University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Iowa 5-2 in First Game of Doubleheader
4/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (17-13, 5-5) defeated Iowa (14-16, 4-6) 5- 2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 15 at Duane Banks Field. With the win, Minnesota has now won seven of its last nine road contests.
Minnesota has now limited Iowa to just two runs in the first two games of the series.
Junior Dustin Brabender (Oregon, Wis.) matched his longest Big Ten outing in his career as he gave up six hits, two runs and struck out five in six and a third innings. Brabender picked up the win to move to 3-4 on the season. The Golden Gophers handed Iowa starter Jeff Maitland his first loss of the season, Maitland gave up six hits and four runs in five and a third innings to fall to 4-1.
Joe Maciej (Elk River, Minn.) led Minnesota offensively going one-for- three with a run and two RBI. Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) also was two-for-three with an RBI in the game. Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) finished one-for-three with two runs on the game.
Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) had Minnesota’s other RBI, while Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Aaron Larson (Lakeville, Minn.) each scored runs for the Golden Gophers in the game.
Minnesota entered the top of the sixth inning tied at 1-1, but pushed three runs across to take a 4-1 lead. Junior Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) led off the inning with a single, but was wiped out on a fielder’s choice by senior Hunter. Kommerstad followed with a single to left field to make it first and second. Larson reached on an error by the Iowa third baseman to load the bases with one out.
Maciej delivered a two-run single to break the tie and give Minnesota a 3-1 lead. Larson was wiped out at third when Chris Herbert (White Bear Lake, Minn.) reached on a fielder’s choice. VanderAarde followed with a two-out RBI single to give Minnesota the 4-1 lead.
Minnesota added a single run in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead out to 5-1. Hunter got thing started with a two-out single. Kommerstad kept the inning going with a walk to make it first and second. The pinch-hitter Baran delivered an RBI single, his third straight hit in the series at the time, to give Minnesota a 5-1 lead.
Iowa got the first two runners on to start off the bottom of the seventh inning when Jason White singled and Kevin Hoef doubled to make it second and third with nobody out. Brabender got L.J. Mims to ground out for the first out of the inning, but White came home to score to make it 5-2. Senior Andy Peters (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) came on to strikeout out the final two batters to register his fourth save of the season.
Iowa got on the board first with a single run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Dusty Napolean drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Wooldrik. Brabender got Jason White to ground out to the shortstop for the second out of the inning, but Napolean moved to third on the play. Iowa third baseman Kevin Hoef came up with a two-out RBI single to give the Hawkeyes their first run of the series. L.J. Mims followed with a single, but Kommerstad threw out Hoef trying to get to third to end the inning.
Minnesota tied the game at 1-1 with a single run in the top of the fifth inning. Jeff DeSmidt (Mahtomedi, Minn.) led the inning off with a single, and was pinch-run for by Larson. Larson stole second on the first pitch to the next batter. Herbert drew a one-out walk to make it first and second. Iowa got Herbert at second on a fielder’s groundout, but threw the ball away trying to get VanderAarde at first, and Larson came home to score to tie it at 1-1.
Iowa was led by Kevin Hoef and White who each went two-for-three with an RBI on the day.
