Posts

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Schedule Thoughts

  It's been a few weeks now since the Flames rolled out their 2026 schedule.  Overall, it's another quality schedule that will put the Flames in position to earn an at large birth should they win enough games.  It limits the potentially damaging Q4 games that offer no reward whether you win or lose.  There are quite a few Quad 1 and 2 games in the non conference that will give the Flames a lot of opportunities for resume building wins.  CUSA will see it's share of changes as well as the Flames will host newcomers Missiouri State and Delaware.  The Flames also will face DBU & LA Tech in their final seasons in CUSA before departing for new conferences.   Citadel - The Flames will load up the bus and head to Charleston to open the season.  They went 31-26 overall and finished 4th in the SOCON last year with an RPI of 101. WVU - Liberty welcomes the Mountaineers to the mountain for a 3 game set.  This marks the 1st time in over a decad...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Liberty Baseball Signing Class

Liberty inked 4 high school signees a few weeks back to start the 2026 signing class.  In this new environment with more scholarships but less overall roster spots expect this to become the norm.  The Flames will look to identify 3-5 HS players that fit the needs of the roster and have high end traits to sign early.  The rest of the class will be filled out with JUCO and portal players in the Spring and early Summer.   Reid Garrett - Garrett is a 6'6 225 LB RHP from Mississippi.  Garrett is described as a strike throwing machine that took a big jump this Summer and Fall.  Garrett is already a physical specimen as you can see by his measureables.  Garrett punched out 80 hitters to the tune of 1.00 ERA this past season while holding the opposition to a .207 BA.   Will Hodges - Hodges is a 6'1 195 LB RHP from Mechanicsville, VA.  Hodges has been up to 93 and is another physical kid at this stage and could help the Flames early. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flames in MILB, MLB & Draft Recap

The 2025 MLB draft saw 2 Liberty Flames taken.  Cam Troyer was taken with the 374th pick overall which is a 12th round selection by the NY Yankees.  Cam signed and has debuted earlier this past week with the High A Hudson Valley Renegades where he's 2/11 with a 1 run scored.  Troyer's teammate Dylan Mathiesen would hear his name called just a few minutes later at pick # 383 in the 13th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Mathiesen was drafted despite having surgery prior to the draft.  Pitchers that get drafted very rarely pitch in MILB this year anyway but it could impact his start to the 2026 season.  The Pirates liked his stuff enough to go ahead and make the selection even with the injury.   MLB Mason Fluharty  - Fluharty has made 44 appearances with the Toronto Blue Jays out of the bullpen with a 5.23 ERA.  He's averaged just over a strikeout per inning with 44 in 43 IP and he has a 1.23 WHIP.  Flu made the highlight rounds on Su...
Post a Comment
Read more