Richmond, KY – Gavin Braunecker picked up his league-leading sixth win of the season after leading the Austin Peay State University baseball team to a series opener 7-5 win against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, Thursday, at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium.
How it Happened
Top 2nd | Austin Peay State University came out of the gates swinging hot bats, scoring five runs in the second for the early lead. Brody Szako drew a one-out walk before going first to third on a Ray Velazquez double to right field. Trevor Conley then brought in the game’s first run on an infield single to second base, scoring Szako. With runners on the corners, Andres Matias drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. The lineup then turned to the top of the order, bringing up Kyler Proctor for his second at-bat. He drew a four-pitch walk to bring Velazquez in for the second run. John Bay then grounded into a fielder’s choice to bring in Conley for another run before Cameron Nickens hit his second double of the night, scoring Matias and Bay to extend the lead to 5-0.
Bottom 3rd | The nine-hole batter for Eastern Kentucky, Mauri Bejarano, drew a one-out walk before Braunecker got Diego Alana to strike out looking for the second out in the inning. But Julius Scearce would deliver under pressure with a two-out RBI double to left center, scoring Bejarano for the Colonels’ first run, making the score 5-1.
Top 4th | The first three Austin Peay State University batters reached base on a pair of walks and a base hit. Elijah Underhill, the EKU starting pitcher, retired Bay on strikes before walking in another run after Nickens fell behind in the count, one ball and two strikes. Cade Schneider relieved Underhill after the walk, and retired Gus Freeman on strikes. However, Cole Johnson came up and singled to the left side of the infield, which brought Matias to score, extending the lead to 7-1.
Bottom 5th | The Colonels pieced together some offense in the bottom of the fifth, and were able to plate a handful of runs on three hits. Jackson Ginther led the inning with a single to right before Bejarano drew a walk. Scearce then came up and collected another hit, singling to right field to load the bases. Tait Nunnally was the next batter, and he picked up his first hit of the game on a two-RBI single down the right field line, scoring Ginther and Bejarano. Then, Silas Shaffer hit a sacrifice fly out to right field, scoring Scearce on the play to cut the lead to 7-4.
Bottom 9th | The bats stayed cold from both teams until the ninth. Kaleb Applebey began the inning on the mound for the Govs in a save opportunity. Solomon Washington had thrown the previous three innings and only allowed two hits in his outing. Applebey got the first batter he faced to ground out. Then Bejarano hit a triple down the right field line before being driven in on a sacrifice fly from Alana. That would be all the EKU offense could rally, as Applebey struck out Nazir Mendez to end the game.
Wrap Up
Braunecker picked up his league-leading sixth win of the season to improve to 6-0, after throwing five innings with three strikeouts. He allowed four runs to score on five hits and three walks.
Underhill was given the loss after tossing just 3.1 innings for the Colonels. He fell to 1-6 on the season after allowing seven runs to score on five hits, six walks, and a hit batter.
Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team faces Eastern Kentucky in Game 2 of their Atlantic Sun Conference series starting on Friday at 5:00pm CT at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium.
