Liberty Baseball Sweeps FGCU
The Liberty Flames baseball team won its three-game series against conference opponent Florida Gulf Coast, following a stretch in which the Flames lost six of nine.
Liberty started the season off hot, going 11-1 over its first 12 games with wins over top-25 opponents Florida and North Carolina, before dropping nine of 15 to fall out of the top-25.
The Flames bounced back starting in the series opener against Florida Gulf Coast, winning 11-3 and scoring double-digit runs for the first time since March 19.
Senior outfielder Derek Orndorff led the offense, going 3-4 with two RBIs before hitting 2-4 Saturday to bring his batting average up to a sizzling .359.
“I think last year taught me a lot about myself, about my game and as a hitter, and I was able to take what I learned at the Division II level and just continue to build on that,” Orndorff said.
Orndorff transferred from Seton Hill University, and in his first season with the team, he leads the Flames in home runs with 12.
While the offense led the way scoring 11 runs, the Flames also got contributions from their pitching staff, particularly freshman starting pitcher Garrett Horn.
Horn tossed over five innings, allowing just two runs and striking out nine batters, bringing his season ERA to 1.65.
Horn started the season coming out of the bullpen, and after impressing to the tune of just two earned runs allowed in 17 innings, he became the Flames’ Friday night starter.
“It’s great to come in and get some innings as a reliever, and you come in and throw on Friday night, but it’s just the same thing as being a reliever, you don’t really change anything,” Horn said.
The Flames continued their strong play into Saturday, defeating Florida Gulf Coast 8-3 thanks to masterful starting pitching from Dylan Cumming.
Cumming tossed eight innings, allowing just one earned run en route to his second win of the season.
The Flames completed the series sweep April 10 when they defeated the Eagles 8-2.
The Flames are now in new territory, dropping five ASUN conference games after only losing two during the 2021 season.
The Flames hope to continue the momentum found in the series win over Florida Gulf Coast after cooling off from its hot start to the season.
“I think the biggest thing is just continuing to come together as a team, believe in one another, believe that we have the talent and the ability to do it, just focus on it one day at a time. Today, we tried to go 1-0, and we did that,” Orndorff said.
The Flames have a midweek game April 12 against ACC opponent Virginia Tech before traveling to face Kennesaw State in a three-game series April 14-16.
The contest against Virginia Tech will be the Flames fifth game against an ACC opponent this season, going 2-2 in their first four contests, defeating North Carolina and Duke but dropping games against Wake Forest and Virginia.
Mccusker is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter