Liberty Travels to James Madison, Tuesday
4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
JAMES MADISON vs. LIBERTY
April 11
Veterans Memorial Park
Harrisonburg, Va.
Liberty vs. James Madison – 6 p.m.
COMPLETE BASEBALL NOTES
LFSN Radio Coverage:
93.3FM/1320AM WVGM ESPN Radio
Live Stats: Tuesday
Quick Facts
The Flames will cap off a four-game road swing at James Madison, Tuesday. Liberty opened the trip by sweeping a three-game Big South series at Radford, this past weekend to run its road mark to 7-2 in 2017.
Liberty enters the week with one of the top road records in the nation. The Flames' road record is the eighth best mark in the Division I baseball according to WarrenNolan.com.
Liberty finishes the season with 14 out of its last 24 games on the road. After meeting Winthrop at Liberty Baseball Stadium this weekend, the Flames will go on an eight-game road trip, their longest of the season. The trip will include three-game Big South series at Gardner-Webb and Longwood, along with midweek contests at nationally-ranked North Carolina and Virginia.
Walk this Way
Liberty enters the week among the national leaders in walks. The Flames have drawn 177 bases on balls and rank 11th in the nation. Liberty has recieved 5.9 walks per game.
Leading the way is outfielder D.J. Artis. Despite playing only in 27 games, Artis leads the Big South with 27 walks and is eighth in the nation with 1.00 free passes per game. For the second straight year, the outfielder leads the conference with a .485 on base percentage and is 36th nationally in the category.
First baseman Sammy Taormina is also among the Big South leaders with 21 walks.
ERA Tops The Big South
Led by the duo of right-handers Caleb Evans and Garret Price, the Flames lead the Big South Conference with a 3.25 team earned run average (ERA) and are 27th nationally. Liberty's ERA is over a run lower than Presbyterian who is next in the conference with a 4.55 ERA. The Flames also top the conference with a .245 opponent batting average.
Price and Evans are 1-2 in the conference in ERA. Price leads the Big South with a 1.16 ERA and sports a 3-0 record. The freshman ranks 17th nationally in ERA and has a 0.81 WHIP, the 15th lowest in the country. Meanwhile, Evans is second in the conferene with a 1.40 ERA and ranks 27th nationally. He is tied for the conference lead in wins with a 5-2 record.
The duo is joined by right-hander Evan Mitchell in the conference's top 10 in ERA. Mitchell is seventh with a 3.13 ERA. The senior has a 4-1 mark and a .255 opponent batting average.
Since Price joined the Liberty weekend rotation two weeks ago, Evans, Mitchell and Price have combined to post a 1.04 ERA in six games to help lead the Flames to a 5-1 mark.
The Liberty bullpen has also experienced success, recording a 2.55 ERA over 123 2/3 innings.
Did You Know?
• Three former Liberty Flames will start their professional seasons at the AAA level. Ryan Cordell ( 2011-13) will begin his year with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Milwaukee Brewers' organization, Ian Parmley (2011-12) will start his season with the Buffalo Bison of the Toronto Blue Jays' organization and Matt Williams (2009-11) will begin his year with the Salt Lake Bees of the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim organization.
• Liberty has had 63 players chosen in the Major League Baseball Draft in the 43-year history of its program. The Flames have had at least one player chosen every year since 2000.
