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 Carter came on and lit up the gun touching as high as 97 while recording 1 2/3 scoreless innings of his own.  Carter would then give way to Cade Hungate who promptly hit the leadoff hitter before retiring the side to record the save.  David Erickson got the win.  Offensively, the Flames only had 2 extra base hits which were doubles by Cam Foster and Brady Gulakowski.  In fact, Liberty had just 6 hits total but worked 6 walks and had 3 HBP's and they made the Gators pay dearly for the free passes.  Cam Foster had a beautiful hit and run opposite field 2b and a key sac fly that made him the player of the game.  

Takeaways

-This pitching staff is as advertised.  The Flames can come at you in droves this year.  I've followed the program since 2001 and Liberty has always had 3 good starting pitchers and about 3 or max 4 guys that you could really rely on out of the bullpen in high leverage situations.  I've posted all fall and winter about how this staff can be 10-12 guys deep and you saw it firsthand so far this weekend against a top 10 SEC team with a national player of the year candidate in the lineup.  In years past Scott Jackson and Matt Williams would have felt the pressure to extend Fluharty and ride him until he would run out of gas.  Same with Trey Gibson who was tiring a bit in the 4th.  This year it's an embarrassment of riches that can be called on.  Liberty can pull a reliever early and save him for later in the weekend or pull a starter early to keep him fresh and really lose nothing. 

Outfield - This outfield is really good.  Look, losing Jaylen Guy is never a good thing when you're talking defense.  Imagine this, Aaron Anderson had rarely played outfield at all until being moved to LF last year.  All through the fall and early spring that was still the plan with Orndorff in RF and Guy in CF.  Guy goes down with the injury and Orndorff moves to CF, Anderson to RF and Keeter enters the lineup.  Anderson made a great play in the 8th today and almost took the padding off the wall.  Last night it was Orndorff with the top SC play of the day and another diving grab plus a HR.  Keeter has looked the part so far and looks he can be a serious pest for the opposition out of the 9 hole.  He reminds me a little bit of a young Gray Betts and not just because of his size but the way he works pitchers and the fearlessness he plays the game with.  

Defense - It's early but again I'm not sure we lost a whole lot defensively which is unbelieve considering what the program graduated last year.  It certainly appears to be a strength.  

Offense - Barco is going to make a lot of people look bad this year.  The rest of this Gators staff is talented but young.  I think the Flames offense in time may even be a bit more balanced and deeper than last year.  Foster, Orndorff & Hill will be the keys.  Those 3 guys can balance out the lineup and make Liberty very difficult to matchup against.  If Keeter/Majkowski can keep playing good defense and provide a little spark out of the 9 hole then that's a plus as well.  

On deck

The rubber match is tomorrow @ 12 pm.

Alba vs. Coppola

The Gators will throw another young talented lefty at the Flames and Max Alba the UNC transfer will make his debut for the Flames.  Liberty still has Willard, Horn, Riley, Miller & Johnson in the pen and Hungate and Fluharty could come back again for an inning or so.