The Minnesota baseball team (14-15, 4-5) defeated Northwestern (8-15, 3-6) 7-4 in the first game of a doubleheader, and the first of the series, on Sunday, Apr. 13.
Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) led the way for the Golden Gophers reaching base four times, and going 2-for-3 with a run, two RBI and two stolen bases. Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and two RBI.
Jeff DeSmidt (Mahtomedi, Minn.) also went 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI, while Nate Hanson (Chanhassen, Minn.) went 2-for-5 with a double and a run. Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) also reached base twice, and was 1-for-3 with a run.
Junior Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) picked up the win to move to 4-3. Despite hitting six batters in the game, Buske went seven innings, gave up six hits, four runs, walked two and struck out five. Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.) picked up the save, as he went two innings, gave up one hit, walked one and struck out a batter.
Bo Schultz took the loss for Northwestern to fall to 3-4. Schultz went 7.1 innings, gave up eight hits, seven runs, walked four and struck out five batters.
Minnesota got on the board first with a single run in the top of the first inning. Nohelty drew a walk, and stole second base on a strikeout which resulted in the first out of the inning. With two outs, DeSmidt delivered an RBI single to right field to plate Nohelty to give the Golden Gophers a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Gophers pushed their lead out to 4-0 with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. McCallum beat out an infield-single with one out to get things started, and moved to third on a single by Kvasnicka. Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) walked to load the bases, and Jon Hummel (Lakefield, Minn.) plated McCallum with a sacrifice fly to put Minnesota ahead 2-0.
Jeremy Chlan (Apple Valley, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases again, and Nohelty followed by delivering a two-run single to put the Golden Gophers ahead by four runs.
Northwestern answered with a three-run bottom of the fourth to cut the Minnesota lead to 4-3. Jake Goebbert led off with a walk, and Mike Kalina was hit by a pitch to make it first and second. With one out, Buske hit the next two batters. After hitting Tony Vercelli, Goebbert came home to score to make it 4-1.
Chad Noble followed with a chopper right in front of the plate that resulted in an infield single, and plated Kalina to move the score to 4-2. Tommy Finn brought home the third run with a sacrifice fly to cut it to a one-run game.
The Wildcats threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the six with runners on first and second with one out, but Buske got Noble to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Minnesota added three important insurance runs in the top of eighth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Hanson led off the inning with a double, and came home to score on an RBI single by DeSmidt that made it 5-3. Two batters later, Kvasnicka crushed a pitch over the right center field fence to put the Golden Gophers ahead 7-3.
Northwestern loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Sexton came in to get a double play to limit the damage to only a single run to make it 7-4. Sexton retired the pinch-hitter Rob Campbell to help the Golden Gophers get out of the inning with a three-run lead.
Northwestern got runners on first and third with two outs, but Sexton retired Kalina to preserve the Golden Gopher victory.
Kalina led the way for the Wildcats going 2-for-4 with two runs. Noble went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Nate Roberts was 1-for-2 with a run and a double.
