by Charlie Bateman | Apr 6, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb baseball team rallied in the ninth but fell short as it lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores 4-3 Tuesday night. Vanderbilt scored four runs in the bottom of the third. The big hit for the Commodores came from sophomore right fielder Jeren Kendall on a two-run RBI double. Vanderbilt’s other runs came from an RBI single and an error made in the inning. Lipscomb scored two runs in the top of the sixth, with the first run coming from a solo home run by junior Hunter Hanks. “Hanks got in front of a changeup and was able to put a great swing on the ball,” said Lipscomb baseball head coach Jeff Forehand. “He was able to crack the lid on a scoring drought at the beginning of the game. It was a huge home run that started our scoring.” Lipscomb’s other two runs came from two RBI groundouts by freshman Tevin Symonette and sophomore Lee Solomon. The Bisons’ bullpen combination of freshman Alex Dorso and junior John Pryor gave up no runs for the rest of the game. “We finally got from our bullpen what we knew they were capable of doing tonight,” Forehand said. “John and Alex both had great outings. If we can get more consistency from our bullpen, like we did tonight, we should be able to have a great season.” Lipscomb will be at Dugan Field this weekend as it plays a three-game series against USC Upstate. “I hope we can build off of how we played in this game,” Forehand said. “We made a couple of mistakes in the third inning but were...
by Todd Lamberth | Apr 3, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
After dropping the first game of the series by seven runs, the Lipscomb softball team bounced back to take the series against Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday afternoon. Florida Gulf Coast exploded for nine runs in game one of the series on Saturday, but the Lady Bisons (20-18, 5-4) outscored the Eagles 15-1 in the final two games. Reigning Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Week, Riley Randolph from FGCU, was able to stifle the Lipscomb hitters in game one, but the Lady Bisons found some success against her on Sunday. “I think it is huge when we can make those adjustments,” Lipscomb head coach Kristin Ryman said. “Saturday night the girls watched their bats against Randolph. That was smart for them to see what she was throwing and what adjustments they needed to make this time around.” At the plate, sophomore Abby Fenichel went four of eight at the plate with three RBIs and a homerun in Sunday’s win. Senior pitcher Kelly Young allowed just one run during the 13 innings she pitched, including allowing just one hit in Saturday’s win. “I thought Kelly really did a nice job. We had some nice defensive plays behind her,” Ryman said. “Kelly is throwing with so much confidence right now. As coaches we know what kind of pitcher she is. She has really picked up steam and is trending upwards. She is throwing well and that is what we need.” With the series win, the Lady Bisons move into a tie for second place in conference standings. Ryman wants her team to keep playing with confidence in a conference she believes will remain very tight. “Our feet have to stay...
by Todd Lamberth | Mar 30, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
After scoring 34 runs over the weekend, the Lipscomb baseball team continued with a 12-4 win against Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday. Lipscomb (16-9) fell behind early before senior Adam Lee connected for a three-run homerun in the third inning to jumpstart the offense. The Bisons went on to score five more runs in the inning and take a 9-3 lead. After freshman Alex Dorso gave up three runs in three innings during his first career start, classmate Adam Stewart entered the game, allowing just one run in five innings. While head coach Jeff Forehand was pleased with the offensive performance from his team, he was quick to point out the job by his pitching staff. “It’s fun to see us put up double-digit runs,” Forehand said. “But the thing about tonight was the guys on the mound, the bullpen, was good. They gave us a chance to come back like that after we went down.” The Bison pitching staff was aided by five double plays. The offensive display along with the defensive effort is the kind of all-around play Forehand wants to see from his guys. “It all goes together,” Forehand said. “We turned five double plays tonight and those are always big momentum swings, not just for the defense but for the offense when we come in.” After stealing a program record five bases on Sunday, sophomore Lee Solomon took three more bases on Tuesday to bring his season total to 20, good for top-10 in the nation. Solomon also went a perfect 4-4 from the plate with three RBIs. “Last few games we’ve expected him to get a hit and steal a base, which seems like it’s...
by KJ Lauck | Mar 30, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb softball team (18-16) lost to in-state foe Tennessee (26-8) 7-1 Tuesday afternoon at Draper Diamond at Smith Sadium in front of a record crowd of 553. Senior Tanner Sanders (8-9) took to the circle for Lipscomb. The Lady Vols added the first run of the game in the third as freshman Brook Vines single scored sophomore CJ McClain from third base. Senior Lexi Overstreet added two more runs to the Tennessee lead with a two-run double with two outs in the third to make it 3-0. “We made a couple actual errors, but then we had a couple mental miscues,” head coach Kristin Ryman said. “I don’t think we always executed defensively tonight.” Senior Kelly Young took over for Sanders in the third when Sanders could not close out the inning after recording two outs. Young was able to get the final out and get out of the inning. “I thought our pitchers did a good job, just maybe some untimely hits after they got runners on,” Ryman said. Tennessee loaded the bases in the fourth, threatening to extend the lead. The bases were cleared by sophomore Meghan Gregg as she drove in three more runs, extending the lead to 6-0. Senior Dee Baddley made a leaping catch at the wall to make the third out of the inning. “Defensively executing with two outs and not leaving the door open, I think as soon as you do, against any team, they are going to take advantage of it,” Ryman said. The Lady Bisons’ scored a run in the fourth courtesy of senior Baylee Williams, who knocked in sophomore Abby Fenichel,...
by Charlie Bateman | Mar 27, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb baseball team wrapped up Easter weekend with a series against Mississippi Valley State, winning all three games — 7-1,11-1, 16-3. With these three wins, Lipscomb moves to 15-9 on the season. In the first game, the Bisons won 7-1. The big hit for Lipscomb came on a two-run, inside the park homerun by sophomore Michael Gigliotti. Starting pitcher and senior Cody Glenn pitched a complete game for the Bisons to take his record to 2-0 on the season. In the second game, the Bisons scored 11 runs to take the game 11-1. The game was shortened to seven innings by the coaches’ mutual agreement. It ended with a three-run homerun by Gigliotti. “I think Gigliotti would love to trade the homeruns for all the baseballs he hit on the nose,” said Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “That is the funny part about this game.” For the three games, Lipscomb’s starting pitchers had two complete games and an eight inning performance by sophomore Brady Puckett, who also had a career high 11 strikeouts. “The plan is that you always want to rest your bullpen as much as possible,” Forehand said. “You want to have the relief pitchers only come in when they have to.” The Bisons dominated the Delta Devils in the last game 16-3. In the sixth inning the Bisons scored five runs. The biggest hit of the game came from senior Adam Lee, who hit a grand slam homerun. Sophomore Lee Solomon also had the school record for stolen bases in a game with five. “Coach Coon and Lee work on that a lot during practice,” Forehand said....
by Todd Lamberth | Mar 24, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
After giving up three runs in the first inning, the Lady Bison softball team rallied in the seventh inning to beat rival Belmont 4-3 on Wednesday. Ahead 3-2 in the seventh with runners on the corners and two outs, Belmont’s Ashley Johnson threw freshman Khayla Green, allowing her to tie the game. After sophomore Abby Finichel walked, freshman Sarah Higgins stepped to the plate with runners on first and second and two outs. Facing a full count, Higgins shot her next pitch to center field to drive in junior Kasey Gibson and give the Lady Bisons the 4-3 win. “She (Higgins) had a rough game tonight and she’ll be the first to tell you that,” Lipscomb head coach Kristin Ryman said. “I thought for her to have as rough of a game as she did, at the end she honed back in a found a good pitch to hit.” Despite the win, Ryman was not pleased with what she saw from her team most of the game. “We escaped,” Ryman said. “Honestly, I feel like we got outplayed. Sure we’re happy with the win. Some tough lessons learned through that game. We can’t take pitches off and tonight we took several innings off.” Lipscomb (15-15) senior pitcher Kelly Young was able to settle down after allowing three Bruins to cross the plate in the first inning. Young hit her first batter and walked the second before Belmont’s Lexi Rouse took her first pitch over the left field wall to give her team a 3-0 lead. “Obviously, the tone wasn’t set from the get-go. You never want to give up three runs off the...
