Brentwood, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball senior catcher Jack Alexander and redshirt junior pitcher Drew McIllwain earned Preseason All-OVC recognition from the Ohio Valley Conference, Thursday, while APSU was picked fourth in the league’s “Predicted Order of Finish.”
Waverly-native McIllwain looks to follow up a 2021 season that saw him named to the OVC All-Freshman team and earn OVC All-Tournament recognition. He earned his first taste of weekend starter duties in back-to-back starts against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State and became a permanent fixture in the weekend rotation with a win against SIUE. He finished OVC play with a 3.65 ERA that was sixth among league pitchers and he limited OVC foes to a .236 batting average – eighth among league pitchers. In the OVC tournament, he allowed one run over 7.1 innings to help the Govs eliminate Morehead State.
2021 OVC Champion Southeast Missouri received eight first-place votes and 114 points in the “Predicted Order of Finish.” Murray State followed in second place with four first-place votes and 104 points. Morehead State did not receive a first-place vote but had 93 points to finish third in the preseason prognostication. Austin Peay (4th place, 2 first-place votes, 87 points) was picked just ahead of Belmont (5th, 2 first-place votes, 86 points). Southeast Missouri (6th, 2 firsts, 55 points), Eastern Illinois (7th, 50 points), Tennessee Tech (8th, 43 points), and UT Martin (9th, 16 points) completed the nine-team ranking.
Austin Peay State University opens the 2022 season in eight days when it hosts Boston College in a three-game series on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park. The season-opener is slated for a Friday, February 18th at 2:00pm followed by contests both Saturday and Sunday at 1:00pm.
Season and single-game tickets are available anytime by visiting LetsGoPeay.com/BuyTickets or during normal business hours by calling the APSU Athletics Ticket Office at 931.221.PEAY (7329).
