Arkansas facing another formidable Tennessee 1-2 punch on mound

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The SEC slate is finally nearing its conclusion. The gauntlet of 30 games will finally end after this week's showdown between No. 8 Arkansas and No. 17 Tennessee.

Don't let the Volunteers' ranking fool you, they are the defending national champions and like Arkansas, were ranked as consensus No. 1 earlier in the season.

Despite losing four straight series, Tennessee still holds perhaps the strongest 1-2 punch in the starting rotation.

Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips, the likely starters for the first two games can both throw the fastballs near triple digits and both rank in the top 15 in the SEC in strikeouts.

Doyle leads the conference in most major pitching categories including strikeouts (127), opposing batting average (.147), ERA (2.17) and strikeouts per nine innings (15.31).

In the early part of the season, he kept pace with the NCAA record holder for K/9, set by Arkansas' own Hagen Smith last year (17.25), but cooled off slightly in the past few weeks.

Tennessee pitcher Liam Doyle (12) celebrates striking out a batter during an NCAA baseball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida Gators at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Friday, March 14, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"He’s super hard to hit," Van Horn said about Doyle. He’s hard to hit because the throws his fastball up in the zone a bit and it’s got a lot of carry. He’s got a good breaking ball. That’s just some of it. You’re probably talking about the SEC Pitcher of the Year."

For the past 13 weeks of the season, Tennessee sent Doyle out to start game one of the series, but with the entire conference moving to a Thursday-Saturday schedule, both teams are altering their pitching plans.

Arkansas sends out lefty Zach Root for game one and righty Gage Wood for game three, keeping game two TBD.

According to Van Horn, it's an effort to try to keep Wood throwing on the same day as he slowly makes his way back from a shoulder impingement injury that sidelined him for nearly 2 months.

Tennessee coach Tony Vitello remained unsure whether Doyle would start game one or two following the Volunteers' 9-4 midweek win over Belmont Tuesday.

Tennessee has asked Doyle "to do a lot", according to Ryan Schumpert of Rocky Top Insider.

Tony Vitello said he's uncertain whether Liam Doyle will start on Thursday or Friday for Tennessee. Sounded pretty likely Tegan Kuhns will start in Saturday's series finale.
— Ryan Schumpert (@rschump00) May 14, 2025

Tennessee's usual game two starter, Phillips, is the latest challenge for a team that struggles to hit right-handed velocity.

Anthony Eyanson held the Razorbacks scoreless last week across six innings of work with 11 strikeouts.

Phillips also ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in both ERA (3.55) and opposing batting average (.218).

Tennessee pitcher Marcus Phillips (23) throws a pitch at a Tennessee baseball game against Samford, in Lindsey Nelson Stadium at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"They both throw super hard and they have really good stuff," Van Horn on potentially facing Doyle and Phillips back-to-back. "It’s what we try to do. It’s why baseball’s different.

"You’re playing game after game after game and you’re facing different styles of pitching. You’re playing the same team maybe three times on the weekend, but the pitching is all different usually."

The one weakness of Phillips is his high leg kick makes him susceptible to the stolen base. In 44 1/3 innings in SEC play, opponents are 29-for-32 in steal attempts off Phillips, a whopping success rate of 90.6%.

Vanderbilt stole four bases off him this past weekend in just 3 2/3 innings.

Arkansas ranks last in the SEC in total stolen bases (tied with Texas A&M with 39) and has the fifth lowest success rate (76.4%).

The Hogs have been caught 12 times on just 51 attempts. Arkansas may be more agressive on the basepaths, given the scouting report on Phillips.

"We point out everything," Van Horn said. "Just like every other team. You try to figure out how you’re going to beat somebody.

"First off, you figure out how you’re going to make contact and how you’re going to attack him, then you go over everything, whether it’s offense, defense."

UPDATE: Tennessee will start Phillips game 1 and Doyle game 2.

First pitch between the two teams is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

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