With season on the line, Liam Doyle is who you want

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tennessee dropped a tough one on Saturday, falling to Arkansas 4-3 to begin play in the Fayetteville Super Regional from Baum-Walker Stadium.  

The Vols pitched well and played good defense. Tennessee hit a pair of home runs, but that was it in terms of hits. It was a dominating effort from Arkansas starter Zach Root. That’s how the game goes sometimes.

Now, Tennessee is up against it. The Vols need a win on Sunday to extend their season at least another day. Arkansas locks up a spot in Omaha for the College World Series with a win on Sunday. Tennessee forces a winner-take-all Game 3 on Monday if it finds a way into the win column on Sunday.

And when your back is against the wall, who better to have on the mound than Liam Doyle if you are Tennessee?

“He’ll do anything he can to help his team win. Pitched two different times, started and then came in relief on Monday,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said following Saturday’s game. “He’s going to compete hard. We just got to do a good job. When we get a chance to hit one, we got to square it up, and he’s hard to square up. So, I told our guys to get some rest because we’ll get their best shot tomorrow.” 

Doyle has been phenomenal this season for Tennessee. He entered the weekend leading the nation in strikeouts and was named a Finalist for both the Golden Spikes and Dick Howser Awards this past week. He was named Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year for his efforts in the regular season and obviously showed his selfless attitude with the relief appearance on Monday to close out the Knoxville Regional.   

Just as the plot thickens, we look back on Doyle’s outing against Arkansas a few weeks ago to conclude the regular season. It was easily his worst start of the year – his contract year – as the lefty allowed eight runs (six earned) off 11 hits in just 4.2 innings pitched.

The Hogs got the better of Doyle in round one. Good luck striking gold twice.  

“They were aggressive, for sure. And from the beginning, I think he just never really kind of had his rhythm,” Vitello said when asked about Doyle’s regular season outing against the Razorbacks. “I looked at it. I don’t have a magic answer for you. What stuck out to me, and I kind of beat this drum a ton with our local media, is he then the next week, was so frustrated with it, he tried to undo it. So, I know he’s looked at it, Frank’s (Anderson) looked at it, and it’s kind of like, again, I’ll steal words from Dean (Curley) — baseball, it’s a new day. So, (Zach) Root didn’t throw as well the last time we were here, as he did today. So, you try and make adjustments, but anything can happen. Anything can happen. It’s certainly chaotic this time of year.”

Tennessee needs a win to keep on playing baseball. Doyle has been the Vols’ best pitcher this season. He’s arguably been the best pitcher in college baseball this season. The southpaw also carries the emotional energy for his team when he steps on the mound.

He exudes confidence and battles with every pitch. Tennessee needs just that in the win-or-go-home contest on Sunday. With the season on the line, there’s no better guy to turn to on the mound. Let’s see if the Vols can get it done.  

Tennessee and Arkansas battle for Game 2 of the Fayetteville Super Regional on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN.