Nothing to it, folks, just a walk in the park.
In fact, there were seven walks, a home run by Reese Chapman and eight other hits in a 9-2 Tennessee romp over Miami of Ohio in the NCAA regional tournament at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Friday evening.
Big, strong Liam Doyle did his part – 11 strikeouts in a show of force, his 10th win of the season.
Cannon Peebles had two doubles for the Vols. Gavin Kilen and Hunter Ensley had two singles each. Chapman batted in three runs.
Step 2 in the general direction of Omaha is planned for 6 p.m. Saturday against Cincinnati. The Bearcats bashed Wake Forest, 11-6, in the opener. Losers play at noon in the first elimination game.
Doyle didn’t start as well as he finished. He gave up a first-inning single, tried to pick off the runner, threw wildly and walked the next Redhawk. He escaped without additional excitement.
Chapman’s 13th home run gave the Vols the lead in the second inning. Doyle gave up a pair of doubles in the third and Miami got even. The visitors didn’t know it but that was the beginning of the end. Doyle retired 10 Redhawks in a row.
Tennessee surged ahead 3-1 in the third inning without benefit of a hit. Kilen walked. Andrew Fischer was safe on an error. Dalton Bargo walked. Dean Curley walked and forced in a run. Chapman hit a sacrifice fly.
The Vols removed all doubt with two more walks, four consecutive singles and five runs in the fourth. That was more than enough to pin only the second loss of the season on Miami star pitcher Cooper Katskee, an 11-game winner. His performance line wasn’t very attractive – three and a third innings, six hits, four walks, seven runs, five earned and maybe some hurt feelings. He was pitcher of the year in the Mid-American Conference.
Carson Byers pitched better in relief for the Redhawks. Evan Appelwick hit a home run, a Miami conciliation prize in the ninth.
Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said what Doyle did was huge.
“It’s a tournament. I mean, it’s really a fresh start to the whole deal. I’m sure he feels good about it and it helped capitalize on the runs we were scoring in the middle of the game. It put us in a good position with our bullpen.”
Doyle provided insight on the uncertain beginning.
“Just had a little adrenaline going.” Liam said he felt like he was leaving pitches over the middle and getting behind in counts.
“And then just towards the end of the game, started throwing strikes, started throwing my off-speed pitches in the zone early in the count. I was getting ahead of hitters and attacking the zone, trusting my defense. Strikeouts come with that – which is nice.”
This was Doyle’s eighth game to record double-digit strikeouts.
Chapman chipped in a sincere pat on the back.
“His energy rubs off on all of us. It’s just exciting to play behind him.”
There is potential drama taking shape for the Cincinnati game. The Bearcats are bandits on the bases. They steal. Tennessee pitcher Marcus Phillips has been on a world-record pace at giving up stolen bases – 36 of 40 attempts.
One wise guy e-mailed a simple solution: Just don’t let ’em steal first base.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
