2-seed Liberty (42-19) defeated 6-seed Stetson (27-32) on Sunday afternoon to win the ASUN Championship and clinch the automatic bid to NCAA Regional play next weekend. The Flames will advance to the program’s 6th ever NCAA Tournament and will find out the pairing on Monday at noon on ESPNU.
With the win, Liberty concluded a 5 day, 6 game run through the tournament. The Flames went 5-1 during the tournament, only losing to Jacksonville in 10 innings on Thursday night. After falling to the loser’s bracket, Liberty was forced to win 4 straight games since Friday.
After picking up the win in 6 innings of work on Wednesday against North Florida, Coach Scott Jackson again turned to Andrew McInvale who started on the mound. The redshirt-junior righty faced a bit of stress in the top half of the first inning, surrendering a 1-out single before Jacob Koos advanced to 2nd on a passed ball. The Flames would get out of the inning unscathed however as McInvale got Eric Foggo to strikeout and Noah Dickerson to ground out to short. He would settle in as he recorded a perfect 2nd inning with two strikeouts and a ground out against the defending ASUN champs.
Facing Stetson’s closer, Vlad Nunez, who made his 2nd start of the year in the championship bout, Liberty was held scoreless in the first but the bats sprung to action in the 2nd. Following two walks and a single that loaded the bases, Ben Highfill singled to left field on a hit that was just out of left fielder Mark Townsend’s reach. The ball fell to the grass, scoring Tyler Galazin and WIll Wagner as Liberty took the early lead, 2-0. After Jalen Guy bunted Brandon Rohrer and Highfill to 2nd and 3rd, respectively, leadoff hitter Gray Betts singled up the middle to bring both Rohrer and Highfill around to home as the lead ballooned to 4-0 and chased Nunez out of the game with 2 outs left in the 2nd.
On just 3 days rest, McInvale provided exactly what the Flames needed. He held Stetson scoreless through 6 innings. He got out of a big jam in the top of the 5th, allowing the first 2 runners to get on base. McInvale and the Flames were able to get out of that hole with no damage, hanging on to the 4-0 lead.
The Hatters threatened again in the 6th with a double and then single to left which put runners on the corners with 1 out. Stetson’s Austin Bogart hit a grounder to 3rd where Galazin fielded it cleanly and fired it home allowing Embry to tag Noah Dickerson out at home leaving runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. McInvale then got Mark Townsend on a grounder back to the pitcher to end the frame.
Liberty’s bats were unable to do any damage on the Stetson bullpen as Robbie Peto, who came in with 2 outs left in the 2nd inning, Ryan Stark and Austin Bogart combined for 6.1 scoreless innings to keep their team within striking distance.
Closer Evan Brabrand came out of the bullpen in relief of McInvale in the 7th and the Liberty defense gave him no help. Two errors on the inning allowed 3 runs to score to bring the Hatters within 1 at 4-3 entering the 7th inning stretch.
The top of the 7th was a strange inning as Nick Cardieri’s pop fly found some empty space in short right center field between 3 Liberty defenders. Brabrand then stumbled on a pitch that he lost control of as it bounced in the dirt before hitting Andrew MacNeil. Brabrand was then able to strike out the next two Stetson batters before a base hit to left field coupled with an error by Betts allowed two runs to score. Cam Locklear then watched a ball go between his legs for an error as the 3rd run scored.
Brabrand kept Stetson scoreless in the 8th, and he took the mound again in the 9th with Liberty clinging to a 4-3 lead. Leadoff man, Andrew MacNeil found a hole in the right side of the infield as he singled. Brabrand then struck out Jacob Koos and got Eric Foggo to fly out. Jorge Arenas singled to right field and MacNeil advanced to third base. Brabrand was able to get Noah Dickerson to ground out to end the game and set off the celebration for the Flames.
ASUN regular season Player of the Year Jonathan Embry was named Tournament MVP while Gray Betts, Cam Locklear, Andrew McInvale and Brandon Rohrer were all named to the all-tournament team.
Liberty now has 42 wins, just one off the school record 43 wins set in 2014. We will watch and see Monday where the Flames play next, as they will likely get a 3-seed in NCAA Regional play.
