Friday at LakePoint: Funkhouser carries the cow bell


EMERSON, Ga. – Although they were only in town for one day, the Tennessee Volunteers and Lipscomb Bisons faced off under the lights, and snow, at Perfect Game Park South at LakePoint Sports on Friday afternoon and into the evening. The teams traded zeroes through eight innings before the Volunteers erupted for six runs in the top of the ninth and held on to win 6-0.

Yes, it was cold, but the one overlying theme for all of the teams playing here at LakePoint is just how happy they are to actually be playing baseball. Just a few short days ago, being able to do so this weekend didn't seem very realistic based on the amount of snow and freezing temperatures that had settled over much of the nation, especially in locations that usually spend more time worrying about rain.

Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano knew he had to move quickly earlier this week. Coming off of their series with Florida International he recognized that playing in Knoxville was no longer an option.

“We started working the phones, we were going to possibly stay in Florida and try to keep some teams from the East Coast to play us,” Serrano said on Friday prior to his game against Lipscomb. “That was to no avail. Then I got the idea to utilize this park, LakePoint. I know (Perfect Game) has talked about having a college tournament which I think would be a great idea.”

Similar to several of the teams here at LakePoint, Tennessee had to cancel their originally scheduled series against Rutgers, and worked with their administratiors to get one game in this weekend, knowing how difficult it would be to make up four suddenly lost games so early in the year.

“Our guys are excited about it,” Serrano continued. “A lot of them that are in our program already have either played here or they've heard about this new facility. Perfect Game should think about having a college tournament here because it almost guarantees, most of the time, good weather, and even if it is a little inclement weather I think the games will still go on because of the all-turf fields.”

Obviously Serrano's familiarity with LakePoint's new fields helped start the conversation, as he and his staff travel to Georgia annually as part of their recruiting efforts. Once it was determined that the idea could become a reality, Serrano spearheaded the efforts to spread the word quickly.

“I watched a lot of games here last summer so I knew exactly where we were going,” Serrrano said. “As we talk right now there's snowflakes in the air, and I already warned the team that it's going to be cold, but there's no excuses. We get an opportunity to play baseball where if we were at home we wouldn't have.

“My first instinct even after seeing it for the second time was 'first-class.' You see the beautiful sand lot volley courts, you see all of the facilities, new fields being established, facilities being built, hotels (etc.). This is a great idea, whoever is the brains behind this was really ahead of the game. This is perfect for youth baseball, travel baseball and eventually college baseball. You look around the four fields and there's college games going on all over the place. What a great venue for scouts and people to come watch college baseball in a one-stop shop.”

Last year marked the first time since 2007 that Tennessee made the SEC Tournament held annually in Hoover, Ala. They gave eventual national champions Vanderbilt a run for their money, but eventually fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Commodores.

Serrano isn't used to having his season end in May, with a very successful coaching resume that includes trips to the College World Series with UC Irvine in 2007 – the first time the Anteaters had made it to Omaha – and again with Cal State Fullerton in 2009. Prior to taking the head coaching job at UC Irvine Serrano served as an assistant under George Horton at Fullerton, and also spent a year as an assistant at Tennessee.

Tennessee opened the 2015 season ranked just outside of the top 25 at No. 27, as PG's college team recognized the strides Serrano and his staff have made in recent years. Although they opened the year losing two of their first three games to Florida International Serrano knew it was going to be a tough way to open the 2015 season.

“We had a tough weekend in South Florida last weekend playing FIU, which I feel is a very good team with a great pitching staff, and we knew that going into it,” Serrano said. “But for us it's a matter of just getting out on the field. We've had some (bad) weather all winter, that's not an excuse, but we need to continue to play. This program has been been down for many years, I knew that when I left a great program like Cal State Fullerton to come here. This is a dream job for me, and the dream is to take it back where it's supposed to be.

Recruiting is always one of, if not the biggest reasons for future success, and Serrano made it his top priority upon arriving during the summer of 2011. In the process he has stripped the program down to the bones, knowing future success, like that of a successful minor league pipeline, had to be built from the bottom up.

Head Coach Dave Serrano intends to lead Tennessee back to postseason play (Photo: Tennessee Athletics).