Bisons defeat Kennesaw State in ASUN Opening Thriller

Friday, March 19

Dugan Field

4:00 PM

Lipscomb University

6-6, 0

Kennesaw State

10-6, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Kennesaw State	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	13	0
Lipscomb	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	6	10	0

Bisons defeat Kennesaw State in ASUN Opening Thriller

3/19/2021 8:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

NASHVILLE – Lipscomb baseball snapped a four-game losing skid on the opening night of its conference slate with a 6-5 win in an extra inning thriller against Kennesaw State. The Bisons improved to 6-6 and 1-0 in ASUN play.

Chaz Bertolani delivered the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 11^th inning. Tyler Guilfoil pitched 3.1 innings in relief to pick up his second win of the season.

Kennesaw State struck first to take the 1-0 lead in the top of the second after a leadoff solo shot. The owls tacked onto their lead in the top of the fifth to take a 4-0 advantage.

Lipscomb began to battle back in the bottom of the fifth with three runs of their own.

David Graves started the two-out rally with a double to left field.

??5?: Double time ?? @David_graves13 #HornsUp ?? pic.twitter.com/sZZYzOhyFG
— Lipscomb Baseball (@BisonBaseball) March 19, 2021

Back-to-back base hits from Brian Moore and Haddon Adams put the Bisons on the board.

??5?: @haddon_adams is absolute clutch with an RBI up the middle!

LIP: 1, KSU: 4#HornsUp ?? pic.twitter.com/OLhjmedaOI
— Lipscomb Baseball (@BisonBaseball) March 19, 2021

The final two runs of the inning came when Tiger Borom drove two home with a base hit to left field to cut the Kennesaw State lead 4-3.

Solid pitching from Noah Thompson kept the Owls scoreless in the top of the sixth, keeping the momentum going for the Bisons. After Carter Smith worked a one-out walk, Maddux Houghton gave Lipscomb the lead with one swing of the bat.

??5?: @MadduxHoughton appreciation post here...
????

LIP: 5, KSU: 4#HornsUp ?? pic.twitter.com/RsH7ZFXLum
— Lipscomb Baseball (@BisonBaseball) March 19, 2021

Houghton's home run gave the Bisons a 5-4 advantage heading into the final third of the game.

The Owls knotted things up 5-5 in the top of the eighth with a two-out rally of their own to plate the tying run. Kennesaw State threatened to take the lead with a runner in scoring position, but Tyler Guilfoil came in the game and forced a fly ball to get out of the inning.

Guilfoil continued to be impressive on the mound, getting the three outs needed to keep things tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.

M9: A @TylerGuilfoil punch out ends the top of the inning!

Time to get to work ??

LIP: 5, KSU: 5#HornsUp ?? pic.twitter.com/PyI6cI1RYd
— Lipscomb Baseball (@BisonBaseball) March 19, 2021

Nine innings was not enough to decide a winner, so the game would head into extra innings.

The Lipscomb offense struggled in the 10^th, but Guilfoil stayed strong and struck out five batters in the 10^th and 11^th to keep things tied up.

The Bisons found the winning run in the bottom of the 11^th.

Carter Smith worked a leadoff walk to put the winning run aboard. He then advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch.

Houghton singled to push Smith just 90-feet from home plate. Chaz Bertolani became the hero of the night with a base hit RBI to plate the winning run, securing the 6-5 victory.