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Gary McClure, Head Coach
Gary McClure, a three-time Ohio Valley Conference “Coach of the Year,” is in his 19th season as Austin Peay’s head baseball coach. Austin Peay’s all-time winningest coach, he has posted a 529-495-4 career mark during that time and a 214-167-1 mark against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. McClure led the 2005 version of his Govs to the program’s second ever NCAA Tournament appearance. His 2005 team posted a 38-24 mark and claimed the 2005 O’Reilly/OVC Baseball Tournament championship
in four games.
During his tenure at Austin Peay, his teams have captured four of the school’s five Ohio Valley Conference titles and appeared in 13 of the program’s 17 league tournaments in school history. He led the 1996 squad to APSU’s first-ever NCAA Division I tournament appearance. Nine of his teams have posted 30-win seasons, including a school-record 44-win campaign by that storied 1996 squad. Starting with the 1999 season, McClure’s teams have posted a school record seven consecutive non-losing seasons. The 2003 campaign’s 27-27-1 mark ended a school-record streak of four consecutive winning seasons. Austin Peay captured the 2004 regular-season crown after leading the conference race wire-to-wire. The back-to-back titles were the first in Austin Peay history and the 20 conference wins were an school and OVC record and the 35 overall victories were the second most in school history. The .500 mark in 2003 belied a remarkable season that saw Austin Peay grab its first regular-season crown in seven years on the season’s final day. The Govs 14-5-1 conference mark last season tied the school record
for conference wins, with the .725 conference winning percentage the best during McClure’s tenure The new century has seen Austin Peay’s baseball team reach greater heights as they opened the 2000s with 30-win seasons in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and
2005. During that span the Govs reached the OVC Tournament Championship game in 2001, clinched back-to-back OVC regular-season titles in 2003 and 2004 and won the 2005 tournament crown.
The 1990s saw McClure’s teams reach the 30-win mark in all but three seasons, averaging 30 wins during the decade’s final five seasons. The decade included two OVC regular-season titles (1994 & 1996) and the Governors’ first league tournament championship in 1996. The 1996 season was a memorable one as the Governors posted a school-record 44 wins, the second-most in OVC history. A regular-season title and a NCAA Play-In series victory against Southern University propelled the Governors
to the NCAA tournament for the first time as a NCAA Division I member. On the field, McClure’s players have earned a number of awards, including two OVC “Player of the Year” awards (Randy McDermott in 1992 and Nate Manning in 1996) and five OVC “Pitcher of the Year” honorees: Rowdy Hardy, this season; Mike Weel (2000), Shane Dortch (1994), Craig Smith (1996); Jamie Walker (1992). McClure also has cultivated 28 first team All-OVC players in that span. Additionally, McClure has seen a number of
players advance to the professional level. Since 1990, 26 players have been signed by major league ball clubs. Most notable among them has been Jamie “Cat” Walker, who played two seasons (1997 and 1998) with the Kansas City Royals and is currently in his third season as a middle reliever with the Detroit Tigers. In addition, lefthander George Sherrill has pitched for the Seattle Mariners the last two seasons.
Raymond C. Hand Park has been a source of pride for Austin Peay and McClure. The most recent change has been the addition of concrete retaining walls along both foul lines, changing both the look and play of the Govs jewel. In addition baseball offices, a locker room and clubhouse were added to the complex just outside the facilities front gate prior to the start of the 2004 season. In 2001, McClure spearheaded facility improvements that saw the laying of brick in the dugouts and around the backstop. He also led the installment of an irrigation system, new fencing, state-of-the-art lighting and a $100,000 improvement project that saw the installation of chair-back seating in 1994. At the conference level, McClure was key in the OVC Tournament being moved to Paducah, Ky., in 2001. Prior to that the tournament was hosted by the regular-season champion.
McClure officially was named head coach on June 23, 1988, after serving as interim head coach during the 1988 season. During his interim season, McClure led the Governors to a 23-27 mark, a seven-game improvement over the previous season, despite the loss of two key starters during the season. He was named interim coach, Oct. 14, 1987, following the resignation of then head coach Billy Merkel. Prior to being named interim coach, McClure served as the team’s graduate assistant. He earned his graduate degree that spring despite the additional coaching responsibilities. McClure served as a student assistant during 1987, joining the Governors after completing his eligibility at Cumberland University (Tenn.). He was a second baseman and shortstop for Woody Hunt at Cumberland, the team compiling a 34-16 record during his junior season. During his senior season, Cumberland ended the season ranked 12th-nationally, winning 43 games. McClure hit better than .300 during his two seasons. Prior to his stint at Cumberland, McClure was an all-region honoree at Southeastern Community College (Iowa), setting records for his defensive work at second base. He also led Southeastern in hitting as a freshman. He continued his baseball playing in the Dallas Amateur Baseball Association, where he was voted the number one shortstop in the league during the 1986 season.
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Jake Peterson, Assistant Baseball Coach
Govs assistant coach Jake Peterson has gone full circle en route to his place back in the dugout for the 2007 season. The Lakewood, Colo. native, who played two years for the Govs, graduated in 2005 and recently completed work on his master’s degree. He began his initial post-graduate year as a graduate assistant for men’s basketball in the fall and baseball in the spring of the 2005-06 season.
The highly-touted middle infielder was a member of two Austin Peay championship teams – earning a regular-season title as a junior and an O’Reilly/Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title as a senior. In two years, he started all but one game, hit .319 with 22 doubles, 59 RBI and struck out only 43 times – that’s once every 9.3 at-bats.
Transferring from Independence Community College in Independence, Kan., Peterson came to Austin Peay in 2004. As a junior transfer, he started all 55 games at second base and batted second in the lineup. He hit .310, piecing together nine hit streaks of three games while reaching base safely in a team-high 18 consecutive games. In the field, he posted a .975 fielding percentage with six errors in 236 chances.
In his senior season, Peterson was even better. He hit .328 and was the toughest Gov to strikeout, going down on strikes once every 15.36 plate appearances. Midway through the season, he tabbed a 20-game hit-streak, where he hit .466 with 11 multi-hit games. At the time, the streak was the Govs longest since the 2000 season.
He was named second-team All-OVC after hitting .386 in conference play with a .453 on-base percentage. Peterson and the Govs won the O’Reilly/OVC Tournament and made Austin Peay’s second-ever NCAA Regional Tournament appearance.
At Independence, Peterson hit .390 with nine home runs and a team-best 54 RBI in his sophomore season. He was named to the 2003 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference first-team and was the Eastern Division Most Valuable Player. In addition, he was named to the NJCAA Division I All-Region VI Baseball first-team.
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