LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University and Liberty baseball teams will meet for a third series this season, but the stakes will be raised in the latest go-around of games.

The North Division four-seed Knights (13-34) will meet the North one-seed Flames (35-12) in an ASUN Championship quarterfinal series at Liberty Baseball Stadium. The format is best-of-three with the opener set for 6 p.m. (ET) Friday, the second contest slated for 4 p.m. Saturday and, if necessary, the third game marked for 1 p.m. Sunday. The winner advances to the four-team championship rounds.

Liberty commanded the ASUN North in the regular season, finishing with a 19-2 record against conference foes. However, one of those losses was to Bellarmine, an 8-7 setback March 27 at Knights Field that snapped a 13-game winning streak.

Liberty took two of three in that series and swept Bellarmine at home April 30-May 2. In the latter series, the Knights took one on the chin in the opener, but the final two contests were one-run games. In the finale, Bellarmine grabbed the lead in the ninth behind a two-out, three-run homer by senior second baseman Justin Rouse before Liberty countered with a walk-off, two-run homer with two outs.

While Liberty owns a 5-1 record against Bellarmine this season, the play has been competitive, with all but one game decided by four runs or less. The Flames are 22-2 at home this season and undefeated on their own turf against ASUN opponents.

Liberty is expected to compete in the postseason beyond just the ASUN Championship. Both Baseball America and D1Baseball have the Flames projected as a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament, the former in a regional hosted by Charlotte and the latter in a regional hosted by Vanderbilt.

Liberty finished the regular season first in the ASUN in slugging percentage (.454), doubles (106, next closest is 82) and triples (19) while tying for second in home runs (46) and ranking third in runs scored (301).

But offense is only part of the equation for the 35-win season: The Flames' 3.46 ERA is over 1.00 run lower than the next ASUN team, their 418 strikeouts on the mound tops the league and their 158 walks is the lowest in the conference. On top of that, Liberty leads the ASUN in fielding percentage at .985, committing only 25 errors in 47 games.

Trevor Delaite (9-1, 2.14 ERA, 68 strikeouts, 84.0 innings pitched), Dylan Cumming (3-1, 5.53, 32, 42.1) and Trey Gibson (7-4, 3.32, 70, 65.0) were Liberty's three starting pitchers against Kennesaw State in the final regular-season series. The Flames have four players hitting .318 or higher, with Aaron Anderson leading the way at .348 along with a team-high 17 doubles. Will Wagner tops the team in RBIs with 44 and Logan Mathieu is the home-run leader with 12.

Bellarmine is actually a defending conference champion, winning the GLVC Tournament title in 2019 before the 2020 iteration was canceled along with most of the rest of the season due to the pandemic. Many of the Knights are seasoned postseason players — in addition to regular GLVC Tournament trips, Bellarmine earned three straight NCAA II Tournament berths from 2017-19.

If not for missing a month due to injury, junior outfielder Matt Higgins would be listed among the ASUN's top 5 in batting average at .350. His nine home runs are tied for fourth in the league, two back of senior outfielder/designated hitter Chris Gambert, who is third in the conference with 11. Senior third baseman Josh Finerty is tied for sixth in the ASUN in doubles (13), is ninth in hits (54) and is tied for ninth in runs scored (37).

Senior right-hander Deylen Miley leads the ASUN in strikeouts with 86. He and senior right-hander Jacob Nagel are eighth (64.2) and ninth (63.2), respectively, in the conference in innings pitched. Senior right-hander Anthony Ethington leads the league in appearances (25) and, remarkably, is 12th in innings pitched (59.1) despite being a reliever.

Bellarmine's power at the plate — a staple of the team the last several years — has been maintained at the D1 level, as the Knights top the ASUN in home runs with 47. In addition to Gambert and Higgins, junior shortstop Clayton Mehlbauer has gone deep six times while Finerty and freshman first baseman Davis Crane have five long balls each.

For more coverage of Bellarmine athletics, follow us on Twitter (@BUKnights), Instagram (BUKnights) and Facebook (BUKnights).