University of Minnesota Athletics
One Hit Enough, as Minnesota Defeats Iowa, 1-0
4/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota's baseball team defeated Iowa, 1-0, in a pitchers' duel on Friday, Apr. 29 at Target Field, stretching its Big Ten winning streak to four games.
The Gophers (15-16, 7-6 Big Ten) picked up the win despite being limited to one base runner all day by Iowa starter Jarred Hippen.
Minnesota was led by Troy Larson (Maplewood, Minn.), who slammed a triple into the right field corner in the fourth for the Gophers' lone hit. Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) followed by driving a ball deep enough into right field to score Larson on a sacrifice fly RBI. Larson went 1-for-3 with the lone run of the game.
The starting pitcher for the Golden Gophers was sophomore TJ Oakes (Jordan, Minn.). Oakes picked up the win to improve to 4-4 after throwing 115 pitches for 75 strikes (seven strikeouts), scattering eight hits and walking three batters in seven innings.
Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) made his 13th appearance of the season, coming in with a 1.88 ERA, and recorded the first two outs of the eight, but left with a runner on second. Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) closed out the last 1.1 innings of the game to notch the save, his seventh of the season and 32nd of his career.
Left-hander Jarred Hippen pitched an impressive game for Iowa, allowing just the single hit. He pitched a complete game, using just 73 pitches, 57 of which went for strikes. Hippen was tagged with the hard-luck loss for the Hawkeyes and falls to 2-5 on the season.
It looked like the Hawkeyes would have their chance to tie the game in the top of the sixth. Chett Ziese singled one up the middle and beat a good effort by Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) to reach first. When Mike McQuillan hit a double on the first pitch, Ziese bypassed third for home, but was caught on a great relay from Larson to Puhl to catcher Kurt Schlangen (Albany, Minn.) to put on the tag and save the Gopher lead.
Ziese led the Iowa offense with two hits in four at-bats. Tyson Blaser went 2-for-3 while also stealing a base. Mike McQuillan tallied the only double of the game. He went 1-for-3. As a team, Iowa left nine on base.
The Gophers will continue the three-game series against Iowa on Saturday, April 30, at 1:05 p.m. at Target Field. The game can be heard in the Gold Zone.
