The Minnesota baseball team (0-4) had a 4-3 lead
heading into the top of the ninth inning, but fell victim to a rally as it
dropped a 7-4 decision in 12 innings to TCU on Friday, Feb. 29 in the Dairy
Queen Classic. TCU and Pepperdine will enter the second day of play with a 1-0
record in the tournament, while Tulane and Minnesota
are 0-1 in the Dairy Queen Classic.
In the earlier game Pepperdine
defeated No. 18 Tulane 4-2 when the Waves scored two runs to break a 2-2 tied
in the eighth inning.
Minnesota
carried a 4-3 lead into the top of the ninth inning, and was one out from
finishing the game before pinch-hitter Matt McGuirk delivered a double down the
right field line. Golden Gopher freshman reliever Cullen Sexton (Plover, Wis.)
had two strikes on Clint Arnold, before Arnold
battled back to drop an RBI single into center field to tie the game at 4-4.
In the 12th inning, Matt Vern
gave the Horned Frogs a 5-4 lead with a sacrifice fly to left field that
brought home Arnold. With runners on second and third, and one out, Bryan
Holaday executed a perfect suicide squeeze play to plate two runs. Ben
Carruthers scored from third, and Matt Carpenter aggressively scored from
second to give TCU a 7-4 lead.
Minnesota
was led offensively by senior second baseman Jeremy Chlan (Apple
Valley, Minn.) who was 2-for-6
with two RBI and a run, while junior Jon Hummel (Lakefield,
Minn.) went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Matt Nohelty
(Rothschild, Wis.)
was 2-for-6 with a run and a stolen base.
TCU reliever Andrew Cashner
blanked the Golden Gophers in four innings, walking two batters and striking
out nine to pick up the win to move to 1-0. Tyler Oakes took the loss for Minnesota,
as he gave up one hit, three runs and walked three in two innings of work to
fall to 0-1.
The Horned Frogs got on the
board first in the top of the fourth inning when Hunt Woodruff doubled home
Vern to make it 1-0. Minnesota
tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Hummel delivered a two-out RBI
triple to plate Chlan to tie the score at 1-1.
TCU moved ahead 3-1 in the top
of the fifth. Arnold put the Horned Frogs up 2-1 on an RBI double, and
Carruthers later plated Arnold on a sacrifice fly to give TCU a two-run lead.
The Golden Gophers answered
with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, two-run double to
tie the game at 3-3.
Minnesota
took the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Nate Hanson (Chanhassen,
Minn.) head a leadoff single, and
eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout by Mike Kvasnicka (Lakeville,
Minn.)
Golden Gophers junior Tom
Buske (Apple Valley, Minn.)
started and got a no-decision as he went 4.2 innings, gave up three hits, three
runs, walked three and struck out a pair of batters. Minnesota’s
best outing came from Scott Matyas (North Prairie, Wis.)
who pitched three shutout innings. Sexton also pitched well in his second
career outing going 2.1 innings, giving up two hits, one run and striking out a
batter.
TCU starter Seth Garrison had
a no-decision as he went five innings, gave up six hits, three runs, walked one
and struck out three batters. Tyler Lockwood pitched three innings of relief,
and gave up two hits and one run.
The Horned Frogs were led by
Arnold who was 3-for-5 with two stolen bases, two runs and two RBI. Hunt
Woodroff was also 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Tonight’s extra-inning game
was the first by the Golden Gophers in the Dairy Queen Classic since it dropped
a 4-1 decision to Florida State
in the 1995 tournament. It was also only the fourth time Minnesota
has played an extra-inning game in the history of the tournament.
Minnesota
will face No. 18 Tulane on Saturday, Mar. 1 at 6:35
p.m. and Pepperdine on Sunday, Mar. 2 at 3:05 p.m. Pepperdine and TCU will play on Mar. 1 at 12 p.m. In between the two games will be kids
clinic from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Both games can be seen live on
the Gold Zone, and can also be heard on gophersports.com. The Sunday game
against Pepperdine can also be heard on KLBB (1220 AM).
Courtesy: University of Minnesota
