The College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, has become somewhat of a home away from home for Tennessee under coach Tony Vitello.
Just not this year.
Tennessee’s quest to defend its 2024 national title came to a convincing halt Sunday afternoon in the form of an 11-4 loss to Arkansas in the Fayetteville Super Regional. The NCAA tournament’s third-seeded Razorbacks were too much for Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year Liam Doyle and the 14th-seeded Volunteers at Baum-Walker Stadium, just like they were last month in their regular-season series.
“Congrats to Arkansas and their fan base,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said afterward during a news conference. “You don’t like losing, and I think I’ve shown the worst side of that, but it is a little bit different when you have the amount of respect for the people that you do. They’ll go off and do their thing, but as it relates to us, I’ll be the first to apologize to our fan base that we’re not going to Omaha.
“You can certainly go, but you’re not going to be able to go as a fan.”
Coupled with Saturday’s 4-3 victory in the best-of-three opener, Arkansas has advanced to the eight-team field at Charles Schwab Stadium Omaha with a 48-13 record. This is the 12th appearance in the CWS for the Razorbacks, who are still seeking their first crown.
Tennessee, which made College World Series trips in 2021 and 2023 before last summer’s championship run, finished its season at 46-19.
“I could have done better this year,” Vitello said, “but even though we were a little short of winning today and pushing this to a game three, there is a lot to take pride in with these guys.”
In his final college appearance, Doyle was pulled before working four full innings. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder from Derry, New Hampshire, allowed five runs on five hits and two walks, and he also threw two wild pitches.
Doyle yielded 11 hits and eight runs (six earned) in Tennessee’s 8-6 loss at Arkansas on May 16, and he gave up 20 hits and 18 runs in three career appearances inside Baum-Walker Stadium, which includes last season when he played for Ole Miss.
“Last Monday was a factor,” Vitello said, referencing Doyle recording the final seven outs of the Knoxville Regional win over Wake Forest. “I think it was a factor just in general. Last Monday was also pretty memorable and pretty special.
“It’s just the way he was missing spots, in particular leaving balls arm side to lefties.”
There were no easy innings for Doyle on Sunday, as he survived a first inning in which he allowed two singles and threw a wild pitch and a second inning that contained one single and one wild pitch. Justin Thomas Jr. drew a leadoff walk in the third inning to cause more problems for Doyle, and Charles Davalan made him pay with a two-run home run to right field for a 2-0 advantage.
“I knew I was going to get a heater,” Davalan said. “I kind of sold out to it, to be honest. If he had thrown anything else, I probably would have looked kind of foolish.”
Tennessee showed the potential to tie the game or even take the lead in its half of the third when Cannon Peebles, Manny Marin and Gavin Kilen singled to load the bases with nobody out, but Andrew Fischer then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, and the Vols could only make it a 2-1 game.
The Razorbacks blew the game open with a five-run fourth, which began with Cam Kozeal and Reese Robinett collecting singles and advancing to third on Doyle’s two-out wild pitch. An intentional walk to Davalan to load the bases marked the end of the day for Doyle, who was replaced by freshman Brayden Krenzel.
Krenzel only faced one better, SEC player of the year Wehiwa Aloy, but he threw a wild pitch that extended the Arkansas lead to 3-1 and then hit Aloy to load the bases again. AJ Russell came in for Krenzel and was greeted with Logan Maxwell’s grand slam to left field that made it 7-1.
“I thought I made a good pitch,” Russell said. “It was spun well and carried a little bit more than I anticipated. I kind of thought it was a fly out right off the bat.”
Said Maxwell with a smile: “I thought the same thing.”
Arkansas led by nine on two occasions at 10-1 and 11-2, with Vols freshman pinch-hitter Jay Abernathy capping the scoring in the ninth with a two-run homer to right.
Fischer singled to right in the eighth inning, allowing him to reach safely in all 65 games this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.