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...
by Erin Turner | May 3, 2015 | News Slider
A record number of graduates, a 1950s pop icon who rewrote the Lipscomb alma mater and Yellow Ribbon scholars who sacrificed so much were among the highlights Saturday when Lipscomb students were celebrated in the commencement ceremonies in Allen Arena. That icon, Pat Boone, introduced his “new” version of Lipscomb’s alma mater. He led that special part of the ceremony during which over 400 undergraduates crossed the stage to receive their diplomas and jubilant friends and families joined in the celebration. Boone, the original author of Lipscomb’s alma mater, recently made a few changes to the lyrics, but the melody remained the same. He described how he and Don Henley created the original song that he “rebooted” to make more modern this year. “I listened to some of the other college alma maters, and they’re impressive, and some are fight songs,
and based on my experience here, and knowing what Lipscomb is about, I felt it needed to have an anthem quality,” Boone said. “It needed to have a spiritual quality, because that’s who we are. “Not many colleges around this great United States can say that.” Backed up by four Lipscomb students, Boone led the audience in the updated alma mater. Like others who were toasted during the commencement exercises, Boone worked extra hard to attend the school where his spirituality was nurtured. Long before he became a Hollywood mainstay and resident of Beverly Hills, Boone and his brother worked through the summers so that they could afford going to Lipscomb Academy. His reasoning, likely echoed by all the graduates who were at saluted during the ceremony, was he wanted an education in a Christian context....
by Erin Turner | May 1, 2015 | News Slider
Gathered around a table in Pat Boone’s house recently, Lipscomb University President Randy Lowry and the Lipscomb-educated ’50s pop icon drafted a new version of the university’s alma mater. “My wife and I went out to Los Angeles to Beverly Hills about six to eight weeks ago, and we actually sat around a table in Pat Boone’s house and looked at the old music and then started playing with new words for the new music,” Lowry said. Lipscomb eliminated “David” from its title 10 or 15 years ago, and that was one of the major changes made to the song. In the lyrics “David Lipscomb” has been replaced with “Lipscomb University.” In addition to that change, Lowry said there were two places in the lyrics that were not inclusive for this time period. “[‘Brotherhood’] was a word that a church community would use and they would talk about all the churches ‘in the brotherhood,’ but it’s not particularly inclusive of women,” he said. With the help of Boone an updated alma mater was crafted using alternatives words. “An alma mater really tries to articulate some sense of relationship with this institution, and I think that one [the updated version] has a lot of really good stuff in it. “My sense is we always want to be alert to those moments where we can be a little more relevant, a little bit more sensitive, a little bit more inclusive, and after singing the alma mater for 10 years it just dawned on me: this is one of them,” he said. Keeping the original tune, Boone and Lowry gave the new lyrics an...
by Danielle Kinnen | Apr 26, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb University held its Don Meyer Evening of Excellence Saturday night to recognize the journey of coach Jim White, who is the subject of the Disney movie McFarland USA. The Don Meyer Evening of Excellence is named after the legendary former Lipscomb basketball coach who passed away in May of 2014 after a battle to cancer. Meyer coached at Hamline University for three years, Lipscomb for 24 years and Northern State for 11 years and finished with a career record of 923-324 in 38 seasons. Over the last six years, Lipscomb has had speakers that include Coach Meyer, former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, Duke head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens, Phil, Si and Kay Robertson from Duck Dynasty and “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks. The evening in Allen Arena was filled with Lipscomb donors, athletes and family of the soon-to-be graduated seniors. White coached McFarland High School to nine cross country state championships in 14 years. Most of White’s runners were the children of immigrant field workers, as McFarland is one of the poorest cities in California. White shared some advice of his well-rounded programs with Lipscomb’s athletes. “No one can tell you that you won’t achieve something, because I just turned around and did it anyway,” White said. “You must continue to do right the things that you know how, and be patient. It’s a process — it cannot be built over night. “You have to have that drive in all aspects of life and especially for the student athletes who continue to work hard on and off the field.” Lipscomb alum Keith Hayes was impressed by the work put...
