Liam Doyle couldn’t watch.
The Tennessee baseball pitcher left his 100th pitch up, hanging a breaking ball that Vanderbilt’s Colin Barczi pounded. Doyle walked toward home plate as the ball whizzed toward center field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
“I was like, ‘Did I just give that one up to tie the game?’ ” Doyle said.
Not with Hunter Ensley patrolling the turf. The senior center fielder studied the ball’s flight and tracked it perfectly, lining up to leap at the wall and bring back a potential two-run homer in the seventh and preserve Doyle’s latest great start.
“Hunter’s catch was a game-saver,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “That is the only way really to describe it.”
Ensley had a game of highlights in Tennessee’s series-opening 3-2 win against the Commodores. He dodged a tag at home plate for a run, he chased down a fly ball in the gap, and made a sliding catch to secure the game’s final out.
The final play was his favorite. The wall-scaling robbery will be the one that joins his legendary list of plays.
Ensley possessed a few key details when Barczi struck Doyle’s 1-1 pitch toward center field. The wind was blowing straight out. The ball was carrying. This particular fly ball was high enough he knew he could track it well.
“It kind of worked out to be in a perfect spot to jump up and make a play,” Ensley said. “The height on the ball gave me plenty of time to get back there and get set up and make a play.”
No. 12 Tennessee (39-11, 15-10 SEC) led the No. 10 Commodores (34-15, 14-11) at the time 2-0 thanks to Ensley’s elusive slide an inning earlier. Doyle hit Braden Holcomb with one out, prompting a mound visit to check the blister on his left middle finger.
Doyle threw a first-pitch ball, then a strike to Barczi. He missed badly with the breaking ball that Barczi did not miss. Doyle’s emotions dropped, then the emotions in the Vanderbilt dugout dropped as Ensley snared the ball at the 390-foot sign on the wall.
“Ensley took away three runs,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “Really, you think about his difference today. He had three defensive RBIs himself.”
Doyle hopped up and down, pointed at Ensley and smacked his chest in gratitude. Pitchers Marcus Phillips and AJ Russell put their hands on their heads in the dugout.
“You always have some confidence that he is going to catch it but you never really know off the bat,” Doyle said. “That is a tough angle from the pitcher’s mound. He makes a great play and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, how did he do that?’ Brought it back and got out of the inning somehow.”
Second baseman Dean Curley took the out and made it two. He noticed Holcomb rounded second base but did not retouch it on the way back to first. The Vols issued a challenge and the play was ruled a double play upon review.
Ensley ran off the field and into the dugout, where his teammates waited.
“Usually they just mess with me and call me grandpa because I am the old guy around the block,” Ensley said. “I don’t know. Maybe Marcus said, ‘Grandpa has got some hops on him.’ ”
The old guy was in vintage form Friday.
“I don’t know a better defensive centerfielder in the country,” Doyle said.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
