University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Heads on Spring Trip to Texas
3/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 Minnesota will head on a nine-day, eight-game road trip to Texas from Mar. 13-21. The Golden Gophers will start the trip off against No. 11 TCU on Saturday, Mar. 14 at 2 p.m., and will also play the Horned Frogs on Sunday, Mar. 15 at 1 p.m. and Monday, Mar. 16 at 6:30 p.m. Those games were pushed back after the first day (Mar. 13) was postponed due to weather. The first two games can be heard on KLBB (1220 AM), and all three games will be broadcast on gophersports.com. The Golden Gophers will also face Texas Arlington (Mar. 17-18) and Dallas Baptist (Mar. 19-21) on the eight-game road trip. Friday’s game against TCU will be Minnesota’s first official road game of the year. The Golden Gophers opened with three neutral site matchups against Seton Hall, West Virginia and Michigan State, and have hosted the last eight games at the Metrodome. Following the trip to Texas, Minnesota will start Big Ten play at Indiana. The 11 consecutive road games will be the most for the Golden Gophers since the 2001 season.
Minnesota’s 8-3 record matches the start the by the 2007 team in the first 11 games of the season. It is only the second time since 1998 that the Golden Gophers have started this well in their first 11 games. In 1998, Minnesota jumped out to a 9-2 record on its way to finishing 45-15.
Minnesota’s trip to Texas will rekindle what used to be an annual tradition attached to the program. From 1948-1987, the Golden Gophers took an early season trip to Texas as part of its non-conference schedule. Dick Siebert started the tradition in his first year, in 1948, when the team traveled to TCU, Baylor and SMU. Siebert made the trip every year for the rest of his career at Minnesota. George Thomas also kept the tradition going during his three years as the Golden Gophers’ head coach (1979-81). John Anderson kept it going for six more years from 1982-87, before more travel options in non-conference play became available.
Junior second baseman Derek McCallum went 9-for-17 (.529) with five runs, a home run and an five RBI. McCallum collected two hits against Northern Iowa, Illinois State and Western Michigan, before tallying three hits against South Dakota State to put together his fourth straight multi-hit performance.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Minnesota TCU
Friday RHP Chauncy Handran RHP Sean Hoelscher
(2-1, 3.71 ERA) (2-0, 5.40 ERA)
Saturday RHP Tom Buske RHP Kyle Winkler
(2-0, 1.45 ERA) (0-0. 3.00 ERA)
Sunday RHP Seth Rosin RHP Tyler Lockwood
(1-0, 1.69 ERA) (1-0, 5.87 ERA)
WEEKEND STARTERS CONTINUE STRONG STRETCH
Minnesota’s weekend starters continued their strong stretch of pitching this past week. Overall, the Golden Gopher starting pitchers gave up three runs in 21.0 innings of work on the weekend. Chauncy Handran started by giving up just four hits, two runs, no walks and four strikeouts in a seven-inning outing against Illinois State. Tom Buske followed that outing up by tying a career-high eight innings, while giving up just three hits, one unearned run, a walk and six strikeouts. Seth Rosin finished the weekend by pitching six innings innings, giving up eight hits, one run, no walks and striking out four batters. Since Feb. 21, Minnesota starting pitchers have gone 5-0 with a 1.89 ERA giving up just 10 earned runs in the last 47.2 innings pitched. Heading into the TCU series, Handran is 2-1 with 3.71 ERA, Buske is 2-0 with a 1.45 ERA and Seth Rosin is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA.
Minnesota’s 8-3 record matches the start the by the 2007 team in the first 11 games of the season. It is only the second time since 1998 that the Golden Gophers have started this well in their first 11 games. In 1998, Minnesota jumped out to a 9-2 record on its way to finishing 45-15.
Minnesota’s trip to Texas will rekindle what used to be an annual tradition attached to the program. From 1948-1987, the Golden Gophers took an early season trip to Texas as part of its non-conference schedule. Dick Siebert started the tradition in his first year, in 1948, when the team traveled to TCU, Baylor and SMU. Siebert made the trip every year for the rest of his career at Minnesota. George Thomas also kept the tradition going during his three years as the Golden Gophers’ head coach (1979-81). John Anderson kept it going for six more years from 1982-87, before more travel options in non-conference play became available.
Junior second baseman Derek McCallum went 9-for-17 (.529) with five runs, a home run and an five RBI. McCallum collected two hits against Northern Iowa, Illinois State and Western Michigan, before tallying three hits against South Dakota State to put together his fourth straight multi-hit performance.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Minnesota TCU
Friday RHP Chauncy Handran RHP Sean Hoelscher
(2-1, 3.71 ERA) (2-0, 5.40 ERA)
Saturday RHP Tom Buske RHP Kyle Winkler
(2-0, 1.45 ERA) (0-0. 3.00 ERA)
Sunday RHP Seth Rosin RHP Tyler Lockwood
(1-0, 1.69 ERA) (1-0, 5.87 ERA)
WEEKEND STARTERS CONTINUE STRONG STRETCH
Minnesota’s weekend starters continued their strong stretch of pitching this past week. Overall, the Golden Gopher starting pitchers gave up three runs in 21.0 innings of work on the weekend. Chauncy Handran started by giving up just four hits, two runs, no walks and four strikeouts in a seven-inning outing against Illinois State. Tom Buske followed that outing up by tying a career-high eight innings, while giving up just three hits, one unearned run, a walk and six strikeouts. Seth Rosin finished the weekend by pitching six innings innings, giving up eight hits, one run, no walks and striking out four batters. Since Feb. 21, Minnesota starting pitchers have gone 5-0 with a 1.89 ERA giving up just 10 earned runs in the last 47.2 innings pitched. Heading into the TCU series, Handran is 2-1 with 3.71 ERA, Buske is 2-0 with a 1.45 ERA and Seth Rosin is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA.
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballRHP/OF
/ BaseballSS/2B
/ BaseballRHP
/ BaseballHighlights: Gophers 6, Omaha 4
Sunday, March 08
Highlights: Gophers 3, SDSU 2
Saturday, March 07
Highlights: Gophers 10, UNLV 0
Friday, March 06
Highlights: Gophers 6, Milwaukee 2
Wednesday, March 04