Liberty baseball picked up a big win for its resume on Tuesday night at Liberty Baseball Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia as the Flames defeated No. 12 Virginia Tech, 8-2. With the win, Liberty improves to 21-8 overall and has a 4-1 mark against ACC opponents while the Hokies fall to 19-10 on the season. The Flames are also 14-0 at home this season and have won 16 consecutive home contests.
Dylan Cumming was handed the ball to start the game for the first time as a Liberty Flame and he did not disappoint. The Chicago State transfer picked up the win, his first decision with the Flames, as he pitched 6 innings while allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. He began the 7th inning on the mind after only allowing 1 hit and pitching a shutout through the first 6 frames before the Hokies began to find their rhythm against the right hander.
Cumming entered the game with an 11.45 ERA and had not pitched since March 30th against Duke in Durham, North Carolina. He had just three previous appearances this season as he had pitched 11 innings and allowed 14 runs.
Left hander Fraser Ellard came on in relief of Cumming in the 7th inning, entering with the bases loaded, and was able to get out of the jam as the Hokies only scraped two runs across in the frame. Ellard pitched 3 innings of shutout baseball while allowing only 1 hit as he picked up his third save of the year.
Liberty got on the board first when first baseman Logan Mathieu hit his third home run in four days over the right field wall in the bottom of the third. The Flames would add another run in the fourth and broke things open in the fifth inning with five runs. Mathieu came through again that inning with a two-run double as the lead ballooned to 7-0. After Virginia Tech scored two runs in the 7th, Liberty added a run in the 8th inning on a Will Wagner single that scored Gray Betts.
The Flames return to action this weekend on the road in Florence, Alabama against the North Alabama Lions. UNA is currently 4-26 on the season with a 3-9 mark in the ASUN. Liberty swept the Lions in Lynchburg March 12-14 by a combined score of 17-0 in the three game series.
