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Merriweather at Bellarmine
Preston Ludwick, APSU Athletics
8
Austin Peay AUSTIN P 10-9, 1-1 ASUN
9
Winner Bellarmine BELLARMI 5-12, 1-1 ASUN
Austin Peay AUSTIN P
10-9, 1-1 ASUN
8
Final
9
Bellarmine BELLARMI
5-12, 1-1 ASUN
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Austin Peay AUSTIN P 0 1 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 8 0
Bellarmine BELLARMI 0 1 4 0 1 0 0 3 X 9 8 4

W: Chase Chamberlain (1-0) L: Hope, Jett (3-2) S: Presley Monteforte (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Preston Ludwick, Assistant Director of Athletics Communications

Merriweather Strikes Out Career-High 10 Batters in One-Run Loss to Bellarmine

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University's baseball team fell to Bellarmine 9-8 in game two of its first Atlantic Sun Conference, as junior DJ Merriweather struck out a career-high 10 batters in relief, Saturday, at Knights Field in Louisville, Kentucky.

How it Happened

Austin Peay jumped out to an early lead in the top of the second following an RBI single through the right side of the infield off the bat of redshirt sophomore Cole Johnson. Bellarmine responded in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly from Sawyer Pace, tying the game at a run each.

Both squads tallied four runs in the third inning, with Austin Peay's rally beginning with a Keaton Cottam triple – his first of his career. A pair of runs scored on an error and a wild pitch, before a third came in from an Andres Matias sacrifice fly.

Redshirt junior Kaleb Applebey went out for his third inning of work on the mound for the Governors before hitting the leadoff batter with a pitch. He then exited the game and was relieved by Merriweather, who recorded a pair of outs before giving up a game-tying grand slam to Logan Murphy.

The Governors would go up again in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk from Zion Taylor, who reached base safely four times in the game on base on balls.

After going up another run in the top of the fifth, Luke Scales led off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run, pulling the Knights back within one run of the Govs. Nobody would score again until the bottom of the eighth, when Pace scored two for the Knights on a two-RBI single up the middle, advancing a runner to third. That set up Landon Akers for an RBI groundout to second, which put Bellarmine ahead 9-7.

The Governors clawed back in the top of the ninth, leading with a single and a walk to bring Ray Velazquez to the plate. He collected his first hit of the contest with a single through the left side of the infield, driving in one run. Ty Wisdom then came up and put down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position with less than two outs. Matias then hit a line drive to the Bellarmine third baseman before Taylor was gunned out at home trying to steal the game-tying run, ending the game 9-8.

Merriweather's 10-strikeout performance was the first time an Austin Peay pitcher struck out 10 batters in a game since alumnus Gavin Braunecker punched out 10 in his start against North Alabama (April 25) last season.

Jett Hope was given the loss after allowing two runs to score in a third of an inning in relief. He fell to 3-2 on the season.

Up Next

The Governors wrap up their series with the Knights in a game three rubber match starting at 12 p.m. (CT), Sunday, at Knights Field in Louisville, Kentucky.

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