Baseball Pitches Their Way To Vitory Over Virginia Tech

On another bright, sunny day in Lynchburg, Liberty prepared to face nationally-ranked Virginia Tech (No. 17) as the sun began to hide behind the mountains April 13. In a game underlining the pedigree of this Flames team, senior pitcher Dylan Cumming led Liberty to an 8-2 win over yet another ACC program. 

Through three innings of pitching, in his first start at Liberty, Cumming only surrendered one walk, with no hits and no earned runs. After struggling in a couple games of relief pitching earlier in the season, Cumming found his rhythm throughout this game, looking to keep his pitches low. 

“It’s just another example of proving to myself if I can do what I think I should be doing with my fastball,” Cumming said in the post-game press conference. “If I keep (it low), it’s a prime example that it works.”

After a strong start defensively, the Flames’ power hitter, junior first baseman Logan Mathieu, opened up the scoring for Liberty with a solo shot blast in the bottom of the third to give Liberty a 1-0 lead over the Hokies. After a scoreless fourth inning for Virginia Tech, Liberty got another run off an RBI single for junior infielder Garrett Wilkinson, which allowed senior shortstop Cam Locklear to reach home, pushing the lead to 2-0. 

Despite the early lead for Liberty, the turning point for the Flames came in the bottom of the fifth inning, with Liberty scoring five runs in an imperious performance that left the Hokies reeling. Mathieu continued his strong offensive performance of the game with his left field double that curved along the foul line but stayed fair, paving the way for senior third baseman Trey McDyre and senior outfielder Jake Wilson to reach home for the sixth and seventh runs of the game.

Through six innings, Cumming maintained his stellar performance in his first start since his time at Chicago State in March 2020. Though his fastballs are his strong suit, his ball placement kept the Hokies scoreless through six. 

Prior to this notable first start, Flames Pitching Coach Matt Williams tried to convince Coach Scott Jackson to make Cumming the starter, Jackson said, despite tough outings earlier in the season. Due to Coach Williams’ vote of confidence in Cumming, Jackson said he put him in the starting lineup – shoring up the transfer’s confidence going into the game.  

“I think they’ve always had a lot of trust in me and confidence in me,” Cumming said. “We knew what the problems were, and we needed to make some tweaks. It was just a matter of time, I felt like. I was excited for it. I was probably a little more nervous than I would’ve liked to have been, but I was amped. Just knowing they have always been confident in me feels great.”

Cumming turned in a dominant performance on the mound against the Hokies (Photo by Jessie Rogers).

Cumming began to struggle in the seventh inning. He got jammed with bases loaded, giving up four hits and two earned runs before he was pulled for senior pitcher Fraser Ellard. After the pitching change, the Flames gathered themselves, as Ellard led them out of danger with no more earned runs. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Liberty extended the lead off an RBI single by junior second baseman Will Wagner. Ellard finished the day with the pitching save, striking out five batters and giving up just one hit through three innings for the Flames and sealing a rough day for the Hokies. 

With a strong performance under Cumming’s belt, however, Jackson hopes Cumming can become a permanent key piece for the team, as it hunts for a strong finish to an already successful season.

“There’s a lot of really good things and qualities that Dylan (Cumming) has as a pitcher,” Jackson said. “He just hadn’t pitched well enough yet, and now you couple his qualities and those characteristics with the fact he has performed (well), and I think that really vaults him into an area that he’s in a good place right now. Hopefully he’s a guy we can count on to do that for us down the road.”

Liberty played a three-game weekend series against North Alabama, winning 13-5, 15-1 and 15-0.

Liberty will gear up to face Duke April 20, before Coastal Carolina for a home series April 23-25.

Kevin Gora is a Sports Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @kevgora.

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