For the first time ever, a 7 seed has found its way into the Big South Tournament Championship game.
Heading into the top of the 5th inning, 7th seed Liberty had an 8-0 lead over 8th seeded Radford in the Big South tournament semifinals. Radford would score 5 in that 5th inning, before eventually tying the game at 10 in the top of the 8th.
Liberty catcher Payton Scarborough hit a sacrifice fly to right field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th to give the Flames an 11-10 lead on what would prove to be the winning play.
Radford would load the bases with 2 outs in the 9th, but would come up short as Radford’s Higgerson grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.
Liberty’s Eric Grabowski (1-1) picked up the win on the mound and went 2 for 4 at the plate with 6 RBI’s, four of those RBIs coming on a grand slam in the 3rd. Dalton Britt had a great offensive day as well going 2 for 4 with a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 3rd.
Blowing an 8 run lead is always cause for concern. The Flames pitching staff simply had to throw strikes and let their defense do it’s job behind them, but continued their inconsistency walking 9 batters and almost squandering the game away. The Flames also had some tough fielding errors by normally sure-handed infielders to make things even more difficult.
Liberty’s offense has been what has carried them through this tournament run and now they find themselves a win away from a conference title.
Big South Championship Game – 12pm, ESPNU
All that stands in the way of the Flames 2nd Big South Title in 4 years and their 6th ever NCAA tournament appearance is top seeded and nationally ranked Coastal Carolina. A team that outscored Liberty 43-12 during their three game series earlier this season, and who will be attempting to win their 11th tournament championship since 2001. Liberty is 1-5 over the last two seasons against Coastal Carolina.
Regardless of the outcome in tomorrow’s Championship game, Coastal will likely be in the NCAA tournament with a 43-15 overall record and a top 15 RPI.
Liberty (31-27) has to win to get in. Their lackluster regular season leaves them with an RPI of 111, according to D1baseball.com, that is not a strong enough resume to get in without an automatic bid.
Liberty’s offense will likely have to be what propels them to victory over the Chanticleers, as their pitching has been nothing short of inconsistent. Coastal will be favored heavily in this contest and should be as they lead the conference in every major statistical category.
We will find out if Liberty is up for the challenge tomorrow at noon on ESPNU. Beating Coastal is always great, but the chance to hand them a loss in their final Big South conference game would be the icing on the cake of this improbable Big South Tournament run.
#BeatCoastal
