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Around the Diamond: Doyle and Fischer return as No. 6 Ole Miss hosts No. 5 Tennessee

Ben Garrettby:Ben Garrett•04/10/25•

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Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco (Photo credit: Ole Miss Baseball/X)

Ole Miss baseball in the off-season lost its best pitcher AND hitter to the NCAA Transfer Portal. 

Both Liam Doyle and Andrew Fischer left for Tennessee following the second of back-to-back losing seasons for the Rebels since their national championship win in 2022. Fischer’s was a particularly messy exit; he attempted to recruit as many of his teammates to leave with him.

The moves, acrimonious as they were, ended up working out for all parties. Ole Miss (26-7, 8-4 SEC) is ranked No. 6 nationally and off to its best conference start in four years. Tennessee (29-4, 9-3) is up to No. 5. The teams open a three-game series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Doyle this week was named SEC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. He had eight strikeouts over six shutout innings in the second combined no-hitter for Volunteers on the year. They run-ruled Texas A&M, 10-0, a week ago.

Doyle last season led Ole Miss with 84 strikeouts.

He’s 5-1 with a team-best 2.53 ERA and leads all of college baseball in strikeouts (81) and strikeouts per nine innings (17.09).

Fischer, who’s reached base in all 33 games this season, led Ole Miss in home runs (20) and RBI (57). He’s hitting .302 with 13 homers, 35 walks and a 1.250 OPS.

“You don’t have a prayer at talking to Liam about controlling his emotions,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said of extra motivation for Doyle and Fischer this week. “That’s a waste of time. Jersey Shore isn’t coming out of Fisch; he’s going to act like that at all times. That’s his quote, actually.

“Maybe it’d be different if last weekend worked out differently. But based off the fact we got throttled on Saturday, we ain’t got time for anything else, for any extra riff raff. We ain’t got time for anything other than to be a little bit more resilient, have a little more grit and definitely have a little more determination because last weekend was a losing weekend. We need to find a way to make this a winning weekend.”

HOW TO WATCH

TV/Online: SEC Network+ (Friday, Saturday); SEC Network (Sunday)
Play-by-Play: Richard Cross
Color: Keith Kessinger (Friday, Saturday); Jensen Lewis (Sunday)

HOW TO LISTEN

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Color: Brad Henderson

RELATED: Ole Miss’ Luke Cheng is available for Tennessee series after coming out of Alcorn State game

SCOUTING TENNESSEE

Tennessee is coming off its first series loss of the season and a 10-2 win over Alabama State on Tuesday. The Volunteers dropped both games of a doubleheader with Texas A&M on Saturday. 

Tennessee has hit an NCAA-leading 644 home runs since the start of 2021. The Vols opened their SEC schedule with back-to-back series wins over Top 10 foes in No. 6 Florida and No. 10 Alabama. They feature an offense ranked in the Top 15 nationally in scoring (10.0), home runs (80), on-base percentage (.441), slugging percentage (.608) and walks (215). 

They’re Top 5 nationally in home runs, home runs per game, runs, runs per game and slugging.

Dalton Bargo in SEC games leads Tennessee and ranks third in the SEC with a .439 batting average. He’s Top 6 in doubles (6), hits (18), total bases (35) and slugging (.854). Bargo’s posted a team-high .457 batting average. Fischer over his last 10 games is slashing .344/.500/.844 with 10 runs scored, 11 RBI and a UT-leading five homers.

Hunter Ensley is on a 13-game hit streak and has reached base in 31 consecutive games. He paces Tennessee in hits (44), doubles (11) and RBI (40). He’s batting .376 with a 1.092 OPS.

Tennessee leads the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP. The Volunteers are second in strikeouts per nine, third in ERA, fourth in walks allowed, seventh in hits allowed, and ninth in shutouts.

Tennessee transfer portal commits Andrew Fischer and Liam Doyle.
Tennessee transfer portal commits Andrew Fischer and Liam Doyle.

SERIES HISTORY 

Tennessee is at Ole Miss for a series for the first time since the Volunteers swept the Rebels over three years ago. 

Ole Miss hasn’t won a series against the Volunteers since 2018. Actually, the Rebels have dropped three straight. However, they’re still out in front in the all-time series, 51-46-1.

AROUND THE DIAMOND

Ole Miss has won four in a row after run-ruling both Memphis and Alcorn State in the midweek. … The Rebels have won three straight SEC series for the first time since 2018. They’ve already matched their total from 2024 and are one series win away from matching their combined total from the past two seasons. 

Freshman LHP Walker Hooks has a 0.96 ERA in his last four outings. He’s surrendered just one run and struck out 13 over 9.1 innings. … Luke Hill is riding an 11-game hit streak. He’s hit .457 with 18 runs scored, 11 RBI and 11 walks over that span.

Ole Miss has the seventh-most (67) home runs in the NCAA this season. The Rebels are fourth in the SEC. They’re seventh nationally in home runs per game (2.03). … Ole Miss is eighth in the country in walks (217), 12th in slugging percentage (.551) and 15th in both on base percentage (.435) and runs scored (296). The pitching staff is seventh in K/9 (11.7) and ninth in K:BB (3.04).

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