APSU Sports: Austin Peay Baseball
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s baseball team will conclude a five-game home stand when it hosts Belmont in a 6:00pm, Tuesday contest at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Austin Peay (18-10), the Ohio Valley Conference leader (6-0) after two weeks, will put its seven-game win streak on the line in Tuesday’s outing. The Govs are fresh off a three-game OVC series sweep of UT Martin.Senior first baseman Tyler Childress, the adidas OVC co-Player of the Week, batted .500 with three home runs and 10 RBI in four games last week. Senior center fielder Michael Blanchard also has seen marked improvement in the last two weeks, with 14 hits (.609 batting average) in his last eight games. Those two have bolstered the bottom part of the Govs batting order during its recent win streak.
On the mound, Austin Peay will turn to sophomore left-hander Rolando Gautier who will be making his first start – and third appearance – this season. Normally the Govs right fielder, he has a 6.75 ERA in 1.1 innings of previous work.
Belmont (19-10) is one of three teams tied atop the Atlantic Sun Conference race (7-2) after three weeks. The Bruins swept a three-game series at Jacksonville last weekend and have won 11 of their last 14 games.
Senior second baseman and leadoff hitter Zac Mitchell leads the Bruins offense with a .333 batting average. Sophomore third baseman Greg Brody leads Belmont in home runs (4) and RBI (22) while batting .272 this season.
Left-hander Dan Ludwig will get the start for Belmont. He is 0-3 with a 6.64 ERA in six previous outings, including four starts.