CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University's head baseball coach, Roland Fanning, announced the promotion of John Bakke, Wednesday.

Bakke takes on the new title of pitching coach after spending the previous two seasons as the Governors' Director of Pitching Performance. In his new role, he will be working alongside associate head coach, Director of Pitching, and General Manager Keirce Kimbel in everyday pitchers' routines as well as his previous responsibilities.

The Morehead State alumnus came to Austin Peay before the 2025 season, in which the Governors posted a 45-14 overall record and a 26-4 record in Atlantic Sun Conference play. In the last two seasons, Bakke has been with the program, he has seen a pair of student-athletes be named Tennessee Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week, a College Baseball Hall of Fame National Pitcher of the Week, a pair to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year watch list, four selections to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the Stopper of the Year watch list, one selection to the College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year watch list, and two ASUN All-Conference selections.

Before spending the 2024 season at Morehead State as Director of Video and Data Analytics, he was a member of the baseball team for six seasons from 2018-23, while also helping lead the Eagles to two conference championships. His time there was mainly spent as a key arm in the bullpen, making 71 relief appearances and 15 starts. The southpaw finished his playing career with a 13-10 record and a 4.73 ERA, while picking up a career program record 17 saves across 192.1 innings of work. In his final two playing seasons, Bakke earned Academic All-America honors twice and was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference Second Team his junior year.