Liberty baseball begins the 2021 season this weekend with a three-game series at Campbell in Buies Creek, North Carolina. Flames head coach Scott Jackson has named his weekend rotation for the opening series.
On Friday, senior lefty Trevor DeLaite gets the nod. DeLaite is a grad transfer from Maine led the Bears with a 2.12 ERA, 7 saves, and a .185 opponent batting average in 34 innings in 2019 as he was the team’s closer. In the shortened 2020 campaign, DeLaite made just one appearance, throwing 4 innings of shutout baseball with 6 strikeouts and one hit allowed at Missouri State.
Jackson will hand the ball to Trey Gibson on Saturday. The right-handed freshman from Yorktown, Virginia, has received plenty of praise since arriving on campus. The 6’5″, 230 pound pitcher is a graduate of Grafton High School and was ranked as the top right-hander and the fourth best pitching prospect by PerfectGame in Virginia in the class of 2020.
Veteran Mason Meyer will get the start on Sunday. He has made 25 appearances and 19 starts with the Flames over the past two seasons. Last year, the lefty posted a 1-3 record with a 3.38 ERA over 21.1 innings pitched in four starts. In 2019, Liberty was 10-5 in games that Meyer started as he finished with a 6-4 record with a save and a 4.28 ERA over 80 innings while striking out 60 and walking 33.
The Flames will open the season Friday evening at 5 p.m. against the Big South preseason favorite Camels. Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. with Sunday’s game starting at 1 p.m. All three games will be televised on ESPN+.
