Baseball Visits 16-3 Liberty on Wednesday

Wednesday, March 14

Lynchburg, Va.

3:00 PM

James Madison University

5-11-1

Liberty

17-3

James Madison

Liberty

3/14/2012 4:11:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

James Madison is set for its first midweek road contest on Wednesday at Liberty of the Big South Conference at 3 p.m. at Worthington Stadium in Lynchburg, Va.

JMU currently has a record of 5-10-1 after dropping all three games of its CAA series opener at UNCW this past weekend to run the current losing skid to five games. The Dukes were in two close contests in game one and two before they were out-powered by UNCW on Sunday. UNCW outscored JMU 32-17 in the three-game series.

During the five-game losing streak, freshmen threw 60 percent of the 44 innings pitched for JMU with a combined ERA of 8.20. However, the upperclassmen have been equally struggling, posting a 13.20 ERA during the five-game skid.

Liberty is off to one of the best starts in the nation at 16-3 overall and entered Tuesday tied for the national lead with 16 wins and possessing the eighth-best winning percentage in the country. Despite the hot start, the Flames are coming off back-to-back losses after dropping a 6-2 home decision against Bryant on Tuesday. The Bulldogs limited the Flames to four hits with the only two runs coming on a pinch-hit single by Michael Robertson.

Over the weekend, Liberty hosted the Red Storm of St. John's and came away with a three games to one series win. In the first three games, the Flames outscored the Red Storm by a 23-7 margin but weren't able to produce a late-inning comeback against them on Sunday. The 3-1 loss in the series finale broke the Flames nine-game winning streak.

The Flames have been led by the bat of junior infielder Bryan Aanderud who has accumulated a .388 batting average with 26 hits and 19 RBIs. As a team, Liberty is hitting .301 with five regulars hitting over .300 with at least 50 at-bats. Robertson is the leading RBI producer with a .357 average and 20 RBIs with six doubles and a home run. Andy Smith is batting .333 with a team-best three home runs.

JMU leads the all-time series 36-28 over Liberty. The two were set to meet earlier this season on February 29^th in Harrisonburg but the game was postponed to April 24 due to rain. The last meeting between the squads was a 16-12 win for JMU over the Flames in Lynchburg on April 6, 2011. Former JMU catcher Jake Lowery went 5-for-6 on the day with five RBIs and two home runs.

STARTING PITCHERS

Neither team has announced a starter for the game.