by Charlie Bateman | May 31, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
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...
by Charlie Bateman | Apr 26, 2015 | Sports
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...
by Carly Bergthold | Apr 23, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Student athletes traded their uniforms for formal wear for the second annual Lippy Awards Wednesday evening in Allen Arena. The Lippys honor athletes, coaches and others who contribute in various ways to Lipscomb sports teams. Before the show, guests enjoyed live music from Marquee Mayfield and showed off their formal wear at photo booths. The show was hosted by soccer coach Chris Klotz and cross county coach Marcus Evans. To begin, the James R. Byers Award was presented to senior field thrower April Terry and senior baseball player Josh Lee. It is the highest award given to student-athletes. Terry quoted the Mary Mary song “God in Me” in her acceptance speech, saying, “I hope that you see that I’m really not that outstanding, but all of the accolades, the records, the titles – it’s all God working.” Lee, who made his way from Vandy to Central Arizona College and finally landed at Lipscomb, said that he’s blessed for the opportunities at Lipscomb. “This is a great accomplishment, but the one thing I’ll remember is all the relationships I’ve built with my teammates,” Lee said. Golfer Dawson Armstrong and cross country runner Paige Stoner took home the male and female Freshman of the Year awards. Senior soccer player Luke Gearin won International Player of the Year. Women’s soccer coach Kevin O’Brien received the Don Meyer Head Coach of the Year for his inspiration to the athletic program. “I think I have the best job in the world,” O’Brien said. “I’m so thankful to get to work with the girls I work with every day.” Luke Syverson, who coaches track and field, was...
by Danielle Kinnen | Apr 13, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Despite defeating the No. 1 team in the nation last week, the Lipscomb baseball team came up short losing the series to the University of North Florida this weekend at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. The Bisons lost the first game of the series 4-3. They took the second game 11-3, but lost the final game Sunday 8-0. “I have to give credit to North Florida as they showed all weekend that they could hit,” head coach Jeff Forehand said. “They made it very difficult for us and in the end we didn’t get the job done.” Forehand went on to talk about the outstanding pitching performance by UNF. “When a team pitches that well and makes great runs it’s difficult to get into the game. If we don’t get a run through, we can’t really play the game.” This is the first home series Lipscomb has dropped since the weekend of April 26, 2013 when Stetson came in and took 2-of-3. North Florida senior Trent Higginbothem, gave the Ospreys the initial lead hitting his sixth home run of the year, a two-run shot in the third inning. UNF pitcher Matt Vaka allowed only a couple of hits and three walks in five innings, in the final stage of the series. Throughout the whole afternoon, Vaka only allowed three runners to move into scoring position, which lowered his ERA to 1.72 for the season. The only chance the Bisons gave themselves to score was in the sixth inning when Josh Lee lead by drawing a one-out walk to give Lipscomb a scoring opportunity. Following the walk, Allan Hooker almost tied it...
by Erin Turner | Apr 8, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Senior Josh Lee made his way back to where his college baseball career began when he provided the firepower to lift the Bisons past his former team, No. 1 Vanderbilt, Tuesday night. Lee drove in three runs for the Lipscomb baseball team to help guide them to a 3-1 win at Hawkins Field. Before coming to Lipscomb, Lee was recruited by Vandy and played three games for the Commodores his freshman year. In 2013, he transferred to Central Arizona Community College before landing at Lipscomb his junior year. “Once I got on Lipscomb’s campus last year I knew this was home for me,” Lee said. “It’s where I was meant to be.” Lee said that although Vandy was not the right fit for him, he enjoyed building relationships with the coaches and players there. Although brief, his experience there helped him prepare for this game. “It was definitely a different feeling [playing on Hawkins Field] than any other game we have had, but it’s a place I was very familiar with, so I knew what to expect in terms of the crowd and how the field was going to play and what I was going to get from the opposing team,” Lee said. Lee said he followed the advice of his father when he stepped up to the plate. “I didn’t want to make the moment too big,” Lee said. “That’s what my dad always told me to do — just relax, have fun, see the ball, hit it gap to gap and just have that in the back of my mind.” Tuesday night, Lee batted in runs in the first...
