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University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
North Dakota State
Gophers Drop First Game to North Dakota State
3/20/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 20, 2012
Trailing 3-0 until the ninth inning, the University of Minnesota baseball team fell, 7-0 to North Dakota State, tonight at the H.H.H. Metrodome. The game marked the first time this season Minnesota had been shut out and the first time time since February 20, 2011 that the Gophers have been shut out by a non-conference opponent.
North Dakota State's John Straka pitched all nine innings and stymied the Gopher offense. He allowed just six hits in 36 batters he faced, walked two and struck out eight. Gopher pitcher Ben Meyer started the game and pitched well in his first collegiate start. He went 4.0 innings, allowed just three hits, one run and struck out one. Meyer allowed a leadoff triple in the first batter he faced and allowed the run to score for his lone run allowed. In the game, he had nine grounders for outs.
Matt Halloran led the team when he went 2-3 with a walk, while Troy Larson went 2-4. Andy Henkemeyer extended his his hit streak to nine games. With the loss, Dan Olinger ended his hit streak at 14 as he went 0-4.
The Bison got on the board in the top of the first when Tim Colwell led the game off with his fifth triple of the season and would later score when Nick Colwell had a grounder to first and a 1-0 lead. The Bison added another two runs in the sixth when N. Colwell started things off with a double, while Wentz pushed him across for the second run with a RBI single. Wentz would also score when Wes Satzinger drove him home for the 3-0 lead.
The game remained at 3-0 until the top of the ninth inning when the Bison broke open the game with four runs in the ninth inning for the 7-0 final. Stazinger started things off with a hit, while Tyler Steen and John Skrbec got on base due to errors. After four hits and two errors, the Bison opened the game for the 7-0 final.
Minnesota will look to return to the win column tomorrow when the two teams met again at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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