UT left some runs on the field. 3rd base coach got a guy thrown out at home by 5 feet, cost us a 3-4 run inning. Vols looked good otherwise, the UNLV picture had a no hitter going into the 6th
Patience. Lots of patience will be needed with this group. This early in the season, you have to look for the good things like:
1. Freshmen pitchers like Charpie, Quillen, and Cox had solid weekends.
2. Nick Williams was dominant out of the pen on Sunday.
3. This team never quit and battled hard in every game.
4. Price and Stewart had great weekends at the plate
5. At various times, Simcox, Houser, and Lee had big hits in pressure situations.
6. In two of the losses, the Vols battled back in the last inning and had tying and/or winning runs in scoring position and the last outs were recorded on hard hit balls.
Early in the year, attitude will be very important for this team to continue to improve. The talent is there, they are just going to need experience to go with it. If nothing else, the weekend was exciting and there are positives to build on.
Patience. Lots of patience will be needed with this group. This early in the season, you have to look for the good things like:
1. Freshmen pitchers like Charpie, Quillen, and Cox had solid weekends.
2. Nick Williams was dominant out of the pen on Sunday.
3. This team never quit and battled hard in every game.
4. Price and Stewart had great weekends at the plate
5. At various times, Simcox, Houser, and Lee had big hits in pressure situations.
6. In two of the losses, the Vols battled back in the last inning and had tying and/or winning runs in scoring position and the last outs were recorded on hard hit balls.
Early in the year, attitude will be very important for this team to continue to improve. The talent is there, they are just going to need experience to go with it. If nothing else, the weekend was exciting and there are positives to build on.
And if Williams had come out with that mentality Friday, the Vols would be 2-2 at worst. But I think the struggle Friday probably had him focused for Sunday.
I want to wait a couple of weeks before making a prediction. With 14 freshmen and a couple of quality juco guys, the ceiling is a LOT higher than the 20 wins projected earlier in the thread.
Again, I'm not ready to make a prediction. I would like to at least see them play with my own two eyes rather than the descriptions of a mediocre audio web stream.
Fair enough. IMO this weekend series is one that shouldn't have been scheduled. This young team needed a gimmee weekend to get things going.
Godley can't afford bad outings, Williams has to deliever, Maddox has to be a leader. I'm really surprised that Bennett hasn't played at all. I would think his experience with CDS last year would be a big help to the young pitchers, just thinking out loud, of course. This weekend will be a good test and a somewhat better barometer of what we have imo.
They said on the UT broadcast Saturday that Bennett was available to pinch hit, but has a shoulder injury that has hampered his throwing, so he hasn't been in the lineup. It was said in explanation of Mannis getting the start in the second game Saturday.