By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It was a tough night on the diamond for the Tennessee Tech baseball team on Tuesday, as the Golden Eagles fell to in-state rival Austin Peay, 13-3, in eight innings at Quillen Field and Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
A close battle early turned into a one-sided affair from the fourth inning on, with the Governors (14-7) scoring nine of their 13 runs over the final five frames. Austin Peay drummed up 16 hits in the contest while holding the purple and gold (15-7) to just five on a windy night.
Both sides traded three batters and three outs in the first inning before the visitors from Clarksville opened the scoring in the top of the second. The Govs used an RBI single to left-center field to take a 1-0 lead, but the Golden Eagles were quick with their response.
In the bottom half, the Cookeville crew rallied with two outs to tie the game, starting with a double off the wall in right field courtesy of center fielder Jackson Green. After a five-pitch walk to left fielder Nicho Jordan, second baseman Aaron Moffitt ripped a game-tying knock up the middle.
Austin Peay was quick to load the bases in the third before Tech got its first out with a strikeout. The Govs emptied the bags even quicker, driving in three with a bases-clearing double.
Tech responded once more in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to just two, thanks to the bat of Preston Steele. The third baseman clobbered a solo jack down the left-field line, his second round-tripper of the year.
From that point on, it was all Austin Peay the rest of the way, with the Govs scoring four times in the fourth with an RBI double, a two-run homer, and a solo blast. The visitors tacked on another with a run-scoring single in the fifth.
The sixth saw a pair of zeroes light up the scoreboard, with Tech rookie Logan Moller working an efficient, eight-pitch frame with one strikeout. Austin Peay went back to work in the seventh, leading things off with back-to-back jacks to right-center field and left-center field.
Jordan got one of those runs back after the stretch, crushing his own solo bomb down the right-field line for his second dinger of the season. The Govs pushed the lead out to 10 in the eighth, creating some déjà vu with back-to-back long balls to lead off the inning again.
Austin Peay finished things off in the bottom of the eighth, working around a two-out walk to designated hitter Jorsixt Jimenez to complete the run-rule win. The two former Ohio Valley Conference rivals will square off again next Tuesday, this time with a 6:00 p.m. CT affair in Clarksville.
The Golden Eagles will head back out on the road this weekend, kicking off OVC action with a three-game series at Little Rock starting Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. Saturday's game two is slated for a 4:00 p.m. first pitch while the series finale on Sunday will begin at 1:00 p.m.
Photo by Jim Dillon
