Minnesota Crushes Illinois 19-4 in First Game of Doubleheader

Minnesota Crushes Illinois 19-4 in First Game of Doubleheader

The Minnesota baseball team (28-8, 9-3) unleashed a 19-run barrage as it defeated Illinois (20-18, 8-8) 19-4 in the first game of a doubleheader at Illinois Field on Saturday, Apr. 28. The 19 runs were the most by the Golden Gophers since Apr. 22, 2006 when Minnesota scored 20 runs at Michigan State.

Minnesota managed to score a run in every inning, and scored two or more runs in six of the seven innings.

The Golden Gophers had 10 different players collect a hit, 10 players collect an RBI and 10 different players score a run.

Sophomore Nate Hanson (Chanhassen, Minn.) became the first Golden Gopher since 2003 to collect five hits in a game. The last Minnesota player to do so was Scott Welch against Northern Iowa on Apr. 23, 2003. Hanson finished the game 5-for-5 with a home run, a double, four runs and three RBI.

Freshman Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) went 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBI, while Tijl Vanderwege (St. Paul, Minn.) reached base three times, went 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, two runs and two RBI.

Jeff DeSmidt (Mahtomedi, Minn.) also reached base twice, and was 1-for-1 with a home run and three RBI. Dan Lyons got on base three times, and was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) also reached base three times and was 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base.

Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) reached base three times, going 1-for-3 with three runs and an RBI. Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) got on base twice and was 1-for-4 with two runs.

Junior Gary Perinar (Shorewood, Ill.) picked up his third win in a row to move to 3-3, as he went five innings, gave up six hits, four runs, walked six and struck out four. Bill Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn.) pitched two shutout innings to finish the game for Minnesota.

Illinois starter Mike Stankiewiecz gave up eight hits and eight runs in two and a third innings to fall to 3-4 on the season.

Minnesota got on the board first with a single run in the top of the first inning. Nohelty led off with an infield single and stole second base. Mee drew a walk to make it first and second with nobody out. Nohelty was thrown out trying to steal third, while Mee moved up to second base. Hanson followed with a single through the left side to make it first and third with one out. Jost brought home Mee with an RBI groundout to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead.

Illinois pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead. Brandon Wikoff got things started when he was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning. Lars Davis delivered a double down the right field line that went off Jost's glove to make it second and third with one out. Mike Rohde drew a walk to load the bases.

Daniel Webb followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. Shawn Roof followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Davis to put Illinois ahead 2-1.

The Golden Gophers reclaimed the lead with three runs in the top of the second inning. McCallum reached first base with one out on a bad-hop single. Vanderwege drew a one-out walk to make it first and second. DeSmidt then lifted the ball to over the fence in right centerfield for a three-run homer to give Minnesota a 4-2 lead.

Minnesota widened the gap with four runs in the top of third inning to take an 8-2 lead. Hanson led the inning off with a single. Jost followed with a walk, and Lyons laid down a perfect bunt for an infield single to load the bases. Hanson scored on an RBI groundout by Kyle Baran to make it 5-2.

McCallum followed with a two run bloop-single that scored both Jost and Lyons to make it 7-2. McCallum moved up on a wild pitch, and came around to score when Vanderwege got an RBI double after the ball skipped over the Illinois third-baseman's glove into left field to make it 8-2.

Illinois got one run back in the bottom of the third inning when Shawn Roof single, stole second and came home to score on an RBI single by Ryan Hastings to make it 8-3.

The Golden Gophers pushed across two more runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 10-3 lead. Hanson led off with a double to right centerfield. Jost and Lyons followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases with nobody out. Hanson came home to score on a Baran RBI fielder's choice groundout to make it 9-3. McCallum followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Jost to give Minnesota a 10-3 lead.

Minnesota continued to add to its lead as it scored three run in the top of the fifth to move ahead 13-3. DeSmidt started things off when he was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Nohelty delivered a hit-and-run single through the left side that moved pinch-runner Tom Steidl (Alexandria, Minn.) to second. Hanson crushed a three-run homer to right centerfield to give the Golden Gophers the 10-run lead.

Illinois added a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Wikoff scored on a wild pitch to move the score to 13-4.

Minnesota added two more runs in the top of the sixth on a Vanderwege RBI triple and a Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) RBI single to make it 15-4.

The Golden Gophers finished the scoring with a four-run seventh to make it 19-4. Lyons and Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) each had RBI singles to put Minnesota ahead 17-4. Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) walked with the bases loaded and Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) had a sacrifice fly to finish the scoring.

Illinois was led by Webb who was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

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