Liam Doyle spun a slider and Ole Miss third baseman Luke Hill froze.
The Tennessee baseball pitcher did not, bounding frenetically toward the third-base dugout at Swayze Field. He gave a glance to his former teammates in the Ole Miss dugout, skipped through his current Tennessee teammates and didn't stop jumping until he vanished down the tunnel after his eighth magnificent inning.
Doyle was divine in his return to Oxford.
“That was unreal, man," Doyle said. "Special place to me. I know not too many people like me here. Just to come back here and be able to dominate and do what I was able to do is always fun. SEC on a Friday, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Doyle, the Ole Miss transfer, struck out 14 in a career-best 8⅓ innings to launch No. 4 Tennessee to a 3-2 series-opening win against the No. 7 Rebels in Oxford, Mississippi. His 14 strikeouts matched his top total. The first time was against Samford on Feb. 21.
This time, it was a much bigger deal.
The 6-foot-2 lefty came back to pitch at Ole Miss (26-8, 8-5 SEC), where he was 2-4 with a 6.35 ERA last season before leaving to pitch for the defending national champions. He's a different monster on the mound now in a Tennessee (30-4, 10-3) uniform. The Ole Miss fans who booed him routinely throughout the game witnessed that reality.
Doyle allowed two runs on three hits with two walks. His lone mistake was a breaking ball he left up to Ole Miss catcher Austin Fawley, who hit a two-run homer.
“I didn’t think it was anything super special," Fawley said of facing Doyle. "It’s a fastball. Little bit of ride.”
Doyle (6-1, 2.47 ERA) rode that fastball straight through the Ole Miss lineup like he has done all season. He is the top strikeout pitcher in college baseball with 95 in 51 innings after Friday. He struck out every Ole Miss starter. He struck out the side twice. He had three two-strikeout innings, including the eighth inning when he got Hill and cut loose.
“You could see maybe a bit extra passion but it was controlled," Vols coach Tony Vitello said.
Doyle, who began his career at Coastal Carolina, battled nerves early Friday.
He eliminated them in the first inning and settled into the longest start of his career. He threw seven innings once at CCU. He had covered six innings twice this season. Vitello stressed Doyle is still discovering how to work the "marathon not a sprint" required of a starting pitcher because he is built as an all-out competitor. ...
