LEADING OFF

• Austin Peay State University's baseball team begins a five-game home stand when it hosts Murray State in what is now a 4 p.m. Tuesday nonconference tilt on Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
• Austin Peay went 2-2 during its recently completed road trip, picking up a 10-3 nonconference win at Murray State Wednesday before winning a game in its three-game ASUN series at Liberty.
• The upcoming five-game home stand is APSU's longest this season. Between Feb. 24 and March 27, Austin Peay has played three home games, four neutral-site games, and 13 road games. The three-game stretch provided Austin Peay its only home games in a 20-game stretch that began Feb. 24 and ends with Sunday's game at Liberty.
• Austin Peay revamped its baseball program during the offseason, with head coach Roland Fanning hired in May. His hiring and a new staff sparked a near-complete flip of the Governors' roster. The Govs' 2023 lineup includes 27 transfers – the most of any Division I program – with 17 transfers coming from a previous Division I roster.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

ipTV: ESPN+ / ESPN App
    TALENT: Alex Gould (PxP)
RADIO: ESPN Clarksville (104.1 FM or via the TuneIn Radio App)
    TALENT: Brian Rives (PxP)
LIVE STATS: PeayStats.com

SERIES HISTORY

THE SERIES: 218 Previous Meetings, MSU leads, 110-108.
NOTABLY: The Govs-Racers series is the longest in the Austin Peay record book
at 218 games… Austin Peay won the last weekend series between the teams in 2021, 2-1… Austin Peay holds a 12-10 edge since 2017.

CLIMBING THE HILL

• Devin Crawford is slated to make his first Austin Peay start against the Racers. He has eight relief appearances to his credit through the season's first six weekends. Crawford saw action Saturday at Liberty, facing two batters. His longest outing of the season is a 1.1-inning performance against North Florida on March 19.

FIRST HACKS

• Utility man Matt Aribal went 2-for-4 in the March 19 series finale against North Florida, his first action since March 11. He improved to 6-for-12 at The Hand this season.
• Outfielder Nathan Barksdale has started in the last seven games and has reached safely in each one. He is batting .350 (7-20) with four RBI and eight walks as a starter. Barksdale was 1-for-8 at Liberty but walked five times and scored four runs.
• Outfielder/first baseman Harrison Brown started Games 1 and 2 at first base against Liberty, going 2-for-9 with two RBI and two walks in the two starts.
• Infielder Jaden Brown extended his hit streak to seven games with a hit in all three games of the Liberty series. He is batting .321 (9-28) during the streak with nine RBI.
• Catcher Trevor Conley had four hits and four RBI at Murray State Tuesday. It was his first four-hit day and four-RBI day as a Governor. He is batting .583 (7-12) with seven RBI in his last four starts.
• Infielder/catcher Gus Freeman saw action in Games 2 & 3 at Liberty and was 1-for-8 with two runs scored in the series.   
• Infielder Jon Jon Gazdar went 3-for-4 with a double, home run, and three RBI in Game 2 of the Liberty series. He followed that with a 2-for-4 effort in Game 3, including his ninth double of the season.
• Outfielder Clayton Gray went 3-for-6 with a double and three runs scored in the Govs' Game 2 victory at Liberty. It was his second three-hit outing of the season.
• Outfielder Garrett Martin extended his reached-safely streak to 13 games during the Liberty series. He posted APSU's second five-RBI outing of 2023 in Game 2 of that set, going 3-for-5 with a double and a home run.
• Designated hitter Lyle Miller-Green snapped a three-game hitless streak by going 3-for-8 with two home runs, five RBI, and three walks in the final two games of the Liberty series.
• Infielder Michael Robinson saw action in all three games of the Liberty series, coming on as a late defensive substitute in Game 2 (first base) and Game 3 (shortstop).
• Third baseman Ambren Voitik saw a five-game hit streak halted in Sunday's Liberty series finale. He was 2-for-11 with a double and RBI during the three-game set.

NEXT UP FOR APSU

Austin Peay's five-game home stand continues when it hosts Bellarmine in a three-game ASUN Conference series, scheduled to begin Friday. The Govs and Knights met in home-and-home series the past two seasons, with APSU winning three of the four meetings.

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