After losing three of their last four games and six of their next eight against ranked teams, this midweek game at Wilmington was a bigger game than it should have been. After 11 long innings, Liberty pulled out the win with a Cam Foster sacrifice fly that scored Camden Troyer from 3rd. Dylan Mathiesen went 3.2 innings to pick up the win.
NOTES
- Dylan Mathiesen came into the game in the 8th inning. Not sure what Coach Jackson’s plan was for using him, but Mathiesen was pitching so well that Jackson rode him through to the bottom of the 11th. All he did was throw 3.2 innings with 6 strike outs and no runs in a tie game. He cruised through the 8th and 9th innings. I don’t know how many innings he has thrown in workouts, but I don’t think he went 3-4 innings in the scrimmages. When he got into the deep waters of the 10th and 11th innings, he shoved back when UNCW got some runners on. Jackson has used him in high leverage situations so far this season. This will surely earn even more trust. The length of this appearance may knock him out of the weekend series against the Beach Chickens.
- Trey Carter had another outstanding performance today. Over the weekend, he didn’t strike anyone out while inducing 7 ground outs in his 3 innings. Today, he came into the game in relief of Ben Blair with runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out. He struck out the first batter he faced and then got another one of those ground balls, which was the third out after a great play by Tanner Marsh picking it and throwing it. Easton Amundson made a nice catch at 1st for the out.
- Ben Blair making his first start as a Flame went 2.1 innings with no hits, two walks, and a strike out. It will be interesting to see if he sticks in the rotation and gets stretched out to go deeper in games.
- Garrett McLaughlin pitched an inning with a hit and a couple of walks. He induced a ground ball double play along the way and eventually stranded a runner on 3rd.
- Trey Cooper relieved McLaughlin and had trouble finding the zone. He gave up a single, walked the bases loaded, and walked in the tying run. It was a rough appearance after a good one over the weekend.
- Brandon Dahlman got the next batter to line into a 6-4 double play to end the inning without any more runs. He went on to pitch a scoreless 7th inning before handing the ball off to Mathiesen.
- Talor Grubbs picked up the two pitch save. Literally two pitches. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs, he relieved Mathiesen in the middle of a 3-1 count and struck the batter out with two pitches.
- The only negative about the pitching is 10 walks. It’s hard to win giving that many free passes. Flames pitchers had trouble finding the zone last season, which led to ugly scores against them. Hopefully, it’s just early season problems.
- Tanner Marsh played against his brother Trevor Marsh. Both had good games, but in this game, Tanner pulled out the dub. Both had a hit in 3 ABs, but Tanner had one of three total runs in the game. Tanner also had 3 put outs and 4 assists in the field including two double plays.
- Kane Kepley had a more normal game for him. In 5 plate appearances, he picked up a hit and two walks with no strike outs. He still only has 1 SB this season, and it was against Quinnipiac. He hasn’t had too many game situations that were optimal for stolen base attempts, but it would be nice to see him running more than he has.
- Aidan Sweatt broke out of his mini-slump with a 2-5 game that included a double.
- Noah Rabon continued his on-base streak with a hit and the RBI that drove in Tanner Marsh for the first run. He hit a 101 mph shot that probably would have been a home run in most situations, but the 20+ mph wind knocked down all fly balls today.
- Camden Troyer matched Rabon’s on-base streak by getting on base with a walk. He scored the winning run on Cam Foster sac fly to medium depth right field in foul territory. It’s the exact same play that Troyer encountered against Duke. The difference is that the UNCW RF didn’t make an accurate throw. Troyer, on the other hand, made an accurate, strong throw to gun down the runner tagging from 3rd.
- Cam Foster continues to impress with his approach at the plate. After his first eight games last year, he had 11 Ks and 3 walks compared to 6 Ks and 8 walks this year. He is hitting the ball hard, and the hits will come. He seems to be a player that starts the season slow but ends the season red hot.
- Pitching won the day for both sides in this game. The two teams were an astounding 2 for 32 (Liberty 1-17, UNCW 1-15) with runners on base. With runners in scoring position, they were an equally astounding 1 for 21 (Liberty 1-9, UNCW 0-12). With two outs, the teams were 2 for 22. Liberty owned the advantage there with Flames hitters going 2-12 while Flames pitchers held UNCW hitless with two outs.
- It’s nice to be back in the win column, but Liberty’s hitters need to find more consistency, especially with the Beach Chickens and ECU coming up the next two weekends.
