2014 Baseball Preview Part 2

Baseball is finally here! Liberty will get things rolling today at 3 P.M. against North Florida, the hosts of the UNF Tournament, which also includes South Florida and Richmond. In celebration of opening day, we’ll be taking a look at what lies ahead for the Flames in 2014. If you didn’t check it out yesterday, make sure to first read part one.

After being the first non-Coastal Carolina team to win the Big South Tournament Championship in six years, the Flames were rewarded with being picked at the top of of the BSC North in the preseason poll. The Flames tied 2013 regular season North Division Champions, Campbell, in first place votes with six.

2014 Baseball Preseason Poll

Jim Toman’s average of 37 wins per season is the best of any coach in program history.

North Division (first-place votes) Points
1. Liberty (6) – 62
2. Campbell (6) – 59
3. Radford – 51
4. High Point – 38
5. Longwood – 28
6. VMI – 14

South Division (first-place votes) Points
1. Coastal Carolina (12) – 72
2. Gardner-Webb – 56
3. Charleston Southern – 45
4. Winthrop – 34
5. Presbyterian – 26
6. UNC Asheville – 19

Despite being picked as the BSC North favorites, a 2014 repeat will not be easy. Remember, the Flames were only a 5 seed in last year’s Big South Tournament after going 13-10 in the conference, and four of their five tournament wins were by one run. As is the usual in recent years, the Big South should again be very competitive.

Liberty’s Ashton Perritt was also picked to be runner up for Big South Player of the Year to CSU’s Bobby Ison.

Schedule

Big South: Liberty will take on all of the North Division and half of the South in conference play, all in three game series. They’ll get their two toughest foes both at home, Campbell in the BSC home opener, and Coastal in the final home series.

Liberty will also play host to UNC Asheville, VMI, and High Point, while making the trips to Presbyterian, Longwood, Gardner Webb, and Radford. The Flames will not square off against Winthrop or Charleston Southern.

Non-Conference: The Flames begin the season by going to Jacksonville, Cary, and Wilmington for various tournaments and events before hosting Ball State and Rider in the Liberty Invitational.

Liberty will be playing many of their Commonwealth non-conference foes: JMU, Richmond, ODU, Virginia Tech, and UVA. They have not shied away from scheduling tough non-conference games. This year’s slate includes four ACC teams, and the preseason Baseball America #1 team (Virginia).

Check out the entire schedule here.