Wednesday, September 17, 2008

On Friday, September 19, the Atlantic Sun Conference will turn 30 years old. During the week leading up to the anniversary of the creation of the conference, the 30 Shining Moments that helped define, shape and mold the league are being announced at www.AtlanticSun.org.

"Throughout our 30 years, the A-Sun has had some truly exceptional performers and performances," Atlantic Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart said. "As we look at 30 standout moments of the most dramatic, dominant, and spectacular A-Sun achievements, this list should serve to celebrate our conference history and certainly spark debate among A-Sun fans."

The Atlantic Sun Conference announced Wednesday that their No. 7 Shining Moment was Lipscomb’s dramatic win over Gardner-Webb in the 2008 A-Sun Baseball Championship.

No. 7 The most recent moment in the top ten occurred in the title game of the 2008 A-Sun Baseball Championship featuring Lipscomb and Gardner-Webb. Gardner-Webb opened the game with three runs in top of the first inning forcing Lipscomb to go to is bullpen early. The duo of Kyle Tognazzini and Rex Brothers limited the Runnin’ Bulldogs to one run over the next seven innings. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Lipscomb sent 12 men to the plate in scoring six runs to take the lead. Caleb Joseph, who hit .407 for the week, collected two hits in the inning. The Bisons carried the 6-4 lead into the top of the ninth but could not close out the title as the Runnin’ Bulldogs rallied, scoring the tying run on a successful squeeze play executed by Aaron Miller.

Zeros followed until the 13th inning when Gardner-Webb dented the plate with a single tally only to see Lipscomb respond with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Two innings later, Gardner-Webb appeared to finally grab hold of the contest, scoring twice for a 9-7 lead. The Bisons opened the last of the 15th with the first two reaching. A single by Allen Bolden cut the deficit to one and Joseph’s RBI ground out tied the game. Lipscomb loaded the bases to bring up Shane Simpkins who won the game on a single through the right side on an 0-2 count ending the longest title game, by innings, in NCAA Division I history. The Bisons carried the momentum of this win to the NCAA Regionals where in their first game, they defeated eventual national runner-up Georgia.

Interview with 2008 Tournament MVP Caleb Joseph

The weeklong tribute started on Monday with moments 11-30 with three moments being released Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, leading up to the top moment on Friday.

The list, compiled with the help of the sports information staffs from the current and former member institutions, includes moments involving 20 of the almost three dozen schools to at one time or another belong to the conference.