Razorbacks pepper Doyle, Tennessee; clinch top-four SEC Tournament seed

Arkansas tallies double-digit hits off Volunteer ace, even final series at Baum-Walker

Catcher Ryder Helfrick at the plate against the Tennessee Volunteers. The Razorbacks won 8-6. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 8 Arkansas charged Tennessee ace Liam Doyle with 11 hits and eight runs to even the series, 8-6, against the No. 17 Volunteers.

"Just a great overall effort from both the offense, our defense and our pitching staff," coach Dave Van Horn said. "We faced one of the best pitchers in the country and just fought him, put some big swings on him, hit a couple of home runs."

With the Razorbacks' win and a Georgia loss, the Hogs clinched a top-four seed and a double bye in next week's SEC Tournament.

The 11 hits and eight runs were career highs for Doyle, a junior who has spent time at both Ole Miss and Coastal Carolina.

He came into the game as the frontrunner for SEC Pitcher of the Year with a 2.17 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, but Arkansas had no problem generating baserunners.

"Stay on a pitch," third baseman Brent Iredale said. "He’s going to throw it. Mainly, if he went fastball, he’s probably going to come back with a fastball in the stats we had on him. And if he threw a slider, same thing — stay on the fastball, he’s probably going to come back to it. Just stick to it and that’s what we did."

The Hogs added over half a run to his ERA with six of the eight runs being earned (2.72).

BING BONG pic.twitter.com/TbZaHCWcmg

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 17, 2025

For the second straight day, Arkansas managed at least a bakers dozen of hits led by center fielder Charles Davalan's three hit day with an RBI and a walk.

Five of the eight runs charged to Doyle came around to score on homers.

"I don’t know if they knew what was coming or had grips or anything like that," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said on Doyle. "Regardless, even if they don’t, they’ve got confident hitters that are fully capable of taking good swings."

Iredale got the Hogs on the board with a two-run shot in the second, his first homer in two weeks.

Tennessee starter Liam Doyle on the mound against the Razorbacks in game two of the series. The Razorbacks won 8-6. | Nilsen Roman-HogsSI Images

The two teams traded punches in the early innings with both teams scoring in both the second and the third.

Tennessee catcher Cannon Peebles, who came into the night 3-for-17 in the last five games, cashed in a pair of RBI singles in his first two at-bats for three of the four runs charged Arkansas starter Aiden Jimenez.

Jimenez lasted just 2 1/3 innings and did not record a strikeout. Lefty Cole Gibler allowed the two runners he inherited to score, but limited the damage to keep the Tennessee lead at 4-3.

Arkansas scored five unanswered runs to build an 8-4 lead. Ryder Helfrick's 409-foot homer to left gave the Hogs a 5-4 lead, one they wouldn't give up.

IT'S A GAME OF RUNS, FOLKS pic.twitter.com/HoyNqCcZbe

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 17, 2025

Gibler provided some much-needed stability on the mound, retiring nine of 10 Volunteers at one point. He left to a nice hand from the Baum-Walker Stadium crowd of 10,925 after 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Tennessee chipped away with a two-run homer from Levi Clark off Parker Coil to cut the lead in half to 8-6

The Volunteers brought the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and the ninth. A 6-4-3 double play wiggled Christian Foutch out of a first and third situation with just one out.

The regular season concludes with a rubber match against the Volunteers 2 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

News and Notes:

Hogs One Swing Away From History:
With Logan Maxwell's 10th homer, the Razorbacks now have six different players in double-digits (Wehiwa Aloy, Kuhio Aloy, Charles Davalan, Iredale, Cam Kozeal. It ties the 2021 team for the most in the Van Horn era. No team since 2003 has had seven players hit 10 or more homers. Helfrick sits on nine and Justin Thomas Jr. on eight.

Iredale's Mind-Boggling Play:
Iredale flashed the bat and the leather, crashing head-first into the sidewall on a foulout with one out in the fourth. The trainers evaluated him but he remained in the game.

"I thought I had a chance off the bat," Iredale said. "When I was going over, the umpire was in the way, to me. Sort of just dove at the last second and caught it and sort of just tried turning so I didn’t whack my neck running into the wall. Thankfully nothing bad happened."

Still in awe of @BrentIredale's catch 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Ef3quanMBK

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 17, 2025