The youthful UT baseball team certainly has an infield that is new to the Vol faithful. The 2009 baseball season added first baseman Cody Hawn, shortstop Zach Osborne and third baseman Tyler Horne to the regular starting lineup.
A transfer from Walters State Community College, Hawn is a Knoxville native who attended South Doyle High School. After not playing during his senior season because of an ACL injury, he bounced back in his freshman year at Walters State and was named the 2008 Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association Player of the Year.
“It’s difficult,” he said. “It’s a long road. It takes like six months to recover before you can do anything out of surgery, and I had some setbacks, some downfalls, some days I woke up when my knee was sore.”
Hawn said the transition from Walters State to UT was jarring.
“Being at a campus where it was lucky on a good day there were 2,000 people (at Walters State), and now it’s close to 20,000 every day (at UT), so the biggest adjustment is obviously trying to find your classes and get on the bus and everything, but I like it,” he said.
While Hawn said he fell in love with UT, his decision to come play for head coach Todd Raleigh and the Vols was for another reason. He initially signed with Arkansas out of high school but decided to go to Walters State for a year because of his injury. After a year at WSCC, he wanted to sign with Louisville, but since he signed a letter of intent with Arkansas, this signing was nullified.
“I had all intentions of going back to Walters State because that’s what I had to do,” he said. “I’d had to graduate from there before I could go to another D-1 school. And Arkansas called me and released me like two days before school started, and I ended up talking to Coach Raleigh and I fell in love with the place here. ... It was a long road, but it was well worth it.”
Because of the short window of time since his release from Arkansas, his decision was quick and the necessary preparation to come to UT was all done in a flurry of activity.
“It happened probably in like 45 minutes,” he said. “It was crazy. I was trying to get my stuff. I set my whole schedule, went through like everything, all the stuff I had to do, in like one day.”
In addition to transferring from one college to another, Hawn has also had to transition from one side of the diamond to another. After playing third base throughout high school and at Walters State, Hawn plays first base with the Vols. Hawn said the transition was not as difficult because he played the base when he was younger.
“Being on the other side of the field, you’re holding runners on,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing. You’re playing close to the bag and you got two jobs — you’re trying to hold the runner on ... and then you’ve got to turn around and try to make a read off the bat. That’s the biggest part of it, that and just the footwork on the throws coming around from the other infielders.”
One of those infielders now throwing to Hawn is shortstop Zach Osborne, a true freshman from Louisville, Ky.
Osborne’s resume before joining the Volunteers was quite extensive. He was most valuable player of the 2002 Little League World Series, his high school team won a state championship and he was ranked No. 15 as a senior by Rivals.com. With all that success at an early age, Osborne said he tries to stay focused by putting things into perspective.
“Well, baseball is a game of failure, really,” Osborne said. “A .300 hitter gets into the hall of fame. You got to look at that. You’re going to fail a lot in the game of baseball, so you got to look past it. Just do your best, really.”
As a freshman, Osborne said he looks up to team leaders like seniors Danny Wiltz and Cody Brown, as well as coach Raleigh.
Speaking for the team, Horne said he and the team think Osborne was “born with a glove attached to him.”
Osborne said along with playing standard defense, making the tougher plays is also a joy.
“I love laying out,” Osborne said. “Love getting dirty on the field.”
As the team’s leadoff hitter, he said he aims to show patience, get on base and let the rest of the team see the pitcher’s repertoire. This was evidenced in the home opener, as Osborne contributed two walks in five at-bats.
When Osborne sees a few pitches, it also helps out teammate Tyler Horne.
The transfer played two years at Shelton State, but his freshman year was plagued by an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery, a continuation of arm problems he had in high school.
“I played football and baseball all throughout my high school career,” Horne said. “I went to Dr. Andrews, and he said that had a significant role on it, as far as throwing so much every day. My tendon just finally gave out on me.”
Horne credited coaching staff at Tennessee with helping to transition to UT.
“Coach Raleigh and Coach LeCroy, they’re great, they make you feel welcome here,” he said. “They definitely push people. They treat you just like a father figure outside the field. They take care of you, they treat you, they push you and they demand the best out of you. That’s exactly why I came here, and that’s what I want.”
While all three new starters went through initial changes in order to get acclimated to the university and its baseball team, all three expressed satisfaction with the process thus far, looking forward to what the season had to bring.