Liberty freshmen Jack DeGroat pitched his best game so far in a Liberty uniform, holding the 19th ranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to 1 run on 3 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in a complete game effort. That lone run, a home run in the bottom of the third by Coastal’s Paez, was enough to give the Chanticleers the win.
With 1 out and Dalton Britt at second base, Liberty’s Peyton Scarborough singled into left field. Britt was waved home by the third base coach and thrown out at the plate on the play. Britt was out by a mile and shouldn’t have been sent home. With 1 out in the inning there was no reason to send him unless the third base coach was 100% he was going to score. That would be the closest Liberty would come to scoring the entire game.
The game would end on a ground ball by Dalton Britt that Coastal would turn into a 3-6-1 double play, though it looks as if Britt was actually safe on the replay. There would have been runners on first and third with 2 outs had the umps gotten the call correct. It was a disappointing way to end what was a disappointing season overall for Liberty.
Liberty would finish the season at 31-28 overall. Coastal, who was already a lock for the NCAA tournament without the automatic bid, will find out where they are headed on Monday at noon on ESPNU.
Liberty’s Jack DeGroat, Will Shepherd, and Eric Grabowski were all named to the Big South Baseball All-Tournament team.
There is certainly disappointment as this tournament comes to a close, but its hard to be too disappointed after the regular season the Flames had. Based strictly on regular season success, Liberty did not deserve to be in this championship game. Finishing the regular season 1 game over .500 and 12-12 in conference is just not good enough.
While I am proud of what this team accomplished in the Big South Tournament, I am also extremely frustrated by it at the same time. What is is so frustrating after this improbable run is that we caught a glimpse of what this team could have and should have been. This team should have been fighting for a conference regular season title all year long and should have been on the fringes of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
This team had the talent to be really, really good this year and the fact that their regular season was a huge disappointment sits squarely on the shoulders of this coaching staff. There were moments this season when it looked like this team had no plan, no strategy, and no identity. It’s their job to prepare and motivate their team. Every team has moments where things don’t go their way. Every team has injuries to players that played important roles on their team. Those excuses fall flat when you see the team play as well as they did in the tournament and the last couple weeks of the season.
I certainly hope the Flames start the 2017 season like they finished the 2016 season. With young players like D.J. Artis and Jack DeGroat leading the way this team again has the potential to be very good. The question will be whether or not this coaching staff can make the most of that potential.
We will have a season wrap up in the coming weeks, taking an in depth look at the the 2016 campaign.
