BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Austin Peay State University’s baseball team will vacate four wins from the current 2016 season due to the use of an ineligible student-athlete, following a ruling from the Ohio Valley Conference, Monday.
Austin Peay self-reported the violation after it was uncovered during normal auditing of student-athletes’ academic records following the Spring 2016 semester. It was determined the student-athlete was not enrolled full-time during the semester in accordance with NCAA By-Law 14.2.2 and was ineligible while competing for APSU.
“As soon as the violation was discovered, we self-reported to the OVC and have been cooperating with them fully throughout the process,” said Austin Peay athletics director Ryan Ivey. “Integrity is not just something we talk about at APSU, it is something we live on a daily basis, and while this is a very tough time for our baseball program, this was the correct course of action.”
In addition, OVC By-Law 11.4.1 authorizes the commissioner to review the contribution of the ineligible student-athlete in each of the Governors’ conference victories. If in that review, it is determined the student-athlete had a meaningful effect on the victory, the commissioner will vacate the win.
After a review by the OVC office, it was determined the student-athlete in question had a meaningful effect on the Governors victories against Murray State (March 26), Tennessee Tech (April 1), Southeast Missouri (April 9) and UT Martin (May 8).
Austin Peay will vacate those four wins from the 2016 season and the team’s overall and conference records will be adjusted to reflect the vacated contests. The won-lost records for each of the opposing teams are not changed when games are vacated. The penalty only affects Austin Peay’s record and not its ability to qualify for the upcoming OVC Baseball Championship.
The vacated victories drop Austin Peay’s record to 27-18 overall and 17-9 in OVC play. The scores of the games and individual records will remain, with the affected contests denoted that the result had been vacated due to the use of an ineligible student-athlete.
“First and foremost, I am extremely disappointed for our student-athletes and coaches,” said Ivey. “They have worked extremely hard this year to accomplish the success they have achieved, and this situation detracts from their success.
“As Athletics Director, it is my responsibility to ensure we provide the opportunities for our student-athletes to be successful. In this case, we have not lived up to that standard and that is something I take very seriously. We will make every effort to improve our processes and procedures to ensure this situation is not repeated.”
