hole being dug by Tennessee's baseball team got a little bit deeper Sunday.
The Vols lost more ground in the SEC standings with a 9-1 loss to No. 8-ranked Florida before 2,302 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
UT (16-17, 3-9 SEC) couldn't maintain the momentum from Saturday's 12-4 victory over the Gators (23-8, 8-4). Florida won Friday's game 4-2.
"Friday was a tough loss, Saturday was a great win," UT shortstop Zach Osborne said. "We should have carried that over into (Sunday) but we didn't. We came out flat kind of. That's what the coaches said. We had a bad (batting practice) earlier so it kind of carried into the game. We just came out flat and couldn't get anything going."
Freshman right-hander Hudson Randall (3-3, 3.98 ERA) did his best to stop the Vols. Randall went eight innings and allowed four singles and one run. He struck out six, didn't walk a batter, and hit a batter.
"Actually, it was probably the best game I've pitched," Randall said. "Early in the game, I kept them off balance with my off-speed (pitches) and then later in the game I just pounded the zone with my fastball, and it worked."
Randall was locked in a pitchers' duel with sophomore left-hander Steven Gruver through five innings.
Gruver (1-2) took a three-hit shutout into the sixth after stranding three Gators in the fifth.
Daniel Pigott started Florida's sixth with a double off the right-field wall and Jonathan Pigott singled. Josh Adams followed with a three-run homer to center field on a 2-0 change-up.
"I thought I got it down pretty well," Gruver said. "(Adams) just got under it a little. It seemed like it sailed a good bit. Off the bat I didn't think it was anything special. I thought it was a little fly ball."
Will Locante relieved Gruver in the sixth, which ended with the Gators scoring seven runs, their season-high for one inning.
Gruver gave up four runs on four hits in the sixth and Locante gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in the sixth.
"We didn't play well and their pitcher did a good job early, no doubt about it," UT coach Todd Raleigh said. "Of course, it was tied in the sixth and I think Gruver just ran out of gas, did a good job, but just kind of ran out of gas."
Florida junior left-hander Kevin Chapman, who has a 1.21 ERA, gave up two singles in the ninth.
Osborne had two of the Vols' six hits. Florida had seven doubles - including three by Jerico Weitzel, a sophomore who had two career doubles before Sunday.
UT plays host to Lipscomb on Tuesday before going to Mississippi State for a three-game series.
"You've just got to move on," Raleigh said. "We've played the four toughest (SEC) series. This was our worst game so far. We could easily have seven, eight (SEC) wins, but we don't."
Dave Link is a freelance contributor.
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Comments » 30
Halls3 writes:
Hole? More like a crater. What's amazing is Florida is 8th in the country with 2 of their 3 best SPs being Freshmen. Just goes to show how bad CTR really is. Fire him now Hamilton & then go ahead & resign & follow Raleigh out the door. Sorry Raleigh but a team who gets stomped at home by WCU doesn't deserve to win 7 or 8 games in the SEC & probably never will.
OrangePride writes:
"You've just got to move on....." is the coaches quote? Wow. I have to give the Florida kid, Randall, some credit, though. He was very sharp and kept hitters off balance with a good fast ball and sharp off-speed stuff that was finding the plate. But this is another bad SEC loss and they are really mounting. Well, luckily we have another of those "Sisters of the Blind" schools coming in on Tuesday. Perhaps we'll win that one.
Melveen writes:
Halls3, the 1st thing that came to my mind was a "bottomless pit". I don't profess to know the solution, but something has to be done to stop the bleeding.
Futurecoach16 writes:
Terrible effort at the plate today. Randall had a great outing, especially with his curveball, but it wasn't anything spectacular. WAY too many times these guys tried to pull the curveball instead of hitting it the other way, leading to many weak groundballs to the left side. Locante didn't have anything to stop the bleeding. One judgement call I have for Raleigh is why he didn't bring in Leffler* earlier. The guy was great this weekend against the Gators. Great 5 innings from Gruver, but yet again, the bats let the defense down.
us43137415#376444 writes:
So what's the big excuse this time?
"Oh well...Florida is ranked 8th."
"Oh, it was a tough one out there."
"We just couldn't get anything going."
"We just didn't pitch well."
"That was a tough one."
Enough of the lame excuses, and the "oh well" attitude. Just recycle them every losing game, because they all sound the same.
At this point, you're not going to stop the bleeding. We are rapidly approaching the "magic number" mark I predicted of getting eliminated from the SEC Tournament.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking we should be there by May 2nd, the end of the Kentucky series. If we haven't won at least two in the Mississippi State series, the Vanderbilt series, and the Kentucky series, then we're out of the tournament.
Way out.
For the 3rd straight year of CTR's Tennessee career.
rockytop321 writes:
Mike please stop the bleeding. He doesn't win, he's a jerk and players don't respect him. And why should they based on everything that's happened since he's been here?
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Great chance, us431, that we're "out of the tournament".
Sad.
tennisvol writes:
Looks like the baseball program has just about hit the bottom unless it is already there. Come on Mike, make a change before it is too late.
paradisetaxi writes:
WOW MH, this firing is the biggest no brainer in college sports !
brentrod writes:
I didn't see the point in firing Del Monico in the first place. It's not like Tennessee is a hot bed for baseball talent. If you have to rely on out of state recruiting every year, you're going to have some down years. If Hamilton lets this guy go, I hope that there is a good coach out there to be had or firing Raleigh will be another mistake.
givehim6 writes:
Have not you heard? UT's a football/basketball school, oh ya and who can forget those Lady Vols. Baseball? didn't think UT's had a team in years.
us43137415#376444 writes:
C'mon dude, think now.. how do you think Tennessee got to BE a football school or a basketball school? They got there by COMPETING. Before we actually started competing in those sports, we were midway or down at the bottom of the pack of the schools who were competing.
There is absolutely no reason why we cannot compete in baseball, or any other collegiate NCAA or SEC sport.
All we need are the players who have talent, and the coaches who know how to manage that talent. Right now, we don't have those coaches.
Believe me, when UT starts competing, you'll be there cheering right there on the bandwagon.
Just like in football and basketball.
And to everybody who wants Hamilton to make the change now.. folks, he's just not going to do that right now. This is not MLB, where they always fire the coach in the middle of the season, or football where the coach is always fired with 2 games left.
If Hamilton makes a hire or fire, it will be either at the end of the season, or just before it. Save your breath calling for CTR's head.
If it happens at all, it's certainly not going to happen right now.
Period.
atasnelzpace writes:
CTR has the players with talent, but he just doesn't know how to coach them! Get rid of Raleigh now. With the talent he has, we should be winning a lot more games than we have. We, as fans, have been able to do the math, MH. Now let's see if you can figure it out, too. It's a "no brainer".
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
You make a good point, there's no reason for MH to announce a decision right now. I'm kind of new to following UT baseball (haven't watched since the Helton days), but I can't think of a good reason why he'd pull the plug in the middle of the season. Assuming it does happen, though, does anyone know any good replacements?
arkyvol writes:
todd raleigh: "We could easily have seven, eight (SEC) wins, but we don't."
if a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his a-- so much.
bryan14 writes:
The State of Tennessee has more than enough talent to compete for both SEC & College World Series championships. The problem is that due to demographis & population numbers most of the talent is in West Tennessee/Memphis & Middle Tennessee. The University of Tennessee must recruit against Vanderbilt, MTSU, Memphis, Mississippi State, Alabama, Arkansas, North Carlonia, LSU & Ole Miss. You cannot allow the top talent to leave the state every season. Winning with kids from Tennessee will place more butts in the stands and create a great atmosphere.
Volunatic writes:
They do have pretty good attendance at the Smokies park, and it is a beautiful location for a ballpark. I have enjoyed going to several games there every season.
I live in S. Knox, and it takes me about the same amount of time to get to Exit 407 as it would to get to Pellissippi Pkwy in Farragut (about 1/2 hr).
It was a LOT cheaper for the Smokies to build the stadium in Sevierville/Kodak than it would have been to build it in Farragut, because the land was cheaper there at the time.
I don't think it was a bad business decision at all moving it there, considering that the City of Knoxville did not want to be on the hook for funding the park-- folks around here don't like paying taxes.
I'm also curious why you included UT in your "standing ovation"?
kman29 writes:
Thats one thing I'll say about Jacksonville. They realized the passion that the people in the city have for the Suns and built them a stadium that is rated one of the best in double A ball and is very fan friendly. Cities like Knoxville and Jacksonville who could never support a MLB team but do have baseball passion have to realize things like that.
Intheknow30 writes:
There are so many reasons to do it. The main reason to do it right now is that this team obviously cant win under him and has the talent to do something. We know right now that there is the slimmest chance this team makes it to post season under Raleigh. But in my opinion, replacing Ralieigh right now will give us a very reasonable shot at Hoover. My point being that if you know you're going to fire the guy at years end, and there is a great increase in odds of post season play the sooner you do it, why would you not do it sooner?
And as far as replacements go, I can think of a few short term: how about you, or me, or a local elementary school kid, or smokey, or a rock. The point is these guys have no respect for the man who is supposed to be leading this team. They don't want to play for him. Opposing parents and players are coming up to our parents and players, asking how it is that our coach hasnt been fired. It doesn't matter who coaches, as long as he respects our players and they will respect him or it(in the case of a rock) back.
But I know Hammy won't do it mid season, so I am still hoping they can turn it around despite Raleigh.
Catsfan writes:
Don't be so dismissive of WCU. Their RPI is 39th in the country (out of 301 DIV I teams). The Vols are 65th. Ratings as of 12 April 2010.
Halls3 writes:
Exactly. There is local talent if people open their eyes. Halls, Farragut, Bearden, Central, & Powell usually have really strong clubs as well as teams in Chattanooga & Middle Tennessee. Hell, Lockwood, Delmonico, & Helton were all local talents just in recent memory.
RoadTrip writes:
I sympathize with you. I played D-1 in another state and our administration decided we should play our home games at the local high school when our field got wiped out by a tornado. The problem was the tornado occured in late spring the previous year. Since we weren't an income producing sport, it was two seasons before they spent $50 K to fix our field. Our College HOF coach retired since the administration would not support the program. The program quickly tubed and the remaining players got the shaft.
This phooey with CTR especially gets under my skin. MH needs to do the right thing and fix it now.
us43137415#376444 writes:
Not exactly true.. Tennessee has had some good talent, Everett from Loudon, Adkins from Mt. Juliet, Polk from Mufreesboro, Forsythe from Memphis, and just about anybody from Farragut High School.
It's all in how you develop the talent you have.
easleychuck writes:
The program seems to be pretty much dead. There just does not appear to be any improvement on the horizon. At what point is enough, enough?
bryan14 writes:
It was reported in the Tennessean that TR made $155,000.00 last season. When TR was hired it was being reported that the average head baseball coach in the SEC was being paid $347,000.00. Dave Serrano (UC Irvine & Cal. St. Fullerton) is a former Vol assistant coach that offered to crawl from California to Knoxville for the Tennessee job but MH didn't like where Serrano received his BS degree. MH also interviewed Bobby Pierce from Troy but he felt that Pierce wanted to much $$$ and he would bolt for the Univ. of Alabama when given the first opportunity. MH, allow me to give you some advice: Go hire Turtle Thomas (Florida International) and pay him what the average SEC coach makes and tell him to win with Tennessee players. You would be shocked at how fast Tennessee would fill the stadium and compete for championships.
brentrod writes:
i haven't seen the ole miss and mississipi st. rosters. if we are losing a lot of west tennessee talent then it's time to shut the borders down. even with that said, tennessee doesn't have the climate to play year round as they do in florida, texas, and cal. we don't produce the large numbers of pro prospects. del monico was getting us to the world series every few years and we fired him. now we're worse off. better be careful about who they bring in next.
Halls3 writes:
Come on Rich you know he's gonna milk this out. It was easy to fire Fulmer b/c Fulmer wasn't his guy. This is his guy failing & it hurts Hammy to admit he has now been wrong 2 times. Kinda like when Kiffin was booting Fulmer's players left & right but made sure to take in all details before kicking his 2 morons off. People don't like to admit mistakes & this is a big one. Delmonico did fine as UT's coach & I never agreed with firing him but this schmuck can go tomorrow for all I care.
Halls3 writes:
So that puts WCU around 9th or 10th in the SEC if they were. UT used to be a team who was one that could make a run into the NCAA Tourney. This team only makes fans run from the damn stadium after each loss.
Volunatic writes:
Exit 407 wasn't PRIME business property until after the Smokies stadium was built.
Catsfan writes:
You missed the point. It's just like my old man used to say "never argue with an idiot because they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." This is a perfect example. WCU just beat Clemson (at Clemson). My point was...don't disrespect the boys at WCU in an attempt at bashing the Vols. The Catamounts beat the Vols and Tigers in their ball parks. Simply tip your hat and acknowledge a worthy competitor.
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