#Risewithus

  Summer League action is in full force and the Flames.  It's not uncommon to see Starting Pitchers take the Summer off and that's exactly what Cooper Harrington and Bradley Zayac are doing.  Ben Blair took last Summer off after an increased workload.  You'll also see teammates playing together often times and this year is no different.  Valley League  Charlottesville Tom Sox Xavier McCoury - The Flames RS Freshman SS is hitting .269 in 52 AB's while starting 14 games.  He has no homer's and 12 RBI's but he has an impressive 14 BB's leading to an impressive .424 OBP.  He has made 5 errors in the field for a .929 Fielding %.   Brandon Dahlman - The Flames spin Dr. has a 0 ERA in 14 1/3 IP while punching out a whopping 31 hitters thus far.  He's held opponents to a paltry .044 battting average as well.  Those are eye popping numbers in the earlier part of the season.  Dahlman has 1 more year of eligibility left.  ...

  Liberty has had another excellent offseason where they currently reside in the T25 in portal classes for the 2nd year in a row.  They've made 7 portal additions with 2 to 3 more expected.  It's the portal so anything can happen until it closes at month end but it sounds like Cooper Harrington is locked in to come back.  The ceiling of the team with Harrington at the top is Omaha if all the additions work out and players develop.  They've also added 3 JUCO players and 5 HS signees.   Scheduling wise, it sounds like the Flames are heading back old rival Coastal Carolina for 3 and at Auburn for 3 in the non conference slate.  As of now, UNC and Clemson are back on the midweek schedule in road games only as well.  I'd expect the same slate of ACC home and homes as usual for the most part (UVA, Wake, Duke, VT).  Wake may take a step back after losing long time top assistant Bill Cilento to South Carolina.  CUSA will also be in transiti...

 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 ...

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...

  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...

  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...