JACKSON TWP - Seneca Valley pitcher Ryan Page has decided to continue his academic and baseball careers at Liberty University, a Division I school in Lynchburg, Va.

The senior left-hander chose Liberty over Georgia, Tennessee and a handful of Western Pennsylvania schools.

"The bigger schools all have tons of pitchers," Page said. "I like the challenge of playing Division I baseball, and Liberty is in a small town with a small-town setting. It's a nice fit for me."

Page cannot officially sign a scholarship offer from Liberty until the second week of April.

The Flames were 17-37 last year - sixth in the Big South - but finished runners-up in the conference tournament. They are off to a 12-12 start this season.

Liberty's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator is former Pirates pitcher Randy Tomlin.

"He's one of the best college pitching coaches out there," Page said. "And, like me, he's a left-hander. I know I'm going to learn a lot from him."

Tomlin played his college baseball at Liberty and has had a few pitchers selected in the major league draft since becoming the Flames' pitching coach in 1997. He took the job at Liberty after arm problems curtailed his big league career.

"It was hard to stop playing, but getting into coaching was something I wanted to do even before I reached the major leagues," Tomlin said. "I played at Liberty and I love that school."

Tomlin said the Flames will likely lose some underclassman pitchers to the big league draft this year. Regardless, Liberty will lose seven of its 11 pitchers by the end of the 2005 season.

"We're recruiting pitchers hard right now," he said. "Good left-handers are hard to find. It feels like you're competing with 290 other schools for their services."

Page throws his fastball close to 86 mph, but his best pitch is the strike. He throws plenty of them.

"He pitches to spots extremely well," said Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega. "That's what Ryan Page does. He pitches.

"He doesn't try to throw the ball by people and he doesn't waste pitches. He uses his defense and keeps his pitch count down," Semega added.

Page is 13-4 in his high school career with 134 strikeouts and 29 walks in 122 innings pitched. His career earned run average with the Raiders is 1.54.

In his career with the Seneca Valley Palomino team, he is 13-3 with 140 strikeouts and 37 walks in 110 innings pitched. His career Palomino ERA is 2.16.

Tomlin, who set career highs with 14 wins, 208 innings pitched and 33 starts with the Pirates in 1992, said finding high school pitchers with sound mechanics "is invaluable.

"Having velocity is nice and it definitely helps, but the ability to pitch is what you look for," Tomlin added. "You want guys who are mechanically sound and who throw strikes. That's the type of talent a coach can work with."

The 6-foot-1, 185 pound Page said his goal in college baseball is simply to keep improving.

"I want to pick up as much knowledge as I can," he said. "That's one of the reasons I chose Liberty, to learn from Coach Tomlin."