Austin Peay's early big innings take down SIU, 10-3

Wednesday, February 22

Clarksville, Tenn.

4 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

3-1

Austin Peay

3-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Southern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	3	5	0
Austin Peay	2	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	X	10	12	1

02/22/2017 | 7:54:00 | Baseball

Box Score

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay raced out to an 8-0 lead after four innings and cruised to a 10-3 victory over the Southern Illinois baseball program on Wednesday afternoon at Hand Park. The Governors (3-1) scored two runs in the first, three in the second and three more in the fourth to blow open the game.

"They just lined up and kicked us," SIU head coach Ken Henderson said. "They're a good ball club, and we knew we would have to play well to win. They lined up and just outplayed us. All you can do is learn from it and move forward. We need to acknowledge the mistakes we made and get ready to go Friday night."

SIU-APSU games have traditionally been high scoring--this was the eighth time in the last nine meetings that the winning team has scored at least 10 runs. Austin Peay hit five home runs in the game, including a three-run shot in the fourth inning that gave the Govs an eight-run lead.

"That's a great offensive club in a great hitters' park," Henderson said. "You have to work counts, and you have to get ahead. We didn't do enough of that the entire night. We left too many balls in the middle of the plate. But it's early. We have guys that are going to be good for us."

Southern's offense was largely silent. Logan Blackfan had three of SIU's five hits on the game, including an RBI single. Connor Kopach hit a late solo home run, and Hunter Anderson singled with two outs in the ninth inning.

"It's tough when you're down 5-0 in the second inning, but we need to become tougher outs," Henderson said. "We need to compete a little harder. The game is not over. Every out needs to be a tough, tough out. We made it too easy on their guys."

Three true freshmen pitchers appeared in their first collegiate games, and the trio looked promising. Henry Boeckmann, Alex Gutermuth and Justin Yeager all pitched an inning, combining for five strikeouts and allowing only one hit.

"Those are guys that we think are going to be awfully good for us and awfully important to this program," Henderson said. "To see those guys come in--in their first collegiate outing--and throw like that is probably the biggest positive I took away from this game."

Southern Illinois, which is in the middle of a eight-game road stretch to start the season, fell to 3-1 on the year. SIU plays a three-game set at Louisiana Monroe on Feb. 24-26.

"The most important pitch is the next pitch, and the most important game is the next game," Henderson said. "I can't change the outcome of this. We need to learn from it and move on to the next one: That's Friday night at Monroe."