Minnesota Claims Series Opener Against Ohio State 6-4
The Minnesota baseball team (34-10, 15-5) claimed the series opener against Ohio State (28-18, 12-11) 6-4 on Friday, May 11 at Siebert Field. With the win, the Golden Gophers moved to two games back of idle Michigan at 15-5, while the Wolverines remained at 17-3.
Minnesota senior Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) outdueled Ohio State ace Cory Luebke on the night. Buske pitched six and two thirds innings, gave up seven hits, three earned runs and struck out three batters to pick up the win to move to 3-1 on the season.
Buske retired the first nine Buckeye batters he faced, before giving up a leadoff double to J.B. Shuck in the fourth. He had given up just one run and two hits against Ohio State in the first six innings, before the Buckeyes scored three against him in the seventh.
Kyle Carr (Linton, N.D.) came into the game in the top of the seventh with runners on first and third with two outs. After Cory Kovanda made it second and third when he moved up to second on a wild pitch, Carr got Shuck to ground out to end the inning.
Carr gave up just one hit and struck out two in two and a thirds innings of relief to pick up his seventh save of the season.
Minnesota got key home runs from a pair of seniors as Tijl Vanderwege (St. Paul, Minn.) had a two-run shot in the third and Sean Kommerstad (Minnetonka, Minn.) had a two-run homer in the sixth.
Vanderwege finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, two RBI and a stolen base. Kommerstad reached base twice and was 1-for-2 with a home run, a run and two RBI.
Dan Lyons (Rochester, Minn.) and Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) were also 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Senior Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) reached base twice and was 1-for-3. Nate Hanson scored and run, but had his 16-game hitting streak come to an end.
Luebke entered the game with a 7-0 record and a 1.91 ERA for Ohio State, but Minnesota scored six runs (three earned) against him and had six hits in six innings. Luebke also walked two batters and struck out five to suffer his first loss of the season to fall to 7-1. Luebke's loss snapped an eight-game winning streak, and was his first since May 20, 2006 when he lost to Penn State.
Minnesota grabbed the early momentum with a three-run bottom of the third inning. Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) got things started when he reached on an error by the Ohio State third baseman on a slow chopper. Nohelty moved up to second on a wild pitch and Mee walked to make it first and second. Hanson reached on a fielder's choice to make it first and third with one out.
Nohelty came home to score on an RBI groundout by Lyons to make it 1-0. Vanderwege followed by crushing a home run to left center field to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.
Ohio State got on the board with a single run in the top of the fourth to make it 3-1. Shuck led off with a double and Matt Angle walked to make it first and second with no one out. Eric Fryer followed with lineout to Hanson at third, but an errant throw allowed Angle and Shuck to move to second and third.
Jason Zoeller singled home Shuck to make it 3-1. However, Buske got Justin Miller to ground into a double play to avoid any further damage in the inning.
The game remained 3-1 until the bottom of the sixth when Minnesota put up three runs to take a five-run lead. Lyons got things started with a leadoff double. Vanderwege singled and moved up to second on the throw, but Lyons was thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning.
Vanderwege stole third, and Kommerstad followed with a two-run homer to give Minnesota a 5-1 lead. Bryan Jost (Oakdale, Minn.) walked and came around to score on an RBI double by Carlson to extend the Golden Gopher lead to 6-1.
Ohio State pushed across three runs in the top of the seventh to make it 6-4. Miller had an RBI single to cut the Minnesota lead to 6-2. Zach Hurley had an RBI single to get the Buckeyes to within three runs at 6-3. Kavanda had an RBI single to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 6-4, but that was as close as it would get.
The Buckeyes were led by Zoeller who was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Kovanda and Hurley were each 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Miller was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Minnesota will face Ohio State in a doubleheader on Saturday, May 12 at 2:05 p.m. and in a single game on Sunday, May 13 at 1:05 p.m. After Sunday's game, the Golden Gophers will honor the 12 seniors on the team.
All three remaining games will be shown on video on the Gold Zone and webcast on gophersports.com. The final three games will also be broadcast on KLBB (1220 AM).
