Golden Eagles continue road trip with battle of the best at Austin Peay

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - For the second consecutive week, Tennessee Tech baseball's Tristan Archer (5-1) will likely find himself in the midst of a pitcher's duel when the Golden Eagles (21-8, 10-2) travel to Clarksville to take on the Governors (24-5, 7-1) of Austin Peay Friday evening.

In last Thursday's series opener against SIU Edwardsville, Archer put together one of the best outings of his career, tossing a complete-game shutout in a 1-0 win over the Cougars. The win, which marked the fifth of the season for the senior, extended Tech's winning streak at the time to 13 straight games.

Tech's ace, Archer allowed just four hits in the contest, striking out eight SIUE batters and walking just two. The Cougars' Travis Felax threw eight innings of shutout ball, surrendering only three hits and two walks in one of the best pitching duels in the OVC this season.

Friday night, Archer and Austin Peay's Lee Ridenhour (4-0) will look to put together another great duel as the pair will face off in a 6 p.m. CDT contest.

Archer and Ridenhour make for a pitcher-perfect match-up, pun intended, as the two rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in the OVC in ERA with marks of 2.27 and 2.72. Archer has recorded more strikeouts this season than any pitcher in the league, setting down 48 batters. Ridenhour holds his own in the category, rankning seventh in the OVC with 40 Ks.

The Austin Peay ace does hold an advantage in opponent batting average, allowing batters to hit just .202 on the year while ranking third in the OVC. Archer has been great as well in the category, ranking seventh with a mark of .244.

On Saturday, Nick Price (4-1) will battle Casey Delgado (5-1) in a 2 p.m. start and Sunday's first pitch of 1 p.m. pits Jacob Honea (1-1) against Ryan Quick (3-1).

Fans can follow this weekend's games via online radio here or live stats here.

SCOUTING THE AUSTIN PEAY GOVERNORS

APSU, winner of the Ohio Valley Conference the past two season, has looked strong yet again this year, putting together an impressive 24-5 mark. The Governors have also put up a 7-1 record in OVC play, losing just once to Jacksonville State.

The Austin Peay offense has been quite the power this season, owning a .298 average in 29 games. The team has collected 291 hits (1st OVC), scored 183 runs (2nd), and racked up 166 RBI (2nd). The team ranks second in the OVC in home runs with 19, second in slugging percentage with .411 mark, and first in on-base percentage with a .403 mark.

A look at the top five offensive weapons for the Governors:

The pitching staff for the Governors is nearly as good as the offense, ranking among the OVC leaders in several categories. The team is third in ERA (4.48), second in opponent batting average (.257), third in strikeouts (224), second in innings pitched (265), and tied for fourth in hits allowed (262).

A look at this weekend's likely starters for Austin Peay:

CATCHING UP WITH TECH

The Golden Eagles head into the series off their second consecutive loss, just the second time this season that Tech has lost back-to-back contests. The team is still off to its best start in team history, owning a 21-8 record and 10-2 mark in OVC play.

The offense has been a key to the success of this Golden Eagle squad, ranking among the leaders in most offensive categories. Tech ranks second in the league in batting average (.288), first in slugging percentage (.444), second in on-base percentage (.396), and first in runs scored (187). They have driven in 178 runs (first OVC), ripped 276 hits (third), and smashed 24 home runs (first).

A look at the top five offensive weapons for the Golden Eagles:

Tech's picthing staff has seen great improvement as the season has gone on, and has used it to rank highly among the league's best staffs. The Golden Eagles own a 4.20 ERA (2nd OVC), have allowed batters to hit just .268 (third), have pitched 253 innings (fourth), given up 262 hits (tied fourth), and struck out 269 batters (first).

A look at this weekend's likely starters for Tennessee Tech: