by Tyler Harvey | Feb 28, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons ended last season as ASUN champions and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 and for only the third time in Lipscomb Softball program history. After losing many graduating seniors, this year’s team is much younger than last year, but still has multiple key players returning. Younger team than last year The Lady Bisons played with seven seniors during the team’s 2019 campaign. During the 2020 campaign, Lipscomb will only have four seniors on the roster. “We just graduated a lot of power kids; a lot of power hitters through the middle of the order, plus our leadoff and our nine hitter who were speedsters, and a lot of veterans in the outfield,” Lipscomb softball coach Kristin Ryman said. Coach Ryman’s strategy is not to try and replace the kind of skills that the graduated players on last year’s team possessed; instead her strategy is to build up the skills that the incoming and returning players have. “We don’t have to replace what all of those other girls did, all the homeruns they hit,” Coach Ryman said. “It’s how do we play to the strengths of this new crop of kids we have.” Amy Vetula’s hot start While Lipscomb lost many players that led to the team’s success in 2019, the Lady Bisons are still returning multiple key players. The 2019 ASUN Player and Defensive Player of the year Hannah DeVault will be returning for her senior season, along with sophomores Katie Turner and Amy Vetula, who both earned spots on the ASUN All-Freshman Team last year. “Amy Vetula kind of started...
by Grant Ledgister | Feb 24, 2020 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider
Throughout Lipscomb’s second annual Day of Giving on Thursday, 3,520 students, alumni, and parents from all 50 states and several countries gave a total of $826,900. This quickly surpassed the goal the university had set of 2,020 donators, which unlocked a $100,000 match from an anonymous donor “for the students.” Even though the donors were mainly parents and alumni, some students thought the expectation to give was on them. “I feel like the Day of Giving would be more effective if it was a message to the parents — that the school knows is paying fully for tuition,” said sophomore LilliAnn Sutherlin. “If you ask the students as a whole you will be asking people who do not have a full-time job and some of them are struggling to pay tuition. To ask students to give money is to ask an infant to pay the bills. However, parents who are paying full tuition for their child are likely to have a job that allows them to have money to give with the incentive to make their child’s campus a better place with their donations.” At the headquarters of the event, Stephanie Carroll, the Assistant Vice President for Annual Giving and leader of the Day of Giving, did clarify the role students had in the drive. “The biggest thing that students can be doing is writing thank you notes,” said Carroll. “We want every donor to receive a personal thank you note from a student. These donors give so that it will have an impact on the students’ lives.” For example, to bring attention to the fundraiser, giveaways were held...
by Grant Bricker | Feb 24, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s win streak finally came to an end at the hands of Samford at Dugan Field Sunday afternoon. The Bisons held on for as long as they could, but lost 7-3 when it was all said and done. Despite this being the Bison’s first loss of the year, they still won the three preliminary games in the Turface Classic. Lipscomb 4, Evansville 1 The first game of the Turface Classic started off very slow thanks to great pitching from both teams. Evansville got on the board first with a solo home run to center on what would be Lipscomb freshman pitcher Logan Van Treeck’s only run given to the Aces in his six innings of play. Senior infielder Haddon Adams evened the score in the fifth after Adams’s RBI single brought senior catcher Jarrett O’Leary home. In the seventh inning, Van Treeck was relieved by junior right hander Wyatt Folsom who pitched two scoreless innings to preserve the Bisons’ lead. Folsom was aided by a home run by junior infielder Chris Bashlor to bring the final score to 4-1. Lipscomb 10, Bradley 7 Next up was a winless Bradley squad that gave the Bisons a very good game. Lipscomb’s bats were hot early as they outscored Bradley 9-3 throughout the first five innings. But, Bradley had very productive fifth and sixth innings. The Braves scored on a double that was followed up by three-run homer to make it a 9-6 ballgame. After getting outplayed in the fifth and sixth innings, the Bisons only managed to score on an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to hold on...
by Grant Ledgister | Feb 19, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons survived a second-half comeback from the NJIT Highlanders 68-66 Monday night in Allen Arena. The win snaps a six-game losing streak and keeps the Lady Bisons in the driver’s seat for the eighth and final spot in the ASUN Championship Tournament. “We knew that today’s game was going to be a battle for the conference tournament,” Lipscomb head coach Lauren Sumski said. “We knew they were going to do some things they hadn’t done all year; they had to step up and make shots they hadn’t made all year.” It was a sluggish first quarter for both teams. Neither team shot particularly well, with Lipscomb only taking a 12-8 lead because of three-pointers from senior guard Carleigh Short and junior forward Taylor Clark. Lipscomb took a 34-17 lead into halftime off the back of a 14-4 run in the second quarter. “That’s been the consistent theme for us,” Sumski said. “We’ve been putting together pretty good second quarters when we settle into the game. If we don’t have that second quarter, we don’t have the result we had tonight” Despite widening the lead to 40-17 with nine minutes to play in the third quarter, Lipscomb would only make four more field goals the rest of the quarter and none in the final three minutes. This allowed NJIT to drop the lead to 51-42 with only 70 seconds played into the final quarter. “We just have to do better out of halftime defending and keeping a sense of urgency,” Sumski said. “It’s about being tough and withstanding those runs.” A scoreless run by Lipscomb late in...
by Grant Bricker | Feb 19, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb started off the season with statement wins against the Falcons of Bowling Green State University. While the last two games didn’t match the offensive firepower of the first, overall it was a great weekend for Lipscomb Baseball. “Anytime you sweep anybody in college baseball it’s good because wins don’t come easy. I think they [the team] had the right mindset and were able to finish it up and get the sweep,” said Bisons head Coach Jeff Forehand. Lipscomb 15, Bowling Green 10 Lipscomb was an RBI machine on opening day with all 15 of its runs coming from RBIs. The first few innings were very back and forth until the Bison held the Falcons scoreless during innings 7,8, and 9 to close out the game. Every single player in the Bison lineup recorded a hit. Sophomore catcher Chaz Bertolani, junior centerfielder Maddux Houghton, and senior shortstop Brian Moore combined for 12 of the team’s 15 RBIs. Bowling Green had three balks that turned the game in Lipscomb’s favor as well. Lipscomb 5, Bowling Green 2 Game two of the series was more of a defensive battle for Lipscomb. Lipscomb took control of this game early, only allowing runs in the 2nd and 9th innings. Junior right hander Max Habegger started for the Bisons and played four innings while retiring five batters for Bowling Green. Another solid pitching performance came from Freshman closer Gavin Grubbs, who ended the game allowing no runs and only one hit. Lipscomb 5, Bowling Green 2 The final game of the series was very similar to Game 2 not only because it was the...
by Mckenzi Harris | Feb 18, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Former Lipscomb University basketball player, Garrison Mathews returns to Allen Arena. Mathews came back to watch his former teammates face off against FGCU on Saturday. Mathews a former Bison, second all-time scorer in ASUN conference, and one of the first players to go to the NBA. His new home is in Washington D.C. where he plays for the Washington Wizards. Announcements were made to the public by social media that Mathews would be in attendance at Saturday’s game. Many fans poured into Allen Arena for the homecoming of Garrison Mathews. People of all ages wearing Washington Wizards jerseys in the room, repping #24 in honor of the Lipscomb graduate. Before the men’s game started, Star Wars t-shirts were passed out along with a Washington Wizards poster with Mathews on it. The line was wrapped around the building with many fans hoping to get one so they could get an autograph. Before tip-off, Lipscomb honored this former Bison by playing a welcome home video which highlighted some of his time at Lipscomb and now as a Wizards player. As soon as the video concluded Mathews was surrounded by children instantly – all of which who were excited and waiting to get an autograph from Mathews himself. Athletic Director Philip Hutchinson, had to quickly move those Junior Bisons into the stands as they were crowding the court. Matthews graciously gave an autograph to each person that came up to him. “It’s always nice coming home to see familiar faces,” said Mathews. “It’s a blessing I can’t thank everyone enough that’s gotten me to where I’m at.” Garrison Mathew’s is a shooting...
