Tech surrenders early lead to give Govs a 10-4 win on Sunday
While Tech struck first with a run on the board in the top of the first inning of Sunday’s series finale, the Governors of Austin Peay worked Tech’s first two pitchers of the day for 10 runs on 14 hits en route to a 10-4 victory and 3-0 series sweep.
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – While Tech struck first with a run on the board in the top of the first inning of Sunday's series finale, the Governors of Austin Peay worked Tech's first two pitchers of the day for 10 runs on 11 hits en route to a 10-4 victory and 3-0 series sweep.
Ben Burgess ripped a 3-1 count double into right field to score Austin Wulf after he reached on a fielding error to give Tech the 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Govs responded in the bottom of the frame with three runs of their own to turn the tables after one.
After inducing fly-outs by the first two batters of the Gov order, freshman southpaw Jake McWhirter surrendered a solo homer to Greg Bachman, followed by a walk and another long ball to Reed Harper to put APSU on top, 3-1.
Bachman would go on to pace the Govs in runs batted in with three on the day as he showcased a 2-for-4 batting effort with one run scored. Eight other Governors combined for the remaining 12 hits, with four additional batters recording multi-hit games.
The Govs continued to carry their momentum through the next three innings, putting up multi-run halves in the second, third and fourth frames to rack up their 10 runs on the day. McWhirter allowed two more base hits and two more doubles – one of which went to Bachman - in the second inning to give the Govs another three runs, putting them up 6-1 in 1.2 innings of work before Jared Dobbs came on in relief.
McWhirter would shoulder the eventual loss, dropping to 0-4 on the season while APSU's Zach Toney improved to 3-2 with the win.
Tech was able to log one-run innings in the third, seventh, and ninth, but could not close the lead to anything less than the four run deficit that they saw in the top of the third inning. The Golden Eagles left 15 runners stranded on the day, including three in the third inning alone, to APSU's nine.
Dobbs was responsible for the final four runs scored by Austin Peay on five hits, but the Golden Eagles final three pitchers in Chad Oberacker, Andy Williams and Burgess, respectively, stifled the line-up for the final four innings of the game.
Burgess went 3-for-5 on the day with one run scored and one RBI. Evan Frazier's 2-for-4 showing yielded two RBI for the Golden Eagles, while Michael Morris chipped in with the final run on his 1-for-3 day at the plate.
The Golden Eagles are back in Cookeville for a four-game stretch, beginning on Tuesday evening when they play host to Lipscomb in a 6 p.m.
