Tennessee baseball ace Liam Doyle is one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. The Golden Spikes Award is given annually to the top amateur baseball player. High schoolers are also eligible for the award though no high schooler has won the prestigious award since Bryce Harper in 2010.
Arkansas’ Wehiwa Aloy and Florida State’s Alex Lodise join Doyle as finalists for the 2025 Golden Spikes Award. A player from the SEC has won the award three of the last four years including Georgia’s Charlie Condon, LSU’s Dylan Crews and Arkansas’ Kevin Kopps.
No Tennessee played has even won the Golden Spikes Award and Doyle is just the fourth Vol to even be a finalist for the award. RHP Luke Hochevar was a finalist in 2005, Chris Burke was a finalist in 2001 and Todd Helton was a finalist in 1995.
Four Vols have been semifinalists for the award under head coach Tony Vitello. Trey Lipscomb and Chase Burns were both semifinalists in 2022 while Christian Moore and Blake Burke were semifinalists a season ago.
More From RTI: Trio of Tennessee Baseball Reserves Enter Transfer Portal Ahead Of Super Regionals
Doyle enters this weekend’s Fayetteville Super Regional with a 10-3 record, 2.84 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 92 innings pitched this season. He also leads the nation with an incredible 158 strikeouts. He has only walked 30 batters so far this season.
The left-handed pitcher earned SEC Pitcher of the Year honors in the regular season and built on to his legacy this past weekend by winning Knoxville Regional Most Outstanding Player.
Doyle allowed one earned run in his Friday night start against Miami (Ohio) before coming out of the bullpen and slamming the door in 2.1 innings of action against Wake Forest in game seven Monday night. Over the course of the regional, Doyle pitched nine full innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out 16 batters.
The New Hampshire native 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.
Doyle is the latest success story for Tennessee baseball in the transfer portal. He 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. 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.
