FIRST PITCH
Score: Austin Peay 7 | Queens 5
Records: Austin Peay (17-18 overall, 8-5 ASUN) | Queens (6-27 overall, 2-11 ASUN)
Location: Clarksville, Tenn. (Raymond C. Hand Park)
 
The Short Story: Nick Brassington and Andrew McDermott blasted home runs, but the Royals drop their weekend series opener at Austin Peay on Friday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Royals jumped on the Governors in the top of the first inning with a pair of runs. Andrew McDermott lead off the game with a solo shot on the second pitch of the game before Nick Brassington blasted a solo home run down the left field line 10 pitches later for a 2-0 lead.
-Austin Peay would answer in the bottom of the first inning with three runs on three hits and a Royals error.
-The Governors would extend their lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the second inning. Royals starter Kei Yamagishi worked a pair of quick outs before a two-out single led to a two-run home run.
-Queens would cut into the deficit in the top of the fifth inning with two runs on one hit. Tyler Peters would open the inning with a single up the middle to snap a streak of nine straight Royals retired. JJ Sousa would follow it up with a walk to get the Royals offense in business. Nick Melton would drop a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners before Tyler Peters scored on a wild pitch. Following an Andrew McDermott walk, senior Riley Cheek hit a sacrifice fly into right field for an RBI to bring the score to 5-4.
-The Governors would threaten in the bottom of the fifth as they loaded the bases with no outs. Freshman Joey Ruller picked up a strikeout looking to retire the first Governor. Ruller would get a weak fly ball to shallow left field and Nick Brassington made the catch before delivering a strike to catcher Tyler Cotto to gun down the runner trying to tag up.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-Graduate student Nick Brassington led the Royals offense with a 2-for-4 evening, including a pair of extra base hits. Brassington blasted his fourth home run of the season in the first inning.
-Riley Cheek extended his hitting streak to seven straight games as he has reached base safely in 30-of-33 games this season.
-Andrew McDermott blasted his first home run as a Royal in the top of the first inning to get the scoring started.
-JD Coleman and Tyler Peters both added a base hit on the night.
-Joey Ruller, Brandon Dahlman, and Justin Offschanka combined to throw 4.1 innings of scoreless relief while fanning three Governors.
-The Royals struggled to get their offense going consistently as they were retired in order in 6-of-9 innings.
-Queens struck out 11 times on the night marking the eighth time this season they have done so. The Royals are 2-6 in games which they strike out 10 or more times.

NEXT UP
The Royals and Governors will continue their weekend series on Saturday, April 15^th at 2:00 p.m. EST. Fans can tune into the action on ESPN Plus.
 
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