Jacksonville, FL – Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball’s John Bay was named Atlantic Sun Preseason Player of the Year for the 2025 season Thursday. Senior outfielder Brody Szako also joins Bay on the All-ASUN Team.
Bay earns his third preseason honor after recently being selected by Perfect Game (Jan. 21) and D1Baseball.com (Jan. 30) as their projected ASUN Preseason Player of the Year. This is the first time a Governor has been named ASUN Preseason Player of the Year back-to-back seasons since Austin Peay Sate University joined the conference in the fall of 2022, with Lyle Miller-Green previously earning honors last season.
The senior center fielder ranked in the top 10 of nine ASUN offensive categories last year and ranked in the top five for slugging percentage (.817), OPS (1.288), RBI (72), doubles (20), and home runs (24). Bay’s 24 homers last season included four grand slams, which helped him set the new Governor record at five slams in a career. Bay is currently on pace to break the all-time home run record (56), which is currently held by former Gov Parker Phillips (2017-19).
Brody Szako was voted by ASUN coaches to the 2025 preseason all-conference team as the second of three outfielders, where he joins Bay after transitioning from third base last season. Szako was named to the All-ASUN First Team in ’24 after batting .319 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI in 49 games.
The senior slugger duo in the outfield is getting prepped for opening weekend in Arizona, where the Govs will travel to the greater Phoenix area for the 2025 MLB Desert Invitational starting February 14TH. There, they will face three new opponents as they meet New Mexico, Seton Hall, and Grand Canyon, all for the first time in program history. They round off their trip to the desert with a Monday matchup against Arizona State on February 17th.
The Govs were voted by ASUN coaches to finish third in the preseason polls, behind Stetson and Florida Gulf Coast at the one and two spots in the standings, respectively. The complete preseason poll and all-conference team can be found at www.asunsports.org/sports/baseball.
Game Times
All game times can be found online at LetsGoPeay.com/sports/baseball.
Tickets and Other Information
Tickets for the 2025 season will be available through Ticketmaster. Follow Austin Peay State University baseball at LetsGoPeay.com for all updates this season and for all other information.
Social Media
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