Conway, AR – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team completed the sweep in its series against Central Arkansas 9-5 following a strong performance on the mound from Lyndon Glidewell, Sunday, at Bear Stadium.
How it Happened
Top 1st | Austin Peay State University struck first and got on the board early to take the early lead. With an out in the inning, John Bay drew the walk after working the count full. Then, after two straight balls to Cameron Nickens, Roland Fanning put on the hit-and-run and was successful. Nickens laced a double to the right field corner, scoring Bay all the way from first.
Bottom 1st | Zeb Allen led off the bottom half with a double in the left center gap and then advanced to third on a groundout to short by Sam Reynolds. Then Bryce Cermenelli singled up the middle to score Allen for the Bears’ first run of the game, tying up the score 1-1. Glidewell retired the next batter on a fly-out but then ran into trouble. He threw a four-pitch walk to Blaine French and then gave up a double to Preston Curtis, scoring two runs on the play. Another walk and a base hit allowed another run to score, making the score 1-4.
Top 2nd | Brody Szako led off the second with a walk and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Two outs passed, and Andres Matias got back a run after hitting a single to center field, scoring Szako to cut the Bears’ lead in half, 2-4.
Top 4th | With an out in the fourth, Szako hit his sixth homer of the season to center field to get the APSU Govs within one run. A pitch then hit Ray Velazquez, and Trevor Conley walked to bring Matias to the plate. He doubled to the alley out in left center to bring in Velazquez and tie the game 4-4. The Govs weren’t finished, though. Bay came up with two outs and singled to center, scoring two runs to take the 6-4 lead.
Top 5th | After two quick outs in the fifth, Szako was hit by a pitch, and Velazquez drew a walk to put two runners on. Conley then hit a single to left, scoring Szako to extend the lead, 7-4.
Bottom 7th | Reynolds began the seventh with a leadoff double to right center, then advanced to third after a ground out from Cermenelli. Nathan Negre was the next batter and hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Reynolds on the play and putting the score at 7-5. It would be the last run the Bears would score in the contest.
Top 9th | The Govs added two insurance runs in the ninth, beginning with a leadoff single from Kyler Proctor. Bay then walked to put two runners on base. A deep fly out from Nickens to straightaway center allowed both runners to move up a bag. Then, Gus Freeman delivered the final blow with a two-run single to left field, extending the lead to 9-5.
Wrap Up
Glidewell picked up the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. He threw a career-best 7.1 innings in the start, striking out four batters. He allowed five earned runs to score on 13 hits and two walks.
Cooper King was given the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season. He threw 4.2 innings of relief and struck out five batters. He also allowed five earned runs on four hits and four walks.
Kade Shatwell picked up his second-straight save after throwing 1.2 innings and not allowing a run to score. He entered the game in a bases-loaded one-out situation and got out of the inning without damage. He struck out three of the five batters he faced and only gave up one hit.
Notables
Matias: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R – Has recorded three multi-hit performances in the last five games.
Bay: 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 2 R.
Szako: 1-for-3, HR, RBI, 3 R – Has hit five home runs in last eight games.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team will return home to face Tennessee Tech in a midweek rematch starting on Tuesday at 6:00pm CT at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
