Freshman Nate Hanson (Eden Prairie, Minn.) made the most of his first Big Ten start going three-for-three with two runs and one RBI, as the Minnesota baseball team (28-24, 14-14) won its third straight Big Ten contest 6-1 over Indiana (22-31, 11-18) in the series opener at the Metrodome on Friday, May 19.
As a result of Iowa and Penn State losing to fall to 12-17 in Big Ten play and the Golden Gophers win tonight, Minnesota needs just one more win to qualify for the 2006 Big Ten Tournament.
Hanson, who saw his first action since Mar. 17 against Augsburg this past Tuesday, started for the first time since he suffered an injury when was hit by a pitch against Louisiana-Lafayette on Mar. 17. Hanson reached base all four times he came to the plate and tied his career-highs in hits (3) and RBI (2).
The Golden Gophers also got a masterful outing from junior Cole DeVries (Eden Prairie, Minn.) who gave up just seven hits, one run and struck out eight in a complete-game effort. It was DeVries' third complete-game effort of the season. DeVries has now made six starts at the Metrodome and given up just six runs in 46.2 innings of work for a 1.16 ERA. He is also 4-1 in games at the Metrodome this year.
With the win, DeVries is now 6-3 on the season. He is also 4-2 in Big Ten play with a 2.48 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 54.1 innings of work.
Minnesota entered bottom of the seventh leading 3-1 over the Hoosiers, but the Golden Gophers came up with three runs to push the lead out to 6-1. With one out, Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) got things started with a one-out infield single to the shortstop. Hanson followed with a double to right field to make it second and third with one out. Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) delivered an RBI single to plate MacLean to push the score to 4-1, and moved up to second on a throwing error to make it second and third. Pinch-hitter Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) loaded the bases when he was hit with a pitch.
The Golden Gophers brought up pinch-hitter Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.), and Indiana countered with a move to lefthanded reliever Joe Vicini. Jost came through with a two-run single to right centerfield to plate Hanson and Lyons to make it 6-1.
DeVries retired the final six batters spanning the eighth and ninth innings to secure John Anderson's 899th career victory. Anderson is just one win from becoming the 17th active coach to reach the 900-win plateau.
Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) and MacLean joined Hanson with three hits on the game. MacLean was three-for-five with two runs, while Baran was also three-of-five on the night.
Lyons finished the game two-for-four with one run and two RBI. Tony Leseman (St. Paul, Minn.) also reached base three times, and was two-for-four with one run, while Jost finished with two RBI in one at-bat.
Minnesota had 17 hits on the night, 16 of which were singles for the Golden Gophers. Over the last four games, Minnesota has collected 63 hits. The Golden Gophers have recorded double-figure hit totals in all four games.
Indiana starting pitcher Clint Crosier gave up nine hits and three runs in three innings to take the loss to fall to 3-6 on the season.
Minnesota got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. MacLean and Hanson led the inning off with a back-to-back singles. MacLean came home to score on an RBI single by Lyons to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead.
Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) followed with another RBI single to plate Hanson to make it 2-0. On the next play, Nohelty lifted a fly ball to left field. Indiana leftfielder caught it and threw out Lyons at the plate to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Indiana got a runner on first with one out on a single by Keith Haas. On the next at-bat Reggie Watson a hit a hard shot to the right centerfield gap, but Kommerstad made a great diving catch for the second out of the inning. Minnesota got out of the inning without any damage keeping the score at 2-0.
The Golden Gophers added a single run in the bottom of the third inning to take a 3-0 lead. Leseman singled to lead off the inning, and moved to second on a one-out single by Baran. Minnesota loaded the bases when MacLean singled through the left side to load the bases. Hanson delivered a bases-loaded RBI single to give the Golden Gophers a 3-0 lead. Indiana minimized the damage when starter Clint Crosier got Lyons to ground into a double play.
Indiana got on the board with a single run in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 3-1. Zach Boswell led off the inning with a double. Boswell moved to third on a long fly out to left field by Jon Fixler. He came home to score on an RBI groundout by Ben Greenspan to make it a two-run lead.
Indiana was led by Keith Haas, Andrew Means and Jon Fixler who each had two hits on the night for the Hoosiers.
Minnesota Indiana in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. and in the series finale on Sunday, May 21 at 1 p.m.
On Saturday, Minnesota will honor the 1956 National Championship team in between doubleheader games. The first game on Saturday will also be televised by Fox Sports Net North. All three remaining games will be broadcast on WMGT (1220 AM) and webcast on gophersports.com.
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