CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Belmont University baseball team continues Ohio Valley Conference play at Austin Peay, starting with a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m.
Austin Peay leads the all-time series with Belmont 61-38. With the exception of Lipscomb, Austin Peay is Belmont's most faced Division I opponent in program history. Belmont last defeated Austin Peay on March 29, 2019 in an 11-3 win to open the series.
Austin Peay is off to a 5-13 start and is hitting .217 as a team. The Governors have scored 78 runs off 24 doubles and 128 hits, smashing 10 home runs with 68 RBIs in the process. Austin Peay has an earned run average of 6.00 and has tallied 135 strikeouts as a team. Austin Loeb is the only pitcher to appear in a game without giving up an earned run. Loeb also leads Austin Peay with two saves and seven strikeouts on the season.
Garrett Spain leads Austin Peay offensively, hitting .309 to go with nine RBIs and a pair of home runs. Jack Alexander leads the Governors with five doubles to go with 17 hits and a pair of home runs. Ty DeLancey adds power at the plate, hitting four home runs with 10 RBIs and Bobby Head has totaled 14 hits to go with a .237 batting average.
In two of the three years Belmont Baseball has won a regular season conference championships, the Bruins have swept the series with Austin Peay. When Belmont claimed the VSAC (NAIA) championship in 1961, the Bruins won both games of the season series. They also swept the Governors in 2012 when Belmont claimed the 2012 Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships.
Joshua South was named OVC Pitcher of the Week for the third time in 2021, the conference announced Monday. South earned OVC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 1 and March 15 this season, becoming the first Belmont Baseball pitcher to receive OVC Pitcher of the Week honors multiple times in the same year. The Cookeville, Tenn. native already has five career OVC Pitcher of the Week honors, the most by a Belmont Baseball pitcher. The two-time Preseason OVC Pitcher of the Year recorded his second complete game shutout in the last three seasons on Friday against SIUE, last doing so on March 10, 2019 against Morehead State. South only allowed four hits while collecting six strikeouts, not allowing a walk in the process.
Game Notes
Head coach Dave Jarvis is eyeing the all-time wins record at Belmont, where he currently has compiled 655 wins in his 24 years as the Bruins' head coach. Jarvis needs just nine more wins to pass Dave Whitten (1969-1997) to become the winningest head coach in program history. Jarvis and Whitten had a close relationship until Whitten's death in 2012, where Whitten served as an assistant and pitching coach under Jarvis from 1998-2000.
First pitch is set for 1 p.m. on Friday, with live stats and ESPN+ available to fans watching from home. Bruin Sports Network will also be making the trip and the game will be available to fans via radio.
