July is largely a quiet time in college sports, but Tony Vitello and Tennessee baseball sent shockwaves through the college baseball world on Tuesday.
The Vols started off the day strong when center fielder Hunter Ensley announced that he was returning to Tennessee for his redshirt senior season. Ensley is a two-year starter in center field for Tennessee baseball and is one of the top leaders in the program.
As Vitello’s program undergoes major roster turnover this offseason, returning Ensley’s leadership is a major win for Tennessee. Ensley was dominant in the back third of the 2024 season and ended up hitting 296 with 12 home runs, 15 doubles and 48 RBIs.
That was just the start of Tennessee’s big day. Ole Miss third baseman Andrew Fischer made a big splash by committing to the Vols shortly after his official visit to Tennessee.
Fischer hit .285 with 20 home runs and 57 RBIs in his sophomore season in Oxford after hitting .289 with 11 home runs, 13 doubles and 33 RBIs in his freshman season at Duke. A power hitting third baseman, Fischer is the type of bat that Vitello and his staff can plug into the middle of the lineup and help reproduce some of the power they’re losing to professional baseball.
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Shortly after, Ole Miss left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle committed to Tennessee baseball over Florida. Doyle was Fischer’s roommate at Ole Miss and the duo visited Tennessee together before committing to the Vols.
The rising junior lefty was Ole Miss’ Saturday starter a season ago where he posted a 3-4 record, 5.73 ERA and 1.25 WHIP last season. Doyle turned in fantastic strikeout numbers last season, totaling 84 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched.
Tennessee baseball is looking to replace all three of its weekend starting pitchers from last season with Friday opener Chris Stamos and Sunday starter Zander Sechrist out of eligibility while Saturday starter Drew Beam projects as a top three round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. With SEC starting experience, Doyle brings a dose of needed experience to the Vols’ starting staff.
Entering Tuesday with three transfer additions, Tennessee baseball’s roster was already starting to shape up entering the 2025 season but it’s looking all the clearer after returning a key player from its 2024 National Championship team and adding two major targets in the portal.
