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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-South Dakota State Blog
3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
3:00 PM- Welcome Gopher fans! This is Director of Baseball Operations Taylor Vander Aarde and I am here to take you through the last game of the Metrodome Tournament. The story of the weekend has been the dominance of your Gopher baseball team. The offense has scored 20 runs through the first two games and Gopher pitchers have given up only 4 runs. Today's game features the first meeting between the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State and the Gophers of the 2009 season. Last year, the Jacks and Gophers played five times. Minnesota won three contests and lost two against SDSU in 2008.
Here are today's starting line-ups.
SDSU 1) Beau Hanowski LF 2) Joel Black DH 3) Billy Stitz CF 4) Tony Martin C 5) Jesse Sawyer 3B 6) John Lee RF 7) Scott Hood 2B 8) Eric Cain SS 9) Stephen Turner 1B Starting Pitcher Caleb Thielbar
Minnesota 1) Matt Nohelty DH 2) Kyle Geason 3B 3) Derek McCallum 2B 4) Michael Kvasnicka RF 5) Kyle Knudson C 6) Eric Decker CF 7) Nick O'Shea 1B 8) Sam Ryan LF 9) AJ Pettersen Starting Pitcher Seth Rosin
3:05 PM Seth Rosin delivers a first pitch fast ball high and outside for a ball.
3:09 PM- After getting the lead off man to fly out to Sam Ryan in left field and striking out the second batter, Rosin surrenders a line drive single to right center to Billy Stitz. Stitz is a threat to steal as he swiped four bags in yesterday's game against Illinois State.
3:14 PM- SDSU clean-up hitter, Tony Martin, rips a 2-2 two-out frozen rope to right centerfield which moves Stitz over to third.
3:16 PM- Rosin gets Jesse Sawyer to fly to to centerfielder Eric Decker to end the inning. SDSU 0, Minnesota 0, Bottom 1.
3:18 PM- Randolph, Minnesota native Caleb Thielbar is on the hill for SDSU. Thielbar enters the game with a 13.11 ERA in 11.2 innings.
3:22 PM- Minnesota's Kyle Geason rips a ground rule double into the left centerfield gap.Geason stands on second base with one out and Derek McCallum at the plate. SDSU 0, Minnesota 0, Bottom 1.
3:24 PM- McCallum lines a Thielbar curveball to center field for a single. Geason comes around to score on the hit. SDSU 0, Minnesota 1, Bottom 1.
3:28 PM- Thielbar escapes the inning by getting the next two Gophers to ground out. SDSU 0, Minnesota 1, Top 2.
3:38 PM- Rosin works slowly throught the second inning allowing only one baserunner. Coming into the game, Rosin has pitched 10 innings and posted a 1.80 ERA. He has also given up nine hits, struck out nine, and walked two on the year. SDSU 0, Minnesota 1, Bottom 2.
3:51 PM- Thielbar and Rosin settled in nicely during the last inning. Thielbar is using a steady diet of big breaking curveballs while Rosin is using his 90 to 91 mph fastball to set up his slider. SDSU 0, Minnesota 1, Bottom 3.
4:07 PM- The Jackrabbits strike in the top of the fourth as John Lee singles and steals second. Scott Hood singles to left which plates Lee. Eric Cain then hits a ground rule double to put runners on second and third with 1 out. SDSU 1, Minnesota 1, Top 4.
4:09 PM- Stephen Turner lays down the safety squeeze which is fielding by Rosin off the mound. Rosin then throws to Gopher catcher Knudson who tags out Scott Hood after running him back to third base. On the play, Turner tries for second and is subsequently thrown out by Knudson to complete the double play. Rosin escapes the inning with only one run. SDSU 1, Minnesota 1, Bottom 4.
4:11 PM- Batting right handed, Mike Kvasnicka lines Thielbar's first pitch into the left centerfield gap to give the Gophers a lead off double. The double is Kvasnicka's ninth in 11 games this season. SDSU 1, Minnesota 1, Bottom 4.
4:19 PM- Thielbar pitches very well to get himself out of the inning without giving up any runs. The crafty lefty continues to baffle Gopher hitters with his off-speed offerings. SDSU 1, Minnesota 1, Top 5.
4:31 PM- Matt Nohelty draws a one out walk to make it 27 consecutive games he has reached base.
4:32 PM- In Big Ten action, Illinois beats #1 LSU for the second time this weekend.
4:34 PM- After a Matt Nohlety stolen base, Derek McCallum make solid contact and rips a triple off the right centerfield portion of the baggy. McCallum is one of the first Gophers to make an adjustment to Thielbar's Jamie Moyer-like pitching style. SDSU 1, Minnesota 2, Bottom 5.
4:40 PM- The second time throught the line-up has proven a tougher go for Thielbar as the Gophers rough him up for two more runs on a Kyle Knudson triple to righth field. Thielbar is at 101 pitches after five innings but has only given up six hits. SDSU 1, Minnesota 4, Top 6.
4:50 PM- Freshman Sam Ryan hits a double down the left field line for his first career collegiate hit. SDSU 1, Minnesota 4, Top 6.
4:59 PM- Minnesota pushes across another run in the bottom of the sixth. Each team is now in their bullpens as Blaine Alberta is pitching for the Jacks and Austin Lubinsky for the Gophers. Minnesota starting pitchers threw 21 innings in the Metrodome Tournament and only gave up three earned runs. SDSU 1, Minnesota 5, Top 7.
5:13 PM- Austin Lubinsky allows three consecutive baserunners to start the top of the seventh and shows great poise as he is able to work his way out of the jam only giving up one run. It's stretch time here at the Metrodome, SDSU 2, Minnesota 5, Bottom 7.
5:16 PM- Derek McCallum continues his hot day by hitting another ball off the baggy in right field. McCallum ends up at second and is now a home run away from the cycle. SDSU 2, Minnesota 5, Bottom 7.
5:26 PM- Minnesota puts up two runs in the bottom of the seventh. After a slow start, the Gopher batters are having much better at-bats and stringing together hits. Minnesota is currently enjoying the game's momentum. SDSU 2, Minnesota 7, Top 8.
5:45 PM- Minnesota brings out Tyler Oakes for the ninth inning. The Gopher pitching staff has sprinkled 13 hits over eight plus innings of work. Minnesota looks to conclude a great weekend of baseball in which they have dominated each game. The conclusion of this game will see us end an eight game home stand and send us off to Texas to begin an eight game road trip in the Dallas area followed by the first Big Ten Conference series. The Gophers open up the Big Ten season on the road against conference favorite Indiana.
FINAL SDSU 2, Minnesota 7
Time of Game 2:46
Attenance 627.
