The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team will begin their 2015 season Friday afternoon when they take on the Florida International University Panthers in Miami, Florida.
The Vols look to build off a 2014 season that started 15-1 but then abruptly ended in the first round of the SEC Tournament at the hands of eventual College World Series champion Vanderbilt 2-3.
But the Vols won’t have time to warm-up and take it easy to start the season according to fourth year Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano.
“A lot of people know FIU is in Miami,” Serrano said of the Panthers, “but they may not know much more about them. We’re going to see some SEC arms out of the gate in FIU.”
The Panthers finished 2014 with a 36-20 overall record, riding a strong offense and some powerful arms in their pitching staff. Their batting order will be bolstered by returning junior infielder Edwin Rios, who finished 2014 with a .296 batting average, 38 runs batted in, and led the team with 68 hits. FIU also returns senior third baseman Josh Anderson, who led the team with 43 RBI.
Florida International will feature a strong young pitching staff headlined by returning sophomore Chris Mourelle, who finished 2014 with a 9-3 record and 1.95 earned run average, and Cody Crouse (4-3, 2.23 ERA).
The Panthers return plenty of talent, and Serrano embraces the challenge for him and his team. “I don’t schedule cupcakes going into the SEC,” Serrano said. “I want to be challenged heading into the fire of the SEC, and we will be.”
But the Vols aren’t short on returning talent either. Andy Cox, a returning junior pitcher, is Tennessee’s “Friday guy and most important guy” in the pitching staff according to Serrano. But he will start the season as a reliever due to tenderness experienced during winter practices.
Instead, the Vols will go with senior Bret Marks on the mound to start the season. Marks, a 6-foot-3 pitcher out of Roswell, Georgia, finished 2014 with a 3-1 record, striking out 10 batters in 14 innings pitched. The Vols will turn to junior Drake Owenby to start on Saturday, and then will rely on sophomore Kyle Serrano to close out the weekend with the start on Sunday.
Outfielder Christian Stewart, who was recently named to the preseason USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list, headlines the returning batters for the Vols. The junior led the Vols in nearly every single major offensive category last season, and sophomore infielder Nick Senzel and junior infielder A.J. Simcox also return, providing speedy, base-stealing weapons in the offense.
The Vols will look to replicate last season’s hot start when they begin the season on Friday, and Serrano has confidence in his team’s ability to play together to achieve victory.
“You never know how a team is going to react to start the season,” Serrano said, “but you do evaluate the talent. We’re a year older, a year more experienced, and this team is extremely close.
“We’re going to protect one another and play for one another. As long as we can do that, we’re going to be just fine.”
