University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Splits Twin Bill to Win Series
4/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Minnesota baseball team (10-9, 2-1) defeated Purdue (17-10, 1-2) 4-1 in the second game of a doubleheader to claim two of three in the series against the Boilermakers at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn. on Saturday, Apr. 2.
Minnesota won the series opener 9-5 on Friday, Apr. 1, lost the first game of the doubleheader on Apr. 2 7-0 and bounced back to claim the series finale.
AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) paced Minnesota as he went 3-for-4 with two runs, a stolen base and a double. With hits in both games today, Pettersen extended his hitting streak to 22 games going back to 2010. Bobby Juan (LaCrosse, Wis.) reached base three times, and finished 2-for-3. Juan was 4-for-7 in the doubleheader for the Gophers.
Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a triple. Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) also went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) also knocked in a run.
Junior starter Austin Lubinsky (LaCrosse, Wis.) took a no-decision as he went 4.2 innings, gave up three hits, one run, walked three and struck out three. Sophomore Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) entered the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, and pitched 3.0 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win to move to 2-1 on the season. Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.) closed the door as he entered the game with two outs in the top of the eighth, and pitched 1.1 shutout innings to collect his fifth save of the season.
Purdue starter Lance Breedlove took the loss to fall to 2-1, as he gave up five hits, two runs, one earned run, one walk and one strikeout in 3.1 innings. The Boilermakers got a strong relief outing from Nick Wittgren who gave up three hits, one run, walked one and struck out two in four innings of work.
The Gophers came out strong against the Boilermakers in the second game of the doubleheader. In the bottom of the first inning, Pettersen led off with a single to left field and stole second. Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) hit a single through the left side to make it first and third with no outs. Gominsky plated Pettersen with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Henkemeyer moved to second base on a wild pitch and to third base on a grounder by O'Shea. Trip Schultz (Forest Lake, Minn.) reached first when the Purdue catcher made an error on a slow roller in front of the plate, and Henkemeyer came home to score to make it 2-0.
The fourth inning started with Stephen Talbott flying out to right field for the first out. Cameron Perkins reached first with a single to the shortstop. On the next play Kevin Plawecki hit a sharp grounder up the middle, but Puhl made a great diving play to get the ball and flipped it to second with his glove to start an inning-ending double play.
Purdue got a run on the board in the fifth to cut the Gopher lead to 2-1. Barrett Serato led off with a single and stole second with one out. After David Miller drew a walk, both runners moved up after a Payton Bieker ground out to the pitcher. Sean McHugh walked to load the bases, and Tyler Spillner brought home the Boilermakers first run to cut the lead to 2-1 when he drew a bases-loaded walk. Soule came in and got Talbott to pop out to end the inning.
Minnesota answered with a run to make the score 3-1. Pettersen led off with a single up the middle. Troy Larson (Maplewood, Minn.) followed with a pinch-hit single to right center to make it first and third. O'Shea flew out to shallow left field and Pettersen made a nice hustle play to tag up and score to make it 3-1.
Purdue threatened to score in the top of the seventh when Miller drew a walk to lead off the inning. Bieker hit a single through the left side to make first and second with no outs. Pinch-hitter Andrew Dixon moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt before Soule struck out Spillner for the second out. After Soule hit Talbot to load the bases, he got Perkins to ground out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Juan reached first for the third time in as many at bats with a single shot up the middle. Puhl followed with an RBI triple to right center field to bring home pinch-runner Sam Ryan (Oakdale, Minn.) to put Minnesota up 4-1.
Purdue was led by Serrato who went 2-for-4 with one run and one double. Bieker, Charles and Perkins all went 1-for-4 respectively for the Boilermakers. As a team, Purdue left 10 runners on base.
Minnesota will play host to Augsburg at Siebert Field on Tuesday, Apr. 5. The game is set to start at 4:05 p.m. and can be seen in the Gold Zone.
