Liberty has now won five straight conference series after taking two of three at home over the Jacksonville Dolphins this week. By virtue of the series win and Kennesaw State dropping two of three against FGCU, the Flames now sit alone in first place atop the ASUN East Division.

There are just two weeks left in the regular season as the Flames will play the top two teams in the ASUN East over the next two weekends. Liberty takes on FGCU this coming weekend in Fort Meyers, Florida, before concluding the regular season at home against Kennesaw State the following week.

TUESDAY: WAKE FOREST 10, LIBERTY 5

Liberty would score in each of the first three innings as they took an early lead that they kept into the middle innings, but the Flames would be held scoreless over the final six innings of play, falling to the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem.

Stephen Hill’s two-out single in the first scored two runs. The heavy hitting Wake Forest came right back with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to tie the game. Liberty would add a run in the second and two in the third on a Three Hillier opposite field home run gave the team a 5-2 lead.

Wake Forest would battle back to add two runs and draw within one run in the bottom of the third. It would chase starter Trey Gibson as David Erickson came on in relief. He would get out of a bases loaded jam to end the inning. Wake Forest would tie the game at 5 in the fourth. The Demon Deacons took the lead in the fifth with two runs and would add one in the seventh and two in the eight to preserve the victory.

FRIDAY: LIBERTY 7, JACKSONVILLE 5

Jacksonville left 13 men on base in the series opener Friday night in Lynchburg, including five in the final two innings as the Flames escaped with the two-run victory.

The Flames jumped out to a 5-1 lead it held into the late innings and the bullpen was able to stave off the Dolphins. Garrett Horn started the game and picked up the win after giving up two runs on two hits over five innings while striking out four and walking five. Four relievers followed Horn with Cade Hungate closing out the contest to earn the save. Hungate allowed one hit over 1.1 innings of work while striking out one and walking two.

Jacksonville scored twice in the top of the eight to cut Liberty’s lead to 6-5 and moved runners into scoring position at second and third with two outs. Hungate entered at that point and recorded the final out of the inning on a diving catch by Aaron Anderson.

In the bottom of the eighth, Brady Gulakowski ripped the first pitch over the right-center field wall to give Liberty a two-run lead. With two outs in the top of the night, the Dolphins were able to load the bases before Hungate got the Jacksonville batter to ground out to second for the final out of the game and the victory.

SATURDAY: JACKSONVILLE 11, LIBERTY 3

A game that was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch, got pushed back to a 4 p.m. start time, but the rain continued to fall and a nearly three hour rain delay held things up with first pitch coming at 6:45 p.m.

In the top of the first, Jacksonville loaded the bases with nobody out, but Liberty starter Dylan Cumming escaped the damage. The Flames would then strike first in the bottom of the inning as Derek Orndorff blasted a deep home run for the 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Logan Mathieu knocked in Three Hillier as Liberty took a 2-0 lead.

That would be all of the cheering for the Flames on the evening though. Jacksonville would score two runs in each of the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings while adding on three in the sixth as the Dolphins held a commanding 11-2 lead and would coast to the victory.

SUNDAY: LIBERTY 2, JACKSONVILLE 1

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when the Flames, held hitless until the frame, strung together three straight hits, including doubles by Logan Mathieu and Derek Orndorff. The latter of which brought in Aaron Anderson and Mathieu to give Liberty the 2-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Joe Adametz was able to keep the Jacksonville bats from getting anything going until the eight inning. Three straight hits by the Dolphins loaded the bases with one out. JU would utilize a sacrifice fly to breakup the shutout, but Adametz would limit the damage to just that and keep the Flames in front. Trey Carter would enter in the ninth and did not allow Jacksonville to threaten as he earned his second save of the season and the Flames picked up the series win.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: LOGAN MATHIEU

He began the season much like last year went, struggling to string together quality at-bats. That hasn’t been the case over the second half of the season as first baseman Logan Mathieu has become one of the team’s more consistent hitters. In the three-game series against Jacksonville this week, Mathieu was 6 for 12 with two runs and three RBIs while hitting a double in each game.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: JOE ADAMETZ

After going deep in the bullpen Friday night and giving up 11 runs in the loss Saturday, the Flames needed Adametz to have a strong outing Sunday. He didn’t disappoint, pitching eight innings while scattering seven hits and allowing one run while striking out five and walking one. He held the Dolphins scoreless into the eighth inning when he was able to escape a bases loaded, one out jam by only surrendering one run to preserve the lead and the win.

ON TAP

Liberty will travel to Blacksburg on Wednesday to take on Virginia Tech with first pitch scheduled for 8 p.m. The Hokies are currently 33-10 overall and 14-8 in ACC play. They are coming off two wins over the weekend against Villanova. Virginia Tech is one of the hottest teams in the country, having gone 23-4 since March 19. That record includes a 10-6 win over the Flames in Lynchburg on April 12. In that game, the Hokies scored six runs over the final three innings, including four in the seventh that broke a 4-4 tie.

In the next to last series of the regular season, the Flames will take on the FGCU Eagles in Fort Meyers, the location of the upcoming ASUN Tournament. The three-game series is scheduled to begin on Friday evening. Liberty is currently two games ahead of third-place FGCU in the ASUN East and swept the Eagles earlier this season in Lynchburg. FGCU won 2 of 3 over Kennesaw State this past weekend and will play host to Florida Atlantic on Tuesday before welcoming the Flames to town.

ASUN STANDINGS

East
Liberty……………………….16-8, 30-16
Kennesaw State…………15-9, 27-21
FGCU…………………………14-10, 29-18
Jacksonville………………10-14, 24-21
North Florida……………..10-14, 20-28
Stetson……………………..7-17, 22-25

West
Eastern Kentucky………17-7, 32-15
Central Arkansas………16-8, 22-23
Lipscomb………………….15-9, 28-19
Jacksonville State…….14-10, 21-25
Bellarmine…………………8-16, 11-35
North Alabama………….2-22, 9-35