University of Minnesota Athletics
BB: Minnesota Defeats Illinois 5-4 in Rain-Soaked Game
5/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
After the conclusion of the first game of the doubleheader, it was decided to postpone the second game of the day and play a doubleheader on Sunday, May 15. Tomorrow’s doubleheader will begin at 12 noon. The first game will be seven innings, and the second will be nine innings.
The two teams sat through four different rain delays in the only game of the day. The first one postponed the start time of the game 47 minutes. After that there was a brief five minute delay in the first inning, followed by an 11-minute delay in the top of the third inning. Before the teams got to play the top of the seventh inning a steady rain forced a 40-minute delay, the final one of the game.
Senior day ceremonies will follow the second game of the doubleheader.
Minnesota jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in bottom of the first inning. With one out, Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) got things started with a double to left field. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) followed with an RBI single to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead. After Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) grounded into a fielder’s choice, Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) singled to keep the inning going. David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) delivered a two-out RBI single to put Minnesota ahead 2-0.
Illinois came right back with two runs in the top of the second to tie the game at 2-2. Dusty Bensko led off the inning with a double. Drew Davidson delivered a one-out RBI double to cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1. Shawn Roof tied the game with a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.
The Golden Gophers responded with three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-2 lead. Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) and John Arlt (Lakeville, Minn.) delivered back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the second. Illinois starter Jimmy Conroy recorded the next two outs, but Mee delivered a two-out three-run homer to give Minnesota a 5-2 lead.
Minnesota starter Cole DeVries (Eden Prairie, Minn.) settled down after pitching around first and third two-out situation in the top of the third inning. After DeVries gave up a walk and a double in the fourth inning, he retired eight of the final nine batters he faced in the game.
DeVries finished the day going six innings, giving up six hits, two runs and striking out a career-high nine batters.
After the 40-minute delay heading into the seventh, sophomore closer John Gaub (South St. Paul, Minn.) entered the game. Gaub struck out the first two batters he faced to move one out away from the save. However, Ryan Rogowski singled, and Chris Robinson delivered a two- run homer to cut the lead to 5-4. Gaub came right back to strike out the Big Ten’s leading home run hitter Dusty Bensko to nail down his seventh save of the season.
DeVries picked up the win to move to 3-4 on the season for Minnesota. It also moved DeVries to 3-2 in Big Ten play. Conroy gave up eight hits and five runs in six innings to take the loss to fall to 7-2 on the season, and 4-2 in Big Ten play.
Mee paced Minnesota tying a career-high four RBI, while going two-for- three with a home run and two runs on the day. Hrncirik had Minnesota’s other RBI, as he reached base twice going one-for-two with one RBI. Fornasiere also reached base twice, and went one-for- two with a run. Sophomore John Arlt (Lakeville, Minn.) was two-for- two with one run out of the designated hitter spot for Minnesota.
Illinois was led by Robinson who was two-for-three with a home run and two RBI. Roof was also two-for-three with one RBI, while Bensko was two-for-four with one run.
Both of Minnesota’s games will be webcast on gophersports.com. The radio broadcast will be joined in progress at 1 p.m.
