Richmond, KY – The Austin Peay State University baseball team became the fastest team in program history to win 30 games in a season following their 7-6 win Saturday and sweep of Eastern Kentucky at Turkey Hughes Field at Earle Combs Stadium.
The fastest team to reach 30 wins in a season was in 1971, where they reached the feat in 41 games. The Governors completed it in 40 this season, with a 30-10 overall record.
How it Happened
Bottom 1st | Lyndon Glidewell found himself in a jam in the first inning, but got out of the inning, allowing one run to score. The leadoff man for the Colonels, Tait Nunnally, singled up the middle to begin the inning. Glidewell tried to pick him off at first but threw the ball up the right field line, allowing Nunnally to advance to second. Kobe Benson then laid down a bunt to Glidewell, but the throw took Gus Freeman off the base at first base for his second error of the inning. Diego Alana then walked to load the bases. Silas Shaffer was the next batter, and he hit a double-play ball to shortstop, but Kyler Proctor’s throw brought Freeman off the bag as well, so the Govs only got one out on the play. But Glidewell got the next batter to fly out before Trevor Conley gunned out Shaffer, who attempted to steal second base.
Bottom 2nd | Greg Caban led the second inning with a double to left center after working the count to full. Then Colby Ott hit a two-run home run to left field, extending the lead to 0-3.
Bottom 4th | Caban reached on a single through the right side of the infield with one out in the inning. Ott then blooped one over the infield before Jackson Ginther reached on balls. Mauri Bejarano then brought in Caban to score on an RBI single to left, and Nunnally followed up with a sacrifice fly to extend their lead to 0-5.
Top 5th | Aidan Rath relieved the EKU starting pitcher, Carson van Haaren, and began the fifth on the mound. Ray Velazquez led off the inning for the Govs and hit a solo home run to right center for their first run of the game. Rath got the next two batters to fly out, but Proctor hit his sixth home run of the season to get the Govs back with three.
Top 6th | Freeman began the sixth with a single to right field on the first pitch he saw. He was recorded out at second base after a fielder’s choice from Cole Johnson. Then Brody Szako hit his 13th homer of the season to straightaway center to make the score 4-5.
Bottom 7th | Chance Cox, who came into the game in the bottom of the 6th, got the leadoff batter to ground out in the seventh. The next three batters, however, reached base to load the bases. Kade Shatwell relieved Cox and threw a wild pitch that allowed Shaffer to score and extend the Colonels’ lead to 4-6.
Top 8th | Freeman found himself on base with a one-out single to left field. After recording another out, Addison Stockham relieved Nathan Lawson to have a lefty-on-lefty matchup against Szako. He would hit Szako with a pitch on the first pitch he threw. Stockham stayed in the game to face Velazquez, and he homered for the second time of the day to give the Govs the 7-6 lead on the three-run blast.
Wrap Up
Shatwell picked up his second win of the season to improve to 2-2. He threw 1.2 innings and collected one strikeout.
Stockham was given the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season after throwing just a third of an inning, allowing two runs to score on a hit and a hit batter.
Kaleb Applebey collected his seventh save of the season after throwing the game’s final inning and retiring all three batters he faced.
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Next Up For APSU Baseball
The Austin Peay State University baseball team heads north to face Big Ten opponent Purdue in a midweek matchup starting on Tuesday 5:00pm CT, at Alexander Field in West Lafayette, Indiana.
