Flames Baseball stays blazing hot as Liberty continues its strong stretch of play. The Flames went 3-1 on the week, highlighted by a statement series win over CUSA leader Jacksonville State, handing the Gamecocks their first conference series loss of the season. After a comeback win at Virginia Tech to start the week, Liberty followed with a walk-off victory and a series-clinching performance at home. Liberty has now won ten of their last eleven games as the Flames creep closer to the top spot in Conference USA and have even appeared ranked 25th in Baseball America’s Top 25 poll.
Tuesday: LIBERTY 11, VIRGINIA TECH 4
The Flames made yet another midweek statement on the road against an ACC foe last Tuesday night in Blacksburg.
Liberty opened the game with one run in the first, due to a Nick Barone walk that allowed Tanner Marsh to score, but the Hokies rebounded in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Flames broke the game open with a six-run 4th inning, as Nick Barone delivered the biggest hit of the inning with a bases-clearing double, while Tanner Marsh added a key RBI double to spark the rally. VT would tack on a run in the bottom of the fourth, but the Flames would score three more before the end, to deliver a dominant 11-4 victory over the Hokies at English Field.
The Flames drew a season-high 12 walks in their second consecutive ACC win, and Tanner Marsh led the Flames’ offense with 3 hits, 3 RBI, and 4 runs scored. On the mound, Liberty’s pitching settled in after a three-run first inning, allowing just one run the rest of the way while striking out 14. Jackson Evans was awarded the win.
Friday Game 2: LIBERTY 4, JAX STATE 8
Liberty secured the series win with a 6-2 victory over Western Kentucky in what proved to be a great all-around performance for the Flames.
LU jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the first two innings and continued to add on throughout the game. Landon Scilley led the offense with three hits and reached base four times, while Tanner Marsh added two hits and two RBI.
Ace Ben Blair delivered another dominant start, allowing just one run over seven innings while striking out eight. The right-hander continued his strong season, improving to 5-1 and lowering his ERA to 1.46.
The Flames left 14 men on base in what could have been the difference in the game. Jacksonville State ended Liberty’s eight-game win streak with this win and improved to 13-0 in conference play.
Saturday Game 3: LIBERTY 7, JAX STATE 6
Liberty evened up the series in exciting fashion on Saturday afternoon.
In a game that featured five lead changes, Liberty held onto the lead last, as Nick Barone scored off of a walk-off single by Landon Scilley to seal the victory for the Flames and hand the Gamecocks their first conference loss. Kyle Hvidsten came up huge with a two-run home run in the sixth, and Nick Barone and Jordan Jaffe both delivered multi-hit games, Barone has ten multi-hit games on the season.
Cooper Harrington recorded the win for Liberty, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and zero walks. Harrington has not allowed a run over 11 innings in his last five appearances.
Sunday Game 3: LIBERTY 4, JAX STATE 2
Liberty took care of business at home in the rubber match Sunday afternoon, handing Jacksonville State their first CUSA series loss of the season.
Liberty used the home run ball to get on the board Sunday, as a two-run Josh Campos homer gave Liberty a 2-1 lead in the second after Jacksonville State opened the scoring in the first. The Gamecocks would tie the game on a dropped fly ball in the third, before a Kyle Hvidsten solo shot would give the Flames a 3-2 lead in the sixth. Liberty would tack on another run that inning, to take a 4-2 lead, which would stand as the final score.
Hvidsten homered for a second consecutive game in the win, and Riley DeCandido singled and walked in the contest to extend his reached base safely streak to a team-high 24 consecutive games. Bradley Zayac continues to prove to be an elite arm for the Flames, improving to 5-0 with the win and striking out five batters while only allowing one earned run through six innings pitched. Cooper Harrington earned the save and continues his streak of not allowing a run to 12 innings in his last six appearances. With the win, the Flames improved to 11-4 in conference play, while Jax State dropped to 13-2. The Gamecocks still maintain first place, while Liberty is in a tie for third with Dallas Baptist. Missouri State is in sole control of second place at 12-3.
UP NEXT:
Liberty (25-10) (11-4) has another big week ahead of them. The Flames open the week with the Duke Blue Devils (22-16) (8-10) on Tuesday night in Durham. This game marks the first of two meetings between the Flames and Blue Devils, as Duke will travel to Lynchburg for next week’s midweek matchup. First pitch is scheduled for 6PM and you can watch the game on the ACCNX.
Next up, the Flames will travel to Dallas to face the Dallas Baptist Patriots (21-15) (11-4) in another huge CUSA series. Both the Flames and Patriots sit at 11-4 in CUSA play, so this series will break a tie for third place and could catapult the winner even higher in the conference standings, depending on how other results this weekend go. The first pitch of the series is scheduled for Friday at 7:35 PM EST. You can watch the entire series on ESPN+.
All four games this week offer Liberty opportunities against Top-100 RPI teams. This is huge considering the Flames are currently 23rd in the country in RPI and have positioned themselves well for a potential at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, should the Flames fail to win the CUSA Tournament.
CONFERENCE USA STANDINGS
| Team | CUSA | Overall |
| Jax State | 13-2 | 29-8 |
| Missouri State | 12-3 | 24-10 |
| Liberty | 11-4 | 25-10 |
| Dallas Baptist | 11-4 | 21-15 |
| LA Tech | 9-6 | 21-16 |
| NM State | 7-8 | 15-19 |
| WKU | 6-9 | 19-17 |
| Kennesaw State | 6-9 | 15-17 |
| MTSU | 5-10 | 17-19 |
| FIU | 5-10 | 13-23 |
| Sam Houston | 4-11 | 14-21 |
| Delaware | 1-14 | 10-26 |
Liberty sits tied for third place in Conference USA at 11-4, continuing to close the gap on the top of the standings following a series win over league-leading Jacksonville State.
