Box Score TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Austin Peay State University's baseball
team suffered through a rare bout of offensive impotence and saw its nine-game win streak end with an
8-1 loss to Indiana State, Tuesday, at Bob Warn Field.
Austin Peay (17-3) mustered only two hits the entire contest
- both coming off the bat of senior left fielder Cody Hudson. The Govs lone run
came in the second inning when Hudson singled then stole second. He combined
with Harper, who walked, to complete a double steal and Hudson scored when the
catcher's throw sailed into left field.
Indiana State's (8-7) pitching staff kept the Govs offense
stymied by way of 12 strikeouts. It was the second time in the last four games
APSU struck out 12 times in game, equaling the season-high set at Lipscomb last
week.
"I believe we struck out too much," said Austin Peay head coach
Gary McClure. "We didn't do the things we have done all year. We didn't see the
baseball up in the zone and swung at a lot of pitches low in the zone. We didn't
have the quality at-bats like we have all year. Overall we didn't compete at
the plate very well today."
The Sycamores offense was opportunistic in scoring eight
runs, pushing home five runs with two outs. After the Govs scored their lone
run, Indiana State responded with a three-run second inning. APSU starter Zach
Hall surrendered a leadoff double and a walk to start the rally. Left fielder
Owen Conway followed with an RBI single and second baseman Derek Hannahs added
a sacrifice fly to give the Sycamores a 2-1 lead. Center fielder Landon Curry
tacked on a third run with an RBI single.
Indiana State tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth
innings off Austin Peay relief pitching, pushing its advantage to 5-1. The
Sycamores broke the game open in the eighth with three runs in the frame,
including Conway's two-run single that set the final score.
Hall (2-1) suffered his season's first loss after allowing
three runs on five hits over 4.0 innings. Hudson finished the day 2-for-3 with
a run scored to pace the APSU offense.
ISU's Tyler Fehringer (1-0) picked up the win after allowing
one unearned run and striking out six over four innings. Owen Conway went
3-for-3 with three RBI to lead Indiana State's 11-hit offensive attack.
"We've been doing all the little things that lead to base
runners and putting pressure on the defense," said McClure. "That's exactly
what we didn't do today and for the first time I felt like we didn't compete. I
challenged them to see how we will respond after this loss and a bad
performance on top of it.
Austin Peay returns home to begin a brief three-game
homestand with an Ohio Valley Conference set against Jacksonville State,
starting with a 6 p.m., Friday contest.