Liberty will head back to Georgia this week for a second straight trip to the Peach State after finishing as the runner-ups in the 2026 CUSA Tournament held in Kennesaw, Georgia a week ago. Now, the Flames head to Athens, Georgia to begin Regional play on Friday against Boston College. The Flames are the No. 3 seed in the Athens Regional where No. 3 national seed Georgia is the host.
So, who all will join the Flames in Athens this weekend? Here’s the seed list:
(1) Georgia (46-12)
(2) Boston College (36-21)
(3) Liberty (41-19)
(4) Long Island (30-20)
“It was really exciting,” Liberty head coach Bradley LeCroy said of his team advancing to the NCAA Tournament. “It was the main goal of ours. Obviously, we wanted to win a conference championship, came up a little bit short, but the ultimate goal, expectation, and standard is to play in the postseason, NCAAs. We talked about it from day one back in August. When we started with this team, we knew we had a god ball club. Obviously, we had to grow and get better, but we’ve earned this. Super proud of the guys. We were very consistent during the season, played a very tough schedule, won the games we were supposed to, put ourselves in position to keep on playing.”
The Flames will begin with Boston College on Friday at 2 p.m. in a game that will be streamed on ESPN+. It will be the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Eagles enter the NCAA Tournament after finishing 18-14 in conference play, good for fourth place in the ACC. Boston College has lost four straight having been swept by Georgia Tech at home to conclude the regular season before losing to Miami, 8-2, in the ACC Tournament this past Thursday.
Georgia is 7th in RPI, Liberty is 32nd while Boston College is 34th and Long Island is 199. The Bulldogs posted a 23-7 mark in SEC play, winning both the regular season and tournament title. Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson was named SEC Player of the Year while leading the Bulldogs in just about every offensive category. This season, Jackson became the sixth player overall, and first catcher, to have both 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in a season.
For the Eagles, they return to the tournament field for the first time since 2023 and are making their 13th overall appearance. Boston College’s 36 overall wins are the second most in program history, including a program-best 17 wins in ACC play. The Eagles are 25-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with four trips to the College World Series, most recently in 1967. They are 14th in the country in stolen bases with 139. Shortstop Julio Solier has 29 steals while outfielder Colin Larson has 21. Boston College also leads the ACC with 19 triples. It has just 40 homers, led by first baseman Nick Wang’s 16.
Long Island won its third NEC Championship in five years, defeating Farleigh Dickinson on Sunday to capture its fourth overall NEC title. Nicholas Finarelli was recently named NEC Pitcher of the Year while Elijah Fairchild, Ryan Rivera, and Alex Jankowski were named to the All-NEC Second Team. Dan Pirillo is currently in his 10th season at the helm of the Sharks.
For the Flames, starting pitchers Ben Blair and Bradley Zayac have carried the team to win 11 of 14 weekend series this season. They helped the program to a 40-win season for the seventh time in school history and first since 2021. Liberty is making its ninth appearance in an NCAA Regional. Liberty was one of the last four teams to make regionals, despite having an RPI of 32.
“I don’t even know if that’s true,” LeCroy said of the Flames being one of the last four in. “I think maybe that’s just a graphic they put up there. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether we were the first at-large team they chose or if we were the last one. It doesn’t matter. We get to play on Friday.”
FRIDAY, MAY 29
Game 1: #2 Boston College vs #3 Liberty, 2 pm, ESPN+
Game 2: #1 Georgia vs #4 Long Island, 7 pm, SEC Network
SATURDAY, MAY 30
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs Game 2 loser, Noon
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner, 5 pm
SUNDAY, MAY 31
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs Game 4 loser, Noon
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs Game 5 winner, 5 pm
MONDAY, JUNE 1
Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 rematch IF Game 5 winner wins Game 6, TBD
