Liberty Men’s Baseball Wins Home Opener Against North Carolina A&T 12-2

The No. 21 Liberty baseball team continued its opening-season success with a 12-2 victory against the North Carolina A&T Aggies Feb. 23 at the Liberty Baseball Stadium for its seventh consecutive home-opener victory.

In the first inning, freshman Garrett Horn welcomed the Aggies from the mound by striking out two of the first three batters, going 1-2-3 on the side. After an almost perfect first inning, Horn tore through the Aggies’ lineup, striking out five of the nine batters he faced. 

In his first-ever collegiate start, Horn struck out more than half of the batters he faced, allowed no player on base and collected the win in a dominant performance. Horn was subbed out in the middle of the third inning while the game still remained scoreless, but the Flames quickly changed that. 

Junior catcher Grey Betts started off the bats with a single, and senior infielder Steven Hill quickly brought him home when he notched his first double and his first RBI of the season with one swing. The next player to bat, senior infielder Brady Gulakowski, pushed his hit total to five with an RBI single to bring Hill home. Freshman infielder Cameron Foster continued the success for the Flames with an RBI double, pushing the score to 3-0. 

In the top of the fourth, the Flames had a few defensive hiccups, allowing the first three batters to get on base for the Aggies. With the bases loaded, the Flames managed to keep the Aggies from scoring not once but twice. The first play was a short hit to first where Flames senior first baseman Logan Mattheiu sent the ball home for the out, giving the Flames one out with the bases still loaded. In the next play, the Aggies lined out to second base, giving the Flames an easy double play to keep the score at 3-0. 

Redshirt senior Derek Orndorff led the Flames to a dominant finish. The transfer from Seton Hill University blasted a home run over the left-field wall in the fourth inning. Orndorff replicated the success two innings later by slamming a 449-foot, two-run homer. 

Orndorff said that he attributes his success on the field to work during practice.

“You can expect me to give everything I have to the guys on the field and to the fans,” Orndorff said. “I just try to take it one day at a time and focus on tomorrow.” 

The victory against the Aggies marked another impressive Flames’ performance, continuing the success the team has opened the season with. ‘We got dudes’ became team’s catchphrase when they faced Florida and the Flames have stuck with it ever since. 

After they dumped the Aggies, the Flames went on to sweep Winthrop in a three-game series Feb. 25-27. The Flames won 8-1 in each of the first two games before winning 13-2 in Sunday’s contest. Orndorff nailed home runs in both Friday’s and Saturday’s contests, bringing his slugging percentage to 1.26 prior to Sunday’s contest.

Liberty is currently ranked No. 20. Next, the Flames travel to Radford to face former Big South rival Radford March 1. The Flames’ next home series is March 4-6 against Canisius. 

Palsgrove is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter