University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Gonzaga 10-3
3/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (5-6) dropped a 10-3 decision to Gonzaga (6-7) on Saturday, Mar. 12 at John Smith Field in Sacramento, Calif.
Minnesota had nine different players collect hits on the day, but left 12 men on base compared to five for the Bulldogs.
Junior shortstop AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI in the game, as he extended his hitting streak to 14 games dating back to 2010. Pettersen has collected a hit in each of the Gophers' first 11 games this season.
Sam Ryan (Oakdale, Minn.) was also 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) finished 1-for-4 with an RBI. Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) also finished 1-for-4 with a run, while Troy Larson (Maplewood, Minn.) stole a base and scored Minnesota's other run.
Gonzaga had two players collect four hits on the day, including Tyler Chism who hit for the cycle and was 4-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. Chism collected a single in the second, a triple in the third, a homer in the fifth and a double in the seventh. Eric Lane also reached base all five times he came to the plate, and was 4-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. Billy Moon was also 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs and an RBI.
Senior starting pitcher Phil Isaksson (Eau Claire, Wis.) took the loss to fall to 1-1, as he gave up nine hits, five runs, walked one and struck out four. Tim Ryan (Eagan, Minn.) gave up one hit and one run in an inning, while Dustin Klabunde (Brownton, Minn.) surrendered two hits, two runs and struck out a batter in an inning of relief. Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.) gave up three hits, two runs and struck out two batters in 1.1 innings. Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) came on and struck out both batters he faced in the game.
Gonzaga starter Tyler Olson only made it through four innings, as he gave up eight hits, three runs, walked three and struck out three. Andy Hunter, who started at first base, came on to get the win to move to 2-1 as he gave up four hits and two walks in four scoreless innings.
Minnesota got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the first to go up 1-0. Pettersen led off with a single, but was wiped out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Larson. Justin Gominsky struck out swinging for the second out, but Larson stole second on the play. After O'Shea drew a walk, Puhl plated Larson with an RBI single.
Gonzaga tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning. Chism and Hunter reached on singles and moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt. Royce Bolinger plated Chism on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-1 and Isaksson retired the next batter to keep the score tied.
The Gophers moved back ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second when Ryan delivered a two-out double and came home to score on an RBI single by Pettersen.
Gonzaga reclaimed the lead at 3-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Moon tied the score at 2-2 with a home run. Lane followed with a double, and scored on an RBI triple by Chism to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Chism moved the score to 5-2 with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning.
Minnesota loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with no one out when O'Shea singled, Puhl walked and Ryan Abrahamson (Oakdale, Minn.) reached on an error on attempted sacrifice bunt. Hunter got Geason to ground into double play to make it 5-3, and retired the next batter to minimize the damage for Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs pushed a single run across the plate in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Clayton Eslick and got a pair of RBI doubles by Marco Gonzales and Chism in the seventh to push the lead to 8-3.
Minnesota loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Abrahamson and Trip Schultz (Forest Lake, Minn.) sandwiched walks around a double by Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.). Hunter retired Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) on a hard sinking liner to the right fielder to end the inning.
Gonzaga added a pair of runs in the top of the ninth to move it to 10-3 to finish up the scoring.
Minnesota and Gonzaga will play the final game of the series on Sunday, Mar. 13 at 2:05 p.m. (CT). That game can be heard live in the Gold Zone.
