University of Minnesota Athletics
BB: Minnesota Swept by Ohio State in Doubleheader
5/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Entering the final day of action, Illinois is in first place at 20- 11, followed by second-place Purdue at 17-10, third-place Iowa (18- 13) and Michigan and Ohio State who are tied for fourth at 16-12. The highest seed Minnesota can have in the Big Ten Tournament is No. 4. That would occur if the Golden Gophers win against Ohio State on Sunday, and Michigan loses to Penn State. If Minnesota loses to Ohio State it would be seeded No. 6 in the tournament. If the Golden Gophers win and Michigan wins, Minnesota would be seeded No. 5 in the tournament.
The two losses today, eliminated Minnesota from winning its fourth straight Big Ten regular season and from receiving a first-round bye in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament (May 25-28)
Minnesota will find out where it plays in the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday. If Illinois defeats Iowa it would host the Big Ten Tournament. If Illinois loses to Iowa, and Purdue wins at Indiana the Boilermakers would host the Big Ten Tournament. The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled to run from May 25 to May 28.
In the first game, Minnesota got on the board first with one run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) led the inning off with a single, and moved to third when Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) followed with a single. Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) delivered an RBI double to right centerfield to bring home Fornasiere to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead. The double also moved Mee to third base. Jake Elder (Delta, British, Columbia) drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out.
However, Ohio State starter Mike Madsen struck out John Arlt (Lakeville, Minn.) in an 11-pitch at-bat and got David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) to ground into a double play to escape the inning without further damage.
Ohio State threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Ronnie Bourquin singled to get things started for Ohio State. Bourquin moved to third when Jason Zoeller drilled a one-out pitch to left field. However, Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) came up with a perfect throw to get Zoeller trying to move to second for the second out. Minnesota starter Cole DeVries (Eden Prairie, Minn.) retired We Schirtzinger on a fly out to center field to end the inning, and keep Minnesota ahead 1-0.
The Buckeyes tied the game at 1-1 with a single run in bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Paul Farinacci drew a walk to get things started for Ohio State. Eric Fryer delivered a hit-and-run single to make it first and third. Matt Angel followed with fielder’s choice RBI to tie the game at 1-1.
Minnesota threatened in the top of the sixth when Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) reached on a leadoff single and Elder walked to make it first and second. Madsen got Arlt to pop up bunt for the first out of the inning. However, Hrncirik followed with perfect bunt single to load the bases. Madsen retired Leseman on sharp line drive to the shortstop and got Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) to ground out to end the inning.
The Buckeyes had a chance to move ahead in the bottom of the sixth inning when the got runners on first and second with two outs. However, DeVries got Jason Zoeller to ground into a double play to end the threat.
In the top of the seventh, Minnesota had another opportunity to break the 1-1 tie, when Mee singled and Hunter walked to make it first and second. Ohio State reliever Rory Meister came into the game and hit Elder to load the bases, but got the last out of the inning to get out of the jam.
Ohio State’s Wes Schirtzinger singled to lead off the seventh inning. Jedidah Stephen followed with a sacrifice bunt push Schirtzinger to second with one out. Paul Farinacci delivered a game-winning RBI single on a 2-2 count to give the Buckeyes the first game of the doubleheader 3-2.
DeVries took the hard-luck loss, as he gave up eight hits, two runs and struck out two batters. The loss dropped him to 3-5 on the season. Meister pitched one third of an inning of relief to pick up the win to move to 5-0 on the season. Madsen got the no-decision as he pitched six and two thirds innings, gave up nine hits and one run.
Hunter reached base three times in the game, as he went two-for-three with one RBI and a walk. Fornasiere was two-for-four with one run, while Mee was also two-for-four in the game.
Minnesota stranded 11 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded in three different innings.
Farinacci was one-for-two in the game-winning RBI for Ohio State. Bourquin was also two-for-three in the game.
In the second game, Brian Bull (Omaha, Neb.) and Trent Luyster locked up a in a pitcher’s duel. Neither team scored until the fifth inning.
Minnesota finally got on the board in the top of the fifth inning with two runs to take a 2-0 lead. The inning started with Mee reaching on an error by the Ohio State second baseman. Leseman followed with a single, and Hrncirik walked to load the bases with nobody out. Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Mee to make it 1-0. Luyster got MacLean to fly out to shallow center field, which kept Leseman from tagging up and scoring. Leseman came home on a sacrifice fly by Fornasiere, which put Minnesota up 2-0. Luyster retired the final batter to limit the damage in the inning for Ohio State.
Ohio State got one run back in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 2-1. Zoeller started the inning with a leadoff single. Stephen made it first and second when reached on catcher’s interference call by the home-plate umpire. Bull made a nice play to get Zoeller at third base on a bunt by Farinacci that came right back to him. Angle loaded the bases on a sharp single up the middle that went off Bull’s glove and stayed in the infield. Mike Rabin brought home a run with an infield single, but Fornasiere made a heads up play to end the inning when he nailed Farinacci at third after he over ran the base.
Minnesota held the lead at 2-1 until the bottom of the seventh inning. In that inning, Zoeller led off with a single, and stole second on a hit-and-run play that Stephen swung and missed. Stephen moved Zoeller to third on a sacrifice bunt. Farinacci delivered an RBI single to bring home Zoeller to tie the game at 2-2.
The Golden Gophers brought in Jon Mueller (LaCrosse, Wis.) who was greeted by a single by Eric Fryer to make it first and second. A wild pitch moved the runner to second and third with one out. Minnesota intentionally walked Angle to load the bases, but Rabin delivered a suicide squeeze bunt to bring home pinch-runner Jacob Howell to give Ohio State a 3-2 win and the doubleheader split.
Bull suffered a tough loss, as he gave up just two earned runs and seven hits in six-and-a-third innings. He fell to 4-3 on the season. Meister pitched the last two thirds innings to pick up his second win of the day to move to 6-0 on the season. Luyster gave up two unearned runs and five hits in six-and-a third innings of work.
Leseman finished two-for-three with a run in the game. Hunter was also two-for-three in the game. Chlan was also one-for-two with one RBI, while Fornasiere had Minnesota’s other RBI in the game.
Rabin led Ohio State going two-for-four with two RBI, including the game-winner. Zoeller was two-for-three with one run.
The two teams will finish the series against Ohio State with a single game on Sunday, May 22 at 12:05 p.m. (CT).
That game will be joined in progress on WMGT (1220 AM) at 1 p.m. (CT). The entire game will be webcast on gophersports.com.
