LU Weekly Sports Review

We are back after a very busy last few days in Liberty Sports and here is a recap

Baseball:

The Liberty Flames baseball team equaled their best start in school history this weekend after they took three from the Delaware State Hornets by scores of 8-1, 16-0 and 10-1 in teh first series at Worthington Stadium for 2010. The Flames got going immediately on Friday as they put up a five-spot in the first inning. Tyler Bream went 1-4 with a run scored and an RBI while Curran Redal went 2-3 with 2 RBIs and Nate Thompson went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Shawn Teufel gave the flames another quality start pitching shutout ball over six innings while only allowing two hits and ringing up 8 DSU hitters. The dominance continued into Saturday as for the second consecutive game LU put 5 up in the first inning. PJ Jimenez went 2-4 with three runs scored, Tyler Bream went 1-3 and drove in four while Nate Thompson only went 1-2, but it was a big one, sending a towering home run well over Regents Parkway as the Flames rolled to a seven inning 16-0 victory. Keegan Linza ran his record to 3-0 on the year pitching six shutout innings, allowing only three hits and striking out a pair. Sunday continued the theme of fast starts as LU put up only four runs in the first inning but battered DSU starter Ryan Haas. NAte Thompson went 2-5 with another towering home run and drove in five while Michael Robertson went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI as LU went on to a 10-1 win. Amherst product Steven Evans pitched six strong innings, allowing the one DSU run while three relievers combined to shut them down the rest of the way.

The Flames welcomed the ODU Monarchs to town as they looked to set a record for the most wins to start a season in school history.

The Monarchs took control in the fifth and held on to end LU's streak at nine with a 5-3 victory. Curran Redal led the way at the plate going 2-3 with a run scored and Appomatox product Tim Dudley, making his first start for the Flames went four good innings, allowing two runs. Carter Browining was on the hook for the loss as he allowed two runs in only a third of an inning. Baseball is back in action this weekend as the Red Storm of St John's out of the Big East come to Worthington Stadium for the first time for a three game set.

Softball:

The Liberty University Lady Flames softball team had a very good weekend as they headed down to Woodstock, GA (home to First Baptist Church Woodstock and NOT the world famous music festival) for the Georgia Tech Buzz Classic, a 22-team tournament. LU opened the weekend with a dominating 11-0 win over Dartmouth. Danielle Howard went 2-2 with two RBIs while Kelly Strickland went 2-3 with a HR and three RBIs. Freshman Katie Warrington picked up her second win of the season going all five innings while striking out three.

On Saturday, LU proved that chicks not only dig the long ball, they can hit a few too as Howard and Strickland each hit a pair of home runs to back junior right hander Tiffani Smith as LU outslugged teh Kennesaw State Owls 8-5 (and giving LU its fourth straight win over KSU after the baseball team picked up three wins the previous weekend).

Later in the day, the ladies played a little small ball as they scored three runs, all in the second inning and then hung on to defeat the Akron Lady Zips 3-1 to maintain a perfect record at the tournament. Kelly Strickland, Bridgett Woods and Cassie Hendrix all had hits and Katie Warrington and Tiffani Smith made it stand up.

LU had one more game on Saturday as they faced the Rams of the University of Rhode Island and once again LU broke out the beatdown sticks as Kelly Strickland and Ashley Bensinger had doubles and Strickland also scored two runs to back freshman hurler Katrina JOhnson who picked up her first collegiate victory going all five innings allowing only two hits as the Lady Flames improved to 4-0 with an 8-0 victory.

Sunday morning the ladies got their first big test as they faced #23 Kentucky and despite a valiant effort, Big Blue was too much and they went on to a 7-0 win. Kelly Strickland went 1-3 to lead the way and Katrina JOhnson took the loss for the Lady Flames a day after getting her first collegiate win.

After a couple days to recover, the ladies took a trip down south to face the #6 Alabama Crimson Tide...the two teams slugged it out like heavyweight fighters but the Tide rallied from down 5 to pick up the 10-7 win. Ashley Bensinger went 1-3 with her first career grand slam while Kelly Strickland picked up another hit and drove in two (not abad way to celebrate being named Big South Conference Player of the Week). Tiffani Smith took the loss in the shootout and Danielle Howard added a home run as well.

The Lady Flames head off to Tennessee for spring break as they take part in the Tennessee Spring Classic in Knoxville where they will face the Lady Vols twice over the five games and then head off to face the Lady Bucs of East Tennessee State before diving into Big South play with a doubleheader against in state rival and defending champion Radford.

Lacrosse:

After falling in their first ever game to Longwood, the Liberty Lady Flames lacrosse team picked up the first win in program history in Washington DC as they knocked off Howard 17-16 in double overtime. Sophomore Kristin Crowley and Freshman Lauren See had five goals a piece and Rebekah Leutters made 10 saves. The ladies head down to teh Sunshine State for a pair of games at Jacksonville University against Long Island and Jacksonville before returning to Lynchburg for their first ever match at Osborne Stadium.


Itll be a busy spring break for LU Athletics and we'll have a rundown of all the events coming up next week.

Until next time,

Fan the Flames