University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Advances to Fourth Straight Big Ten Tournament Championship Game
5/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Golden Gophers advance directly to the Big Ten championship game, which will played on Saturday, May 29 at 7:05 p.m. Minnesota will face the winner of the No. 2 Ohio State-No. 3 Michigan game that will take place on May 29 at 3:35 p.m. in the first game of the day. There would be a game on Sunday, May 30 at 12:05 p.m. if the winner of Ohio State-Michigan defeats Minnesota in the second game tomorrow.
Minnesota becomes the first program in the history of the conference to advance to four straight Big Ten championship games. The previous best marks were three straight by Minnesota (2001-03) and Ohio State (1993-95).
Seven of Minnesota starters scored two runs and eight of the nine had hits on the night.
Michigan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. The Wolverines got the inning started with back-to-back walks to Leif Mahler and Eric Rose. Both runners moved over on a sacrifice bunt to make it second and third. Mahler came home to score on a Chris Getz sacrifice fly, but Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) gunned down Rose going to third base for the centerfield to third base double play to end the inning.
"I think that was a big play," said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. "It got everyone energized. Because Sam (Steidl) couldn't play, I was little concerned heading into this game. He is a pulse of the team. But we talk all the time about being able to step up when your name is called. Jared Sanders was outstanding and Luke MacLean did very well in left. Tony made a great play too. Like I say, you never know when you might have to stand up."
Minnesota carried that momentum to the top of the fourth, as the Golden Gophers sent 13 batters to the play and scored nine runs to go up 9-1. Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) and Matt Fornasiere started the inning with back-to-back singles to make it first and second. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) followed with a walk to load the bases. Andy Hunter delivered a single that plated MacLean and Fornasiere to put Minnesota ahead 2-1. Hunter and Mee moved to second and third on a bad throw by the Michigan leftfielder.
After Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) walked to load the bases, David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) hit a ground ball to the Michigan third baseman who threw the ball away allowing two runs to score to make it 4-1. Following Jared Sanders (Merrill, Wis.) walk to load the bases, Leseman delivered a bases-clearing double to push the score out to 7-1. Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) followed with a two-run homer, his fourth of the year, to put the Golden Gophers ahead 9-1.
The fourth-inning outburst was the Golden Gophers largest since Apr. 11, 2003 when Minnesota scored 12 runs in the bottom of the eighth against Penn State.
Jay Gagner (Cumberland, Wis.) capitalized on the offensive outburst by holding Michigan to two hits, two earned runs and striking out five batters in seven and two thirds innings of work. Gagner picked up his career-high fifth win to move to 5-0 on the season. Tim Theis also pitched one and a third perfect innings out of the bullpen for Minnesota.
"Sometimes it's tough when the team scores a lot of runs because you have to sit there for a while," said Gagner. "But Jake (Elder, catcher) and I were able to bounce back. The large lead makes my job easier. Throw strikes, that's all you've got to tell yourself."
Minnesota had a second big offensive inning in the top of the sixth when it scored seven runs to move the lead to 16-2. The inning was highlighted by a pair of RBI singles from Fornasiere and Hrncirik, along RBI fielder's choice groundouts by Hunter and Mee.
Michigan's Michael Penn took the loss, going three innings, giving up four hits and five runs in three innings of work. Minnesota scored 11 runs off the Wolverines relievers in six innings of work.
The Golden Gophers were led offensively by Hunter and Leseman who tied for a team-high three RBI on the night and both had two runs as well. Kommerstad was one-for-two with a home run, two runs, two RBI and two walks. Sanders was two-for-four with one run and one RBI, while Fornasiere and MacLean each collected two hits and two runs on the night. Michigan was led by Getz who was one-for-two with one RBI.
