by Hunter Patterson | May 25, 2010 | Sports
MACON, Ga. – The Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Championship begins Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. at Dugan Field at Marsh Stadium on the campus of Lipscomb University. FGCU enters the championship as the No. 1 seed after claiming it third consecutive A-Sun regular season title. The Eagles open the A-Sun Championship at 11:00 a.m. CT Wednesday against in-state rival Stetson. The Eagles feature one of the top pitchers in the country in left hander Chris Sale. Sale, a junior, enters the week leading the conference in wins, ERA and strikeouts. The Lakeland, Fla. native sits as the national leader in strikeouts and a candidate for several national awards including the National Pitcher of the Year and Golden Spikes Awards, given to nation’s top player. Sale sits eighth in the conference single season record books in strikeouts with 135, the most by an A-Sun pitcher since Justin Pope of UCF sat down 158 in 2001, while his ERA ranks T-13th best. The Eagles own the conference’s top team ERA by nearly a half run, while boasting a balanced offense with all but one starter featuring a batting average over .300. Mikel Alvarez leads the Eagles in batting average with a .398 mark. Tim Roberson and Zach Maxfield provide the power in the FGCU lineup with the pair each having reached double figures in home runs and collecting at least 56 RBIs. The balance helped the Eagles finish seven and half games clear of the A-Sun field in the regular season standings. While FGCU claimed the A-Sun regular season title two weeks ago, Stetson needed a win in the final game of...
by Hunter Patterson | Mar 28, 2010 | Sports
The Bison baseball hosted ETSU on Friday and Saturday. While the Bisons won on Friday by a score of 9-4, the team lost both games of their doubleheader on Saturday, however, losing 15-6 and 6-3. Game 1 On Friday, senior Josh Smith tstarted for the Bisons. This was Smith’s fifth decision of the season. The win brought his record to 4-1 overall. Smith’s strikeout total, 15, was the highest for the Bison’s in four years. ETSU got on the board early in the first, the Bisons, however, answered back with two runs in the third. Kyle Henry started off the inning with a double to center. Henry moved over to third on a Tyler Wilson groundout. M.L. Williams then walked on four straight pitches. Lee Wilson drove in Henry on a single to right. Kyle Messer got the second RBI of the inning on a sac-fly that brought in Williams. In the fourth, Henry reached base again on a triple. That hit brought in Hostettler and Hoelzer. Henry scored later on a sac-bunt courtesy of Tyler Wilson. Zach Messer then made a stir of the ballpark, getting a rare inside the park homerun. The hit brought in Lee Wilson and M.L. Williams. Before the game was over ETSU had score 3 more runs, Lipscomb one more. Smith held on for the victory pitching 9 complete innings, giving up four runs on 5 hits. Game 2 The Bisons were back at it again on Saturday for a double header with ETSU. Alex Ross made the start for the Bisons giving up seven hits and five runs, all earned, in three...
by Hunter Patterson | Mar 28, 2010 | News Slider, Sports
It was a busy weekend for the Lady Bisons hosting ETSU and USC twice on the weekend. The ladies swept ETSU 5-0 and 2-1 as part of their “Strike Out Cancer” night to raise breast cancer awareness. Game 1 Sophomore pitcher Whitney Kiihnl improved her record to 15-2 Friday night in game one, throwing her fourth no-hitter of the season. The Lady Bisons scored four runs in the fourth. Megan Rottler singled to score Christen Campbell for run number one. Lauren Dortwegt then singled to center, which brought in Mollie Mitchell and Rottler. Dortwegt scored the fourth run when Mackenzie Tucker singled to bring her in. The Lady Bisons added one more run in the sixth to make it 5-0 when Whitney Kiihnl scored on an error by ETSU’s catcher. Center fielder Lauren Dortwegt had a great game from the plate, going 3-4 with 2 RBI’s. Her double in the third was also the only extra-base hit from either team. Mackenzie Tucker and Kellie Sirus both had two hits. Kiihnl shut down ETSU, striking out 10 and walking none. Kiihnl was one error away from her second perfect game of the season. Game 2 In the second game of the evening the Lady Bison’s got on the board early. In the first inning the ladies loaded the bases with Tucker, Keese, and Sirus. The next batter, Campbell walked to bring in Tucker. ETSU tied the game at one in the third inning when Schneider doubled to left, driving in one run. The game remained tied after 7 complete innings, sending the game into extras. In the bottom of the...
by Hunter Patterson | Mar 22, 2010 | Sports
While many students took a break during the week, the athletic teams were very busy. During spring break week, the nationally ranked Lady Bison softball team traveled to Hawaii for the Spring Fling in Honolulu. The Lady Bisons opened up tournament play with a bang, defeating California by a score of 1-0. In that game, sophomore pitcher Whitney Kiihnl pitched seven scoreless innings for the win. Mollie Mitchell drove in Kellie Sirus to give the Lady Bison’s their lone run for the game. California was ranked twelfth in the nation. After defeating California, the Lady Bisons lost four straight, losing two apiece to California and Hawaii. The Lady Bisons record as of now stands at 20-7. The team returns to play on Friday, March 26, at Draper Diamond for a double header against ETSU. Game times are 4 and 6 p.m. The tennis teams were also in action over the break. The men’s team went 1-2 over the break defeating Florida Gulf Coast 4-3 and losing to Stetson and Georgia State. Winners for Lipscomb against FGCU were Daniel Hangstefer, Colby Shaw, and Tanner Brown in singles. In doubles, Chad Perron and Tanner Brown along with Colby Shaw and Mario Hernandez brought home two wins for the Bisons. Their record is now 4-7 on the year. The Bisons return home on Tuesday to face Austin Peay University. Matches begin at 2:30 p.m. On the women’s side, the ladies struggled going 0-4 against North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida A&M and FGCU. The Lady Bisons’ record now stands at 4-12. The team returns to play on the twenty-third to face APSU. The Bison...
