#Risewithus

 February 27, 2022 Liberty 13  Winthrop 2 Liberty: 6 and 1 Warren Nolan RPI :15 Liberty swept a 3-game weekend set in dominating fashion over Winthrop.  The Flames dominated their former Big South foes in all facets of the game.  Cumulatively, the Flames outscored the Eagles 29-4 on the weekend.  Liberty wanted to see the starters go deeper this weekend and they got their wish.  Adametz and Alba went 6 innings each and Gibson went 5 2/3.   The Flames staff ERA sits at 2.61 through 7 games and the opposition is 7.63.  Offensively, the bats came alive over the weekend as Derek Orndorff stayed red hot over the weekend and now is 5/5 in SB attempts with 5 HR's and 9 RBI's and a BA of .476 and slugging 1.190.  I haven't seen anyone on a tear like this since Ryan Seiz back in the day.  Cam Foster continues to show he's no ordinary Freshman.  Friday WU had brought the infield in with 2 on when Foster smashed a 3-run shot in the bullpe...

 February 24, 2022 Liberty 12 NC A&T 2 Record : 3-1 Liberty smashed North Carolina A&T 12 to 2 in a midweek matchup that saw the Flames trot out 7 total pitchers while the offense recorded 12 hits, 3 of which were homeruns.  Freshman Garrett Horn got his first career start and sat 93-94 from the LH side in route to 3 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts.  Nick Willard came on for the 4th and got in a bases loaded jam before getting out unscathed thanks to a nifty play at first by Mathieu that cut a run down at the plate followed by a line shot to Foster at 2b that doubled off the runner on second.  Jeremy Beamon would follow Willard and allowed the only 2 runs of the day on a Texas league single that hit off Foster's glove that was just out of reach.  Beamon's breaking ball was impressive.  Tim Miller made his Liberty debut and allowed 1 hit and struck 1 out in 1 inning of work.  Landon Riley followed Miller making his own 2022 debut and had 2 w...

 February 20, 2022 Liberty 5 #9 Florida 3 Liberty 2-1 Liberty went into Gainesville and drained the swamp in route to taking 2 of 3 from the Gators.  Max Alba made his Flames debut and cruised through the first 3 innings before running into trouble in the 4th.  Alba had a good looking 2 seamer going along with his fastball before he got touched up for 3 runs and some loud contact in the 4th.  Liberty would answer in the 5th after prized freshman lefty Pierce Coppola had shut the Flames offense down for the most part in the early innings.  Liberty would score 3 in the 5th and 1 each in the 6th and 7th to produce the final score.  Brady Gulakowski paced the offense while going 3 for 5 with a 2 run dinger and 3 RBI's.  Aaron Anderson had a double and a 2 run HR for the Flames.  Gray Betts chipped in 2 hits and Hill, Foster & Orndorff all had 1 each as well.  The Flames also worked 6 BB's from the Gator pitching staff which kept pressure on t...

 February 19, 2022 Liberty 6 #9 Florida 4 W-L 1-1 Liberty put a W in the win column for the first of many in this 2022 season with a 6 to 4 victory over the #9 Florida Gators.  The Flames jumped out to the early 4-0 lead as Timmy Manning struggled to contain the Flames in the early innings.  Trey Gibson looked dominant through the first 2 innings before escaping trouble with 1 run allowed in the 3rd and before being run in the 4th.  David Erickson came on in relief of Gibson who all 4 runs ended up being charged too.  Mason Fluharty flashed some electric stuff in his 1 2/3 innings included an epic battle with Sterling Thompson who had belted 2 homers yesterday that ended in a K.  His slider looked like a whiffle ball on the pitch that Thompson went down on.  Many watching the game got a little nervous when head coach Scott Jackson pulled Fluharty after 1 2/3 innings and 23 pitches when he was seemingly dominating the Gators hitters.  However, Trey...

 February 18, 2022 Florida 7  Liberty 2 The season opener is in the books.  The night started with the stunning news that starting CF Jaylen Guy would miss the season with an arm injury.  The Flames will miss Guy and will need to re-work the outfield a bit in light of the news.  Derek Orndorff made a big impact in his first game with the Flames including a solo shot, a diving catch and an incredible leaping catch in the the outfield that ended with his arm bloodied.  Hunter Barco looked the part as he dazzled through the first 5 innings before the Flames broke up the perfect game and the no hitter in back to back at bats.  Gray Betts would add an RBI single for the Flames in the 8th but it wasn't enough to overcome the 3 homeruns that the Gators hit.   Takeaways Adametz - Joe looked really good on the mound in his first action since March of 2020.  He gave up 1 earned run through 4 on a solo shot.  He worked both sides of the plate ...

 February 17, 2022 (The night before the night) Finally, a new season is upon us.  It's hard not to reminisce for those of us that played at whatever level.  Opening Day is unlike any other sport.  It's a new day, the sky is the limit and hope abounds for even the worst of programs who have their sights set on a new season.  This year MLB is locked out yet again after a bitter winter of negotiations (kind of) and standoffs that have led to the delay of the start of Spring Training so far. College Baseball has a chance to take the spotlight from MLB.  The talent level is at an all time high between COVID years being used and the draft being shortened from 40 to 20 rounds.  Pitching staffs are loaded with arms that all throw in the 90's and the lineups have a chance to be deeper than ever as well.  First up, the vaunted Florida Gators of the SEC.  The Gators return 2 potential top 10 picks in OF Jud Fabian and LHSP Hunter Barco whom the Flames ...

 February 13, 2022 Liberty took the field on a beautiful Saturday that was again in the low 60's for the second day in a row.  The Flames will have one more scrimmage on Tuesday at 3:30 before heading to Gainesville Thursday to face the Gators.   Offensively, Nathan Keeter & Ryan Shieh had a single.  Three Hillier had a double and single.  On the other squad Gray Betts, Drew Baughman & Bo Majkowski had singles.  Stephen Hill, Aaron Anderson each had a double.  Cole Hertzler had 2 singles.  A number of guys had walks in the contest.  Logan Mathieu also had a hard hit ball that would usually be a hit that was erased by a great defensive effort.   Pitching wise, Trey Gibson looked electric in 5 scoreless innings with 5 K's and 1 unearned run.  Landon Riled had a quick 123 inning with a strikeout.  Riley's slider had some serious bite which bodes well for the season.  Frosh Garret Horn continues to shine with...

 February 11, 2022 Liberty returned to the diamond Friday for another scrimmage.  The Sunday scrimmage has been split into today's scrimmage & Saturday's scrimmage at 4 pm which is expected to be 11 or 12 innings.  The temperature reached the low 60's in Lynchburg this afternoon though there were heavy wind gusts at times.  The Flames also got the new videoboard board installed (see Nick Pierce's tweet) which appears to be larger and much higher definition.  Let's hope the staff can get the net up before it takes a bomb off the board like Logan Mathieu's opposite field shot to walk Bellarmine off last year.   Offensively, Nathan Keeter had some really good swings that resulted in 2 well struck doubles.  Three Hillier added a double.  On the other squad Gray Betts had a double and single and Aaron Anderson had a double and 2 walks.  Bo Majkowski has 2 doubles as well and Hill, Foster & Mcneal all had singles.   Pitching ...

 February 9th, 2022 The Flames returned to the diamond on Tuesday for another scrimmage.  Liberty rolled out a host of their best bullpen arms in the scrimmage.  David Erickson & Mason Fluharty flashed once again as they had 4 strikeouts combined as each worked an inning.  Landon Riley and Cade Hungate each had quick scoreless innings as well.  Trey Carter and Emmanuel Johnson also saw time on the mound in the scrimmage and looked solid as well.   Offensively, Cole Hertzler the 2 way freshman had a HR and double.  Three Hillier hit a HR, walked and flew out deep to right in his 3rd at bat.  He made quite loud contact all day in his AB's.  Adrian Mcneal had a double and Cam Foster and Bo Majkowski each had a single.  Hillier also threw out a base stealer during the scrimmage as well.   The Flames will scrimmage again this weekend on Friday and Saturday.  Potential weather could force the Flames to double up on Satu...

 February 7th, 2022 The Flames were back in action for 3 scrimmages over the weekend.  Friday night Joe Adametz and Dylan Cumming dazzled.  Adametz pitched 4 strong innings with 6 k's, 2 hit and 0 runs as he continues his return from TJ surgery.  Cumming was sharp as well in his 4 innings of work with 3 k's 2 hits and no runs.  David Erickson looked good as well in 2 innings of relief work with 3 K's 2 hits and no runs allowed.  Mason Fluharty & Cade Hungate each had a scoreless inning as well.  Fluharty had 2 k's and Hungate 1 respectively.   Saturday was another cold blustery day that saw Trey Gibson battle through the conditions for 4 strong innings while allowing 2 runs with 5 strikeouts.  Cole Garrett and Emmanuel Johnson also had strong outings on Saturday as well combining for 5 k's.   Garrett Horn continued his strong spring Sunday with 3 scoreless innings and 6 punch outs.  Another encouraging outing from the ...

  February 3, 2022 The Flames will be back at it scrimmaging again this weekend Friday, Saturday & Sunday. The weather looks it should cooperate a little better this weekend than last weekend. In the meantime there has been no shortage of pre season accolades and rankings that continue to come out highlighting the program.   The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has the Flames at #35 and the Gators are #7.   Perfect Game has Liberty #25 and Florida #23.  Gray Betts was named the #26 catcher in the nation by D1Baseball on it's annual rankings.  I have a feeling that's low at year end.   The Flames racked up a slew of preseason ASUN awards. *Trey Gibson was named pitcher of the year *Jaylen Guy was named defensive player of the year. *Aaron Anderson was named the preseason player of the year.   *The All conference team included Gibson, Betts, Anderson & Gulakowski.   *Liberty was the preseason favorite...