Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Lipscomb University

Offcanvas Scoreboard

tyson

Baseball

Where Are They Now? - Tyson Ashcraft (Baseball)

Tyson Ashcraft played many roles on the Lipscomb baseball team and earned multiple ASUN All-Academic honors. In 2013 he led the Bisons in hitting with a .303 average. He spent some time this week talking with Lipscombsports.com about his memories of Lipscomb on and off the baseball field.
 
 
What years did you compete for Lipscomb, and who coached you?
 
2011-2015. Jeff Forehand was the head coach. The assistants were Paul Phillips, Chris Collins, James Ogden, Brad Coon and Tyler Shrout. Brian Ryman was in operations.

 
What teammates were most memorable, and why?
 
Oh man, I have a handful – Adam Lee, Josh Lee, Jonathan Allison, Griffin Moore and Will Blalock. That is a long list. I will stop there.
 
Will and I started playing travel ball together when we were 13. He was always one of my best friends growing up. He is one of the reasons I ended up going to Lipscomb because I knew him, and he talked highly of it. He is a lifelong friend. We talk together all of the time.
 
I played against and with Adam and Josh all through high school. They transferred to Lipscomb my junior year. They are good friends. I had been friends with them before, I ended up living with Adam a year after we graduated. They are great friends and teammates I have known almost my whole life.
 
Jonathan Allison transferred in from Vol State when we were juniors. He fell right into the team. He did great impressions of some guys who were always around watching games. He was also a great teammate and great friend.
 
Griffin and I were roommates my freshman year. We got the whole college experience starting off together. We never played together but he grew up around Nashville and we had some of the same friends. We played summer ball together after our freshman year up in New York, so we tackled New York together. He stayed with me at Christmas break one year.
 
Baseball teams are big groups. I was in Will's wedding, Josh's wedding and Jonathan's wedding and they were all in mine. They are a good crew. They are a bunch of guys I will be friends with until we get old and die.
 

What degree have you earned, from where, and when?
 
I have a B.S. in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from Lipscomb. I graduated in 2015.
 

Why did you attend Lipscomb?
 
Will Blalock was the biggest part of it. He sold me on coming to Lipscomb.
 
I had some other schools who were looking at me for baseball and football as well. I did not enjoy football practice. I always had more fun playing baseball so that ruled out a couple of schools.
 
Coach Forehand was great, and I still stay in touch with him. Chris Collins was the recruiting guy. He was a good dude. I really enjoyed talking with him and Coach Forehand. They had our best interests in mind. You are looking for people who are good foundational personalities and people to have in your life and get to know.
 
My sister, Tory, played volleyball at Lipscomb.  I got to know coach Brandon Rosenthal. I spent a lot of time on campus watching her play volleyball. I liked being on campus.
 
A lot of people want to be a small or medium sized fish in a big pond. I would rather be a medium sized fish to a big fish in a smaller pond. I liked it was a smaller community where you could get to know everybody and know everything that was going on.
 

What is your favorite athletic memory at Lipscomb?
 
Winning the ASUN Tournament championship against North Florida my senior year and going to the NCAA Regional at Vanderbilt.
 
Earlier in the year beating Vanderbilt, No. 1 at time, with a freshman, Brady Puckett, on the mound was fun but not like winning the championship.

 
Who influenced your athletic career at Lipscomb?
 
It is a tie for first between Jeff Forehand, Paul Phillips and Brad Coon for various reasons.
 
I came in as an infielder and started pitching. I played outfield. I did a little bit of everything. I utilized everything I had. Forehand was the one behind all of that.
 
Phillips had such a knowledge of the game. He was one of the best people around looking at the game on a higher level and understanding what is going on and why certain things happen.
 
Coon is in the same ballpark. Phillips played in the majors and Coon played minor league ball for a long time. They just had different knowledge and understanding of the game and the right way to do things.
 
They were all three equally important and played high level roles for me.
 

What do you remember about Lipscomb campus life during your time here?
 
During my freshman and sophomore years in High Rise I got to know people who weren't athletes or who played for a while and decided to do something else. I liked the smaller atmosphere. I wasn't stuck in an athletes' only dorm. I built relationships outside the teammates you were going to be good friends and family with.
 
I remember the ping pong  games and when Mike Smith (High Rise head resident) cooked wings.  We had a lot of fun in the dorm doing all kinds of stuff we shouldn't have done.
 

What is the most valuable lesson you learned in your time at Lipscomb?
 
I would say you don't always realize the impact you are going to have based on your role on the team. Everybody plays a pretty valuable role whatever they are doing, whether it is work or playing sports. Everybody brings something to it whether you are standing in the dugout filling out one of the charts Phillips made everybody keep stats on or you, you play half a game or get one at bat. What you do is just as valuable as the person who started every game.
 

Who were your favorite professors and why?
 
Dr. Lynn Griffith. I had a ton of classes with him. Jonathan Payne, who didn't play a sport, also had him for classes. We would talk about Dr. Griffith. He was a good guy. Not only did he make classes as fun as they could be for 19- or 20-year-olds who don't want to be sitting in the classroom, but he talked a lot about his upbringing and the struggles he had in life. That meant a lot.
 
He would tell us stories about Samuel (who the Griffiths adopted from Haiti). When we were in college, he was 12 or 13. You don't think about it then, but after six or seven years you realize he gave you good life lessons. He was a good guy to have five or six classes with.
 

Where did you grow up?
 
I grew up in Brentwood, Tennessee. I went to Brentwood High School.
 

Where do you live, and what do you do now?
 
I live in Nolensville, Tennessee. I manage the cyber security division based here in Nashville for ALKU.
 

Tell us about your family:
 
My wife, Chandler (Cooper), played basketball at Lipscomb. We have two little boys. Reese is three. Cade is a year-and-a-half.
 

FAST FINISH:
  • Favorite food: Steak
  • Favorite TV show or movie: The Big Lebowski
  • Favorite Bible scripture: Philippians 4: 6-7
  • Favorite sports team: Tennessee Titans
  • Person I most admire: My Dad, Stephen
  • Person I'd most like to meet: Albert Einstein
  • Rather ride or drive? Drive
  • Pick one – salad or dessert:  Dessert
  • Dream vacation spot: Fiji
  • Early morning or late-night person? Early morning
 
If you wish to Tyson, please do so at the email listed below:
  • tashcraft@alku.com
Print Friendly Version
Lipscomb University athletics logo