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Article published Mar 3, 2008 Vols drop 2-0 decision to Oklahoma ... and more
HOUSTON — The Tennessee batting order did little in support of pitcher Bryan Morgado’s double-digit strikeout effort Sunday, as the Volunteers baseball team dropped a 2-0 decision to Oklahoma on the final day of the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park. Tennessee redshirt freshman Bryan Morgado tied a Houston College Classic record with 10 strikeouts. The tournament was first played in 2001, and the previous record-holder Rice’s Wade Townsend, who fanned 10 against Texas Tech in 2004.
In eight innings, Morgado surrendered two runs (one earned) on five hits with one walk. In two career starts, Morgado has 22 strikeouts in 16 innings. He took the hard-luck loss to fall to 1-1 on the year as UT totaled just two hits in the game. The Vols host James Madison Wednesday at 3 p.m. before welcoming Eastern Michigan for a three-game weekend series.
Lady Vols blast Nebraska, 9-0
COLUMBUS, Ga. — No. 4 Tennessee (19-1) routed Nebraska, 9-0 (6 innings), on Sunday morning in Columbus, Ga., to complete its action at the NFCA Leadoff Classic at a perfect 5-0 and join Michigan as the lone undefeated teams at the prestigious event. It took four different tiebreakers to determine the tourney champion, but the Wolverines nabbed the crown by a razor-thin 22-21 total via run differential spanning the five contests. For the second consecutive game the Big Orange offense blasted four doubles while tallying a season-high 14 hits in the triumph over the Cornhuskers.
During the five-game tourney, UT hit .328 as a team, scored 35 total runs, registered eight doubles, four home runs and 33 RBI and swiped 10 bases. For the year, Tennessee now boasts a .334 team batting average and is scoring at a 6.4 runs-per-game clip. Five different Lady Vols hit over .400 for the weekend with freshman Jen Lapicki leading the way at .500 with seven RBI. Sophomore Tiffany Huff delivered eight RBI over the five games with a .364 average, a double and a HR.
Senior pitcher Megan Rhodes improved to 8-0 on the season after working three solid innings in relief of freshman starter Ashton Ward (3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 Ks). The Nashville, Tenn., product struck out five and allowed no runs on three hits to complete the combined shutout.
No. 4 Tennessee will return to action on Wednesday, March 5, at 6 p.m. with a single home match-up against in-state foe Tennessee Tech at Lee Softball Stadium.
Lady Vol track second in SECs
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sarah Bowman, Courtney Champion and the distance medley relay team all posted victories on Sunday to propel the fourth-ranked Tennessee women to second place at the 2008 Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Tennessee accumulated 84 points on the final day to finish with a total of 116 and extend its school-best streak of top-three SEC Indoor finishes to five straight. UT won in 2005 and 2007, finished second in 2004 and 2008 and tied for third in 2006.
Number-one-ranked LSU, which started the day by sweeping first through third places in the 60m dash and 60m hurdles, had just a little too much firepower for UT to overcome and won with a tally of 133 points. Falling in behind the Orange and White were Arkansas (93), Florida (90), Kentucky (57), Mississippi (49), Alabama (43), Auburn (27), South Carolina (20.5), Georgia (14.5), Mississippi State (12) and Vanderbilt (8). Tennessee will return to Fayetteville on March 14-15, as the Randal Tyson Center hosts the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
UT tennis team downs MSU
STARKVILLE, Miss. — The No. 23 University of Tennessee women’s tennis team (8-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) closed out a season-long, six-match road trip in style Sunday afternoon, with a 5-2 victory over Mississippi State (5-3, 0-2 SEC) at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss. The Lady Vols finished the month-long journey, which saw them take on opponents in five different states, with four wins in six contests.
The Lady Vols will finally return home on March 7, when No. 7 Florida (8-1, 2-0 SEC) makes the trip to UT for a 3:30 p.m. showdown at the UT Varsity Courts. UT will be looking for the first win in program history over the Gators. UF has taken all 31 previous meetings between the two squads.