YEAR ONE IN THE BOOKS

The first season under head coach Roland Fanning saw APSU baseball take a significant step forward. The Govs posted a seven-win improvement from 2022 and a six-game improvement. It was the program's most significant single-season improvement since 2016.

PICKED OUTSIDE, FINISHED INSIDE

Entering the season, ASUN coaches picked APSU to finish 12th in the ASUN Conference race. The Govs climbed into a tie for first place in the league race on April 22 and ultimately qualified for their first ASUN Conference Tournament appearance. Austin Peay capped its 2023 campaign with its first ASUN postseason victory, defeating Jacksonville State in the final pool play game.

FACING THE TOURNEY FIELD 

Austin Peay faced five teams that competed in the Division I Baseball Championship this season. The Govs traveled to Dallas Baptist, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee, then hosted ASUN Champion Lipscomb at The Hand.

RESPECT ALL, FEAR NONE

The Governors finished 2023 playing 17 games against seven teams that finished the season ranked among the NCAA's Top 100 in the RPI. Austin Peay picked up wins against Lipscomb (No. 90) and at Liberty (96) and had four losses by one run against the Top 100.

TRANSFER U

Shortly after taking over in May, Fanning went to work overhauling the Governors roster. By summer's end, Austin Peay led all Division I programs with 27 newcomers, including a Division I-most 22 transfers. Of those transfers, 19 set their Division I career high in either at-bats or pitching appearances in their first season at Austin Peay.

GETTING THE CLASSWORK DONE

The Governors can claim the mission accomplished in the classroom during Fanning's first season in Clarksville. Austin Peay's baseball team set a program record with a 3.56 grade-point average during the fall semester and followed it up with a 3.40 GPA – the best spring mark in program history. During the fall, 10 Govs posted a 4.0 GPA, with 34 team members earning academic recognition (athletic director's honor roll or APSU Dean's List). In the spring, seven Govs with 4.0 GPAs and 32 earned academic recognition.

GAZDAR AN ASUN ALL-ACADEMIC PICK

APSU shortstop Jon Jon Gazdar became the first Austin Peay baseball player to earn ASUN Conference All-Academic recognition. He finished his first year at APSU with a 4.00 GPA while majoring in General Studies and Organizational Administration. He was one of 13 ASUN student-athletes named to the team, headlined by ASUN Scholar-Athletes of the Year Jesse Barker (UCA) and Riley Cheek (Queens).

MARTIN, MILLER-GREEN, AND GRAY NAMED TO ALL-ASUN TEAMS

The ASUN Conference coaches recognized outfielder Garrett Martin and designated hitter Lyle Miller-Green as Second Team All-ASUN honorees and outfielder Clayton Gray as a Third Team All-ASUN selection, the league announced as part of the ASUN postseason baseball awards.

• Martin, of Westminster, Colorado, hit 15 home runs during the regular season while batting .333 with 13 doubles. He also led the Govs with a .709 slugging percentage and a .461 on-base percentage. During ASUN play, he led APSU with a .370 batting average and saw 18 of his 27 hits go for extra bases (11 doubles, a triple, and six home runs).
• Miller-Green, a Burke, Virginia product, hit his team-leading 16th home run during the North Alabama series and finished the regular season ranked eighth among ASUN home run leaders. He led the Govs all season in batting average, entering the postseason with a .358 batting average, with his 81 hits ranking 16th in program history.
• Gray, a Cabot, Arkansas native, finished the regular season with a league-leading 24 doubles, among Division I's top five marks. He became the fifth Govs player to record 20 doubles and 20 stolen bases in a season and entered the ASUN tournament with 22 stolen bases.

GAZDAR NAMED TO WALLACE AWARD WATCH LIST

The College Baseball Foundation named Govs' shortstop Jon Jon Gazdar to the 2023 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, April 18. He was one of 101 shortstops across Division I – and one of four in the ASUN – named to the initial watch list, recognizing the nation's top shortstops. Gazdar became the third Governors shortstop named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List since 2002, joining APSU Hall of Fame member Reed Harper (2013) and Clayton Smithson (2016).

500 K!

Davin Pollard's strikeout to send the Govs to the ASUN Tournament also helped the pitching staff reach another milestone. It was APSU's 500th strikeout this season, making the 2023 pitching staff the second in program history to record 500 Ks, joining the 2019 team, which recorded 556 strikeouts.

OFFENSE POWERS 2023

The Governors' 2023 offensive campaign ranks among the program's best. Austin Peay ranked among the program's Top 15 single-season performances in slugging percentage (5th), on-base percentage (14th), runs scored (4th), doubles (2nd), home runs (t-2nd), and walks (11th). The 2023 campaign also ranked among the top 25 in batting average (21st) and stolen bases (18th).

GRAY, LMG PACE GOVS IN FIRST SEASON

Designated hitter Lyle Miller-Green (84 hits) and outfielder Clayton Gray (83) became the first APSU teammates since 2013 to record 80 hits in a season, and it was only the third time in program history two or more teammates recorded 80-plus hits (1996, 2012, 2013). They also became the first APSU hitters with 80-plus hits in a season since Garrett Giovanelli's 84-hit campaign in 2018.

DOUBLING DOWN

Austin Peay notched its 139th double during the ASUN tournament, the second-most doubles in a season behind the vaunted 1996 squad's 155 doubles. Before the NCAA tournament's start, APSU led the ASUN and ranked No. 9 among Division I programs in total doubles and No. 10 in doubles per game (2.40).

DOUBLING TEAMMATES

Outfielder Clayton Gray and infielder Jon Jon Gazdar finished the season with 24 doubles, leading all ASUN hitters and ranking No. 8 among Division I in total doubles before the NCAA tournament's start. Gray and Gazdar finished the season ranked No. 4 in single-season history. In addition, before the 2023 season, only 14 Governors had 20 doubles in a season.

LMG'S JOINS LIST OF GOVS GREATS

Finishing the season with 84 hits and 16 home runs placed Lyle Miller-Green in a sphere reserved for some of Austin Peay's greatest hitters. He became only the fourth Govs hitter to record 80-plus hits and 15-plus home runs in a season. LMG joined APSU Athletic Hall of Fame members Nate Manning and Greg Bachman and 2013 OVC Player of the Year Craig Massoni in the exclusive club.

GRAY SEEING 20-20

Along with his 24 doubles this season, Gray also finished the season with 24 stolen bases. He recorded his 20th stolen base at Tennessee on April 9, becoming the fifth Govs' player in program history to record 20 doubles and stolen bases in the same season.

MARTIN & MILLER-GREEN GO DEEP

Designated hitter Lyle Miller-Green (16) and outfielder Garrett Martin (15) were the first Austin Peay teammates with double-digit home runs since Parker Phillips (19) and Nick Walker (10) during the 2018 season. They became only the second pair of teammates to hit 15-plus home runs in a season, joining Michael Johnson and Frank Kunich, who had 15 home runs each in 2001.

CLIMBING THE HOMER BOARD

With 13 different Governors hitting a home run this season, the Govs have amassed 75 total homers. That matches the 2001 APSU team for third-most home runs in a season. This season's team equaled the 2019 team for second-most home runs in a season and was within sight of the program record of 84 round-trippers during the 2017 season.

THAT'S A MERRY-GO-ROUND

Two days after scoring 25 runs in the Bellarmine series finale, Austin Peay posted 18 runs against UT Martin. That 43-run two-game total broke the program record of 42 runs in back-to-back games set in 2019 (13 and 29 runs at Eastern Illinois) and 2002 (13 and 29 runs at Eastern Kentucky).