Austin Peay captures OVC tournament title

Behind a brilliant pitching performance from tournament MVP Brad Daniel, second-seeded Austin Peay won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title, beating top-seeded Jacksonville State 5-0 on Sunday in Paducah, Ky.

Austin Peay (38-22), second in the OVC's regular season, receives the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Baseball Championships.

Daniel (6-3), normally the Governors' closer, made his first start in more than a year and threw his first career complete-game shutout. He allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out a career-high nine batters.

The Govs broke on top with two runs in the third inning, then scored three more in the fourth to go ahead 5-0. That was more than enough for Daniel, who was in total control.

Jacksonville State (35-25), the OVC regular-season champion, was stymied by Daniel who allowed just six base runners and only once allowed two runners in one inning, that being the eighth.

"What a special performance by Brad," Govs coach Gary McClure said. "There was no hesitation by the coaches about who was going to start. And Brad wanted the ball.

"Not having thrown more than three or four innings in a game this year, we would have been elated if we could have gotten five or six innings out of him. He just threw a gem. This was what you dream about É starting a conference championship game. What can you say about his performance? It was just unbelievable."

Daniel was one of six Austin Peay players named to the all-tournament team, the others being infielders Tommy Smith and Jared Walker; outfielder Brett Luther; and pitchers Rowdy Hardy and Shawn Kelley.

Jacksonville State had five players named to the team, led by outfielder Winston Pearson who finished with tournament highs of three home runs and nine runs batted in. Other Gamecocks selected were infielders Jake Ball, Clint Carroll and Richard Turner; and pitcher Donovan Hand.

Rounding out the all-tournament team were Eastern Kentucky outfielders Derrick Bussell and Bryan Stevenson. The Colonels finished third in the six-team event.