FIRST PITCH
Score: Austin Peay 17 | Queens 11
Records: Austin Peay (14-7, 3-1 ASUN) | Queens (4-18, 0-4 ASUN)
Location: Clarksville, Tenn. (Raymond C. Hand Park)

The Short Story: The Royals took control early in the first inning with a Tyler Cotto three-run homer to center field. Despite Austin Peay taking a six-run lead by the fourth inning, a Tyler Peters grand slam put the Royals within reach. Yet, Queens eventually fell to the Governors by a score of 17-11 on Friday afternoon in Clarksville, Tenn.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Queens struck first capitalizing on a three-run shot off the bat of Cotto in the first inning. Despite a three-up, three-down inning off the hand of Landry Jurecka, the Governors wasted no time in the next inning after getting on the bases with a single, a walk, and a Royals miscue in the field. After a mound visit, Governor Jaden Brown launched a grand slam to right center field, giving his team the 4-3 advantage. Austin Peay put up one more run with an RBI triple before the Royals retired the side.
• A leadoff walk got the Royals back on the bases in the top of the third. Soon, Tyler Peters hit an RBI single to bring a run home to cut their deficit to one.
• Austin Peay picked up three more runs in the bottom of the third off three hits. The Royals were able to get out of the inning, though, and left two Austin Peay runners stranded.
• After two more homers from the Governors in the bottom of the fourth to push their advantage to 11-4, a launched homer to left from Peters in the top of the fifth inning put the Royals within two of the host. Another run scored from the Royals after a single from JJ Sousa put the score a 11-10 before Austin Peay could finally get out of the inning.
• The Governors slowly tallied more runs throughout the next four innings — one in the sixth, three in the seventh, and one in the eighth. The Royals tallied one more to the scoreboard with an RBI single from J Barbour in the top of the eighth, but wouldn't be able to produce any more in their last chance in the top of the ninth.

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Royals totaled 13 hits on the day, the second-highest amount of hits in the 2024 season (matching a 13-hit performance against Tennessee Tech on March 8, 2024).
• JJ Sousa went 4-for-5 on the afternoon with one RBI.
• Tyler Peters tallied two hits but snagged five RBI, a Royals career-high for the Liberty transfer. His previous Royals career-high RBI was three against the same opponent, Austin Peay, on April 15, 2023.
• Tyler Cotto also snagged a solid offensive performance for Queens with a three-RBI day off his first-inning homer. He also drew three walks on the day.
• The Governors snagged 19 hits on the day, a season-high for Austin Peay.

NEXT UP
Queens will return to action against Austin Peay tomorrow, March 23 for a 3:00 PM ET start in Clarksville. Follow the action live on ESPN Plus, linked here.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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