MONDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 8, @Austin Peay 5
AUSTIN PEAY 8, MURRAY STATE 5
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Murray State scored five runs with two outs and took advantage of seven Austin Peay errors to complete a three-game sweep with an 8-5 victory Monday afternoon at Raymond C. Hand Park.
The series sweep marks the first time the Breds have swept a three-game series in Clarksville. It is just the second three-game sweep in school history, with the other coming at Reagan Field in 1987.
APSU (10-17, 3-6 OVC) took advantage of a pair of hit batters to start the third inning, helping lead to three runs. The Govs got sacrifice flies from Garrett Copeland and Ridge Smith, as well as Dre Gleason drawing a bases-loaded walk.
The Breds (13-12, 7-5 OVC) came right back in the fourth with a two-out rally that was started by a hustling Anthony Bayus. Bayus hit a grounder to first and raced down the line, beating the pitcher covering. Tyler Lawrence followed with a sharp single up the middle, and Michael Hargrove walked. Kollin Dowdy drove in two runners with a single up the middle off the glove of a diving second baseman.
The fourth inning saw another two-out rally from the Breds, also including the hustling Bayus. Clay Kelly was hit by a pitch to start the inning. With one out, Ty Stetson’s grounder was thrown away at second base, putting runners on second and third. With two outs, Bayus hit a slow roller to first that he beat the diving first baseman to bag. A heads-up Stetson scored all the way from second, turning it into a two-RBI single for Bayus. Lawrence followed with a ground ball through the legs of the first baseman, and when the right fielder fumbled the ball, Bayus was able to score on the play.
Dowdy started another scoring inning in the sixth with a leadoff single to left field. With one out, Kelly doubled to left center and Taylor Mathews followed with an RBI single to second base.
Bayus was in the center of another run in the seventh as his grounder to first was misplayed for an error to start the inning. Two pitches later, the catcher’s pickoff attempt went into the right-field corner, allowing Bayus to get to third. Lawrence followed with a double just inside the bag to score Bayus.
APSU got a run back in the home-half of the inning as Cayce Bredlau singled up the middle and scored on Copeland’s double to center field. The Govs added a run in the eighth as a hit batter was followed by two wild pitches. Kevin Corey drove in the runner with a groundout to short.
Sheldon Baxter (1-1) rebounded after a shaky third inning to record his first victory of the season. He came out after allowing four runs on five hits and four strikeouts over 7.2 innings. Cody Maerz got the final seven outs.
Caleb Powell (0-1) took the loss after giving up eight runs, four earned, on eight hits over 6.2 innings.
Bayus led the attack by going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Lawrence went 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Dowdy added two hits and two RBIs.