LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bellarmine University baseball team will travel to Atlantic Sun Conference Gold Division leader Austin Peay State for its third straight conference road series, with first pitches set for 7 p.m. ET (6 CT) Friday, 3 p.m. (2 CT) Saturday and 2 p.m. (1 CT) Sunday.

At 18-3 in conference play, Austin Peay (34-11 overall) has already clinched a berth in the ASUN Tournament. The Governors own a five-game cushion in the division over second-place Lipscomb (13-8).

Bellarmine (11-33, 7-14 ASUN) and APSU are meeting in the second of their home-and-home series this season. The Governors swept the March 28-29 contests in Louisville, winning 13-3, 11-1 and 12-6. The opener was played at Knights Field while the latter two games were played at nearby St. Xavier High School due to weather complications.

Bellarmine is in the midst of a 13-game road swing. Last weekend's ASUN series opener at Central Arkansas marked a road opponent from a fifth different state (Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas) over a seven-game span for the Knights. By the UCA finale, BU had played nine road games in 13 days.

Austin Peay's .325 team batting average and 89 home runs both rank sixth in the nation while its 105 doubles are ninth. Cameron Nickens ranks 10th in the country in batting average (.421). The Governors boast the ASUN's top-3 home-run hitters in Preseason Player of the Year John Bay (16), Nickens (15) and Brody Szako (13).

KNIGHTS NOTES
• Bellarmine went 1-2 in its ASUN series last weekend at Central Arkansas, dropping the first two games 11-4 and 7-1 before winning the finale 6-2.
• Landon Akers enters the series ranked second in the ASUN in hits (70), third in total bases (101), sixth in batting average (.365), seventh in doubles (13) and stolen bases (15), tied for eighth in runs (39) and tied for 12th in slugging percentage (.526). The redshirt freshman infielder has a team-high 23 multi-hit games this season and is hitting .421 in conference play.
• Akers is climbing the D1-era single-season charts. His 70 hits rank third in the D1 era, his 15 SBs are tied for second, his 13 2Bs are tied for third, his 101 TB are fourth and his 39 runs are tied for fourth.
• Casey Sorg's 25 career home runs are tied for eighth overall in program history and second in the D1 era. The senior OF/1B is the D1-era leader in career hits (186), doubles (31), RBI (109) and runs (120).
• Junior infielder Luke Scales' 127 career hits rank second in the D1 era, and his 70 runs scored are tied for third.
• Junior outfielder Joey Milto's 30 walks drawn are tied for eighth overall in program history.
• Mike Sokol has been exceptional in long relief for Bellarmine. In nine of his 12 appearances, the senior RHP logged 3.0 innings of work or more, surrendering one earned run or less in six of those outings. His 3.29 ERA is the team's best by a significant margin.
• Senior RHP Blake Donnan is tied for seventh in the ASUN with three saves.

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