Baseball opens three-game series with Liberty on Friday
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bryant | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 2 |
|
Liberty | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bryant | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
|
Liberty | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bryant | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
|
Liberty | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 4 | 0 |
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team continues its 22-game road trip this weekend with a three-game series against Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The series begins on Friday afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. first pitch.
LINKS
Listen: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Stats: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
SERIES HISTORY
Bryant and Liberty will be playing for the fifth time when Friday's first pitch is thrown. The Bulldogs and Flames first met during the midweek in 2012 before playing a three-game series in Lynchburg in 2015. Bryant won the first meeting, 6-2, behind home runs from Jordan Mountford and Jonathan Scott, but Liberty swept the three-game set in 2015. That weekend, the weather was in the high 20s, low 30s for the entire season. The weather is expected to be in the mid 40s, low 50s this weekend.
BULLDOGS TOP FLAMES ON MARCH 13, 2012
Freshman Jordan Mountford hit his first-career home run in second and sophomore Jonathan Scott's first-career home run in the eighth provided insurance as the Bulldogs defeated the Flames, 6-2, back in 2012. Liberty entered the game with a 16-2 record but senior Brian O'Neill quieted the Flame bats with 5 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. Junior Jonathan Cohen earned the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and classmate Sal Lisanti closed the door with two innings of scoreless relief.
NOTES AND NOTABLES FOR LIBERTY
Bryant enters the weekend having lost its last five games by a combined score of 60-28. It is the first time the Bulldogs have lost five straight since losing six-straight to open the 2015 season.
The Bulldogs also struggled defensively in their three-game series against Arkansas, committing 14 combined errors. Bryant set a program record with six last Saturday before matching it with six more on Sunday.
Offensively, the Black and Gold are averaging 7.1 runs per game, which ranks among the top 70 in the country. The Bulldogs also rank in the top 25 in home runs per game (1.43, 23rd).
Friday will start a stretch of 15-straight games that the Bulldogs will play on artificial turf.
Freshman Chris Wright (Cumberland, R.I.) was named the NEC Rookie of the Week after hitting a pair of home runs against Arkansas over the weekend. Wright is hitting .381 with two doubles, two home runs, five RBI and a .500 OBP in his first seven college games.
Senior Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) leads the Bulldogs with nine runs scored this season and has now scored 128 runs in his career. He's now fifth in Division I program history, two shy of fourth place (John Mullen).
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
Liberty enters the weekend series with a 5-3 record after earning a 1-0, extra-inning victory over Elon on Tuesday. The Flames opened the season against nationally-ranked Virginia and have posted a victory over SEC-member Kentucky. Liberty is hitting just .244 as a team and is averaging just 4.5 runs per game. Sammy Taormina is hitting .500 (15-30) with four doubles, two home runs and five RBI to lead the offense. D.J. Artis, a freshman All-American last season, has five doubles and six runs scored.
On the mound, the Flames will make a change on Friday as Evan Mitchell will get the ball. He is 1-0 with 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Caleb Evans will pitch Saturday and Jackson Bertsch will go Sunday. The Flames have posted a 3.30 team ERA.