Tuesday, March 16, 2010

LU Weekly Sports Review 03/16

We're back again with a look at teh week that was in LU Sports:

Baseball

LU took two of three from Big East member St Johns winning 9-1 and 12-9 before falling in the finale 7-6 on Sunday. On Friday the Flames were led by freshman Josh Richardson who finished 2-4 with three runs scored. Tyler Bream went 1-3 and drove in one and Shawn Teufel remained unbeaten on the 2010 season as he went six innings allowing four hits and striking out five. Saturday was teh PJ Jimenez show as the senior transfer from CA went 4-5 with three runs scored. Tyler Bream went 2-4 with three RBIs and Curran Redal and Trey Wimmer hit home runs to back Keegan Linza who also remained unbeaten on the year as he went 6 1/3 innings allowing six hits and four runs (only one earned) while striking out 6 although he did not factor in the decision. CHris Roach, a junio college transfer from NJ, pitched 1 2/3 innings to pick up his first victory of the season in relief. On Sunday the Red Storm were able to salvage a win in the last game of the series by rallying from down three to force extra innings and pushed one across in the 11th to pick up a 7-6 win. Curran Redal and Tyler Bream both went 3-6 for the Flames and Steven Evans had another fine start going seven innings allowing two runs on three hits and striking out four, but the bullpen could not hold the lead as the loss went to Dane Beakler, coming back after a year off from an injury. LU's record fell to 11-2 on the year with the loss while St Johns improved to 8-5. LU has a couple midweek contests with JMU and Duke before returning to the friendly confines of Worthington Stadium for a three game set with Manhattan.

Softball
the Lady Flames took a trip to Alabama after a successful weekend in GA to face the #10 Crimson Tide, 2009 Women's College World Series participant. The bats came alive early as they dropped a five spot in the second inning, thanks to a grand slam by Ashley Bensinger. The Tide rallied, scoring six runs in their half to tie the game, and then took the lead for good following a storm delay with three runs in the fifth inning and held on for a 10-7 win. Danielle Howard went 2-3 for the Flames, launching a home run of her own while Kelly Strickland extended her hit streak to six games with a home run. Tiffani Smith took the loss.

Then it was off to Tennessee where the Flames would take on Tennessee Tech before heading to Rocky Top for the Tennessee Spring Classic where they would face CAmpbell, Tennessee Tech and the 19th ranked Lady Vols. They got off to a good start as they picked up their first win over Tennessee Tech by a score of 6-2 Kelly Strickland went 2-2, and Cassie Hendrix went 2-3 with a home run to back freshman hurler Katie Warrington and junior Tiffani Smith, who got teh win going 3 2/3 allwoing one hit and striking out seven. After their first matchup with Tennessee was cancelled due to heavy rains in the area, teh Lady Flames picked up another win over teh Golden Eagles, this time by a 4-1 score. Jenny Law stepped up and led the way for teh victors, going 2-3 with a double, while Kelly Strickland added another home run and Smith picked up her second win in as many games, this time going four innings while allowing one hit and striking out seven.

Next up was the Campbell Camels, former Big South foe and teh Camels were able to jump out early with four runs in the second inning and four more in the sixth on the way to a 10-4 win. Kelly Strickland upped her hit streak to nine games with a home run and senior J'nae Jefferson also went deep for Liberty. Freshman Katrina Johnson took the loss. The ladies rebounded and took their third straight over Tennessee Tech, once again by a 6-2 score. Kelly Strickland upped her streak to ten straight games with a hit while Katie Warrington earned her fourth win in the circle. Finally the Flames got their chance to face teh Lady VOls and they showed why they were the 19th ranked team in the country as Ivy Renfroe went four no hit innings and the VOls won by a score of 10-0. J'nae Jefferson and Amber DePasquale had hits for the Lady Flames while Kelly Strickland went 0-2 to end her streak at ten games. Tiffani Smith took the loss in the circle. The ladies conclude their spring break run with a doubleheader today against East Tennessee State before jumping into Big South Conference play against Radford.


Track

The indoor season came to a close for the Flames and LAdy Flames as Sam Chelanga and Jaime Watson represented Liberty at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, AR. Chelanga finished second in the 5000 while Watson, making her first trip as a senior, finished eighth in the 800 meters. The rest of the team headed off to Conway, SC to kick off the outdoor season at rival Coastal Carolina. The Flames and Lady Flames had event winners on the weekend, as Ryan Smith won the shot put in dominating fashion, Kevin Reddington won the long jump, and Evans Kigen took the 3000 meter steeplechase. On the women's side, Alyssa Pegues sprinted (literally) to a victory in the 100 meters. Liberty is next in action this weekend as tehy stay in Conway for the Shamrock Invitational, also hosted by Coastal Carolina


Tennis and Golf
The Liberty mens and women's tennis teams both saw success down in Orlando, FL this past week as teh men won three matches over Fairfield, Northern Illinois and SOuthern Illinois-Edwardsville, while the women lost their first match to Fairfield but logged a win over the Lady Huskies of Connecticut. Chad Simpson was also honored by the Big South Conference as CO-Men's Tennis player of the week for his success in FL. Both teams will be in action this weekend as they conclude spring break with a trip to Clinton, SC to match up with the Blue Hose of Presbyterian.

The Liberty golf team continued its success as they took fourth place at the Palmetto Invitational hosted by USC Aiken last week. Sophomore RObert Karlsson led the way as he finished runner up in the individual competition. The Flames are in Florida this week for the Rio Pinar Invitational hosted by Central Florida.

Lacrosse

Finally this week, the Lady Flames lacrosse team was back in action as they headed to Jacksonville to face the Blackbirds of Long Island University (no that is not a misprint). Freshman Lauren See had a hat trick and keeper Rebekah Leutters had 11 saves but it wasnt enough as LIU jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back as they defeated Liberty 19-9. The ladies will remain in Jacksonville and face National Lacrosse Conference foe Jacksonville on Thursday.

That's it for a crazy busy week in LU sports...until next time,

Fan the Flames

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