SPORTS
MARCH 5, 2014
W. Basketball Liberty Longwood 69 47
M. Lacrosse
Liberty Tennessee 15
5
Wrestling
Softball
SBU
Liberty
11
2
B1
W. Tennis
Liberty 4
1st in MAC Tournament
Coastal 3
Streak extended
home sweet home
Men’s track and field claims 17th straight title Emily Brown erbrown@liberty.edu
Courtney Russo | Liberty Champion
Pitchers dominate DEALING — The Flames only allowed seven runs during the four games in the Liberty University Invitational.
Flames take three of four games in Invitational against Rider and Ball St.
Tom Foote tfoote2@liberty.edu Greg Leasure gleasure@liberty.edu Liberty 13, Ball State 0 The Liberty Flames baseball team (7-6, 0-0 Big South) used a combination of small ball, timely hitting and dominant pitching to piece together a 13-0 annihilation of the Ball State Cardinals (9-3, 0-0 MAC) Saturday, March 1 in the first game of the Liberty University Invitational. The Flames combined for 15 hits from 10 different players, including six of the extra base variety, while a combination of four pitchers held the Cardinals to just four hits in the contest. The Flames wasted no time get-
ting on the board, as Ashton Perritt started the bottom of the first inning with a walk and advanced to third base after a perfectly executed hit and run by Nick Lacik, who singled through the left side of the infield. Ryan Seiz then drove home Perritt with a sacrifice fly to left field, giving the Flames an early 1-0 advantage. “It’s really nice when we can actually support our pitchers,” Seiz said. “We haven’t really been scoring early in the games. (Trey) Lambert gave us a real nice start, so we felt like we needed to get some run support for him.” That one run was all the Flames needed as Lambert shut down the Cardinals with six innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits and striking out two, improving his
See PITCHING, B3
Leah Stauffer | Liberty Champion
SWING AWAY — The Flames had little trouble scoring runs during the weekend.
After two days of competition, the Liberty men’s track and field team brought home a 17th straight Big South Indoor Track and Field Championship, while the women’s team secured second place in the meet Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. The Flames held off the second-place Campbell Fighting Camels, 161.5-137, in the smallest margin of victory in history. The streak is the longest active conference championship streak in NCAA Division I (DI) history. The team has also won every Big South indoor championship ever contested. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers beat out the Lady Flames in the women’s meet, 203-148. On the men’s side, distance runners sealed the win for Liberty in the 5,000-meter run. Senior Josh MacDonald, redshirt junior Caleb Edmonds and sophomore Jeremie Bourget all finished in the top six in the second-to-last event of the weekend and combined for 15 crucial points for the Flames. In the field, the Flames captured two individual titles and brought home several more All-Big South honors. Despite being sidelined by a knee injury for most of the season, junior Kyle Wheeler secured first place in the high jump after clearing 6-7.5 in only his second meet of the year. Wheeler leaped to his third straight indoor conference victory and became the only Flame to win three consecutive high jump titles since 2000. “(I) haven’t been over many bars this year, and it was a fun environment to get the job done,” Wheeler said. “… I was in a zone of jumping until the competition was over. I did my best to block out all of the factors. … While my body was not anywhere near peak performance, the Lord really gave me a boost and confidence to get over.”
See STREAK, B4
Highlanders overcome deficit
Anderson’s 19-point second half performance guides Radford late to spoil Liberty’s senior night, winning 87-83 Derrick Battle dbattle2@liberty.edu
With a double-digit lead midway through the second-half, the Liberty Flames (11-20, 5-11 Big South) hoped to roll into the Big South tournament with their third straight victory. However, the Radford Highlanders (20-11, 10-6 Big South) late rally spoiled six Liberty seniors’ home finale with an 87-83 victory. Throughout most of the first half, Liberty and Radford traded buckets with one another. A layup by Tomasz Gielo and a twohand slam from Smith ignited a small run for the Flames.
WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE GAME
With 4:26 remaining, Liberty had pushed their margin to five, and by halftime, they had a 4034 lead. In the first half, the Flames displayed a balanced offense, shooting 57 percent from the field and from three. Gielo ended the half with 12 points, and Marshall added eight points. Although their shots were not falling, the Highlanders stayed in the game because of their pressure defense. They forced eight turnovers during the first half, which led to easy shots for forward Javonte Green. Green dominated in the first, showing his paint presence and
W. Lacrosse vs. George Mason March 5 @ 4 p.m.
range offensively. By halftime, he led all scorers with 16 points and six rebounds. At the beginning of the second half, Anderson began to heat up offensively. In four minutes of play, he knocked down two three pointers and a jumper, which gave the Highlanders a 46-44 lead. After taking a three-point lead with 13:15 left in regulation, Liberty began to make its run. Despite struggling in the first half, guard John Caleb Sanders sparred the 16-5 run, drilling two consecutive threes. Forward Andrew Smith added an emphatic dunk during that stretch, giving Liberty a 73-61 lead.
Baseball vs. Kent State March 7 @ 3 p.m.
Radford’s high-paced offense began to click with 7:39 remaining. However, after an 0-3 start from the field, guard Ya-Ya Anderson drained three three pointers from behind the arc. Guard R.J. Price also hit a three pointer, giving the Highlanders a 77-75 lead after a 16-2 run. “(Anderson) knocked down big shots,” Head Coach Dale Layer said. “He hadn’t made any all game pretty much. … When they can get it going from the three-point line and bring it inside, that’s a pretty good combination. I thought we defended
Disc Golf Flamethrower Classic
March 8 @ 9:30 a.m.
See OVERCOME, B2
Baseball (DH) vs. Kent State Mar. 8 @ 1 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Leah Stauffer | Liberty Champion
DRIVE— Tomasz Gielo attempts to go by defender.
W. Lacrosse vs. ODU March 9 @ 1 p.m.