Tony Vitello updates status of Gavin Kilen and Liam Doyle
Tennessee baseball will hit the road this weekend for a top-10 showdown in Southeastern Conference play in Oxford against Ole Miss. With plenty on the line, what’s the latest with a couple of injured Vols?
Starting second baseman Gavin Kilen has registered just one at-bat over the past 11 games after injuring his hamstring three weeks ago in a midweek clast with East Tennessee State. The skipper has previously said that hitting will return before fielding for the all-star.
“He had a little bit of soreness creep in again. So, against [Texas] A&M, it would have been nice to have him,” Vitello said on Tuesday. It would have only been in one game. It would have been nice to start him against [Justin] Lampkin, but he had a little bit of a setback. So, going into this weekend, I feel like we’re back to where we were against South Carolina.
“Yeah, he’ll be able to do something.”
The junior made a brief return to the batter’s box a few weekends ago during the second for a three-game series on the road at South Carolina’s Founders Park. He came on as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth, in place of designated hitter Levi Clark. The at-bat ended with a groundout to shortstop as he swung at the first pitch he saw.
Kilen led Tennessee in average (.431), hits (31), home runs (10, RBI (25), runs (32) and slugging percentage (.986) at the time of his injury. Manny Marin has been the primary option at second base during Kilen’s absence.
Another Vol that was worth keeping an eye on this weekend was Friday night starting pitcher Liam Doyle. The junior was dealing with a blister that popped up on his throwing hand during the sixth and final inning of his no-hit start against Texas A&M last Friday.
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Doyle downplayed the situation in postgame, calling it a ‘nagging injury’ that wouldn’t cost him his next start at Ole Miss. Vitello confirmed that he is fine and good to go for Friday.
“Yeah, good. Again, that was not quite in the [Hunter] Ensley category, but being at 95 pitches [was] kind of similar,” Vitello said. “So, a little bit of precautionary, and it’s nice you got Woody [Jeff Wood] and those folks to hand him off to.”
The lefty went six innings with eight strikeouts in the combined no-hitter over the Aggies, his second start of a combined no-hitter this season for the Vols. Doyle walked two and hit two batters, but didn’t give up a hit over his 96-pitch night. Dylan Loy came in for the top of the seventh and made quick work to end the night.
Friday’s no-hitter was the 10th in program history and the fifth in combined fashion. It was the second of the season and the first in Southeastern Conference play since Vanderbilt combined for a no-no over Kentucky in 2022.
The last time Tennessee threw multiple no-hitters in a single season was 1976.
