Stokes working wonders for Liberty heading into Big South tourney in Danville

BY CHRIS LANG
Published: May 20, 2008

LYNCHBURG — In February, Liberty baseball coach Jim Toman was convinced Clarence Nicely was the pitcher on his team most equipped to handle the pressure of being the Flames’ Friday starter.

Nicely had the experience of pitching in the Southeastern Conference while at Auburn. He had the size (6-foot-7) and stuff (solid fastball and breaking pitch) to be a No. 1 starter. But Toman quickly realized that Nicely lacked in two areas — trust and command.

Nicely underwent Tommy John surgery in October 2006 and spent the early part of the season trying to regain trust in his pitching arm. The command was shaky, the walk totals high. So Toman made a switch, taking Nicely out of the weekend rotation altogether and moving David Stokes into the Friday starter slot.
Since then, Stokes has gone from serviceable starter to dominant staff ace. Consider these numbers. In 2007, Stokes was 8-6 with a 4.82 ERA in 93 1-3 innings pitches. He struck out 61, walked 18 and allowed 114 hits.

He’s improved on nearly every one of those numbers this year. His eight victories tie him for the Big South lead, and his 2.89 ERA ranks third in the conference. He’s struck out 79 in 90 1-3 innings and walked just 14. The hits are down too — he’s only allowed 91. And he’s ready to handle the burden of being the No. 1 starter come tournament time.

“I’ve kind of enjoyed being the Friday starter for the last couple of months,” Stokes said. “It kind of gives you a boost. On the other side, there’s a lot of pressure. You obviously don’t want to lose that first game being the No. 1 guy.”

Liberty (31-24-1) will open tournament play Wednesday at 3 p.m. against either High Point, Charleston Southern or Radford, teams the Flames are a combined 8-1 against this year. The four teams relegated to today’s play-in round will have to use their top pitchers simply to advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament, giving a huge advantage to the top two seeds — Coastal Carolina and Liberty.

“You’re facing their No. 2 or 3 guy,” Stokes said. “So that gives you a little bit of confidence.”

Liberty is the host institution for the event, but that won’t give the Flames much in the way of a home-field advantage this week. LU has played just three games at Dan Daniel since 2005, all because inclement weather forced the Flames south in search of a dry field to play on.

With the Hillcats in town this week, City Stadium was unavailable. Liberty doesn’t have the locker room or practice facilities to host an eight-team tournament at Worthington Stadium, thus the move south to Danville.

“It’s definitely a pitcher’s park,” said David Giammaresi, who leads Liberty with a .356 batting average. “It’s got a huge outfield wall and big fences. It’s going to be a pitching park, but you can hit a lot of doubles.”

That’s good for Liberty, which entered last week leading Division I in the category.

The top two seeds — LU and CCU — have the most reliable pitching. Both teams feature two starters with ERAs of 3.10 or lower. VMI, which entered the season with the best three-man weekend rotation in the conference, has the pitching to compete for the title as well.

Liberty, along with VMI and Winthrop, was one of three teams in the conference to beat Coastal Carolina (43-11) this season, winning the middle game of a three-game set in Lynchburg. The Chanticleers won the Friday game in extra innings and the Sunday game by one run.

Should it come to a Saturday showdown between the Flames and Chanticleers — and Liberty has advanced to the title game in each of the past two seasons — Liberty has the confidence to compete with Coastal.

“Everybody looks at Coastal as the team to beat in the tournament,” Stokes said. “We all know we can do it.”

Big South Conference
tournament schedule
At Dan Daniel Park
Today
Radford vs. Charleston Southern, 4 p.m.
High Point vs. UNC Asheville, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 21
Coastal Carolina vs. lowest remaining seed, 11 a.m.
Liberty vs. highest remaining seed, 3 p.m.
VMI vs. Winthrop, 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 22
TBA, 11 a.m.
TBA, 3 p.m.
TBA, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 23
TBA, 11 a.m.
TBA, 3 p.m.
TBA, 7 p.m.
Saturday, May 24
Championship game, 1 p.m.
Championship game (if necessary)