On Wednesday, Liberty travels to Durham to face #12 Duke at Jack Coombs Field in what has become an annual home-and-home between the two squads. Over the past two years, Liberty has traveled to Duke early in the season while Duke visits Liberty later. In 2022 on the heels of Liberty sweeping Duke out of the 2021 regional in Knoxville, Liberty swept Duke by scores of 9-2 and 3-2.
In 2023 after Liberty had been swept in not pretty fashion by USM to open the season, the Flames shocked #16 Duke in Durham, 8-6. The game ended in controversial fashion when the last Duke hitter was determined to be out due to interference from running inside the 1st base hitter’s lane. The Duke coach lost his mind over the call, and he did not stop chewing on the ump’s hind quarters for 15 minutes. The games in Durham tend to be about split fairly evenly between Liberty and Duke fans. The Liberty fans in attendance loved every minute of the temper-tantrum.
OPENING WEEKEND
Liberty opened with Quinnipiac and dominated them in a 3-game sweep. Liberty shut down the good hitters for Quinnipiac and exploded for 36 runs. The Bobcats are not the toughest team on Liberty’s schedule (far from it with #1 WF and others like #12 Duke), but they are picked by some publications to win their conference and make the tournament.
Duke had a dominant weekend in the Beach Chicken tournament. Duke beat Indiana who is now ranked #23, a top 20 Beach Chicken team who is now #25, and a tough George Mason squad in a 23-5 rout.
RPI
Early season RPI is always wonky, so don’t read too much into these numbers although they seem fairly accurate for now, in my humble opinion (which RPI doesn’t ask for).
| School | RPI | Non-conf RPI | SOS | Non-conf SOS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
| Liberty | 71 | 65 | 75 | 69 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-0 |
| Duke | 9 | 7 | 23 | 20 | 1-0 | 2-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
HITTING
Liberty’s hitters had a great weekend as I’ve written about. Kane Kepley, Aidan Sweatt, and Noah Rabon are going to be problems for opposing pitchers all season long. They get on base at a very high rate, they have blazing speed, and they are aggressive on the base paths. The middle of the lineup added some power and drove in the top three. The bottom of the lineup also came through with some big games from newcomer 1B Brian McClellin, freshman C Macaddin Dye, and freshman SS Tanner Marsh.
As good as Liberty’s hitting was, Duke’s was even more prolific, at least in the power categories. Nine Duke players hit home runs. They hit 11 (!) in the George Mason game alone. Two players have three home runs, and three players have two home runs. They have 16 total home runs. I don’t know whether it was global warming or Bidenflation, but the balls were flying high down at the Baseball Almost at the Beach tournament.
PITCHING
Liberty sends LHP Nick Moran to the mound. His 2023 season was derailed by injury after five starts, but his numbers suggest he was hurting in the 4th and 5th starts. In his first three starts, he threw 16 innings giving up three total runs. He struck out 21 with no home runs. During those three starts, he had a 0.88 WHIP.
Then he ran into ECU and FGCU, both difficult matchups even when healthy. In those two games, he threw 6.2 innings giving up 13 runs with only 3 strikeouts. His WHIP blew up to 3.00. It’s hard to explain those numbers unless there was an injury.
Regardless, Moran pitched well in the spring, and I suspect Coach Jackson is sending him to the mound for midweek starts in the hopes of grabbing some wins when the ACC powerhouses are throwing bullpen games. Moran showed in his first three games last year that he can keep the ball down and out of the outfield bleachers. Considering the power that Duke displayed over the weekend, Moran will have to bring his A-game.
IMPORTANCE
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this game. Liberty has had Duke’s number the past three years. This year’s Duke team is different though. They should give the ACC powerhouses a run for their money. A loss here would not hurt Liberty much. The RPI will probably improve from #71 regardless of the outcome. Duke would pick up a nice Quad 1/2 win.
A win by Liberty, however, would prove to the world that Liberty is back. This lineup is going to hit and score. They may not be as pretty as Duke (chicks dig the long ball, remember), but this Liberty team is the grittiest in a long time. Everyone would have dirty uniforms if Liberty had a dirt infield.
Pitching will be the key here, and Liberty seems to always get it when playing Duke. Time to roll it back again.
