Record : 5-6

RPI: 132

Home: 3-2

Away: 1-4

SOS: 93

Quad 1: 1-6

Quad 4: 4-0

Liberty finished off week 2 1-3 after posting a 2-1 11 inning win at UNCW and getting swept by Coastal.  The Flames bats came to life at Coastal but they were unable to preserve sizeable leads in each of the first 2 games before getting shut out in the 3rd and final game.  It won't get any easier with the midweek game at College of Charleston who is 7-3 and #203 in the RPI before heading back home for 3 with powerhouse ECU who sits at 7-4 and 36th in the RPI.  Charleston was 7-0 before being swept by Nebraska over the weekend by 4 total runs.  ECU won 2 of 3 in the annual Keith Laclair classic but dropped a stinker Sunday against SE Louisiana.  So far the Pirates are 0-3 on the road.  Liberty's big problem over the weekend was untimely errors and bullpen meltdowns that we hadn't seen thus far in the 2024 season.  

Many are hitting the panic button already that 2024 looks like 2023 and in some ways it does but I personally don't think we're there yet.  I want to see a couple weeks with the full rotation not being disrupted before we make too strong of a statement on what 2024 will look like.  It certainly appears that the Flames have 3 sold starting pitchers in Hertzler, Horn & Moran.  Blair has shown promise and the Flames can always try Cooper as well if Dolby continues to struggle.  The team ERA is 4.67 which isn't terrible and there's been more good than bad.  The Hertzler injury really disrupted things so far but the Flames wanted to take care of a valuable young man's arm and tread lightly.  Offensively, they're hitting .257 with 12 homers and 23 doubles.   So the power has been OK which was a question mark coming in the season but they haven't been quite as consistent hitting with RISP as a team.  Horton and Hilliers injuries have certainly played a part in that as they are trying to round back into form.  Defensively, the team is at .975 which is fairly solid but the errors have just been at crucial times.  I still think this is a more talented team than last year but this will be a big week.  Liberty can't afford to dig too big of a hole here early with very difficult CUSA series and strong ACC midweek competition coming down the stretch as well as a solid Samford 3 game series.  

CUSA has been as good if not better than advertised thus far.  They sit 12th in the RPI and the ASUN is 16th.  The league could move up as high as #9 with just a few big wins.  La Tech & DBU are a combined 21-1 so far and DBU already has racked up 4 P5 wins including 1 over #15 Bama Sunday.  SHSU & WKU both sit at 8-4 and will not be easy wins either.  

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