Lipscomb baseball takes loss to Vandy in NCAA Regional opener

Lipscomb baseball takes loss to Vandy in NCAA Regional opener

The Lipscomb baseball team fell to Vanderbilt 9-1 at the NCAA regional game at Hawkins Field Friday night.  Vanderbilt spread out its scoring in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Commodores started the scoring with two runs in the second inning on a two-run homer by left fielder Jeren Kendall. Vanderbilt’s big inning came in the sixth when it scored a total of five runs on three singles and a double. “We held with Vanderbilt the first few innings,” Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand said. “We just gave them too many freebies.” The only run for the Bisons came from junior redshirt Adam Lee. “I saw that [Vandy starter Carson Fulmer] threw a slider on a three-two pitch,” Lee said. “I put a good swing on it, which led to a base hit.” Lee’s RBI was Fulmer’s first run surrendered in 27 and 2/3 innings at home. The last one was on March 14 against Arkansas. Fulmer, who is considered to be a first-round draft pick by many experts, pitched seven innings and had 11 strike outs. “We knew what he [Fulmer] was going to bring,” Forehand said. “He was using the breaking ball effectively and threw it short, which really messed with our batters. “It is hard to prepare for a guy that throws a 95-mile-an-hour fastball and the next pitch is a 79-mile-an-hour breaking ball at your waist.” Forehand said he hopes the bats for Lipscomb will ignite its offense Saturday. Lipscomb will take on Radford on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the losers’ bracket. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...

Lipscomb baseball takes one of three to Stetson in weekend series

Lipscomb baseball took a 5-1 loss to Stetson Friday, but came out Saturday to take a 3-1 victory for senior night at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. In Friday’s matchup, the Bisons could not get their bats going against the Hatter’s starting pitcher, Mitchell Jordan. Jordan pitched a complete game for Stetson. Lipscomb scored their only run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from sophomore Hunter Hanks. The Bisons could not string enough base hits together to score more runs. But things started to look up for senior night on Saturday. The Bisons started the scoring in the bottom of the third with a sacrifice-fly from senior Grant Massey and an RBI single from senior Jonathan Allison. “This class of seniors has been very special to me,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “We have been through a lot together.” Junior redshirt Adam Lee chipped in with a home run in the bottom of the fifth to add to the score for the Bisons. “Adam has had a great season for us offensively,” Forehand said. “He had a good swing to put a charge on the ball for a homerun.” Freshman Jeffrey Passantino had a great start on Saturday for the Bisons. Passantino went eight innings and gave the bullpen some rest before the last week of the season. This makes two starts in a row that Passantino has gone eight innings. “We are beginning to expect this from him all the time,” Forehand said. “He puts our team in a good position to win every time he goes out there on the mound.” With this win,...

Baseball drops two of three to Kennesaw State

Lipscomb may have beaten Kennesaw State in an extra inning 4-3 victory Friday night, but the Owls answered back in the final two games of the series at Ken Dugan Field in Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. The first game of the series came with a walk-off win for the Bisons courtesy of senior Josh Lee. Lee hit the walk-off double in the bottom of the tenth inning. Freshman Jeffrey Crisan had an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, and senior Jonathan Allison had two RBI’s in the bottom of the first and third. Lipscomb was hoping to carry the momentum from the first game into the rest of the series. In the second game on Saturday afternoon, the Owls answered back, defeating the Bisons 4-3. Senior Mike Korte had two RBI’s in the second and seventh innings. KSU had three runs scored in the fifth due to RBI’s by Alex Liquori and Grant Williams. An error by Lipscomb second baseman Korte also contributed to the Owl’s scoring. Liquori had an RBI single in the top of the eighth for the Owls. Junior Chucky Vazquez tried to get something going for Lipscomb in the bottom of the ninth by hitting a solo home run, but Lipscomb could not tack on any more runs. The Bisons were looking for a better result in the final game on Sunday. The final game of the series resulted in a 12-5 Owls victory. KSU scored runs in the first, second, fourth, sixth, and eighth innings. The most productive inning for the Owls came in the top of the fourth, where they scored four runs. The Owl’s biggest hit came from...

Baseball takes two of three from Xavier

The Bison baseball team won the series with Xavier over the weekend, but Xavier took the Sunday game 5-1. On Friday night Lipscomb played small ball as senior Jonathon Allison and redshirt freshman Allan Hooker both had run scoring singles in the bottom of the first inning. It was not until the top of the sixth that Xavier center fielder Brian Bruening hit a two run homer for the Musketeers, the only two runs scored by Xavier. Lipscomb scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, with a RBI single from senior Grant Massey and an insurance run provided by redshirt junior Adam Lee. The Bisons final tally of the game came with a run scoring double from freshman Jeffrey Crisan. The second game of the series, resulted in an 11-1 win for Lipscomb. Xavier started the third inning with a run that ended up being their only score of the game. Lipscomb answered right back, scoring two runs of their own in the bottom of the third. In the bottom of the fourth, Lipscomb had a lead-off homerun by Allison. The Bisons had a big inning in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs, and senior Grant Massey started it with a two-run scoring double. Allison provided a run scoring double, and Hooker provided a RBI triple. Hooker also scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch. It was not until the bottom of the eighth that Lipscomb again scored three runs on a two run homer from freshman Michael Gigliotti and a run scoring triple from senior Mike Korte. In the final game on Sunday...

Lipscomb baseball sweeps Quinnipiac in weekend series

The Lipscomb baseball team swept the games against Quinnipiac this weekend at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium.  Though the weekend got off to a rainy start, the Bisons won 5-0 in Friday night’s game. The Bisons brought their record 10-5 Saturday night when they won 9-4. As the rain cleared Sunday, the Bisons took a 3-1 victory. In Friday’s rainy matchup, neither team scored until the fifth inning, where the Bisons took the lead with two runs. Senior pitcher Ian Martinez-McGraw allowed only three hits from the Bobcats in eight scoreless frames. Freshman center fielder Michael Gigliotti made a leadoff double into left field just before running home to score in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, the Bisons evened out the score with two insurance tallies. Lipscomb scored five runs in Friday’s matchup, marking the first time the Bisons have won without scoring seven runs this season. The Bisons returned to the diamond Saturday afternoon, where the Quinnipiac Bobcats took the lead with runs in the second and third innings. But Lipscomb responded with a two-run frame in the home half of the third. To get the Bisons’s offense started, senior second baseman Mike Korte and junior first baseman Adam Lee scored back-to-back solo home runs. Lipscomb took its first lead in the fourth inning after senior left fielder Jonathan Allison drew a lead-off walk. In the bottom of the fifth the Bobcats created a small rally after Mike Palladino knocked a two-out single to right. The Bisons responded taking the lead with a four-run frame. Lipscomb added its final run in the eighth inning. The clear sky and sun brought out another win...