by Spencer Boehme | Jan 27, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb University hosted former Atlanta Braves superstar Fred McGriff during its annual First Pitch Dinner on Saturday. Jonathan Seamon, the ESPN+ play-by-play man for the Bisons, emceed the event. He also interviewed Lipscomb baseball coach Jeff Forehand, alongside the team’s senior players, as they anticipated the upcoming 2019 season. Bisons’ head coach Jeff Forehand said that the dinner, which featured a live auction and encouraged fan donations, “was definitely a good night for us as far as raising a few dollars to help” the team and its facilities. The event began with a time of socialization, light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, and then everyone sat down and ate a complimentary dinner with current players. The baseball season starts Feb. 15 at home against Valparaiso. You can read our season preview here. McGriff injects humor, wisdom and reflection during his interview McGriff started off with an anecdote about how his 10th grade high school baseball team released him. “When [people] see my baseball coach around town, they’re like, ‘Dude, you cut Fred McGriff!'” he said. McGriff played 19 years in the MLB, including five with Atlanta. He was with the Braves during their 1995 World Series victory. “[The] Braves had always made the playoffs and were trying to get over the hump and win a World Series,” McGriff said. “So it was always the pressure on the guys to finally come through and win a World Series.” He finished his career with a .284 batting average, 1,550 RBIs and 493 home runs, per Baseball Reference. At one point, he talked about media coverage of golf rounds between a team’s pitchers....
by Carly Reams | Jan 19, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Expect a tough schedule ahead for the Lipscomb baseball team — but with a much healthier roster to start the season. The 2019 season is just around the corner for the Bisons as they prepare for their first matchup against Valparaiso University on Feb. 15 in an opening home weekend series at Dugan Field. Head coach Jeff Forehand’s unit is coming off of a losing season but brings back a roster full of experienced players. Unfortunately, the Bisons dealt with a plague of injuries last year. “For last year’s season, it started on the mound,” pitching coach James Ogden said. “And then guys like Lee Solomon and even Jeffrey Crisan had to miss a significant amount of time; and then, those were staples of our team that had been around a long time.” This problem has been mostly corrected for the 2019 season, as Ogden says the team realizes getting everyone healthy is something they definitely need to correct. They have done so in some of their training and in therapy and rehabilitation. Almost everyone is ready to play minus a few sprains and tendonitis. And they need to be healthy. This season will be one of the highest RPI schedules when ranked against those prior, with more Power 5 opponents and teams that ranked in the RPI’s top 100. Lipscomb has a much tougher schedule, but Forehand explains that this is all by design. “The ASUN league is a very good league coming off of last year’s season, the seventh-best league in the country,” Forehand said. “So, every team in the league is playing those RPI games. That’s...
by Russell Vannozzi | Oct 2, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
BALTIMORE – Caleb Joseph has never been one for moral victories, and a historically-bad MLB season did nothing to change his mind. Joseph’s Baltimore Orioles were inept from the outset and finished the year with a 47-115 record. The former Lipscomb standout refused to sugarcoat the franchise’s worst season since its inception in 1901. “It’s been a disappointment to say the least,” he said. “We lost a historical amount of games. It’s quite a different atmosphere [from what] I’ve been used to in Baltimore.” Joseph drew national media attention in mid-September when he spoke his mind to The Athletic’s Dan Connolly. By that point, Joseph’s frustrations had nearly boiled over. “I’ve never seen sports teams survive seasons like this without people losing jobs, period,” Joseph told Connolly. “Players, you name it. It’s a privilege to be here, but you don’t lose a record number of games and not expect some retribution. Everybody. Every single locker in here should be thinking, ‘You know, I should be fired because I sucked. Period.’” The 32-year-old catcher did not back down from his previous statements, but he emphasized that he’d like to be part of the team’s solution following a fire sale that included trading top players like Jonathan Schoop, Manny Machado, Kevin Gausman, Zach Britton and Brad Brach. “There was a lot that was on my mind that day,” Joseph said of his candid September remarks. “I feel strongly about this organization. This is the only organization I’ve known. I want to fight for it. I had some things to say that were potentially controversial, but I’m a hard worker, and I...
by Charlie Bateman | May 31, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
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...
by Charlie Bateman | May 30, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb baseball team fell to Vanderbilt 9-1 at the NCAA regional game at Hawkins Field Friday night. Vanderbilt spread out its scoring in the second, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Commodores started the scoring with two runs in the second inning on a two-run homer by left fielder Jeren Kendall. Vanderbilt’s big inning came in the sixth when it scored a total of five runs on three singles and a double. “We held with Vanderbilt the first few innings,” Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand said. “We just gave them too many freebies.” The only run for the Bisons came from junior redshirt Adam Lee. “I saw that [Vandy starter Carson Fulmer] threw a slider on a three-two pitch,” Lee said. “I put a good swing on it, which led to a base hit.” Lee’s RBI was Fulmer’s first run surrendered in 27 and 2/3 innings at home. The last one was on March 14 against Arkansas. Fulmer, who is considered to be a first-round draft pick by many experts, pitched seven innings and had 11 strike outs. “We knew what he [Fulmer] was going to bring,” Forehand said. “He was using the breaking ball effectively and threw it short, which really messed with our batters. “It is hard to prepare for a guy that throws a 95-mile-an-hour fastball and the next pitch is a 79-mile-an-hour breaking ball at your waist.” Forehand said he hopes the bats for Lipscomb will ignite its offense Saturday. Lipscomb will take on Radford on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the losers’ bracket. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
