Championship Coverage

Shane Simpkins produced four hits for the Bisons, who tallied 16 hits as a team.
Image courtesy of ASunPhotos.com

DeLAND, Fla. – One day after allowing a large lead to slip away, Lipscomb again took an early lead but this time the bullpen kept Stetson’s bats quiet en route to a 12-4 victory at the 2008 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship Presented by Progress Energy from Stetson’s Melching Field at Conrad Park.

The Bisons (30-28) surrendered an 8-1 lead to Belmont on Thursday, but came out swinging against Stetson’s Robby Donovan scoring two runs in the top of the first, all after the first two Lipscomb hitters were retired. Caleb Joseph started the rally with single. He then stole second followed by a four-pitch walk to Blake Bratcher. Justin Sanders then was hit by pitch and Shane Simpkins connected on his first of four hits with a single to right, plating Joseph and Bratcher.

Stetson (26-33) cut the lead in half with a run in its half of the first but the Bisons added to their lead with three in the top of the third. With one out and Joseph at first following his second single, he stole second. Justin Sanders walked and Simpkins reached on a single to load the bases. Joseph scored on Ryan Wilkins fielder's choice and Brendan Cadavid delivered the big blow of the inning, doubling home Sanders and Wilkins.

Again the Hatters made a dent the margin by scoring two in the bottom of the fourth, but the Bisons answered with three runs of their own in both the fifth and sixth innings. Simpkins opened the fifth inning with his third hit, a single up the middle; he advanced to second on a wild pitch and Wilkins walked ending the day for Donovan. With one out, Ben Williams singled in Simpkins. After a ground out, Allen Bolden singled to left field, chasing home Wilkins and Williams.

“We came out and knew we had to get ahead early,” Simpkins said. “We had a tough game last night, so we knew if we came out and made them play catch-up we knew it was going to be tough for them to win.”

In the sixth, Simpkins reached via error but with two outs Ben Williams singled advancing Simpkins to third. Gutierrez dumped a single into left scoring Simpkins and Williams. An error resulted in Gutierrez scoring to increase the lead to 11-3.

“Any time you get 16 hits you’ll take it, especially against a good club like that,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “Yesterday we thought we put up enough (runs), but against these teams in this tournament sometimes it isn’t. We continued to be positive, our energy was good and we didn’t let the small things affect us. We couldn’t stop the bleeding yesterday and today the vibe was a little different in the game.”

Charles Williams tossed five innings of one-run, three-hit baseball to improve his record to 3-0.

The Bisons will turn around and face Gardner-Webb in game nine, now scheduled for tonight at 8:30pm due to rain which delayed the start of the Belmont-Campbell game. Both games as well as all A-Sun Championship games can be seen on ASun.TV.

Notes: Lipscomb defeated Stetson three times in a season for the first time in program history…In each of the first seven games, the winning team has scored at least eight runs and the two teams have combined for at least 13 runs, both firsts in A-Sun Championship history…Through seven games, 106 runs have been scored, only three away from last year’s total, reached in 11 games…One day after dropping below .400, Jeremy Cruz collected three hits to finish the season at .404 joining Justin Bass (.404) as the first set of teammates to hit .400 in the 30-year history of the Atlantic Sun…Stetson fails to win at least two A-Sun Championship games for just the fourth time in its last 12 appearances.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.