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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats Michigan State 12-2 To Claim Series Sweep
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota Defeats Michigan State 12-2 To Claim Series Sweep
The Minnesota baseball team (26-7, 9-2) used the big inning for a third straight game, as it scored six runs in the sixth inning to defeat Michigan State (15-17, 6-9) 12-2 to claim a four-game sweep over the Spartans on Sunday, Apr. 22 at the Metrodome. The two teams agreed to move into the Metrodome following the third game of the series on Saturday due to the fact that rain was in the forecast for most of the afternoon.
With the win, Minnesota moved to 26-7 overall and 9-2 in Big Ten play. The 26-7 mark is matches the Golden Gophers best 33-game start since 1976 when they had the same record at this point. Minnesota’s 9-2 mark in Big Ten play is its best since the Golden Gophers started 11-0 in 2003.
The four-game sweep in Big Ten play is Minnesota’s first since it did so against Indiana on May 19-21, 2006.
For the series, the Golden Gophers outscored the Spartans 29 to 10, and hit .357 to .170 for
Michigan State.
“I thought we did a good job of keeping the momentum throughout the series,” said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. “We jumped out quickly by capitalizing on a couple balls that dropped our way in the first inning and we kept it going from there. I thought we played extremely well defensively today. I also thought our pitching did a great job in this series.
Last week was tough for our pitchers, because it was such a long layoff with the way our schedule had been after having the games cancelled due to weather. Our players continue to do a great job of feeding off each other. They enjoy coming to the park every day and enjoy playing the game with one another. I also think a big factor in this series was our depth. We were able to plug guys into different spots and they came through for us consistently.”
Minnesota was paced by senior Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) who was 10-for-16 with a home run, three doubles, four runs and eight RBI. Mee was 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI on the afternoon. With that performance, he raised his season batting average to .448 (56-for-125).
Sophomore Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) also had a big game as he went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs and four RBI. Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) reached base four times, and was 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI.
On the afternoon, Minnesota’s 1-2-3 hitters in the lineup were a combined 9-for-14 with seven runs and nine RBI.
Junior Dustin Brabender (Oregon, Wis.) picked up the win as he pitched six innings, gave up six hits, two runs and tied a career-high with six strikeouts. With the win, Brabender moved to 4-1 on the season. Sophomore Tyler Oakes (Jordan, Minn.) pitched a perfect three innings for Minnesota to pick up his first save of the season.
The Golden Gophers currently have a team-record 17 saves this season. Oakes became the fifth pitcher on the staff to pick up a save this season.
Minnesota entered the bottom of the sixth with a 6-2 lead, but blew the game open with six runs to make it 12-2 as 11 batters came to the plate. Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) started the inning with a single up the middle and moved to second after Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) drew a walk.
After Michigan State got the first out of the inning, Nohelty delivered an RBI single to center field to give the Golden Gophers a 7-2 lead. Lyons greeted Michigan State reliever Chris Cullen when he hit his first pitch down the left field line for an RBI double to plate Jost to make it 8-2.
Mee hit Cullen’s second pitch over the right field fence for a three-run shot to give Minnesota an 11-2 lead. Nate Hanson (Chanhassen, Minn.) followed with a single, and moved to second when Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) drew a walk. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Cullen loaded the bases by walking Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.). Hanson came home to score on a sacrifice fly by Baran to end the Golden Gopher scoring at 12-2.
Minnesota got on the board early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Nohelty led things off with a bloop-single that just barely got over the head of the Spartan third baseman. Lyons followed with tapper in front of the plate that he beat out for an infield single. Mee continued to swing a hot bat with an RBI single to right center field to make it 1-0.
Lyons moved up to third and scored to make it 2-0 when Hanson grounded into a double play.
Michigan State got one run back in the top of the second inning to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 2-1 when Chris Roberts delivered a solo home run over the right field wall.
The Spartans tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third inning. Eli Boike got things started with a one-out infield single, and stole second base. Brandon Doherty walked to make it first and second. Doherty and Boike executed a double steal to make it second and third. Steve Gerstenberger brought home Boike with an RBI groundout to tie the score at 2-2. Brabender struck out the next batter to get out of the inning with game tied.
Minnesota took the lead back with a single run in the bottom of the third inning. Lyons got things started by leading off the inning with a triple. Michigan State kept Lyons at third when the next batter grounded out with the infield in. Hanson followed by lifting a fly ball to shallow right field, however the second baseman collided into the rightfield to allow Lyons to tag up and score to make it 3-2.
The Golden Gophers added three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead. With one out, Jeff DeSmidt (Mahtomedi, Minn.) to get things started. With two outs, Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) walked to keep the inning alive. Nohelty followed by delivering his second career home run (and second this week) to give Minnesota a four-run lead at 6-2.
Michigan State starter John Dwan took the loss to fall to 3-4, as he gave up nine runs in five and a third innings.
Boike led the offense going 2-for-4 with a run, while Kyle Day was 2-for-3 from the plate.
Minnesota will return to action when it faces South Dakota State at Siebert Field on Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 6:35 p.m. The Golden Gophers will then head to Illinois for a four-game Big Ten series on Apr. 27-29. Minnesota will open the series on Friday, Apr. 27 at 6:30 p.m., play a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 28 at 2 p.m. and a single game on Sunday, Apr. 29 at 1 p.m.
The Golden Gophers have also rescheduled the North Dakota State game that was postponed to Wednesday, May 2 at 6:35 p.m. at Siebert Field.
The Minnesota baseball team (26-7, 9-2) used the big inning for a third straight game, as it scored six runs in the sixth inning to defeat Michigan State (15-17, 6-9) 12-2 to claim a four-game sweep over the Spartans on Sunday, Apr. 22 at the Metrodome. The two teams agreed to move into the Metrodome following the third game of the series on Saturday due to the fact that rain was in the forecast for most of the afternoon.
With the win, Minnesota moved to 26-7 overall and 9-2 in Big Ten play. The 26-7 mark is matches the Golden Gophers best 33-game start since 1976 when they had the same record at this point. Minnesota’s 9-2 mark in Big Ten play is its best since the Golden Gophers started 11-0 in 2003.
The four-game sweep in Big Ten play is Minnesota’s first since it did so against Indiana on May 19-21, 2006.
For the series, the Golden Gophers outscored the Spartans 29 to 10, and hit .357 to .170 for
Michigan State.
“I thought we did a good job of keeping the momentum throughout the series,” said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. “We jumped out quickly by capitalizing on a couple balls that dropped our way in the first inning and we kept it going from there. I thought we played extremely well defensively today. I also thought our pitching did a great job in this series.
Last week was tough for our pitchers, because it was such a long layoff with the way our schedule had been after having the games cancelled due to weather. Our players continue to do a great job of feeding off each other. They enjoy coming to the park every day and enjoy playing the game with one another. I also think a big factor in this series was our depth. We were able to plug guys into different spots and they came through for us consistently.”
Minnesota was paced by senior Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) who was 10-for-16 with a home run, three doubles, four runs and eight RBI. Mee was 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI on the afternoon. With that performance, he raised his season batting average to .448 (56-for-125).
Sophomore Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) also had a big game as he went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs and four RBI. Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) reached base four times, and was 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI.
On the afternoon, Minnesota’s 1-2-3 hitters in the lineup were a combined 9-for-14 with seven runs and nine RBI.
Junior Dustin Brabender (Oregon, Wis.) picked up the win as he pitched six innings, gave up six hits, two runs and tied a career-high with six strikeouts. With the win, Brabender moved to 4-1 on the season. Sophomore Tyler Oakes (Jordan, Minn.) pitched a perfect three innings for Minnesota to pick up his first save of the season.
The Golden Gophers currently have a team-record 17 saves this season. Oakes became the fifth pitcher on the staff to pick up a save this season.
Minnesota entered the bottom of the sixth with a 6-2 lead, but blew the game open with six runs to make it 12-2 as 11 batters came to the plate. Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) started the inning with a single up the middle and moved to second after Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) drew a walk.
After Michigan State got the first out of the inning, Nohelty delivered an RBI single to center field to give the Golden Gophers a 7-2 lead. Lyons greeted Michigan State reliever Chris Cullen when he hit his first pitch down the left field line for an RBI double to plate Jost to make it 8-2.
Mee hit Cullen’s second pitch over the right field fence for a three-run shot to give Minnesota an 11-2 lead. Nate Hanson (Chanhassen, Minn.) followed with a single, and moved to second when Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) drew a walk. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Cullen loaded the bases by walking Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.). Hanson came home to score on a sacrifice fly by Baran to end the Golden Gopher scoring at 12-2.
Minnesota got on the board early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Nohelty led things off with a bloop-single that just barely got over the head of the Spartan third baseman. Lyons followed with tapper in front of the plate that he beat out for an infield single. Mee continued to swing a hot bat with an RBI single to right center field to make it 1-0.
Lyons moved up to third and scored to make it 2-0 when Hanson grounded into a double play.
Michigan State got one run back in the top of the second inning to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 2-1 when Chris Roberts delivered a solo home run over the right field wall.
The Spartans tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third inning. Eli Boike got things started with a one-out infield single, and stole second base. Brandon Doherty walked to make it first and second. Doherty and Boike executed a double steal to make it second and third. Steve Gerstenberger brought home Boike with an RBI groundout to tie the score at 2-2. Brabender struck out the next batter to get out of the inning with game tied.
Minnesota took the lead back with a single run in the bottom of the third inning. Lyons got things started by leading off the inning with a triple. Michigan State kept Lyons at third when the next batter grounded out with the infield in. Hanson followed by lifting a fly ball to shallow right field, however the second baseman collided into the rightfield to allow Lyons to tag up and score to make it 3-2.
The Golden Gophers added three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead. With one out, Jeff DeSmidt (Mahtomedi, Minn.) to get things started. With two outs, Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) walked to keep the inning alive. Nohelty followed by delivering his second career home run (and second this week) to give Minnesota a four-run lead at 6-2.
Michigan State starter John Dwan took the loss to fall to 3-4, as he gave up nine runs in five and a third innings.
Boike led the offense going 2-for-4 with a run, while Kyle Day was 2-for-3 from the plate.
Minnesota will return to action when it faces South Dakota State at Siebert Field on Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 6:35 p.m. The Golden Gophers will then head to Illinois for a four-game Big Ten series on Apr. 27-29. Minnesota will open the series on Friday, Apr. 27 at 6:30 p.m., play a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 28 at 2 p.m. and a single game on Sunday, Apr. 29 at 1 p.m.
The Golden Gophers have also rescheduled the North Dakota State game that was postponed to Wednesday, May 2 at 6:35 p.m. at Siebert Field.
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