The Liberty Flames continue to be projected into the NCAA Tournament field by both Baseball America and D1 Baseball this week as the ASUN automatic bid. The Flames concluded the regular season by winning two of three games in Kennesaw, Georgia over the Kennesaw State Owls. Liberty won five of six over the past two weeks against the second place team in the ASUN’s North Division. The Flames conclude the regular season with an overall record of 35-12 and a 19-2 record in conference play.
This week, Liberty is pegged as a 3-seed in the Nashville, Tennessee Regional by D1Baseball, hosted by No. 2 overall seed Vanderbilt. Other teams in this projected regional include 2-seed Louisville and 4-seed North Carolina Central.
The last five teams into the field in this projection are Indiana State, Tulane, Clemson, LSU, and Georgia. The first five teams out are Alabama, Virginia Tech, Air Force, Iowa, and UC Santa Barbara.
Arkansas continues to be picked as the No. 1 overall seed while other regional hosts are projected by D1Baseball to be Vanderbilt (2), Texas (3), Tennessee (4), Arizona (5), Notre Dame (6), TCU (7), Mississippi State (8), Texas Tech (9), Oregon (10), Florida (11), East Carolin (12), Ole Miss (13), Stanford (14), Gonzaga (15), and Louisiana Tech (16).
In Baseball America’s projected field this week, Liberty remains as a No. 3 seed and this week is projected into the Gastonia, North Carolina regional. No. 13 overall seed Charlotte would be the host of this regional along with No. 2 seed South Carolina and No. 4 seed VCU.
If Liberty were to falter in the ASUN Tournament, the Flames would be squarely on the bubble and would have to sweat out the selection show. Liberty’s RPI is at 32, up from last week’s ranking of 36 with a 7-9 record against Quad 1 opponents, 5-0 in Quad 2 games, 7-2 in Quad 3 games, and 16-1 against Quad 4.
With the regular season behind them, the Flames now set their eyes on securing the ASUN’s automatic berth into the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship. Liberty, the No. 1 seed in the North Division, takes on the No. 4 seed Bellarmine for a best of three series beginning Friday night at Liberty Baseball Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 6 pm.
The Flames and Knights have met six times previously this season with Liberty winning five of the games. The winner of the weekend series in Lynchburg will advance to the final four of the ASUN Baseball Tournament where the remaining teams will compete in a double elimination tournament.
