Atencia signs, Baxter-Bell commits
Coach McKay signed his 2nd recruit since returning to Lynchburg when Hansel Atencia signed. The 5’10” point guard is a pass-first prospect who is originally from Colombia by way of Mountain Mission High School in Grundy, Virginia. He averaged 8.5 points, 5.2 assists, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game during his senior season. Atencia also played for the U17 Colombian national team in the 2013 South America Championships. He averaged 15.5 points, 5 assists, and 3.7 steals while earning a spot on the all-tournament team.

The Flames also picked up a commitment from Myo Baxter-Bell, a 6’4″ forward from Ohio. He averaged 14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 53% from the field during his senior season. Baxter-Bell committed while on a visit Tuesday morning. It’s still unclear if he will be on scholarship for the 2015-16 season as he is working to become academically eligible.

As always, keep an eye on our scholarship grid to see where the Flames stand with their roster and scholarship situation.

A list for Gielo
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported earlier this week that Tomasz Gielo visited Ole Miss on Wednesday. Several other schools are also involved including Kansas State, Boise State, Nevada, Marquette, BYU, Vanderbilt, and Nebraska. Gielo still has not decided if he’s returning to Liberty for his 5th and final season, or if he would spend that season elsewhere.


Ole Miss TE transfer
Coach Gill announced a transfer from Ole Miss earlier this week. Christian Morgan, a 6’4″, 255 pound tight end originally from Plano, Texas, will be transferring to Liberty. He suffered a severe knee injury that was described as career-ending in 2013 while at Ole Miss. He spent the 2014-15 season at Oklahoma State, but did not participate with the football team. Morgan will sit out the 2015 season due to NCAA transfer policies, but will be eligible to complete beginning in 2016. He attended Prestonwood Christian Academy where he had 31 receptions for 497 yards and 5 touchdowns as a senior. Morgan was ranked nationally as a top 25 tight end by numerous recruiting networks.

Ron Brown hire made official
Coach Gill makes the long rumored hire of Ron Brown official. Brown will be the Flames’ new associate head coach and wide receivers coach, and comes to Liberty from Youngstown State where he was the running backs coach under Bo Pelini. He followed Pelini to Youngstown State from Nebraska where he spent a total of 24 seasons as an assistant. Coach Gill on Brown: “I am thrilled to announce the addition of Ron Brown to our coaching staff. He will be our program’s associate head coach, as well as, our new wide receivers coach. Ron has coached over 20 years at the FBS level and is a tireless recruiter. He is passionate about his relationship with Jesus Christ and he will do a tremendous job developing our receivers.”

Seth Curry eats nails
What a great photo from former Liberty and Duke guard Seth Curry who was very nervous at the end of a recent Golden State Warriors game. Of course, Curry’s older brother Stephen stars for the Warriors.

Baseball update
The Flame Train swept Gardner-Webb last week behind dominant pitching that allowed just 2 runs in the 3 game series. Jordan Lyons got things started Friday night with a complete game, 1-hit shutout. The only hit Lyons allowed, was to the first batter of the game. He was named both Big South and ECAC pitcher of the week following his dominant performance. Shawn Clowers matched Lyons’ dominance on Sunday, pitching a complete game, 3-hit shutout. On Saturday, Nick Paxton knocked in Tray Roberts on a 1-out, ninth inning walk-off single.

Liberty had a disappointing loss on Tuesday to James Madison, 13-10, but rebounded nicely on Wednesday with a 5-0 shutout victory over East Carolina. The Flames were led by Matt Pennington who pitched 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits.

LU is off until May 6th when they host Richmond prior to a crucial 3-game series at Coastal Carolina that begins May 8th.baseball Other sports

  • The softball team was swept in a 3 game series at Winthrop last weekend, but rebounded to knock off Marshall in the regular season finale. The Lady Flames take their 12-12 conference record into next week’s Big South Tournament in Buies Creek.
  • The women’s lacrosse team are the 2 seed in the Big South Tournament, and blasted 7 seed Gardner-Webb, 21-4 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Lady Flames face 3 seed Coastal Carolina Friday night in Rock Hill. LU beat Coastal, 18-8, in their regular season meeting on April 6th in Lynchburg.

FlameFans thread of the week
UNC Asheville announced earlier this week they will pay selected athletes Full Cost of Attendance. We discuss this and the Big South as a whole which has decided all men’s and women’s basketball teams will pay FCOA in this week’s FlameFans thread of the week, Big South Allowing FCOA for Hoops.