Lipscomb Baseball anticipates exciting season with promising roster

Lipscomb baseball is kicking off their season on Valentine’s weekend this year, taking to Ken Dugan field for an opening series against the Dayton Flyers.

The Bisons’ roster is made up of 38 players, 17 of whom are new to the team. Herd Media spoke to two of the returning players, one transfer, one freshman and Head Coach Jeff Forehand about the upcoming season. Though all five had different takes on this year’s team, all were looking forward to the upcoming season and getting to see the team’s potential in play.

“Talent wise, with this team, I think it is top notch. I think we’ll be able to compete with anybody,” said returning senior outfielder Keaton Mahan. “I think you’ll be able to see all 38 guys contribute this year, and a lot of teams don’t have that. So I think that’s going to make us a special group [who’re] able to make it a long ways into the season and compete for a championship.”

Despite being one of the new men on the team, transfer junior infielder Cam Pruitt agreed with Mahan. “I actually feel like we have an extreme amount of depth on the team. I’m talking about from A to B, all [38] players, you can put anybody in the game and there won’t be a difference. I feel like all of our players can contribute to the game in a positive way, and it won’t lose a hiccup.”

The depth to this year’s roster is both a blessing and a challenge though, according to baseball Head Coach Jeff Forehand. Called “Skip” by those on the team, Forehand has been coaching baseball at Lipscomb for 19 seasons, and anticipates a unique challenge with this year’s team.

“Right now, we got probably 17 or 18 [guys] that are ready to pitch, so I can’t get them all in the game at the same time. And then same thing with the position guys, we got 17 of those, all 17 of them can’t be in the lineup at the same time,” Forehand explained. “So I’ve got a job to do, me and the coaching staff, to be able to figure out how we play more than nine people each game. Because they’re deserving. They’re deserving to have an opportunity to play.”

Though Forehand is aware that this may be difficult for the team and coaching staff, he has hopes that the team will see this as a strength, rather than a frustration. “I hope that’s something that they all can recognize: that we’re better collectively than we are individually,” he said.

Returning senior right-handed pitcher Cole O’Brien was aware of the challenge the depth to the roster presented as well, but he wasn’t concerned. “We have so many people that could play. We’ve got three guys that could play third base, three guys who play second, 10 guys that could be starting pitchers. We have a lot of talent,” O’Brien said.

“So I think just everybody putting their mind on the team and not getting upset if they don’t play [will be a challenge]. But I really do think that we’re gonna be pretty good with that. We’ve got a lot of unselfish guys,” he laughed, adding that, “there’s definitely worse problems than that.”

Despite having so many new players on the roster, the chemistry is strong, according to all four players. Though 17 transfers and freshman could derail a team or upset the bonds and chemistry that already existed, cultivating a healthy team culture, selecting players of good character and creating an atmosphere they’ll all enjoy is something the baseball staff focuses on.

“It’s a big thing to me, the culture part of the team,” said Forehand. “Our verse is Proverbs 11:25, ‘He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.’ So your job every day is just to make somebody’s day brighter. How do you do it? I don’t know, open the door for somebody; help Hannah, the lady that works around here, carry the cardboard boxes out if you see her carrying them down; you know, just make somebody’s day, because you’ve got the ability to do that. I mean, baseball is your platform. But how do we cultivate it by life?”

“I do think that the majority of them, it’s not drudgery to come to practice every day,” Forehand added. “I think they enjoy practice. They enjoy weight room. They enjoy all the things that go on with it. [But] I can’t be naive enough to think they enjoy everything,” he laughed.

O’Brien said that though it’s always a little uncertain before a new team meets, this year’s team came together really quickly. “You kind of question about so many new guys, like how are they gonna buy in? Things like that. But everybody’s right where they need to be mindset wise.”

He said that this wasn’t something that the older members of the team were going to just leave up to chance, however. O’Brien shared about how over the summer, the returning players were talking and planning out how they’d welcome the new players to the team.

“[We talked about] how we wanted to approach having the new guys buy in and stuff like that, how we’re gonna treat them and how we’re gonna try to lead,” O’Brien explained. “It was easy, really. They all just kind of came in and got with the flow, really easy. They bought in quickly to what we were trying to do.”

Freshman catcher and third baseman Brock Beddingfield said the team was not only strong, but welcoming. “As a freshman coming in, it’s kind of scary, because there’s a bunch of older guys, and you’re coming in trying to learn everything, be perfect. But it’s been really good. All the seniors’ve been taking everyone and treating them equal, whether that’s a transfer or us freshman, they’ve invited us to everything and just made the team a loving place to be.”

Pruitt shared Beddingfield’s assessment of the team. “When I first transferred in here, I had no problems asking for help, same with the coaching staff. I mean, everybody here is welcoming and they treat you like family,” he said.

“I think we’re really tight,” said O’Brien. “It’s been really fun, and it feels like there’s nobody that really dislikes each other on the team, which is always great. Everybody trusts each other, has confidence in each other and wants each other to do well. The chemistry is awesome.”

“The team itself does a great job of making sure everybody’s included, making sure everybody’s invited,” Pruitt added. “We hang out with our teammates every weekend. So we don’t just know them as a baseball player, we know them as a whole. As a family. It’s a great vibe here.”

Like any team, the Lipscomb baseball team has a few goals set in their sights for the season. Chief among them is to win the ASUN Championship, and to play in June. According to Forehand, they started talking about June baseball all the way back in September.

A few of the players had their own personal goals as well. For Mahan and O’Brien, this is their last year playing with the team, so both said they wanted to make the most of it.

“Personally, I’m just looking forward to enjoying my last year being here. Just soaking in every minute, and enjoying being with the guys, enjoying the grind with everybody,” Mahan said, adding that most of his personal goals centered around the team.

“Whether I’m in, whether I’m out, whether I’m having to play a big role or playing a role on the bench and helping another teammate out, I want to just help the team win each and every day, and that starts on Friday with winning game one. Because, as my dad always said growing up, you can’t win them if you don’t win the first one,” Mahan grinned. “Skip always tells us to stack good days, each day at a time. So if we can just stack one day at a time, and win that day, and win that inning, win that pitch, I think if we stack more than the other team, then that’s a recipe for success, and we have all the pieces to to do that.”

“It’s my last year, so I’m just gonna try to take advantage of every moment I can and see if me and the boys can win a lot of games,” O’Brien said. “I feel like I was moving into junior college a couple weeks ago,” he laughed.

Beddingfield had put a lot of thought into his goals, something he credited to his dad’s influence. “I want to get on the field as much as possible, show the coaches what I have. I want to be All-Freshmen, obviously. I want to get that recognition. I want to hit above .350 and then have above eight home runs. That’s the goal right now. We’ll see as the season goes on if those change,” he admitted with a laugh.

“I just want [the team] to go above .700 win percentage. I really want to do that, make a regional… And then, in every series, be at least two for one and win in every series, to give us the upper hand in conference play. I’m excited go to Florida,” Beddingfield added.

In contrast to Beddingfield, Pruitt said he didn’t have any number goals. “I try not to set numbers, because… it gets in your head. And as a baseball player, getting in your head is the number one thing you can’t do,” he said. “But my personal goal is to be an everyday guy, that when I’m in a lineup, there’s a spark happening.” He added that he wants to cultivate his overall skillset and character so that even when he’s not playing, he’ll be able to bring something to the team. “You’ll know just how much I bring to the table, if that makes sense, every game.”

Baseball is both a physical and a mental game, Mahan explained. Like Pruitt, he said that as a player, getting in your own head is dangerous. With all the talent he saw on the roster, he said that their biggest challenge might just be them getting in their own way. “I think it’s going to be mostly between our ears that’s going to affect us the most,” he said.

“Baseball players are pretty resilient,” Forehand said. “I think sometimes we forget that [baseball] is hard… This game will beat you up. It will mentally. It will break you down to where you think you’re not a good player because you’ve struggled.”

“I try to make them understand that this is a game of failure,” he explained. “[To] expect the adversity, play through it, because with baseball, if you fail 75% of the time, you’re still a pretty good player… All these kids have grown up the best player on their team. Every player in college baseball was the best player on their team. And they’ve not been used to being a substitute, because they just played every inning of every game, and that’s all they know.”

Several of the players commented that they wanted to beat Austin Peay, Beddingfield joking that they were “already thinking about it.”

“They’ve been winning [the ASUN] the past couple of years, and they kind of set the standard,” explained Mahan. “We’re going out there with an edge on our shoulder, and really wanting to just beat the brakes off of them,” he said with a laugh.

“Austin Peay is the one that we got to do our business against, and which we will,” Pruitt grinned. “I legit feel like we’re the best team in this conference. We really are, because at the mound, we’re deep, at the plate, we’re deep, we have a team full of competitors. We’ve honed in on that this whole fall… [we] want to be out here, want to win every pitch.”

“ASUN Champs, incoming!” Beddingfield said with a grin, emphasizing the team’s enthusiasm this year. “We’re excited to steal some bags and hit some bombs.”

“I’m looking forward to winning,” Pruitt smiled. “I’m looking forward to going deep. I want to win the tournament, and I want to have a run at a regional. That’s just the overall goal. I’m really just looking forward to winning with this team, because I really do feel like our team is special, and I feel like winning with this team, on top of the chemistry that we have and the talent we have, would just go so much further.”

All four players and Forehand shared the same excitement when it comes to the team’s promise this year. They’re focusing on perfecting the small things and comfortable being vulnerable with each other while they put Christ at the center, according to Mahan. Meanwhile O’Brien saw a tight-knit squad who share the same goals and complement each other on both sides of the ball. But perhaps most importantly, all five saw that they’re playing for each other, bought in to being selflessly devoted to the success of the team before the individual.

“Let’s go win an ASUN Championship!” Mahan grinned.

Featured image of members of the baseball team kneeling for prayer before a game taken by Micah Barkley.