As you've likely heard, we don't have any live-action contests to cover at LetsGoPeay.com right now. What we do have is free time; oodles and oodles of free time. Enough free time to swap oodles of emails with various people who would know to create a snapshot of the 10 best players in Austin Peay baseball history. And as with any list like this, some greats were left out in agonizingly close calls.
Chuck Abbott was not just the toughest omission from this top 10 but maybe any to come. The sweet-swinging shortstop whose program-record 42-game hitting streak is still the sixth-longest in NCAA history, he paired with Nate Manning to form one of the most lethal infield left sides the OVC has ever seen. A two-time All-OVC pick, Abbott was the highest-picked position player (second round, 55th overall) in Austin Peay history.
Craig Massoni had one year in an Austin Peay uniform but boy it was a good one. The California native parlayed his 2013 OVC Player of the Year honor—which saw him hit .385 with 16 home runs and 68 RBI—into a draft selection by the San Francisco Giants, but not before earning first-team All-OVC and all-tournament honors for the best team in program history.
Ed Inman and Mike Ramsey gave Austin Peay two hurlers who stood the test of time from the early-1970s. Inman was OVC Player of the Year in 1971, with he and Ramsey both winning eight games—a mark that would stand for 18 years as the program record. Inman's 1.26 ERA remains the program single-season mark, unlikely to be challenged, while his 2.98 career mark is still among the program's top-10. Ramsey was ahead of his time, racking up strikeouts at a rate that would impress today; his 85 strikeouts in 1972 stood as the program record for 20 years, and his career mark of 235 was not eclipsed until 2002. And his career 2.45 ERA remains third all-time, while his 9.58 K/9 ratio is first.
Jamie "Cat" Walker paved the way. The first pitcher in program history to reach the big leagues, Walker was the program's highest draft choice in 20 years when the Houston Astros picked him in the 10th round in 1992. That followed an Austin Peay career that saw him earn OVC Pitcher of the Year honors in 1992 after going 9-5 with a 2.74 ERA and then program-record 89 strikeouts, breaking Ramsey's record. He remains among the program's all-time top-10 in complete games and is one of two hurlers in Austin Peay history with three career shutouts, joining Shawn Kelley.
Jimmy Stewart had a career difficult to judge in the modern era. He only played 57 career games from 1958-61, nine fewer than Abbott played in 1996 alone. But he parlayed that into a lengthy MLB career, spending 10 seasons with the Cubs, White Sox, Reds and Astros.
Ryan Bennett joined Abbott and Manning to form the first terrifying trio at the dish in Austin Peay history. The backstop hit .407 in 1996 to lead the OVC, posting the sixth-best mark in program history, following a .356 mark the year before to lead the team.
Kevin Sipe was, along with Inman, the first players in program history to earn first-team All-OVC in 1971. The first player to earn three All-OVC honors, Sipe helped lead the 1971 team to the program's first OVC title, then hit .382 as a senior in 1973. His 10-RBI game against Columbus College in 1971 remains the single-game record, in a game that saw him become the first player in program history with three home runs in a game.
Michael Tharpe may have had the most underrated career in Austin Peay history. In his 44 starts, he threw a program-record 28 complete games, owning the career innings pitched record for nearly 20 years. He led or shared the team lead in wins all four seasons in Clarksville, finishing with 20 in his career—at the time, just the second 20-game winner in program history—and topped out with a 2.81 ERA in 1984.
