#Risewithus

  Liberty has just about put the finishing touches on the roster barring any last minute surprises.  The Flames added 3 impact starting caliber hitters/defenders to supplement a strong returning core.  On the pitching side of things Liberty added several arms that they thing will be impact arms.  Perhaps none bigger than Bradley Zayac who went 7 strong in the Regional Final for ECU against eventual runner-up ECU.  Liberty also really likes Jaxon Lucas the RHP from NC State who could factor in as a potential starter as well.  Pitt transfer LHP Matt Porter & Indiana RHP Ayden Decker-Petty complete the pitching staff additions.  Liberty has given itself a strong group to compete for the starting spots behind ace Ben Blair in Zayac & Lucas to pair with Potts, Harrington & Swink.  Liberty will most likely enter the year with just 3 LHP's on the roster.   There are a couple other notes and changes including Seth Way entering the tr...

The Flames have turned up the heat on the recruiting trail here in the final week of June.  Liberty has added 5 commitments from the transfer portal and will most likely add 1 to 2 more.  Here's a look at what they've picked up. Jordan Jaffe - Jaffe is a right handed hitting Corner Infielder/DH that has just flat raked for 3 years at Richmond.  He finished 2025 with a .364 BA, 10 HR's and 59 RBI's and a whopping 1.028 OPS.  In 2024 his stat line was .317 10 HR's 44 RBI's and .964 OPS.  In 2023 he hit .314 with 12 HR's 59 RBI's and a .989 OPS.  As you can see he will easily slot in the middle of the order with Nick Barone & Jaxon Sorenson and provide the Flames with another big time RH bat.  Jaffe was highly sought after and is 1 of the most proven bats the Flames have picked up from an equal or higher level of competition in the portal era.   Ryan Drumm - Drumm is a right handed hitting Outfielder that can play all 3 spots from Butler....

  The 2025 season is in the rearview and the Flames set their sights on 2026.  Liberty lost pitching coach Andrew See who led Liberty to the 2nd best ERA in CUSA in his lone season with the Flames.  Virtually the entire pitching staff had their best year of their career with the Flames and See.  Kendall Rogers reported today that the Flames were able to make a huge hire and pull Keller Bradford away from his role as Pitching Coach with Southern Miss.  Bradford finished his collegiate career at Southern Miss and spent the last 2 seasons as the PC for the Golden Eagles.  The Golden Eagles had a team ERA of 4.03 and held opponents to a .242 team BA which resulted in being ranked 2nd in the Sunbelt in overall pitching.  Southern Miss has always been a quality program and this is a very nice pull for Coach LeCroy and Liberty.   Schedule wise we've started to hear of a few games on the schedule next year.  As it stands now the Flames will open...

Western Kentucky will roll into Lynchburg with a 28-5 record including 6-2 in CUSA and #42 in the RPI which is good for 2nd place in the league.  Liberty comes in at 22-11 overall, 5-4 in CUSA & #51 in the RPI.  WKU is coming off an impressive weekend that saw them take 2/3 on the road against conference favorite Dallas Baptist.  WKU has raced out to an incredible overall record including going 22-0 at home and leading CUSA in team hitting and team ERA.  WKU is led by Ryan Wideman who's hitting an eye popping .452 with 6 HR's 40 RBI's and 27 stolen bases.  Wideman is 1 of a league high 7 Hilltoppers hitting over .300.  As a team they are hitting .323 with 34 homers.  It won't get any easier for the Flames on the mound as WKU has a team ERA of 2.67.  Liberty is 2nd in ERA in the league but over 1.5 runs higher at 4.29.  As you may have guessed the only reason the Hilltoppers aren't in the top 20 of the RBI is a relatively light schedule th...

Everyone was left with a sour taste in their mouth following the weekend series down in Jacksonville Alabama that saw Liberty lose the final 2 games after winning the opener.  The controversy of course centered around Ben Blair being accidentally left off the active roster for the weekend.  JSU likely became aware of it Friday and researched the issue and waited until Blair had thrown his first pitch of the game to bring up the discrepancy which led to Liberty forfeiting the game.  My tweet reporting on the forfeit now has 111k interactions as of 03/31/25 which is an insane number and by far the most viewed tweet I've ever had.  Opinions varied on the topic throughout the last several days.  The bottom line is JSU had every right to make that decision, and it was probably the right call to make.  However, nobody will ever feel good about winning that way and Liberty has to be sick to their stomach looking back on it.  You could make the argument that i...

  Record:  11-5          Team ERA: 3.96 Home: 7-2               Team BA: .258 Road: 4-3                Team Fielding %: .974 RPI: 99                    Team OPS: .791 Quad 1: 2-5 Quad 2: 1-0 Quad 3: 2-0 Quad 4: 6-0 CUSA Rank: 105h Average RPI .5097 SOS: 172 We're just under 1 month into the 2025 season and Liberty sits at 11-5 with 1 more road Midweek game at #10 Clemson before a weekend series home with Princeton.  Things really could not have gone much better realistically other than winning 1 more game against Xavier which would have won that series.  Liberty hangs tough and has frequently come back from early deficits.  Ben Blair has looked every bit the part of the ace that Liberty needed him to be.  Mathieson has pitched very well and has solidified himself as a starter for the Flames.  Overall...