The last time Liberty hooked up with Central Catholic, it won a classic Lehigh Valley Conference baseball semifinal.

The Hurricanes stayed on course for a return trip to the league playoffs Thursday by picking off the Vikings again.

Thursday's matchup at Limeport Stadium lacked the late-inning drama of last year's playoff contest. That mattered not to Liberty, which arrived at the midpoint of its regular-season schedule with a 5-2 victory that stretched its winning streak to three games.

The Hurricanes (8-2 overall, 6-1 LVC) received six strong innings from starter Eddy Albertson and collected 12 hits to stay alone atop the East Division standings. Eight of their nine starters had at least one hit, with Tom Epsaro going 3-for-4 with one RBI.

"Our goal every year is to win our division first," Liberty coach Andy Pitsilos said. "So I feel OK right now. We have some people on our heels. We've competed with everybody.

"Overall, I feel good. Can we play a lot better? Yes."

Albertson competed Thursday through trying times. In addition to pitching in cool, damp conditions, he dealt with sporadic command. He walked seven batters and issued at least one free pass in each of his six innings.

When he needed outs, however, Albertson delivered. He stranded 10 Central Catholic baserunners before giving way to Josh Nales, who nailed down the win with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Albertson did his most impressive pitching in the bottom of the fifth. Central Catholic started the inning in a 4-0 hole but scored one run and had the bases loaded with no outs after Zach Tobash drew a walk.

Pitsilos then paid a visit to the mound and reminded Albertson that Tobash represented the tying run, so keeping him from scoring was the priority. Albertson succeeded, getting Ryan Gutshall to ground into a 4-6-3 double play with his next pitch and striking out Zach Krause to exit the inning with Liberty holding a 4-2 lead.

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Liberty baseball team beats Central Catholic