With snow covering the hills on the backdrop at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Tennessee baseball opened up its weekend with a 5-1 win over Samford on Friday afternoon.
Friday night starter Liam Doyle was phenomenal again while Tennessee used walks and long balls to propel its offense. Here’s how the Vols got it done.
Liam Doyle Dominates Again
Samford isn’t SEC competition but it is a definite step up compared to Tennessee’s opening weekend series against Hofstra.
That step up in competition mattered little for left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle who dominated the Bulldogs in 5.1 innings pitched.
The left-handed pitcher’s fastball was sitting in the mid-90s compared to upper-90s from a week ago. But Doyle continued to deal despite it. He struck out 14 batters while allowing just one run on a solo homer in the fifth inning.
Trey Higgins’ solo home run was one of just two hits off of Doyle while he also walked one batter. After throwing 58 pitches last week, Doyle threw 81 pitches including 54 strikes against the Bulldogs.
Home Runs And Walks Key For Tennessee’s Offense
As baseball has moved in a more analytical direction over the last decade-plus, the importance of batting average has diminished with teams putting more value on walks and home runs.
Tennessee baseball had an analytics heavy series opener against Samford as the Vols hit two home runs and walked nine times. The Vols had just six other hits outside of the two home runs.
Reese Chapman hit a mammoth home run over the batter’s eye in center field. Cannon Peebles hit the Vols’ other home run with a two-run blast from the right side of the plate. The switch hitting catcher also had a walk.
Both of Tennessee’s big name transfer hitters had multiple walks in the game. Gavin Kilen walked three times to go along with a single to left field. Andrew Fischer also walked twice to go along with a RBI single to right field.
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Tennessee Flirts With Single Game Program Record
Doyle wasn’t the only Tennessee pitcher that was striking out Samford batters at a high rate. Kennesaw State transfer Tanner Franklin was dominant, striking out six batters in 3.2 innings pitched.
The tall right-hander was overpowering Bulldogs with a mid-90s fastball and a cutter that played extremely well off of it.
Doyle and Franklin combined to strike out 20 Samford batters which came just shy of Tennessee’s single-game program strikeout record. Vol pitchers combined to strike out 20 batters in a win over Missouri in 2018 and in a win over Indiana in 2019.
The power throwing left-handed and right-handed pitchers played very well off of one another for the second time this season. That combination is poised to be crucial for Tennessee this season.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball resumes its weekend series against Samford on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET. SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
