Liberty to Square Off with Austin Peay in 1st ASUN Home Series of the Season

AUSTIN PEAY at LIBERTY 

March 24-26

Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium

Friday – 4 p.m.

Saturday - 2 p.m.

Sunday - 1 p.m.

COMPLETE BASEBALL NOTES

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Quick Hits

• Fresh off a 9-5 win at Old Dominion on Wednesday, the Liberty Flames will host the Austin Peay Governors in the first ASUN series of 2023 at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium this weekend. The Flames and Governors have never met on the baseball diamond. Austin Peay joined the ASUN Conference this past July.

• Liberty is 1-2 in ASUN play after opening conference action on the road at No. 20 FGCU last weekend. Austin Peay is 2-1 in conference. The Governors hosted North Florida to open ASUN play last week.

• Liberty has played only six of its first 20 games at Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium this season. The Flames enter the weekend with a 4-2 record at the facility. Liberty has posted an 84-19 (.816) at home since 2019 and is 119-40, a .748 winning percentage, at the stadium under Head Coach Scott Jackson.

• Head Coach Scott Jackson is in his seventh season at Liberty. Jackson has led the Flames to a 204-127 record and three NCAA Regional appearances, the most of any coach in program history.

Horn Amongst ASUN Leaders

• Left-hander Garrett Horn is back among the ASUN Conference leaders heading into the weekend.

• Currently, Horn is third in the ASUN with a 1.64 ERA and in five starts, Horn has allowed an average of 4.5 hits per nine innings to lead the conference.

• The sophomore is also ninth in the conference with 31 strikeouts and is second in the ASUN with an average of 12.68 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Horn was named a Freshman All-American and to the ASUN All-Conference team last season. In 13 appearances and seven starts, he went 6-1 with 80 strikeouts and 24 walks. He held opponents to a .167 batting average. He posted a 1.93 ERA over 51 1/3 innings, the best ERA of any freshman and the fifth lowest all-time in a season in program history.

Other News & Notes

• Liberty will play eight of its next 11 at home. Along with this weekend, the Flames will host Duke on Tuesday to finish out their homestand before taking to the road for an ASUN series at Lipscomb next weekend. Liberty will then host nationally ranked Virginia during the midweek and Central Arkansas for a three-game ASUN series (April 4-8).

• Pitcher Trey Carter struck out a career-high nine over five innings on Wednesday night. The outing was also the longest of his career. His previous career highs of seven strikeouts and four innings pitched came in a 2-1 win at Stetson on May 27, 2022.

• This past Friday, pitcher Cole Hertzler recorded his second save of the season in Liberty's 9-7 win over No. 20 FGCU. The right-hander did not allow a baserunner, retiring all seven batters he faced over the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out four.

• Outfielder Jaylen Guy has scored 38% of the time he has gotten on base this season and has hit .353 over his last 10 games, the highest batting average on the team over that span. Of his 12 hits, six are doubles and one is a triple.

• Gray Betts had a two-run single in the third inning and walked at Old Dominion on Wednesday. He has reached base safely in 14 consecutive games, the longest such streak by a Flame this season.

• This past Saturday, Betts became the 10th Liberty player since 2005 to play in over 200 games. The senior enters the weekend having played in 203 career games.

• Brayden Horton has started the last five games at first base. The freshman posted his first three-hit game of his career and drove in four runs in Liberty's 9-7 win at No. 20 FGCU last Friday. He also hit his first collegiate home run at FGCU on Sunday.

• Shortstop Jake Lazzaro enters the weekend with a .408 on base percentage and is tied for the team-lead with outfielders Camden Troyer and Three Hillier with 14 runs scored.

• Third baseman Cam Foster walked four times and scored a career-high four times in the Flames' 9-7 win over FGCU this past Friday.

• Hillier, the Flames’ catcher on Wednesday night, walked in the contest and has reached base safely in 13 straight games.

• Right fielder Camden Troyer leads the Flames with 14 RBI and 14 runs scored.

Featured in Main Photo: Camden Troyer