Austin Peay Wins 2012 OVC Baseball Championship

5/27/2012 1:03:00 PM

#1 AUSTIN PEAY 3, #4 EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
JACKSON, Tenn. - After losing its first game of the tournament on Thursday, No. 1 seed Austin Peay completed a four-game winning streak in shutting out Eastern Illinois and capturing the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship on Sunday at Pringles Park.

With the victory Austin Peay (38-22) earned the OVC's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. That field will be announced on Monday at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPNU.

It is the fifth OVC Tournament Championship and second-straight for Austin Peay, joining titles the Governors won in 1996, 2005, 2007 and 2011.

It marked only the second shutout in OVC Championship Game history, equaling the feat that Austin Peay achieved with a 5-0 win over Jacksonville State in 2005.

The Govs also shutout the Panthers on Saturday (7-0) to force Sunday's "if necessary" championship game.

Austin Peay scored two unearned runs in the first inning after a fielding error by Eastern Illinois (29-29) shortstop Ryan Dineen extended the inning, allowing Greg Bachman and Rolando Gautier to single in runs.

There would be no more scoring in the quick-moving game until the bottom of the eighth when Cody Hudson singled home the third run of the game for the Governors.

Hudson and Tyler Childress were the only Governors to record multi-hits in the game, as eight of the nine APSU positional starters had at least one hit.

After starting Austin Peay's OVC Tournament victory over Jacksonville State on Friday afternoon, junior Casey Delgado returned to the mound on Sunday. He allowed only three hits over five innings of work in improving to 8-4 on the season.

Senior Zach Toney, who started the first game of the tournament for Austin Peay pitched the final four innings, not allowing a base runner and striking out four, in picking up a save and earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Toney had allowed only one run in seven innings in Thursday's start.

Eastern Illinois ace and All-OVC first-team selection Mike Hoekstra started his second game of the tournament on Sunday. The senior opened play on Wednesday by allowing just two hits in a nine-inning complete game. On Sunday Hoekstra allowed two unearned runs in the first inning and lasted 6.2 total innings, striking out five and not walking a batter.

During the tournament Hoekstra (5-4) pitched a total of 15.2 innings, allowing only three unearned runs while striking out nine.

2012 OVC Baseball All-Tournament Team
Sam Eberle, Jacksonville State
Kenton Parmley, Southeast Missouri
Ryan Dineen, Eastern Illinois
Greg Bachman, Austin Peay
Reed Harper, Austin Peay
Jordan Hankins, Austin Peay
Kyle Bluestein, Jacksonville State
Rolando Gautier, Austin Peay
Ben Thoma, Eastern Illinois
Daniel Watts, Jacksonville State
Mike Hoekstra, Eastern Illinois
Kacy Kemmer, Austin Peay
Zach Toney, Austin Peay

MVP - Greg Bachman, Austin Peay