University of Minnesota Athletics
Maroon Wins 6-5 in Extra Innings
9/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Maroon Team jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third annual Gopher Fall Baseball Steak ‘N Beans series with a thrilling 6-5 win in 11 innings on Family Day on Saturday September 26.
Maroon got on the board first with a single run in the top of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) drew a one-out walk and came home to score on an RBI double by redshirt freshman Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) to make it 1-0.
In the fourth inning, the Maroon team added to their lead with a single run in the top of the fourth to make it 2-0. JT Canakes (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led off the inning with a walk, and moved to second on a single by Brooks Albrecht (Hutchinson, Minn.) to make it first and second. Redshirt freshman Kurt Schlangen (Albany, Minn.) moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Canakes came home to score on an error by the shortstop to give the Maroon team a two-run lead.
The Gold team cut the lead to 2-1 with a single run in the fifth inning. Freshman Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) led off with a bunt single, and moved up to third on a pair of wild pitches. Henkemeyer came home to score on a sacrifice fly by freshman Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) to make it a one-run game.
In the sixth inning, the Gold team tied the score at 2-2 with a single run. Redshirt freshman Troy Larson (Maplewood, Minn.) led off with a single and stole second. Larson moved to third on a fly ball to right field by Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.), and came home to score on a sacrifice fly by Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.).
The Maroon team jumped back ahead 4-2 with a pair of runs in the seventh inning. Pettersen led off with a walk, and moved to third on Puhl's second double of the afternoon. Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) drew a walk to load the bases. Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) plated Pettersen with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2, and Drew Hanish (McKinney, Texas) pushed it to 4-2 on a sacrifice fly that plated Puhl.
Maroon kept the 4-2 lead until the 10th inning when Gold tied it at 4-4 with a pair of runs. Dan Olinger (Great Falls, Mont.) got things started when he hit a sinking liner past a diving a Canakes in left field and legged it out for a triple. Geason plated Olinger with an RBI single to make it 4-3. Kvasnicka plated Geason with an RBI double to tie the game at 4-4.
In the 11th inning, the Maroon team came back with two runs to move ahead 6-4. Albrecht and Canakes led off the inning with consecutive singles. After Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) retired the next two batters, Pettersen delivered an RBI single to plate Albrecht to make it 5-4. Canakes moved to third on the single, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-4.
The Gold Team mounted a rally in the bottom of the 11th when Henkemeyer and Ethan Liederman (New York, NY) each had singles. David Bettenburg (St. Paul, Minn.) followed with an RBI ground out to cut the lead to 6-5. Tim Ryan (Eagan, Minn.) was able to get a pair of ground outs to end the game and preserve the victory for the Maroon Squad.
Geason, Kvasnicka and Henkemeyer led the Gold with two hits apiece. Kvasnicka also had two RBI.
The Maroon team was led by Brooks Albrecht with three hits and Canakes, Puhl and Schlangen who each had two. Puhl also stroked two doubles in the game.
Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.), Soule and Allen Bechstein (Apple Valley, Minn.) pitched a total of six shutout innings for the Gold.
Scott Fern (Eau Claire, Minn.), Kevin Kray (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Alex Tukey (San Diego, Calif.) threw a total of 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball for the Maroon.
NOTES: The Family Day Intrasquad Game started off the Steak 'N Bean Series, after the first game was rained out on Sept. 25. ... The rainout made the Family Day Game a schedule 11-inning game to get the pitchers work ... On Friday, Oct. 2, the second game was rained out ... The second game will played on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m.
The following is a listing of the rosters for the respective teams:
Maroon Team
Position Players - Kurt Schlangen, Nick O'Shea, Trip Schultz, Matt Puhl, Drew Hanish, AJ Pettersen, Ryan Abrahamson, Brooks Albrecht,
Justin Gominsky, JT Canakes
Pitchers - Phil Isaksson, Scott Fern, Cullen Sexton, Austin Lubinsky, Kevin Kray, Alex Tukey, Seth Rosin (Not Pitching), Tim Ryan- Swingman
Gold Team
Position Players - Michael Kvasnicka, Kyle Knudson, Sam Ryan (injured), Troy Larson, Dan Olinger, Kyle Geason, David Bettenburg, Ethan Liederman, Andy Henkemeyer, Billy Soule
Pitchers - Luke Rasmussen, Allen Bechstein, Scott Matyas, TJ Oakes, Kyle O’Shea, Billy Soule, Dustin Klabunde (Not Pitching), Tim Ryan- Swingman
