HOUSTON, Tex. – Tennessee baseball sophomore left-handed pitcher Dylan Loy threw seven pitches in the Vols’ 5-2 win over Oklahoma State Friday in Houston. They may have been the seven most significant pitches of the night.
Tennessee ace Liam Doyle did his usual thing Friday, striking out batters left and right and tossing 0s up on the scoreboard inning after inning. However, Doyle ran into some trouble in the fifth as he approached 90 pitches, giving up a leadoff single and surrendering a one-out walk.
Given the fact that Doyle is a strikeout guy, his pitch count is going to climb quicker than others. After the one-out walk, it was evident Doyle’s day was nearing an end and it was time for a change.
Kennesaw State transfer right-handed pitcher Tanner Franklin has been the follow-up to Doyle in Tennessee’s first two Friday games so far this season. But with Doyle exiting the game earlier this time around, Tennessee needed a bridge guy.
Enter Dylan Loy, who until Friday had only thrown one 18-pitch inning against North Alabama this season. Loy’s season debut came later because of some soreness and the fact that head coach Tony Vitello always exercises caution especially early in the season.
Loy was in the mix to be a weekend starter and still may be, but what he did Friday showed he can excel in a bridge role.
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Loy made the most of his appearance in Daikin Park Friday, needing only seven pitches to strikeout back-to-back batters and strand the pair of runners. It preserved Tennessee’s 4-0 lead and thwarted Oklahoma State’s only chance of gaining true momentum.
The Cowboys were able to put together a couple of runs later in the game, but a two-on-with-one-out scenario in the fifth was where they needed to strike. Loy prevented that.
“We’re just glad he is back in the mix,” Vitello said about Loy. “We were kind of being overly cautious with him. Because of that, now he’s in the mix. There’s no holding him back or anything like that. He got ready real fast [today]. He always competes the same way. He’s got a lot of different strengths, and now, like [Nate] Snead, Marcus [Phillips], some of these other guys, he can say, ‘I’ve got a lot of experience,’ based on what he did last year.”
Loy’s performance was shades of former long-time Tennessee left-handed reliever Kirby Connell. Connell’s niche role varied year-to-year at Tennessee but he was always a guy Vitello turned to in high-leverage situations.
Loy can be that. Everyone saw what the Pigeon Forge native was capable of in 4.2 scoreless innings of relief in the SEC Tournament Championship against LSU, helping lead Tennessee to its second SEC Tournament win in three years.
The crafty lefty figured to be a big piece of Tennessee’s pitching staff prior to the season. But the role was up in the air. While Friday is not a sure-fire indication that Loy will be used as a high-leverage/bridge arm, it showed that is a role he can excel in for Tennessee.
