Austin Peay's baseball team steps out of Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend and hosts future OVC opponent SIU Edwardsville in a three-game series. The set begins with a 6 p.m., Friday contest followed by 1 p.m. affairs both Saturday and Sunday.
The Govs have struggled since the start of conference play, losing seven of nine. The pitching staff has had particular trouble, surrendering eight or more runs six times during the stretch and has a 8.64 ERA in those nine contests. Meanwhile, the offense has churned out 5.6 runs per game, just below their season average of 6.0 runs per outing while posting a .286 batting average.
Junior catcher Trey Lucas leads the Govs offense with a .360 batting average and has 14 doubles and 17 RBI. He has played particularly well in weekend play, batting .441 with 11 doubles. Additionally, junior outfielder Jared DeLong carries an eight-game hit streak into the weekend and had four hits in Wednesday's contest against Middle Tennessee.
Sophomore right-hander Ryne Harper has been a bright spot in the Govs rotation, posting a 1-0 record and 3.86 ERA in league play. He is 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in his six starts this season. Junior right-hander Ricky Marshall's overall marks ? 2-2 record and 6.41 ERA ? don't particularly stand out, but he is 2-1 with 3.79 ERA in his four starts this season.
SPECIAL PROMOTION: Following Sunday's contest the Govs will host a free youth clinic. Information and online registration are available at LetsGoPeay.com.
ABOUT SIU EDWARDSVILLE: SIU Edwardsville joined the Ohio Valley Conference prior to the 2008-09 season. The Cougars are in the first year of a four-year reclassification process from Division II to Division I. SIUE will not play a full OVC baseball schedule until the 2012 and will not be eligible for postseason play ? including the OVC championship ? until 2013. This season, SIU Edwardsville has played the role of road warriors, with their three-game set at Austin Peay completing a season-opening 23-game road trip. The Cougars are 5-15 so far on the road trip and are 2-3 against OVC members, splitting a two-game series at UT Martin and winning one of three at Murray State, last weekend. SIUE also will face Southeast Missouri (April 17-19) and Morehead State (May 8-10) this season. At the plate, SIUE is led by senior second baseman Josh Street who is batting .402 this season with six doubles, eight home runs and 34 RBI. On the mound, the Cougars are relatively young with two freshmen (Josh Hoguet and Dustin Quattrocchi) and a sophomore (Mitchell Fairley) getting starting nods this weekend. Fairley will be making his fifth start this season, Hoguet will make his season's first start and Quattrocchi will make his second start this season.
