After plenty of offseason anticipation, the Austin Peay baseball opened their season this weekend with a series win over ACC-foe Boston College.
Following an 8-3 loss in the opening game of the series, APSU responded with two resilient, comeback wins to take two out of the three games from Boston College on the weekend.
During the Friday loss, the Governors struggled to find offense, scoring only two runs before the ninth inning and finishing with six total hits in the game.
“We have to get better at driving in runners in scoring position.” Austin Peay Head Coach Travis Janssen said following the game one loss. “You can’t play into the defense following big hits by the hitters in front of you.”
Harley Gollert made the opening day start for APSU, pitching four and a third innings, while giving up five earned runs and five hits on the day.
John McDonald was the offensive star for the Governors on Friday, finishing with two hits that drove in two of the three runs for Austin Peay during the game.
After losing game one of the series, game two looked like it was going to be even worse for the Governors, as Boston College knocked pitcher Drew Mcilwain out of the game after only three innings pitched and boasted a 8-0 lead by the fifth inning.
Resiliency was a theme for Austin Peay on the weekend and the Governors stormed back after a large deficit early in the game.
The Governors scored four runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to cut the Boston College lead to 9-8 going into the seventh.
Sebastian Martinez came into the game and finally gave the Governors a steady hand on the mound, pitching four scoreless innings to close the game out. An RBI single by pinch hitter Matt Joslin in the ninth sent the game to extra innings, and a bases loaded walk by Gino Avros in the tenth gave the Governors a 10-9 win, their first of the season.
While it seemed like Austin Peay would have had the momentum going into Sunday’s series finale, the Governors once again trailed by eight runs at 9-1 early in the game. The Boston College lead would not last long though, as an eight-run fourth inning tied the game up for Austin Peay at 9-9.
The game was back-and-forth from that point on, and a 3-run eighth inning gave the Governors a 18-17 advantage that they would not lose.
This series win was the first over a power conference opponent for Austin Peay since the Governors took the series over Iowa in 2013.
Austin Peay will go on the road to play Southern Illinois Tuesday night.
