Although the Tennessee Volunteers have lost four consecutive series heading into this weekend’s three-game set at Arkansas to close the regular season, the reigning national champions do possess the potential for another deep postseason run.
Left-handed starting pitcher Liam Doyle is reason enough for such hope.
“If you look at all the best teams in this league for the last 20 years, you’ve got a guy who strikes fear in the other team,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference this past Friday night after Doyle threw seven scoreless innings in a 3-2 win over Vanderbilt. “For us, he gives our players confidence, and he gives our coaching staff the chance to map out how we want the weekend to go.
“He influences every game all the way to Tuesday, because you’ve got a guy who can give you 100 pitches and set the tone for the weekend.”
The Vols, who are 39-13 overall and 15-12 in Southeastern Conference play heading into Tuesday’s nonconference game against visiting Belmont, are No. 14 in the latest USA Today coaches poll.
Tennessee has racked up some single-season successes recently on the basketball court with Dalton Knecht, the 2023-24 SEC player of the year, and with Chaz Lanier, the Jerry West Award winner this past winter, and Doyle is proving to be a shining example of that inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium and at other baseball venues throughout the league.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior from Derry, New Hampshire, has used his one season between his sophomore year at Ole Miss and his expected top-10 selection in July’s Major League Baseball draft to post a 9-2 record with a 2.17 earned run average and a nation-leading 127 strikeouts.
“It’s been awesome being at this place in front of these fans and with this coaching staff especially,” Doyle said Friday. “It’s a pretty special place to come play baseball. I think my energy matches the coaches’ mentality, and I’ve just been trying to do whatever I can.
“Winning games on a Friday night is tough, but I’ve been glad to come to the office every day and do what I can.”
Doyle led Ole Miss with 84 strikeouts last season but posted a 3-4 record with a 5.73 ERA. He is more complete in every way this spring, which is reflected by opponents hitting just .145 against him, and he has repeatedly delivered his fastball when everyone knows it’s coming.
“I just think it’s the tempo he has, and the delivery can mess with you a little at the plate,” Vols senior center fielder Hunter Ensley said. “His mixing in those off-speed pitches makes it tough catching up to 99 (miles per hour) in the top of the zone.”
Said Doyle: “It’s just having the confidence and throwing with conviction. Now that my off-speed stuff has grown so tremendously, it helps my fastball that was already pretty damn good get better.”
Doyle has six games this season with double-digit strikeouts, recording 12 against the Commodores and 14 when he returned to Ole Miss on April 11 and worked into the ninth inning of another 3-2 win.
Such outings have resulted in quite the first-world problem for his teammates.
“I kind of get bored out there sometimes,” Ensley said. “I enjoy getting bored out there because it means we’re playing well, but you do have to stay mentally locked in. I’ve got to keep the legs loose, because I don’t do a lot of running, and it can drain you when not a lot of balls are hit out there.
“He’s been incredible. He’s always commanding all three or four pitches and working ahead. The guy is tough to hit.”
Now for Tennessee’s obvious issue.
Since the start of April, the Vols are 5-2 in SEC games when Doyle pitches and 2-9 in league contests when he doesn’t. That includes the 1-1 record he compiled earlier this month during the weather-altered series against Auburn, when he took the opening loss despite pitching only one inning and got the second-game victory when he worked the 10th and 11th innings.
When asked about disrupting his weekly routine with the two brief outings against Auburn, Doyle said, “I definitely wanted to pitch and I definitely wanted to win, so whatever it took. If I have to go out three times in a weekend if it would give us a win, I would be good to go. I want to do anything to help this team win.”
Which is why Vitello is certain to savor every appearance Doyle has from here on out.
“Whenever that guy gets plopped down in the middle of a pro locker room,” Vitello said, “he is immediately going to make that locker room a more fun place and a better place.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.