March 8,  2022

#14 Liberty 1 #15 UNC 0

Record : 11-1

Liberty won a very well played top 25 matchup against UNC in front of just under 2,700 fans at Liberty Baseball Stadium on Tuesday night.  You could tell right from the start this was something different.  Parking lot was full about 20 minutes before the game, fans looking for overflow lots and filing into the stadium and seats packed as well the as the berm area's and many fans standing around the concourse.  Aaron Anderson would smash a solo shot that looked a little like Carlton Fisk's shot for the Red Sox back in the day that also just cleared the foul poll in the 1st inning.  That would prove to be the only run of the game.  Anderson has gotten hot lately and is really barreling the ball up.  Dylan Cumming would start the game and go 4 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball on 63 pitches.  Cumming got in quite the jam in the first inning before escaping with no damage done.  Betts had a huge play in which he threw out Honeycutt who was 12/12 in Stolen bases going in.  Cumming then got his sinker down in the zone and it looked like 2020 Dylan Cumming in the midweek again.  The game featured a few other stellar defensive plays including a diving catch by Logan Mathieu, an elite pick and throw from Lazzaro on a hard hit ball and Orndorff and Hillier both tracked down very difficult balls in the Outfield.  Fluharty came on in relief in the 5th and was lights out for 2 1/3 innings while punching out 4 hitters.  His stuff was as good as it's been all season.  The movement was incredible as it was with UNC's Shawn Rapp.  Both lefty's were trading zero's and dominating innings.  A foul ball was hit and HC Scott Jackson picked it up and appeared to spot some kind of foreign substance on the ball.  The 3rd base umpire took a look and was concerned enough to call for a joint meeting of the 3 umpires.  Ultimately nothing came of it but Rapp's movement didn't seem to be as sharp in the next inning for one reason or another.  UNC CF and LF also crashed into each other in a violent collision in the middle of the game on a long Aaron Anderson drive to the gap that had 3 bases written all over it.  Thankfully, both of them walked off the field on their own power.  True freshman Jeremy Beamon got he call in the 8th and delivered with some wicked movement on the slider to record a hold.  Then closer Cade Hungate came in and got in a bit of trouble before striking out the side with 2 on to secure the midweek win.  

Takeaways

UNC - The Tarheels are really good.  This is not a down year for the tarheels.  Carolina has had good pitching for some time but they haven't had the offense in recent years that they once had.  This team is loaded and I fully expect them to compete for the ACC title.  They threw 4 really high level arms.  The best pitchers Liberty has faced other than Hunter Barco all year.  That's a big win.  

Beamon - How about true freshman Jeremy Beamon coming on and getting a key hold in the 8th.  Liberty has seen key contributions from 4 true freshman already.  This was huge and can't be overstated.

Crowd - The crowd was huge and the atmosphere was electric all night.  The students heckled Frick of the Tarheels and it was a real college baseball atmosphere.  It felt like a big time game between 2 heavyweights going head to head and the crowd provided great energy.  Just 1 concession stand open.  Long lines all weekend and again tonight.  Sodexho has got to be better.  Hopefully the fans come back out again this weekend and help make this the norm rather than the exception.  

Hillier - We've frequently mentioned Three Hillier had great at bats all fall and in the spring.  He is clearly one of the top 9 best hitters the Flames have.  Subsequently, they are trying to find ways to get his bat in the lineup.  Tonight he played LF and made an incredible catch going into the corner.  He has made a lot of loud contact.  Liberty will have options to fill that #9 spot between Keeter, Majkowski & now Hillier.  I would expect to continue to see him in the lineup at least a couple times a week.  

Swing & miss stuff - One of the things that has made this pitching staff so successful is the late inning guys especially have swing and miss stuff.  They can bow their necks and get strikeouts in situations where strikeouts are needed with traffic on the bases.  

Chemistry - It's hard to define but easy to know what it is when you see it.  This team has chemistry and it's obvious they genuinely like to be around each other and they are having a good time doing it.  It's a tremendous testament to the coaching staff as there are grad transfers, D2 transfers, high school guys, Juco guys and everything in between and they are all coming together to form something special.  It isn't easy to maintain that culture when adding new guys to the mix.  

By the numbers

#5 - Liberty's standing in the RPI   (Florida is #3) 

11 - Liberty's winning streak, 5th longest in nation per Nick Pierce

9 - Tarheels left on base.  Great job by Flames pitchers getting out of trouble with elite stuff. 

4 - number of Aaron Anderson homeruns.  He hit 4 all of last year.  

19 - Total team homeruns (Liberty had 54 all year last year, 12 games played this year)

2.44 - Liberty team ERA (3.57 in 2021)

.988 - Fielding %   (.984 last year)

2692 - fans in attendance

3 - Power 5 and top 15 ranked and quad 1 wins on the resume

On Deck:

The Campbell Camels will head to Lynchburg for a massive 3 game non conference set this weekend.  They are 6-7 overall but have rebounded from a slow start.  They are coming off a 9 to 8 midweek win over UNCW.  They have also beaten #22 NC State and Ohio State and Army in notable wins.  They also lost to ECU and lost a 3 game sweep to #23 Maryland.  I say all to say take the Camels seriously.  They took 2 of 3 in Buies Creek last year to open the season.  They have played a tough schedule and have played much better recently.  The Flames need to defend the home turf and get at least 2 of 3 this weekend but will need to play well.  

Another interesting nugget: Combined record of remaining P5 games 51-9.  That would be UNC, Duke, Wake, UVA & VT.  Liberty has 8 games remaining with that group.  

#Risewithus

Brent