Liberty clinched the regular season Big South Conference Championship this past week in their game 1 win over Coastal, beating the Chanticleers 7-1. The Flames were led by a four hit performance from Nick Lacik who has struggled a bit at the plate lately. Liberty would go on to sweep Coastal, winning games two and three, 4-3 and 2-1 respectively. Believe it or not, the game 1 win marked the first time we’ve beaten Coastal in the regular season since 2008. The sweep put the conference win streak at 20 games, which is a school record.
Unfortunately Liberty’s regional hopes took a hard hit this week in the midweek matchup. The Flames lost to Elon on Tuesday after winning their first matchup against the Phoenix back on March 11, 4-2. Elon is currently ranked 145th in RPI, which is the Flames lowest ranked RPI loss since losing to Ohio on Feb 23. 6 different pitchers took the mound for the Flames in an effort to get the staff some experience while replacing a sore Jared Lyons. Ultimately the experience could pay off, but in the short-term it cost the Flames a game that they probably shouldn’t lose.
The FlameTrain desperately needed to prove itself outside of Big South play, and after back-to-back midweek losses, hosting a regional is probably a long shot at best.
As of now it looks like the Flames will probably end up with a two seed in a regional. Liberty is currently ranked in the top 25 of all four recognized polls and are slotted as high as 21 (Baseball America). Their RPI ranking is 22nd.
One interesting lineup swap this week was Clay Keranen, who was the starting shortstop at the beginning of the season, in place of a struggling Dylan Allen at third base for game 3 of the Coastal series as well as the Elon game. Keranen seemed to help fill a void at the plate by recording three hits in those two games, but a costly error against Elon may put Clay back on the outside of the lineup. It will be interesting to see how things shake out between Allen and Keranen as the Flames look for an infielder to step up at the plate going into tournament play.
Player of the Week: Ashton Perritt
He’s not a half bad closer either.
The preseason runner up for Big South Conference MVP has finally been able to get things going at the plate after struggling for much of the season. The rangy center fielder recorded a four hit game against Elon that also included a home run. He has seemed much more comfortable at the plate lately, and I expect that he’ll have a productive postseason, as he was able to thrive in postseason play last year.
If Perritt can keep things up, the Flames will have a dangerous lineup heading into the Big South tournament.
Upcoming:
May 16 2:00 Radford
May 16 6:00 Radford
May 17 2:00 Radford
May 20-24 Big South Conference Tournament
Currently 91st in RPI, the Highlanders could be a tough matchup for the Flames who don’t have a lot to play for. It will be important for Liberty to head into the postseason on a high note, so I’d be surprised if the Flames show any lack of intensity.
