Gophers fall to Oregon State in Game One

The Gophers ran full-speed into an Oregon State brick wall on Friday in the first game of the Super Regional series in Corvallis, falling to the Beavers 8-1 and putting themselves down 1-0 in the weekend series.

Led by a powerful lineup that rolled through the regional round, OSU lit up starting pitcher Reggie Meyer early on and never looked back, scoring six runs in the first four innings to sink Minnesota. The Gopher bats were largely silent, save for a late home run by Toby Hanson, and were stymied by Beaver ace Luke Heimlich, who went 8.2 strong innings and fanning nine.

Oregon State was on Meyer from the start, hitting two homers in the first inning to jump out 3-0, including one by Twins first-round pick Trevor Larnach. The Gophers had no answer for Heimlich, and threatened only once in the first seven innings.

The loss put the Gophers in the unenviable position of having to win two straight on the road against one of the nation’s top teams. Oregon State hasn’t lost two straight games since it dropped back-to-back games on the road against Arizona.

Minnesota will roll out freshman phenom Patrick Fredrickson tomorrow night to try to push the series to Sunday. The game will be at 8:30pm CT on ESPN2.