Ryne Simpson was sitting around the "old" Tennessee baseball team room Thursday feeling slightly bummed out.

Just down the hall workers were scurrying around putting some final touches on Phase One of renovations to Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

"I remember coming in my freshman year and thinking the old team room was really nice," the UT senior pitcher said. "Now I come in and look at all the stuff they've done here and it's absolutely awesome.

"I'm just sort of mad I'm only going to get to see it for one more semester."

Second-year UT coach Todd Raleigh got a chance to show off the new $4.5 million renovations to media early Thursday afternoon.

There's a completely resodded field with an irrigation/drainage system, expanded seating down the first-base line with a plaza for fans, a new locker room, team room, film room, state-of-the-art 1,700-square-foot training room and coaches' offices.

Raleigh couldn't stop smiling.

"You can't get any better," Raleigh said. "It's as nice as any place I've ever been in."

His old boss agreed.

"Coach (Jack) Leggett from Clemson came through not long ago and he just said, 'Wow,' " Raleigh said. "He hadn't seen anything this nice either. He was impressed."

Below the Plaza area for fans, there's 15,000 to 16,000 square feet of new facilities that puts UT among the elite in the SEC.

"I know LSU just built a $50 million stadium and South Carolina a $30-something million stadium," Raleigh said, "but from what I've seen so far this place is at the top of the league as far as the inside facilities go. We're not quite there yet on the outside."

That's still to come.

Two more phases have been planned for an estimated total completion cost of $20 million.

In Phase Two, the stands will be lowered closer to home plate and field level - a renovation Raleigh hopes will be completed prior to the 2010 season.

Wrought iron fences will encircle the whole stadium with brick replacing what used to be green walls.

Still coming in Phase One is a new left-field fan area called "The Porch" which is supposed to be in place for the 2009 season.

"We're building eight separate decks and each one will have a grill on it and hold 30 people," Raleigh said. "We're trying to create a different kind of atmosphere around here.

"Baseball has always kind of been a family sport. The Porch area adds a different dimension and we're just trying to make it more fan friendly all the way around."

Phase Two also will include a new batting-cage facility for players and another plaza area for fans on top of that in the right-field area.

Phase Three is scheduled to include sky boxes and a new press box.

"We're so excited to see this first phase of renovations completed," UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said in a statement. "With this year as the 100th anniversary of Tennessee baseball, what better way to begin the next century?"

Recruiting may be the biggest long-range beneficiary.

An 18-year-old recruit can walk into a locker room with pictures of former UT greats on the wall and a huge power-T in the middle of 35 lockers.

"You bring a kid in here and show him around I think it really shows the commitment of the university," Raleigh said. "This is really, really nice and it shows the parents, 'hey, they're serious, they want to win here.' It goes a long way."

Fans can get a sneak peek at some of the improvements at 7 tonight when the Vols play game two of their Orange and White World Series.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.