CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – For the first time in 773 days, the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament was back in action when No. 4-seeded Austin Peay faced No. 1-seeded Southeast Missouri State Thursday at The Ballpark at Jackson.

Both teams’ offenses slugged it out to the tune of five total home runs, but it was the OVC regular-season champion Redhawks who came out on top, 11-8.

“I thought we competed really hard,” said Austin Peay head baseball coach Travis Janssen. “SEMO did a great job offensively against Luke Brown. They had a great approach against him and really did a good job of putting pressure on us.”

Austin Peay rallied back to bring the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth inning before a deep fly ball off the bat of John McDonald ended up in the glove of the Redhawk right fielder at the warning track.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was gone off the bat,” Janssen said. “I thought it might’ve had a chance to get over the guy’s head. He put a good charge into it, but the outfielder tracked it pretty good.”

Game summary

With one out in the top of the first inning, Danny Wright drove in Jevon Mason on an RBI single to give SEMO an early 1-0 lead.

In the following inning, Jack Alexander launched a two-run homer over the left field wall to put Austin Peay in front 2-1.

Peyton Leeper pulled the Redhawks back even on a sacrifice fly before Gino Avros broke up the tie with a solo home run in the top of the third inning.

Back-to-back singles put runners on first and second base to start the bottom-half of the frame before Lincoln Andrews crushed a no-doubt, three-run blast to make it 5-3 SEMO.

The Redhawks pushed across two more runs in the inning on a home run to dead-center field from Wade Stauss and on an RBI single from Mason.

In the top of the fourth inning, T.J. Foreman scored Bobby Head on an infield single to cut the deficit to three runs.

After a one-out double from Wright, Andrew Keck padded SEMO’s lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Later in the frame, Stauss pummeled a two-run shot to center field for his second home run of the contest.

After trailing 10-4 through six innings of play, the Governors bats came alive.

Jackson native Malcolm Tipler started a two-out rally in the top of the seventh inning that ultimately led to four runs for the Govs.

“I was proud of how they fought,” Janssen said. “We gave up a big inning in the bottom of the sixth, and then we had two out in the top of the seventh and the game felt like it was stretched out. We were able to put together a nice two-out rally. Truthfully, it got us back in the game. We had a chance late, but couldn’t quite get it done.”

The fifth-year senior simultaneously made history, becoming the 20th player in program history to tally 200 career hits.

Tipler first made it home on an base hit from Head which forced Southeast Missouri State to go to their bullpen.

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Austin Williams then entered the game and gave up a two-run double to McDonald that was followed up by an RBI single from Alexander.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Redhawks scratched across the final run of the game on a squeeze bunt from Tyler Wilbur.

Key performers

OVC Pitcher of the Year Dylan Dodd struck out 11 batters without allowing a walk. However, Austin Peay was still able to get to the senior especially in the early going before he was able to find his groove in the middle innings.

“I thought we responded early on against Dodd,” Janssen said. “The third time through our batting order, he was able to get through our lineup and showed he has a really good arm.”

Dodd (9-1) earned the win, throwing 6 2/3 innings while giving up six earned runs on nine hits.

Blake Cisneros (2) picked up the save, recording the final two outs to seal the victory.

The Redhawk lineup pounded out 14 runs on 11 hits, chasing Governor starting pitcher Luke Brown (4-2) from the game after just 2 1/3 innings.

Left-hander Harley Gollert entered the game in relief and pitched three scoreless frames before running into trouble in the bottom of the sixth inning.

In a no-decision, Gollert finished 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts while surrendering four runs on four hits.

Alexander finished 3-for-5 with a home run and a team-high three RBIs while McDonald went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored for the Governors.

Mason, Wright and Stauss each had three runs driven in for the Redhawks.

Up next

Southeast Missouri State (28-19, 17-10 OVC) awaits the winner of Murray State and Morehead State Friday, May 28 at 11 a.m.

Austin Peay (22-32, 16-14 OVC) will play again Friday, May 28 at 3 p.m. against the loser of Murray State and Morehead State in an elimination game.

“Drew McIllwain will start for us in the first game,” Janssen said. “I do think it’s possible to carry over some offensive momentum into tomorrow. I think we are a competitive group and I think the guys have a bad taste in their mouth. We did swing the bats pretty good today, so I do think it’s possible.”