University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Defeats North Dakota State 6-5
5/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (31-13) won for the ninth time in 10 games as it defeated North Dakota State (12-25) 6-5 in a midweek contest at Siebert Field on Tuesday, May 5.
Minnesota was led by redshirt freshman Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.), who was making his first start of the year behind the plate, as he went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs and an RBI. The home run was O'Shea's eighth of the season, giving him the most home runs by a freshman since Mike Mee hit eight in 2004.
Junior Eric Decker (Cold Spring, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Sophomore Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) was also 2-for-4 with a home run, a run and an RBI. Junior Derek McCallum (Shoreview, Minn.) finished 1-for-4 and belted the go-ahead home run for the Golden Gophers.
Senior Matt Nohelty (Rothschild, Wis.) reached base twice, and was 1-for-3 with a run and a stolen base. Kyle Geason also knocked in a run and went 1-for-4 on the night.
Tim Ryan pitched 1.1 shutout innings, as he picked up his first career win to move to 1-1. Ryan has not given up an earned run in his past five outings, which has spanned 6.1 innings.
Golden Gopher sophomore Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) retired the final two batters to pick up his 10th save of the year. Matyas joins Josh Oslin (11 saves in 2007) as the only Golden Gopher pitcher to record a double-figure save total in a single-season. Sophomore Scott Fern (Eau Claire, Wis.) also pitched two shutout innings, while Golden Gopher starter Phil Isaksson (Eau Claire, Wis.) gave up five hits, one run, walked one and struck out a batter.
North Dakota State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Luke Otto led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on an infield single. Michael Riewer brought home Otto with an RBI single to put the Bison ahead 1-0.
Minnesota tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Nohelty led off with an infield single, moved to third on a double and scored on a balk by Bison starter Alex Chaput.
North Dakota State took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third on a solo home run by Zach Wentz.
The Golden Gophers took their first lead of the game at 3-2 when they scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. O'Shea led off the inning with a single up the middle, and scored on a one-out triple by Decker to tie the game at 2-2. Geason followed with an infield RBI single to put Minnesota ahead 3-2.
Minnesota added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a pair of homers by Kvasnicka and O'Shea to put the Golden Gophers ahead 5-2.
The Bison got three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5. With one out, Otto drew a walk and Justin Kline singled to make it first and second. Both runners moved up on a ground out by pinch-hitter Zach Heidman.
Michael Riewer drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Otto to make it 5-3. Ryan entered the game in relief and got Kyle Harrison to hit a grounder to the shortstop, however the runner going from second to third shielded fielder until the last minute to help force an error. Kline and Heidman both scored to tie the game at 5-5. On the next play, Harrison took off for second on an attempted steal and drew the throw. McCallum got the throw and delivered it back to the plate to gun down Riewer trying to steal home.
In the the bottom of the seventh, McCallum delivered a solo home run off Bison reliever Mark Ries to give Minnesota a 6-5 lead it would hold onto for the remainder of the game.
Ries took the loss to fall to 1-5, as he gave up one hit and one run in his inning of relief. North Dakota State starter Alex chaput gave up three hits, one run, walked two and struck out three in two innings of work.
The Bison were led by Otto who reached base three times, and was 1-for-2 with two runs on the night. Riewer was also 1-for-3 with two RBI, while Andrew Stitt was 3-for-4. wentz was also 1-for-5 with a home run.
Minnesota will be back in action on Friday, May 8 at 5:35 p.m. (CT) when it travels to Ann Arbor to face Michigan. The Golden Gophers will also face the Wolverines on Saturday, May 9 at 12:05 p.m. (CT) and Sunday, May 10 at 12:05 p.m. (CT). All three games can be heard on KLBB (1220 AM) and gophersports.com.
