University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Begins Big East/Big Ten Challenge
2/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota will spend a second straight week in Florida, as it heads to the second annual Big East/Big Ten Challenge.
The Golden Gophers will face St. John’s on Friday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. (CT), Connecticut on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 12 p.m. (CT) and Louisville on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 9 a.m. (CT). All three games can be heard live in the Gold Zone. Friday’s game against St. John’s will be streamed live on the CollegeBaseball360.com.
Minnesota’s matchup against St. John’s will be played in Dunedin, Fla. at Dunedin Stadium. The Golden Gophers game on Saturday against Connecticut will be at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla. Minnesota will wrap up its action at the Big East/Big Ten Challenge against No. 13 Louisville at the Naimoli Complex in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Golden Gophers went 2-1 in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in 2009. Minnesota defeated West Virginia and Michigan State, and lost to Seton Hall. In the first year of the Big East/Big Ten Challenge, the Big Ten took 15 of the 24 games between the teams.
Minnesota went 2-1 last week against Akron in Fort Myers, and gave up just four runs in the series. The four runs were the lowest total in school history in the first three games of the year against collegiate competition (Minnesota had three straight shutouts to begin the season in 1904 against non-college opponents).
Sophomore Nick O'Shea went 5-for-12 with two RBI and a double, while junior Michael Kvasnicka had two home runs including a walk-off homer to win the series finale. O'Shea carries a 17-game hitting streak that dates back to 2009 into the week. Minnesota batted .283 as a team and had 1.33 ERA in the first series of the season.
The Red Storm enter the Big East/Big Ten Challenge with a 3-0 record after sweeping New Orleans by scores of 9-3, 5-2 and 31-6. In the final game of the series, St. John’s set a new school record for runs in a game. The Red Storm enters the week batting .359 in its first three games. Paul Karmas collected three home runs, 10 RBI and five runs in the first three games, while Greg Hopkins batted .444 with six runs and 10 RBI. Jimmy Parque is also batting .500 with six runs and six RBI. Pitching wise, St. John’s is led by Bruce Kern who picked up a win against New Orleans in the season opener and pitched five perfect innings with eight strikeouts.
The Huskies will be playing their first game of the season on Friday, Feb. 26 against Northwestern. Connecticut is coming off a season where it went 36-24 overall and finished sixth in the Big East at 14-13. The Huskies are led by George Springer, who batted .358 with 75 runs, 16 home runs and 57 RBI as a freshman in 2009. Mike Nemeth also batted .346 with 35 runs, six home runs and 47 RBI last season. Pitching wise, Connecticut returns Elliot Glynn who was 5-4 with a 4.76 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 73.2 innings. Reliever Scott Oberg also went 4-0 with a save and 1.78 ERA in 30.1 innings of work.
The Cardinals enter the Big East/Big Ten Challenge with a 4-0 overall record, and are ranked No. 13 in this week’s Baseball America Top 25. Louisville swept Bowling Green to open the season by scores of 13-1, 5-2 and 8-7. The Cardinals also defeated Morehead State 7-2 in a midweek game on Feb. 23. Louisville is led by Ryan Wright who is batting .375 with six runs, one home run and seven RBI. Adam Duvall has also scored eight runs, has one home run and three RBI. Pitching wise, the Cardinals are led by Thomas Royse who pitched five innings, gave up one unearned run and struck out five to win his first start.
Baseball America picked Louisville to win the Big East, Connecticut to finish third and St. John's to finish fourth. It also had the Cardinals, Huskies and South Florida as the three teams tabbed to make the NCAA Tournament from the Big East.
