Tennessee entered the Astros Foundation College Classic in Houston leading the nation at the plate with 21 home runs and on the mound with 14.4 strikeouts per nine-inning contest.
Those impressive figures were accrued at the expense of Hofstra, UNC Asheville, Samford and North Alabama, so what would the top-ranked Volunteers do against No. 25 Oklahoma State?
Hit four more homers and rack up 16 more strikeouts, of course, in a 5-2 topping of the Cowboys to improve to 9-0 this season. Tennessee’s Liam Doyle was plenty prepared for his third straight Friday start, as the Ole Miss transfer worked into the fifth inning and tallied nine strikeouts while allowing three hits and two walks against the preseason picks to win the Big 12.
“I felt pretty good,” Doyle said in a news conference after the Vols dropped Oklahoma State to 4-4. “It was not necessarily my best stuff once again, but I felt confident and was throwing a lot of strikes trying to fill up the zone. I was facing a good lineup out there in a major league stadium.”
Said Vols coach Tony Vitello: “Liam has a good, fun balance that works for him, and he makes it really fun to be around him. When he’s competing, he’s as good as it gets.”
The Astros Foundation College Classic is taking place inside Daikin Park, known formerly as Minute Maid Park.
Dylan Loy, Tanner Franklin and Nate Snead finished out the game for the Vols on the mound, with Snead picking up his first save of the season. Tennessee junior second baseman Gavin Kilen, a Louisville transfer, hit a home run to right field in the first inning and another to left in the third to provide the Vols a 2-0 lead.
“Honestly, I was just looking for fastballs early in the count and just doing damage on mistakes,” said Kilen, who has five homers in nine games with the Vols after hitting nine in 100 games during two seasons with the Cardinals.
Tennessee would extend the lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a homer to left by Manny Marin and a homer to right by Dean Curley.
The Vols will start Marcus Phillips as they try to make it 10 straight opening wins in Saturday’s noon Eastern matchup with Rice (2-6), which fell 14-3 to Mississippi State on Friday. Vitello was asked about his team’s quick start to the season and said it has been unique due to the blend of returning players, junior-college players and transfer portal acquisitions, and talented freshmen.
“They’ve been low maintenance, and it’s up to them to realize that it’s pretty good right now, but it’s going to need to get better as the season goes on,” Vitello said. “For now, they’ve kind of done it. We haven’t had to do a trust fall or anything like that.
“It’s just a bunch of guys with a similar goal.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.