Tennessee’s Liam Doyle named Co-SEC Pitcher of the Week…again
For the third time this season and for the second in as many weeks, Tennessee ace Liam Doyle has been named the Co-SEC Pitcher of the Week.
The honor should come as no surprise given what the southpaw did at previously-ranked No. 6 Ole Miss – the place he called home for the 2024 season. Doyle carved up the Rebels for a career-high 8.1 innings pitched while tying a career-best of 14 punchouts.
Tennessee’s Friday night hurler allowed three hits and walked a pair over 111 total pitches with 73 strikes.
“That was unreal, man. I mean, special place for me,” Doyle said after the game. “I know not too many people like me here, but just to be able to come back here and dominate and do what I was able to do, it’s always fun. SEC on a Friday – doesn’t get much better than that.”
The lefty has been nearly untouchable his past two starts. He’s now 6-1 on the season and lowered his ERA down to 2.47 across 51 innings pitched following the start in Oxford. At one point Friday night, Doyle had tossed nine-consecutive innings without allowing a hit – a feat that dated back to his start against Texas A&M the week prior where he pitched six no-hit frames.
“Circled this one when I first came here to Tennessee,” Doyle concluded. “I wanted to make it special and wanted to make it big. It was such a great night. I’m so blessed. It was awesome.”
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The pitcher earned the same honor last Monday after first reeling in SEC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 10. That stemmed from another no-hit start where Doyle tossed five frames in the combined no-hitter against St. Bonaventure.
“He’s an extreme competitor so, again, the extra focus or whatever it was helped him control that emotion and passion,” Vitello said of Doyle following Friday’s start in Oxford. “Maybe there was extra but to be honest with you, he’s always got that to him. Maybe a little added focus, teammates helped him out behind him, but he was a Friday night SEC guy tonight.”
Tennessee moved up in the national polls this week after winning its fourth Southeastern Conference series of the season (third on the road) at Ole Miss, two games to one. The Vols (31-5, 11-4 SEC) ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America, No. 3 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, No. 4 from D1 Baseball and remained at No. 5 in the Perfect Game poll.
Doyle shares the weekly honor with Oklahoma’s Kyson Witherspoon, who tossed seven shutout innings in a complete game victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
