#Risewithus

  I'll wrap up the Fall coverage the pitching.  The Flames were thrilled to bring back Cooper Harrington who had all kinds of portal interest after his dominant start against the 3rd ranked Georgia Bulldogs.  The success of the Flames will ride and fall on Coop & Zayac who both return to form 1 of if not the best 1-2 punch in the nation.  Zayac was shut down most of the fall with a sore back officially but I was told repeatedly that he was fine and threw a few bullpens.  I think it was more of a rest issue similar to what the Flames did with Ben Blair 2 years ago.  There were over 40 scouts at the Longwood game and they were all watching Harrington.  Early word from the scouts is that he could go as high as the 2nd round similar to Ben Blair if he puts on some weight and add's a little more zip to the Fastball to sit in the mid 90's.  He pitched 2 scoreless and looked excellent.   The 2 most impressive arms that I saw besides Coop ...

Liberty Baseball wrapped up the Fall 2026 season with a perfect 4-0 record in the fall.  The Flames beat Radford and NC State on the road while beating Longwood and Elon at home.  The Flames thoroughly dominated NC State & Elon and completely shut down the Longwood bats.  The only game that was really competitive was the 1st game of the Fall on the road at Radford that saw the Flames win 8-7.   Lineup wise here's a look at what we saw this Fall (no order) CF Campos/Cleveland RF Cleveland/Drumm LF Drumm/Carter/Kaitz 3B Irby/Barnes SS Scilley/Miller/Mccoury 2B Ellison/Mccoury/Smith 1B Decandido/Myles/Barnes C Kalinich/Carter DH Carter/Barnes/Kaitz Let's start with the returners.  Josh Campos returns as an elite defensive CF who surprised a bit with an .872 OPS and 12 HR's & 51 RBI's.  Campos is locked in as the starter at CF heading into the Spring.  Riley Decandido returns at 1B after a .272 .837 6 HR 44 RBI slash line splitting time betwee...

  As the 2026 Fall schedule starts to wind down the Flames will turn their attention to the 2027 HS/JUCO Signing class.  The signing period opens on November 11 and will remain open throughout the Spring.  As of today the Flames have 6 commitments including 5 expected HS signees and 1 JUCO signee.   Seth Hooks - Hooks is a 6'0 195 LB left handed hitting and throwing OF from Knights Academy in Franklin TN.  Hooks has a chance to hit for big time power as his frame continues to fill out.  He has strong bat to ball skills and has had some big time exit velo's around 100 MPH regularly on the summer circuit per scouts.  Hooks is 1 of the top players in the state of TN and the Flames are thrilled to get him through to signing day.   Top 150 national player that projects as a corner OF and potential 2 way player.  He's up to 90 mph as a left handed pitcher.  The Flames got in early on Hooks and secured the commitment before who's who...

  Liberty had quite a bit of action on it's own players, signees & commitments.  Ben Blair obviously topped the list as he was selected 49th overall by the Tampa Bay Rays as he became the highest draft pick since Sid Bream was selected at 48 all the way back in the 80's.  The pick has a slot value of around $2.2MM.  There were several other teams in the mix and at the top of the list were the Rockies and Padres.  Typically, pitchers are shut down for the year after the draft so it's likely that we've seen the last of Blair for the year.  The Rays Low A affiliate resides in Charleston SC and they frequently play in Lynchburg against the Howlers and Salem against the Ridgeyaks but Blair may skip that level altogether depending no how Spring Training goes.  It's most likely that he starts out 2027 in High A with the Bowling Green Hot Rods in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Blair has already made a couple trips there to face the Hilltoppers of WKU in hi...

  Summer League action is in full force and the Flames.  It's not uncommon to see Starting Pitchers take the Summer off and that's exactly what Cooper Harrington and Bradley Zayac are doing.  Ben Blair took last Summer off after an increased workload.  You'll also see teammates playing together often times and this year is no different.  Valley League  Charlottesville Tom Sox Xavier McCoury - The Flames RS Freshman SS is hitting .269 in 52 AB's while starting 14 games.  He has no homer's and 12 RBI's but he has an impressive 14 BB's leading to an impressive .424 OBP.  He has made 5 errors in the field for a .929 Fielding %.   Brandon Dahlman - The Flames spin Dr. has a 0 ERA in 14 1/3 IP while punching out a whopping 31 hitters thus far.  He's held opponents to a paltry .044 battting average as well.  Those are eye popping numbers in the earlier part of the season.  Dahlman has 1 more year of eligibility left.  ...

  Liberty has had another excellent offseason where they currently reside in the T25 in portal classes for the 2nd year in a row.  They've made 7 portal additions with 2 to 3 more expected.  It's the portal so anything can happen until it closes at month end but it sounds like Cooper Harrington is locked in to come back.  The ceiling of the team with Harrington at the top is Omaha if all the additions work out and players develop.  They've also added 3 JUCO players and 5 HS signees.   Scheduling wise, it sounds like the Flames are heading back old rival Coastal Carolina for 3 and at Auburn for 3 in the non conference slate.  As of now, UNC and Clemson are back on the midweek schedule in road games only as well.  I'd expect the same slate of ACC home and homes as usual for the most part (UVA, Wake, Duke, VT).  Wake may take a step back after losing long time top assistant Bill Cilento to South Carolina.  CUSA will also be in transiti...

 Liberty has always had quite a few players drafted from the program over the years.  The Flames had some serious MLB talent in it's teen years before entering a dry spell.  That's all changed in the last couple years starting with Ryan Cordell who is now retired.  Will Wagner, Trey Gibson & Mason Fluharty have all had significant time in the show this year.  I'll dive in and take a look at the former Flames in MLB & MILB. Trey Gibson - Gibson has ascended from undrafted Free Agent to the #4 prospect in the Orioles system.  Trey had a 3.55 ERA in 38 IP to go along with a 1.53 WHIP .260 Opp BA and 38 K's for 1 strikeout per inning,  Gibson started in the Spring breakout game and went 3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox top prospects in a game I was able to attend.  He got the call in May and has started 6 games for the Orioles with a 5.64 ERA over 30 1.3 IP with 25 K's, .261 Opp BA and 1.65 WHIP.  The Orioles broadcasts have been ...

As of July 15th the Flames have 9 portal commitments, 3 JUCO Signees and 5 HS Signees and they lost 4 underclassmen to the draft and 1 portal commitment.    Austin Irby ECU - Irby was a first team freshman All American per Perfect Game in 2025 after his freshman season where he hit .303 with 12 homers and 50 RBI's.  He's a corner infielder that should be a middle of the order bat for the Flames.  Big time acquisition here.  He hit .239 with 5 HR's and 39 RBI's to go along with a .354 OBP in a bit of a down season in 2026.   Cole Cleveland FIU - Cleveland is a rangy OF from conference mate FIU.  He hit .232 with 4 HR's and 23 RBI's with a .359 OBP and 9 SB's in his sophomore season.  In his true freshman season in 2025 he hit .291 with 5 HR's 32 RBI's and 13 SB's.  He was also named to the All CUSA freshman team.   Jaeden Carter Longwood - Carter was Longwood's best player and comes in as a utility player that can played OF a...

  Liberty wrapped up the 2026 season with a 6-1 loss to # 3 Georgia in Athens, GA on Sunday night.  The Flames beat the 4 seed from the ACC Boston College twice in the Athens regional while falling twice to Georgia 6-2 and 6-1.  Liberty tied a program record with 43 total wins, 11 Quad 1 wins, 19 true road wins, 2nd place in both the regular season and CUSA tournament as well as featuring the CUSA pitcher of the year in Ben Blair and the defensive player of the year as well as well the CUSA player of the year in Tanner Marsh.  Liberty will finish at #29 in the RPI and likely just outside the Top 25 as they also cracked the BA top 25 for the first time in 5 years.  All that to say Liberty Baseball bounced back in a big way from what had been a tough 3 year stretch for the program.  Some other highlights of the season included taken 1 game off WVU at home in what proved to be a Super Regional win.  The Flames would go 5-6 against the ACC on the year high...

  Last night I took a look at Boston College the Flames first opponent of the Athens Regional.  This time I'll take a deep dive into the Georgia Bulldogs.  If the Flames are able to get through BC they will almost certainly face the Dawgs in game 2.  The Dawgs finished 46-12 and 23-7 in the SEC to win the regular season and going 3-0 in the SEC tourney including an 11-1 smashing of #13 Arkansas in the SEC Championship game.  They finished 7th in the RPI and there were only 2 like opponents which included and 11-1 thrashing of Kennesaw State and an 8-5 win over the Citadel while they did drop the second midweek contest to Kennesaw State 10-7 in what most of the Dawg's beat writers described as a "sleepy midweek loss" for Georgia.  Georgia won the SEC tournament for the first time in program history and finished 1st in the regular season for the time since 2008.  Both stats are a bit stunning for a program that's known as 1 of the best in College Basebal...

Liberty finished out the 2026 season with a 41-19 record that was highlighted by a 21-9 CUSA record plus and a 19-6 record in true road games while finishing #32 in the RPI.  It was the Flames first 40 win season since 2021 and the Flames will make their first appearance in a regional since 2021 as well.  Tanner Marsh won the defensive player of the year and the player of the year and Ben Blair was the pitcher of the year.  Zayac, Barone & Harrington all took home 2nd team honors.  Tyler August should have been on the list for my money.  He was our best pitcher the last month of the year and had an incredible performance in the Missiouri State game.     Liberty ran out of gas in the championship game and fell 10-0 to Jacksonville State to finish 2-2 against the 1st place Gamecocks on the season.  The Flames also went 2-2 against Missiouri State and Louisiana Tech and 2-1 against Dallas Baptist.  Liberty took a big step towards restor...

  Alright, I know we've all been there the last couple years but the Liberty Baseball is officially back.  The Flames put an explanation point on a 3-1 weekend that saw a road ACC dominating win over in state rival Virginia Tech 11-4 and then taking 2 of 3 from previously unbeaten in CUSA play Jacksonville St.  The Flames have reached a season high #23 in the RPI as of late Sunday night after Sunday's 4-2 win.  Liberty had their proverbial backs to the wall after Friday's night's 8-4 setback to Jacksonville St. that left the Flames 4 games back in the pursuit of 1st place.  Liberty had knocked out Jacksonville State ace Eli Pillsbury after just 3 innings and had their own ace Ben Blair on the mound in cruise control.  Then the 6th inning changed everything as the Gamecocks put up a 5 spot on Blair and the Flames that proved insurmountable.  That moved Jacksonville St. to a 13-0 start in CUSA play which had never been done before.  The series had a...

  As hard as it may be to believe the Flames are just 2 weeks out from the first pitch of the 2026 season.  The field is still half covered with snow/ice but the Flames got about a weeks worth of scrimmages in before the weather hit.  Fortunately, they have enough indoor facilities these days to do everything but full on scrimmage.  Most of the teams the Flames will play this year are also dealing with some level of weather as well.   The 2026 season starts and ends with ace Ben Blair.  The Flames will trot the pre-season CUSA pitcher of the year out on Friday when the season kicks off.  Beyond that, Potts, Swink, August, Harrington & Lucas are battling for the 2 spots behind Blair and the midweek starter spot.  As of now transfer Ayden Decker-Petty is expected to be 1 of the key backend arms.  2 of the before mentioned group will also factor into the bullpen along with Josh Mcckusker had a solid 2025 for the Flames.  Beyond tha...

  It's been a few weeks now since the Flames rolled out their 2026 schedule.  Overall, it's another quality schedule that will put the Flames in position to earn an at large birth should they win enough games.  It limits the potentially damaging Q4 games that offer no reward whether you win or lose.  There are quite a few Quad 1 and 2 games in the non conference that will give the Flames a lot of opportunities for resume building wins.  CUSA will see it's share of changes as well as the Flames will host newcomers Missiouri State and Delaware.  The Flames also will face DBU & LA Tech in their final seasons in CUSA before departing for new conferences.   Citadel - The Flames will load up the bus and head to Charleston to open the season.  They went 31-26 overall and finished 4th in the SOCON last year with an RPI of 101. WVU - Liberty welcomes the Mountaineers to the mountain for a 3 game set.  This marks the 1st time in over a decad...

Liberty inked 4 high school signees a few weeks back to start the 2026 signing class.  In this new environment with more scholarships but less overall roster spots expect this to become the norm.  The Flames will look to identify 3-5 HS players that fit the needs of the roster and have high end traits to sign early.  The rest of the class will be filled out with JUCO and portal players in the Spring and early Summer.   Reid Garrett - Garrett is a 6'6 225 LB RHP from Mississippi.  Garrett is described as a strike throwing machine that took a big jump this Summer and Fall.  Garrett is already a physical specimen as you can see by his measureables.  Garrett punched out 80 hitters to the tune of 1.00 ERA this past season while holding the opposition to a .207 BA.   Will Hodges - Hodges is a 6'1 195 LB RHP from Mechanicsville, VA.  Hodges has been up to 93 and is another physical kid at this stage and could help the Flames early. ...

The 2025 MLB draft saw 2 Liberty Flames taken.  Cam Troyer was taken with the 374th pick overall which is a 12th round selection by the NY Yankees.  Cam signed and has debuted earlier this past week with the High A Hudson Valley Renegades where he's 2/11 with a 1 run scored.  Troyer's teammate Dylan Mathiesen would hear his name called just a few minutes later at pick # 383 in the 13th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Mathiesen was drafted despite having surgery prior to the draft.  Pitchers that get drafted very rarely pitch in MILB this year anyway but it could impact his start to the 2026 season.  The Pirates liked his stuff enough to go ahead and make the selection even with the injury.   MLB Mason Fluharty  - Fluharty has made 44 appearances with the Toronto Blue Jays out of the bullpen with a 5.23 ERA.  He's averaged just over a strikeout per inning with 44 in 43 IP and he has a 1.23 WHIP.  Flu made the highlight rounds on Su...

  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...