University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Top Purdue 9-5 in Big Ten Opener
4/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (9-8, 1-0) defeated Purdue (16-9, 0-1) 9-5 in its Big Ten opener at Target Field on Friday, Apr. 1.
Minnesota was paced by Dan Olinger (Great Falls, Mont.) who reached base twice, and was 1-for-2 with a double and a career-high four RBI. Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) was also 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI in his first game back since suffering an oblique injury against Gonzaga on Mar. 13.
Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) finished 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, a run and an RBI, while Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) was 2-for-5 with two runs. Trip Schultz (Forest Lake, Minn.) also reached base three times, and was 1-for-2 with a run and a double, while Kyle Geason (Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished 1-for-3 with a run, a double and an RBI.
AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) collected a hit in his final at-bat to 1-for-4 with a run. Pettersen now has a hit in each of the 17 games this year, and has a 20-game hitting streak dating back to 2010.
Sophomore TJ Oakes (Jordan, Minn.) picked up the win to move to 2-3, as he gave up 10 hits, four runs, walked two and struck out two in six innings of work. Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) pitched 1.1 shutout innings, while Scott
Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) pitched a scoreless ninth. Purdue ace Matt Morgan, who entered the game at 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, suffered his first loss of the year to fall to 2-1, as he gave up five hits, six runs, three walks and struck out three in 4.1 innings.
Minnesota got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Gominsky and O'Shea delivered back-to-back singles to make it first and third. Schultz loaded the bases with a walk, and Olinger brought home Gominsky with a two-out walk to make it 1-0.
In the bottom of the second, Puhl led off with a double and Matt Halloran (Eden Prairie, Minn.) reached on catcher's interference. Pettersen moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt and Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Purdue threatened in the top of the third when Payton Bieker walked and moved to second on a bunt-single by Stephen Talbott. Tyler Spillner moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt, but O'Shea robbed Eric Charles on a line shot that he snagged with a nice diving play at first. Oakes retired Cameron Perkins to get out of the inning unscathed.
Minnesota busted the game open with a six run bottom of the fifth inning to make it 8-0. With one out, Henkemyer drew a walk and Gominsky singled to make it first and third. O'Shea followed with an RBI single to push the Minnesota lead to 3-0. Schultz was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Olinger cleared the bases with a three-run double to right field to make it 6-0. Geason followed with an RBI double to make it 7-0. Puhl finished the scoring with an RBI triple to plate Geason.
Purdue answered quickly with three runs in the top of sixth to make it 8-3. With no outs and runners on first and second, Ryan Bridges delivered a two-run double to left center field to make it 8-2. Talbott plated Bridges with an RBI double to make it 8-3.
In the top of the seventh, Cameron Perkins led off with a solo home run to make it 8-4. Soule enter the game with the bases loaded with two outs. Tablott drew a walk to bring home Barrett Serrato to make it 8-5, but Soule got Spillner to fly out to end the inning to limit the damage.
Minnesota picked up an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-5 when Pettersen had a one-out single, moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt and came home to score on a wild pitch.
Purdue was led by Talbott who reached base four times, and was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Bridges was also 2-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBI, while Perkins was 2-for-5 with a home run. Serrato also finished 3-for-5 with two runs and a stolen base.
Minnesota and Purdue will play a doubleheader at Target Field on Saturday, Apr. 2 at 1:05 p.m. That game can be seen live on the Gold Zone.
