Baseball

E A steal! A throw!A slide! He'ssafe! Jeff Edwards beatsthethrow tosecond during a | game against North Carolina Wesleyan - College

Baseball/107

When Liberty's athletic program goes DivisionI in1988, the baseball team won't have to do any schedule changing It's been beating top-notch competition since it went Division I back in 1983-84

But 1986 found the Flames facing theirtoughest schedule ever. They had to hithomers, steal bases, and throw strikes against Maryland,North Carolina State,James Madison,Virginia and Virginia Tech.

ButtheFlamesdidn'tflinch In the face ofsuch stiff competition, they made Liberty proud again.

Six starters and nine seniors came back, including power hitters Ken Tomlin, Jeff Edwards and Pat Sipe.Sipe started the season with a school record of 39 career home runs, a record hetook in1985from Sid Bream, a formerLUstandout now playing with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The team got off to a bad start After winning itsfirst game athome,theFlameslost