DELAND, Fla. – Scheduled for a 5 p.m. EDT first pitch, Mother Nature had other plans. Starting a little after 9 p.m. EDT, the Lipscomb University team played deep into the Central Florida night and came away with a 4-1 victory over Florida Gulf Coast University to start their ASUN Tournament run on Thursday night from Melching Field at Conrad Park.
Final Score: Lipscomb 4, Florida Gulf Coast 1
Location: DeLand, Florida (Melching Field at Conrad Park)
Records: Lipscomb (27-24), Florida Gulf Coast (35-21)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lipscomb secured a pivotal three-run fifth inning, which proved decisive in its clash against FGCU.
Aaron Stelogeannis initiated the surge with a walk, followed by
Cam Pruitt's RBI double down the left field line.
Jordan Thomas capitalized further with an RBI single up the middle, driving in Pruitt.
Kai Holm capped the rally with an RBI double, sending Thomas home.
Earlier, the Bisons had set the tone in the third inning when
Cam Pruitt's double down the right field line set up a scoring opportunity.
Jordan Thomas delivered a productive out with a groundout RBI, allowing
Aaron Stelogeannis to score. On the defensive end, Lipscomb's clean fielding, including a crucial double play in the fifth, stymied the Eagles' attempts to mount a comeback.
FGCU managed to score in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Evan Dempsey, but the Bisons' stellar defense and effective bullpen closed out the game without further damage, maintaining the lead and securing the win.
Adam Jamison came in to clean up the mess in the eighth, and he did with a slider to leave the tying run at the plate.
In the ninth, after
Kaleb Kantola punched out Jaret Nelson and Wilfred Gonzalez, he got some help from his defense.
After swinging and missing at the first two strikes, Jaremy Comer lifted a fly ball down the left field line into foul territory, where Thomas found the wall and brought the foul out back to the field to seal the victory.
HERD NOTES
This is Lipscomb's first win in the ASUN Tournament since 2024, ending a three-game drought.
The Bisons improve to 5-7 over the Eagles in ASUN Tourney games, the most dubs among all opponents in program history.
KEY STATISTICS
Alexander Llinas (6-3) went out and shoved for the Bisons, tossing a career-high 7.2 innings, pitching seven-plus innings for the second straight start. While Llinas struck out one batter, he allowed four hits and forced 12 fly ball outs.
Cam Pruitt has now hit 20 multi-hit games on the season with another two-hit game on Thursday. He became the first since 2023, when
Trace Willhoite had 20 games with two or more knocks. Pruitt added an RBI.
Jordan Thomas had a multi-hit and multi-RBI game, driving in two RBI on his two knocks.
Kai Holm also had a double and RBI in the victory.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb advances to the winner's bracket and is one win away from appearing in the ASUN Tournament Championship Game. The team in their way is North Alabama, who the Bisons took four of six games from the Lions in the regular season.
First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT / 1 p.m. CDT from Melching Field at Conrad Park.
