Baseball Game Preview: Harding Raiders vs. Liberty Leopards

The Harding Raiders will head out to square off against the Liberty Leopards at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Harding will be strutting in after a win while Liberty will be coming in after a loss.

Harding will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Boardman, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Raiders had just enough and edged out the Spartans 2-0. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Raiders have posted against the Spartans since May 1, 2019.

Gummy Hart made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run over seven innings pitched. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in six consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and one run.

Hart wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Bryttain Fuller, who went 1-for-3 with one run.

Meanwhile, Liberty was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their 14th straight defeat dating back to last season. They came up short against LaBrae, falling 23-3.

Harding's win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 9-6. As for Liberty, their loss dropped their record down to 0-7.

Everything went Harding's way against Liberty in their previous matchup back in May of 2024, as Harding made off with an 11-4 victory. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Leopards have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.