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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Defeat Illinois 13-4
5/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
After scoring three runs in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament against Indiana, the 20th-ranked Minnesota baseball team's (37-16) bats woke up in a big way as they pounded out 25 runs and 29 hits on the way to defeating Purdue (25-26) 12-3 and Illinois (34-20) 13-4 on the third day of the Big Ten
Tournament on Friday, May 22 at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.
With the pair of victories, the Golden Gophers eliminated both Illinois and Purdue, and set up a matchup on Saturday, May 23 at 2:35 p.m. (CT) against Ohio State. The winner of that game would face Indiana in the Big Ten Championship game on May 23 at 6:05 p.m. (CT), and with a victory in that contest would push it to a second championship game on Sunday, May 24 at 11:05 a.m. (CT).
"This tournament is all about starting pitching and we had a pair of great performances today from Tom (Buske) and Seth (Rosin)," said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. "I was worried after all the traveling we had done in the past two weeks and yesterday's game that our team was lacking some energy. We talked about that after yesterday's game, and I thought our team came and responded in a big way this afternoon."
Minnesota has now won two or more games in its last eight Big Ten Tournament appearances, and in 19 of John Anderson's trips to the Big Ten Tournament.
The bats weren't the only thing working for the Golden Gophers, as Minnesota's starting pitchers each pitched career-highs in innings and ate up 17 of the 18 innings in the two games for the Golden Gophers. In the first game, Golden Gopher starter Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched the first complete game of this career as he gave up seven hits, three runs, walked two and struck out four to pick up his ninth win of the season. In the second game, Minnesota starter Seth Rosin (Shoreview, Minn.) tossed a career-high eight innings, gave up six hits, four runs, walked two and struck out three. Rosin won his sixth game in a row to move to 7-1 on the season.
Offensively, Minnesota was led in the second game by sophomore Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) who was 3-for-4 with a home run, scored three runs and tied a career-high with five RBI. In the two games, Kvasnicka went 5-for-10 with two home runs and six RBI.
Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) also was 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI, and narrowly missed a third when he crushed a potential grand slam foul in the sixth inning. O'Shea finished the day 5-for-10 with two home runs and five RBI.
Golden Gophers senior Matt Nohelty (Rotschild, Wis.) also reached base four times, and was 2-for-4 with three runs and two stolen bases against Illinois. Overall, Nohelty reached base eight times, went 4-for-8, scored six runs and stole four bases. Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) also was reached base four times against Illinois, and went 1-for-2 with two runs.
AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) reached base twice, and went 1-for-4 with two runs on the day. Eight of the nine Golden Gophers collected hits on the afternoon, as Minnesota collected five home runs and eight stolen bases in the two games.
The Golden Gophers got on the board quickly with three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead. For the second straight game, Nohelty led off with a single and stole second base. Pettersen dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and the second baseman's throw sailed past first base to allow Nohelty to score to make it 1-0. Two batters later, Kvasnicka crushed his second home run of the day to right center field to put Minnesota ahead 3-0.
Illinois scored a single run in the top of the third on an RBI single by Brandon Wikoff to cut the Golden Gopher lead to 3-1. Minnesota pushed its lead to 6-1 with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, McCallum and Kvasnicka delivered back-to-back singles to make it first and second. After Illini starter Bryan Roberts recorded the second out, O'Shea crushed a three-run homer to left center field to put the Golden Gophers ahead 6-1.
Illinois cut the Minnesota lead to 6-2 on a solo home run by Willie Argo to left field in the top of the fourth. O'Shea answered quickly with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Golden Gophers back up 7-2.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Minnesota blew the game open as it sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored five runs to push its lead to 12-2. Nohelty started things with a one-out walk, and moved to second on a Pettersen single. McCallum was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kvasnicka followed with a two-run single to move the score to 9-2.
Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases. O'Shea hit a slow grounder to the third base, who threw the ball away trying to get McCallum on the force at home. Kvasnicka and McCallum both scored on the play to move the score to 11-2. Knudson followed by coming around to score on a wild pitch to make it 12-2.
Illinois scored two runs in top of the seventh on an RBI triple by Pete Cappetta and a sacrifice fly by Josh Parr to cut the lead to 12-4.Minnesota finished the scoring when Kvasnicka was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh.
Golden Gopher reliever Tim Ryan (Eagan, Minn.) pitched the only inning by a Minnesota reliever on the day, as he tossed a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.
Illinois was led by Argo who went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, while Wikoff was also 2-for-4 with an RBI. Cappetta also went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
