Feb. 15, 2006

Box Score

Feb. 14, 2006

Box Score

For the Bisons the difference between a win and a loss was the long ball.

Bisons pitchers combined to give up three home runs Tuesday afternoon in a 6-3 loss to Evansville.

It was the first game of the season for Lipscomb which opened a nine-game home stand. Evansville came into the game with a record of 2-0.

Junior transfer Matt Schnelly got the start for the Bisons and gave up 2 earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. He allowed only four hits and struck out two. Both runs scored on a home run to Pat Tumilty in the second inning.

"I thought that Matt did great," head coach Wynn Fletcher said. "He gave up that one long ball but other than that he kept us in the game."

The Bisons got on the board in the third. Tadd Brewer reached on an error and promptly stole second and third. Nathan Sensing singled him in for his first RBI of the season.

Lipscomb tied the game an inning later. Zac Miller led off the inning with a single to right. Two outs later Ryan Price singled through the left side to advance Miller to second. Whit Reed then singled to right scoring Miller for the Bisons second run.

Right hander Chandler Ganick replaced Schnelly in the fifth inning with the score tied. Ganick made it through the fifth but ran into some trouble in the sixth. With one out Ganick gave up a home run to Jeff Fontaine. One out later, Tumilty hit his second homer of the game.

After the next two batters reached base, freshman Brandon McClurg was called upon to replace Ganick. Ganick gave up three hits and four earned runs in an inning of work. He struck out one and received the loss to bring his record to 0-1.

After giving up a two run double to the first batter that he faced, McClurg settled in for the rest of the game. McClurg gave up just two hits in 3.1 innings of work while striking out three. He allowed no earned runs.

"I was very happy with the way Brandon pitched," Fletcher said. "He did a great job getting out of some jams."

The Bisons attempted to get back into the game in the eighth. Patrick O'Rourke reached on an error to lead off the inning. The next batter, Caleb Joseph drilled a double to center field that just barely missed clearing the wall, advancing O'Rourke to third. Whit Reed followed with a sacrifice fly to center bringing the score to 6-3. One out later Brewer walked bringing the tying run to the plate for the Bisons, but Sensing struck out to end the inning.

The Bisons committed only one error in the loss and out hit Evansville 10-9. O'Rourke and Price led the offense with two hits a piece.

"We stayed with them from the first pitch to the last," Fletcher said. "We had several chances to go up in the last three innings, but we just weren't able to take advantage of those.

"Overall I am very pleased. I would have liked to come away with the win, but you have to look at the big picture. We played a good ball game."