Lipscomb baseball season ends with loss to No. 18 Radford

Lipscomb baseball season ends with loss to No. 18 Radford

Lipscomb baseball watched its season come to a close after losing to No. 18 Radford 5-2 in a NCAA Regional elimination game on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field. Radford scored runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings. The largest number of runs came in the sixth inning, in which Radford scored three from an error, sacrifice fly and home run. During the middle of the sixth inning, the game was delayed by rain for over an hour — something the Bisons have seen a lot of this year. “We have been through so many weather delays this year, that the stoppage in play did not bother us,” senior Grant Massey said. “We actually felt at the time that it was an advantage to forget about what happened in the top of the sixth.” Teammates echoed Massey, saying the delay would help them get in the right mindset to come up with a big rally in the later innings. But Lipscomb still had trouble getting to Radford’s relievers. “I have to give credit to all their pitchers including their reliever and closer,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “They had pitchers that were very precise and made the big plays when they needed to.” The only runs for Lipscomb came from a two-run homer from senior Josh Lee. This was the only home run Lee had on the entire season. Lee, who played for Vanderbilt as a freshman before transferring to Central Arizona Community College, said it was odd to hit his only home run of the season at the field where his collegiate career began. “[It was] definitely a full-circle experience...

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 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 falls 5-2 to Austin Peay

After leading 2-1 at the beginning of the game, the Lipscomb baseball team lost 5-2 to Austin Peay Wednesday afternoon at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. The initial lead faded in the top of the fifth, as the Governors tied it up with a run-scoring double by starting pitcher Alex Robles. The game slipped away from Lipscomb after the seventh inning. Austin Peay scored two more runs on a single in the top of the eighth. Robles got his second run scoring double to give the Governors a five to two lead. Junior Jaesung (J) Hwang, the Bisons starting pitcher, made his first appearance since May 2013. He pitched five innings and got a no decision for his intial start this year. “J was great,” Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand said. “We have been anxiously awaiting his return. He is going to be one of our top guys. I thought he had a very solid performance.” Senior Grant Massey was the only Bison to have RBI’s for the whole game. He drove in two runs on a single in the bottom of the third inning. “I knew I had an open bag,” Massey said. “So I knew he would probably go off speed right there and pound it away. I was looking outside and pounded the four hole right there.” Massey added that the Bisons were able to turn the most double plays of the season, with three in one game. “J was hitting his spots everywhere, keeping the ball down and putting it where it needed to go to get ground balls,” Massey said. “It was easy from there on out.” The...

Lipscomb baseball sweeps Butler to open season 3-0

The Lipscomb baseball team finished the season-opener with a complete sweep against Butler this weekend at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. Due to Sunday’s weather forecast, the Bisons played a doubleheader on Saturday. In the first game on Friday, Lipscomb struggled to get hits and was down 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning. The Bisons began to rally when sophomore Hunter Hanks got a two-run double. Lipscomb scored an insurance run after hitting a single and piled on three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to win the game 9-3. The Bisons got off to a hot start in the second game, as an error by the Bulldogs’ shortstop led to a three run rally. Lipscomb played small ball, scoring on a sacrifice bunt and hitting three singles in the second inning. Both Lipscomb and Butler’s bullpens blew up, and the score was tied 8-8 in the bottom of the ninth. The bases were loaded as redshirt junior Adam Lee stepped up to the plate. The first pitch thrown by the reliever led to a walk-off, hit-by-pitch for a Bisons win of 9-8. In the final game, Lipscomb started out slowly, scoring one run in the first four innings. The Bulldogs failed to steal home, igniting the Bisons in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Grant Massey started the rally with a run-scoring single. Hanks and senior Mike Korte had doubles that scored two runs each. Freshman Jeffrey Crisan added a run-scoring single, resulting in a six-run inning for Lipscomb. Senior Jonathan Allison provided an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Lipscomb finished out...