Horn and Horton Named to the 2023 ASUN All-Conference Team

ASUN Baseball All-Conference Honors & Awards

Liberty pitcher Garrett Horn and first baseman Brayden Horn were selected to the 2023 ASUN All-Conference team, the conference announced this afternoon.

Horn was voted to the all-conference second team, while Horton was named to the all-conference third team and also was selected to the 2023 ASUN All-Freshman team. Outfielder Kane Kepley joined Horton on the all-freshman team.

The teams are selected by the ASUN Conference head coaches.

For the second straight year, Horn earns ASUN All-Conference second team honors. The sophomore enters the week with a 5-4 record with a 3.44 ERA over 65 1/3 innings. In 14 starts, the left-hander has struck out a team-high 86 and walked 42. He has held opponents to a .209 batting average.

The Kernersville, N.C., native enters this week's ASUN Baseball Championship leading the conference by averaging 11.85 strikeouts per nine innings. Horn is fifth in the ASUN in ERA. The left-hander is also fourth in the conference in strikeouts and opponent batting average. This season, Horn is striking out 29% of the batters he has faced.

In his first season, Horton was selected to the ASUN All-Conference third team and also earns all-freshman team honors. The first baseman leads the Liberty with a .342 batting average with 36 RBI and 38 runs scored in 44 games this season. He has 11 doubles and a triple and hit six home runs. He has walked 38 times and has a team-high .482 on base percentage.

The Sayre, Pa., native is 11^th in batting average and fourth in the on base percentage in the ASUN. Horton leads the conference by walking 33 times, the most in ASUN Conference games.

Since becoming Liberty's starting first baseman on March 15, Horton has hit .345 with 36 RBI and 37 runs scored in the 39 games.

Kepley earns inclusion on the ASUN All-Freshman team. The outfielder has hit .316 with 15 RBI and 42 runs scored. He has eight doubles, two triples and a home run in 2023. He has walked a team-leading 39 times and has an on base percentage of .475.

The Salisbury, N.C., native is sixth in the ASUN in on base percentage. Kepley hit .384 in 29 ASUN Conference games, the sixth-best average in the ASUN.

On May 13, Kepley tied the program record for hits in a game with six at Eastern Kentucky. He tied Jake Hines, who also had six hits in a 15-10 win at William & Mary on April 22, 1993, for the most hits in a game by Flame in school history.

In addition, Kepley hit for the cycle in the game, hitting the first pitch of the contest over the right field wall for the first home run of his collegiate career and scoring three times.  The freshman outfielder became the first Flames player to hit for a cycle, collecting a home run, triple, double and single in that order in the contest. Outfielder Nick Paxton was the last Liberty player to hit for a cycle in a 6-4 victory over Army at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium on March 1, 2013.

The No. 3 seed Liberty Flames will face the No.1 seed Lipscomb Bisons in Pool A play tomorrow on the opening day of the 2023 ASUN Baseball Championship at Melching Field at Conrad Park in DeLand, Fla. The first pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.