Richmond, KY – Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball’s senior pitcher Jacob Weaver shined Friday night against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, throwing the Govs’ second no-hitter, at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium.
With Weaver’s stellar performance on the mound, this year’s team is now the first to throw a pair of no-hitters in the same season since 1970.
How it Happened
Top 2nd | Just like in the series opener on Thursday, Austin Peay State University opened the scoring in the top of the second inning. Brody Szako led off with a double to left center before coming across the plate on an RBI single up the middle from Ray Velazquez.
Top 4th | APSU did a lot of damage putting up a seven-spot on two swings in the fourth. Velazquez led off the inning with a walk, and Trevor Conley followed up with a single through the right side of the infield. Andres Matias then blasted a three-run home run off the scoreboard over the left center field fence. Kyler Proctor continued the offense with a single to center field, and a pitch hit John Bay to get two runners on. The Colonels got two quick outs before a pitch hit Cole Johnson to load the bases. Eastern Kentucky made a pitching change and brought in Hayden Collins. Szako was the first batter he faced, and Szako would hit his second grand slam of the season to dead center to extend the Govs’ lead to 8-0.
Top 7th | With the Governors already up eight runs on the Colonels, they only needed to score two to put EKU in run-rule danger. And that’s exactly what they did. Szako led off the seventh with a solo homer, his second of the game, on the first pitch he saw. Then, Velazquez hit a home run to left center to put the APSU Govs ahead by 10.
Bottom 7th | Weaver headed out to the mound for the game’s final inning, needing three outs without giving up a hit to complete the no-hitter. He struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches. Then he got Diego Alana to ground out on a sharp ground ball to Velazquez at third. Velazquez made a superb effort at the hot corner to take away a hit from Alana, extending all the way to his left side and preserving the no-hitter. Weaver then walked Tait Nunnally but got Silas Shaffer to fly out to Bay in center field for the final out.
Wrap Up
Weaver picked up his third win of the season to improve to 3-1, after throwing seven no-hit shutout innings with five strikeouts and walking just three batters.
Ryker Walton was given the loss after tossing just 3.2 innings for the Colonels. He fell to 1-8 on the season after allowing seven runs to score on six hits, two walks, and three hit batters.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team concludes their Atlantic Sun Conference series against Eastern Kentucky starting on Saturday at 12:00pm CT, at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium.
