University of Minnesota Athletics
MINNESOTA SWEEPS DOUBLEHEADER FROM HOOSIERS 4-3, 7-0
5/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
With the scored tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Josh Holthaus, the hero of Saturday's first game, laced a lead-off single to left field. He advanced to second after Mark Devore laid down a sacrifice bunt. The next batter, Mike Arlt, was intentionally walked to set up a force play. Chris Guetzlaff was hit by a Nick Otte pitch to load the bases for Kennedy, who laced the game-winning single to right field scoring Holthaus from third, giving Minnesota its second walk-off win in the four-game series this weekend with a 4-3 victory. Kennedy was 2-for-3 in the first game with the two RBIs.
Minnesota was down for most of the game after Indiana jumped out to a 1-0 in the top of the first inning on a Rich Berich home run off of Minnesota starter Kelly Werner. Werner would struggle through the early part of the game but pitched 5 2/3 innings yielding only the one run.
The Gophers would take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Holthaus hammered his second home run of the series to tie the game at 1-1. Mark Devore and Mike Arlt hit back-to-back singles putting Devore at third base. He would score one batter later when Scott Welch grounded out with Arlt advancing to second base. Jason Kennedy singled to right field scoring Arlt from second to put Minnesota up 3-1.
But the Hoosiers would come right back in the top of the seventh when designated hitter Joe Sadler grounded out with the bases loaded scoring Benji Clause. With one down in the inning, Michael Woodside grounded out to the shortstop, pushing Dan Haegele across to tie the game at 3-3 to send the game to extra innings.
Brandon Kitzerow (1-0), who gave up the two runs in the top of the seventh inning, came back to retire the side in the top of the eighth to pick up his first win of the season. Indiana's Nick Otte took the loss to drop his record to 1-2.
In the second game, the Golden Gophers got an outstanding pitching performance from senior Chadd Clarey. The Rochester, Minn. native pitched eight innings of shutout ball, striking out a career-high eight, en route to the 7-0 victory. The righthander did not walk a single batter in the game and only yielded five hits in the contest. Senior Bob DeWitt pitched the ninth inning, to combine with Clarey for the shutout.
Minnesota got three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Chris Guetzlaff smacked a two-run double to the gap in right centerfield that scored Josh Holthaus and Jack Hannahan. Guetzlaff would advance to third on a balk by Indiana pitcher Matt Rice. He scored one batter later on a Mike Arlt sacrifice fly.
The Gophers upped that lead to 5-0 in the sixth when they took advantage of an Indiana fielding error with two outs in the inning. David Roach's slow roller to Hoosier second baseman Benji Clause, bounced out of his glove, which scored Jason Kennedy from third. Jeremy Negen followed with a double to the gap in right center, scoring Roach all the way from first. In the bottom of the seventh, Jack Hannahan and Jason Kennedy drilled solo home runs to give Minnesota the final margin of victory at 7-0.
With Penn State splitting their two games with Ohio State Sunday, Minnesota (19-5, .792 in the Big Ten) further increased its lead over the second-place Nittany Lions, who stand at 16-6 (.727) in the Big Ten Conference. Penn State will play Ohio State in the finale of their four-game series on Monday.
Minnesota plays Purdue in their final Big Ten regular-season home series starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Siebert Field.
Game One 123 456 78 R H E Indiana 100 000 20 3 6 1 Minnesota 000 003 01 4 8 0 UM-Werner, Gangl (6), Kitzerow (7) and Negen and Beaulieu. IU-Graf, Otte (6) and Farley. WP - Kitzerow (1-0) LP - Otte (1-2). HR - UM: Holthaus (10). IU: Berich (3). LOB: UM: 9. IU: 10. T: 2:40. A: 938. Game Two 123 456 789 R H E Indiana 000 000 000 0 5 1 Minnesota 000 302 20x 7 11 1 UM-Clarey, DeWitt (9) and Negen. IU-Rice, Vitiellis (5), Moore (7), Smith (8) and Farley and Stastny. WP - Clarey (6-5) LP - Rice (0-1). HR - UM: Hannahan (8), Kennedy (7). LOB: UM: 5. IU: 6. T: 2:20. A: 938.
