Monday, February 15, 2010

MACON, Ga. - As the 2010 NCAA Baseball season approaches, the Atlantic Sun Conference takes a look at each team leading up to the start of the season Feb. 19. Today the A-Sun previews the Lipscomb Bisons.

Overview
Lipscomb posted a 24-32 mark last season with a record of 17-13 in conference play, finishing second. The Bisons claimed the A-Sun tournament title in 2008 and lost in the conference title game in a season ago. Lipscomb looks to replace 17 letterwinners by adding 19 newcomers to the roster. Head coach Jeff Forehand enters his fourth season with the Bisons, boasting a record of 85-92. Lipscomb looks to improve its road record as the Bisons managed just seven wins in 29 road games. The Bisons posted one of the home records in the conference going 16-9. Since the start of the 2007 season, Lipscomb holds the third best home record in the conference going 34-16 at Bugan Field at Marsh Stadium.

Top Returnees
Josh Smith earned preseason All-Atlantic Sun honors after an impressive season in 2009. Smith ranked second on the Bisons in ERA behind departed first-round draft pick Rex Brothers. The senior ranked nationally in strikeouts (32nd, 101) and in hits allowed per nine innings (29th, 7.1) in 2009. Smith posted a 3.86 ERA a season ago, allowing only 38 earned runs in over 88 innings.

Tyler Wilson ranked second on the Bisons in batting average in 2009 with a mark of .320 and started in all but one game for Lipscomb. Wilson also terrorized opposing teams on the base pads stealing 25 bases in 32 attempts.

Antonio Butler returns after a five home run season with 30 RBIs and a .283 batting average. Butler scored the game winning run in Lipscomb’s win in the semifinal of the A-Sun tournament. He started 48 games and appeared in 52 slugged .428 with on-base percentage of .353.

Newcomers
After losing 17 letterwinners from last year’s squad that finished second in the Atlantic Sun, the Lipscomb Bisons welcome 19 newcomers to this year’s team. in newcomers Cory Hale, Zach Messer, and Kyle Henry. All are expected to join the Lipscomb starting lineup.

Hale, a junior from Columbia State Community College, is expected to get the starting nod at the hot corner as senior Ryan Wilkins moves back to first base. Hale batted .304 with 14 home runs and 41 RBI last year.

Messer comes to the Bisons from Walters State Community College where he will be the Bisons probable starting shortstop.  Messer hit .378 last season, while nailing 14 long balls and driving in 56.

Henry is a junior from Broken Arrow, Okla. and played for Oklahoma State-Enid Community College. Henry will split time betwen second base and the designated hitter for the Bisons. In 2009. he hit .330 with seven home runs, 21 doubles, and 41 RBIs.

Chad Fromm, a right-handed junior out of Cleveland State Community College, will anchor the Bisons bullpen. Fromm posted a 7-1 record last year, giving up 32 hits in 46.1 innings.

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Schedule
Last season Lipscomb Bisons baseball coach Jeff Forehand admits he may have been a little too ambitious in his scheduling of non-conference foes. Forehand, with 21 newcomers on the roster, thinks this year’s schedule will help prepare his players for the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The Bisons will open the season at home on Friday with a three-game series against Murray State from the Ohio Valley Conference at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. The first road trip will send the Bisons to New Orleans for a three-game series with Tulane, starting on Friday, Feb. 26.

Three Southeastern Conference teams are on the schedule with road trips to Tennessee (April 13) and Kentucky (May 12). The Bisons will play Vanderbilt on the road March 23. The Commodores will visit Lipscomb April 20.

The Bisons will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C., March 12 and 13 to play in Coastal Carolina’s tournament. Lipscomb will face Illinois, Michigan and Ball State.

In addition to Vanderbilt, the Bisons will play several other local teams. Middle Tennessee State, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, visits in March. The Bisons will then travel to Murfreesboro to face the Blue Raiders March 31.

Three other Ohio Valley Conference teams are also on the schedule. Tennessee Tech visits Lipscomb April 6 and then they head to Cookeville the next day to complete the series. The Bisons visit Tennessee-Martin March 2. Tennessee-Martin will play at Lipscomb April 21. The Bisons travel to Austin Peay March 24. They will host the Governors May 18.

Rounding out the non-conference schedule are two three-game series with Canisius (March 5-7) and Illinois State (April 2-3) and a two-game series with Youngstown State (March 9-10).

The Bisons will open the Atlantic Sun portion of the schedule March 19-21 at Belmont. The first A-Sun home series is March 26-27 against ETSU. The A-Sun regular season schedule becomes even more of a challenge this season with every team eligible for the conference tournament with the exception of USC-Upstate.

The Atlantic Sun Tournament will be hosted by Lipscomb from May 25-29. The 2008 Atlantic Sun Tournament Champion Bisons are seeking their third straight trip to the tournament championship game.
 

Fun Fact
Although the loss of a first-round pick like Rex Brothers is always big, there may not be a player more prepared to fill in than Josh Smith. Smith posted two more win 2009 than Brothers with only a .60 difference in their ERA’s. Brothers held opposing hitters to a .210 batting average, Smith .213, and Smith allowed three fewer runs and only four more earned runs. Smith also threw only six wild pitches while Brothers racked up 20. The biggest difference between the two remains in the strikeout department as Brothers struck out 31 more batters in only 5.1 more innings.

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11 Days of Atlantic Sun Baseball Schedule
Feb. 4 – USC Upstate
Feb. 5 – Campbell
Feb. 8 – ETSU
Feb. 9 – Mercer
Feb. 10 – UNF
Feb. 11 – Belmont
Feb. 12 – Stetson
Feb. 15 – Lipscomb
Feb. 16 – Jacksonville
Feb. 17 – Kennesaw State
Feb. 18 – FGCU