University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Eliminated from NCAA Regionals by Washington 4-1
5/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota came into its third game of the NCAA Regional with the momentum of a five-run ninth inning against Pepperdine, which propelled the Golden Gophers to a 7-5 victory. However, Minnesota continued its struggles on offense in the third game.
In the top of the second Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) and David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) each walked and were on first and second with one out, but Washington starter David Dowling retired the next two batters to get out of the inning.
The key inning of the game came in the bottom of the third inning when Washington put three runs on the board to go up 3-0. Aaron Hathaway's RBI double put the Huskies up 1-0. It looked as Minnesota starter Matt Loberg (Anoka, Minn.) would get out of the jam until Chad Boudon hit a two-out, two-run homer top put Washington up 3-0.
Bren Lillibridge delivered an RBI single to make the score 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth. Minnesota would not get on the board until the top of the sixth inning. In that inning Luke Appert (Cottage Grove, Minn.) reached on an error. Scott Welch (Missoula, Mon.) followed with a single up the middle to make it first and second. After an Elder fielder's choice made it first and third, Jon Becker (Plato, Minn.) had an RBI single to cut the score to 4-1. Minnesota had first and second with one out, but Dowling again got out of trouble retiring the final two batters.
The Golden Gophers again put pressure on Washington with a two-out uprising in the top of the seventh. Ben Pattee (Ukiah, Calif.) got it started with a two-out single. Appert followed with a single and advanced to second on an error by the Washington centerfielder Lillibridge. With men on second and third, the Huskies brought in Trent Baysinger who got Welch to ground out to the shortstop to end the inning.
Minnesota had one more chance in the top of the ninth, the same inning it had rallied in earlier in the day to defeat Pepperdine. Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) led off the inning with a single to get things started. Baysinger retired the next batter, but Steidl reached on an error by the third baseman to make it first and second with one out. Will Fenton came on and struck out Pattee for the second out. Appert followed Pattee with a walk to load the bases. With two outs and the bases loaded, Welch hit a soft blooper to centerfield, but the Washington centerfielder Lillibridge charge in to make the play and end the game.
In his first start of the season, Dowling pitched six and two thirds innings and gave up only one unearned run, while striking out five to get the win. Dowling moved to 7-2 with the win. Fenton picked up his 12th save of the season, pitching two thirds of a scoreless inning to keep his 0.00 ERA for the season intact. Loberg pitched three and a third innings, gave up 10 hits and four runs. Loberg took the loss to drop to 6-2 on the year. Craig Molldrem (Boscobel, Wis.) pitched four and two thirds shutout innings to keep Minnesota in the game.
The Golden Gophers were led offensively by Becker who was two for four, in the final game of his career, with an RBI on the game. Appert was one for three with one run and two walks in his final game of his career. Welch and Pattee were both one for five in their final games, while David Roach (Clearwater, Fla.) was 0-for-3.
Minnesota left 12 runners on base, and 25 combined in the two games against Washington in NCAA Regional play.
The Golden Gophers finish up a season, which saw them win back-to- back Big Ten regular season titles for the first time since 1973-74. Minnesota also claimed its first 40-win season since 1999, and won a school record 24 Big Ten games.
