NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb University baseball team split a Saturday doubleheader with Bellarmine University, winning the first game, 7-2, to take the series, but the Knights avoided the series sweep with a 19-17 slugfest win from Ken Dugan Field.
Final Score (Game 1): Lipscomb 7, Bellarmine 2
Final Score (Game 2): Bellarmine 19, Lipscomb 17
Location: Ken Dugan Field
Records: Lipscomb (8-14, 3-3), Bellarmine (6-17, 2-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1
After three scoreless innings, the Knights dented the scoreboard in the fourth with an RBI double by Garrett Rusch and Seth Sweet-Chick scored the second run on a wild pitch.
The Bisons evened the game in the bottom of the fifth with two runs of their own. After
David Coppedge made it a 2-1 game with a base knock to center. After a
Kai Holm hit by pitch and a wild pitch to place runners at second and third, Coppedge scored the tying run after a throwing error by the third baseman.
In the sixth,
Adam Switalski retired the Knights in order with a lineout, flyout and a strikeout to keep the game square.
In the Lipscomb seventh, the bats came to life, as they used five runs to put the game away. After a lead off double by
Alejandro Ludeiro and a
Parks Bouck sac bunt to move him to third to bring the infield in for the Knights, Ludiero scored on a bad throw by the shortstop to give the home squad the 3-2 lead.
Later,
Damion Kenealy Jr. plated an RBI single, while
Jacob Tobias capped the frame with a bases-clearing triple to swell the lead to 7-2.
From there, Switalski continued to shut down the Knights offense with clean innings in the eighth and ninth to seal the win and the series.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2
The bats went off for the Knights to start the game, scoring 12 runs in the first three innings.
Lipscomb responded with two straight three-run home runs by
David Coppedge to make it 9-7 after two innings.
After a
Brady Miller sacrifice fly to make it a 12-8 deficit after three innings, the Knights scored six runs in the top of the fourth, cashing in on two Lipscomb errors, to make it an 18-8 score through four.
The Bisons, however, did not give up, scoring three in the fifth and fourth in the sixth to make it 18-15. In the fifth, posting his second straight triple in as many games,
Jacob Tobias scored on a base knock by
Alejandro Ludeiro.
Later, with the bases loaded,
Parks Bouck made it an 18-11 game with a two-run single.
In the sixth,
Kai Holm's three-run tater plus Bouck scoring on a wild pitch made it an 18-15 score.
Bellarmine added a key insurance run in the top of the seventh.
Down 19-15, a Bouck RBI double in the eighth and
Collin Goda scampering home on a wild pitch in the ninth made it a 19-17 game. However, with the tying run at the plate, Cooper Hellman punched out the final batter of the game to avoid the sweep.
KEY STATISTICS
In the opener,
David Coppedge led the Bisons with a three-hit day, while
Damion Kenealy Jr. added two hits.
Jacob Tobias plated three runs with his first triple of the season.
Adami Switalski (1-0) finished the game with 4.1 innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits.
In the night cap, with
David Coppedge's two 3-run home runs, he finished the game with six RBI, setting a new career high.
Parks Bouck also posted his first four-hit game of his career and matched a personal best four RBI.
Brady Miller,
Kai Holm,
Alejandro Ludeiro and Coppedge all tallied three hits in the game.
HERD NOTES
In game two, the 36 combined runs in the game are the most in a nine-inning game, both overall and in ASUN play.
Lipscomb's previous high in a nine-inning game came twice in 2001 vs. Middle Tennessee State and 2007 at Tennessee Martin with 35 combined runs.
In ASUN play, a near 21-year-old record was shattered for Lipscomb's record book in combined runs scored. The record was 28 at Belmont back on April 10, 2004.
UP NEXT
The Bisons will stay in Nashville, but they will make the two-mile trek to Belmont to take on the Bruins on Tuesday from E.S. Rose Park.
