Liberty (35-12 overall, 19-2 ASUN) has finished its regular season and now begins preparation for the 2021 ASUN Tournament title where the Flames are defending champs, having won the crown in the program’s first season in the conference in 2019.
The Flames, the No. 1 seed in the North Division, welcomes in the No. 4 seed in the North Division Bellarmine (13-34, 8-16) for a best of three series in the ASUN Quarterfinal round. All three games, if needed, will be played at Liberty Baseball Stadium. First pitch Friday is scheduled for 6 pm while Saturday’s contest is scheduled for 4 pm. The if necessary game on Sunday would start at 1 pm.
The winner of this weekend’s series in Lynchburg will advance to the final four of the ASUN Baseball Tournament where the remaining teams will compete in a double elimination tournament which will be played Thursday, May 27-29 at North Florida. The other three quarterfinal series this weekend feature #2N Kennesaw State hosting #3N Lipscomb, #1S FGCU hosting #4S Jacksonville, and #2S North Florida hosting #3S Stetson.
The Flames and Knights have met six times previously this season with Liberty winning five of the games. Liberty has outscored Bellarmine in the season series by a combined score of 49-29, but that is slightly skewed with the Flames coming out on top in one contest 15-3. Three of the games were decided by just one run.
Bellarmine enters the weekend having lost four straight last week in non-conference action against Eastern Kentucky and Youngstown State. The Knights have lost 10 out of their last 11 games. Bellarmine, however, is one of only two ASUN teams to hand the Flames a loss so far this season, as the Knights were able to squeeze out a victory on their home field in Louisville, Kentucky, 8-7. That loss brought to an end a program record 13 consecutive wins for the Flames.
In the most recent meeting of the two teams, a 9-8 Liberty win on Sunday, May 2 in Lynchburg, the Flames fell behind the Knights in the top of the 9th before used a Logan Mathieu delivered a walk-off two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Following Mathieu’s bomb, Bellarmine appealed the call arguing that the Liberty first baseman didn’t touch first base on his home run trot. They lost the appeal and then asked for an official review, which they also lost.
Liberty is expected to throw out left-hander Trevor DeLaite as the starting pitcher Friday night to begin the series. He has been named the ASUN pitcher of the week each of the last two weeks, as he’s pitched a complete game the last two Fridays. The senior allowed one run on four hits over nine innings to pitch his ASUN leading fourth complete game of the season. DeLaite leads the ASUN in wins with a 9-1 record and he is second in the league with a 2.14 ERA. In two appearances against the Knights this season, DeLaite is 2-0 and has pitched 12 innings while allowing eight hits and three runs.
