University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Indiana in Championship
5/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The 20th-ranked Minnesota baseball team (38-17) dropped a 13-2 decision to Indiana (32-25) in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game on Saturday, May 23 at Huntington Park.
Minnesota finished the tournament 3-2 as it eliminated Purdue, Illinois and Ohio State after losing its first game of the tournament. The Golden Gophers have now advanced to the championship game in their last eight Big Ten Tournament appearances (2001-07, 09).
The Golden Gophers will wait to find out further details regarding the postseason during the NCAA Selection Show which will be televised live on the ESPN on Monday, May 25 at 11:30 a.m. (CT).
The Golden Gophers had four players named to the Big Ten Tournament All-Tournament team, as senior pitcher Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.), redshirt freshman first baseman Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.), junior second baseman Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) and junior outfielder Eric Decker (Cold Spring, Minn.) each claimed the honors.
Decker led the Golden Gophers in batting average in the tournament, as he was 9-for-20 (.450), with a home run, four runs, two stolen bases and five RBI. McCallum went 7-for-16 (.438) with six runs, two home runs, seven RBI and reached base in 14 of his 23 plate appearances in the tournament.
O'Shea was 9-for-21 (.429) with two home runs, seven RBI and four runs, while Tom Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched his first complete game of the season, giving up seven hits, three runs, two walks and four strikeouts in the win against Purdue.
Matt Nohelty went 7-for-22 (.318), scored eight runs, walked five times and collected a Big Ten Tournament record five stolen bases. Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) went 8-for-23 (.348) with six runs, two home runs and a team-high eight RBI in the tournament.
“I was really impressed by what our team did over the course of the last two days,” said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. “After losing to a quality pitcher in the first game, our team did a great job of battling and getting to the championship game. I thought we showed a lot of resiliency and I was very impressed with the effort, especially considering we only has two position players who had played in the Big Ten Tournament prior to the start of the tournament. I really liked what I saw out of our team, and I am looking forward to preparing to compete next week in the NCAA Tournament. I also want to congratulate Indiana on winning the Big Ten Tournament. They played great over the last four days."
In the Indiana game, the Golden Gophers were led by AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while McCallum reached base twice and was 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) reached base both times, and was 1-for-1 with a run.
Minnesota starter Austin Lubinsky (LaCrosse, Wis.) started after pitching in Thursday's game against Indiana and took his first career loss to fall to 3-1, as he gave up eight hits, four earned runs, one walk and struck out a batter. Allen Bechstein (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched 2.2 innings, gave up five hits, one run and walked a batter.
Indiana pitcher Matt Igel picked up the win to move to 2-1, as he went five innings, gave up four hits, two runs, walked five and struck out one in his first career start. Chris Squires picked up his eighth save of the year, as he went four shutout innings, gave up two hits, walked two and struck out four.
The Golden Gophers were hurt by hitting into four double plays and committing four errors after playing four games in a span of about 34 hours.
Minnesota tried to continue the offensive momentum it had built in the previous three games when Nohelty drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first, but Indiana turned a double play and after walking McCallum got the next batter to pop up to end the inning.
The Hoosiers got on the board first with two runs in the top of the second inning. With runners on first and second with one out, Minnesota committed its first error of the night to load the bases. Indiana took advantage on a sacrifice fly by Jake Dunning to make it 1-0, and Chris Hervey delivered a two-out RBI single to plate Brian Lambert. Tyler Rogers was thrown out at the plate to end the inning on when McCallum took a relay throw from Kvasnicka and fired it home.
Indiana pushed its lead to 3-0 on a solo home run by Jerrud Sabourin in the top of the third.
Minnesota answered with a McCallum solo home run to center field in the bottom of the third to cut the Hoosier lead to 3-1. McCallum's home run was his 17th of the season, tying him with Mark Groebner (1998) for fourth on the Golden Gopher single-season list.
The Hoosiers opened up their lead to 7-1 with a four-run top of the fourth. With runners on first and second, Dunning dropped a bunt down that was thrown away allowing Rogers and Lambert to score to make it 5-1. Dunning moved to third on the error, and eventually came home to score on an RBI single by Hervey to make it 6-1. Indiana scored its seventh run on a sacrifice fly by Josh Phegley.
Minnesota cut the lead to 7-2 with a single run in the bottom of the fifth. Gominsky led off with a single, and Sam Ryan (Lake Elmo, Minn.) drew a walk in a pinch-hit appearance to make it first and second. The Hoosiers induced a double play, as Gominsky moved to third base. Pettersen dropped down a perfect push bunt that he beat out for a single allowing Gominsky to score to make it 7-2.
Indiana widened the gap to 11-2 with four runs in the top of the seventh, which was highlighted by a two-run single by Hervey.The Hoosiers finished the scoring with a Kipp Schutz two-run double that pushed their lead to 13-2 in the top of the eighth.
Indiana was led by Hervey who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run, while Dunning went 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Schutz was also 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI, while Sabourin went 2-for-6 with a home run.
