Numerous returning members of the Tennessee baseball team are taking advantage of the summer months to improve their skills in various wood-bat summer leagues throughout the country. A dozen Volunteers can be found on diamonds from California to Vermont, and an additional pair of rising UT sophomores are vying to earn a roster spot on the elite USA Baseball National Team.

Outfielder Kentrail Davis and left-handed pitcher Bryan Morgado each accepted invitations to the National Team Trials, set to take place June 11-23 throughout the northeast and southeast United States. The trials feature 32 of the nations top collegians. The 22-man roster will be announced on June 24, and the teams summer schedule begins June 25 vs. Chinese Taipei in Greenville, S.C.

Including Davis and Morgado, Tennessee has now had 15 players invited to the National Team Trials a total of 20 times since 1992including six invitees over the last five seasons.

Upperclassmen Nick Hernandez and Danny Lima are seeing action this summer in the famous Cape Cod Baseball League. Hernandez, a left-handed pitcher from Miami, Fla., will suit up for the Cotuit Kettleers. Lima, a shortstop from Miami, Fla., will take the field with the Brewster Whitecaps. Beginning its 124th season in 2008, the 10-team Cape Cod League originated in 1885 and is one of the nations premier summer leagues.

Rising sophomores Blake Forsythe and Josh Liles are spending their summer as teammates with the Thomasville Hi-Toms in the Coastal Plain League. Now in its 12th season, the CPL features 14 teams across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

A pair of Vols is playing in the Valley Baseball League. Rising senior and 2008 team co-captain Cody Brown, Tennessees veteran third baseman, is playing for the Woodstock River Bandits. And right-handed pitcher Danny Wiltz, also a rising senior, is taking the mound for the Waynesboro Generals

The Virginia-based Valley Leagues name is derived from the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, which is nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west. The league features 11 teams.

Rising sophomore outfielder P.J. Polk, a 2008 SEC All-Freshman honoree and one of UTs most improved players this past season, is playing for the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League, which includes 14 teams throughout Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan.

Tennessee pitchers D.J. Leffler and Joey Rosas are both suiting up this summer for the Havasu Heat of the Pacific Southwest Baseball League. The PSBL includes six teams based in Arizona and Nevada. Both left-handers who recently completed their first season as Vols, Leffler is a rising junior from Yorba Linda, Calif., and Rosas is a rising senior from Cottonwood, Ariz.

Tanner Moore, a rising junior third baseman, is also spending his summer in California. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native is playing for the Lodi Grapesox of the Sierra Baseball League. The SBL features 15 teams throughout California and Nevada.

Fellow infielder Cody Grisham, also a rising junior, is one of two Vols competing this summer in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. A native of Booneville, Miss., Grisham is playing for the Newport Gulls. Junior catcher Matt Hamaker, who redshirted the 2008 season, will spend the second half of the summer with the Vermont Mountaineers. The NECBL is a 12-team league with clubs in all six New England states.

USA Baseball National Team
Kentrail Davis; Bryan Morgado

Cape Cod Baseball League
Nick Hernandez, Cotuit Kettleers
Danny Lima, Brewster Whitecaps

Coastal Plain League
Blake Forsythe; Josh Liles, Thomasville Hi-Toms

New England Collegiate Baseball League
Cody Grisham, Newport Gulls
Matt Hamaker, Vermont Mountaineers

Northwoods League
P.J. Polk, La Crosse Loggers

Pacific Southwest Baseball League
D.J. Leffler; Joey Rosas, Havasu Heat

Sierra Baseball League
Tanner Moore, Lodi Grapesox

Valley Baseball League
Cody Brown, Woodstock River Bandits
Danny Wiltz, Waynesboro Generals