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Flames in MILB & MLB

 Liberty has always had quite a few players drafted from the program over the years.  The Flames had some serious MLB talent in it's teen years before entering a dry spell.  That's all changed in the last couple years starting with Ryan Cordell who is now retired.  Will Wagner, Trey Gibson & Mason Fluharty have all had significant time in the show this year.  I'll dive in and take a look at the former Flames in MLB & MILB. Trey Gibson - Gibson has ascended from undrafted Free Agent to the #4 prospect in the Orioles system.  Trey had a 3.55 ERA in 38 IP to go along with a 1.53 WHIP .260 Opp BA and 38 K's for 1 strikeout per inning,  Gibson started in the Spring breakout game and went 3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox top prospects in a game I was able to attend.  He got the call in May and has started 6 games for the Orioles with a 5.64 ERA over 30 1.3 IP with 25 K's, .261 Opp BA and 1.65 WHIP.  The Orioles broadcasts have been ...
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Portal Szn

As of June 17th the Flames have 6 portal commitments and they are currently ranked #14 nationally by 64 Analytics though that will of course change as more commitments are made nationally,  The Flames are looking to add roughly 10 new players via the portal. Austin Irby ECU - Irby was a first team freshman All American per Perfect Game in 2025 after his freshman season where he hit .303 with 12 homers and 50 RBI's.  He's a corner infielder that should be a middle of the order bat for the Flames.  Big time acquisition here.  He hit .239 with 5 HR's and 39 RBI's to go along with a .354 OBP in a bit of a down season in 2026.   Cole Cleveland FIU - Cleveland is a rangy OF from conference mate FIU.  He hit .232 with 4 HR's and 23 RBI's with a .359 OBP and 9 SB's in his sophomore season.  In his true freshman season in 2025 he hit .291 with 5 HR's 32 RBI's and 13 SB's.  He was also named to the All CUSA freshman team.   Jaeden Carter Lo...
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Keeping the momentum

  Liberty wrapped up the 2026 season with a 6-1 loss to # 3 Georgia in Athens, GA on Sunday night.  The Flames beat the 4 seed from the ACC Boston College twice in the Athens regional while falling twice to Georgia 6-2 and 6-1.  Liberty tied a program record with 43 total wins, 11 Quad 1 wins, 19 true road wins, 2nd place in both the regular season and CUSA tournament as well as featuring the CUSA pitcher of the year in Ben Blair and the defensive player of the year as well as well the CUSA player of the year in Tanner Marsh.  Liberty will finish at #29 in the RPI and likely just outside the Top 25 as they also cracked the BA top 25 for the first time in 5 years.  All that to say Liberty Baseball bounced back in a big way from what had been a tough 3 year stretch for the program.  Some other highlights of the season included taken 1 game off WVU at home in what proved to be a Super Regional win.  The Flames would go 5-6 against the ACC on the year high...
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The Dawgs

  Last night I took a look at Boston College the Flames first opponent of the Athens Regional.  This time I'll take a deep dive into the Georgia Bulldogs.  If the Flames are able to get through BC they will almost certainly face the Dawgs in game 2.  The Dawgs finished 46-12 and 23-7 in the SEC to win the regular season and going 3-0 in the SEC tourney including an 11-1 smashing of #13 Arkansas in the SEC Championship game.  They finished 7th in the RPI and there were only 2 like opponents which included and 11-1 thrashing of Kennesaw State and an 8-5 win over the Citadel while they did drop the second midweek contest to Kennesaw State 10-7 in what most of the Dawg's beat writers described as a "sleepy midweek loss" for Georgia.  Georgia won the SEC tournament for the first time in program history and finished 1st in the regular season for the time since 2008.  Both stats are a bit stunning for a program that's known as 1 of the best in College Basebal...
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Back to a Regional

Liberty finished out the 2026 season with a 41-19 record that was highlighted by a 21-9 CUSA record plus and a 19-6 record in true road games while finishing #32 in the RPI.  It was the Flames first 40 win season since 2021 and the Flames will make their first appearance in a regional since 2021 as well.  Tanner Marsh won the defensive player of the year and the player of the year and Ben Blair was the pitcher of the year.  Zayac, Barone & Harrington all took home 2nd team honors.  Tyler August should have been on the list for my money.  He was our best pitcher the last month of the year and had an incredible performance in the Missiouri State game.     Liberty ran out of gas in the championship game and fell 10-0 to Jacksonville State to finish 2-2 against the 1st place Gamecocks on the season.  The Flames also went 2-2 against Missiouri State and Louisiana Tech and 2-1 against Dallas Baptist.  Liberty took a big step towards restor...
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Turning up the Heat

  Alright, I know we've all been there the last couple years but the Liberty Baseball is officially back.  The Flames put an explanation point on a 3-1 weekend that saw a road ACC dominating win over in state rival Virginia Tech 11-4 and then taking 2 of 3 from previously unbeaten in CUSA play Jacksonville St.  The Flames have reached a season high #23 in the RPI as of late Sunday night after Sunday's 4-2 win.  Liberty had their proverbial backs to the wall after Friday's night's 8-4 setback to Jacksonville St. that left the Flames 4 games back in the pursuit of 1st place.  Liberty had knocked out Jacksonville State ace Eli Pillsbury after just 3 innings and had their own ace Ben Blair on the mound in cruise control.  Then the 6th inning changed everything as the Gamecocks put up a 5 spot on Blair and the Flames that proved insurmountable.  That moved Jacksonville St. to a 13-0 start in CUSA play which had never been done before.  The series had a...
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2 Weeks out

  As hard as it may be to believe the Flames are just 2 weeks out from the first pitch of the 2026 season.  The field is still half covered with snow/ice but the Flames got about a weeks worth of scrimmages in before the weather hit.  Fortunately, they have enough indoor facilities these days to do everything but full on scrimmage.  Most of the teams the Flames will play this year are also dealing with some level of weather as well.   The 2026 season starts and ends with ace Ben Blair.  The Flames will trot the pre-season CUSA pitcher of the year out on Friday when the season kicks off.  Beyond that, Potts, Swink, August, Harrington & Lucas are battling for the 2 spots behind Blair and the midweek starter spot.  As of now transfer Ayden Decker-Petty is expected to be 1 of the key backend arms.  2 of the before mentioned group will also factor into the bullpen along with Josh Mcckusker had a solid 2025 for the Flames.  Beyond tha...
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