University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Loses to Penn State 10-8
5/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
With the Minnesota loss and an Ohio State win, the Golden Gophers lost out on a chance to clinch the Big Ten regular-season championship. Minnesota will enter the Big Ten Tournament as a No. 2 see which will give the Golden Gophers a first-round by.
Minnesota waited through a pair of rain delays on the afternoon. The first one came after the top of the first inning, and lasted approximately 30 minutes. After action resumed, the two teams sat through approximately an hour and 20 minute rain delay following the top of the fourth inning in which Minnesota scored four runs to take an 8-5 lead. Overall, the game ended about five hours after it started at 1:05 (CT).
The Golden Gophers were led offensively by junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) who was 2-for-4 with a run and three RBI. With the three RBI, McCallum now has 72 RBI on the year. McCallum is only the fifth Minnesota player to record 70 or more RBI in a single season and first since Robb Quinlan and Matt Scanlon had 84 and 78 respectively in 1999.
Senior Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI in his final career Big Ten regular-season game. Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) also reached base three times, and was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI, while Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) reached base twice, and was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) was 1-for-4 with a run.
Minnesota starter Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) took a no-decision, as he gave up five hits, five runs, walked one and struck out two batters. Buske had settled into grove after retiring five batters, but was removed after the second rain delay that last an hour and 20 minutes. Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.) gave up two hits, two runs, walked one and struck out a batter in two innings of relief.
Tim Ryan (Eagan, Minn.) took the loss as he gave up two runs in the sixth inning when Penn State took the 9-8 lead. Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) pitched three innings, gave up three hits, one run, walked two and struck out three in relief.
After a rain-delay that followed the top of the first, Penn State scored three runs in the bottom of the first to move ahead 3-0. Wes Borden led off the inning with double, and scored on an RBI single by Mike Deese to make it 1-0. Deese stole second, and moved to third on a double by Wine. Jordan Steranka plated Deese with an RBI ground out, and wine eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.
Minnesota responded with four runs in the top of the second inning to take a 4-3 lead against Penn State. Knudson led off the inning with a single, moved to second when O'Shea was hit by a pitch and Decker singled through the left side to load the bases with no outs.
Penn State starter Scott Kelley struck out the next two batters, and got Nohelty to hit a pop out to the shortstop. The pop out was misjudged by Nittany Lions shortstop Wes Borden and dropped allowing Knudson and O'Shea to score on a two-run single to make it 3-2. After Pettersen was hit by a pitch, McCallum delivered a two-run single to plate Decker and Nohelty to give the Golden Gophers a 4-3 lead.
The Nittany Lions responded with two runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-4 lead. Ben Heath doubled home Rick Marlin to tie the game at 4-4, and Bobby Jacobs plated Heath on an RBI single before getting thrown out at second for the first out of the inning. Buske struck out the next two hitters to get out of the inning.
In the top of the fourth, the Golden Gophers answered with four runs to take an 8-5 lead. Geason led off with a walk, and moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run single by Nohelty. Pettersen plated Geason with an RBI single to tie the game at 5-5. McCallum followed with an RBI single to bring home Nohelty to give Minnesota a 6-5 lead, and Pettersen and McCallum moved up on a throwing error by the Nittany Lion leftfielder. Kvasnicka drove in Pettersen with an RBI single, and McCallum scored on an RBI ground out by Knudson to make it 8-5.
Penn State scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Cory Wine to cut the Minnesota lead to 8-6.
The Nittany Lions pushed three across the plate in the bottom of sixth to take a 9-8 lead. Heath delivered an RBI single to cut the lead to 8-7, and Jacobs followed with a two-run double to left field to put Penn State up 9-8. Penn State loaded the bases with one out in the inning, but Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) got Wine to line into a double play to get out of the inning.
Penn State scored a single run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Heath to make it 10-8.
Minnesota had eight hits and eight runs off Penn State starter Scott Kelley in three innings to take an 8-5 lead. However, Nittany Lion relievers Calvin Grumley, Ryan Ignas and David Lutz combined to shut out the Golden Gophers over the final six innings.
Ignas picked up the win to move to 5-1, as he pitched 2.1 shutout innings, gave up one hit and struck out a batter. Lutz pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, gave up one hit and struck out three batters to record his third save of the season.
Penn State was led offensively by Heath who was 2-for-3 with two runs, a double and three RBI, while Jacobs was 3-for-4 with three RBI
