Liam Doyle and
Hunter Ensley stole the show in No. 8/15 Tennessee's 3-2 win over No. 10/11 Vanderbilt in Friday night's series opener at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Doyle added another notch to his incredible list of performances with 12 strikeouts over seven shutout innings to earn his ninth win of the year.
The junior lefthander allowed just three hits and had no walks on the night as he dominated the Commodores' hitters throughout his outing.
Ensley was one of three Vols to finish with two hits and made a pair of impressive plays in key moments of the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Ensley scored from second on a sharply hit single by
Dalton Bargo, making an impressive slide to the third-base side of the plate to evade the tag from Vandy catcher Colin Barczi and give UT a 2-0 lead.
In the next half inning, Ensley made a leaping catch at the center field wall to rob a potential game-tying home run from Barczi before throwing out Braden Holcomb for an inning-ending double play.
After a solo home run by Brodie Johnston with one out in the top of the ninth to cut the lead to one, the Big Orange turned to
Nate Snead out of the bullpen. The junior righthander struck out Holcomb before getting Barczi to line out to center field to slam the door and earn his fifth save of the season.
Bargo and
Dean Curley both had two-hit nights for the Vols while
Reese Chapman got the scoring started with an RBI single in the second inning.
Manny Marin drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run with a single to left field in the seventh inning to extend the Tennessee lead to 3-0 at the time.
Vanderbilt started JD Thompson was the hard-luck loser, falling to 4-5 on the year despite allowing just two runs in six innings. Thompson finished with six strikeout but also allowed two walks and seven hits on the night.
Liam Collecting Ks
Doyle's 12 strikeouts on the night marked the sixth time this season he has finished with double-digit punchouts, including the third time in SEC play.
The Derry, New Hampshire, native's,127 strikeouts rank sixth in UT single-season history and just 27 shy of Luke Hochevar's program record of 154 in 2005.
Up Next
The Vols would clinch their fourth straight series against the Commodores with a win on Saturday when the two teams meet for game two of the series at 5 p.m. on ESPN2.