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University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader From Indiana
4/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Indiana jumped out to an early 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Reggie Watson walked and moved up to second a passed ball. Jay Brant followed with a single up the middle to give the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead. Brant moved up to third on a stolen base and an error, but Minnesota starter Craig Molldrem (Boscobel, Wis.) got the last two outs to hold Indiana to just one run in the inning.
Minnesota came right back with four runs in the top of the second to take a 4-1 lead over the Hoosiers. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) led off the inning with a single to start things off for Minnesota. Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) followed with a single to make it first and third with nobody out. Mee came around to score to tie the game at 1-1 when Gary Dick (Grand Rapids, Minn.) reached on an error by the Indiana shortstop to make it first and second.
Indiana retired the next two batters, but Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) singled home Hunter to move the Golden Gophers ahead 2-1. Dick moved to third and Leseman moved up to second base on the throw. Sam Steidl (Alexandria, Minn.) followed with a single to leftfield to bring home Leseman and Dick to move the score to 4-1.
Minnesota tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth inning to go up 6-1. Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) led off with a single and stole second base. With one out, Steidl brought him home with an RBI single to put the Golden Gophers up 5-1. Steidl moved to second on an error during the same play. He moved to third on MacLean's infield single and then came around to score to make it 6-1 when the Indiana shortstop committed a throwing error.
The Golden Gophers scored three runs in the top of sixth inning, highlighted by a David Hrncirik's (Madison, Wis.) single that plated two runs, to go up 9-1. Minnesota added two more runs in the top of the seventh to push the lead to 11. Indiana scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning for the final score of 11-3.
Molldrem pitched five and two thirds innings, gave up seven hits, one unearned run and struck out a season-high seven batters to pick up the win. With the win he moved to 2-1 on the season. Indiana starter Nick Vitielliss gave up 13 hits and nine runs in six innings to take the loss to fall to 3-2 on the season.
Minnesota was paced offensively in the first game by Steidl who was two-for-five with three RBI and one run. Mee was also three-for-five with two runs, while Hunter was two-for-five with two runs. Hrncirik went one-for-three with two RBI, while Leseman also had two runs and was one-for-two in the game.
Indiana was led by Mahar who went two-for-three with two RBI in the game.
In the second game, Minnesota sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning erupting for eight runs to go up 8-0. Steidl and Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) led off the game with back-to-back walks. Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) slammed a double down the rightfield line to bring home Steidl to make it 1-0. Mee followed with a walk to load the bases. Hunter came up with a bases-clearing double to right centerfield to move the Golden Gophers ahead 4-0. Gary Dick (Grand Rapids, Minn.) singled to make it first second. Hunter came home on an errant pickoff attempt by the pitcher to move Minnesota up 5-0. Dick moved all the way to third on the error and came around to score on Hrncirik sacrifice fly to move the Golden Gophers ahead 6-0. Minnesota scored two more runs in the inning with RBI singles by Steidl and MacLean to go up 8-0 in the inning.
It was Minnesota's highest scoring inning since it put up 12 runs in the eighth inning against Penn State on Apr. 11, 2003.
Indiana scored a single run in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 8-1 on a Kevin Mahar RBI single. The Hoosiers added one run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Cody Wargo sacrifice fly to make the score 8-2.
Brian Bull (Omaha, Neb.) pitched three-and-a third shutout innings of relief, giving up three hits and striking out three to pick up the victory in relief. Bull moved to 2-1 on the season. In two Big Ten outings, Bull has pitched eight-and-a third innings of scoreless baseball. Josh Krogman (St. Cloud, Minn.) started and pitched three- and-two thirds innings, giving up six hits and two runs for a no- decision.
Indiana's Brian Lortz gave up four hits and seven runs in one-third of an innings. Lortz took the loss to fall to 2-1 on the season.
Hunter paced Minnesota offensively in the second game, going three- for-four with one run and three RBI. Steidl was two-for-three with two runs, a stolen base and an RBI. John Arlt (Lakeville, Minn.) was also two-for-three with one run on the game.
Mahar and Cody Wargo had RBI for Indiana in the second game.
Minnesota has now won five of its last six Big Ten contests after dropping its opener to Michigan last week.
The Golden Gophers will finish the four-game Big Ten series against Indiana on Sunday, Apr. 11 at 12 noon. That game will be broadcast on 950 (KSNB-AM) and webcast on gophersports.com.
