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Instant Peay Play: Several factors have led to recent struggles for APSU Baseball

Instant Peay Play - APSU SportsClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s baseball team has hit a lull over the past three weeks, after a solid start to the season, and while there is still a lot of baseball yet to be played for the Governors, some trends need to turn around if they look to get a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference postseason field.

The Govs (12-15, 5-7 OVC) currently sit in the eighth spot in the conference standings, a game ahead of ninth-place SIU Edwardsville and a game-and-a-half ahead of 10th-place Eastern Illinois, with the top eight teams making the OVC postseason tournament field.

Austin Peay Baseball. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Baseball. (APSU Sports Information)

But while there is still seven overall OVC weekends left in the regular season, six for Austin Peay with a non-conference weekend versus Notre Dame on the docket, what has happened to the team that swept Jacksonville State to open conference play 3-0, but has only managed a 2-7 mark since versus OVC opponents can be pointed out in numbers.

On offense, the Govs were hitting just under .300 as a team following the Jacksonville State series, coming it at .296, while averaging 7.4 runs a contest over the first 15 games of the season.

In the 12 games since that conference opening sweep for the Govs, they have seen their batting average dip to .273 and have their run production drop to 6.6 run per contest.

Defensively, the Govs had been more than solid in its first 15 games, committing only 15 errors and having a sparking .973 fielding percentage, but over the last 12 games the Govs have committed 17 errors (1.4 per game) and .960 fielding percentage.

While these two areas have seen drops for the Govs, it has been their pitching that has seen the biggest struggles over the past three weeks.

After the first 15 games, Austin Peay’s pitching staff had combined to post a 5.06 ERA, opponents only batting .249 and scoring 5.7 runs per game, while having a 2.4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.

In the 12 games since, the team’s ERA has ballooned to 8.74, with opponents hitting .345, averaging 9.9 runs per game, while also seeing their strikeout to walk ratio close to 1.5 to 1 per game.

When you look at and break down each, or any, of these numbers that have contributed to the Govs recent slide it is easy to see why Austin Peay has struggled the past three weeks, but the talent on the team that opened the season and conference play so well still has time to turn things around and make a run at a high seed in the upcoming postseason tournament.

Chris Austin
Chris Austinhttp://www.clarksvillesportsnetwork.com
Chris Austin is a graduate of Clarksville High School and Austin Peay State University. Chris is a former Head Softball Coach for APSU, and assistant basketball coach for CHS. Chris has worked at the Leaf-Chronicle, and WJZM News/Talk/Sports radio. Has also worked at the Sports Information Department at APSU, and has covered championship events for the Ohio Valley Conference and NCAA. Chris is an avid sports fan and can be found at most Austin Peay State University sports events.
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