With Jacksonville’s shocking ASUN baseball championship where they upset Liberty not once but twice on their way to winning three straight games on the campus of North Florida this weekend, the Flames now put their hopes of advancing to an NCAA Regional next weekend into the selection committee’s hands.
Just prior to this weekend’s action in Jacksonville, we broke down Liberty’s resume in comparison to other teams on the bubble. Scott Jackson’s team has a compelling argument, finishing ASUN regular season play 19-2 and winning four out of six games in the conference tournament dating back to last week’s two-game sweep at home of Bellarmine. The Flames are currently 39-14 on the season with an RPI that dropped this week to No. 37.
“I’m 100% expecting to be there next weekend,” Liberty head coach Scott Jackson said of his team making a regional following the team’s loss on Saturday to Jacksonville. “If you just look at the body of work and the things that we’ve done. We had two series that we lost all year, they were the first two (against Campbell and TCU) and we haven’t lost one since. We’ve done some remarkable things.”
“If they look at the body of work, which I think they will from start to finish, our kids should be rewarded for that. I think we’re one of the best 25, 30 teams in the country. I feel very confident the committee will look at it that way and reward us for what we’ve done.”
Liberty’s resume includes three wins over VCU, the Atlantic 10’s regular season and tournament champion, two wins over North Carolina, and wins over Wake Forest, Virginia, and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers have surged in recent weeks after struggling in the first half of the season and are a near lock to make the tournament field when it is announced Monday.
Baseball America agrees with Jackson and has Liberty included in their updated Sunday bracket projection. This projection has Jacksonville as the No. 4 seed and heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas as part of the Regional with the No. 1 overall seed Arkansas Razorbacks and has Liberty receiving an at-large as a No. 3 seed. The Flames are paired in the Greenville, North Carolina Regional where No. 13 overall seed East Carolina is the host alongside No. 2 seed NC State and No. 4 seed Norfolk State.
The Flames aren’t even listed among the last four teams in by BA, as that honor goes to Alabama, LSU, Fairfield, and Campbell. The first four out are Georgia, Louisville, Long Beach State, and Michigan while the next four out are Ball State, San Diego, Northeastern, and Florida Atlantic.
Additionally, D1Baseball updated their projections on Sunday morning, and they also have Liberty in the field as an at-large.The Flames are listed as one of the last five teams in, alongside Fairfield, UCSB, North Carolina, and LSU. The first five out in this projection are Georgia, Ball State, Kansas State, Alabama, and San Diego.
D1Baseball has the Flames pegged as a 3-seed in the Greenville, North Carolina Regional where No. 15 East Carolina would be the host in a regional that includes 2-seed NC State and 4-seed Samford.
With an RPI of 37, the Flames also own a 7-9 record against Quad 1 opponents, 7-1 in Quad 2 games, 7-1 in Quad 3 games, and 18-3 against Quad 4. The Division I NCAA Tournament field will be officially unveiled on Monday, May 31 at noon eastern on ESPN2.
