Tennessee baseball trailed after a half inning of its series opener against Kentucky on Friday night. They never trailed again, coasting to a 8-2 series opening victory over the Wildcats to open the three-game set.
On the mound, Liam Doyle dominated after a rocky first inning while Dean Curley and Cannon Peebles each had big nights at the plater. Here’s more on how the Vols got it done in the series opener.
An Eventful First Inning
The weekend series was highly entertaining from the very jump. Patrick Herrera led off the game with a bloop single to left field and after Liam Doyle retired the next two batters he faced, Devin Burkes roped a two-run homer off the video board in right field.
Doyle allowed one more bloop single before getting out of the inning, but the two runs he allowed in the first inning matched the amount of runs he allowed in 14.1 innings pitched his last two starts.
The Vols’ offense quickly went to work in the bottom half of the inning with Dean Curley singling to center field and Gavin Kilen beating the shift with a bunt single.
Then something really abnormal happened. Starting pitcher Nate harris crossed up Burkes, Kentucky’s catcher, leading to a 92 mph fastball hitting home plate umpite Hank Himmanen in the hand. That forced the game into a 10-minute delay.
Andrew Fischer worked a walk to load the bases when action resumed. But Tennessee looked like it wasn’t going to full capitalize after Hunter Ensley struck out and Dalton Bargo drove home a run with a groundout. But Reese Chapman came through, grounding a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a two-RBI single that gave the Vols their first lead.
The out of the ordinary first inning saw the two teams combine for five runs on six hits and took 37 minutes.
Liam Doyle Finds His Groove After The First Inning
It wasn’t a great first frame for Doyle but the star left-handed pitcher quickly got back into a groove following the two-run first inning. He worked around a one-out double in the second inning to retire the side and it started a run of nine straight retired batters into the fifth inning.
Doyle rank into trouble after retiring the leadoff Wildcat in the fifth. He hit back-to-back batters and lost a long battle with Tyler Bell, walking him to load the bases.
But the Vols’ ace found his way out of the jam in just five pitches as Kyuss Gargett popped out and Burkes struck out. Doyle got in a groove with those two outs, retiring the final eight he faced with 1-2-3 sixth and seventh innings.
Doyle finished his night allowing just two runs on three hits, two hit batters and a walk while striking out nine. Seventy four of his 103 pitches were strikes. His ability to throw strikes at a higher clip the last few weeks has allowed him to get deeper into games.
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Dean Curley Returns To Form
Dean Curley was dreadful at Ole Miss last weekend totaling just one hit, an albeit significant one, while struggling in the field.
Curley had a nice performance on Tuesday night against Bellarmine to provide a boost of confidence heading into the weekend, but that was just a midweek game after all. But Curley parlayed the strong performance against Bellarmine into a fantastic performance in the season opener.
He singled to centerfield in his first at-bat and then worked a 10-pitch walk, where he fouled off four two-strike pitches in his second plate appearance. After a highly impressive plate appearance that the box score undersold, Curley flashed some power in his third at-bat, hammering an off speed pitch 396 feet off the batter’s eye in center field.
Curley finished the day two-for-three at the plate with two walks. Just as importantly, he didn’t make any defensive miscues at second base.
Cannon Peebles Has Himself A Night
Tennessee catcher Cannon Peebles changed his walk-up song from “I Got 5 On It” to “My Girl” ahead of the weekend series. Safe to say he’s not going to change it back anytime soon.
Peebles went three-for-four with a home run from each side of the plate and a hard hit single on a two-strike pitch in what was the best all around game of his Tennessee career.
The switch hitting backstop has had a few clutch swings this season but has otherwise struggled at the plate, entering the game with a batting south of the Mendoza Line. Peebles has the talent. We’ll see if the big night can spark something for him.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee and Kentucky resume their three-game series at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
