After being upset by Jacksonville, who had a surprising run to the ASUN Baseball Championship, Liberty (39-14) had to wait until Monday’s Selection Show to find out if their season would continue. The Flames were elated to hear their name called as the team was selected to join the field as an at-large. Liberty will play Duke (32-20) on Friday at noon on the ACC Network.
The wait took some time as the Flames and Blue Devils were the final two teams revealed in the bracket. The Flames are the No. 3 seed in the Knoxville Regional where Tennessee, the No. 3 national seed is the host. No. 4 seed Wright State also joins the regional where Duke is the No. 2 seed.
Liberty and Duke are no strangers to each other this season. The two teams, located just a couple hours apart, played a home and home series this season, with the Blue Devils winning both games. Duke beat Liberty, 5-4, on March 30 in Durham and 7-0 on April 20 in Lynchburg. The Flames had a lot of success against ACC opponents this year, finishing with a 5-3 record against the conference; however, the Blue Devils are the only ACC team the Flames did not defeat out of the teams Liberty faced this season.
For the first time in school history, Duke won the ACC baseball championship despite being the ninth seed in the conference tournament. The Blue Devils defeated Florida State, Miami, Virginia, and NC State to secure the title. The Blue Devils are playing their best baseball of the season now, winning 12 consecutive games entering the NCAA Tournament.
This marks Liberty’s second straight regional appearance under head coach Scott Jackson following the team’s 2019 ASUN Championship. The 2020 baseball season was canceled amid the COVID pandemic. This is Liberty’s seventh all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, having previously made the field in 1993, 1998, 2000, 2013, 2014, and 2019. The Flames were 0-2 in regional play on three occasions, including in 2014, the only previous time the Flames received an at-large selection.
Liberty is 4-12 all-time in NCAA Regionals, winning two games in the 2013 Columbia, South Carolina regional when the Flames defeated Clemson twice to advance to the regional final where Liberty would fall to South Carolina.
