No. 1 seed in the North Division Liberty (36-12) defeated No. 4 seed Bellarmine (13-35) by a score of 5-2 on Friday night at Liberty Baseball Stadium. The win gives the Flames a 1-0 lead in the best of three ASUN Quarterfinal series.
Bellarmine was able to get on the board in the top of the first as the first two batters hit safely on ASUN Pitcher of the Year Trevor DeLaite. The Knights took a 1-0 lead before the senior lefty was able to settle in to the game. The Flames wouldn’t waste much time in getting the run back as Liberty had four hits in the bottom half of the first inning to score two runs and take the 2-1 lead.
Just one inning later, the Flames tacked on another run thanks to a couple of Bellarmine errors as Gray Betts sacrifice fly to left field scored Logan Mathieu. Mathieu reached base with two outs after his infield pop up to second base was booted.
Both pitchers settled in for the next several innings until the Flames added an insurace run in the fifth inning. Aaron Anderson had a one out double and Will Wagner followed him up with a double of his own to score the left fielder and give Liberty a 4-1 lead.
After allowing one run on hits by the first two batters of the night, DeLaite pitched five scoreless innings as he allowed his team to build a lead for the Friday night starter. That would change with two outs in the seventh inning when Josh Finerty hit a solo home run.
The final run of the night would come in the home half of the seventh inning. Will Wagner had a leadoff double and would move to third on Trey McDyre’s bunt single. Wagner would then score on Brady Gulakowski’s sacrifice fly to left field.
DeLaite would finish the night with seven innings pitched while striking out eight and allowing two runs on seven hits. Fraser Ellard would come on in relief of DeLaite to begin the eighth inning, and with major league scouts watching, the left hander was able to close out the game to pick up the save, but not without some drama in the ninth as the Knights loaded the bases with two outs before Ellard was able to retire the side.
Anderson and Wagner paced the Liberty offense in this game. They two and three hitters in the Flames’ lineup combined to hit six of nine from the plate with four doubles, four runs, and two RBIs in the Liberty win.
Game two between the Flames and the Knights is on Saturday afternoon at 4 pm as ASUN Freshman of the Year Trey Gibson is expected to get the start for the Flames. A Liberty win would clinch the series and advance the Flames to the final four of the ASUN Tournament which is to be played in Jacksonville, Florida at North Florida’s ballpark.
