Gopher baseball stays in the hunt with sweep of Purdue

by GopherNation on Apr 27, 2009 12:29 PM CDT in Gopher Minor Sports

This was a full weekend for sports fans. The NBA playoffs, NFL Draft, MarQues Gray put on a show at the Gopher Spring Game but I'm not going to let you forget about Gopher baseball.

The Gopher baseball team swept Purdue to inch back to within a 1/2 game of first place in the Big Ten. Ohio State dropped game three to Northwestern so the Gophers (and a few other teams) snuck back to even in the loss column with the Buckeyes looking something like this at the top...

1 -Ohio State 11-4
1 - Illinois 11-4
3 - Minnesota 10-4
3 - Indiana 10-4

Looking at the standings we are finished playing the teams at the top with us. We took two of three from Ohio State, lost two of three to Illinois and split with Indiana.

Brief recaps of this weekend's games...

Friday - It took until the bottom of the ninth before the Gophers could really get to Purdue starter Matt Bischoff. Down 1-3 the Gophers led off with an A.J. Petterson single and a Derek McCallum walk setting the table for RF-Mike Kvasnicka who drilled a 2-run double to tie the game. The Gophers then eventually won with a sac fly from freshman Justin Gominsky to cap a three-run ninth to win 4-3.
Saturday's game was a gem from pitcher Tom Buske got the 3-1 win when he pitched 8 2/3 inning, seven strikeouts and just one earned run. After the weekend Buske is 2nd in the Big Ten for ERA. RBI's from McCallum and Kvasnick in the 6th inning were enough secure the win.
Sunday was pitcher Seth Rosin's turn to dominate. Rosin got the win (4-1) on Sunday and struck out a career high eight batters in just 5.0 innings pitched. Scott Matyas earned his second save of the series and eigth of the season to cap off the sweep. From the plate the Gophers were led (as usual) by Derek McCallum who was 3/4 with 2 RBIs and a deep HR to right field (pictured above) giving him 11 home runs on the season. Senior, Matt Nohelty was 3/5 with 2 runs, 2 RBIs and a stolen base as well.

Derek McCallum continues to be the local story that virtually nobody is talking about. The sophomore is leading the Big Ten in batting average, slugging %, RBIs and is one back in HRs.

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This weekend is the last home weekend of the season. Saturdays is "Burst the Bleachers" day and all tickets are just $1. I can't think of a better way to enjoy a Minnesota spring afternoon. Get out, check out this team and cheer them on to a sweep of the Hawkeyes.

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Comments

I sure wish I lived up there. I'd go to the games.

by COJOMAY on Apr 27, 2009 4:01 PM CDT reply actions

Gopher Baseball

It was a great weekend with very good ballgames. Thanks for giving this team some “pub”. We have one more weekend (unless they host a Regonal) to watch this team in town. Head over to Siebert as they play Iowa this weekend- its another important series. Buske is Co-Pitcher of the Week in the Big Ten. Check out www.bigtenhardball.blogspot.com for more “Players of the Week” in the Big Ten. (several Gophers) Gopher Baseball is a lot of fun and it is really good baseball. Go Gophers !

by go4z on Apr 27, 2009 4:25 PM CDT reply actions

Good job guys

Purdue’s baseball team is so frustrating. they have a good year (like last year) and have even higher expectations for the next season only to come crashing down. We will no officially go 100 years since our last Big Ten title.

Bischoff is a horse though. he had two straight complete games before Friday’s game. He went the distance in beating Penn State, but lost 1-0 to Ohio State before losing to Minnesota.

A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance

HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boliermaker Blog

by BoilerTMill on Apr 27, 2009 9:39 PM CDT reply actions