Lipscomb baseball watched its season come to a close after losing to No. 18 Radford 5-2 in a NCAA Regional elimination game on Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Radford scored runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings. The largest number of runs came in the sixth inning, in which Radford scored three from an error, sacrifice fly and home run.
During the middle of the sixth inning, the game was delayed by rain for over an hour — something the Bisons have seen a lot of this year.
“We have been through so many weather delays this year, that the stoppage in play did not bother us,” senior Grant Massey said. “We actually felt at the time that it was an advantage to forget about what happened in the top of the sixth.”
Teammates echoed Massey, saying the delay would help them get in the right mindset to come up with a big rally in the later innings.
But Lipscomb still had trouble getting to Radford’s relievers.
“I have to give credit to all their pitchers including their reliever and closer,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “They had pitchers that were very precise and made the big plays when they needed to.”
The only runs for Lipscomb came from a two-run homer from senior Josh Lee. This was the only home run Lee had on the entire season. Lee, who played for Vanderbilt as a freshman before transferring to Central Arizona Community College, said it was odd to hit his only home run of the season at the field where his collegiate career began.
“[It was] definitely a full-circle experience for me,” Lee said. “[I am] just blessed to have this opportunity to come back and put Lipscomb back on the map in the college baseball world.”
Forehand said that Lee along with the other seniors played a big role in getting Lipscomb baseball to where it’s at now.
“It is hard for me to let this group go,” Forehand said. “This group has been such a big part of my life for a long time.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics