CLARKSVILLE – Center fielder Garrett Spain picked the perfect time to hit his first collegiate home run, his eighth-inning blast giving Austin Peay State University's baseball team a 12-11 come-from-behind win against Lipscomb, Tuesday, on Joe and Cathi Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Garrett Spain has not been slow out of the gates in his rookie campaign with a hit in eight and a RBI in seven of his first nine games. But he found a way to add to his legend in the eighth inning. Moments after being ushered into the box, he found the first pitch from the Bisons pitcher to his liking and punched it out of the park for a home run. While Spain didn't win any style points on his first home run trot (thank a sneaky first base bag for that), his first collegiate home run was the difference maker in another wild midweek win.
WATER COOLER NOTES
SKIP TO 200. Tuesday's victory was the 200th career win for Austin Peay head coach Travis Janssen, who is just starting his eighth season as a head coach. The next milestone up for the Governors skipper is 100 career Austin Peay wins after picking up his 96th with Tuesday's victory.
KEEP ON WALKING. A week after using 12 walks – six in the final two innings – to mount a come-from-behind win at Vanderbilt, Austin Peay used a 15-walk effort to again win in comeback fashion against Lipscomb. Eight of those walks against the Bisons came in the final three innings – five of those scoring.
FOUR OF A KIND. Catcher Alex Sala and third baseman Malcolm Tipler each walked four times in Tuesday's win, becoming the first Govs teammates to record four walks each in a game in program history. There are now 11 four-walk games in program history – three of those occurring this season as Spain had a four-walk day at Vanderbilt a week ago.
THE REST OF THE STORY
Austin Peay (4-6) trailed by seven runs, 9-2, after Lipscomb scored four runs in the top of the sixth. The Govs would get two of those runs back in their half of the sixth, but the Bisons responded with two in the seventh to take an 11-4 lead at the stretch.
The Governors took care of a big chunk of that deficit with a six-run seventh inning. After right fielder Parker Phillips provided a run with a single, Spain kept the rally going with a two-run single, cutting the Lipscomb lead to 11-7. Designated hitter David Martinez supplied a RBI double, Spain scored on a wild pitch and late substitute Max Remy chipped in a run-scoring ground out as APSU closed to 11-10.
One inning later, the Govs game-winning rally started with a walk issued to third baseman Malcolm Tipler. A wild pitch and a dropped third strike allowed Tipler to get to third representing the tying run. But Spain had other ideas, taking the first pitch he saw over the wall in right-center field to give the Govs a 12-11 lead.
Reliever Greg Leban (1-0) closed the door while working around a two-out walk in the ninth to record the win. He struck out four of the seven batters he faced in a two-inning outing.
Phillips, Martinez and second baseman Garrett Kueber each had three-hit days for a Govs offense that posted a 12-hit outing. Spain went 2-for-4 with a team-best four RBI.
Robbie Knox surrendered five runs over the final two innings, allowing four hits and two walks and suffered the loss.
Left fielder Tevin Symonette went 2-for-4 with five RBI. His two-run double in the third gave Lipscomb a 2-1 lead and his three-run home run in the sixth extended the lead to 9-2.
Austin Peay now turns its attention to its Ohio Valley Conference-opening weekend, traveling to Murray State for a three-game Heritage Bank Battle of the Border series scheduled to start at 3 p.m., Friday.
