University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Defeats St. Cloud State 9-4
4/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota jumped out quickly by scoring in the second inning for the 16th time in its 32 games this season. The Golden Gophers went up 1-0 on freshman shortstop Matt Fornasiere's (Maple Grove, Minn.) first home run as a Golden Gopher. Logan Gerken (Boulder, Colo.) put Minnesota up 2-0 with an RBI double.
St. Cloud State came back with four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-2 lead, but the Golden Gophers tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the inning when Jared Sanders (Merrill, Wis.) scored on a wild pitch and Fornasiere scored on an error by the third baseman.
Gerken put Minnesota up for good in the bottom of the fourth with his second RBI double of the game to make it 5-4. The Golden Gophers added two more runs to go up 7-4 on a sacrifice fly by Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) and an RBI double by Luke Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn.).
With one out in the top of the fifth, rain halted the game for a 40- minute delay. When play resumed Nate Broehm (Winona, Minn.) pitched brilliantly striking out six batters and only allowing two hits in three innings. Minnesota tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when MacLean delivered an RBI single and came around to score on an error by the second baseman to make it 9-4.
Broehm picked his first win of the season in relief to move to 1-0 on the season. Tim Theis (Shakopee, Minn.) and Nick McCauley (Richland Center, Wis.) combined to pitch two shutout innings of relief to close out the game. Paul Buboltz gave up four runs in one inning of relief and took the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season.
Gerken led the way offensively going three for four with two runs, two RBI and three doubles. MacLean was two for three with one run and two RBI, while Fornasiere was one for four with a home run, two runs and an RBI. Appert was also two for two with an RBI.
The Golden Gophers finished the game with a season-high 13 strikeouts as a team.
Minnesota's game with UW-Milwaukee scheduled for Tuesday, Apr. 16 at 3 p.m. has been postponed indefinitely. The two teams will make an attempt to reschedule the game. For more details stay tuned to gophersports.com.
The Golden Gophers will travel to Illinois to play a four-game Big Ten series. Minnesota will play Illinois on Friday, Apr. 18 at 6:35 p.m., Saturday, Apr. 19 in a doubleheader at 4:35 p.m. and Sunday, Apr. 20 in a single game at 1:05 p.m.
