Liberty continues playing strong baseball, having won 7 out of 9 games now, as the Flames take care of in-state foe VCU, 10-0 on Tuesday evening from Liberty Baseball Stadium. With the win, Liberty improves to 7-5 on the season.
The Flames utilized a strong start from pitcher Garrett Gainey and timely hitting to jump out to a big lead over the visiting Rams.
Gainey picks up his third win of the season, improving to 3-0, as he’s been the started and earned the win in each of Liberty’s midweek games so far this year. The lefty had his best outing of the season against Virginia Commonwealth. He tossed six scoreless innings while striking out eight, walking just one, and scattering three hits. 57 of his 89 pitches were strikes.
Six of Liberty’s first seven runs came with two outs as the Flames took advantage of scoring opportunities. Liberty scored those first seven runs on the night on just five hits.
The scoring for Liberty began in the third as Three Hillier had an RBI single that was followed by a two-run scoring double by Camden Troyer. All three of those runs were scored with two outs as Liberty took the early lead. The Flames would add one run in the fourth, as Jaylen Guy scored after reaching on an error, stealing second, and then being moved around the basis with sacrifice hits.
Three additional two-out runs scored in the fifth as Liberty broke the game open with a 7-0 advantage. Cole Hertzler had a two-RBI double followed by a Jaylen Guy popup to right field that found its way to the turf in foul territory. With Guy’s speed, he was able to reach third with a triple.
The Flames would add on two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth for the final margin. Camden Troyer continues to swing a hot bat. He was 3 for 4 at the plate against the Rams with two doubles, two runs scored, and two runs batted in.
Todd Hudson, Tyler Germanowski, and Cole Hertzler each pitched one inning of scoreless relief to help Gainey combine for the shutout.
Up next: Liberty heads on the road this weekend for a three-game series at East Carolina. The Pirates are currently ranked No. 12 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll. The three games from Clark-Leclair Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina this weekend have first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.
