KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Second-ranked Tennessee baseball battled its way to a 5-3 series-opening win over No. 7 Florida in its SEC opener in Knoxville.
Liam Doyle wasn’t overly dominant but held Florida to one run in 4.2 innings, Hunter Ensley delivered in a big moment, a big sixth-inning interference call preserved Tennessee’s lead and Nate Snead was incredible out of the bullpen.
Here’s how Tennessee got it done in a Friday night thriller.
Long Battles Lead to Shorter Doyle Outing
Liam Doyle was his usual, dominant self on the mound early. The hard-throwing lefty recorded back-to-back 1-2-3 innings to open the game, tallying four strikeouts in the process.
Long battles were the theme of Doyle’s outing, though. Few outs came easy for Doyle as his pitch count climbed quicker than usual on Friday.
The Ole Miss transfer ran into trouble for the first time in the third, allowing a one-out single and two-out walk. But Doyle bounced back, getting Florida’s two-hole hitter Bobby Boser looking on an off-speed pitch for strike three to strand the runners.
Florida tied the game in the fourth when left-fielder Blake Cyr launched a one-out solo homer to the third level of the left-field porches.
Doyle ran into more trouble after that, hitting a batter before allowing an infield single to put two on with one out.
But an incredible defensive play from Gavin Kilen and Dean Curley got Doyle out of the jam. Kilen fielded a Hayden Yost ground ball up the middle, flipped to Curley who tagged second then fired an accurate throw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
Doyle’s day ended in the fifth after issuing a 10-pitch walk to Florida’s leadoff hitter Justin Nadeau with two outs.
Doyle left the mound in frustration, as he got squeezed on multiple occasions during Nadeau’s at-bat.
The hard-throwing lefty threw a season-high 105 pitches in 4.2 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season. He gave up three hits and one earned run while striking out six and walking a pair. Doyle threw seven or more pitches in five of Florida’s 19 at-bats against the Vols’ ace.
“It was good,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said when reflecting on Doyle’s outing. “I think both Liams (Liam Doyle and Florida’s Liam Peterson) – both being named Liam – certainly show you what it is like to see an SEC Friday starter…. And I do not mean to speak for Peterson, but those two guys were amped up. And the hitters were amped up to see them. It was almost kind of like a knockout fighter getting in the ring and swinging like crazy, and maybe you gas out a little quicker than you normally would. I felt like that was the case, at the very least, for [Liam] Doyle.”
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Big Game Hunter
Freshman duo Manny Marin and Jay Abernathy first put Tennessee on the board in the second. Marin smoked a one-out double before the left-center gap before Abernathy delivered an RBI single to center field.
After uneventful innings for Tennessee at the plate in the third and fourth, big game Hunter Ensley emerged in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie.
Tennessee loaded the bases thanks to a leadoff walk from Abernathy and singles from Curley and Kilen.
Ensley then delivered as he often does in big moments, roping a two-run single to right field, sending Lindsey Nelson Stadium into a frenzy.
Ensley’s big hit also spelled the end for Florida ace Liam Peterson’s outing, who had largely shut down Tennessee’s lineup up to that point.
A wild pitch later scored another run for Tennessee, who threw up a three spot in the fifth to re-take the lead.
Tennessee Preserves Lead in Sixth After Flurry of Florida Singles
Reliever Tanner Franklin, who came in for Doyle to get the final out of the fifth inning, ran into trouble in the sixth.
Franklin gave up two runs on four straight singles before recording an out. The Kennesaw State transfer was then pulled for sophomore lefty Dylan Loy, who got a pop-up before issuing a one-out walk to load the bases.
Star bullpen arm Nate Snead then relieved Loy and got out of the inning after an eventful sequence.
Pinch-hitter Landon Stripling sent a ground ball to Kilen, who got the force out at second, but Florida’s Luke Heyman slid into the restricted zone and made contact with Kilen, leading to the interference call.
It was a fortunate call for Tennessee, as Kilen was not going to be able to turn two. Instead of a game-tying run for Florida, Tennessee preserved the lead heading to the bottom of the sixth.
“It was a tricky ball,” Vitello said when thinking back on the double play. “All I saw was the slide. There’s not much leeway there. And I haven’t seen a replay or anything, but I just know there’s not much leeway at all… A fortunate break for us and an unfortunate break for them. But Snead did what he needed to do. Come in and get a ground ball in that situation.”
Tennessee added a run in the bottom of the frame as a sac fly from Kilen plated Curley, who had tripled with one out.
Nate Snead Cruises in Late Innings
Nate Snead did Nate Snead in the final innings, slamming the door in 3.2 innings of work.
Snead gave up two hits and no runs while striking our four, earning his second save of the season. On a night where things weren’t easy for Tennessee on the mound for the majority of the game, Snead made them look anything but.
“His efficiency,” Vitello said when asked what was so impressive about Snead’s outing. “36, 37 pitches to get the work done that he did, and a lot of it was just from attacking the zone. And Liam [Doyle] was doing that and he was out of the zone, and he’s a strikeout pitcher by nature, so maybe he’s hunting extra strikeouts, maybe there’s a little extra effort. Or again, maybe Florida is pretty dang good, or all of the above. So I think his efficiency was the best thing.”
Up Next
Tennessee will look to clinch the series in game two Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is at 3:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
