Record: 30 and 17

ASUN : 16-8 (1st in East)

RPI : 43

Quad 1 : 5-8 

Quad 2:  4-2


Liberty lost a 2 to 1 heart breaker on Wednesday night in Blacksburg against the 5th ranked Hokies.  VT has featured an explosive offense all year and had not been shut out all year.  The Flames carried a shutout until the very last out of the game.  Neither team could get much in the way of offense going.  Liberty picked up it's lone run on a infield singer/error and then an errant throw that allowed Orndorff to get to second.  Hillier would then drive him in with a single.  Liberty has 8 games in 11 days and needed to conserve pitching.  Trey Gibson went 2 scoreless innings and was as sharp as he has been in 2022.  Cole Garrett pitched a scoreless third before Max Alba came in and delivered 2 very good innings as well.  Alba kept the ball down in the zone and had serious bite on his off-speed.  Next up, was the Saturday starter Dylan Cumming who would almost carry the Flames to the finish line.  He would pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings before plunking a hitter with just 1 out remaining.  Next up, a passed ball on a pitch with a ton of movement allowed the tying run in scoring position.  Tech would then hit a weak grounder that would get through to tie the game before ultimately loading the bases against Hungate and a line drive single to left would win it.  Liberty actually gained 1 spot in the RPI so imagine how huge a win would have been against the #7 Hokies on the road would have been for the RPI.  

Next up Liberty heads down to FGCU for another pivotal matchup with the Eagles who are 30 and 18 and #74 in the RPI.  They have won 3 straight including winning 2 of 3 from KSU last weekend.  Liberty swept the Eagles back in early April so they will surely be ready for this one.  The Eagles sit just 2 games back of the Flames in the conference.  FGCU still relies on their offense heavily as they have slugged 67 homers and have a team batting average of .294.  The middle of the lineup features 3 hitters with 13 to 15 homers.  The Eagles have 7 or 8 reliable pitchers including a couple of good starters.  Liberty would do well to get into that bullpen earlier and make FGCU exhaust some of those arms on Friday.  For comparison, Liberty features 10 or 11 guys that get regular meaningful innings and has a couple more on the periphery.  

There have been some changes to the weekend rotation.  Trey Carter has been throwing as well as anyone on the team and will get the Friday night nod.  Joe Adametz has had his best 2 outings of the season the last 2 starts and he will move into the Saturday role.  Garrett Horn will take the Sunday role and look to continue his excellent freshman campaign.  Just 7 games remain in the regular season.  Liberty is still firmly in the mix for the East title and a regional at large.  Kennesaw State is at 45 in the RPI so 6 of Liberty's last 7 games will be against top 75 RPI teams including 3 road vs FGCU.  A great result for Liberty would be to win 2 of 3 in both series and to beat High Point who is still a 200 RPI team.  That would allow the Flames to take the crown in the East and all but lock up an at large spot and finish 35 and 20 in the regular season heading into the conference tourney.  



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