by Cole Gray | Mar 30, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
McCarley Thomas mowed down Golden Eagle batters from the pitching circle all afternoon as Lipscomb softball (26-9) defeated Tennessee Tech 7-2 in a non-conference matchup at Draper Diamond on Wednesday. Thomas gave up three hits in seven innings to the boom-or-bust Golden Eagles hitters. Tennessee Tech (9-20) is batting just .218 as a team this season, but 41% of the Golden Eagles’ hits go for extra bases, including 34 home runs. “You certainly don’t want to stay on one plane and just go in-and-out to a team like that or they’re just going to tee off,” coach Kristin Ryman said. “She was a good matchup for them, being able to mix planes and speeds.” Golden Eagle leadoff batter Aalia Bivens led the game with a no-hop double to the wall in dead center and scored on a squeeze bunt later in the inning. Then Thomas faced 15 batters without giving up a hit until Bivens homered in the sixth. An infield single in the seventh and a pair of walks were the only other blemishes on Thomas’s eighth win of the season. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first, the Bisons pushed across an unearned run on Caitlin Plocheck’s single to tie the game, then took over the lead in the second. Shortstop Peyton Ward singled, stole second, then scored on Abby Fenichel’s single. Then Lipscomb broke the game open—and chased Golden Eagles starter Kayla Hughes, who earned the loss—in the bottom of the fourth, a three-run inning capped by Plocheck’s two-run double, her second run-scoring hit of the day. The junior batted in three runs to bring...
by Lindsey Nance | Mar 30, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
Some nights nothing seems to work out as planned. This was the case for Lipscomb (14-9) as the team fell to Vanderbilt (17-9) 10-0 Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park. Zeke Dodson broke up the no hitter for Vanderbilt’s sophomore right-handed pitcher Chandler Day in the bottom of ninth with two outs. “Their guy pitched a fantastic game and I don’t want to take anything away from him, but on top of him holding us hit-less for eight innings, we did a lot of other things that aren’t typical for our team,” head coach Jeff Forehand said. “I wish Zeke’s hit wasn’t our only highlight but to keep fighting on that and to push through and not get a no-hitter is an accomplishment, but a small one at best.” One highlight that came for Lipscomb happened in the first inning as Michael Gigliotti made a top-10 catch to rob Julian Infante of a two-run home run. “Michael Gigliotti’s catch was probably one of the best plays I’ve seen in 25 years and I thought that would be a spark for us but the spark just tapered away,” Forehand said. The game was scoreless up until the third inning when Vanderbilt began to warm up. Stephen Scott got the offense moving with an RBI single to put the Commodores on the board 1-0. Vanderbilt’s bats stayed hot as the team tallied on three more runs in the next inning while Lipscomb struggled through a pitching change before escaping the inning 4-0. Lipscomb held the Commodores in the 6th inning but would give up six more runs before the game came to a close. Recent...
by Eric Ansett | Mar 27, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s six-game winning streak came to a screeching halt on Sunday due to a sub-par pitching performance and the opportunistic hitting of Evansville. The Aces scored seven runs in the fifth frame to break a 3-3 tie and cruised to a 10-5 victory at Ken Dugan field to avoid being swept by the Bisons. Junior pitcher Dayton Tripp suffered his first loss of the season on the mound, allowing six runs on 10 hits in four innings of work. Tripp pitched in the fifth inning but did not record an out as Evansville quickly loaded the bases before he was taken out of the game. The Bisons could not seem to get out of the inning as they went through four pitchers (Tripp, Dallas Gibson, Alex Dorso and Adam Stewart) and slowly lost control as Evansville belted the ball all over the field. “I always tell our team that in a college baseball game someone is always going to crack,” skipper Jeff Forehand said after the game. “After they got runners on base, that’s when you need to put the fire out and only give up 2 or 3 instead of 7. All the momentum and energy was on their side, and that big inning was what killed us.” The loss brought a six-game win streak to an end and moved the Bisons to 14-9 on the season. After falling behind 1-0, left-fielder Lee Solomon drove in catcher Jeffrey Crisan on a groundout to get the Bisons on the board. First baseman Cade Sorrels then drove in Von Watson with a double down the left-field line to give the...
by Erin Franklin | Mar 25, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
In an intense duel, Lipscomb kept its six-game win streak intact after a close 4-3 win over Evansville Saturday afternoon at Ken Dugan field. After a 4-1 win over the Purple Aces Friday night, the Bisons came back with junior Jeffrey Passantino as starting pitcher and senior Denton Norman coming in relief in the top of the ninth. Passantino tied his career-high in strikeouts with 10. “I made one bad pitch all day, in the eighth inning,” Passantino said. “I had to pitch out of some jams right there. They were bunting and got some cheap hits, so we really had to bear down and focus after I gave up that first run, but we brought good intensity today.” Evansville started off the top of the second inning with a quick single to drive in the first run of the game, but the Bisons managed to get out of the inning with only one run allowed. Lipscomb came right back and gained its first run of the game in the second inning as well to tie it up. “I really think Jeffrey pitched so well, and their guy pitched well too, but the turning point, I think, was when we came back and got a run after they scored in the second,” head coach Jeff Forehand said. Junior Michael Gigliotti kept the momentum going, smashing a double in the third and immediately advancing to third base on a fielding error. Sophomore Cade Sorrells then shot a hard single, bringing in Gigliotti for the Bisons’ second run. In the bottom of the sixth with bases loaded and two outs, sophomore...
by Erin Franklin | Mar 25, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
With a pair of home runs from Zeke Dodson and a one-run outing from pitcher Brady Puckett, the Lipscomb Bisons (13-8) brought home a win over the Evansville Purple Aces Friday night at Ken Dugan field. Not only did the Bisons keep their five-game win streak intact, but head coach Jeff Forehand got his 500th collegiate win tonight (211 Trevecca, 289 Lipscomb). “It’s great,” Forehand said. “It will be big probably for me later on. I don’t want to make light of the whole thing because it is a cool thing, but this is a win — and it’s great. I’m happy to have 500 and hopefully I’ll be around for 600.” Puckett and Dodson also had big nights for the team, with Puckett nailing down the 4-1 win with strong defensive play and Dodson with solid offensive play. Pitching a full nine innings, Puckett entered the game with 18 career wins. This victory tied him with Brandon McClurg (06-09) for the most career wins in the program’s NCAA era. “I thought Brady pitched really well,” Forehand said. “To pitch all nine innings and only give up one run, that’s a really good start, and we’ve really come to expect that from him.” For the first three innings, Puckett set the tone for the rest of the game, going three up three down each inning. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Evansville’s Kenton Crews got a single off the 6’9″ pitcher for the Purple Aces’ first hit of the game. Puckett finished the game only allowing six hits. The Bisons had some close calls during the game but...
by Lindsey Nance | Mar 23, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
Get your brooms out, folks. In a battle of young rosters, Lipscomb (23-7) defeated Conference USA foe Western Kentucky (18-15) in a mid-week doubleheader to snag a seventh consecutive win. Western Kentucky has one of the youngest teams in the country with nine freshman, two sophomores, three juniors and two seniors. Lipscomb follows closely with six freshman, four sophomores, three juniors and three seniors. The two teams have met 27 times with Lipscomb leading the way in the series. Sophomore pitcher Mandy Jordan showed why she is this week’s ASUN Pitcher of the Week and TSWA Pitcher of the Week as she led her team to victory with 12 strikeouts and an almost perfect game. “I thought Mandy did a great job in game one,” Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman said. “I don’t feel like they were really able to generate anything against her until that home run in the seventh.” Freshman Chloe Yeager got things started on offense with a RBI in the top of the second to put Lipscomb on the board 1-0. Senior Kasey Gibson followed up with two runs batted in to extend the lead 3-0. Jordan continued the momentum by cranking up the heat in the fifth inning and striking out three Hilltoppers in a row. Jordan kissed the no-hitter and shutout goodbye when Jordan Mauch for WKU smashed a home run over right-center field in the top of the seventh inning. Lipscomb held off the Hilltoppers for the remainder of the game as they defeated WKU 4-1 in the first game. “We only had six hits on the board, but I’m not disappointed with...
