Liberty will take the short bus trip west to Knoxville, Tennessee to begin Regional play on Friday against Duke. The Flames are the No. 3 seed in the Knoxville Regional where No. 3 national seed Tennessee is the host. So who all will join the Flames in Knoxville this weekend? Here’s the seed list.
(1) Tennessee (45-16)
(2) Duke (32-20)
(3) Liberty (39-14)
(4) Wright State (35-11)
“It’s what you play for,” Liberty head coach Scott Jackson said of his team advancing to the NCAA Tournament. “It’s the best feeling that I think you can experience as a college baseball team. I’m elated for our players to get to experience that. It’s just different when you’re an at-large team and not an automatic qualifier, there’s some angst and anxiety.”
The Flames will begin with Duke on Friday at noon in a game that will be televised on the ACC Network. Duke won the ACC Championship this past weekend, their first in 60 years. The Blue Devils played its way off the NCAA bubble and into a second seed with their championship run in Charlotte. The Volunteers are fifth in RPI, Duke is 20th while Liberty is 36th and Wright State is 24th. Wright State is one of the nation’s best hitting teams, coming out of the Horizon League.
Tennessee posted a 20-10 mark in SEC play and lost to the national top-seed Arkansas in the SEC Tournament title game. They hit for average and home runs. Australian-native and shortstop Liam Spence is hitting. 374. Third baseman Jake Rucker joined Spence on the All-SEC first team. The Volunteers also led the SEC with a 3.44 ERA.
For the Blue Devils, starters Jack Carey and Luke Fox are pitching very well and the bullpen has been close to un-hittable recently. Cooper Stinson, at 6’6″, 240 pounds, is the ace of the staff. The Flames fell to Duke in two games played this season, 5-4 in Durham and 7-0 in Lynchburg.
In the four wins at the ACC Tournament, Duke allowed just five runs, all against teams that advanced to NCAA Regionals. The Blue Devils’ starting pitchers allowed just one walk in four games, while the bullpen allowed five hits and no runs in 13.2 innings pitched. No one even attempted to steal a base against Duke while in Charlotte.
“They are about as hot a team as you can find in the country right now,” said Jackson. “That’s going to pose a challenge because with that comes some confidence and some moxy. Stinson just threw (Sunday). I don’t know that we will see him. I think it might be Carey.”
One notable difference from the first two times the Flames and Blue Devils met will be that both team’s will hand the ball to a weekend starter. Liberty will give the ball to normal Friday night starter Trevor DeLaite. The Flames are 13-1 in games the former Maine pitcher has started, with the only loss coming on the road in his second start at TCU. He has picked up the win in each of his last seven starts, while going the distance in four of his last six starts.
“I’m going to be a lot more nervous than Trevor DeLaite will be on game one because that kid’s got the IT factor,” Jackson said. “He settles in and does some things that I’ve never really had a Friday night starter do.”
After missing his last two starts, the Flames are also hopeful to have ASUN Freshman of the Year and usual Sunday starter Trey Gibson back in the rotation as he fights back from arm soreness. Liberty is “very optimistic that he is going to be available for the regional,” according to Jackson.
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
Game 1: #2 Duke vs #3 Liberty, noon, ACC Network
Game 2: #1 Tennessee vs #4 Wright State, 6 pm, ESPN3
SATURDAY, JUNE 5
Game 3: Game 1 lose vs Game 2 loser, noon
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner, 6 pm
SUNDAY, JUNE 6
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs Game 4 loser, 2 pm
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs Game 5 winner, 6 pm
MONDAY, JUNE 7
Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 rematch IF Game 5 winner wins Game 6, 1 pm
