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University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Falls to No. 22 UC Irvine 5-1
3/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
UC Irvine scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Matt Anderson put the Anteaters up with a one-out RBI single to go up 1-0. Anderson moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single by Mark Wagner to put UC Irvine up 2-0.
The Anteaters tacked on a single run in the bottom of the second to go up 3-0. Gary Dudrey delivered a one-out triple and came around to score on a Brett Dalton RBI single. Mark Wagner added a solo home run in the bottom of the third to put UC Irvine up 4-0.
Minnesota cut the lead to 4-1 with a single run in the top of the fifth inning. Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) led off the inning with a walk. After the first out of the inning, Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) and Jared Sanders (Merrill, Wis.) put together back-to-back singles to load the bases. Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) drew a walk to bring home Elder to make the score 4-1. However, UC Irvine starter Glenn Swanson retired the next two batters to limit the Golden Gophers to one run in the inning.
UC Irvine added a single run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 5-1. Jordan Szabo singled to lead off the inning, and came around to score three batters later on Dalton sacrifice fly.
Minnesota threatened in the top of the eighth when Sam Steidl (Alexandria, Minn.) reached on a one-out single. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) reached on an error two batters later to make it first and third with two outs. The next batter Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) hit a hard shot to the gap, but UC Irvine rightfielder Erik Johnson was there to record the final out of the inning.
Glen Perkins (Stillwater, Minn.) took the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season. Perkins pitched five innings, gave up seven hits, four runs and struck out a season-high eight batters. Perkins rebounded from some early struggles to retire nine of the final 11 batters he faced. Swanson pitched five innings, gave up one run and struck out five to pick up the win, and move to 4-1 on the season. Jeff Moen (Glenwood, Minn.) pitched three innings, gave up four hits and one unearned run in relief.
Mee and MacLean each had two hits for Minnesota. Kommerstad had the lone RBI for Minnesota on the night. Elder reached base twice on walks and scored Minnesota's only run.
Wagner led the way for UC Irvine going three-for-four with a home run and two RBI.
Minnesota will wrap up the series against UC Irvine on Saturday, Mar. 20 at 3 p.m.
