Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) Baseball is back at The Hand – for its 57th season at Raymond C. Hand Park, formerly known as Governors Park – as the Govs welcome Eastern Michigan for a three-game weekend series starting Friday, February 20th, at 2:00pm (CT) at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
Leading Off
Eastern Michigan is the first of nine opponents the Governors welcome to Clarksville this season.
Entering the weekend at 1-4 are the Eagles of EMU. The team from up north has been on a five-game road stint to begin the season, taking one game at Little Rock a week ago, and losing two games to Vanderbilt just an hour from the campus of Austin Peay State University.
The Governors, who had their most winningest season at home in program history in 2025, going 26-4 at The Hand, look to extend their home opener win streak to two games, after winning their home opener against Purdue Fort Wayne, 8-3, on February 22nd. Returner Cole Johnson helped lead the charge going 2-for-2 and blasting a solo home run in the fourth inning for his first-career hit.
Austin Peay State University is 2-2 to begin the season after splitting its four-game series at UNLV last weekend. Redshirt junior Paris Pridgen helped lead the charge offensively for the APSU Govs, going 4-for-11 for a team-leading .364 average, with a double, six walks, five runs, four RBI, and went 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts.
Cody Airington is slated as the Game One starter this weekend and looks to bounce back after throwing just 1.2 innings in his Opening Day 2026 debut. He is backed by projected starters Kaleb Applebey and Kade Shatwell, who round out the weekend rotation, who both made solid outings in their first appearances of the season, and both lead the team in ERA – 2.25 and 0.00, respectively.
Eastern Michigan is the first member of the Mid-American Conference that Austin Peay has played since its three-game series at Toledo in 2022 from April 29th to May 1st. The Governors were swept by Toledo 3-5, 4-7, and 6-7. Austin Peay State University finished 19-37 (14-16, OVC) that year and was eliminated in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship by SIU Edwardsville, 13-1.
Series History
This will be the eighth season that Austin Peay State University has played against Eastern Michigan. The series dates back to 1971, when the Governors won two games at home in an April 13th doubleheader. The scores were 5-2 and 4-0. These games will be Games 13 through 15 in the all-time series, with the Governors leading 7-5 historically.
All but one contest has been at home, with the neutral-site game taking place in 1993, where EMU won 9-7. APSU leads 7-4 at home, while EMU leads the neutral series 1-0. The last time these two teams faced each other was in 2020 in a three-game series in Clarksville, where the Governors took two of three games from the Eagles, winning 13-6 in the series finale.
Broadcast Information
All games will be streamed on ESPN+. Alex Gould will be the play-by-play voice on Friday, with Ethan Schmidt taking over for the remainder of the series.
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 and Instagram for all Governors Baseball updates and ticket information as they happen.
