Clarksville, TN - The Austin Peay State University (APSU) baseball team is set to host Bellarmine in a weekend Atlantic Sun Conference series, starting on Friday at 2:00pm at Joe Maynard Field at Raymond C. Hand Park in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Austin Peay (17-20, 7-8 ASUN) is coming off a midweek win against Tennessee Tech, as the Governors won their 100th game against the Golden Eagles in the all-time series in walk-off run-rule fashion, winning 17-7 in seven innings.
Before last weekend's home series against North Alabama, the Governors were in a three-way tie for first place in the ASUN Gold Division. But after being swept by the Lions, the Governors dropped down to fourth place, tied with Central Arkansas.
Head coach Roland Fanning picked up win 123 in his head-coaching career, putting him just 11 wins away from becoming the fourth-most winningest coach in program history, passing Leon Sandifer, who coached 17 seasons and had 133 wins.
Senior Zion Taylor continues to swing the bat well, as he carries a six-game hitting streak into the weekend after going 3-for-5 at the dish on Tuesday. He leads the Governors with 54 hits, which is fourth in the ASUN. He is on pace to reach the 80-hit mark by the end of the season.
Redshirt junior Ray Velazquez also continues his success at the plate, as he has now recorded multi-hit performances in his last three games. He has a five-game hitting streak coming into Friday, and leads the team with 11 home runs, which is tied for the fourth-most in the ASUN. He has hit six homers in the last 10 games and is now batting .329 on the season.
Bellarmine (16-20, 9-6 ASUN) is sitting just one game back out of first place in the ASUN Gold Division, as the Knights swept Eastern Kentucky last weekend for its first series sweep of the season. Despite coming away with three wins last weekend, Bellarmine lost its midweek game to Morehead State on Tuesday, falling 13-3 in seven innings. The Knights used six arms in the contest, with the starter being Raygan New, who is the slated game two starter this weekend.
Bellarmine has the second-best offense in the league, batting .299 this season, leading the league in runs batted in (250) and ranking second in home runs (47). From an individual perspective, the Knights have four of the top 10 hitters in the league in AJ Swader, Jake Bell, Landon Akers, and Cole Huett. All four bats are hitting above .350 this season, with Swader leading the league with 52 RBI.
Junior right-hander Cody Airington will make his 10th start of the season in game one on Friday. He is 2-1 this season with a 4.58 ERA and 33 strikeouts across 35.1 innings. He made his ninth start in the series opener against North Alabama a Friday ago, where he exited the game after four innings. Airington will go up against junior Chase Carver, who is 2-4 this season with a 7.49 ERA and 19 strikeouts across 39.2 innings.
Senior Ryker Walton is slated to start game two of Friday's doubleheader. He is 1-2 on the mound this season with a 6.53 ERA and 17 strikeouts across 20.2 innings of work. He picked up his first win as a Governor two weeks ago at his former school, Eastern Kentucky, where he punched out six batters through five innings. Walton will go up against New, who has only made a pair of starts for the Knights this season. The freshman has made seven appearances and has a 0-1 record with a 9.00 ERA coming into the weekend.
Junior southpaw DJ Merriweather will start game three on Sunday, for his fifth-career start. He comes into the series with a 2-1 record with a 6.14 ERA and a team-leading 46 strikeouts across 36.2 innings this season. He picked up his only loss of the season last weekend against North Alabama after allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings of work. He looks to bounce back as he faces former Governor Deaton Oak on Sunday. Oak has started eight of the nine games he has appeared in this season, and comes into the weekend with a 1-2 record and a 6.69 ERA and 17 strikeouts across 36.1 innings of work.
The Governors lead the Knights in the all-time series, 16-4, dating back to March 21st, 1976, when Austin Peay defeated Bellarmine in Clarksville, 4-3. The two teams would not face each other again until 2021, when Austin Peay won the game 9-1 in Louisville on March 23rd.
At home, Austin Peay State University is 10-2 against Bellarmine, with the two losses coming in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and 2024, as the Knights won 8-6 and 9-6, respectively.
The Governors have swept the Knights in three weekend series, with two coming in 2025.
Austin Peay State University took two games from Bellarmine in Louisville to begin conference play this season. They had a nine-game win streak against the Knights heading into game two of the series, before dropping the one-run decision 9-8.
The series will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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