CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University's baseball team improved to 9-4 on the year after winning their eighth straight game at home against St. Thomas by a score of 15-13, Friday at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park.
The Governors' offense set single-game highs in both hits (20) and runs (15) in the series opener.
Kade Shatwell took the mound for the Govs for his fourth start of the season. He went three innings with one strikeout. He allowed seven runs on eight hits and two walks.
Marcus Kruzan took the rock for the Tommies in his third start of the year. He went 2.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts. He allowed eight runs on seven hits and two walks.
How it Happened
Top 1st | The Tommies got the bats started early by scoring three runs in the top half of the first. A sacrifice fly from Brigs Richartz and a two-RBI double to left from Joe Vos put St. Thomas up 0-3.
Bottom 1st | Kyler Proctor jump-started the Govs offense by lacing a leadoff double to left on the first pitch he saw. John Bay followed Proctor with a walk, and a three-run homer from Cole Johnson, his second of the season, tied it all up 3-3.
Top 3rd | Max Moris hit his first home run of the season to regain the Tommies' lead, 3-4.
Bottom 3rd | The Govs answered back quickly by putting up a five-spot to go up 8-4. Johnson drove in his fourth RBI of the day with a single to left, scoring Cameron Nickens. After a bunt single from Austen Jaslove, Trevor Conley hit his second double of the season to drive in another run. Andres Matias then came up and hit a bases-clearing single to score Conley and Jaslove. After recording the second out of the inning, Tucker Huhn replaced Kruzan on the mound. Nathan Barksdale would steal second base right away to move into scoring position. He was knocked in by the bat of Proctor with his second double of the game.
Top 4th | St. Thomas responded with a five-spot themselves in the top of the fourth. It started with three straight Tommies hits from Zan Von Schlegell, Ben Vujovich, and Tanner Recchio. Shatwell was relieved by Landon Slemp with a pair of runners on base. The next two batters he faced drove in the next two runs after an RBI single and RBI double. Slemp retired the next two batters without any damage, but Vos drove in two more runs on a two-RBI single to make it 8-9.
Bottom 4th | After two straight outs to begin the fourth, Johnson collected his third hit of the game. He then scored after a single from Jaslove. Vos committed an error in center field on the batted ball, allowing Johnson to score and tie the game 9-9.
Top 5th | The big innings at the plate would come to a halt, but the runs kept coming from both sides of the field. A one-out walk and error allowed two base runners to get on. The Tommies tried to create chaos on the base paths and scratch another run across. It started with a stolen base from Vujovich, where he took third base. On the next pitch, Recchio stole second, but a throwing error from Conley would allow St. Thomas' 10th run to score for the lead.
Bottom 5th | Evan Jackson relieved Huhn to begin the inning on the mound. Singles from Barksdale and Bay would get the two of them in scoring position with two outs in the inning. Gus Freeman hit a soft grounder to shortstop and beat out a bang-bang play at first to score the tying run. During the next at-bat, Jackson threw a wild pitch allowing Bay to score the go-ahead run for an 11-10 lead.
Top 7th | After striking out two batters and allowing a hit and a walk, DJ Merriweather was taken out of the game after throwing 1.2 innings of relief for Slemp. Kaleb Applebey had to face Moris with a pair of runners on base. Moris hit a single to center field to tie the game once again.
Bottom 7th | Zak Endres entered in relief for Jackson to start the inning. Nickens and Freeman had back-to-back singles to begin the bottom half. Johnson struck out, but Ray Velazquez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Conley then hit an infield single to the first baseman on a slow dribbler up the line to score the go-ahead run. With bases still loaded, Matias stepped up and hit a two-run double down the right field line to score Velazquez and Freeman and extend the lead 14-11.
Top & Bottom 8th | The Tommies and Govs would both scratch a run to increase the run totals by a single digit to make the score 15-11.
Top 9th | Leadoff walks from Joe Roder and Richartz started the inning for the Tommies. Applebey struck out the next batter for the first out of the inning. Vos singled to right to load the bases for Adam Puder. Puder walked on a full count to bring in a run for St. Thomas. But Applebey retired the next two batters on strikes to end the game.
Wrap Up
Applebey picked up his second win of the season to improve to 2-0 on the year. He threw 2.1 innings with five strikeouts. He allowed two runs on four hits and three walks.
Endres would be given the loss after throwing two innings with four strikeouts. He allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits and just one walk.
Notables
- It is the first time since the Govs have won eight straight games at home since last season spanning from April 23 through May 17.
- First time scoring 15 runs in a game since Belmont, May 7, 2024.
- First time with 20 hits as a team since Alabama A&M, April 30, 2024.
- Matias: 3-for-5, 2B, 4 RBI – Set career-highs for hits (3) and RBI (4) in a game.
- Johnson: 3-for-5, HR, BB, 4 RBI.
- Nickens: 1-for-5, 2 R – Extends hit streak to 12 games.
Up Next
The Governors will play games two and three of the weekend series against St. Thomas in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. (CT), Saturday, at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond Hand C. Park. Tomorrow's games will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on ESPN Clarksville 104.1 FM or through the TuneIn app.
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