The Liberty Flames continue to roll through the ASUN, blitzing through North Alabama over the weekend by the combined score of 43-6. On Tuesday, the Flames saw their undefeated mark at home come to an end, as Liberty fell to Duke, 7-0. The Blue Devils are the only ACC team Liberty has lost to this season, with an 0-2 mark against Duke and 5-0 against the rest of the conference.
Liberty is now 25-9 overall and 11-1 in ASUN play with an RPI of 41, down from a season high earlier this week of 33. The Flames continue to be projected in Baseball America’s NCAA Tournament field, but for the first time are selected as the ASUN automatic bid.
Over the past few weeks, the Flames have been in the mix for an at-large bid in Baseball America’s projection as Stetson was tabbed as the ASUN champion receiving the automatic bid. Liberty was originally just on the outside of the projected field, and last week the Flames moved into the projected field as one of the last four teams in.
This week, Liberty is pegged as a 3-seed in the Columbia, South Carolina Regional where No. 14 overall seed South Carolina would be the host. Others in this projected regional include 2-seed Pittsburgh and 4-seed UConn.
The last four teams into the field in this projection are San Diego, the ASUN’s Florida Gulf Coast, Louisiana, and Baylor. The first four out are Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, and Wichita State. FGCU is pegged as a 3-seed in the Nashville Regional.
The Flames are 3-3 this season against teams projected into the tournament as Liberty has already faced No. 9 overall seed TCU, No. 16 overall seed Virginia Tech, and No. 3 seed in the Greenville, North Carolina region North Carolina.
In D1Baseball’s projected field this week, Liberty remains as the ASUN automatic bid and receives a 3-seed in the Knoxville, Tennessee Regional which is hosted by the No. 8 overall seed Tennessee. Other teams in this projected regional include No. 2 seed Virginia Tech and No. 4 seed Morehead State.
D1Baseball projects Campbell into the field as the Big South automatic bid in addition to the other teams Liberty has played previously this season that are projected to make the field in Baseball America’s projection. The Flames opened the season by losing two of three games at Campbell, who is projected to be a 4-seed. Additionally D1Baseball does not have FGCU projected into the field or as part of the first five out.
Liberty returns to action this weekend at home with a three-game non-conference series against Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are 18-13 overall and 3-6 in the Sun Belt following their 6-3 win over North Carolina on Tuesday. Coastal has an RPI of 79.
