Struggling LU begins key series

By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: March 27, 2008

For the first time in school history, baseball will be played under the lights at Liberty’s Worthington Stadium.
Wiring was completed Thursday for the newly installed standards ringing the field, and the lights will come on today in time for the 7 p.m. first pitch of the Flames’ Big South opener against Coastal Carolina.
The lights will be ready. But will the Flames? Liberty has lost 10 of its last 16 games after a 5-0 start and stumbles into tonight’s game against Baseball America’s 20th ranked team after a 13-0 loss at George Mason on Wednesday.
During the stretch, Liberty lost twice at home last week to Columbia, a 4-14 Ivy League team that received a mention in March 24’s Sports Illustrated because it allowed an NCAA all-divisions record 14 home runs in a 26-8 loss to Georgia Southern earlier this season.
Righting the ship against Coastal Carolina (19-5) won’t be easy. The Chanticleers’ only losses this season have come to the College of Charleston (in extra innings), Michigan, Clemson and UNC Wilmington (twice). UNCW beat Coastal Wednesday for its 17th straight victory.
The Chanticleers feature the Big South’s preseason player of the year in David Sappelt and the preseason pitcher of the year in Bobby Gagg. Coastal, which hosted an NCAA sub-regional last season in Myrtle Beach, was the unanimous pick to win the conference.
Gagg (3-1, 2.32 ERA) will likely be on the mound tonight for the Chanticleers. The crafty pitcher doesn’t overpower people. He’s struck out 20 in 31 innings and opponents are hitting .294 off him. But he doesn’t walk people (he’s allowed four), and of the 35 hits he’s allowed, only six have gone for extra bases.
Sappelt has lived up to his preseason billing, batting .351 with six home runs and 22 RBIs. He’s slugging .649 and has shown excellent plate discipline, striking out just seven times and drawing 16 walks.