University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Illinois
Gophers Fall to Illinois in First Game of Series
5/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2013
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The University of Minnesota baseball team suffered a loss to Illinois, 6-2, today at Siebert Field. With the loss, the Golden Gophers drop to 29-19 and 12-7 in the Big Ten. Illinois improves to 32-15 and 13-9 in league play.
Minnesota mustered six hits, including two from Troy Larson, while Connor Schaefbauer, Andy Henkemeyer and Alex LaShomb each had one. Kurt Schlangen went 1-2 with a run scored and two walks, while Ryan Abrahamson had both of the Gopher RBI on two sacrifice flies.
Tom Windle suffered the loss when he scattered seven hits, four earned runs, four walks and three strikeouts. Kevin Duchene, the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, improved his record to 8-1. He went six innings, allowed two earned runs, walked two and struck out three. Minnesota also utilized Ty McDevitt in the game (two hits, two earned runs in 2.2 innings), while Dalton Sawyer closed out the game with a hit and a walk in a third of an inning.
Illinois got on the board quickly when Thomas Lindauer led off the game with a double and came in to score on a Justin Parr RBI grounder. Minnesota, however, would respond in the bottom of the frame with the Gophers plated a run. Like Lindauer, Schaefbauer started the Gophers off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. Schlangen then reached on a bunt single, while Henkemeyer walked to load the bases. Abrahamson produced his first RBI sac fly when he brought Schaefbauer home for the first Gopher run. Illinois, however, ended the Gopher threat when it forced Minnesota to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Illini would take the lead for good in the fourth inning. Reid Roper provided a RBI sac fly as he brought home Jordan Parr, who reached on a walk, moved to second on a stolen base and then to third on a single from David Kerian. The Gophers avoided a bigger inning when Davis Hendrickson struck out looking and stranded two runners. The Illini added another two runs in the sixth when it used a two-out rally to score two. Hendrickson was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a single from Jason Goldstein. Another run came across Lindauer singled in Goldstein for a 4-1 Illini lead.
Minnesota would get its final run across in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to two. After Schlangen walked, Henkemeyer singled to put runners on the corners before Abrahamson scored his second RBI sac fly of the game.
Illinois, however, added two additional runs in the top of the ninth to close out the scoring. Justin Parr doubled, while Jordan Parr walked to put two runners on. Kerian added his third hit of the game to score both Justin and Jordan Parr.
Minnesota will look to regroup and play Illinois again at 2:05 p.m., tomorrow at Siebert Field.
