CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay baseball hits the road for its final regular-season Ohio Valley Conference road trip when it meets longtime rival Tennessee Tech in a three-game series, Friday-Sunday. The series begins with a 6 p.m., Friday contest at Bush Stadium followed by a 2 p.m., Saturday tilt and a 1 p.m., Sunday finale.

The Governors and Golden Eagles, while both qualified for the OVC Baseball Championship, are in a tightly bunched group of six teams behind co-leaders Belmont and Southeast Missouri. Those six teams are covered by a three-game spread in the standings with the Govs in the middle of the group in fifth place while Tennessee Tech is in the back of the group in eighth place.

Austin Peay enters the weekend looking to build on its OVC series victory against Murray State last weekend. The Govs pitching staff did the heavy lifting, posting a 4.00 ERA while recording 37 strikeouts in 27 innings. At the plate, centerfielder TJ Foreman had four RBI and shortstop John Bolton was 5-for-9 with three doubles, three RBI and four runs scored.

Tennessee Tech enters the weekend with losses in three-straight OVC series, falling to UT Martin, Eastern Illinois, and SIUE. Left fielder Jason Hinchman was held to 3-for-11 with a home run and four RBI at SIUE last weekend. Right fielder Ryan Guardino was 3-for-13 with a double and RBI in the SIUE series. Hinchman and Guardino are the Golden Eagles 1-2 punch in the order with 36 home runs and 98 RBI combined.

FOLLOW THE GOVS

This weekend's series will be available on ESPN+ courtesy Tennessee Tech athletics. Austin Peay's radio broadcast will be available for all three games, with Van Stokes on the call, which will be broadcast locally on ESPN Radio Clarksville (104.1 FM) and available on the TuneIn app. Fans wishing to follow along more discreetly may visit PeayStats.com for live scoring through the series or get important game updates on Twitter by following @GovsBSB.

POSTSEASON TALK

Austin Peay clinched a spot in the eight-team 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship with its May 6 victory against Murray State.

The Govs enter the weekend tied for fifth with SIUE and would be the No. 6 seed in the tournament due to losing the series against the Cougars.

APSU is just one game behind co-third place holders Eastern Illinois and Morehead State. EIU has to face co-leaders Belmont and Southeast Missouri in its final two weekends. MSU has SIUE and Austin Peay in its final two weekends.

TOEING THE RUBBER

GAME 1 | RHP Tyler Delong vs. RHP Peyton Calitri

While it wasn't a quality start in the strictest sense, Delong baffled Murray State to the tune of one hit over 5.0 scoreless innings last week while striking out seven. In his last two starts, he has a 1.63 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 11 innings and a 1.09 WHIP. Calitri has won two of his last three starts (UTM and SIUE), but has allowed a 10.13 ERA over those three outings.

GAME 2 | LHP Harley Gollert vs. LHP Brock Smith

Gollert struck out a season-best nine batters against Murray State last week, notching his 200th career strikeout in the process. In his last two starts, he owns a 3.60 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 10 innings but has suffered the loss in both outings. Smith started Game 2 at SIUE last weekend in his first weekend start of 2022 and he held the Cougars to two runs over 4.1 innings in a no decision. Prior to last weekend, 

GAME 3 | RHP Drew McIllwain vs. LHP Connor Adams

McIllwain notched his third quality start of 2022 while also striking out nine batters over 6.0 innings against the Racers last week. He has a 5.23 ERA with 14 strikeouts and a 1.06 WHIP in his last two starts. Adams is third among OVC pitchers with three league wins, but has not posted a win since April 16 against Southeast Missouri. He has an 8.56 ERA in his last three starts.

THROUGH THE LINEUP

• After maintaining a break-neck pace over the first 32 games, catcher Jack Alexander has seen his pace slow over the past 15 outings. He ended April 9 batting .417 after a 3-for-5, 4 RBI outing at UT Martin. Since then, he has 13 hits in 16 games.
• John McDonald returned to the lineup April 15 and batted .450 (9-20) in his first seven games, pushing his average to .333 – a 45-point improvement. He also is battling through a rough spot with 3 hits in his last 8 games.
• Ty DeLancey saw his 12-game hit streak – tied for longest by a Gov this season – end in Game 2 at Toledo. He is batting .324 (23-71) with 20 RBI in 18 games since April 9, including a team-best 6 RBI during the Toledo set. After starting at third base in the Toledo series finale, he has started the last four games at second base.
• Beginning with his 4-for-4 outing against Eastern Kentucky, March 13, utility man Gino Avros is batting .346 (46-133) with 23 RBI and 15 doubles – taking the team lead in doubles (22).
• Shortstop John Bolton has a hit in 20 of the 27 games since the start of OVC play, including 10 multi-hit outings. He is batting .315 (30-95) with 11 doubles, and 10 RBI in that span.
• Third baseman Michael Robinson notched his fifth home run of 2022 against Western Kentucky, Tuesday. It was his first homer since going 3-for-5 with 7 RBI in Game 2 of the SIUE series.
• Outfielder Harrison Brown broke a four-game hitless streak with a 1-for-4 outing against Western Kentucky, Tuesday. He led the Govs in April with a .394 batting average (26-66) and 13 RBI.
• Outfielder TJ Foreman became the latest Govs' hitter with a 4-hit day, going 4-for-5 with 2 home runs and 3 RBI against Western Kentucky, Tuesday. He has a hit in 14 of the 15 games since his return to the lineup, April 15. He is batting .491 (27-55) with 4 doubles, a triple, 3 home runs, and 17 runs scored since his return.
• Outfielder Jeremy Wagner has started 5 consecutive games in the outfield – his first starts since April 10. He has 3 hits and 4 runs scored in those 5 starts.

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