Liberty Baseball headed down to Wilmington to take on the Seahawks of UNCW Saturday beginning at noon for a 8 1/2 inning first game that featured many expected starters and contributors from both teams and a 6 1/2 inning second game that featured many freshman and newcomers.  Liberty won the first game 7 to 4.  The Flames will face in state ACC foe Virginia Tech Friday at 5 pm in a scrimmage that is expected to be similar to the scrimmage last year in Blacksburg that will be 9 innings with approximately 3 more additional innings to get more guys action.  

Pitching wise Winthrop transfer Garret Gainey would get the start and would go 2 innings while allowing 2 runs with 3 K's and topped out at 91 mph.  Tepper, Germanowski, Cooper & Willard would follow with 1 inning stints each and face the minimum 12 batters with 6 strikeouts.  Tepper topped out at 96, Cooper 94, Germ 96 and Willard 92 mph respectively.  Trey Carter came on for 2 dominant innings allowing 1 run while featuring a wipeout slider that was able to get 6 swing and misses in 2 innings of work while punching out 4 hitters.  Nick Moran also looked good in 2 innings of work and had 6 swing and misses on the slider as well while pitching in and out of jams with no harm done.  He topped out at 92 mph from the left hand slide and featured a strong slider as well.  Ryan Butler would come on and strand runners at 2nd and 3rd with high stress strikeouts.  His changeup appeared to be a plus pitch and he topped out at 91 mph.  Troyer came on after playing RF most of the day for the final inning and needed just 6 pitches to get 3 hits while topping out at 90 mph.  

Offensively, Will Stewart (DH) stayed hot with 2 hits including a triple and a single (also walked).  Jake Lazzaro continued his resurgence with 2 hits and was on base 3 times in 4 trips including a HBP.  The Outfield featured JUCO transfer Victor Castillo in LF, Jaylen Guy in CF and Camden Troyer in RF.  The Liberty lineup featured 10 hitters total and Betts, Guy, Castillo, Jenner, Troyer, Foster & Hillier all had a single each while Hillier and Foster also walked. 

Game 2 featured a lineup loaded with newcomers and freshman which saw UNCW would outscore the Flames in 6 1/2 innings.  Hurtzler had a double and Hillier, Mcneal, Hudson, Horton, Wheatley, Shieh & Edmunds all had a single.  Liberty will continue to try to figure out the right combinations with this team which has so much versatility and potential options both on the mound and at the plate and in the field. 

Injury Update :  Garret Horn threw his first bullpen and was expected to throw his first live session this week.  He continues to track towards being ready to open the season for the Flames. 

Scrimmages : Liberty will go live at 3:30 both Wednesday & Thursday before playing VT Friday to close out the scrimmage portion of the Fall.  


Brent

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