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Vols get an earful from coaches after latest loss
Belmont extends UT's streak to six games
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First, there was an hour-and-a-half long team meeting in right field. Players listened. Coaches yelled.
After that marathon session finally broke up, it didn't take long to find the University of Tennessee baseball players group en masse for a team jog out of Lindsey Nelson Stadium in workout clothes.
It wasn't just the 5-3 loss to Belmont that irked the UT coaching staff on Wednesday. It was a losing streak that stands at six games. It was another mid-week loss to an in-state team.
Tennessee head coach Todd Raleigh, pitching coach Fred Corral and assistant coach Bradley LeCroy each took turns making it clear to the Vols "pride in the Tennessee uniform" should be paramount right now.
"The soul-searching meeting, if you want to take anything out of it, is our standards are high because we're at the University of Tennessee," Corral said. "You've got to take pride in the fact you're wearing the Tennessee name on the front.
"It's just a matter getting these young men to compete harder and want it. The urgency has to be there."
It wasn't there against Belmont (19-28).
Tennessee (25-24) is 2-9 against in-state teams, including losses to ETSU (twice), Tennessee Tech, MTSU, Lipscomb and Vanderbilt (three times last weekend).
It's a painful pill for coaches and players to swallow despite the fact this Tennessee team - picked to finish last in the SEC - is still very much alive in the race for an SEC tournament berth with two weekend series remaining.
"It's frustrating and we're just trying to weather the storm the best we can," Raleigh said. "We're not going to quit. We're going to keep going. That's all I know how to do.
"I don't have a magic wand or anything to wave. We just have to go out and compete to the very end."
Since taking two of three from Alabama in mid-April, the Vols are 3-11 and struggling to rediscover early momentum.
"Obviously there are some things we have to deal with and some are going to take time and some are quicker than others," Raleigh said. "It is what it is right now. I think if it was perfect, I wouldn't have been here to begin with.
"But I'm responsible for this team and we're not playing as well as we should be right now. We're not playing with enough fire. That's all there is to it."
The Bruins showed all the early fire. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead on an RBI double by Nate Woods (4-for-4) in the fourth off UT starter Steve Crnkovich (5-6) and a three-run homer from Matt Zeblo in the sixth off reliever Joey Rosas.
UT rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth as Kentrail Davis hit a leadoff homer to left.
The Vols added two more runs on a Cody Brown RBI and a Tanner Moore sacrifice fly, but UT left the bases loaded and managed just two more base runners the final three innings.
"How did it become acceptable for us to lose in our home?" Raleigh said. "How is it that easy?
"If it hurt that much last week and the week before ... it couldn't have hurt that much because we keep repeating it."
Recruiting Ppromise: Raleigh admitted the losses to in-state teams don't help recruiting, but he made a bold promise.
"If you grow up and you bleed a little orange, I think you're going to lay it on the line a little more," he said. "That's going to be my focus.
"We're going to lock the borders up, I'll tell you that right now. We already have. In '09, we're going to lock this thing up. I don't have any doubt about that."
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by scvols on May 7, 2008 at 10:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If you do not have the pitching, it does not matter how bad you want it.
Posted by jh43 on May 8, 2008 at 12:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We seem to have gone further down as the season has gone on. This team gets a lot of hits, but not when they are needed most. The stats don's match the results. Looks like we need a lot of help for next year.
Posted by liveinloudon on May 8, 2008 at 1:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow!! After reading this article it just reinforces what I have thought all along....Who is this coach and where did they find him. The words that comes out of his mouth are amazing. I guess that his standard "this team is young" just would not work in todays article. So now he has shifted the blame of the losses to the "Out Of State Players"?? Are You Kidding ME??
I guess if he had his way he would get rid of:
Morgado.Davis.Gomes.Griffin.Cyrkovich.Harris.....Hernandez.Grishim.Lima...........
Since when do you have to be from Tennessee to play for Tennessee? Why is it that Summit, Pearl, and even Fulmer dont have to Lock Up The Borders? COULD IT BE THE COACHING?
For him to say what he said is DISGRACEFUL and he should be ASHAMED...
I feel so sorry for the out of state players who are on the team......
Posted by Beasty72 on May 8, 2008 at 4:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I totally agree with the coach---I am sorry that you feel the need to baby these players.He is making a point to state that he will not accept their standard of play and they had better get with it.I agree that their are alot of good talent in Tennessee and he needs to keep it home where Delmonico failed to do so.He did not mean he would not recruit out of state talent.
Posted by rusty_shackleford on May 8, 2008 at 5:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Schollys are year-to-year, aren't they?
Posted by richvol on May 8, 2008 at 7:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is enough good pitching in the Knoxville high school system to produce wins against all these instate teams ( except probably Vanderbilt). This is ridiculous...give'em hell Coach.
Posted by GreerVol22 on May 8, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Loudon, what scvols stated in on the money. you can't cut the grass without gas in the tank, yes you can whack at it with a pocket knife and make a little progress but...
His message to his team is that in-state boys are kicking your butt and you can either produce or you can be replaced.
Now if the next few season continue like this, then I will offer my apologies.
Posted by tigervol9802 on May 8, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey loudon -
Liek the loser you are, you show up when things are bad. Still worshipping at the DelMonico shrine? Can't wait for your twin to show up.
Posted by CubanBornVol on May 8, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Come on folks you should just ask Workinglikeheck, he knows as we all do it's got to be Fulmer's fault. Right Work?
Posted by wballer on May 8, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would like to say that Raleigh should be able to recruit based on the fact that the Vols are THE University of Tennessee. However, right now in-state talents, especially in mid and west TN, consider UT to be an inferior program. Most of the top-level recruits from the mid-state are committed to either Vandy or Lipscomb. If Raleigh hopes to build a fence, he's going to have to start logging the miles and making his way around the state to try to change some people's minds....but winning some in-state games definitely wouldn't hurt either.
Posted by liveinloudon on May 8, 2008 at 11:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
have you heard him talk? not very articulate he better have someone else try the recruiting. and i am NOT a Delmonico fan glad he is gone believe me just not a Raleigh fan either....
Posted by UT_Thread_Head on May 8, 2008 at 1:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
it takes a Coach to bring out the God given abilities that these boys have, and i've seen them play several times, and this group of young men stand in no ones shadow when it comes to talent.
Respect, Discipline, Motivation and Communication are but some of the requirements and duties of the Coaching staff and it requires patients and hard work on their part, to achieve these things..what most people think is a given.
New Coach + "UTN Baseball (!)" - winning season ..NOT!
Posted by WorkinLikeHeck on May 8, 2008 at 2:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's see, you 11.7 scholarships for baseball. You get the instate kids who can go to UT on the lottery scholarships you don't have to spread out as much of the 11.7 on instate kids and then can offer more to out of state kids or to other instate kids that may need more help. Recruiting instate will help with depth which we have none to speak of this year and Raleigh has instate help on the way next year already. Also, Raleigh probably isn't even operating on the 11.7 number as the baseball team's APR from Delmonico's last 3 years is terrible.
Posted by maholt49 on May 8, 2008 at 2:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does Mike Hamilton need to be fired???
Posted by shoalcreekvol on May 9, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Obviously Mike Hamilton deserves to be fired. He's running a huge athletic department with a monster budget, raising football ticket prices and yet we still have two of our most high-profile coaches that are missing the tools they need to be successful. If it was just Fulmer having to run a football program without magic pixie dust, that would be one thing. But now we've got a baseball coach trying to compete in the SEC without a magic wand? Come on! Maybe we should boot adidas and sign a contract with a magic supply company. Obviously Cronan knows what she's doing, b/c the women's bb budget is small but they've obviously had plenty of pixie dust and magic wands for years.
I like Raleigh a lot and I want to give him every chance to turn things around. It'll take a little time but if we have patience (not "patients", as previously suggested) I think he is capable of getting it done. I also think, though, the shine is fading off the paycheck and he's realizing how deep he's really in it at this point. Welcome to The Hill, Coach.
Posted by UT_Thread_Head on May 11, 2008 at 10:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
oops, my bad..patients(the way were pitching and hitting, we should be hospitalized!), patience..you seemed to understand what i was saying..i guess the stupid from some of these post are rubbing off on others :)
i like Raleigh as well, and i'm will to wait for the "test of time" results.
Posted by VolBallFan on May 11, 2008 at 11:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I guarantee a recording of that outfield meeting would get Raleigh fired. Raleigh's hateful tirades and attacks on players is past the point of unacceptable. At this point he's become a disgrace. The title of "Coach" should only be conferred upon someone that motivates players to get the best out of them, not by calling them "losers", "pu**ies", and "MFers." Raleigh has disgraced UT Athletics not just with his record, but more than anything with his behavior.
The writers of this article need to quit preaching to the choir and report the facts. Quote Raleigh on the disgusting, disgraceful, below-the-belt comments that he makes towards players and quit pandering. You're a journalist for God's sake!!!
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