This time last year, APSU baseball finished their underachieved season at 25-26 and did not make it to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
After long time and Most Winningest baseball coach in the OVC was arrested last June, the Govs found themselves without a coach for their first day of school.
Interim Head Coach Derrick Dunbar took the Govs under his wing and they all made a pact to “get their swag back” and head to the OVC tournament.
“We were extremely young and talented,” Dunbar said. “Last year’s team underachieved. At the exit meeting, the players admitted it. We should have made the OVC tournament last year.”
In September, APSU hired Travis Janssen to assume the position as head coach. Under Janssen’s first year, the Govs went 29-21 and finished third in the standings.
Due to one of APSU’s players who went part time and broke NCAA ruling, APSU had to vacate four of their wins. If not, the Govs would have finished second and 33-21.
However, the Govs had an impressive season including a 6 game win streak that was broken by nationally ranked team Vanderbilt, where the Govs lost 8-5. Two other OVC teams played Vandy this season and both lost. The University of Tennessee at Martin lost 11-6 in seven innings due to rain, and Morehead State was shut out 6-0.
The Govs were also able to pull a win against Oklahoma University, who spent the start of their season ranked as No. 21 and No. 25.
During the season, the Govs took the Belmont series 2-1 after a 15-0 loss to the Bruins game one of the series and went into extra innings win during game two.
The No. 3 seed Govs go on to face No. 6 seed Belmont Wednesday, May 25 at 5 p.m. in Jackson, Tennessee.