Atlanta, GA – Piecing together one of the finest seasons in college baseball this season, Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team’s two-way man Lyle Miller-Green earned the Atlantic Sun Conference’s Player of the Year from the league’s head coaches Monday.
Also earning major award recognition from the league were shortstop Jon Jon Gazdar as the Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Roland Fanning as the league’s Coach of the Year. Miller-Green and Gazdar also led a program-record 10 Austin Peay athletes recognized on the 2024 All-ASUN Teams.
Joining Miller-Green and Gazdar on the First Team All-ASUN were second baseman Ambren Voitik and third baseman Brody Szako. Starting pitcher Andrew Devine, first baseman Harrison Brown, and outfielders John Bay and Clayton Gray were Second Team All-ASUN honorees. The Third Team All-ASUN squad included catcher Gus Freeman and designated hitter Jaden Brown.
In addition to the league’s All-ASUN honors, the league presented its Academic All-ASUN Teams, which were voted on by the league’s sports information directors and academic advisors. They named Miller-Green the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and he was joined on the Academic All-ASUN Team by Gazdar, as well as starting pitcher Jacob Weaver.
Lyle Miller-Green
- 2024 ASUN Player of the Year
- 2024 ASUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year
- 2024 First Team All-ASUN
- 2024 Academic All-ASUN
The Burke, Virginia native has rewritten the record books in 2024. He set Austin Peay’s single-season records for home runs (29), RBI (93), and runs scored (93) during the regular season while batting .395 with a .898 slugging percentage and .530 on-base percentage.
He also set the ASUN single-season records for home runs and runs scored during the North Alabama weekend and is six RBI shy of the league’s RBI record, let alone seven RBI shy of 100 in a season. Miller-Green has earned national recognition for his 2024 performance, landing as a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, presented by the NCBWA to College Baseball’s Player of the Year, and the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, presented by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Miller-Green also is on the Golden Spikes Watch List, with USA Baseball announcing its semifinalists on Tuesday.
He is the seventh Governors Player of the Year Award winner, and the first since 2013 Craig Massoni won the OVC’s award. He earned his bachelor’s degree in general studies in December with a 3.61 GPA and posted a 4.00 GPA during his first semester of graduate school.
Jon Jon Gazdar
- 2024 ASUN Defensive Player of the Year
- 2024 First Team All-ASUN
- 2024 Academic All-ASUN
Gazdar, a Walnut Creek, California product, finished the regular season batting .400 with 21 doubles, 54 RBI, and 65 runs scored. He pieced together a 40-game reached safely streak that began March 2 at UTRGV and lasted until May 12th at Central Arkansas.
Gazdar’s streak was the fifth of 40-plus games in program history. He accomplished that feat while remaining one of the nation’s toughest batters to strike out for a second consecutive year, averaging a strikeout every 16.4 at-bats (5th via NCAA) or in 5.2 percent of all plate appearances (6th via D1Baseball.com).
The APSU Govs’ shortstop also showed off his glove while starting all 54 games and was charged with only seven errors on 185 chances. Gazdar received his bachelor’s degree in general studies earlier this month while posting a 4.00 GPA
Roland Fanning
- 2024 ASUN Coach of the Year
The second-year head coach led Austin Peay to the 2024 Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title in the program’s second year in the league. It was the Governors first conference title since 2013. In addition, the Govs’ 35 wins are the most since that 44-win 2013 campaign.
The Coalgate, Oklahoma native also led Austin Peay to an 11-game improvement a year after seeing a six-game improvement in his first season in Clarksville. He becomes Austin Peay’s first Coach of the Year Award winner since Gary McClure in 2011 and seventh all-time.
Ambren Voitik
- 2024 First Team All-ASUN
In the season’s opening two weeks, the Enid, Oklahoma native became the first Governor to hit for the cycle since 2017 in a 4-for-4 outing against Gonzaga. Voitik committed just four errors in 184 chances during the season.
Brody Szako
- 2024 First Team All-ASUN
Szako, a Bellville, Texas product, didn’t become the APSU Govs’ everyday third baseman until the season’s third week, but he started 48 games at the hot corner this season. He batted .331 during the regular season with 11 doubles, 15 home runs, and 59 RBI.
Szako made his mark early with a pinch-hit two-run home run against Mississippi State that sparked the Govs’ game-winning run in Game 2 of the midweek pair.
Andrew Devine
- 2024 Second Team All-ASUN
The Simi Valley, California product posted a 6-0 record and 2.95 ERA in his first 10 starts this season. He finished the regular season ranked third in the NCAA with three complete-game wins, each in APSU run-rule victories (UMES, at Lipscomb, Bellarmine).
Devine also provided five quality starts (UMES, at Auburn, at Lipscomb, Bellarmine, at FGCU), with APSU winning each of those outings. In addition, his 12 strikeouts against UMES were the most by a Governors pitcher since 2019 (Jacques Pucheu).
Harrison Brown
- 2024 Second Team All-ASUN
After missing the final six weeks of the 2023 season following an injury, Harrison Brown returned in 2024 and enjoyed a stellar season.
He batted .337 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI during the regular season.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts native broke a 53-season-old Austin Peay State University RBI record with 11 RBI against Alabama A&M on April 30th, going 5-for-6 with two home runs in the win.
John Bay
- 2024 Second Team All-ASUN
Bay enjoyed a season that was only overshadowed by his own teammate in Lyle Miller-Green’s Player of the Year turn. Bay ended the regular season with 24 home runs, one shy of the previous APSU single-season record. He batted .363 with 19 doubles, 71 RBI, and 61 runs scored.
The Shattuck, Oklahoma product also set the Austin Peay State University record with four grand slams this season, including a program-record two grand slams in APSU’s victory against Alabama A&M on April 30th.
Clayton Gray
- 2024 Second Team All-ASUN
Gray followed last season’s Third Team All-ASUN campaign with another stellar run that saw him finish the regular season with a league-leading 23 doubles. The Cabot, Arkansas native became the first Governors hitter to post 20 doubles twice during his career, and his 47 career doubles are the 12th most in program history in only two seasons.
Gray batted .379 this season and hit 15 home runs, with 67 RBI and 72 runs scored. He enters the postseason with a 39-game reached safely streak, the sixth-longest streak in program history.
Gus Freeman
- 2024 Third Team All-ASUN
Freeman took over as the Govs’ primary catcher during the Auburn series and ultimately caught all three games of the Govs’ final nine ASUN series. He has been the ringleader of the Govs’ second-half surge that saw them win 19 of their final 25 regular season games since April 6th.
He leads the team with a .449 batting average (31-69), 23 RBI, and 29 runs scored in 20 games since April 6th. The Lenexa, Kansas native is batting .381 with a .517 on-base percentage that is second on the team only to Miller-Green.
Jaden Brown
- 2024 Third Team All-ASUN
But he hit a home run against Queens on March 22nd that jump-started his season. The Mississauga, Canada product hit six of his eight home runs in ASUN play, where he also provided 20 of his 36 RBI.
Jacob Weaver
- 2024 Academic All-ASUN
Weaver, a Fruita, Colorado native, has been the APSU Govs No. 1 starter all season and finished the season with a 4-2 record, 62 strikeouts, and 75.1 innings pitched. He closed the regular season with his third quality start, going 6.2 innings in a win against North Alabama.
Weaver was named Austin Peay State University’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the end of April. He has a 4.0 career GPA while working toward his bachelor’s degree in marketing. He’s also a member of APSU’s President’s Emerging Leader Program.
