Minnesota Wins 14-5 to Sweep Doubleheader

Minnesota Wins 14-5 to Sweep Doubleheader

The Minnesota baseball team (29-8, 11-3) continued its offensive barrage as it defeated Illinois (20-19, 8-9) 14-5 to sweep the doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 28 at Illinois Field. The 33 runs were the most scored by Minnesota in a Big Ten doubleheader since the Golden Gophers scored the same total against Michigan State on May 6, 1995.

Minnesota is now 7-1 in its four doubleheaders in Big Ten play this year. The Golden Gophers have swept the last three doubleheaders in Big Ten play, claiming home sweeps against Iowa (Apr. 15) and Michigan State (Apr. 21) and a road sweep today.

The Golden Gophers had eight different players collect hits and eight players score runs on the afternoon.

Senior Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) led the way going 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, three runs and three RBI. Kyle Baran (Apple Valley, Minn.) was 3-for-5 with three RBI in the second game, while Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) was 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI.

Sophomore Nate Hanson (Chanhassen, Minn.) reached base three times, and was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Hanson had hits in his first two at-bats, giving him seven straight hits spanning the first two games.

Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) was 1-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base. With hits in both games, Hanson, Mee and Nohelty all have 10-game hitting streaks.

Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) reached base twice, and was 1-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Taylor VanderAarde (Hastings, Minn.) was 1-for-2 with a stolen bases and two runs.

Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) was also 1-for-5 with a home run, a run and an RBI.

Hanson ended up 7-for-9 with a home run, five runs and four RBI in the doubleheader, while Lyons was 4-for-8 with a home run, five runs and four RBI on the day.

Marcus McKenzie (Minnetonka, Minn.) started, but his seventh win eluded him as he gave up eight hits and five runs and pitched three and a thirds innings and was unable to qualify for the decision. Bill Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn.) pitched three and two thirds shutout innings of relief to move to 3-0, as he struck out three and gave up just one hit.

For the doubleheader, Johnson pitched five and two thirds scoreless innings in two appearances.

Minnesota continued its momentum with three runs in the top of the first inning. For the second straight game, Nohelty singled and stole second base. Mee was hit by a pitch to make it first and second, Hanson followed with an RBI single to plate Nohelty to make it 1-0. Jost reached on an RBI fielder's choice groundout that plated Mee to make it 2-0. Baran followed with a double to right centerfield to plate Jost to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.

The Golden Gophers had their biggest inning of the doubleheader in the top of the second as they expanded their lead to 9-0. Carlson started the inning by reached second after an error by the Illinois third baseman. He moved up to third on a wild pitch. VanderAarde walked and stole second with one out.

Mee singled through the right side to bring home both runners to make it 5-0. Hanson followed with a single to make it first and second, and Jost brought home Mee with an RBI double to make it a six-run lead.

Lyons greeted Illinois reliever Billy Barrett with a two-run double to left centerfield to give Minnesota an 8-0 lead. Baran singled home Lyons to complete the six-run second inning.

With three runs in the first and six in the second inning, the Golden Gophers put together a stretch where they scored in nine straight innings to start the doubleheader against Illinois.

Ryan Hastings put Illinois on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo home run to make it 9-1.

The Golden Gophers came back with four runs in the top of the fourth to make it 13-1. Lyons started the scoring with a solo home run (his sixth of the season) to right field that bounced off the top of the fence to make it 10-1. Two batters later, McCallum homered for the second time this year to give Minnesota an 11-1 lead.

Minnesota got the other two runs of the inning on a Mee RBI single and when Nohelty scored on after an error by the Illinois third baseman to make it 13-1.

Illinois got four runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 13-5. Daniel Webb had a an RBI single to make it 13-2, and Kyle Hudson had two-run single later in the inning to make it 13-4. Ryan Snowden also had an RBI single to make it 13-5.

With one out, Illinois loaded the bases when pinch-hitter Joey Bonnadonna drew a walk. Johnson came in and struck out Lars Davis and got Mike Rohde to fly out to get out of the inning and keep Minnesota's lead at eight runs.

Minnesota got its final run in the top of the fifth on Baran RBI single to the final tally of 14-5.

Illinois was led by Hastings who was 1-for-2 with home run, two runs and an RBI. Hudson was also 1-for-3 with two RBI., while Snowden was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Minnesota will play the series finale on Sunday, Apr. 29 at 12:00 p.m. That game will be webcast on gophersports.com, and will be broadcasted on KLBB (1220 AM).

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Kyle Baran

Nate Hanson

Bill Johnson

Bryan Jost

Dan Lyons

Derek McCallum

Marcus McKenzie

Mike Mee

Matt Nohelty

Taylor VanderAarde

Upcoming Events

University of Minnesota Athletics