Austin Peay Governors Wrap Up OVC Regular Schedule Hosting SIU Edwardsville

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay’s nationally-ranked baseball team will put its nine-game win streak on the line when it hosts SIU Edwardsville in a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series, beginning with a 6:00pm, Thursday contest at Raymond C. Hand Park.

The Govs have won 13 of their last 14 contests, including an 11-1 mark in the OVC. They enter this weekend’s series seeking to move up two spots in the OVC standings to secure a pivotal first-round bye in next week’s tournament. SIU Edwardsville visits Clarksville after posting an impressive 2-1 non-conference series win at Southern Mississippi, a team that was ranked among the top 100 in RPI, last weekend. The Cougars will be concluding a stretch of four games in four days, hosting Evansville in a Wednesday contest before their trip south.

SIU Edwardsville has won seven of its last nine outings (prior to Wednesday’s outing against Evansville), including 2-of-3 from Southern Mississippi last weekend. The Cougars bring a four-game OVC win streak into the weekend, sweeping UT Martin (May 4th-5th) and winning the finale at Morehead State (April 27th).

SIUE can move into a tie with Southeast Missouri for sixth-place with a sweep at APSU, but cannot qualify for the OVC Tournament after losing the regular-season series to the Redhawks. Only five batters have 150 at bats (3.2 per game) this season with another nine batters recording at least 40 at bats. Joel Greatting, who shared the adidas® OVC Co-Player of the Week honors with APSU’s Craig Massoni this week, leading the team with a .337 batting average and 33 RBI (10 RBI in five games last week).

SIUE lost its No. 1 starter, Travis Felax, to injury at Morehead State, April 26th. Freshman right-hander Caleb Wilkerson moved into the No. 1 spot the past two weekends, picking up the win in both outings to improve to 2-4 this season. Senior left-hander Tony Schaeffer picked up the win in the No. 2 spot at Southern Miss, his second win this season. Senior left-hander Sam Hopkins made his season’s ninth start at Southern Miss and suffered the loss as the SIUE defense committed five errors.

Austin Peay holds a 10-8 edge against SIUE in a series that dates to 1973. This will be the second OVC series between the two teams, the Govs winning last season’s match up, 2-1. APSU is 6-2 against SIUE at Raymond C. Hand Park, winning the last six games in Clarksville.

Entering the regular season’s final weekend, Austin Peay will need assistance to earn one of the two first-round byes in the upcoming OVC Baseball Championship. The Govs, who host SIU Edwardsville, need one more win than Jacksonville State, which hosts Morehead State, to move past the Gamecocks.

Tennessee Tech hosts Belmont with the winner picking up at least a share of the OVC regular-season crown. APSU needs two wins more than Belmont and three more wins than Tennessee Tech to pass either team. Sitting fourth entering the weekend, APSU will need to pass two teams in the final weekend to claim a first-round bye. Otherwise, the Govs will start their tournament with a first-round contest, May 22nd

Just The Facts

CATCH THE GOVS
Radio: Governors Sports Network
Online Audio: www.LetsGoPeay.com
Twitter: @APSUBaseball

INCLEMENT WEATHER UPDATES
With inclement weather forecast for this weekend’s OVC series, fans should be advised the schedule may change. Schedule updates will be available via Austin Peay’s athletics website (LetsGoPeay.com) or on Twitter @APSUBaseball and @LetsGoPeay.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Date Start	Austin Peay Starter Opponent Starter
THU. 6 p.m.	LHP Zach Hall (Jr., 6-2, 5.45 ERA) RHP Caleb Wilkerson (Fr., 2-4, 6.00 ERA)
FRI. 6 p.m.	RHP Casey Delgado (Sr., 7-2, 4.50 ERA) LHP Tony Schaeffer (Sr., 2-4, 4.07 ERA)
SAT. 2 p.m.	RHP Ryan Quick (Jr., 5-2, 5.79 ERA) TBA

NATIONAL RANKINGS
APSU: #30 (NCBWA), RV (USA TODAY)
SIUE: Not receiving votes