Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team extended its win streak to 11 games after taking the first two games in its Atlantic Sun Conference series against Eastern Kentucky, 10-9 and 14-4, Friday, at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Game 1 Of DH
How it Happened
Bottom 1st | Austin Peay State University struck first with a big first inning where they put up a five-spot. It began with a one-out John Bay double. He was followed up with an RBI single off the bat of Cameron Nickens for the first run of the game. Cole Johnson came up to the plate two batters later and delivered a two-out RBI double in the left center gap. Then Brody Szako hit his eighth home run of the season, putting the Govs up by four. Ray Velazquez then walked and stole second base to get into scoring position. Trevor Conley drove him in on a double to the right center alley, extending the lead to 5-0.
Bottom 2nd | Kyler Proctor began the second with a leadoff single to left field and stole second base before moving to third on a groundout from Bay. Nickens then singled up the middle to bring in Proctor and make the score 6-0.
Top 3rd | The Colonels began the third inning with a one-out walk before Austin Peay made its first pitching change. Kade Foulke entered the game in relief for Cody Airington, who made an early exit. Diego Alana was the first batter Foulke had to face, and he hit a double down the left field line to put himself and Jackson Ginther both in scoring position. Foulke struck out the next batter looking but then allowed a three-run home run from Greg Caban to make the score 6-3.
Top 4th | Eastern Kentucky led the inning with a four-pitch walk from Julius Scearce. He advanced to second on a single from Colby Ott. The next two EKU batters went down on strikes, but Ginther came up and hit a three-run homer over the left field fence to tie it up. Brody Lanham would relieve Foulke on the mound and escape the inning without further damage.
Bottom 4th | Ryker Walton began the fourth inning on the mound for the Colonels. The first pitch he threw was to Proctor, and he sent it over the left field fence for his third home run of the season. After giving the Govs the lead, the next three batters reached on two hit-by pitches and a walk. Then, with Johnson at the plate, he hit a bases-clearing double to plate three runs and extend the lead to 10-6.
Top 5th | The Colonels tried to make a push in the fifth inning and were able to scratch a few more runs to their total. Tait Nunnally led the inning with a home run against Landon Slemp, who had just started the inning on the mound for the Govs. Slemp got the next batter to pop up on the infield but then walked Nazir Mendez before giving up a two-run home run to Scearce. EKU could not do anything else at the plate for the remainder of the game, allowing the Govs to win by one run, 10-9.
Game 1 Wrap Up
Brody Lanham picked up his first win of the season to improve to 1-0. He threw just a third of an inning after entering the game in relief for Foulke.
Walton was given the loss to fall to 1-7 on the season. He threw 0.2 innings and allowed four runs on two hits, a walk, and two hit batters.
Kaleb Applebey picked up his fifth save after throwing two innings with a pair of strikeouts and gave up just one hit.
Game 2 Of DH
How it Happened
Top 1st | Eastern Kentucky got off to a quick start at the plate, scoring two runs in the first two batters of the game. Alana singled to left field to begin the inning. Nunnally then got himself in a good hitter count and hit a two-run home run over the right center fence, giving the Colonels a 0-2 lead.
Bottom 1st | The Govs answered right back in the bottom half of the inning, putting a two-spot up of their own. Bay drew a one-out walk and then stole second base. Nickens would then come up and hit his ASUN-leading 11th home run of the season to tie the game.
Bottom 4th | Another Austin Peay State University five-run inning came in the fourth. Velazquez collected a one-out base hit through the left side of the infield. Andres Matias then walked to bring up Keaton Cottam. The Ontario native hit a shot to deep center, sending the batted ball over the center field fence for his first career home run. Proctor and Bay both followed up with walks. Proctor advanced to third on the walk from Bay due to a wild pitch. He would then score on a failed pickoff attempt and a throwing error from the new EKU pitcher, Christian Howe. The error allowed Bay to move to second and get into scoring position. Then Nickens singled through the left side to bring another run in for the 7-2 lead.
Top 5th | With two outs in the inning, Nunnally doubled to left field for the first baserunner of the inning. He advanced to third base on a wild pitch and would later score on another wild pitch, making the score 7-3.
Bottom 5th | The Govs led the fifth off with three straight infield hits from Johnson, Szako, and Velazquez. Two batters later was Cottam, and he delivered with a deep fly ball to the warning track in right field, scoring Johnson from third on the sacrifice fly. With runners on the corners, Velazquez stole second base to avoid the double play and get into scoring position. Proctor then singled up the middle to score Szako and Velazquez to extend the lead 10-3.
Bottom 6th | Gus Freeman and Johnson had back-to-back one-out walks in the sixth before Velazquez came to the plate. He hit a three-run home run to put the Govs even further ahead by a score of 13-3.
Bottom 7th | Bay singled up the middle with one out in the inning and advanced to second on an error on the centerfielder. A pitch then hit Nickens to bring Freeman to the plate. He singled up the middle to bring in Bay and win the game on a walk-off run rule.
Game 2 Wrap Up
Gavin Braunecker picked up his fifth win of the season to improve to an ASUN-leading 5-0 record. He threw 2.1 innings of relief after entering the game in relief for Jacob Weaver, who started the game. He tallied three strikeouts and allowed just one run on three hits.
Bradley Gagen was given the loss to fall to 0-5 on the season. He threw 3.1 innings with two strikeouts. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on five hits, five walks, and a hit batter.
Follow Govs Baseball on Socials
Follow Govs baseball (@GovsBSB) on Instagram and X.
Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team will conclude the weekend series against Eastern Kentucky on Sunday. Game time and location are to be determined due to potential inclement weather in the Clarksville area.
