Tennessee baseball ace Liam Doyle in the SEC Pitcher of the Year, the league announced on Monday afternoon ahead of this week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover.
Doyle has dazzled in his lone season at Tennessee, posting a 9-3 record, 2.72 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. The left-handed ace is the nation’s top strikeout pitcher, sitting down an incredible 137 batters in 79.1 innings pitched while walking just 25 batters.
The junior’s SEC numbers were nearly as good as his overall numbers before a rough regular season finale at Arkansas knocked his conference stats. Doyle finished SEC play with a 6-3 record with a 3.51 ERA, 1.05 WHIP with 90 strikeouts in 59 innings pitched.
Taking out a wonky weekend against Auburn where Doyle threw one inning in a start before rain delayed the game and later two innings in relief, Tennessee posted a 6-3 record when Doyle started in SEC play.
Doyle was also a part of two combined no-hitters for Tennessee this season. He threw 5.2 scoreless innings as part of a combined no-hitter against St. Bonaventure and six scoreless innings in a run-rule combined no hitter against Texas A&M.
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A New Hampshire native, Doyle is the latest success story for Tennessee baseball in the transfer portal. Doyle was a solid weekend starter at Ole Miss last season, posting a 3-4 record, 5.73 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in 55 innings pitched.
While Tennessee has struggled the back half of the SEC season, Doyle gives the Vols reason for optimism entering the NCAA Tournament.
But Doyle’s taken things to a completely different level this season and projects to be one of the top picks in this summer’s MLB Draft. He is the second Tennessee pitcher to earn SEC Pitcher of the Year honors during Tony Vitello’s tenure, joining Chase Dollander who earned the honors in 2022.
Doyle landed as a First Team All-SEC selection with LSU’s Kade Anderson, Oklahoma’s Kyson Witherspoon and Arkansas’ Zach Root. Three other Tennessee players landed on the All-SEC teams with Andrew Fischer and Gavin Kilen coming in on the first team while Hunter Ensley came in on the second team and the All-Defensive team.
Tennessee begins play at this week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover at 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning against either nine-seed Alabama or 16-seed Missouri.
