Scottsdale, AZ – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team fell to Seton Hall, 15-3, Saturday in its second game of the 2025 MLB Desert Invitational at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
Senior Jacob Weaver had his first start of the season for the Governors, going 1.2 innings with a strikeout and four walks while allowing six runs in the outing.
Seton Hall started Ryan Reich in his first appearance of the season, going four innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Reich allowed just one run off a solo home run.
How it Happened
Top 1st | John Bay opened the scoring early for the Govs as he launched a solo homer over the left-center field wall to put Austin Peay State University ahead 1-0.
Bottom 1st | Weaver got into trouble early as he found himself with bases loaded and one out in the bottom half of the first. He got a double play ball up the middle that went from Kyler Proctor to Austen Jaslove to Gus Freeman to complete the two-ball and save a run from scoring.
Bottom 2nd | Weaver found himself under pressure again after a hit-by-pitch, a wild pitch, and a pair of walks. With bases loaded, he walked Marco Ali to score Nick Ferri for Seton Hall’s first run of the game and tie it up, 1-1. Aiden Robbins then singled to the left side of the infield to score Kevin Milewski. Andres Matias committed a throwing error on the play to bring home Tommy Manzo and put the Pirates on top, 3-1. The next batter, Jimmy Brennan, hit a game-securing RBI single to center field to extend the lead, 4-1, and knock Weaver out of the game.
Adam Walker replaced Weaver with two runners on and two outs. He gave up a single and a walk to the first two batters he saw to allow a run to score. Aaron Lewis came into the 5-1 game for Walker and allowed a run on an infield single to make the score 6-1. He escaped the inning, allowing just one run after getting Frankie Scrivanic to ground into a fielders choice.
Bottom 3rd | AJ Soldra and Ali both singled with one out in the inning to bring up Robbins. With runners on the corners, he grounded into a fielders choice to score Soldra and extend the lead to 7-1. Robbins then stole second base to get into scoring position, so Brennan could drive him in on an RBI single to right field and put the score to 8-1.
Top 5th | Stephen Curry relieved Reich to start the fifth inning. He had to face catcher Keaton Cottam, who collected his season’s first hit on a line drive to center. Cameron Nickens then stepped up to the plate and launched another Governors’ home run into left-center to cut Austin Peay State University’s deficit to 8-3. That would be the last of the scoring for the Govs in the game.
Bottom 5th | After a leadoff walk to Soldra, Deaton Oak replaced Aaron Lewis on the mound. He was able to get a ground out from the first batter he faced to move Soldra to second base. But then a pass ball allowed him to move 90 feet closer and get to third. That wouldn’t matter, though, due to an RBI triple off the bat of Robbins. The first Pirates extra-base hit of the game would extend the lead to 9-3. Brennan then stepped up and collected an RBI double to score Robbins and get Seton Hall to double digits, 10-3.
Bottom 6th | Oak had a great start to the bottom half of the sixth after getting two groundouts to Jaslove at short. But a walk and three Pirate hits, including an RBI single from Ali and an RBI double from Robbins, would put the score to 13-3 and knock Oak out of the game. Cannon Rice made his Governors debut after redshirting as a true freshman last season. He hit the first batter he saw and then allowed an RBI double to plate two runners for a score of 15-3.
Top 7th | Curry closed out the rest of the game by allowing just one hit in the seventh and securing the win after the game was called due to the run rule.
Wrap Up
Curry was credited with the win and improved to 1-0 on the season after three innings of work, striking out four and allowing two runs.
Weaver took the loss after throwing just 1.2 innings and allowing six runs.
Notables
Nickens: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R – Collected first Governors home run.
Bay: 1-for-4, HR, RBI, R – Hit his first home run of the season.
Cottam: 2-for-2, BB, R – First multi-hit game since Belmont (5/7/2024).
Lewis: 2.1 IP, 3 K, BB, 3 ER.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team will go up against Grand Canyon on Sunday at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. The first pitch is at 6:30pm CT.
Tomorrow’s game will be streamed on MLB.com.
