Liberty to Visit Virginia Tech, Tuesday

LIBERTY AT VIRGINIA TECH
March 15
English Field
Blacksburg, Va.
5:30 p.m.

COMPLETE BASEBALL NOTES

LFSN Radio Coverage: 93.3FM/1320AM WVGM

Live Stats (Provided by Elon): Tuesday

Quick Hits
1. Liberty enters the week with an 11-6 mark, after going 4-0 as the host of the Liberty Invitational, this past weekend. The Flames defeated Central Connecticut State and Evansville twice at the tournament.

2. Tuesday's contest will be the 63rd meeting between Liberty and Virginia Tech. The game is the first of two meetings between the two teams. The Hokies will visit Liberty Baseball Stadium on April 26

3. Liberty is scheduled to play 14 out of their 19 contests in the month of March at Liberty Baseball

Stadium. All 14 home games are weekend series. The Flames are 6-3 in so far in the month.

4. All five of Liberty's midweek contests in the month of March are road contests. The Flames are 1-4 on the road, this season.

5. After Tuesday's contest, Liberty will play seven of its next 10 games at Liberty Baseball Stadium. The Flames are 7-1 at home in 2016.

Player Notes

• OF/1B Andrew Yacyk hit his team-leading third home run of the season in the first inning, helping Liberty to build a 4-0 lead in the Flames' 5-2 win over Evansville, Sunday. He also had a single in the contest.

• RF Will Shepherd had two hits and drove in a career-high three runs for the second time, this season and the third time during his career in a 7-5 victory over Central Connecticut State (CCSU), Sunday.

• Shepherd was part of the first three batters in Liberty's batting order which combined for eight hits and reached base 11 times in Liberty's 8-5 win over the UConn Huskies, March 4 at Liberty Baseball Stadium.

• CF D.J. Artis, 2B Eric Grabowski and Shepherd combined for eight hits and three walks to reach base 11 out of 15 times in the contest. Shepherd posted his second three-hit game of 2016, tying his career-high with three RBI in the contest.

• Leadoff hitter Artis went 2-for-2 with a double, walked three times and scored twice in the win over UConn.

• The OF leads the Flames with a .371 batting average, 23 hits, 16 walks and .506 on base percentage. He is tied with Shepherd for the team lead with 15 runs scored.

• No. 2 hitter Grabowski had three hits against UConn, his first time as a Flame, March 4. One of his hits was a double, driving in a run and scoring twice.

• C Payton Scarbrough had two hits and scored twice in the contest in Liberty's 7-5 victory over CCSU, Sunday.

• Scarbrough and 1B Sammy Taormina both hit their first home run of the season, this past Tuesday at Elon.

• Scarbrough's home run was his first in a Liberty uniform and came in the second inning, while

Taormina's came as a pinch hitter in the sixth, a three-run blast.

• SS Dalton Britt has started 193 straight games. The senior, has started every Liberty contest since joining the Flames in 2012.

• Britt tied his career-high with four RBI in the Flames' 5-1 win over Central Connecticut State, Friday. Britt had four RBI in a contest for the first time in 2016 and the third time in his career. Britt had two hits, including a three-run double in the seventh.

• RHP Carson Herndon recorded saves in back-to-back games this past weekend. Herndon earned his first save of the year with a scoreless ninth in a 5-3 win over Evansville, Saturday, and got the last out with the tying run at the plate in a 7-5 win over Central Connecticut State on Sunday.

• In his second start of the season, RHP Evan Mitchell allowed just one unearned run, while limiting CCSU to five hits over the full nine innings to not only record his first victory in a Flames uniform, but his first complete game. He struck out a career-high six batters and walked one in the contest.

• RHP Shane Quarterley leads the Flames in appearances with eight. Quarterley recorded the victory with three scoreless innings of relief in a 5-3 win over Evansville, this past Saturday. The RHP then earned the save by not allowing a run over the final two innings, his third, in a 5-2 victory over Evansville on Sunday.

• RHP Thomas Simpson picked up his first win in a Liberty uniform, Sunday. The junior pitched 3 1/3 innings to record the victory in the Flames' 7-5 win over CCSU, Sunday.

• RHP Parker Bean followed Simpson with his first win of 2016 in Liberty's second game of the day, Sunday. The RHP allowed one run on two hits over six innings. He struck out seven.

• DH Nick Walker collected a career-high three RBI in Liberty's 5-4 victory over UConn, March 6.

Schedule