Liberty receives at-large bid to NCAA Gainesville Regional

The Liberty Flames will play in an NCAA Regional for the third straight season, as Liberty received an at-large selection to the NCAA Gainesville Regional.

The Flames, 37-21, receive their second consecutive at-large selection and third in program history to an NCAA Regional.

Coach Scott Jackson’s team, the No. 3 seed in the regional, will face the No. 2 seed Oklahoma Sooners (37-20), the Big 12 Champion, in their opening round game, Friday at Condron Family Stadium, the home of the Florida Gators. The regional matchups and seeds were announced on ESPN2 earlier today. The contest will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in each of their program’s history. The Flames and Sooners will be joined in the regional by the host and No. 1 seed Gators (39-22) and No. 4 seed Central Michigan (42-17), the MAC champions.

Liberty will make its eighth appearance in an NCAA Regional. For the first time in program history, the Flames will appear in its third consecutive NCAA Regional. Last season, Liberty defeated Duke twice at the NCAA Knoxville, Tenn., Regional to play in the regional final, and in 2019 as the ASUN Champion, the Flames defeated Tennessee in its opening game at the NCAA Chapel Hill, N.C., Regional.

The Flames garnered their first at-large selection and participated in the NCAA Charlottesville, Va. Regional in 2014.

This season, Liberty tied for first place in the ASUN East Division with Kennesaw State with an 18-12 record in conference play. Led by ASUN All-Conference pitchers Joe Adametz III and Mason Fluharty, Liberty leads the ASUN and is 20th nationally with a 4.04 ERA and is 19th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings with a 10.4 average. The Flames have already set a new program record for strikeouts in a season with 599, eclipsing the previous mark of 557.

Liberty, who had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country in 2022, played nine teams this season that made the 2022 NCAA Baseball Regional fields. The Flames squared off with regional hosts Virginia Tech, Florida and North Carolina, along with Canisius, Campbell, Kennesaw State, Wake Forest, VCU and Virginia.