University of Minnesota Athletics
BB: Minnesota Claims Series Opener Over Northwestern 9-8
4/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
With the score tied at eight in the bottom of the seventh, junior first baseman Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) stepped up a delivered a soaring solo home run to right centerfield to give Minnesota a 9-8 lead it would never relinquish.
Minnesota’s bullpen made sure of that as Luke Beresford (Duluth, Minn.) retired the first out of the eighth inning, and John Gaub (South St. Paul, Minn.) came on to pitch one and two thirds shutout innings, striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
Beresford picked up the win as he ended up pitching two shutout innings and just allowing one hit and striking out two batters. Gaub picked up his fourth save of the season, as Minnesota’s bullpen registered three and two thirds innings of shutout baseball on the night.
Northwestern jumped on Minnesota quickly with two runs in the top of first to go up 2-0. After the Golden Gophers picked off Aaron Newman at first base for the first out, Mark Ori singled and came home on a Jon Mikrut double to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Pat McMahon followed with single to make it first and third. Mikrut scored to make it 2-0 on an Anthony Wycklendt single.
Minnesota struck right back with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-2 lead. Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) started the inning with a walk and moved to third on a bunt-single by David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.), followed by a throwing error. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead with a three-run homer, his fifth of the season.
The Wildcats quickly answered with three runs in the top of the second to move back ahead 5-3. Caleb Fields and Newman got things started with back-to-back one-out singles. Ori brought both runners home with a three-run homer to put Northwestern up 5-3. The Wildcats moved ahead 6-3 on a Fields RBI single in the top of the third inning.
Minnesota got a single run back in the bottom of third inning to cut the lead to 6-4. Hrncirik started the inning with a single and stole second with one out. Hunter moved him to third on a groundout, and Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) delivered an RBI single to plate Hrncirik to make it 6-4.
The Golden Gophers came up with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth to move ahead 8-6. Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) and Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) started the inning by getting on by hit by pitches to make it first and second. Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Fornasiere delivered a deep triple to right centerfield to push Minnesota ahead 7-6. Two batters later, Fornasiere came home to score on a wild pitch to make it 8-6.
Northwestern scored a single run in the top of the fifth to make it 8-7. Antonio Mule led the inning off with a double, and Max Mann made it first and second when he was hit by a pitch. Mike Phelps delivered an RBI single with nobody out to make it first and second. Minnesota starter Matt Loberg (Anoka, Minn.) got Fields to ground into a fielder’s choice in which Hrncirik stepped on third to record the first out of the inning. On the next play, Newman hit a sharp grounder to third base in which Hrncirik stepped on third and threw to first to end the inning on a third to first double play.
The Wildcats tied up the game at 8-8 in the sixth on a McMahon RBI single. However, Minnesota took the lead for good at 9-8 on Hunter’s second home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Fornasiere finished the game one-for-four with two runs and three RBI, although all three outs were deep fly balls to centerfield. Fornasiere now has seven RBI in his last two games. Mee was also one-for-four with a home run and three RBI. Elder was perfect at the plate, going three-for-three with an RBI. Hrncirik was also two-for-four with two runs, and picked up his 19th stolen base of the season.
Hunter was one-for-four with a home run and an RBI in the game.
Loberg last five and a third innings, giving up seven runs and striking out three batters for the no-decision. Northwestern starter Andrew Smith gave up eight runs in three innings of work for the Wildcats.
Minnesota has now scored 39 runs in its last three games.
Northwestern reliever Chris Davidson took a tough-luck loss, as he gave up just one run in five innings of relief.
The Wildcats were led offensively by Pat McMahon who was five-for-five with one RBI on the night. Ori was three-for-four with three runs, a home run and three RBI.
Minnesota will continue the series with Northwestern when the two teams play a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 23 at 2 p.m. In between the doubleheaders the 1985 Big Ten Championship team will be honored. The series will wrap up on Sunday, Apr. 24 at 1 p.m.
All three remaining games will be broadcast on WMGT (1220 AM) radio, and webcast on gophersports.com.
