CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team dropped the second game of its weekend series as the Liberty Flames took an 8-0 win at the PC Baseball Complex.
PC moves to 10-17-1 and 3-5 in the Big South Conference while Liberty improves 20-7 and 7-1. The two teams meet in the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Five different Blue Hose picked up a hit on the day. Chandler Knox (Columbia, S.C.) took the loss to move to 4-3.
Liberty's Ryan Seiz went 2-for-5 on the day with three RBI to lead all players. Carson Herndon (4-1) earned the win with six innings of two-hit ball.
Billy Motroni (Goose Creek, S.C.) made a dazzling play early, falling over the fence in foul territory for the day's first out. Liberty would respond quickly by drawing first blood on the third batter of the game. With a runner on, second baseman Ryan Seiz lifted a home run over the right field fence to give the Flames a 2-0 lead.
PC's defense continued its strong start in the second as Michael Trebendis (Fayetteville, Ga.) ended the inning by turning a 4-3 double play to strand a runner in scoring position.
A fielding error in the field added a run to Liberty's total before another Liberty home run in the top of the sixth—a solo shot from Alex Close that curled just fair—extended the Flames' lead to 3-0.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Hose put the first two runners at second and third with a Derek Long (Alpharetta, Ga.) walk and a Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) double to right center. Liberty then took a lengthy mound meeting and struck the next two out before Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) took a four-pitch walk to load the bases. The Flames were able to escape the inning unscathed, however, getting a strikeout to end the frame.
Four straight Liberty hits—including by an RBI bunt down the first base line—added another run to the Flames' tally to start the seventh. Seiz stepped the batter's box with the bases loaded and a wild pitch scored Liberty's sixth run before new pitcher Hayden Deal (Newton, N.C.) struck out the slugger for the inning's first out. A 4-3 RBI groundout made it 7-0 Liberty and a pop fly ended the inning.
Weston Jackson (Greer, S.C.) entered the game in left field and immediately impressed on defense, making a diving catch for an out.
The Flames tacked on their final run with a Seiz RBI double to make the score 8-0.
Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.) secured the ninth inning's three outs and struck out one.
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Liberty............. 200 011 301 - 8 13 0 (20-7, 7-1 BSC)
Presbyterian College 000 000 000 - 0 5 2 (10-17-1, 3-5 BSC)
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Pitchers: Liberty - HERNDON, Carson; LYONS, Jared(7); STAFFORD, Michael(8); BLAYLOCK, Nate(9)
and GRAUER, Danny. Presbyterian College - KNOX, Chandler; DEAL, Hayden(7); HAYES, Trey(8);
WORTKOETTER, Ethan(9) and LONG, Derek.
Win-HERNDON, Carson(4-1) Loss-KNOX, Chandler(4-3) T-2:19 A-221
HR LIBERTY - SEIZ, Ryan (6); CLOSE, Alex (3).
Weather: High 60s, rain threat, 15 WSW
KNOX, C. faced 2 batters in the 7th.
HAYES, T. faced 3 batters in the 9th.
