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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Drops Nightcap to Buckeyes, 5-1
5/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota's baseball team fell 5-1 in the second game of a doubleheader versus Ohio State on Thursday at Target Field.
Minnesota (22-21, 13-10 Big Ten) was led by Dan Olinger (Great Falls, Mont.), who went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored the Gophers' lone run. Andy Henkemeyer (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) added two hits, going 2-for-4, while Nick O'Shea (Blaine, Minn.) and Matt Puhl (North St. Paul, Minn.) each went 1-for-4 with O'Shea driving in Minnesota's run. Troy Larson (Maplewood, Minn.) went 1-for-1 as Minnesota's designated hitter, but the Gophers left nine men on base in the loss.
Phil Isaksson (Eau Claire, Minn.) was the starting pitcher for the Gophers and fell to 3-5 on the season. Isaksson had six strikeouts in five innings of work, giving up seven hits, three earned runs, and three walks. Billy Soule (Hamel, Minn.) pitched two innings and gave up three hits and two earned runs, while striking out a pair and walking one. Luke Rasmussen (Northfield, Minn.) pitched the final two innings and recorded three strikeouts, while allowing only two hits.
Ohio State's Brett McKinney recorded the win to improve to 3-3 on the season. In six innings, McKinney struck out five and gave up four hits, and one earned run. Theron Minium, Jared Strayer, and Josh Dezse each pitched one inning for the Buckeyes, combining to hold the Gophers scoreless on just three hits.
Minnesota opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, as Olinger smashed one past the center fielder for a triple with two outs. O'Shea followed and split the gap between second and third to plate Olinger and take an early 1-0 lead.
Things looked good for the Gophers until Ohio State came out swinging in the top of the fifth. David Corna ripped a double down the left field line, and Brad Hallberg singled through the right side to make it first and third. Minnesota center fielder Justin Gominsky (Mahtomedi, Minn.) was then caught playing too shallow, and Engle ripped a triple over his head to drive in two runners. Brian DeLucia followed with a grounder to score Engle for the RBI and the 3-1 lead.
The Buckeyes added two more runs in the seventh inning, as Engle found space over the head of Henkemeyer in left for a double to lead off the inning. With runners on the corners, Ryan Cypret drew a walk to load the bases. Dezse then grounded an RBI single through the left side and Matt Streng followed with a line drive to right field to extend the Buckeyes' lead to 5-1.
Engle went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, while Cypret and Dezse each also went 2-for-4 with Cypret adding a run. Dezse, DeLucia, and Streng also had one RBI apiece. Hallberg went 2-for-3 with one run.
Minnesota will close its regular season against Ohio State on Friday at Target Field. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. (CT), with the game televised live on the Big Ten Network.
