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How it Happened: Liam Doyle powers series-opening win for Vols over Samford

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•about 18 hours•

_Cainer

Tennessee pitcher Liam Doyle. Credit: UT Athletics
Tennessee pitcher Liam Doyle. Credit: UT Athletics

Tennessee opened the series with a win over Samford on a chilly Friday afternoon from Lindsey Nelson Stadium, 5-1. The win was also the 300th for Tony Vitello as head coach of the program.

The Vols (5-0) cranked two home runs and tallied eight hits in the ballgame to win comfortably on the chilly day. The Bulldogs (3-2) led off the fifth inning with a home run, but didn’t manage much more with one run off four hits in the ballgame.   

Liam Doyle (2-0) earned his second win of his Tennessee career after a career-high 13 strikeouts over five innings of one-run baseball. The southpaw tallied 77 pitches with 51 strikes. Miller Riggins (1-1) took home the loss after allowing five runs off six hits in the four-inning appearance. Tanner Franklin earned the save.

Tennessee and Samford return to action Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock for game two of the series from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.  

Scoring Summary

Bottom 2nd: Reese Chapman solo home run to centerfield. Vols 1-0
Bottom 3rd: Cannon Peebles 2-tun home run to left field. Vols 3-0
Bottom 4th: Hunter Ensley RBI groundout to shortstop. Vols 4-0
Bottom 4th: Andrew Fischer RBI single to right field. Vols 5-0
Top 5th: Trey Higgins sends a solo shot to the scoreboard. Vols 5-1

Postgame Video

The Final Stats

Tennessee’s Weekly Schedule

Tuesday: No. 4 Tennessee 29, UNC Asheville 4 (7 Inn) | Box Score | How it Happened | Four Takes | Vitello Transcript
Friday: No. 4 Tennessee 5, Samford 1 | Box Score
Saturday: No. 4 Tennessee vs. Samford | 2 PM ET | SEC Network+
Sunday: No. 4 Tennessee vs. Samford | 1 PM ET | SEC Network+

Vols in the Weekly Polls

USA Today – No. 2 (preseason)
NCBWA – No. 2 (preseason)
Baseball America – No. 3
D1 Baseball – No. 4
Perfect Game – No. 5

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