Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team was crowned Atlantic Sun Conference Gold Division Champions after a 9-2 victory over Central Arkansas in its series opener, Friday, at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Head coach Roland Fanning also earned his 100th career win at Austin Peay State University, Friday. Fanning is just the fifth coach in program history to reach this feat, and he is the fastest to do so, doing it in 164 games.
How it Happened
Top 3rd | Central Arkansas took the game’s first lead in the top of the third, plating two runs in the inning. Tanner Leonard reached second on a one-out double in the left center gap. Zeb Allen moved him over to third on a single through the right side of the infield before advancing to second on a throwing error by Brody Szako in right. Gavin Braunecker was able to strike out the next batter for the Bears, but Jagger Schattle delivered a two-out two-RBI double in the left center alley, giving Central Arkansas a 0-2 lead.
Bottom 4th | Austin Peay State University responded back an inning later, scoring seven runs in the inning to take a 7-2 lead. Cameron Nickens and Gus Freeman began the inning with singles to left field before moving up a base on a wild pitch. Cole Johnson hit a deep fly ball to center field, which allowed Nickens to score on the sacrifice fly. Szako then singled through the right side of the infield to score Freeman from second base.
Szako stole second base and then advanced to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. Trevor Conley and Andres Matias doubled back-to-back to each drive in a run. Kyler Proctor and John Bay singled and walked, respectively, before Nickens was walked to bring in a run. Freeman was then hit by a pitch, which brought in another run.
Jake Jones came into the game to relieve Hunter Alexander on the mound for the Bears. He got Johnson to hit a ground ball to Nathan Negre at shortstop, but Negre made a throwing error, which brought in Bay to score for the final run of the inning.
Bottom 6th | Austin Jones came into the game for the Bears to relieve Jake Jones, who threw the previous 1.1 innings for Central Arkansas. He got Nickens to ground out to begin the inning, but Freeman then hit his ninth home run of the season over the left field wall, extending the Govs’ lead to 8-2.
Bottom 8th | Nickens drew a four-pitch walk with an out in the inning before advancing to second on a passed ball. With two outs in the inning, Johnson doubled to the right center alley to bring home Nickens and extend the lead to 9-2.
Wrap Up
Braunecker picked up the win to improve to an ASUN-best 9-0 on the season after six innings of work to begin the game. He struck out seven batters and allowed just one earned run to score on five hits and a pair of walks.
Alexander fell to 4-6 on the season after throwing 3.2 innings of work to start the game for the Bears. He struck out a pair of batters while allowing seven runs, six earned, to score on seven hits, two hit batters, and four walks.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team looks to win the series in Game 2 against Central Arkansas on Senior Day on Saturday starting at 2:00pm CT at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
