Braden  Rapp was in total command. In the second game of the Govs doubleheader Wednesday afternoon. Rapp struck out eight and only gave up four hits to the Central Alabama Trojans. But the most important part was, he pitched a complete game shutout as the Govs won 4-0.

That followed another performance by Jake Middleton who did Jake Middleton like things. Middleton made a couple of mistakes in game one when he gave up two homeruns. But he still had plenty to get the Govs an 8-3 win.

The two-game sweep of Central brings the Govs winning streak to six. All six wins were conference games. The Govs are now 10-4 in conference play, 11-17 overall.

Rapp was just rolling along in game two. He was involved in scoreless pitching dual until the bottom of the fourth inning. That's when Jackson Cliatt pulled a repeat performance.

The last time the Govs were involved in a scoreless pitching performance Cliatt came off the bench and slapped a solo homerun to give the Govs the win. Wednesday, Cliatt was already in the game, but he nailed another homer to give the Govs the lead.

"I'm feeling good in the box," Cliatt said. "After sitting on the bench for a little bit, that definitely grabbed my attention. I was watching my boys compete out there and it was devastating. I knew I had to do something to get back out there."

This time the Govs didn't just rely on Cliatt's homerun. They tacked on three more in the fifth inning. With one out in the inning, Mahki Buckley doubled to centerfield and Evan Taylor reached on an infield single. That was followed by back-to-back-back RBIs from Blake Wynn, Kason Gleaton, and JT Thigpen.

Meanwhile, Rapp just kept rolling along. In the middle innings, Rapp appeared to get stronger.

"I just told myself it was only going to get tougher from here, I've just got to keep being myself," Rapp said. "Keep pounding the zone and keep being myself. I was just banging my heater in there and throwing my slider for strikes. I was locating everything well and it worked."

Rapp also said he had extra motivation. He wanted to win the game for teammate John Petrucelli who was seriously injured in the game while trying to beat out a double play ball.

In game one, the Govs took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly from Gleaton and an RBI single from JT Thigpen. While the Trojans got one of those runs back in the second inning on a home from Olin Ward, the Govs stretched the lead in the third.

That's when the Govs added four runs. RBI singles from Gleaton and Petrucelli and a two-RBI single from Anthony Zarzana accounted for the runs.
Petrucelli and Zarzana also accounted for the Govs final two runs in the fifth, while Cooper Harcrow added a two-run homer for the Trojans in the seventh.

"Our approaches are getting better and we're finding ways to put the ball in play," head coach Ryan Ihle said. "We're not striking out as much and I think all of that trends in the right direction for us to hit our stride."

The Govs will play their final two conference games again Central Alabama on Friday in Alexander City.