University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Cal State Fullerton
6/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (32-29) dropped a 7-2 decision to No. 7 Cal State Fullerton (44-16) at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif. on Sunday, June 6.
Earlier in the day, the Titans defeated New Mexico 11-3 to advance to the championship game to face the Gophers. The Cal State Fullerton victory over Minnesota on Sunday sets up a final championship game, which will take place on Monday, June 7 at 10 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
"I thought our starting pitcher Phil Isaksson had trouble getting ahead of the count and controlling his pitches low in the strike zone," said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. "He needed to establish the bottom half of the strike zone to be able to get ahead in the count to mix and match his pitches tonight. He was behind a lot and got into hitter's counts. Cal State Fullerton did an excellent job of executing the short game, bases stealing, slashing and really playing aggressively the way they like to play. They like to put pressure on the defense. They got the lead and really tried to force the action, and we didn't do a good job of handling the running game and responding to their aggressiveness. Cal State Fullerton played very well and I thought Colin O'Connell pitched great. They were the better team tonight, and we look forward to get back at it tomorrow."
Minnesota was led by sophomore shortstop AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while senior catcher Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) was also 2-for-4. Junior Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) was 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, while Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) finished 1-for-4 with a double and a run.
"It was evident that we did not really play our game tonight," said Kvasnicka. "We need to slow things down a little bit. We know we can play with Cal State Fullerton. I thought we played an outstanding game against them in the first matchup. We know at this point it came be done. We just need to stick with the fundamentals and slow the game down. Give credit to their pitcher, he had a great start."
Golden Gopher starter Phil Isaksson (Eau Claire, Wis.) took the loss to fall to 6-2, as he gave up eight hits and five runs in 2.2 innings. Freshman Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) pitched a career-high 4.1 innings, gave up four hits, two runs, walked one and struck out two. Soule pitched 3.1 shutout innings until a two-out homer by Cory Jones in the sixth inning.
Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.) and Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) each pitched one shutout for Minnesota in relief. Cal State Fullerton starter Colin O'Connell picked up the win to move to 1-1, as he pitched a complete game, gave up seven hits, two runs, walked one and struck out nine batters on the night.
The Titans got on the board with three runs in the top of the second inning to make it 3-0. Nick Ramirez led off with a single, and moved to third on a double by Billy Marcoe. Carlos Lopez plated Ramirez with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Joey Siddons followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. Walker Moore drew a walk and Christian Colon singled to load the bases.
Richie Pedroza plated Siddons with an RBI single to move the score to 3-0. Cal State Fullerton expanded the lead to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Nick Ramirez led off with inning with a solo home run to right field to make it 4-0. With Lopez on third and Moore on first, Cal State Fullerton executed a double steal to plate Lopez to make it 5-0.
The Titans pushed it to 7-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Pedroza got things started with a one out walk, stole second, and came home when Cory Jones a two-run homer to right field to give the Titans a seven-run lead.
Minnesota got on the board in the bottom of the eighth with a single run to make it 7-1. Puhl led off with a double, but left with an injury as Drew Hanish (McKinney, Texas) came in to pinch-run for him. Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.) drew a walk to make it first and second, but O'Connell struck out Soule for the first out. Trip Schultz (Forest Lake, Minn.) reached on a fielder's choice and the Gophers loaded the bases when the Titans' shortstop missed stepping on second.
O'Connell got the second out when he picked off Schultz at first. Pettersen followed with an RBI single to make it 7-1, but O'Connell bounced back to strike out Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) to get out of the inning.
The Golden Gophers finished the scoring with a solo home run by Kvasnicka in the bottom of the ninth.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Ramirez who was 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs and an RBI, while Jones was 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Pedroza reached base three times, and was 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and a stolen bases. Lopez was also 1-for-4 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases.
Earlier in the day, the Titans defeated New Mexico 11-3 to advance to the championship game to face the Gophers. The Cal State Fullerton victory over Minnesota on Sunday sets up a final championship game, which will take place on Monday, June 7 at 10 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
"I thought our starting pitcher Phil Isaksson had trouble getting ahead of the count and controlling his pitches low in the strike zone," said Minnesota Head Coach John Anderson. "He needed to establish the bottom half of the strike zone to be able to get ahead in the count to mix and match his pitches tonight. He was behind a lot and got into hitter's counts. Cal State Fullerton did an excellent job of executing the short game, bases stealing, slashing and really playing aggressively the way they like to play. They like to put pressure on the defense. They got the lead and really tried to force the action, and we didn't do a good job of handling the running game and responding to their aggressiveness. Cal State Fullerton played very well and I thought Colin O'Connell pitched great. They were the better team tonight, and we look forward to get back at it tomorrow."
Minnesota was led by sophomore shortstop AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while senior catcher Kyle Knudson (Maple Grove, Minn.) was also 2-for-4. Junior Michael Kvasnicka (Lakeville, Minn.) was 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI, while Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) finished 1-for-4 with a double and a run.
"It was evident that we did not really play our game tonight," said Kvasnicka. "We need to slow things down a little bit. We know we can play with Cal State Fullerton. I thought we played an outstanding game against them in the first matchup. We know at this point it came be done. We just need to stick with the fundamentals and slow the game down. Give credit to their pitcher, he had a great start."
Golden Gopher starter Phil Isaksson (Eau Claire, Wis.) took the loss to fall to 6-2, as he gave up eight hits and five runs in 2.2 innings. Freshman Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) pitched a career-high 4.1 innings, gave up four hits, two runs, walked one and struck out two. Soule pitched 3.1 shutout innings until a two-out homer by Cory Jones in the sixth inning.
Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.) and Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) each pitched one shutout for Minnesota in relief. Cal State Fullerton starter Colin O'Connell picked up the win to move to 1-1, as he pitched a complete game, gave up seven hits, two runs, walked one and struck out nine batters on the night.
The Titans got on the board with three runs in the top of the second inning to make it 3-0. Nick Ramirez led off with a single, and moved to third on a double by Billy Marcoe. Carlos Lopez plated Ramirez with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Joey Siddons followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. Walker Moore drew a walk and Christian Colon singled to load the bases.
Richie Pedroza plated Siddons with an RBI single to move the score to 3-0. Cal State Fullerton expanded the lead to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Nick Ramirez led off with inning with a solo home run to right field to make it 4-0. With Lopez on third and Moore on first, Cal State Fullerton executed a double steal to plate Lopez to make it 5-0.
The Titans pushed it to 7-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth. Pedroza got things started with a one out walk, stole second, and came home when Cory Jones a two-run homer to right field to give the Titans a seven-run lead.
Minnesota got on the board in the bottom of the eighth with a single run to make it 7-1. Puhl led off with a double, but left with an injury as Drew Hanish (McKinney, Texas) came in to pinch-run for him. Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.) drew a walk to make it first and second, but O'Connell struck out Soule for the first out. Trip Schultz (Forest Lake, Minn.) reached on a fielder's choice and the Gophers loaded the bases when the Titans' shortstop missed stepping on second.
O'Connell got the second out when he picked off Schultz at first. Pettersen followed with an RBI single to make it 7-1, but O'Connell bounced back to strike out Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) to get out of the inning.
The Golden Gophers finished the scoring with a solo home run by Kvasnicka in the bottom of the ninth.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Ramirez who was 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs and an RBI, while Jones was 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Pedroza reached base three times, and was 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and a stolen bases. Lopez was also 1-for-4 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases.
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