Liam Doyle ‘just pitched better’ as the Tennessee ace returned to form

The Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year had been roughed up his past two outings. Sure, Arkansas and Texas are two pretty good teams, but Liam Doyle looked a bit out of sorts of late.

Friday started off that way. He ran into trouble in each of the first few innings, unable to work out of another jam in the third as Miami (OH) briefly tied the ballgame. But after the first three frames, the southpaw was back to his old ways.  

“It’s just they made him work. But the more the game went on and went on, I think getting settled in is kind of a cliche that’s overused, but I think it really applied to tonight,” Tony Vitello said postgame. “But he really settled in and started to pitch more. He was slowed down. It didn’t look like he was pitching on adrenaline. It looked like he was just pitching on competitiveness. And the pitches were executed.”

The skipper said last Thursday after Doyle allowed four runs in 3.2 innings of work that the hurler was trying to throw ‘two shutouts in one outing to make up for the week before.’ The week before saw the lefty surrender six earned runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings against then Razorbacks.

“Sometimes hitters are sitting fastball, but I’ve also worked behind [in] the counts, I feel like, more than I have and the rest of the season the past three weeks,” the pitcher explained after his outing. So, I think when you’re down 2-0 or 3-1 in a count, it’s pretty easy to put a swing on a fastball at this level. Hitters are really good and talented. So, [the] fastball hasn’t changed metrically or analytically or velocity wise, but people are putting good swings on it.”

Doyle was nearly automatic in his final few innings to kickoff regional play, however. After allowing the run to score in the third, the lefty punched out the final batter of the frame. From there, it was three-straight innings of facing the minimum, striking out the side in the fifth. The junior retired as many as 10-straight at one point.

So, what was different in this game than maybe the past few starts for the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist? Mixing some things up, according to Miami (OH) coach Brian Smiley.

“I think early, we came out and really tried to strip him of his fastball. And then he adjusted and they [Tennessee] adjusted,” the skipper said. “They started landing that off-speed early in the count to keep us from cheating to that fastball. That is what settled him in.

“We kind of knew what we were walking into facing Mr. Doyle. He’s a load. When he started landing that off-speed, honestly, started pitching kind of backwards to our guys. It’s tough to handle.”

Doyle’s dominant performance would be the eighth start this season where the hurler has racked up double-digit strikeouts. He tallied nine punchouts in three other starts as well, but when you lead the country in strikeouts, that shouldn’t be surprising.

There was some debate amongst Tennessee fans on if it was the right call to throw your ace against the No. 4 seed to open regional play. Time will tell, of course, but it’s harder to argue after outings like Friday’s. To have your postseason journey begin with an effort like that on the hill. Not bad.

“I think this weekend was great to get back to Liam leading us out of the charge,” Vitello conclude. “He’s kind of set a standard for his teammates and I think they push one another to make sure they’re carrying their weight.”

Doyle went on to pitch 6.2 innings on Friday, allowing one run off four hits with 11 strikeouts to three walks on 104 pitches (69 strikes).