DeLand, FL – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team had its season come to an end following a 6-3 loss to Florida Gulf Coast in the 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, Saturday, at Melching Field at Conrad Park.
How it Happened
Top 1st | Florida Gulf Coast began the game with a leadoff single from Jake McKee. He would advance to second after a one-out walk from Jaret Nelson. Robert Moya was the next batter, and he delivered with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to score McKee and take the early 0-1 lead.
Bottom 2nd | Austin Peay State University answered back an inning later with some offense of their own. Cole Johnson collected his fifth double of the tournament after splitting the gap in left center. Brody Szako followed up with an RBI single that dropped into the shallow outfield behind second base, tying the game. Ray Velazquez then singled up the middle on a hit and run, advancing Szako to third base. With runners at the corners, the starting pitcher for the Eagles, Logan Baisley, threw a wild pitch, which allowed Szako to score for the 2-1 lead.
Bottom 3rd | Although it did not lead to scoring for the Govs in the third, senior outfielder Cameron Nickens made history by tying the single-season hit record with his base hit through the right side of the infield in the third inning. He tied the 1996 record by Nate Manning with 100 hits on the year.
Top 5th | Aaron Lewis ran into some trouble in the top of the fifth after hitting Mac Moise with a pitch to begin the inning. McKee would follow up with a single to advance Moise to third. Solomon Washington came in to relieve Lewis out of the pen to face Evan Dempsey, who then hit into a fielder’s choice to Andres Matias at shortstop, scoring Moise to tie the game. After recording the second out of the inning, Robert Moya drove in Dempsey with a single to right field, not before Harrison Povey hit a two-run home run to put the Eagles up by three runs. Washington would walk the next two batters before being relieved by Kaleb Applebey on the mound. Tyler Herb was the first batter he would face, and he doubled to left field, scoring Cayden Hessmeyer from second, extending the lead to 2-6.
Bottom 6th | After the first two batters of the inning were recorded out, Szako hit his 15th home run of the season over the right field fence to cut the Eagles’ lead in half, 3-6.
Wrap Up
Baisley picked up his second win of the season to improve to 2-1 on the season after striking out 10 batters, allowing three runs to score on six hits and a hit batter.
Lewis fell to 1-3 on the season following his four-inning start, where he struck out four batters and allowed three runs to score on four hits, a walk, and a pair of hit batters.
Leo Giannoni earned his third save of the season after throwing the game’s final three innings, striking out three batters and not allowing a run to score on just one hit.
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