Flames Hit Road for Coca-Cola Classic
3/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Live Stats
Game Day Central
The Games
The Liberty Flames (9-3, 0-0 Big South) travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take part in the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by Southern Miss University, March 14-15. Liberty will square off with the Cal. State Northridge Matadors (7-5, 0-0 Big West) in its opening contest on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park. On Saturday, the Flames will face host Southern Miss (7-6, 0-0 Conference USA) at 1 p.m., followed by a 4:30 p.m. contest against Cal. State Northridge.
All-Time Series Against Cal. State Northridge and Southern Miss
Liberty has never met either Cal. State Northridge or Southern Miss on the baseball
diamond.
The Last Time Out
The Flames completed a weekend series sweep of Army with a 15-7 victory Sunday.
Libety scored 10 times in the sixth inning in the win. Third baseman Cody Brown, who
entered the game in the fifth, paced the Liberty attack by going 3-for-3 with four RBIs
and scoring two runs. Second baseman Tommy Bussey also had three hits and drove
in three runs in the contest, while right fielder P.K. Keller knocked in three runs for the
Flames. Dustin Umberger ran his record to 2-1 with three innings of scoreless relief.
Earlier in the series. Liberty took both ends of a doubleheader. In the first game of the
twinbill, Aaron Phillips, Garrett Young and Doug Bream each hit home runs in a 11-5 victory.
Bream's home run, a grand slam, was the first of his career.
In the nightcap, starter David Stokes ran his mark to 3-0 with eight strong innings of
work in a 13-7 win in a game which was suspended due to darkness and completed on
Sunday. Stokes struck out a career-high 12 batters in the contest. The Flames took a
commanding lead with seven runs in the first inning.
Following the Flames
This season, the Flames Sports Network plans to broadcast 19 Liberty baseball regular-
season games. Games will air live on WWMC 90.9 FM "The Light" and on the
World Wide Web at both LibertyFlames.com and thelightonline.com.
The station plans its next broadcast for next Tuesday, when the Flames host James
Madison. The broadcast is scheduled for 3 p.m.
In addition, live stats are available for each Liberty contest through LibertyFlames.com.
A Look at the Matadors
Cal. State Northridge comes into Friday's contest with a 7-5 record. The Matadors,
a member of the Big West Conference, split a four-game home series with St. John's
this past weekend.
Pacing Cal. State Northridge at the plate in the early going is corner infielder Richard
Cates. The first baseman/third baseman has opened the season with a .476 batting
average and also leads the Matadors with 19 RBIs. Catcher John Parham is hitting .476
with 13 RBIs. As a team, Cal. State Northridge is off to a good start at the plate, hitting
.347.
On the mound, right-hander Philip Hann returns for his senior season. Last season,
Hann posted a 3.50 ERA. So far this season, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA
in three starts.
A Look at the Golden Eagles
After starting the season 6-1, Southern Miss has dropped its six of its last seven contests
and enters the weekend with a 7-6 mark.
Yesterday, Southern Miss halted a five-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory over
New Orleans. The Golden Eagles had dropped a game at then No. 2 ranked Mississippi
and a three-game series at nationally-ranked Cal. State Fullerton during the stretch.
Leading the way for Southern Miss is Preseason All-American and Brooks Wallace
Player of the Year Watch list member Trey Sutton. The three-time All-Conference USA
infielder is hitting .271 with four RBIs in the early going.
Catcher Keith Winstead currently leads the Golden Eagles in hitting with a .353 batting
average and has a team-high eight RBIs.
On the mound, starter Barry Bowden is off to a good start, posting a 2-1 record and
1.40 ERA. The senior right-hander picked up National and Conference USA Pitcher of
the Week honors after throwing a complete-game two-hit shutout at Louisiana-Lafayette
on March 3. He retired 26 of the last 27 batters he faced.
Liberty on the Road
This year, Liberty is scheduled to play 22 contests on the road, plus six on neutral
fields. Jim Toman's team's road schedule includes two tournaments. The first is in
Clearwater, Fla., which opened the season, followed by The Coca-Cola Classic in
Hattiesburg, Miss., this weekend.
The Flames are off to a good start away from Lynchburg, winning four of thier first
five road contests. Liberty took all three of its contests at the Clearwater Invitational and
a game at Norfolk State, before being edged on March 5, 5-4, at VCU. Liberty sports a
1-1 road record and a 3-0 neutral field mark.
Last season, Liberty posted a 10-15 road record, plus a 3-1 mark on a neutral field.
Flames by the Month
The Flames played five contests during the month of February in 2008, with the
inception of the common starting date for college baseball. For the first time this season,
NCAA Division I programs could not begin competition until Feb. 22. Liberty went
unbeaten during the month, posting a 5-0 mark to open the 2008 campaign
Last season, Liberty started the 2007 campaign by posting a 7-3 mark in February,
while in 2006, Liberty started 7-2. The Flames have been successful during the month
with a mark of 69-29 since 1976. It is the third-straight season the Flames have had a
strong opening month.
The Flames have started the month of March, 4-3. Liberty will play 18 contests in
the third month of the year and begin Big South Conference play during the last weekend
of the month by hosting Coastal Carolina (March 28-30). Last season, Liberty
posted a 10-9 record in March and began Big South play with a 3-3 record. Since
1978, the Flames have posted a record of 322-256-2 (.557) in the month of March.
Stokes and Nicely Pace Liberty Mound Staff
Liberty starting pitchers David Stokes and Clarence Nicely are both off to strong
starts. Stokes has not allowed an earned run in his first three starts of the 2008 campaign
and sports a 3-0 record. The senior right-hander has pitched eight innings in two
of his starts and went six frames in the other. This past weekend, he struck out a careerhigh
12 batters and did not allow a earned run in a 13-7 victory over Army.
Junior right-hander Clarence Nicely has also pitched into the sixth inning in each of
his three starts this season. Nicely has recorded a 2-0 mark with a 1.47 ERA in 18 1/3
innings of work.
Fast Start For Bream
Freshman Doug Bream has gotten off to a fast start at the plate for Liberty in his first
season of collegiate baseball. The Flame left fielder leads the Liberty with a .463 batting
average, 19 hits and 15 RBIs over the first 12 contests of the year. He has posted six
multi-hit games and four multi-RBI contests in the early going. In addition, Bream has
reached base in over 50 percent of his at bats, as he sports a .511 on base percentage.
Last Saturday, the Liberty newcomer hit his first home run in a Liberty uniform, a grand
slam, in the seventh inning of the Flames' 11-5 victory over Army.
Keller and Brown Get Rolling
Senior outfielder P. K. Keller and junior third baseman Cody Brown are off to strong
starts at the plate. Keller enters the weekend having hit in 11-straight contests, the
longest such streak for the Flames so far this season. The outfielder has recorded the
second-most hits for Liberty with 16 and has a .356 batting average, 12 RBIs and two
home runs.
Brown has hit .429 with 11 RBIs in 28 at bats this season. The junior has started five
of the last six Liberty games at third base, and in the contest he didn't start this past
Sunday, he entered the game in the fifth frame and proceeded to go 3-for-3 with four
RBIs. Over the stretch, he has hit .500 with 10 RBIs. In addition, Brown has yet to make
an error at the hot corner this season.
