University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to North Dakota State 7-3
5/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Hunter (West. St. Paul, Minn.) led the way offensively going two- for-three with a home run, one run and one RBI. Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) finished two-for-five with an RBI. Aaron Larson (Lakeville, Minn.) also reached base twice and scored a run
Minnesota got on the board first with a single run in the top of the first inning. Aaron Larson (Lakeville, Minn.) started things off with a one-out walk. Larson moved to second on a wind-aided single that drifted from foul territory and hit the chalk to make it first and second. Senior Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.) delivered an RBI single to the right side to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead
The Golden Gophers added another run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead. Senior Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) worked the count to 3-1, and crushed a pitch over the right field wall to give Minnesota a two-run lead.
North Dakota State tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 2-2. Jared Sullivan led of the inning with walk, and moved to third on a double to right centerfield by Ryan Langlais. Luke Otto walked to load the bases with nobody out. Gavin Hofer followed with a two-run single to center field to tie the game at 2-2.
Minnesota starter Kyle Carr (Linton, N.D.) got the next hitter, Nick Schommer, to ground the ball right back to him and threw out the Otto at third base for the first out of the inning. Following an error that loaded the bases, Carr struck out Matt Watson for the second out of the inning. Carr then got Matt Mossey to ground out to end the inning.
North Dakota State took its first lead of the game with two runs to go up 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Sullivan was hit by a pitch to get things started. Otto delivered a two-out double to the gap to make it second and third. Hofer followed with his second two-run single of the game to push the Bison lead out to 4- 2. Minnesota reliever Gary Perinar (Shorewood, Ill.), gave up a single and walk to load the bases. However, Perinar struck out the final two batters to get out of the inning without further damage.
Perinar got in another jam in the top of the bottom of the sixth when Matt Mossey delivered a leadoff triple. However, Perinar struck out the next two batters and got Langlais to ground out to end the inning to keep the score at 4-2.
North Dakota State added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Plecki drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a one-out walk Mossey to make it first and second. Minnesota reliever Marcus McKenzie (Minnetonka, Minn.) got the next batter out, but Sullivan hit a three-run homer to give North Dakota State a 7-2 lead.
Minnesota added a run on a Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) RBI groundout to make it 7-3 for the final tally.
Carr started and went four innings, gave up four hits, two runs and struck out a career-high six batters in a no-decision. Gary Perinar (Shorewood, Ill.) gave up four hits, two runs and struck out five in three innings to take the loss to fall to 4-2 on the season.
Jake Laber picked up the win for North Dakota State as he pitched eight innings, gave up five hits, three runs and struck out six to move to 2-8 on the season.
North Dakota State was led by Hofer who was two-for-four with four RBI, while Sullivan was one-for-three with a homer, three runs and three RBI.
The Golden Gophers will return to Big Ten play on Friday, May 5 when they begin a stretch of eight straight Big Ten road contests at Northwestern at 3 p.m. Minnesota will also face the Wildcats in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 6 at 1 p.m. and in the series finale on Sunday, May 6 at 1 p.m.
