APSU Sports Information
Nashville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s baseball team could not break through in a pitchers’ duel and fell 4-0 to Belmont, Sunday afternoon, in Ohio Valley Conference action at E.S. Rose Park.
Despite the loss, Austin Peay (18-14, 9-6 OVC) claimed its fourth OVC series this season after winning the first two games of the series.
Austin Peay starter Brandon Vial and Belmont starter Casey Queener held both offenses at bay throughout their outings, allowing just eight hits between them.
They battled through three scoreless frames until Belmont’s offense was able to break the tie in the fourth.
Belmont (13-18, 8-7 OVC) rallied with two outs in the fourth, first baseman Chas Hadden hitting a single to left field and third baseman Ben Kocher walking to put two aboard. Catcher Austin Reynolds made the late rally pay off with a three-run home run that just found its way out to left, giving the Bruins a 3-0 lead.
Queener (3-3) made that lead stand up en route to a complete game victory. He faced the minimum through seven innings, seeing two runners caught stealing to maintain that pace. Austin Peay would have its best chance to break through in the eighth when a walk and hit batsman put two aboard with one out but Queener induced an infield fly and struck out a batter to end the threat.
Queener struck out a career-high 12 batters in the victory, walking one. He scattered three hits, the first coming after he retired the game’s first 11 batters.
Vial (1-1) was the hard-luck loser despite holding Belmont to four runs on five hits and three walks in 6.2 innings of work. Reliever Harley Gollert closed the outing with 1.1 scoreless innings.
Second baseman Garrett Giovannelli went 2-for-4 to pace Austin Peay’s offense. Third baseman Malcolm Tipler‘s fourth-inning single was the Govs first base hit and he finished 1-for-4.
Reynolds led Belmont with a 2-for-3, three RBI outing with a double and home run that also saw him score twice. Second baseman Jordan Henshaw drove in Reynolds with a seventh-inning single for his lone hit in a 1-for-3 outing.
Govs Notably
Halfway Through OVC
Austin Peay hit the halfway mark in its OVC slate with a 9-6 record, winning four of their first five OVC series. The 2018 Governors have posted a two-game improvement over the 2017 Govs, who finished the first half with a 7-8 mark.
Giovannelli;s Streak Hits 38
Second baseman Garrett Giovannelli had a two-hit outing to extend his reached safely streak to an impressive 38 games, which includes 31 games this season. He led the Govs with six hits and a .462 batting average during the week.
Up Next for APSU Baseball
Austin Peay returns to Nashville in two days when it meets Lipscomb in a 6:00pm, Tuesday nonconference tilt.
