Tennessee baseball opened up its national championship defense with a dominant 15-0 run-rule victory over Hofstra on Friday evening at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Liam Doyle dominated in his first start in the Orange-and-White while the Vols’ offense had slow and consistent success throughout the evening.
Here’s how the Vols got it done on opening day.
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Hofstra Was Little Test For Liam Doyle
Tennessee opening day starting pitcher Liam Doyle entered the season with an abundance of hype after dominating Volunteer hitters in the fall and preseason. And after mowing down his own talented teammates all offseason, Hofstra was little test for the left hander.
Hofstra leadoff man Dylan Palmer opened the game with a groundout to shortstop. Eight straight Pride players failed to put the ball in play following that at-bat as Palmer had Hofstra’s first hit his next time up.
Doyle mowed past Hofstra’s lineup mostly leaning on a fastball that sat 96-97 MPH and touched 98 MPH at a few points.
The Ole Miss transfer wasn’t just dominant but he also efficient. He threw 58 pitches and 42 strikes. Doyle finished his Tennessee debut by shutting out the Pride in his five innings pitched. He surrendered just one hit, no walks and struck out 11 batters. That means Doyle struck out 11 of the 15 batters he faced.
A Slow, Consistent Burn Offensively
Tennessee didn’t have any massive innings offensively but they had consistent success against the Pride and did enough in the early innings to all but put the game away with Doyle on the mound.
The Vols scored three in the first inning off of just two hits while Hunter Ensley drove a run home on a groundout, Gavin Kilen scored on a wild pitch and Cannon Peebles drove home a run with a single. Tennessee added two runs in both the second and third inning as Dean Curley’s two run shot was the Vols’ first long ball of the season and Andrew Fischer hit a line drive shot to right field.
The only offensive explosion came in the sixth inning when Tennessee scored seven runs to all but lock up run-rule. Sophomore Hunter High’s first career home run was a three-run, no doubter to right field.
Tennessee scored runs in five of seven innings with nine Volunteer batters recording hits and 11 batters reaching base.
Newcomers Besides Doyle Have Success Too
Doyle wasn’t the only Tennessee newcomer that had plenty of success in his Volunteer debut. Tony Vitello wrote three other Volunteer newcomers in his lineup card on opening day and all three had nice debuts.
Louisville infield transfer Gavin Kilen hit in the two-hole and went two-for-three with a double, triple and a walk. The elite contact hitter showed a lot of what he did in the preseason, lining the ball to all parts of the ballpark.
Ole Miss transfer Fischer also did a lot of what he did in the offseason. He had just three plate appearances before Jay Abernathy pinch ran for him. Fischer walked twice and hit the previously mentioned homer to right field.
Manny Marin was the only freshman in the starting lineman and the third basemen went two-for-three at the plate. Marin getting the nod at third base with Fischer starting at first speaks to just how strong of a preseason the talented freshman had.
Kennesaw State transfer pitcher Tanner Franklin relieved Doyle and was dominant in two innings pitched. The tall right-hander struck out four batters leaning heavily on a 98 MPH.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee and Hofstra resume its three-game series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 2 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
