Liberty defeated Boston College for a second time in three days at the Athens Regional on Sunday afternoon. The Flames won, 8-3, to advance to the Regional Final to be played Sunday evening at 5 p.m. against regional host and No. 3 national seed Georgia at 5 p.m. Liberty must defeat the Bulldogs twice to advance to the program’s first ever Super Regional. If the Flames were to win Sunday night, the deciding game will be at a time to be determined Monday.
With Sunday’s win over the Eagles, Liberty clinches a spot in a regional final for just the third time in program history, having also accomplished the feat in 2013 and 2021. BC concludes their season at 37-23 overall while the Flames have improved to 43-20. The 43 wins ties the program record for wins in a single season, joining the 2010 and 2019 teams.
Jaxon Lucas got the start for Liberty, his 15th start of the season. The junior righty pitched four innings, allowing two runs on two hits while walking two and striking out two. The two runs allowed h happened in the first two innings as the Eagles staked themselves to a 2-0 early advantage.
After being held hitless in the first two frames, Liberty finally broke free in the bottom of the third with five runs on four hits aided by two Boston College errors. Riley DeCandido had a two-RBI single while Jordan Jaffe had an RBI triple and Nick Barone doubled to score Jaffe.
Jake Potts entered in relief of Lucas in the fifth inning and he was brilliant on the diamond for the Flames. He allowed just one hit in his first four innings. In his fifth frame, the ninth, the Eagles had two hits and scored one run. Potts picked up the win to improve to 4-2.
Jaffe led the way for Liberty with 3 hits, scoring the ree times and knocking in two. Nick Barone had two hits and two RBI.
