The Liberty Flames continue to be projected into the NCAA Tournament field by both Baseball America and D1 Baseball this week as the ASUN automatic bid. The Flames are now 30-11 overall and 14-1 in conference play following the team’s three-game sweep of Bellarmine this past weekend in Lynchburg. Liberty’s RPI is at 34, up from last week’s ranking of 41.
This week, Liberty is pegged as a 3-seed in the Knoxville, Tennessee Regional by D1Baseball, hosted by No. 7 overall seed Tennessee. Other teams in this projected regional included 2-seed Virginia Tech and 4-seed Wright State.
The last five teams into the field in this projection are Oklahoma State, Georgia, Iowa, Tulane, and San Diego. The first five teams out are Maryland, Georgia Southern, Rutgers, Virginia, and Kentucky.
In Baseball America’s projected field this week, Liberty remains as a No. 3 seed and this week is projected into the Starkville, Mississippi regional. No. 5 overall seed Mississippi State would be the host of this regional along with No. 2 seed NC State and No. 4 seed Jackson State.
If Liberty were to falter in the ASUN Tournament, the Flames would be squarely on the bubble and would have to sweat out the selection show. The Flames are currently at No. 34 in RPI with a 7-5 record against Quad 1 opponents, 7-5 in Quad 2 games, 1-0 in Quad 3 games, and 15-1 against Quad 4.
The Flames return to action this weekend with a crucial series against Kennesaw State. The Flames and Owls are the top two teams in the North Division of the ASUN and will play six times over the next two weeks. This weekend’s series is the final regular season series at Liberty Baseball Stadium this season. The Owls stepped out of conference play this past weekend with a series against in-state foe Georgia Tech, winning the series 2 games to 1. Kennesaw State is 26-13 on the season two games behind the Flames with a 12-3 record in the ASUN.
