Louisville, KY – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team extended its win streak to nine games after completing the series sweep against Bellarmine, Saturday, at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Governors beat the Knights by a score of 12-6 in their series finale against Bellarmine which completed the sweep. It is the first time the Govs have had back-to-back conference series sweeps since 2013, when Austin Peay State University finished the regular season with sweeps over UT Martin and SIU Edwardsville.
How it Happened
Bottom 1st | The Knights found the early lead, scoring a run in the bottom half of the first. The inning began with an infield single off the bat of Landon Akers. Jacob Rowold then hit a deep fly ball that was caught on the warning track, which allowed Akers to tag up and advance to second on the play. Then, a single through the left side of the infield from Casey Sorg brought in Akers for the first run of the ball game.
Top 5th | The APSU Govs had a handful of hard-hit balls at this point in the game, but only a select few dropped in for hits. That table would turn in the fifth after two one-out singles from John Bay and Cameron Nickens. Gus Freeman would then hit a ground ball to short and reached on the fielders choice. On the play, Akers threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Bay and Nickens to score and take the lead. Cole Johnson then went yard on the third pitch he saw in the at-bat, plating Freeman and himself for a 4-1 lead.
Top 6th | The sixth began like in the fifth, with two one-out singles from Keaton Cottam and Kyler Proctor. They put on the double-steal, both moving into scoring position. With first base open, Bellarmine decided to walk Bay intentionally. But then a passed ball allowed a run to score. With Nickens at the plate, he singled up the middle to bring in two more runs for a six-run advantage, 7-1.
Top 7th | With an out in the inning, Ray Velazquez walked on five pitches. He would advance to third on a single through the right side of the infield off the bat of Andres Matias. Then, Cottam laid down a bunt on the safety squeeze play and would reach first on a throwing error. Velazquez would score, while Cottam and Matias moved to second and third. On the very next pitch, Proctor laid down another safety squeeze to score Matias. He reached on the bunt single and moved Cottam to the other corner. A few batters later, Nickens would hit a deep fly ball out to left, bringing another run in on the sacrifice fly for a 10-1 lead.
Bottom 8th | Charlie Rife led off the eighth with a triple out to left field. He would later score on a passed ball for the first Knight run since the first inning. Jackson Case then hit a solo home run out to right. After another single and a walk, Luke Scales doubled to the left center alley to clear the bases and bring in two runs. A wild pitch was thrown a few batters later, allowing another Knight run to score, cutting the lead to 10-6.
Top 9th | Bay led the ninth with his third walk of the game. Nickens followed up that plate appearance with a double to right center, scoring Bay from first. Paris Pridgen, who came into the game earlier as a pinch runner, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Nickens over to third. Then, Nathan Barksdale hit a backside single to the right side of the field, scoring Nickens for the game’s final run.
Wrap Up
Lyndon Glidewell picked up his third win of the season to improve to 3-1. He threw 5.1 innings with three strikeouts, allowing just one run in his first inning of work.
Aaron Ragat was given the loss to fall to 0-4 on the season. He threw five innings and allowed four runs on five hits and two walks.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University Baseball team has a week-long break before facing Eastern Kentucky in a three-game ASUN series starting on Friday at 6:00pm CT, at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
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