Liberty freshman Jack DeGroat pitched 7 scoreless innings giving up just one hit and striking out nine to propel the 7 seed Flames to victory 6-1 over the 2 seed High Point Panthers. With the upset Liberty will face the 3 seed Longwood Lancers tomorrow at approximately 4:30pm, as the Lancers took down the 6 seeded Wonthrop Eagles 8-6. The win marks Liberty’s first Big South Tournament opening day victory since the 2012 tournament.
Designated hitter Nick Walker hit a bomb into the trees in right field to start the scoring in the top of the third inning and the Flames never looked back. The Flames would tack on one more run in the 3rd on a Andrew Yacyk single, and then would score 4 in the eighth to seal the victory for Liberty.
The Flames got the pitching performance they needed getting 7 innings on 122 pitches from DeGroat and 2 innings of 1 run on 1 hit ball from Zander Clouse. Consistency has been the issue all season with Liberty, but if the Flames can continue to get production like this from its pitching staff they could easily make a long run in this tournament.
Coming into the tournament winning 6 of their last 7 games, the Flames looked confident and loose. Playing as the 7 seed for their first time since they’ve been in the Big South, the Flames are playing with house money and they seem to know it.
Tomorrow will be the first time Liberty and Longwood has matched up against each other this year as they did not face each other during the regular season. The game can be seen live on the Big South Network.
