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 SEC player of the week Jeren Kendall put a nail in the coffin as he launched the ball over right field for a grand slam.
“It’s disappointing that we got the opportunity but we didn’t perform like we’re capable of,” Forehand said.
Only five Bisons reached base the entire game.
Vanderbilt now leads the series with Lipscomb 20-3.
“We have got to get through this one pretty quick and learn from it,” Forehand said. “After taking it on the chin like we just did, we have got to learn from it and bounce back and be ready for conference play to start Friday.
The Bisons start up conference play this weekend with a series against USC Upstate.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics