Austin Peay Governors Baseball team wins slug-fest over Southern Illinois

February 26, 2013 |

Clarksville, TN – Junior Craig Massoni drove in six runs for the Austin Peay State University baseball team, Tuesday afternoon at Raymond C. Hand Park — including two in the pivotal sixth inning — as the Govs ran their winning streak to six games with an 11-8 win over Southern Illinois.

Austin Peay Men’s Baseball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)

Reed Harper would walk to load the bases, bring up Massoni – who would deliver yet again, flaring a single into right-center, scoring Corey and Hankins to make it 8-5. Massoni finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate and was hit by a pitch.

The Govs final run of the inning come off a wild pitch, with Harper scoring to push the Austin Peay lead out to 9-5.
Southern Illinois (4-4) wouldn’t go away, scoring twice, to cut the Govs lead back to two runs, 9-7. Matt Jones opened the inning with a single and scored all the way around from first base on a double by Ryan Casillas – with an error by Govs center fielder Dylan Riner allowing Casillas to continue to third base.

Austin Montgomery would drive in Casillas with a sacrifice fly to right for the final run of the inning.

Austin Peay matched the Salukis two runs with two of their own in the bottom of the inning – without the aid of a base hit.
Riner and Gautier opened the inning with back-to-back walks, with a passed ball moving both into scoring position.

Austin Peay Men’s Baseball.

Corey would roll a slow grounder to shortstop, but SIU’s Ryan Rosthenhausier misplayed the ball with all runners being safe, with Riner scoring.

Southern Illinois would get the next two Governors out, but back-to-back Governors were hit by pitches forcing in Gautier to make it 11-7 Austin Peay.

The Salukis would chip away at the Govs lead by scoring a run in the top of the eighth inning – the fifth straight inning they would tally at least one run – with Daily driving in Rosthenhausier with a single to make it 11-8.

Austin Peay would bring in its closer Tyler Rogers to get the final out in the eight and then pitch a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save in as many chances this season, while relief pitcher Ryan Quick (2-0) picked up his second straight win out of the bullpen.

Jake Welch drew a five-pitch walk from Austin Peay starter Zach Hall to get things going, and an out later, Welch got under a throw from Massoni for a stolen base on a pickoff attempt from Hall.

The Salukis would push the run across an out later to go up 1-0, with Casillas roping a double into right-center field – just out of the reach of Govs center fielder Cody Hudson.

The score would remain that way until the bottom of the third inning, with the Govs rallied to score three runs after the Salukis had gotten the first two Austin Peay batters out to start the inning. With two outs, Gautier worked a walk from SIU starter Bryce Sablotny and moved around to third base on a single to right-center by Corey. Hankins followed with a single through the right-side of the infield to score Gautier to tie the game 1-1.

Austin Peay wasn’t done, with Harper earning the Govs second walk of the inning – to load the bases – with Massoni following with a rocket up the middle for a base hit driving in Corey and Hankins to give Austin Peay its first lead of the game, 3-1. Southern Illinois would respond with a run in the top of the fourth to cut the Govs lead to 3-2, with Jones opening the inning by tripling off the fence in center field and scoring on a groundout to shortstop by Montgomery.

The Salukis would tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, as they took advantage of their second leadoff walk to start an inning in the contest. Luke Mottashed, the number eight hitter in the SIU lineup, drew the walk and moved into scoring position at second on a single by Rennie Troggio.

Austin Peay would get the first out of the inning on a fielder’s choice, but a walk to Rosthenhausier loaded the bases and brought up Jones, who drove in Mottashed with a sacrifice fly to right field to knot the game up, 3-3. The Govs would retake the lead in the bottom of the inning, aided by a Salukis error, in scoring two runs.

Hankins’ ground ball to second base to open the inning was misplayed by Jake Welch allowing the Govs to get their leadoff hitter on.

A batter later, Massoni followed by slamming a shot over the fence in right for a two-run blast, giving him four runs batted in for the game, and the Govs a 5-3 lead.

A leadoff double and an Austin Peay error opened the door of Southern Illinois in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game 5-5.
Montgomery would open the inning with a double to center field, with Cody Dailey following with a walk. That brought up Brock Harding, who laid down a sacrifice bunt, that was fielded by Quick, but his throw to third to try to get the lead runner was low and got by Harper allowing Montgomery to score and move Dailey to third and Harding to second. Two batters later, Welch tied the game 5-5 with a sacrifice fly to center scoring Dailey.

Austin Peay’s next game will be Friday, March 1st, as they host Michigan State for a 3:00pm contest.

Notes

With its 7-1 record, it is the second-best start in school history for the Govs and best since the 1958 season. The Wednesday contest with Indiana State has been postponed until March 12th, start time 3:00pm.

Box Score

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Southern Illinois... 100 112 210 -  8 10  3
Austin Peay......... 003 024 20X - 11 10  4
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