Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team plays its first road weekend of 2022 when it travels north to face Saint Louis, Saturday-Sunday, at the Billiken Sports Center. The series, originally scheduled to start Friday, will be played Saturday and Sunday with the final schedule to be determined.
This weekend is the Govs final tune-up before Ohio Valley Conference play starts next weekend at Belmont. Catcher Jack Alexander boosted his average by 45 points in the last four games and now leads the Govs with a .422 batting average, 20 RBI, and a .542 on-base percentage. Right fielder Gino Avros is batting .611 (11-for-18) over his last five games, bumping his average 93 points over that span.
Saint Louis first baseman Kyle Fitzgerald is batting .420 this season with six doubles, and 10 RBI and is the lone Billiken hitter batting better than .300 this season. Left fielder Tyler Fogarty also has supplied some pop at the plate, leading SLU with four home runs and 11 RBI in the first 16 games.
Right-handed reliever Jack Weber is the reigning Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Week after notching his first collegiate save against Purdue Fort Wayne last weekend.
Toeing The Rubber
GAME 1 | LHP Harley Gollert vs. RHP Colton Hutt
Gollert put together his second quality start of 2022, striking out a season-best 8 Eastern Kentucky batters over 7.0 scoreless innings, last Friday. His 26 Ks this season ranks third among OVC pitchers. Hutt has back-to-back quality starts against Northern Colorado and Purdue Fort Wayne, amassing 12.1 innings and allowing 5 runs (3.64 ERA) in those two outings.
GAME 2 | RHP Drew McIllwain vs. RHP Logan Schmitt
McIllwain also notched his second quality start of the season against Eastern Kentucky, striking out season-high 8 over 6.0 innings and allowing only 1 run. He became the Govs first pitcher two record 2 wins this season. Schmitt has won his last two starts, posting a 2.45 ERA with 1 walk and 9 strikeouts in 11.0 innings pitched.
GAME 3 | TBA vs. LHP Trevor Harris
Luke Brown was in the Govs weekend rotation for the first 3 weeks before Sebastian Martinez got the nod last weekend. Only 6 Govs pitchers have started a game this season. Harris held Purdue Fort Wayne to 4 runs, walking none, and striking out 5 over 4.1 innings of a loss last weekend.
Through The Lineup
Catcher Jack Alexander saw his 12-game hit streak end in the Eastern Kentucky series opener, but has promptly pieced together a 4-game hit streak. He is batting .700 (7-10) with 5 walks and 7 RBI during the new streak.
First baseman John McDonald’s reached-safely streak stands at 35 games (14 in 2022), which is the 5th longest streak at APSU since 1996, tying Lance Wampler’s 35-game stretch (2000). Next up is Ryan Kane’s 40-game reached safely streak during the 2006 season.
With McDonald battling an injury, Ty DeLancey has started the last five games at first base. He is batting .272 (6-for-22) with 3 RBI in six games since taking over at first base.
Second baseman Jonah Beamon has started to warm up at the plate in March, batting .324 (12-37) with 8 RBI this month. His season batting average has jumped 89 points to a .250 mark entering the midweek pair.
Shortstop John Bolton saw a 5-game hit streak halted in Wednesday’s outing against Evansville. He did earn a walk and extended his reached-safely streak to 10 games, becoming the 4th different Govs hitter to string together a double-digit reached-safely streak.
Third baseman Michael Robinson owns an 8-game reached-safely streak with 8 hits and 8 walks during the streak, posting a .581 on-base percentage. He is second on the team (behind Alexander) in batting average (.344) and on-base percentage (.481) this season.
Center fielder Skyler Luna was on base in all 3 games of the EKU series, but was kept off the basepaths during the Govs two midweek games
Gino Avros bounced back from two hitless outings against Lipscomb last week by piecing together a 5-game hit streak that includes 3 multi-hit games. He reached safely in all of his plate appearances twice: March 13 against Eastern Kentucky (4-for-4, BB) and March 16 against Evansville (2-for-2, BB).
Jeremy Wagner is battling through a tough 5-game stretch that has seen him post just 2 hits and 2 RBI. He came off the bench Wednesday against Evansville and was 1-for-2 at the plate.
Harrison Brown was one of only 3 Govs hitters (Avros and Bolton the others) to record a hit in all 3 games of the EKU set. He batted .500 (4-8) with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored on the weekend.
After recording 10 stolen bases in the season’s first 14 games, Austin Peay recorded 8 steals against Eastern Kentucky. Bolton led the way with 3 stolen bases, while Luna nabbed 2 bags.
Follow The APSU Govs
The weekend’s series at Saint Louis will not be broadcast on ESPN+. Fans wishing to follow along more discreetly may visit PeayStats.com for live scoring throughout the series or get important game updates on Twitter by following @GovsBSB.
