Liberty : 7-5

Home: 4-1

Away: 3-4

Q1: 0-3

Q2:

Q3:

Q4: 7-2

RPI : 125

SOS : 169

Liberty rolled over VCU in the midweek matchup in Lynchburg to improve to 3 and 0 in the midweek and 7 and 5 overall.  Garret Gainey turned in another great outing with 6 IP while allowing no earned runs and striking out a career high 8 batters.  Hudson, Germ & Hertzler would each pitch 1 inning to finish out the game.  Troyer had 3 hits and 2 RBI and Cole Hertzler had a big time ringing 2 run double into the RF corner.  Liberty also took 2 of 3 from Bryant at home over the weekend.  

The Flames have found their rotation with Horn, Moran, Tepper & Gainey.  The bullpen has 5 guys with an ERA under 2.70 and still several other guys that have been key pieces in the past like Erickson, Carter & Beamon that have also shown they can succeed at this level.  Butler, Cooper & Edwards can be key pieces as well.  This staff continues to show it's potential depth and overall talent.  Liberty should have a real chance to keep the entire staff fresh going into the latter part of the season. 

Offensively, Troyer is leading the team in virtually every stat and playing above average defense in right field.  Virtually all the other spots but 1B and 2B appear to have been locked down barring injury or prolonged slumps.  Jenner, Stewart & Hertzler have all seen time at first.  Jenner got off to a slow start after a torrid fall and spring.  Stewart had a slow start as well aside from his massive 3 run homer that won the rubber match game against Winthrop.  That allowed Hertzler to get a shot at 1B who has also been in the closer role.  Hertzler responded with a homer and big time 2 run single.  Hertzler is an imposing figure in the box with light tower power but also helps to break up the left handed heavy lineup that normally just has Guy & Foster from the right hand side.  All 3 of those guys can play at this level and Liberty won't want to burn Hertzler out with such a vital role in the pen so all 3 could continue to get looks and also spell other positions.  Simmons has gotten the bulk of the time at 2B recently thanks to a .438 OBP and perfect fielding percentage.  Defensively, the Flames have been a work in progress on the infield primarily as they have a team .957 fielding percentage.  They seem to have settled down a bit the last couple games so hopefully that trend will continue. 

Liberty is gearing up for a huge 3 game matchup on the road against #12 ECU (#1 in 11.7's mid major poll).  ECU is 6 and 1 at home and sits at #47 in the RPI currently.  They will be coming off an extra inning 5-2 win over Queens on the road.  ECU also won a pair against in state rival UNC and the third game was rained out.  They lost at Duke 9 to 0, which is the 1 common opponent with Liberty so far.  ECU can swing the bats as they have 4 guys over .300 and 13 total HR's.  They have already put up double digit runs 4 times already.  Jacob Starling is the star of the show hitting .389 and has already piled up 20 RBI's.  Trey Yesavage will be a handful for the Flames hitters to face as he's out to a blazing start through the first 17 innings.  He has a 1.59 ERA and 26 Strikeouts to go along with a 1.00 WHIP.  Josh Grosz is the other likely starter but he hasn't been nearly as dominant with an ERA over 4.  

Liberty is playing better baseball right now and it should be fun to watch Liberty's pitching staff verse the ECU lineup as it's strength on strength.  Liberty was flat offensively all weekend against Southern Miss opening weekend and though the offense still isn't where they would like it to be, it's in a much better place.  I think Liberty will get at least 1 game this weekend I think they have a great chance to get 2 games.