University of Minnesota Athletics
BB: Minnesota Sweeps Doubleheader From No. 19 Michigan
4/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
In the first game of the doubleheader, Minnesota jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) got things started with a two-out walk. Mee advanced to second on a passed ball, and came home on an Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) RBI single to make it 1-0.
Michigan tied the score in the top of the sixth at 1-1. Pinch-hitter Derek VanBuskirk doubled to lead off the inning. VanBuskirk advanced to third on a Brad Roblin infield single. Minnesota starter Cole DeVries (Eden Prairie, Minn.) struck out the next batter for the first out of the inning, but Matt Butler followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1 -1. DeVries got Chris Getz to fly out to end the inning.
Mee answered in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff double of his own. He advanced to third on a groudout by Hunter. Michigan looked like it would get out of the jam, when Mee was thrown out at the plate for the second out on a Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) fielder’s choice. However, Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) followed with a walk to make it first and second, and Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) singled up the middle to bring home Elder to make it 2-1.
John Gaub (South St. Paul, Minn.) came in to try to record his second save in as many games. The leadoff hitter, Kyle Bohm, reached when he was hit by a pitch by Gaub to start the seventh. A.J. Scheidt grounded out to move up the pinch-runner Mike Schmidt to second base. Jeff Kunkel followed with a single that brought home Schmidt, but was thrown out at second base by Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) for the second out of the inning. Gaub struck out the designated hitter Alex Martin to end the inning.
The two teams remained tied at 2-2, until the bottom of the ninth inning. Leseman reached first base with one out when he was hit by reliever Jeff Niemiec’s pitch. Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) attempted to move to Leseman over to second base on a sacrifice, but Niemiec threw the ball away into rightfield. Leseman came around from first base to score the winning run for the second time in as many games in the series.
Gaub gave up two hits and one run in three innings, and struck out four batters to pick up his first win of the season in relief to move to 1-0. Niemiec gave up one run in a third of an inning of work to take the loss to fall to 2-1.
DeVries started and took the no-decision, as he went six innings gave up four hits, one run and struck out four batters. Michigan starter Michael Penn gave up three hits and two runs in five innings of work.
Five different Golden Gophers had hits on the day. Hunter and MacLean each had RBI, while Leseman, Mee and Elder each scored a run.
Michigan got RBI by Butler and Kunkel, and had Brad Roblin go two-for- three for the game.
In the second game, Minnesota fell behind 3-1, but rallied to win 6-3 to claim its third victory of the series.
Michigan took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Eric Rose had a leadoff single and stole second. Three batters later, Getz singled Rose home to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.
Minnesota tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Leseman led off the inning by getting hit by the pitch, and moved to second on a balk. Michigan starter Paul Hammond retired the next to batters without Leseman advancing, but David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) delivered a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 1-1.
Rose struck again for Michigan in the top of the fourth inning when he laid down a bunt that brought home VanBuskirik and Kunkel on a squeeze play to give the Wolverines a 3-1 lead.
Minnesota got the two runs back in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 3-3. Elder led off the inning with a single, and moved to third on a Hunter single. Carlson reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Hunter to move to second and Elder to beat a throw to the plate to make it 3-2. MacLean grounded into a fielder’s choice to make it first and third with one out. Leseman followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3. Hammond kept the score at 3-3 by recording the next two outs.
The Golden Gophers pushed three runs across the plate to move the score to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Fornasiere got things started with a leadoff single. Hrncirik followed with a single to make it first and second. Michigan’s Drew Taylor came in to relieve the starter Hammond, and hit Mee to load the bases with no one out. Taylor retired the next two batters, but Carlson delivered a double to clear the bases to give Minnesota a 6-3 lead. It was the second time in as many days that Carlson produced what would eventually be the game-winning hit.
Minnesota junior reliever Brian Bull (Omaha, Neb.) pitched three perfect innings to pick up his first win of the season to move to 1-1. Hammond gave up five runs and eight hits to take the loss to fall to 1-1.
Golden Gopher starter Josh Oslin (Mora, Minn.) gave up six hits, three runs and struck out two in four innings for the no-decision
Carlson was one-for-three with a career-high four RBI in the game. Hrncirik went three- for-four with one run and one RBI in the second game, while Fornasiere was two-for-four with one run. Seven of Minnesota’s nine hitters had a hit in the game, and six different players scored runs for the Golden Gophers.
Michigan was led by Rose who was two-for-three with two RBI and one run, while Kunkel was two-for-three with a run.
Minnesota will finish the series with a single game on Sunday, Apr. 3 at 1:05 p.m. The Sunday game will be telecast on Fox Sports Net North. Clay Matvich and former Golden Gopher Major Leaguer Terry Steinbach will call the game.
