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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota-Baylor NCAA Blog
5/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Taylor Vander Aarde will be your blog host. Please email questions and comments to gopherbaseballblog@yahoo.com. Fan remarks will be posted and discussed throughout tonight's game.
Here are the starting line-ups.
Baylor 1) Dustin Dickerson DH 2) Joey Hainsfurther 2B 3) Shaver Hansen SS 4) Aaron Miller RF 5) Dan Evatt 1B 6) Ben Booker LF 7) Don Lambert CF 8) Gregg Glime C 9) Raynor Campbell 3B SP) Willie Kempf
Minnesota 1) Matt Nohelty DH 2) AJ Pettersen SS 3) Derek McCallum 2B 4) Mike Kvasnicka RF 5) Kyle Knudson C 6) Nick O'Shea 1B 7) Eric Decker CF 8) Justin Gominsky LF 9) Kyle Geason 3B SP) Tom Buske
6:04 PM - Tom Buske delivers the first pitch for a strike.
6:06 PM - Tom Buske is coming off a complete game against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament. Buske's outing, which was also a career long, kept the Gophers alive in the elimination game against the Boilers. In that start, Buske surrendered seven hits, three runs while striking out four. Baylor 0, Minnesota 0, Top 1.
6:09 PM - Buske is making his second career start in the NCAA tournament. Buske also started the opener of the 2007 NCAA Regional against eventual College World Series participant, Cal State Fullerton. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 1.
6:20 PM - Minnesota and Baylor had four common opponents during the 2009 season. They were TCU, Dallas Bapstist, Missouri, and UT-Arlington. Baylor went 2-0 against TCU, 1-1 against UT-Arlington, 2-1 against Missouri, and 0-1 against Dallas Baptist. Minnesota went 2-1 against TCU, 0-2 against UT-Arlington, 1-1 against Missouri, and 3-0 against Dallas Baptist. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 2.
6:38 PM - Baylor is making its 15th NCAA tournament appearance. They have made 10 regionals in the past 12 seasons. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 3.
Hey Taylor, Herb Matyas here, Scott's Dad. Good luck tonight to the Gophers! We are rooting hard in Milwaukee, WI.
I wanted to comment that the efforts of Kyle Knudson behind the plate this season seem to be underdocumented. The way that he has been a true journeyman back behind the plate is commendable. Catching two games two days in a row in Columbus with pretty hot weather was no easy feet. Just the way he has handled the pitching staff this year has been key to the turn around from last year. Not to mention his outstanding gunning down of base stealers. All this and some big hits at the plate to boot! Kudos to Kyle.
Jeannie from Minneapolis asks: How many Gopher and Baylor fans are there? I wish I could be there! I guess I'll just have to scream at my computer monitor! Hi Jeannie, there are probably about 100 Gopher fans here and approximately 200 Baylor fans. However, it is tough to tell because every team in this has gold as one of their colors so there is a lot of gold in the stands! 6:49 PM - Minnesota and Baylor have played each other three times in John Anderson's tenure. Once in 1986 and twice in the Waco, TX regional in 1999. Coach Anderson has yet to beat the Bears. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Bottom 3. 6:51 PM - Tom Buske became Minnesota's first nine-game winner since 2004 when Glen Perkins accomplished the feat. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 4. 6:55 PM - The Golden Gophers have the most NCAA Regional appearances in the Big Ten, and are 13th in the nation among Division I programs in all-time NCAA Regional appearances. Minnesota's 29 regional appearances are eight more than Michigan's 21, which is second in the Big Ten. The Gophers trail only Texas (53), Arizona State (47), Miami (38), Oklahoma State (37), USC (36), Clemson (34), Arizona (32), Cal State Fullerton (31), Fresno State (31), Oklahoma (31), and St. John's (30) in NCAA Regional appearances. Between the four teams here this weekend, there are 77 NCAA regional appearancs (Minnesota-29, LSU-23, Baylor-15, Southern-10). 6:58 PM - Minnesota enters the NCAA tournament ranked 21 in the country. Baylor was ranked as high as sixth earlier in the season but are currently unranked after a late season slide. Minnesota has spent a total of eight weeks in the national polls. Baylor was ranked for eleven weeks. Baylor 2 ,Minnesota 0, Bottom 4. 7:02 PM - Baylor enters the weekend after going 2 - 1 in the Big 12 Tournament. Baylor had quality wins against #5 Texas and Kansas. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 5. 7:05 PM - This is the second time Minnesota has travelled to Baton Rouge for the NCAA tournament. In 2001, Minnesota was the fourth seed in a regional that included LSU, VCU, and California. Minnesota went 0-2 after a 10-8 loss to LSU and a 9-3 loss to California. Baylor, Minnesota 0, Top 5. 7:08 PM - Minnesota last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2007 when they travelled to San Diego. Minnesota lost to Cal State Fullerton in the first game, beat national number four seed University of San Diego, and then lost an elimination game to Fresno State. In that Regional, Minnesota faced Fullerton's Wes Roemer who was drafted in the supplemental first round by the Diamondbacks, USD's Brian Matusz who was the number four overall pick by the Orioles last year, and Tanner Scheppers who is currently pitching for the St. Paul Saints and is a likely Top 10 overall pick this spring. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 5. 7:13 PM - Tom Buske has settled down very well after surrendering three hits and two runs in the first. Buske has only given up one hit since the first inning. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Bottom 5. 7:16 PM - Minnesota hit 51 homeruns this year which is the most by a Golden Gopher team since 2001 when they hit 58. The Golden Gophers have been paced all year by second basemen Derek McCallum. McCallum has 17 roundtrippers. Nick O'Shea is second on the team with 10 and Mike Kvasnicka has nine homers. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 6. 7:18 PM - In today's first game, LSU trailed Southern by a score of 2 - 0 through six innings. The Tigers ended up scoring 10 unanswered runs to beat the Jaguars by eight. Let's hope the mighty Gophers can do the same to Baylor. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 6. 7:21 PM - The team and staff has enjoyed great Southern hospitality this week. The LSU fans are very devout in their support of the Tigers but they are also big college baseball fans. As the team has been out and about in Baton Rouge, many people from the community have called us "Tiger bait" and then wished us lot. It has been an atmosphere filled with excitement all year. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 6. 7:24 PM - Tom Buske cruises through the sixth inning as he retires the Bears 1-2-3. Buske is now just over 100 pitches on the night. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Bottom 2. 7:26 PM - Derek McCallum has a chance to break Robb Quinlan's single season RBI mark of 84 set in 1999. McCallum enters the weekend with 79 runs batted in. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Bottom 6. 7:32 PM - Baylor is 6-10 against ranked opponents in 2009. Minnesota is 5-2. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 7. 7:37 PM - Minnesota has 24 underclassmen on their 33-man roster. Baylor, on the other hand, has 12 freshman and sophomore's on their 25 man roster. Baylor 2, Minnesota 0, Top 7. 7:40 PM - The reason Baylor has only 25 guys on their team is that they are an expensive private school. They are the only private school in the Big 12 conference. Baylor is forced to have less players because their scholarship money doesn't go as far when the initial cost of the school is extremely high. The NCAA only allows 11.7 scholarships per program so an expensive private school is forced to give their players more aid to cover the higher price of tuition. Some expensive private institutions do not even have a full allotment of 11.7 scholarships. Baylor 3, Minnesota 0, Top 7. 7:46 PM - Baylor has played 12 teams in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Those teams are Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Rice, Sam Houston State, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, and UC-Irvine. Minnesota faced four teams in the NCAA field. Those teams are TCU, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio State. Minnesota went 9-7 against those teams. Baylor 3, Minnesota 0, Top 7. 7:55 PM - Buske enters the top of the eighth inning at 117 pitches. Baylor 3, Minnesota 0, Top 8. 7:57 PM - This game is sailing along very quickly. The quickest game Minnesota has played this year was on April 10 against Northwestern at the Metrodome. The length of the game was 2:03. Baylor 3, Minnesota 0, Top 8. 8:08 PM - Minnesota and Baylor have played a very crisp game so far. There have been only a few walks and zero errors. Baylor has hit just a little better than the Gophers and this why they are winning. Baylor 3, Minnesota 0, Top 8. 8:10 PM - As Baylor pushes their lead to five, all hope is not lost for Gopher fans. Minnesota came back from a five run deficit against Dallas Baptist on the spring trip to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, Bottom 8. 8:17 PM - A special blog hello to former Director of Gopher Baseball Operations, Scott Howard. Howard was a tremendous player from 1999-2002. Howard is in the Gopher record books in as he is eighth in career Big Ten at-bats (364), ninth in Big Ten hits (122), and seventh in Big Ten runs scored (88). Howard served as the Gophs D-Ops from 2005-07. "Howie" is back in the Twin Cities cheering on the team and following the blog closely. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, Bottom 8. 8:23 PM - Baylor has looked very good tonight. This year has been a disappointment for their program as their group of juniors was ranked the nation's number one recruiting class three years ago. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, Top 9. Big Ten Scoreboard #3 Ohio State 8 vs. #2 Georgia 24 in Tallahassee, FL. FINAL #1 Louisville 5 vs. #4 Indiana 2 in Louisville, KY. Bottom 8. 8:30 PM - Baylor's left-handed hitting has been tough on the Gophers tonight. The Bears have seven lefties and four switch hitters on the roster. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, Top 9. 8:37 PM - Minnesota is trying to avoid being shut out for the first time in 2009. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, Bottom 9. 8:38 PM - Minnesota will play tomorrow at 1 pm versus Southern University. Baylor 5, Minnesota 0, FINAL.
