The Stetson Hatters come into this weekend matchup in Lynchburg at 12-8 and desperate for success after dropping three straight in a series against FGCU. The two teams facing off have had one common opponent in ranked University of Florida, with Liberty going 2-1 in the three game series and Stetson losing 1-8 in a lone matchup.
Senior outfielder Cameron Hill has been arguably the most productive hitter for Stetson thus far. Batting leadoff for the Hatters, he leads the team in hits with 29, 23 runs, and a slugging percentage of .494. Freshman 2nd baseman Yohann Dessureault has also been a bright spot in the batting order for Stetson even with less at bats for the team. With only 38 chances at the plate, he leads the team in home runs with 2, second on team in RBI’s with 12, and would lead in slugging percentage if he satisfied the statistical playing requirement with 2 at bats per game. RS Freshman 1st basemen Jake Bullard leads the team in RBI’s with 13.
The Hatters have started 7 different pitchers this year, the most often being Cole Stallings and Jonathan Gonzalez with 5 starts apiece. Stallings is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA and Gonzalez is 2-3 with a 6.14 ERA. Redshirt junior Danny Garcia has seemingly been the most successful in his 4 starts. He has pitched 26 innings and holds onto a scorching 2.08 ERA and .88 WHIP. He also leads the team in strikeouts with 35. As these three have started games the most often throughout this season I expect to see them at some point in this series. Junior Tanner Martin and sophomore Austin Amaral have been the relief pitchers that have appeared in the most games with 7 each. Each are 1-0 with a 0.96 and 3.14 ERA respectively.
3rd basemen Stephen Hill is coming off very solid offensive performance against UNF in which he went 7 for 13 in the three game series. Hill is now second on the team in batting average with .319. Brady Gulakowski has really been an important offensive piece for the Flames, racking up 7 RBI’s in the series against UNF which has him leading the team with 23 on the season. He now is also tied with Aaron Anderson for second on the team in home runs with 4. Liberty has some serious firepower with Hill, Anderson, Orndorff, and Gulakowski batting 2-5 in the lineup with Betts leading off.
Trey Gibson had a solid starting outing in an 11-5 win against UNF, allowing 5 hits and 1 run in 5 innings pitched. Mason Fluharty had a strong performance in relief for Max Alba, pitching for 3.1 innings and allowing 2 hits and 0 runs. The sophomore southpaw reliever has a record of 3-1 and leads the team in strikeouts despite being 5th on the team in number of innings pitched. In addition to this he has the lowest ERA among eligible Liberty pitchers with 1.15. He has appeared in 9 games this season, the most by any Flames pitcher and obviously has the full trust of the coaching staff.
The Stetson Hatters will be no cakewalk for Liberty as they have collected a respectable amount of wins in an up and down season. Liberty fell one place in the top 25 to number 15, and, while this team should be excited about living in the top rankings this season, I am sure they are looking for every opportunity to claw their way up even higher.
