University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota - Southern NCAA Blog
5/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota (38-18) faces Southern University (30-16) from Baton Rouge, LA in the second game of the 2009 NCAA Regional. Yesterday, Minnesota lost to Baylor 5-0 and Southern was beat by LSU 10-2. The loser of today's game will be eliminated from play and the winner will go on to play tomorrow at 1 pm versus the loser of tonight's LSU-Baylor matchup.
Taylor Vander Aarde will be your blog host once again. As always, your comments and questions are encouraged. Please email them to gopherbaseballblog@yahoo.com and they will be posted on the blog.
Here are your starting line-ups for today's game.
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) Seth Rosin
Southern 1) Ozzie Lamis 2B 2) Victor Franklin 1B 3) James Armstrong LF 4) Brad McDavid RF 5) Edmond Morton DH 6) Michael Thomas C 7) Gregory Whitfield 3B 8) Jesse Oliver SS 9) Toddrick Stevenson CF SP) Jarrett Maloy
1:04 PM - Southern's Jarrett Maloy delivers the first pitch of the game for a ball.
1:10 PM - Southern head coach Roger Cador showed a great personality during the head coach speeches at the banquet as he had the crowd laughing throughout his talk. Cador is an excellent coach. This is his 25th year at the helm of the Jaguar baseball program. He holds a 743-399-1 record and has been the the NCAA tournament 13 times. Minnesota 1, Southern 0, Top 1.
1:15 PM - Southern boasts four current major league players as alumni of the program. Rickie Weeks as the second overall pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2003. Fred Lewis played with the Jaguars in 2002 and is now with the San Francisco Giants. Coco Crisp and Dewon Day also played for Southern. Minnesota 2, Southern 0, Top 1.
1:23 PM - Southern hails from the Southwest Athletic Conference or the SWAC as it is more commonly referred to. Teams in the SWAC include Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, and Texas Southern. The Jaguars have 26 SWAC championships including this year. Minnesota 3, Southern 0, Bottom 1.
1:25 PM - Minnesota's Seth Rosin looks good early on. He has used mostly fastballs so far and has shown command of each pitch. Minnesota 3, Southern 0, Bottom 1.
1:28 PM - The crowd is much smaller for this game then it was for last night's contest against Baylor. About 3,200 college baseball fans were here yesterday for our game and approximately 9,300 attended the LSU-Southern matchup. Today, there is about 1,000 fans here. Minnesota 3, Southern 0, Top 2.
1:32 PM - Derek McCallum enters the game with a .401 batting average. McCallum has a chance to become the first Gopher to hit .400 since Sam Steidl hit .401 as a freshman in 2001. Southern 4, Minnesota 0, Top 2.
Mike from New York City asks:
Is Chauncy hurt or has he been pushed back to start Game 3? I know his last three starts he was hit hard but he has been the #1 starter.
Hi Mike, thanks for the question. Chauncy is not hurt and is in line to start tomorrow's game. The senior righty from Scobey, Montana will be ready to go if Minnesota wins. The winner of this game will face the loser of tonight's LSU-Baylor game at 1 pm.
1:42 PM - The crowd has filled in a little bit and most of these fans are cheering loudly for the Jaguars. Southern University is located in Baton Rouge. Minnesota 4, Southern 1, Bottom 2.
1:46 PM - Toddrick Stevenson is now among the best names we have seen this year. Toddrick joins this distinguished list of players because he has two first names which combine to form one name. Other quality names Minnesota has seen this year are Joe Bonadonna and Mike Stankiewicz from Illinois and Shaver Hansen from Baylor. Minnesota 4, Southern 2, Top 3.
1:58 PM - Southern has had two batters hit by pitches so far. Each time it happens, their dug out chants with each step until their guy reaches first and then they cheer. It reminds me of a college basketball game when student sections yell "right-left-right-left" with each step an opponent takes when they head to the bench after fouling out. It's a good cheer. Southern's dug out has been much more lively then Minnesota's. They bring a lot of energy to the game. Minnesota 4, Southern 2, Bottom 3.
2:02 PM - Coach Anderson makes his first mound visit of the game. Pitching coach Todd Oakes is back in Minnesota for his son's graduation which puts the Golden Gopher head coach in charge of the pitchers today. I know senior Tom Buske is keeping TO's charts and I was personally hoping Coach Anderson would send Buske out of the dug out to calm Rosin down. Minnesota 4, Southern 3, Bottom 3.
Big Ten Scoreboard
#3 Ohio State 6 vs. #4 Marist 2, FINAL in Tallahassee, FL Regional
#4 Indiana 0 vs. #3 Vanderbilt 0, Top 1 in Louisville, KY Regional
2:12 PM - Southern's Jarrett Maloy pitched 15.1 innings and threw 215 pitches in the SWAC tournament last weekend. Maloy has been the Jaguars best pitcher all year as he came into the game with an 8-2 record and a 3.14 ERA. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Top 4.
2:23 PM - Since April 19, Minnesota has been playing some great baseball. During that time, they are 16-6. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Top 5.
2:29 PM - Minnesota and Southern both have four players that were on the team when the Gophers squared off against the Jaguars in 2006. Then freshmen, Tom Buske, Matt Nohelty, Jon Hummel, and Tyler Oakes are those four athletes. Oakes started on the mound, Nohelty started in left field, and Buske came in as a relief pitcher. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Bottom 5.
2:35 PM - Next up for head coach John Anderson on the career wins list is Steve Kittrell of South Alabama. Kittrell has coached at either Spring Hill or South Alabama since 1983. Kittrell currently has 1,022 career victories. Coach Anderson is currently has the 39th most career victories in NCAA history at 1,004. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Bottom 5.
2:40 PM - John Anderson is also 20th all-time for career victories at one school. James Wilson, Temple head coach from 1960-2005, is 19th with 1,034 wins. Anderson is fifth among active coaches in victories at one school. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Top 6.
Big Ten Scoreboard
#3 Ohio State 6 vs. #4 Marist 4, FINAL Tallahassee, FL Regional
#3 Vanderbilt 2 vs. #4 Indiana 0, Bottom 2. Louisville, KY Regional
2:55 PM - Blog fun fact for the day. In 1985, Pete Incavalia of Oklahoma State belts 48 homeruns and drives in 143 RBI's. Both totals are NCAA single season records. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Top 7.
3:00 PM - Minnesota's Seth Rosin has not lost since March 16. Since then, he has won six straight decisions. Minnesota 5, Southern 3, Top 7.
3:02 PM - Minnesota has had some hot hitters in May. Coming into the NCAA tournament, Derek McCallum was hitting .431 this month while Eric Decker and Nick O'Shea were at .414 and .388, respectively. Minnesota 6, Southern 3, Top 7.
3:05 PM - Justin Gominsky is only a homerun short of the cycle. The last Gopher to hit for the cycle was Rob LaRue in 2002. Minnesota 8, Southern 3, Top 7.
3:18 PM - Minnesota is 28 - 1 when leading after six innings and 31 - 0 when leading after seven innings in 2009. Minnesota 8, Southern 3, Top 7.
Big Ten Scoreboard
#3 Ohio State 6 vs. #4 Marist 4, FINAL in Tallahassee, FL Regional
#4 Indiana 0 vs. #3 Vanderbilt 3, Top 5 in Louisville, KY Regional
3:28 PM - This LSU crowd has really thrown its support behind Southern. The crowd was on its feet after Morton's double and is now chanting "Let's go Jaguars!". Minnesota 8, Southern 8. Bottom 7.
3:50 PM - It's good to see Kyle Knudson picking up that huge go-ahead RBI single. Knudson had been mired in a 4 for 24 slump entering the game. Minnesota 9, Southern 8, Bottom 8.
3:57 PM - Scott Matyas enters the game. Matyas has 14 saves on the year and is leading the team with a 2.49 ERA. Matyas has struck out 40 batters in 25.1 innings and his 14 saves are a school record. Minnesota 9, Southern 8, Bottom 8.
4:03 PM - Minnesota's John Anderson has been holding off using freshman Austin Lubinsky out of the bullpen possibly to save him for Game 2 tomorrow if necessary. Minnesota 9, Southern 8, Top 9.
Big Ten Scoreboard
#3 Ohio State 6 vs. #4 Marist 4, FINAL in Tallahassee, FL Regional
#4 Indiana 0 vs. #3 Vanderbilt 9, Top 7 in Louisville, KY Regional
4:11 PM - Matt Nohelty steals second base. Nohelty now has 92 for his career which is one away from Charlie Nelson's school record. Minnesota 11, Southern 8, Top 9.
4:15 PM - Nohelty's run is the 65th of the year for him. Nohelty is now tied with Jack Hannahan for the ninth most runs scored in a season. Minnesota 11, Southern 8, Top 9.
4:20 PM - The Gophers 18 hits are the most since they put up 22 against Iowa on May 2 and the fourth highest total of the year. Minnesota 11, Southern 8, Bottom 9.
4:25 PM - Matyas collects his 15th save of the year as Minnesota wins! Minnesota will play the loser of Baylor/LSU at 1 pm tomorrow. Minnesota 11, Southern 8, FINAL.
