Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team is set for a short road trip to Music City in its final Atlantic Sun Conference series of the regular season against the Lipscomb Bisons starting on Thursday at Dugan Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The game begins at 6:00pm CT.
Leading Off
The Austin Peay State University concluded its 2025 regular season on the road in an I-24 battle against the Lipscomb Bisons. Austin Peay State University finished the weekend against Central Arkansas with a pair of wins and a loss.
The APSU Govs were crowned the ASUN Gold Division Champs after winning the series opener on Friday, which was Coach Fanning’s 100th career win. He is the fastest head coach in program history to reach the feat, doing so in just 164 games. The Governors won their 40th game of the season on Sunday. Earlier in the season, it was announced that this year’s team was the fastest to reach 30 wins in a season. Now, they are the fastest in program history to reach 40, after 52 games this season.
Governors Bullpen
The Austin Peay State University baseball team had a ERA of 4.50 last week over four games, while striking out 39 batters and walking 12. As a staff, the Govs also held batters to a .284 batting average.
Graduate left-handed pitcher Gavin Braunecker earned his ASUN-leading ninth win of the season and improved to 9-0 following his third-straight quality start of the season in the series opener against the Bears. The southpaw struck out seven batters and allowed just one earned run to score on five hits and two walks. He is in the running for ASUN Pitcher of the Year as he has only walked 15 total batters on the season, which is tied for the fifth-least amount in the league. His nine wins on the season are also ranked fifth in the NCAA across Division I baseball.
APSU junior right-hander Lyndon Glidewell, since throwing his no-hitter against North Alabama halfway through ASUN play, has been stellar on the mound. He has made three quality starts since then, and improved his record to 7-0 after another dominant outing against Central Arkansas in the Govs’ final home game, Sunday. He went five innings and struck out four batters, while allowing three earned runs to score on seven hits and a walk.
Arms out of the pen outside of the starting rotation did a solid job limiting baserunners and getting outs when needed. The bullpen allowed just seven earned runs on 15 hits and six walked batters.
First Hacks
Austin Peay State University baseball had another successful week at the plate, outscoring opponents 46-20. The APSU Govs took two out of three in their series against Central Arkansas, sealing the No. 1 seed in the ASUN Championship next week. The Govs also took a win from Morehead State in a midweek rematch, winning by run-rule in eight innings by a score of 16-3. The lineup showed off its big bats last week, batting .379 with 10 home runs, 10 doubles, and a triple.
Center fielder John Bay continues to lead the nation in runs scored with 85 this season after crossing the plate seven more times over the last four games. Bay had struggled at the dish for a few weeks, but is looking his best right now after batting .333 last week with three home runs and a pair of doubles. He is now just five home runs away from claiming the all-time home run record at Austin Peay, with 52 in his career with the Govs.
APSU outfielder Cameron Nickens continues to show why he is in the running for ASUN player of the year, as he has had another amazing week at the plate last week. Nickens batted .500 (8-for-16) with two homers and eight RBI. He leads the ASUN in all three triple-slash categories and ranks in the top 10 in 11 offensive ASUN categories, leading in batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, OPS, hits, RBI, and doubles. Nickens leads the nation with 93 hits and 174 total bases.
Outfielder Brody Szako batted .278 (5-for-18) last week, with a triple and four RBI. He bats .279 on the year, with 22 of his 38 hits going for extra bases. He has 13 home runs, seven doubles, and a pair of triples to his name this season.
Austin Peay State University infielder Andres Matias had one of his biggest weeks at the plate this season after batting .500 (7-for-14) last week, collecting three doubles and a home run. He had multi-hit games in three of the four games last week, including a 3-for-4 performance at Morehead State, where he hit a double and tallied a pair of RBI.
First baseman Gus Freeman had one of his biggest weeks at the plate last week after batting .563 (9-for-16) with a home run and a double. He had a multi-hit performance in every game last week and has done so in each of his last six games. Freeman comes into the week ranking in the top 10 in eight offensive ASUN categories. He also tied the program record with 22 hit-by-pitches in a single season, Saturday, in Game 2 of the series against Central Arkansas. The last time a Governor was hit 22 times in a single season was Parker Phillips (2017-19) in his first season in 2017.
Infielder Kyler Proctor batted .389 (7-for-18) last week with a pair of RBI. He had three multi-hit games, including a three-hit performance at Morehead State on Tuesday, where he went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored..
APSU infielder/designated hitter Cole Johnson had a slower week at the plate, but still batted .286 (4-for-14) with three doubles. He collected a hit in every game of the series against Central Arkansas, and despite going hitless at Morehead State on Tuesday, he still managed to score twice after walking four times in the contest.
Catcher Trevor Conley split his time behind the plate last week, catching two games. He batted .143 (1-for-7) with an RBI double. He comes into the weekend batting .308, and bats .378 in conference play, which ranks ninth in the ASUN. Three weeks ago, he was named to the Buster Posey Award Midseason Watch List, and is a prime candidate for the national award after showing his grit over the course of the season.
Austin Peay State University catcher Keaton Cottam shared his time behind the dish last week, starting in two games. He batted .429 (3-for-7), including a 2-for-5 game against Central Arkansas, where he scored twice and picked up his fourth stolen base of the season.
Facing The Bisons
Series History
Austin Peay leads the all-time series 77-73-1 after taking two out of three games in its series to open ASUN play. The Govs fell to the Bisons in the series finale on March 16 after a big eighth inning for the Bisons to come back and salvage the series.
About the Lipscomb Bisons
Lipscomb comes into the weekend six games back from the Govs in the ASUN standings. They are second in the division with a 17-10 ASUN record, and are 25-25 overall. The Bisons have won their last five series after only taking one of three from Central Arkansas the first week of April earlier this year.
At The Plate
The Bisons come into the weekend as the third-best offense in the ASUN, batting .281. As a team, Lipscomb has recorded 163 extra-base hits, which include 58 home runs, 94 doubles, and 11 triples, while tallying 300 RBI over 51 games.
Redshirt Senior infielder David Coppedge has played in 51 games for Lipscomb this season and has been the most versatile at the plate. He bats .303 on the season with nine home runs, 18 doubles, and two triples. He is slugging .554 and has a .403 on-base percentage.
On The Mound
Lipscomb comes into the weekend with a team ERA of 5.54. Over 51 games and 445 innings, the Bisons have allowed 337 runs, 274 earned, and opponents are batting .275 against their staff, which is the fifth-lowest in the league.
Junior right-hander Cole O’Brien has been the most efficient arm for the Bisons’ staff this season, starting 10 of the 15 games he has appeared in, and has an ERA of 3.07 on the year, which ranks fourth in the ASUN.
Broadcast Information
All games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Follow Along
Keep up to date with all Governors baseball on the official website of Austin Peay State University Athletics – www.LetsGoPeay.com. Follow @GovsBSB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram for all Governors Baseball updates and ticket information as they happen.
