Liberty Stifles Buccaneers' Offense in 8-3 Victory

Junior Kory Morian went 2-for-4 on Saturday, earning half the Buccaneers' hits for the game.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Liberty senior David Stokes carried a perfect game through the fifth inning, going the distance in an 8-3 win for the Flames over the CSU baseball team on Saturday. Buccaneer freshman Brantly Meier broke up the no-hitter with single to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, but Stokes surrendered just three other hits and struck out 10 Bucs in the victory. Junior Kory Morian seemed to figure out Stokes in the late innings, recording two of CSU’s four hits.

Junior Andrew White made the start on the mound for the Bucs, giving up eight hits and two walks with five strikeouts over seven innings. He fell to 4-5 on the season while Stokes improved to 6-4 with the win.

The Flames opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, getting a two-run home run from senior David Giammaresi. Senior P.K. Keller kept the inning alive, drawing a two-out walk before Giammaresi’s shot over the wall in left field. Liberty (23-23, 10-6 Big South) increased its advantage to 3-0 in the top of the second inning with freshman Joseph Felley’s solo home run, the first homer of his collegiate career.

Adding on to their lead further, the Flames scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. Junior Cody Brown started things off with a one-out single up the middle, and senior Garrett Young gave the visitors two runners on by drawing a walk. Senior Aaron Grijalva followed with a two-run double to left center that brought Brown and Young around to score, putting Liberty in front 5-0.

CSU (15-26, 4-9 Big South) got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Meier led off with his pinch hit single to left field, breaking up Stokes’ no-hitter. Redshirt-freshman Mike Beattie stepped in looking to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but a Flames’ error allowed him to reach first safely and moved Meier all the way to third. With runners on the corners, freshman Taylor Black belted a ball deep to center field, giving Meier time to score on the sacrifice fly to pull the Bucs within four, 5-1.

The Flames got the run back in the top of the eighth on a solo home run to right center by Brown to make it a 6-1 ball game. It was his seventh homer of the season, tying him for the team lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, CSU mounted a two-out rally to cut it to a three-run deficit. Junior Mark Perry kept the inning alive by drawing a two-out walk and advanced to second on a single by Morian. After a wild pitch allowed Perry to move to third, freshman Steve Antolik drew a walk to load the bases full of Bucs. After popping out in the same situation two innings earlier, freshman Derek Smith came through with a double to left center that scored both Perry and Morian to make it 6-3.

That was as close as the home team could get, however, with the Flames getting two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning. Junior Errol Hollinger hit a one-out single up the middle before advancing to second on a wild pitch, putting him in position to score when Keller’s single to left field was mishandled to make it 7-3. Giammaresi then earned a walk, with the fourth ball going to the backstop to allow Keller to move to third. He then scored when Brown hit a fly ball deep enough into center field for a sacrifice fly, making him one of three Flames with two runs batted in for the game.

The teams will wrap up their three-game series with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

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