Gophers Win Second Marathon; Third Game Suspended

Saturday, April 3

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:00 PM

Michigan

10-10, 1-1

Minnesota

11-9, 1-1

Minnesota

Michigan

4/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It was Minnesota's turn for the late inning heroics Saturday (April 3) as 2B Luke MacLean singled to center in the top of the 11th inning to give the Gophers a 6-5 win over Michigan in the first game of scheduled Big Ten baseball doubleheader at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Rose had two hits and scored two runs in the first contest.

The second game was suspended due to darkness in the top of the fifth inning with Minnesota leading 3-2 in a game that will not be official until Sunday (April 4). The game, which started in EST will be resumed in EDT (at 1 p.m.) with two outs and a runner on third base.

Minnesota (11-9, 1-1 Big Ten) scored twice in the third inning of the opener against Wolverine senior RHP Bobby Garza (Southgate, Mich./Anderson HS), but the Wolverines (10-10, 1-1 Big Ten) scored once in the third and used a four-run fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Freshman CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield HS), who scored the winning run in the 12th inning for the Wolverines in the series opener, was in the middle of both rallies. Rose led off the third by getting hit by a pitch, stole second base and scored on an infield grounder by sophomore 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS).

Junior RF Chris Burhans (Alpharetta, Ga./Marist School) and senior DH Brandon Roberts (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) opened the fourth inning with singles. Junior/sophomore catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest HS) tied the game with a pinch-hit double and Rose put the Wolverines ahead 3-2 with a squeeze bunt single.

Rose, running on the pitch, kept the rally going as he turned a potential inning-ending double play into a run-scoring grounder by sophomore 2B Chris Getz (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS). With Rose running again, junior LF Matt Butler's (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic) single to left gave Michigan a 5-2 lead.

Minnesota scored twice in the fifth and once in the sixth to tie the game, and then the extra innings piled up for the second straight game.

Junior/sophomore Ali Husain (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti HS) was the most effective pitcher on the day for the Wolverines, working 3.2 scoreless innings as he pitched into the 10th inning. Catcher Kunkel helped Husain get out of the 10th with a pair of assists on a pickoff and a caught stealing.

Michigan had chances to win in the eighth with two-out singles by Kunkel and Rose and one-out singles in the ninth by junior 1B Kyle Bohm (Stevens Point, Wis./Area HS) and Scheidt. However, Minnesota's John Oslin (1-0), who entered following Scheidt's ninth-inning single, retired eight of the nine batters he faced to record the win. Bohm drew a two-out walk in the 11th for the only baserunner allowed by Oslin.

Freshman RHP Dan Lentz (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice HS), the fifth Wolverine pitcher of the game, took the loss for his first career decision.

Minnesota took advantage of the brisk wind to open the second game as leadoff batter Matt Fornasiere's fly to left reached the jet stream and blew out of the park for his second homer of the year. Michigan sophomore RHP Derek Feldkamp (Adrian, Mich./Blissfield HS) started game two and has allowed three runs on seven hits thus far.

Michigan, trailing 2-0 after half an inning, scored a run in the first on a Getz walk, a stolen base and a run-scoring single by Butler, and tied the game 2-2 on a Getz sacrifice fly in the second inning.

Minnesota snapped the 2-2 tie on a sac fly by CF Sam Steidl that plated MacLean just moments before the game was suspended.

The Wolverines face Minnesota Sunday (April 4, 1 p.m.) with the completion of Saturday's second game and the scheduled nine-inning game. Junior RHP Michael Penn (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian), with a 2-1 record and a 3.00 ERA, is scheduled to start the fourth game of the series.

N O T E S

In other Big Ten action Saturday, Michigan State swept Iowa (5-4 and 6-3), Penn State swept Purdue (7-3 and 7-2) and Ohio State swept Illinois (14-3 and 5-3). Indiana, with a 4-3 win in the opener, and Northwestern, with a 12-10 win, split two games in Evanston, Ill. OSU and MSU share first place with 3-0 records in the early going, with Penn State and Northwestern tied at 2-1.

LF Matt Butler increased his hitting streak to eight games and RF Chris Burhans, sophomore shortstop Jeremy Goldschmeding (Allegan, Mich./Allegan HS) and freshman CF Eric Rose all extended hit streaks to seven games during Saturday's contest. Butler and Goldschmeding have collected hits in the suspended game.

Kyle Bohm has hits in 18 of the 20 games this season.

Michigan's hitting leaders after 20 games are 1B Kyle Bohm at .425 (34-for-80), Jeff Kunkel at .400 (22-for-55), OF Eric Rose at .375 (15-for-40), Jeremy Goldschmeding at .370 (20-for-54), A.J. Scheidt at .366 (30-for-82), Matt Butler at .358 (24-for-67) and Brandon Roberts at .317 (20-for-63).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423