University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Wins Fourth Straight Big Ten Road Game
5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minnesota used a strong pitching performance by sophomore right-hander TJ Oakes and a two-run home run by junior first baseman Nick O'Shea to defeat Michigan, 4-1, for its fourth straight Big Ten road victory on Friday evening in Ann Arbor.
The conference road winning streak is Minnesota's longest such stretch since it won the final two games of its series at Illinois and the first two games of its series at Indiana during April 28-May 19, 2007. This season, Minnesota (17-18, 9-7 Big Ten) has swept three games at Indiana before winning tonight's game versus the Wolverines (15-29, 6-10).
Oakes improved to 5-4 with the win, allowing just four hits and striking out three in 6.2 innings pitched. He threw 106 pitches, 69 of them for strikes, before freshman lefty Tom Windle came on in relief with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Windle worked the final 2.1 innings, striking out one and allowing just one hit in the bottom of the ninth to notch his first career save.
O'Shea went 1-for-4 in the game, while third baseman Kyle Geason and catcher Kurt Schlangen each went 2-for-4, with one of Schlangen's hits being an RBI double. All but two batters in the Gophers' lineup had a hit, as Minnesota finished with nine hits in the win.
The Gophers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Second baseman Matt Puhl lined a one-out single to left field, and Schlangen followed by driving his double off the high brick wall in left field to score Puhl from first.
Michigan tied the score in the bottom of the third when Patrick Biondi drew a walk, then advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Kevin Krantz, and scored on a sacrifice bunt by Michael O'Neill.
But Minnesota quickly responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning, as O'Shea smashed a ball high over the wall in left for his third home run of the season.
Minnesota added an insurance run in the top of the eighth, as right fielder Justin Gominsky was credited with a single on a liner to second base to start the inning, then moved to second on a groundout by O'Shea and took third on a wild pitch. Then, with one out, Geason singled through the left side of the infield to give Minnesota its final margin of victory.
The Gophers and Wolverines will play the middle game of the series on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. (CT), and the game can be heard live in the Gold Zone free of charge.
