Louisville, KY – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team took the first two games of its three-game Atlantic Sun Conference series on Friday in Louisville.
Game 1 of DH
The Govs took their first game against the Knights by double-digits following strong performances on both sides of the ball from John Bay and Cody Airington. Airington, who came into the conference series with a 3-1 record, made his seventh start of the season and picked up his fourth win after five quality innings on the mound.
How it Happened
Top 3rd | The Governors struck first and got the game’s first run across in the third. The inning began with a leadoff single from John Bay on the first pitch he saw. He would advance to second on a wild pitch, and then Cameron Nickens drew a four-pitch walk. Gus Freeman then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Cole Johnson came up and hit a soft grounder to the third baseman, allowing Bay to come across the plate for the game’s first run.
Top 4th | Trevor Conley was the first runner to reach in the fourth following a one-out walk on nine pitches. Chase Carver, Bellarmine’s starting pitcher, was able to retire Andres Matias three pitches later with a line-out to center. Bay would then step up and single through the left side of the infield to score Conley. Nickens was the next batter, and he would deliver a huge punch with a three-run blast over the left center field fence for his 10th homer of the season, extending the Govs’ lead to 5-0.
Top 7th | The Govs would plate another two in the seventh on a big swing from Conley. With an out in the inning and following an infield single from Ray Velazquez, Conley would hit his third home run of the season to the opposite field, extending the lead to 7-0.
Top 8th | Another big inning in the eighth allowed the Govs to get a comfortable lead. They would have three walks to load the bases, and then a hit-by-pitch scored another run for an eight-run difference. Then Bay came up with two outs and delivered a bases-clearing triple to make the score 11-0.
Bottom 8th | Bellarmine led off the bottom half of the eighth with a pinch-hit solo home run from Nick Gnardellis. After three straight walks to load the bases, Jacob Rowold grounded out and brought in the Knights’ second run. Another two straight walks allowed another Bellarmine run to score, forcing a ninth inning of play.
Top 9th | Paris Pridgen, who came in earlier in the game as a pinch-runner, collected a hit on a bunt about ten feet in front of home plate. Nathan Barksdale was the next batter. He had entered the game in the eighth as a defensive replacement in right field. He delivered the final blow of the game, hitting his second home run of the year to put the Govs out in front 13-3.
Game 1 Wrap Up
Airington picked up the win to improve to 4-1 on the year. He threw five innings and collected seven strikeouts, allowing no runs on just two hits and three walks.
Chase Carver was given the loss after just 3.2 innings of work, allowing five runs on eight hits and four walks.
Game 2 of DH
The Govs won in run-rule fashion after playing just seven innings in Game 2 of the Friday doubleheader. Jacob Weaver put in solid work on the mound and was supplied runs by the Governors’ offense with some big swings.
How it Happened
Top 2nd | The Governors opened the scoring first with a solo home run by Brody Szako in the second inning for his seventh on the season. A pitch then hit Velazquez, and he advanced to second after Conley singled to left. The two would put on the double steal to get to second and third. Matias then hit a deep foul ball off to the right side and scored Velazquez on the sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0.
Top 3rd | Bay led off the third inning with his ninth homer of the year to put the Govs up another run for the 3-0 lead.
Top 4th | Conley led the fourth off with a single up the middle and then advanced to second after Matias laid down a sacrifice bunt. Kyler Proctor then singled through the left side of the infield, scoring Conley from second to extend the lead to 4-0.
Top 5th | The Govs led off another inning with a solo homer, courtesy of Freeman. It was his seventh of the season. Johnson then drew a walk and stole second base for his first career stolen base. He scored on a double to right field off the bat of Szako. Conley would later single up the middle to score Szako. Proctor came up later and doubled to left scoring Conley. Then Bay hit his second home run of the day with a two-run no-doubter to left center, putting the Govs up 10-0.
Top 6th | After a few base runners got on to begin the sixth, Matias grounded into a fielders choice to score Johnson and put the Govs up 11-0.
Bottom 6th | Rowold would lead off the sixth with a triple to the right center alley and score Bellarmine’s first run on a sacrifice fly from Luke Scales. But that would be all the Knights could do at the plate, allowing the Govs to win by the run rule decision.
Game 2 Wrap Up
Weaver picked up the win for his second of the season. He improved to 2-1 after five innings of dominance on the mound. He did not allow a run to score on five hits and a pair of walks while striking out seven batters. It was the first time he had struck out seven batters in a game since his start against Bellarmine on April 5th, 2024, in Clarksville, where he struck out eight batters.
Zach Horwith was given the loss after allowing seven runs to score over four innings for the Knights.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team concludes its three-game ASUN series against Bellarmine on Saturday beginning at 10:00am CT at Saint Xavier High School.
