Minnesota Drops Series Opener to Illinois 10-5

Minnesota Drops Series Opener to Illinois 10-5

The Minnesota baseball team (27-8, 9-3) had its six-game winning streak snapped as it dropped the series opener to Illinois (20-17, 8-7) 10-5 on Friday, Apr. 27 at Illinois Field. It was the Golden Gophers first loss in a night game as they fell to 7-1 on under the lights this year.

The loss was also the Golden Gophers first Friday loss in four Big Ten series dating back to last year. Minnesota's last Friday loss in conference play came at Ohio State on May 12, 2006 when it fell 10-2 in the series opener. The Golden Gophers had won all three Friday games this year as well.

Minnesota also tied a season-high with five errors on the night.

The Golden Gophers were led by Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) who went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs and an RBI. Sophomore Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) was also 2-for-5 with a run, while senior Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) also had a pair of hits going 2-for-4.

Senior Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) was 1-for-5 with an RBI, while Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) reached base twice and scored a run. Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) had his first hit of the season after battling back from a serious injury from this past summer. VanderAarde ended up 1-for-4 with a run on the night.

Illinois jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Snowden led off the inning with a double to left field. Snowden moved up to third base on a ground out. Lars Davis reached on an error, which allowed Snowden to score the first run to put Illinois ahead 1-0. Mike Rohde followed with a hit-and-run double to left centerfield that allowed Davis to score to make it 2-0. Daniel Webb followed with an RBI double to push it out to a three-run lead at 3-0.

Minnesota got two runs back in the top of the third inning to cut the Illinois lead to 3-2. Jost led off with a double to left centerfield, and moved to third on a single to the right side by Carlson. Jost came home to score to make it 3-1 on a double play groundout by Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.).

Nohelty kept the inning going with a single up the middle, and moved up to second on a walk by Lyons. Mee followed with an RBI single to left centerfield to plate Nohelty to cut the Illinois lead to 3-2.

The Golden Gophers tied the game in the top of the fourth inning at 3-3. Jost did so when he jumped on a 1-2 pitch and drove it over the right field wall for his fourth home run to tie the game at 3-3.

Illinois reclaimed the lead at 6-3 with a three-run bottom of the third inning. Ryan Hastings got things started when he delivered a one-out single and stole second base. Nick Stockwell followed by grounding a ball to right side and beating it out for a base hit. Hastings came home to score after the throw to first sailed over Tom Buske's (Apple Valley, Minn.) head to make it 4-3. Kyle Hudson walked to make it first and second with one out.

Both runners moved up on a fly out by Snowden. Stockwell scored to make it 5-3 when Brandon Wikoff reached on an error to keep the inning alive. Davis followed with RBI single to give Illinois a three-run lead.

Minnesota got two runs back in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Illinois lead to 6-5. VanderAarde led off the inning with a single to the right side. With one out, he moved up to second on an infield single to Lyons. Both runners moved up on a groundout by Mee. Hanson followed with a hard-hit ball that rolled under the third baseman's glove to bring home both runners to make it a one-run game.

Illinois extended its lead out to 10-5 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hudson and Snowden started the inning with back-to-back walks to get things started. Wikoff laid down a sacrifice bunt that was thrown into right field allowing Hudson to score to make it 7-5. Wikoff and Snowden moved up to second and third respectively on the throwing error with nobody out.

Davis followed with an RBI single to make it 8-5. Rohde reached on an error to bring home Wikoff to put Illinois ahead 9-5. Roof brought home Davis on an RBI groundout for the final run of the inning.

Buske started and gave up seven hits, three earned runs (six runs overall) and struck out three batters in a losing effort. Buske fell to 2-1 with the loss. Tyler Oakes (Jordan, Minn.) gave up one hit, two earned runs (four runs overall) and struck out one in three innings of relief.

Illinois starter Tanner Roark picked up the win to move to 5-1, as he gave up 10 hits, five runs and struck out two batters in seven innings of work. Omar Kadir pitched two shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and striking out two batters.

Davis led Illinois offensively going 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI. Rohde also had two RBI, as he went 1-for-5 on the night. Snowden and Hudson each score a pair of runs on the night.

Minnesota will be back in action when it plays in a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 28 at 3:05 p.m. and will play the series finale on Sunday, Apr. 29 at 12:00 p.m. All three games will be webcast on gophersports.com, and will be broadcasted on KLBB (1220 AM).

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Players Mentioned

Tom Buske

Kevin Carlson

Bryan Jost

Dan Lyons

Mike Mee

Matt Nohelty

Tyler Oakes

Taylor VanderAarde

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University of Minnesota Athletics