by Erin Franklin | May 27, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
It took the North Florida Ospreys 10 innings to beat Lipscomb’s Bisons, 1-0, Friday morning at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. Originally scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, rain delays throughout the tournament forced the No. 4 Lipscomb vs. No. 2 North Florida game to be moved to 9 a.m. on Friday. Sophomore pitcher Jeffrey Passantino took the mound to begin the game for the Bisons. He pitched 9.2 innings and threw threw 84 strikes, allowed one walk, six hits and zero runs. The Osprey’s freshman pitcher Austin Drury held his own, though. After pitching eight innings, Drury exited the field, having struck out eight and allowing two hits. In the top of the fourth, Lipscomb freshman Zeke Dodson had the Bison’s first hit of the day, singling to left field. He was left on first, though, as the Bisons couldn’t bring him home. In the top of the ninth, Lee Solomon singled for the Bison’s second hit of the game. This was the last of the two hits Drury allowed. After Drury, North Florida brought in Corbin Olmstead, Daniel Moritz and Matthew Naylor to pitch, with Naylor ending up getting the win for the Ospreys. Lipscomb’s Passantino handed the ball over to senior pitcher Cody Glenn in the bottom of the 10th inning. In the tenth inning, North Florida’s Dakota Higdon hit a walk-off triple to right-center, driving in Bubba Olivera as the needed run to make the final score 1-0. This ended Lipscomb’s five-game win streak and continued North Florida’s eight-game win streak. Last year’s final in the ASUN Championship was between Lipscomb and North Florida,...
by Erin Franklin | May 26, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Despite a nearly two-hour rain delay, the Lipscomb Bisons stormed ahead, battling the Jacksonville Dolphins for a win at Ken Dugan Field on Wednesday night. Originally scheduled for 7 p.m., the game didn’t get started until 8:50 p.m., due to the downpour that began before the game was about to start. Once the game began though, the Bisons stayed mentally focused, refusing to let the delay get to them. Sophomore starting pitcher Brady Puckett said that it can be difficult not getting distracted by a rain delay, but it’s something he’s learned to overcome. “It’s kind of tough, but that’s just part of it,” Puckett said. He added, “It happened last week too, so you just get used to it.” Puckett pitched a great seven innings, striking out eight, walking none and allowing four runs. The Bisons not only had a good defensive game, but they also swung the bat well to bring home a win in the early hours of Thursday morning at about 12 a.m. “Any win is a good win. We swung the bat pretty good…Tevin had two homers; Hunter had a homer. We hit the ball really, really well, to go along with Brady pitching so well,” Coach Jeff Forehand said. Redshirt freshman Tevin Symonette hit two bombs, the latter a two-run homer. Junior Hunter Hanks also hit a two-run homer in the second inning, making the score 3-0. Sophomore Lee Solomon had four solid hits as well, one of those being a double that nearly went out, bouncing off the wall and driving in one run. The Jacksonville Dolphins were not about to give up that easily, though. Jacksonville...
by Erin Franklin | May 26, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The college track and field season has started to wind down, but five Lipscomb athletes are just getting started. Seniors Gemikal Prude and Madi Talbert, juniors Barbara Lee Ball and Sally Larson and sophomore Wayne Newman are at North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA Division I East Region Preliminaries. The competition begins Thursday afternoon and finishes Saturday. Ball and Larson will be running in the 10,000 meter race at 8 p.m. Thursday. Ball, who recently made the All-Academic Team, is making her first appearance at the East Preliminaries. It is Larson’s second time, although she competed in the 5,000m last season. At 7:50 p.m. Friday, Talbert will be competing in the 3,000m steeplechase, her fourth consecutive appearance in that event. She’s also making her second straight appearance in the 5,000m, which begins at 7:05 p.m. Saturday. Newman, who was also selected to the All-Academic Team, will be competing in two events, the 400m hurdles at 4 p.m. Thursday and the 110m hurdle at 4:30 p.m. Friday. This is his second year advancing in the 110m hurdle, and he holds the school record in both those events. Prude is taking on the high jump competition at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. This is his third consecutive appearance in the event at the East Preliminaries. Because of successfully making it to the preliminaries, the track and field season has been going on for months for these five athletes, but Prude said despite feeling physically taxed at times, he and the rest of the Bisons are ready. “The track season is a long one,” he said. “It can be very demanding, and of course you’ll deal with...
by Erin Franklin | May 24, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Coming off of a great performance against Stetson this past weekend, the Lipscomb baseball team hopes to keep the momentum going as it hosts the Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship tournament this week at Ken Dugan Field. No. 4 Lipscomb will battle it out at Dugan Field for its opening game against No. 3 Jacksonville at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Coach Jeff Forehand said he is looking forward to having the home-field advantage. “It’s good anytime we get to play at home,” he said. “We’d hosted it here a few years ago, but we didn’t qualify for that tournament.” This past weekend, Lipscomb had one of its best series’ performances, as the Bisons swept all three games against Stetson. Forehand said the team is “looking good,” and they’re hoping to continue their winning streak. “It’s always nice to end the season on a good note like we did [at Stetson], and everyone is healthy,” Forehand said. “Anytime you’re winning some games right after the other it’s great. We plan on using those wins against Stetson to our advantage.” One of the players who will be key in bringing home a win against Jacksonville is sophomore Lee Solomon. Solomon recently won the Atlantic Sun Baseball Player of the Week for his first time. Solomon is the team leader in multi-hit games with 21 this season. In addition to Solomon, Forehand said there are several players to keep an eye on in the upcoming games. “You can keep an eye on Adam Lee; he’s a senior. Lee Solomon has been playing really well, and Michael Gigliotti has been playing really well, too.” Lee was key...
by Erin Franklin | May 7, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
An important first in school history, the men’s golf team received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which will take place May 16-18. “Today’s a historic day in our program. Any time you do something for the first time it is pretty remarkable,” Lipscomb golf director Will Brewer said. The news was announced on live television on the Golf Channel Thursday morning. “It’s always exciting when you see your name posted on national television,” Brewer said. At the end of the tournament, the top five teams from each region, plus the top individual from each region not on one of the advancing teams, will go to the NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship in Eugene, Oregon, May 27-June 1. The golf team also received the honor of having two students placed on the Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Golf All-Academic Team. Sophomore journalism and new media major Eric Ansett and junior financial markets major Stoney Crouch were selected to the five-member team. Two more students selected to the team, Austin Schultz and Jake Sherwin, play at FCGU. The other student making up the five-person team is Fredrik Nilehn, who plays at Kennesaw State. Additional reporting by Lipscomb Athletics Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
by Charlie Bateman | May 1, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons’ bats paved the way to victory as they swept NJIT 11-2, 12-11 and 22-12 at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. Due to concerns of rain this weekend, the Bisons played a doubleheader on Friday and moved their start time to 3 p.m. to not have any weather delays. To open up the series in the first game, the Bisons scored a total of 11 runs. One of Lipscomb’s contributors was junior Hunter Hanks who had two home runs and a RBI single. “He played his best series of the year,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “I think him focusing so much on studying for exams this weekend caused him to be able to play loose and relax.” Lipscomb rallied in the second game. Down by four runs in the ninth, the Bisons ended up winning the game in extra innings. They got a walk-off two-run RBI single from Lee Solomon to win the game in the bottom of the tenth. The final score in the second game was 12-11. In the final game of the series, the Bisons put up a school record of 22 runs to take the final game of the series 22-12. The biggest hit of the game was a grand slam by freshman Cade Sorrels for his first college-career home run. “I think we are maturing as hitters,” Forehand said. “We were able to put up some good at-bats and some great approaches at the plate, which led to all those runs.” This is the first sweep in Atlantic Sun play for the Bisons this year. “Any sweep in the conference is hard to...
