Flames to Close Out Regular Season at Winthrop
5/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
LIBERTY AT WINTHROP
May 17-19
Winthrop Ballpark
Rock Hill, S.C.
Thursday - 7 p.m.
Friday - 7 p.m.
Saturday - 2 p.m.
COMPLETE BASEBALL NOTES
Big South Network: Thurday Saturday
ESPN3: Friday
LFSN Radio Coverage: 93.3FM ESPN Radio
Live Stats: Thursday Friday Saturday
Quick Hits
• Liberty closes out its 2018 regular season schedule against the Winthrop Eagles, Thursday-Saturday at the Winthrop Ballpark. The Flames enter the weekend third in the Big South stadings, while the Eagles are currently fourth.
• Winthrop has won the last seven meetings between the two teams and holds a 48-41 edge in the all-time series.
• Liberty is 9-15 on the road in 2018.
• The Flames will host the 2018 Big South Baseball Championship at Liberty Baseball Stadium, May 22-26.
• Liberty is in their second season under Head Coach Scott Jackson. He has led the Flames to a 58-44 record during his two seasons.
Recognizing the Seniors
On Sunday, the Liberty baseball program and athletics department recognized the five seniors on the baseball roster. The five will be playing their last regular season home game at Liberty Baseball Stadium, today.
Catcher Matt Allen, second baseman Josh Barrick, pitchers Jackson Bertsch and Vinnie Tarantola, and outfielder/first baseman Andrew Yacyk were honored before Sunday's contest.
Artis Continues to Make Mark on Program History
This past weekend, junior outfielder D.J. Artis became one of only three players in Liberty history with over 200 hits, 165 runs scored and 65 stolen bases during their career.
Artis enters the week third all-time in program history with 169 runs scored and 68 stolen bases. He is one stolen base shy of tying his career single-season high for stolen bases of 23. He has swiped 23 in each of his first two seasons as a Flames. He also enters the weekend having scored 57 runs. He is one shy of his personal single season high of 58, which he reached in 2017.
The junior holds the program record with 158 career walks.
Currently, Artis has reached base in 63 straight games. The streak is the longest active streak in the nation. The last time the junior failed to reach base in a contest came on May 2, 2017 at Virginia. He did not start the game and was unable to reach base in a pinch hit appearance. In addition, Artis has reached base in 97 consecutive starts.
With his four hits at St. John's on May 5, Artis became the 21st Liberty player to amass 200 hits during his career.
Todd, Artis Among National Leaders
Tre Todd enters the week as the national leader in bases on balls with 57, while teammate D.J. Artis is 16th with 44. Todd has drawn 1.14 bases on balls per game which also tops the nation. Artis led the nation in walks last season with 62, a Liberty program record.
The Big South leader in on base percentage, Todd enters the week ninth nationally with a .504 OBP. In addition, the Deptford, N.J. native leads the conference in RBI (50) and slugging percentage (.597). He is also among the conference leaders in batting average (seventh), runs scored (fifth), triples (sixth), and home runs (fourth).
Meanwhile, Artis leads the Big South with 57 runs scored and is 12th nationally. He is tied for the Big South lead in doubles with 15 and triples with four. The outfielder is also among the conference leaders in on base percentage (fourth), triples (tied third) and stolen bases (third).
Liberty to Host Big South Baseball Championship
The Big South Conference has announced that the Liberty Baseball Stadium will host the conference's 2018 Baseball Championship. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament will be played on-campus at the 2,500-seat Liberty Baseball Stadium, May 22-26, with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
This will be the second time the ballpark will host the Big South Baseball Championship, as the first was during the facility's inaugural season of 2013. That year, Liberty won the title as the No. 5 seed to mark the first time in 21 years that the tournament's host won the crown.
The 2018 Big South Baseball Championship will have 10 games over its first three days, May 22-24, with live television coverage on the Big South Network. Game broadcasts for May 25 (anywhere from 2-4 games as needed) will be shown on ESPN3. The "Winner-Take-All" Championship Game on the final day, May 26 will air on one of the ESPN platforms.
Around the Diamond
- C Jonathan Embry has thrown out 14 runners trying to steal , this season.
- 3B Tyler Galazin has driven in a team-high 10 runs over the last 10 games.
- SS Cam Locklear has hit .389 over his last 10 games, scoring five times.
- LF Tre Todd has posted a .487 batting average when putting the ball in play, this season.
- RF Brandon Rohrer has hit .313 over his last 10 games. Rohrer had two hits and scored two runs in victory over Radford, Sunday.
- DH Ayden Karraker had two hits and scored a season-high three runs, Sunday.
- RP Vinnie Tarantola pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings at Duke, on May 8.
