LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty ace Jared Lyons fired a one-hit shutout and the Flames scored four runs in the third inning to key a 5-0 win over Gardner-Webb in the opener of a three-game series.

Gardner-Webb (19-23, 5-11 Big South) dropped its ninth league game in a row.

Henry Rundio led off the game with a single for the Runnin' Bulldogs, but GWU would not collect a hit after that. Collin Thacker reached on an error later that same inning, but a double play ended the frame.

The Flames (26-16, 12-4 Big South) scored all they would need in the third, getting a leadoff walk from Dalton Britt, a single from Alex Close and an RBI double by Becker Sankey to go up 1-0. Will Shepherd laid down a sacrifice bunt on the next pitch to drive home Close, and reached on a throwing error – which allowed Sankey to dash home and push the lead to 3-0.

Andrew Yacyk lofted a sacrifice fly later in the inning to plate Shepherd for a 4-0 advantage.

Lyons (7-1) was on cruise control from there, at one point sitting down 16 Gardner-Webb batters in a row before issuing a full-count walk to Patrick Graham in the seventh. He allowed two base runners again in the ninth, hitting Ryan Hodge and walking Sam Fulginiti – before recording a strikeout to end the game.

Erik Heiligenstadt (4-4) took a tough loss on the mound for Gardner-Webb, hurling a complete-game himself with 8.0 innings of work and four earned runs allowed. He fanned eight and walked just one while scattering 10 hits (nine singles).

Lyons – a southpaw – went 9.0 complete, fanned nine and allowed just one hit for the win.

Close (3-for-4), Sankey (2-for-4), Sammy Taormina (2-for-4) and Aaron Stroosma (2-for-4) each had multiple hits for Liberty on Friday night.

The two teams will play again on Saturday with first pitch now scheduled for 10:00 am at Liberty Baseball Stadium.