by Erika Plunkett | May 11, 2021 | Uncategorized
After enduring two COVID pauses and numerous other challenges due to weather and injury, the Lady Bisons — who reached the ASUN tournament for the first time since they won it in 2019 — lost in the first round to the Liberty Flames in a best of three series. Because of COVID-19, the tournament was divided into North and South regions, and each region hosted two quarterfinal matchups at the higher seed’s campus site. The winner of each quarterfinal in the both the North and the South matchup advanced to the four-team, double-elimination tournament hosted by Kennesaw State. The Lipscomb Lady Bisons came into the tournament with a 17-16 overall and 4-5 conference record, which put them in fourth-place in the Northern division, and they faced off against the overall No. 1 team Liberty in Lynchburg, Virginia, to open the first weekend of tournament play. The Lady Bisons had were held scoreless when they hosted the Flames just three weeks prior. In the Friday, May 7, doubleheader, the first game turned into a defensive battle between two of the top pitchers in the conference, Lipscomb’s senior Breana Burke and Liberty’s junior Emily Kirby. After four solid innings of work, the scoreless game was finally broken up in the fifth when senior infielder Amber Bishop brought home her twin sister senior infielder Autumn Bishop, giving the Flames a 1-0 lead. The game would stay at 1-0, and the Flames would get the game one win. Going into Friday’s second game, the Lady Bisons knew it was a win or go home matchup, and in an eight-inning thriller, they stepped up...
by Erika Plunkett | May 3, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
After a rocky start to the weekend, Bison Baseball closed out their series against North Alabama with a strong 14-5 victory. The series kicked off Friday afternoon with the Lions’ making early progress as Bison pitcher junior Max Habegger allowed four runs in his inning and two thirds of work. Meanwhile, offensively the Bisons could not get anything going, until the Lions had already extended their lead to five. Finally, in the fifth inning junior center fielder Maddux Houghton brought home a run with an RBI-triple and scored off of a wild pitch bringing the Bisons back within striking distance. Senior infielder David Graves added to the Bisons score with a home run in the bottom of the sixth, but a North Alabama insurance run in the seventh and four runners left stranded by the Bisons clinched the game one victory for North Alabama, 6-3. Saturday, the Bisons looked to bounce back and were able to take the early advantage with sophomore infielder Robbie Merced’s run brought home by freshman outfielder Tiger Borom. North Alabama evened the game at 1 in the fifth inning before Houghton added to his RBI total and Merced scored another run. The Lions would not stay at bay, however, and once again the game was tied. Lipscomb thought they had the winning run in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore catcher Chaz Bertolani hit an RBI single, but the back and forth trend continued, and the game was tied at 3. Sophomore closer Tyler Guilfoil, who came in during the fifth inning, was tasked with finishing the game for the Bisons, but struggled...
by Erika Plunkett | Apr 22, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
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...
by Erika Plunkett | Apr 18, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
In a rescheduled matchup from two weekends ago, the Lady Bisons hosted the Liberty Flames, who swept the Bisons, not allowing a run on the weekend. Saturday afternoon senior pitcher Breanna Burke got the start for Lipscomb on the mound and worked all seven innings for the Bisons. Burke only allowed one hit in the first six innings of the matchup, but Liberty took advantage of two errors by the Bisons defense to reach base and score, gaining the advantage and a 1-0 lead . Despite the efficient pitching of junior pitcher Emily Kirby, Lipscomb outhit the Flames, 3-1, through the sixth inning but could not capitalize on their opportunities. In the seventh inning, Liberty’s bats got hot and the Flames scored one run off of three hits, bringing the game to its final score of 2-0. In the second game of Saturday’s action, Liberty picked up right where they left off scoring two runs off of two consecutive walks and a two-RBI single from infielder freshman Savannah Channell. Lipscomb would settle in and not allow another run until the fifth inning when Liberty brought home two more runners via another two-RBI single from Channell. Two additional insurance runs would be added in the seventh inning, and once again the Bisons would be shutout 6-0. Sunday’s action continued in Liberty’s favor, as Burke returned to the mound and allowed a homerun to senior infielder Autumn Bishop on the second pitch of the afternoon. Meanwhile, offensively the Bisons could get nothing going for much of the game. Kirby dominated the mound finishing the afternoon with seven strikeouts in seven innings...
by Erika Plunkett | Apr 17, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
After defeating the Liberty Flames Saturday afternoon at home to clinch a spot in the ASUN semifinals, Lipscomb travelled to Jacksonville to take on the top-ranked ASUN team, Jacksonville, where the Bisons fell 4-2 Thursday afternoon. The Dolphins wasted no time putting together a strong offensive presence and capitalized by scoring three of their four goals within the first 25 minutes of the game. Both junior defenders Noah and Scott Gulden came up just shy of cutting into the Dolphins lead with two early shots on goal for the Bisons, but Jacksonville goalie junior Matt Levy came up with the save on both occasions. Finally, the Bisons got on the board with a late goal from freshman defender William Turner to end the first half and to bring Lipscomb back within striking distance. But the Dolphins once again were the first to score as they returned from the break extending their lead to 4-1. Freshman forward Tyrese Spicer gave the Bisons several chances but could never capitalize. Eventually, sophomore forward Alejandro Lopez scored bringing Lipscomb once again within two, but the early deficit proved to be too much to overcome. Despite the loss, Lipscomb outshot the Dolphins 19-11 and fought until the final whistle. The Bisons finish the season 6-5-2 and 1-2-1 in ASUN play in the COVID-altered format. Lipscomb Men’s Soccer will return to action in just a few short months as ASUN fall seasons resume in 2021. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
