Lipscomb makes many diamond memories at Franklin College

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

As Tysen Lipscomb’s baseball career winds downs, the fifth-year senior at Franklin (Ind.) College has plenty of memories to cherish.

The 23-year-old lefty-swinging and righty-throwing left fielder has played in 36 games (all starts) in 2024 and is hitting .397 (54-of-136) with eight home runs, one triple, 14 doubles, 45 runs batted in, 47 runs scored and a 1.214 OPS (.523 on-base percentage plus .691 slugging average). 

Lipscomb has been batting in the No. 2 or No. 3 slot in veteran head coach Lance Marshall’s lineup and has 16 multi-hit games with four March 2 vs. Hope College and three on four occasions. He was chosen as NCAA Division III Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week on March 18.

“It’s definitely been a blast and a blessing,” says Lipscomb of Marshall, who took over leadership of the FC program in August 1997. “He’s going to push you. He’s going to tell you like it is. That’s what I love and his players love about him.

“But he’s always going to bring you aside if you’re struggling a little bit and talking you off the ledge. It’s a ‘this to shall pass’ sort of thing. He can definitely do both things. He’s very knowledgeable about the game. There’s no secret to why he’s won so many games (632 to date). He’s a great coach and he really cares about his players.”

A starter in 157 of 158 career contests, Lipscomb is hitting .354 (214-of-604) with 22 homers, five triples, 53 doubles, 177 RBIs (a school record), 166 runs, 36 stolen bases and a 1.045 OPS (.477/.568).

Lipscomb shared his offensive keys.

“It’s about what I do well,” says Lipscomb. “When I’m at my best I’m hitting the ball to all fields well, especially the opposite way. I focus on that in practice and pre-game.”

“You have to know what kind of pitcher you’re going up against and their game plan against you. I’m always confident when I’m up there.”

Marshall works with Franklin hitters with help from assistant coach Luke Adams. When Lipscomb catches, he collaborates with Grizzlies pitching coach Jake Sprinkle on how to attack opposing hitters.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pounder has been primarily a left fielder with a handful of games at catcher in 2024. He split time between the two positions in 2023. He was mostly in left in 2022 and a designated hitter in 2021. He played in just one game in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.

“Being in the outfield is definitely a change-up,” says Lipscomb, who enjoys controlling the game and leading from behind the plate. “You have to adapt in-game (as an outfielder). It’s about working and communicating with the other outfielders about where we’re supposed to be.

“I fly around and give 100 percent effort.”

Pre-game scouting involves knowing wind and sun conditions and the distance to the warning track and fence.

Lipscomb and the ’24 Grizzlies are 18-18 overall and 7-11 in the HCAC heading into regular season-ending conference doubleheaders Friday, May 3 vs. Bluffton (Ohio) University and Sunday, May 5 at Anderson (Ind.) University.

Franklin is fighting for a spot in the six-team HCAC Tournament May 9-12 at Kokomo Municipal Stadium. Hanover and Transylvania are tied for first place at 15-3, followed by Anderson and Rose-Hulman. Franklin and Manchester have the same HCAC record.

Says Lipscomb, “We’re coming down to crunch time.”

During his college years, Lipscomb was with the Nighthawks of the College Summer League at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., in 2020.

“It was a great experience because it challenged me so much,” says Lipscomb of the CSL’s first season.

He was also with the Southern Collegiate Baseball League’s Carolina Disco Turkeys (Winston-Salem, N.C.) in 2023.

“I’m kind of jealous,” says Lipscomb. “(The Disco Turkeys) are going to become the Yacht Rockers for a game. I wish I could have been a Yacht Rocker.”

Lipscomb has already earned a Exercise Science degree at Franklin and is finishing his course work for an Athletic Training masters degree with internship hours to complete. He could likely have another year of eligibility but plans to enter the work force. He is currently exploring high school athletic training jobs.

Tysen was born in Muncie, Ind., to Gary and Andora Lipscomb and the younger brother of Kylee and was in second grade when the family moved to the Selma, Ind., area. His parents and sister all graduated from Muncie Southside High School. 

Gary Lipscomb played baseball. His daughter played softball and golf in high school pursued the latter sport at Indiana University East in Richmond.

As a youngster, Tysen played both Selma youth league and travel ball beginning around 7. He started with the Indiana Longhorns then went to a team formed by his father — the Magic City Orioles. Then came the Indiana Eagles. He got his first taste of competition at the next level by playing in the Fort Wayne-based wood bat circuit (Indiana Collegiate Summer Baseball League) in 2019 after putting his four varsity campaigns graduating from Wapahani High School.

Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Brian Dudley led the Raiders program and is now an assistant to Heath Dudley on a staff that now includes Gary Lipscomb. This year, the Wapahani diamond became Brian J. Dudley Field.

“Brian’s really focused,” says Lipscomb. “He really cares about his players. He wants to see them do well not only inside but outside baseball

“Brian’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. If he doesn’t know something, he’s going to get that answer and come back and start implementing it. He was one of my biggest role models growing up.”

With Lipscomb on the team, Wapahani won sectional crown in 2017 and 2019, a regional title in 2019, a semistate championship in 2017 and was Class 2A state runners-up in 2017.

“I’m proud to be part of that history,” says Lipscomb. “I loved every minute of it.”

A Cincinnati Reds rooter, Lipscomb’s favorite current MLB player in Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper.

“I like the passion he plays with,” says Harper. “I like the way he’s grown in the game. He’s definitely a lot more mature and a leader.

“His swing is my favorite in the game because it’s the closest to mine that I’ve seen. I try to do a lot of the things that he does.”

Tysen Lipscomb. (Franklin College Photo)

Tysen Lipscomb. (Franklin College Photo)

Tysen Lipscomb. (Franklin College Photo)

Tysen Lipscomb. (b_swolltography Photo)

Tysen Lipscomb. (Franklin College Photo)

Communication key for Bullpen Tournaments VP Tucker

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Growing up playing sports in Zionsville, Ind., Michael Tucker knew what it was to be a teammate.

A center in basketball and catcher in baseball, Tulsa, Okla.-born Tucker played at Zionsville Community High School and graduated in 2008. Some of his closest friends to this day played on those squads.

“We had some great teams,” says Tucker, who played for head coaches Dave Ferrell and Shaun Busick in basketball and Darrell Osborne and Adam Metzler in baseball and counted Matt Miller as a mate on the court and the diamond. Miller went on to pitch at the University of Michigan and in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Eric Charles went on to play baseball at Purdue University.

Ryan Price’s father Tom Price played baseball for Dr. Don Brandon at Anderson (Ind.) University and that’s one of the reasons Tucker ended up at the NCAA Division III school.

Tucker was a standout hitter while playing catcher and first base for the Ravens and the Hall of Famer they called “Bama” for his first two college seasons followed by two with David Pressley.

Brandon impressed Tucker with his memory.

“He can tell you the situation — who was on the mound and the count — (from most any game),” says Tucker. “He was really fun to learn from.”

Pressley was a first-time head coach at Anderson. Tucker credits him with lessons on and off the field.

“I learned how to be a man,” says Tucker. “(Pressley) is a huge man of faith.

“He taught a tremendous amount of life lessons.”

Tucker also gained knowledge from Brad Lantz, who was an AU senior receiver when he was a freshman and went on to be a high school head coach at Guerin Catholic and Lapel and is now coaching in the Indy Sharks travel organization.

“I learned so much about catching, counts and what to look for,” says Tucker. “I learned more from (Lantz) than anyone else.”

Tucker was named to D3baseball.com’s 2010s All-Decade Team.  During his career, Tucket hit .361 with 52 home runs, 50 doubles, 193 runs batted in and a .730 slugging percentage. He was a first-team All-America selection and the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference MVP in 2011.

Franklin (Ind.) College has long been a big HCAC rival for Anderson. Tucker recalls how Grizzlies head coach Lance Marshall sometimes used to bring in a fifth infielder when Tucker was at the plate. 

Not a Marshall fan at the time, Tucker has come to see the veteran coach as one of his favorites.

Tucker received a Management degree with a minor in Entrepreneurship from Anderson U. in 2012. 

His “internship” time was spent coaching (coaching with Cesar Barrientos and the Indiana Baseball Academy Storm while injured in 2009) or playing summer collegiate ball (Fort Mill, S.C., Stingers of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League in 2010 and Hannibal, Mo., Cavemen of the Prospect League in 2011 — a team owned at the time by former big leaguers Ryan Klesko and Woody Williams) and he saw a future related to the diamond. 

“I wanted to make baseball my job whether that was with an indoor facility, coaching, training or tournaments,” says Tucker. “I didn’t know what avenue.”

Tucker was a director at the Incrediplex on the northeast side of Indianapolis 2013-15 and coached for the Indiana Bulls travel organization 2012-16.

Since April 2015, Tucker has been part of a different team as vice president for Bullpen Tournaments, Prep Baseball Report Tournaments (with Rhett Goodmiller as director of tournaments) and Pro X Athlete Development (with former big league pitcher Joe Thatcher as co-founder and president) are tenants at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. Bullpen, with Tucker as the director of day-to-day operations, is involved with Pro X and works with PBR Indiana and consults with PBR national, which operates LakePoint Sports campus in Emerson, Ga., and Creekside Baseball Park in Parkville, Mo.

Ground was recently broken for Championship Park in Kokomo, Ind., and that complex will also be used by Bullpen and PBR.

The 2021 summer will mark Tucker’s seventh with Bullpen Tournaments. 

Hired by BT president Blake Hibler, whom he knew from working Prep Baseball Report showcases, Tucker started at Bullpen in time to experience Grand Park’s first full summer.

“I did everything,” says Tucker. “I tried to be a sponge. Being in baseball your whole life is completely different from the tournament industry.

“There’s learning the business side and scheduling.”

While at the Incrediplex near Lawrence, Tucker had done scheduling on a smaller scale and had become comfortable with software.

Tucker appreciates that Hibler lets him seek out processes.

“If I can find a better mousetrap, he lets me run with it,” says Tucker.

Bullpen is a very large operation.

“We’re a different beast in a lot of ways,” says Tucker, who notes that on any given weekend the company may have as many as 45 fields under its control, including those on and off the Grand Park campus.

Tucker says the key is getting the word out to teams, families and recruiters.

“You have to be able to communicate,” says Tucker. “Half of scheduling is the communicating of the schedule.”

With Hibler having a large part in brainstorming and development, Bullpen first used the Tourney Machine app and now works with Playbook 365 while also helping develop PitchAware and ScoreHQ. 

Bullpen hires scorekeepers for every high school tournament game (15U to 18U) at Grand Park. In 2020, there was also video on six fields.

“It’s huge to have accurate data,” says Tucker. “We can overlay video with stats.

“(A college) coach can recruit from his office.”

But even though Bullpen is dealing with many moving parts, there are only a half dozen full-time employees.

“Guys are tasked to learn a lot of different things,” says Tucker. “But we never feel like this is something I can’t do. Our mentality is we’re going bust our butts and how do we solve this problem?

“Our guys do a tremendous job of being flexible.”

An example of teamwork and flexibility is the creation of the College Summer League at Grand Park, which came about when so many other leagues were canceling the 2020 summer season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The team that made it happen include Hibler, Tucker, Thatcher, Phil Wade, Luke Dietz, Mark Walther, Matt Bowles, Logan Weins, Cam Eveland and Kevin Ricks. Thatcher and Walther are at Pro X. Weins splits his time between Bullpen Tournaments and PBR Tournaments.

With many players reaching out, Bullpen saw the need and went to work to put together what became a 12-team league with most games played at Grand Park with a few at Kokomo Municipal Stadium and Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.

The league was constructed with safety, NCAA and recruiting regulations in mind. Players were placed, umpires were lined up and jerseys were distributed in a very short time frame.

“We had about seven days to do it,” says Tucker. “We’re excited for it to come back (in 2021).”

As a D-III alum, Tucker was especially pleased that the CSL allowed top-flight players like Joe Moran (who pitched for Anderson and has transferred to Taylor University) was able to compete against D-I talent.

While the pandemic slowed the start of the 2020 Bullpen season, Tucker estimates that there were upwards of 80 percent in games played as compared to a normal year.

The fall included more contests than ever.

“Teams couldn’t play in the spring and that baseball hunger was still there,” says Tucker. “They wanted to play a little longer.

“We had a great fall.”

Weather plays a part, but the first games each year at Grand Park with all its turf fields are collegiate in February. 

“If we get a warm-weather day our phone blows up,” says Tucker. 

Activity starts to ramp up in March with the first 8U to 14U contests the last weekend of that month.

Of course, the pandemic will have a say in what happens in 2021.

“With all the uncertainty it’s tough,” says Tucker. “It’s going to be an interesting spring.”

A perk of Tucker’s position and location is the relationships he gets to build with high school coaches. 

He sees the unique dynamic between between Noblesville’s Justin Keever, Westfield’s Ryan Bunnell, Zionsville’s Jered Moore and Fishers’ Matt Cherry of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

“They’re buddies,” says Tucker. “They go out to eat after the game.”

Michael and wife Dani Tucker live in Noblesville, Ind., with son Cole (5) and Cali (3).

The Tucker family (from left): Cali, Dani, Michael and Cole. Michael Tucker is vice president of Bullpen Tournaments is a tenant at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind.