Lipscomb falls in third installment of the Battle of the Boulevard 11-2

Lipscomb falls in third installment of the Battle of the Boulevard 11-2

After splitting the doubleheader at E.S. Rose Park earlier this month, Lipscomb hosted the Bruins for the third and final game of the season between the Bruins and the Bisons where Belmont came out on top with a dominating 11-2 win.  Lipscomb struggled from the first pitch in finding the strike zone, which resulted in Belmont easily reached base off of the walk. For the afternoon, the Bisons’ eight pitchers combined for a total of 13 walks. Of these 13 walks, five resulted in the batter who reached base eventually scoring a run, and two were RBI-walks bringing home two Bruin runs.  In addition, Lipscomb allowed four Bruins to reach via the hit by pitch. Offensively, the Bisons were kept at bay by the Bruins starter freshman Will Jenkins, who struck out four and did not allow a run, a hit, or a walk in his four innings of work. In addition, the Bisons relied on a different alignment as they were without starting second baseman senior Haddon Adams and starting catcher sophomore Chaz Bertolani, two of the Bisons’ hottest hitters, who both rested in today’s matchup.  Adding to the already thin Bisons’ order, injury from a pitch that hit junior designated hitter Chris Bashlor’s hand kept him out of most of the game.  The Bruins scored first putting up three runs in the second and four runs in the fourth off of five singles from five different batters. Despite their offensive holes, the Bisons did finally get on the board in the bottom of the sixth with two RBI doubles from freshman infielder Ethan Stamps and senior infielder...
Lipscomb baseball splits double-header Battle of the Boulevard Tuesday night

Lipscomb baseball splits double-header Battle of the Boulevard Tuesday night

The Lipscomb Bisons took on the Belmont Bruins in a doubleheader Battle of the Boulevard. The Bruins would win the first game 5-4 and improve to 12-14 on the season, including an impressive 10-5 home record. The Bisons would go on to win game two, improve to 11-13 on the season, and snap their seven-game road losing streak. In game one of the doubleheader, the Bisons got off to a strong start thanks to a 2-run homer by sophomore third baseman Robbie Merced in the top of the first. The game went scoreless for the next three innings until the Bisons added another run in the top of the fourth off a sacrifice bunt by junior center fielder Maddux Houghton. Patrick Williams was on the mound for the Bisons and pitched a shutout through the first three innings, allowing only one hit. They made a pitching change to start off the fourth inning and brought in sophomore Scott Elgin. Elgin struggled early in the inning allowing three earned runs without recording an out. The Bisons made another pitching change and brought in junior Tyler Drabick who eventually retired the side. With the score tied at 3-3 in the top of the sixth, junior first baseman Malik Williams blasted a solo homer to put the Bisons on top 4-3. After another pitching change, redshirt sophomore Matthew Maldonado took the mound for the Bisons in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Bruins would capitalize on a couple of errors by the Bison defense. Sophomore right fielder John Behrends would score on a throwing error. With the bases loaded and the...
Early mistakes cost the Lady Bisons in the midweek Battle of the Boulevard matchup

Early mistakes cost the Lady Bisons in the midweek Battle of the Boulevard matchup

Capping off the end of their six-game homestand the Lady Bisons hosted their rival Belmont Bruins Wednesday afternoon in a midweek matchup but fell 5-1. Junior pitcher Katie Turner got her first start of the season and got off to a rocky start, allowing three hits off of the Bruins’ top three batters.  “Belmont came out aggressive and attacked us,” Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman said in a statement released by Lipscomb Athletics. “We were never able to get back in it.” Turner bounced back and struck out two of the next three batters as well as forcing a fly out to end the inning.  Lipscomb matched Belmont in hits for the afternoon but was only able to capitalize on one chance in the third inning where a ground out allowed junior infielder Amy Vetula to score. The Bisons would allow two more runs in the fifth and sixth inning, bringing the total to five for the Bruins. “We are still trying to figure out who we are,” Ryman said. “We are still trying to learn to play with consistency. We had chances. We didn’t make adjustments and it wasn’t for lack of trying. We just didn’t succeed. We struggled with it.” Sophomore outfielder Presley Leebrick led the way for the Bisons with two hits in the loss including her fifth double on the season. With the loss, the Bisons fall to 9-8 on the season. Lipscomb travels to Kennesaw State to open ASUN conference play Saturday afternoon.  Continue to follow Lumination Network for Lipscomb Athletics coverage. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
Lipscomb falls to Belmont in Battle of the Boulevard 73-67

Lipscomb falls to Belmont in Battle of the Boulevard 73-67

The first meeting of the season between Belmont and Lipscomb was everything fans could expect and more between the closest rivalry in NCAA Division I basketball. The energy was electric in Allen Arena during the hard-fought battle, but Lipscomb came up just short losing 73-67 to the Bruins. “We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we sure played hard,” says head coach Lennie Acuff. “We got down pretty good in the second half and was short-handed the last 10 minutes, but our guys kept fighting, clawing and scraping their way to stay in it,”. This was the first time Casey Alexander returned to Allen Arena for a game after taking the head coach position at Belmont. Alexander was the head coach at Lipscomb for six seasons leading the team to an NCAA Tournament appearance and an NIT Finals appearance just last year. “Belmont is a good team and they’ve been playing fantastic, but we had a chance tonight and that’s all we wanted at the end. I was really, really proud of our guy,” says Acuff. Lipscomb entered halftime up by one, 33-32, after going on a 10-0 and a 12-5 run at the end of the first half. The Bruins came out of halftime looking for revenge. The bruins had a 12-0 run at the beginning of the second half. Once Belmont took the lead, they never looked back. “We have the ball twice down four in the last minute and we didn’t get very good shots,” says Acuff. “I have to do a better job of getting us organized down the stretch. We just got a...
NOTEBOOK: NCAA bid remains a long shot as Lipscomb awaits postseason fate

NOTEBOOK: NCAA bid remains a long shot as Lipscomb awaits postseason fate

The Lipscomb men’s basketball team likely missed its chance to advance to the NCAA tournament when it dropped last Sunday’s ASUN title game to Liberty, 74-68. However, Lipscomb has remained in the at-large bid conversation for much of the past week. That’s partially thanks to the team’s “Bisons vs. the Bubble” campaign on Twitter, which compared Lipscomb to other bubble teams like Indiana, Texas, St. John’s, Alabama, TCU, Ohio State and Arizona State. Media personalities including Dick Vitale, Jeff Goodman, Clark Kellogg and Scott Van Pelt have all mentioned Lipscomb as a possible at-large team since Sunday’s ASUN title loss. But it appears the Bisons are on the outside looking in as the Power 5 conferences complete their tournaments this weekend. Lipscomb is expected to be in the NIT field when it’s announced on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Lipscomb ranked as the sixth team left of the bracket as of Saturday morning. Belmont is listed as the first team out. CBS analyst Jerry Palm sees the Bisons as a bubble team and the Bruins as the third team left out. SB Nation has Belmont as its last team in and Lipscomb among the next four out. Bleacher Report lists Belmont as its second-to-last team in and the Bisons as its third team out. Bisons likely traveling for NIT Multiple sources told Lumination that Lipscomb did not apply to host NIT first or second round games. The school is on spring break this week, and there is a possible venue conflict in Allen Arena for the second round date. That means the Bisons will...