Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy beat out Tennessee’s Liam Doyle and Florida State’s Alex Lodise for the 2025 Golden Spikes Award. The award is given annually to the top amateur baseball player with a college player now earning the honor for the 15th straight time.
Doyle was seeking the first Golden Spikes Award in Tennessee program history and joined Luke Hochevar, Chris Burke and Todd Helton as the only Vols to even be finalist.
The Vols’ left-handed ace posted a 10-4 record, 3.20 ERA and 0.99 WHIP while striking out 164 batters in 95.2 innings pitched. The left-handed flame thrower was the SEC Pitcher of the Year and was nearly unhittable outside a trio of rough outings in the final month of the season.
Aloy, the SEC Player of the Year, hit .350 with 21 home runs, 19 doubles and 68 RBIs on his way to winning the award. Lodise hit .394 in his sophomore season with 17 home runs, 18 doubles and matching Aloy’s 68 RBIs.
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Four Vitello-era Vols have previously been semifinalists for the award but Doyle was the first finalist. Trey Lipscomb and Chase Burns were both semifinalists in 2022 while Christian Moore and Blake Burke were semifinalists in 2024.
Doyle earned SEC Pitcher of the Year honors in the regular season and built on to his legacy in the postseason by winning the Knoxville Regional Most Outstanding Player. 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.
