Liberty Flames Baseball sweeps three-game series
Junior infielder Trey McDyre stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with only 17 at-bats on the season, and the Liberty Flames trailing by a run with no one on base.
McDyre connected with the pitch and the wind carried the ball deeper and deeper as UNF’s right fielder ran backward. McDyre watched the ball leave the ballpark to a massive ovation.
“I think I got a fastball,” McDyre said. “The pitcher was really funky. We were really struggling to hit his stuff. Once I connected I knew I hit it hard, so I took off out the box. Fortunately, I watched the right fielder run out of room.”
OUTS — Senior Tyler Galazin tags a UNF player.
This sequence started a five-run rally in the eighth inning to propel the Flames to a 6-2 win over the North Florida Ospreys Sunday, March 31.
Five of Liberty’s nine hits came in the eighth inning. Two batters after McDyre tied the game, sophomore infielder Will Wagner launched another solo shot to put the Flames ahead of the Ospreys 3-2.
“A few swings before that, I was struggling,” Wagner said. “I had to step out and take a deep breath. I knew I could do it, and sure enough I got the barrel on the bat and watched it fly over the fence.”
After that, the Flames loaded the bases and junior infielder Ben Highfill, the second pinch hitter of the inning, cleared the bases with a double.
“The bench did good giving our guys a lot of energy,” McDyre said. “It helped our guys feel confident when they were put in the game.”
The Flames completed a weekend sweep of UNF, getting consistently good performances out of their starting pitchers.
“We got four quality starts out of our pitchers this week,” Head Coach Scott Jackson said. “That’s hard to do in college baseball. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I remember that happening. We’ve done a great job of preventing opportunities.”
The starting pitcher who led the way for the Flames in their latest game was freshman southpaw Joseph Adametz. Adametz finished the game with a career-high seven strikeouts in six innings of work, allowing two runs on five hits. Adametz’s performance lowered his ERA to 3.79 in seven appearances this season.
Junior right-handed pitcher Garret Price picked up his fourth win of the season with two innings pitched and one hit allowed. Sophomore outfielder Brandon Rohrer and freshman Jaylen Guy both went 2-4 from the plate on the day.
Champion Strong — The Flames have started strong in their first season in the ASUN.
The Flames are now 5-1 in the Atlantic Sun, and an impressive 17-2 in home games this season. They have won five consecutive games since falling to NJIT March 23. Liberty’s next ASUN series takes place next weekend, April 5-7, when they travel to face the North Alabama Lions in a three-game series. They have not played the Lions yet this season.