[A.G.]

Can the Flames build on the success of last year? Or will the weak out of conference slate not prepare them for the rigors of Big South play. One thing you can say about Pastors, he played a legit schedule instead of trying to pad wins.

[BJWilliams]

Jerod talked to Coach Royer yesterday and he is talkin about 40 wins.

[Sly Fox]

You have to aim high if you want to hit a lofty target. 40 wins will be a challenge with this tough schedule. The Big South alone could be a beast again this year led by Winthrop & CCU. Facing the Eagles in the opening series of league play will be a watershed weekend for the team one way or the other.

[A.G.]

Sly--I think you meant that 40 wins would be realistic with this lame schedule. Gone are regulars such as NC & Wake, along with home and home games LU used to have with UVA. Come on--Wofford (17-27) Hartford (6-30)? Rider (21-29)? Longwood (16-32)? At least Marist and GW are quality teams at our level--but you recruit talent by playing the ACC schools. The Big South schedule will be tougher than this bunch of cupcakes.

[Sly Fox]

That was my point. While non-conference doesn't pack the punch of recent years, the Big South will make 40 wins a challenge.

[Stevev]

I agree with those who show concern about the weak out of conference schedule. Considering last year's success it seems they would toughen it a little with some ACC or SEC type of teams. In the past we have competed and even beaten some of those types of teams with the win over #5 Clemson years ago the most gratifying of all time. Someone definately screwed up by putting this cupcake schedule together. As far as the Big South is concerned Winthop and Coastal are definately the class of the league and there are potentially other teams in the conference who can compete with the big boys. The conference is rated pretty good and holds there own in the tourney although I would like to see someone reach the super regionals. Right now the Big South could be tougher than the Colonial conference but we will see about that this year. Hopefully the cupcake schedule won't have an impact on our conference play due to the lack of preparation that comes with a tougher schedule.

[V88]

Just to let you know, there is a preview of the season with Matt Royer on the WRVL site. Go to www.wrvlfm.com and click on the FSN link. There is a link on the FSN page to listen to or download the audio preview.

[A.G.]

I'm a little slow, there Sly. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Coastal89]

Here are Coastal's OOC opponents, we currently face 4 of the preseason top 10. Three of them at CCU.

Campbell

Virginia

Pittsburgh

George Mason

at North Carolina #5

Virginia Commonwealth

Tennessee #9

Georgia Tech #4

Furman

West Virginia

Wake Forest

at South Alabama

Georgia Southern

at College of Charleston

Savannah State

Oregon State #8

at Wake Forest

[Coastal89]

Forgot one

Texas-Pan American

[PAmedic]

glad to see ya found us over here '89

[Ed Dantes]

Pretty sweet that CCU managed to get some top teams agree to play at their place.

I am a little disappointed in the scheduling; while 40 wins does have a nice ring to it, I think that the selection committee would look stronger at a team that has 36-38 but wins against at least one quality team to it.

And it can be done; I saw us knock off the #5 team in the nation (Wake Forest) three years ago.

Also, I'm saddened to see that we've taken North Carolina off the schedule. We used to play them once every year, switching home and away (and when we played in Lynchburg, it was at City Stadium. Very nice). Sure, we never won -- but we were always competitive.

At the very least... I hope that the easier schedule accomplishes at least this: We used to always send our ace in that midweek game, and then again on the weekend. Maybe we can give more pitching experience to the rest of our rotation.

[bigsmooth]

im disappointed that we are scheduling down, and hopefully that will not hurt us. the bottom line though is we must take care of our conference schedule, and getting past coastal and winthrop will be a bear, but if we continue to play like we did down the stretch last year, we could be in for a very good year.

[RedDog]

With that schedule, Liberty can win 40 and without winning the tournament will be left at home ... Trust me, the selection committee uses the RPI as much as JF uses the bible ... Winthrop and Coastal Carolina are the only ones that can get away with that because they have some tradition of going to the NCAA Tournament and more importantly they play a good schedule and produce the needed wins to take the pressure off of them having to win the tournament ...

I am disappointed in the schedule ... Liberty has always played all the teams in the state twice and some of the other ACC teams that were close like Wake, NC, NC State, etc. ..

[A.G.]

Anyone else think that the reason for the dummied-down schedule is to keep his job? After his first two seasons, along with all the players that came and went, he HAD to have success last year. If this schedule leads to player confidence that pays off in the conference schedule, I'm all for it. But if it results in a middle of the pack finish, that just doesn't get it done. I'll take Pastors' 30-33 win seasons with a real schedule any day over this.

[givemethemic]

Fellas before you guys go calling for Royer's head let me fill you in on a few things.... the whole ODU thing had nothing to with our scheduling it was the fact that ODU didn't want to play us anymore...Remember that there is two sides to scheduleing and just because one team wants to play a certain team doesn't mean that the other team wants to play them... Also Coach Royer said it several times that he wanted to have 30 or more home games... UVA doesn't want to come down here anymore and can you blame them with the facility that they have....This team will be very good this year and have a good chance to compete for the conference title... If the young pitching comes together then the Flames are really set... But I must say that C.C getting the Beavers to come across country to Conway is pretty impressive hmmmm I wonder if the Beach had anything to do with that...

[RedDog]

Yes, I can blame Virginia because you have to leave your pristine castle and play an away game sometime and why not play one that is very close against a good opponent ... I am not calling for his head, not even close, because he is one of our own and is doing a good job, but I would like to see more ACC's and quality teams from other conferences on the schedule to build up the RPI.

Tell me this, how much better do you think we are going to finish than 36-19? .... Last year's schedule finished 96th on the RPI ... Do you think that this year's schedule as it is will send Liberty 40 points up the RPI scale? .... Unless they crack the top 50 of the RPI, you aren't getting in the tournament unless you win the conference tournament ... Remember what I said before, the committee uses the RPI as much as Jf uses the Bible.

It looks like we could be good enough to compete for the championship ... I would just like something to fall back on if we come up short ... A little insurance ... I'm not a naysayer, just a realist.

[Hold My Own]

can I call for his head?

[bigsmooth]

if virginia or any other ACC team does not want to come here that is their deal. yes our RPI will probably suffer, but let not get crazy yet. all we have to do is win the tournament and we get the automatic bid....that is certainly not unreasonable.

[Stevev]

Right on! Lets not getting too carried away thinking negatively concerning the schedule. There are plenty of respectable teams on the schedule from the Colonial conference and others for us to prove ourselves. I am a little disappointed in the scheduling but I simply won't let it diminish my enthusiasm for the season to start.

[RedDog]

Isn't the goal to get to the tournament each year and then advance ... That's why you put a schedule together - to get you ready for conference play and the tournament ... then if you don't win it in the end, you have nothing to worry about ....

I am discussing the truth about the world of college baseball (my pulpit) just like JF does from his pulpit on Sunday mornings ...

I want nothing more than to see the program grow to a point where they are playing for regionals every year without having to rely on winning the conference tournament ... That is how you gain respectability and become a good program, not by waiting around to see if you are good enough at the end of the year to win the tournament.

Surely, Everyone should understand that, its all about excellence and if you aren't advancing you are falling behind.

I don't know whose being negative or crazy ... I get excited everytime a game is played and hope we win every game ... There is no use dissussing the facts anymore, It's almost time to play ball and hope we win the championship!!!

[SamFan]

Dog,

You may not have wanted to sound negative but it came over that way from what I read. It seems like we are moving in the right direction, so I'm not going to worry about the teams we play until proves to be a problem.

[bigsmooth]

i hear you dog...you are obviously a baseball fanatic. honestly i want LU to play better teams and we have in the past, but let's trust that coach royer has done the right thing and by tournament time we can win the whole thing and forget about the RPI thing.

[PAmedic]

I just like the fact that there seems to be a TON of passion for LU sports- trust me- it wasn't always the case. Debating in good fun on a board like this wouldn't even have been the most remote of possibilities 5 years ago.

[RedDog]

Sometimes the truth gets confused as being negative ... And for that, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to educate the Flames fan base on the world of college baseball and what it takes to get to the next level of success