Since his high school days at Pinkerton Academy, right through his freshman season at Coastal Carolina, Liam Doyle cruised almost every time he hit the mound.
Then, he hit a giant road-block, one that he himself stuck on his road to baseball greatness.
If the results of this spring at his new collegiate home, Ole Miss, are any indication, the two-time Eagle-Tribune Baseball Player of the Year made one heck of a choice.
Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn., Doyle will take the ball for the Rebels, the sophomore assuming the Saturday starter role for Mississippi in the key Southeastern Conference series.
There is no place he would rather be.
“Pitching on Saturday is great. I’ve been here the last two Saturdays and pitched well,” said Doyle. “Now, I’m looking to hold that spot.”
The move to the NCAA transfer portal and ultimately Ole Miss from Coastal was one that Doyle himself put plenty of thought into.
“Everything is a step up in the SEC, the coaching staff, facilities, the players, the preparation, everything about it is an immediate step up,” said Doyle, who was 3-1 with a 4.12 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 56.1 innings for the Chanticleers of the Sun Belt Conference last spring.
“I loved every single minute I had at Coastal. I just knew I wanted to play at the next level of college baseball, and this is it. The passion for sports here was so evident immediately. I mean, I saw it in the fall with SEC football, and it has just continued.”
The road-block, which Doyle made temporary, was that giant leap in competition, something he encountered almost immediately stepping onto the Mississippi campus.
“The fall was definitely a little bit bumpy. I wasn’t pitching well,” said Doyle. “I wasn’t locating my offspeed pitchers, and the hitters in the SEC will hit fastballs no matter how hard you can throw it. I found that out right quick.”
For an athlete whose final two high school seasons were paved with near perfection — 15-2 record, 226 strikeouts and 0.68 ERA in 113 innings — getting hit a bit can dent the psyche.
“You have that moment, in my case it was the fall, where you wonder whether you do really belong here, but you have to fight through it and know that you do,” said Doyle. “I transferred to the SEC for the competition. You hear all about it. You never really know how tough it is until you do it here.”
Doyle relied on his resources, not just his amazing talent.
“There are a lot of awesome people here, and they helped me out,” he said.
“I got back to work in the winter, and from there, it was all about my competitiveness. I hate losing at anything, and I wanted to get better. I wanted to show there’s a reason I’m the big transfer guy they have.”
The southpaw hasn’t expanded his arsenal, but he pushed himself to make his weapons better.
“I’m honing what I have. I’m throwing my cutter more, and I’m throwing it harder,” he said. “I’ve been looking for more ride on the fastball, too. Right now, we’re just trying to take the stuff I have and make it better.”
Thus far, and it’s a small sample size to date, Doyle has come as advertised. In 13.2 innings of work, he’s struck out 27 with a 3.95 ERA and is 2-0.
Most importantly, he’s thriving with life in the Deep South, both academically and personally. And, he says keep an eye on Ole Miss this spring.
“Academically, it’s pretty similar to Coastal. There’s a great support team for the athletes and advisers to help us all out. I had a really good first semester academically, that’s what my parents are thinking about first,” said Doyle.
“I think we are legit. We have some transfer portal guys who have come in. Two are my roommates. We have an elite offense, and we are starting to find consistency in our pitching. This team is only going to improve more, the more we play there. Hopefully we’ll be playing our best baseball at the end of the season.”