Minnesota thread

[JCOSU86]

The Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to Columbus for a 4 game weekend series against the Bucks. The Gophers are 24-23 on the year (11-13 Big 10). Friday's game is scheduled for 6:35PM. Saturday sees a double header with game 1 at 12:00 noon and game 2 at 3:35PM. All games will be in WMNI 920 AM in Columbus.

 

[rhgbosu]

I usually come on here and give a bunch of stats, and all sorts of other BS...

but this week is different.

Just win baby !

Eventhough they are down a bit this season, Beating the Goofers is always very important to me

Oh, and congrats JCOSU for getting the official series thread posted before Saturday night! :p

seriously, thanks for all that you do..its nice to have somewhere to go to talk Buckeye baseball.... eventhough i am pretty much talking to myself most of the time!

 

[JCOSU86]

seriously, thanks for all that you do..its nice to have somewhere to go to talk Buckeye baseball.... eventhough i am pretty much talking to myself most of the time!

You know rhg, sometimes I feel the same way. Participation in this forum is way up from when we started, though. Thanks for all your insights and comments.

 

[rhgbosu]

Getting a bit nervous..This series always gets me fired up!

Bull & DeVries are good pitchers... they give Minny a shot at a split.

3 of 4 would be wonderful !!

 

[JCOSU86]

Bucks stomp Gophers in Game 1

Ohio State Stays Hot at the Plate in 10-2 Win vs. Minnesota

Shuck goes 4-for-5, Bourquin 3-for-5 as Buckeyes collect 18 hits in series opener

Dan DeLucia won his ninth
game of the season and is
in position to become the
first Buckeye to post 10
wins since 1999.

May 12, 2006
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the third before adding four in the fourth and three more in the sixth on its way to a 10-2 victory over Minnesota in the series opener Friday at Bill Davis Stadium in front of 1,752 fans, who endured a 48-minute rain delay to start the game.
The Buckeyes, which entered the game with the nation's second best batting average, pounded out 17 hits in the game, the 30th game this season the Buckeyes had had a double-digit hit total and the 14th game with at least 15 hits. The team is batting .343. All but one Ohio State starter had a hit in the game. J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion) led the Buckeyes with four hits and drove in two RBI, while Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) was 3-for-5 with three RBI.
OSU starter Dan DeLucia (Jr., Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) picked up his ninth win of the season (9-2), which leads all Big Ten pitchers. Friday against Minnesota, he allowed one run on six hits in eight innings of work and struck out three with three walks.
Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the first inning and turned it into an early lead. He was hit over to second by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and scored on a single down the left-field line by Bourquin.
After the Buckeyes turned a double play for the first two outs in the top of the second, Dan Lyons took his first offering from DeLucia and sent it over the fence in left-center field to tie the game 1-1.

Bourquin batted in his second run of the game in the third inning to put the Buckeyes back in front. Jacob Howell (Jr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland), playing in his first game since April 28 after he re-injured his hamstring he originally pulled April 5, led off the inning with a double to left and went to third on a ground out by Angle. Fryer drew a walk before Bourquin delivered his second hit of the game. Then with two out, Shuck singled through the left side to plate Bourquin and build a two-run lead, 3-1.
Ohio State took control of the game with four runs in the fourth inning to go up 7-1. Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) led off the inning with an infield single and Justin Miller (Fr., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) followed with a single through the right side. Schirtzinger scored from second on a throwing error by Lyons, the Gopher shortstop, on a grounder by Howell. Angle doubled to right to score Miller. A fielder's choice by Fryer caught Angle at second, but Bourquin followed with an RBI double that scored Howell. Shuck delivered his second two-out RBI with an infield single.
Shuck got his fourth hit with one out in the sixth and scored on a triple by Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy). With two gone, Miller singled up the middle to score Zoeller before Howell singled to left to score Miller, who had moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. That gave Ohio State a 10-1 lead.
The triple by Zoeller was the team's 24th triple this season, a total which is ranked second in school history, one within the school record set in 1991. The triple was Zoeller's third this season.
Trey Fausnaugh (Jr., Circleville, Ohio/Westfall) gave up Minnesota's only run on a wild pitch in the ninth. Lyons led off the inning with a double and went to third on a fly out before he scored for the second time. He was 3-for-4 in the game. Fausnaugh and DeLucia limited the Golden Gophers to just seven hits in the game.
Five Buckeyes - Howell, Angle, Fryer, Zoeller and Bourquin - joined Shuck and Bourquin in getting multiple hits as they remained one game out of first place. Michigan won 7-2 at Penn State, while Northwestern will begin its series vs. Michigan State Saturday.
Ohio State (32-15 overall, 16-9 Big Ten) and Minnesota (24-24, 11-14) continue the series Saturday with a doubleheader Saturday at 1:35 p.m. before concluding the series with a single game Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Games three and four of the series will be broadcast by AM 920 WMNI and on ohiostatebuckeyes.com.

 

[JCOSU86]

Buckeye Comeback Falls Short in 2-1 Loss to Minnesota, Game 2 cancelled.

Luebke pitches sixth complete game of the season as Buckeyes avoid shut out

Justin Miller was the
lone Buckeye with two
hits and delivered the
team's only run in the
bottom of the seventh.



May 13, 2006
Final Stats
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Minnesota scored runs in the fourth and seventh innings and then survived a late comeback bad by Ohio State to hand the Buckeyes a 2-1 loss Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader at Bill Davis Stadium.
Minnesota's Luke MacLean got the game's first hit to lead off the top of the third inning and went to second when designated hitter Kyle Baran drew a walk. That put two runners on base with no one out. OSU starting pitcher Cory Luebke struck out the next batter and then got a pair of fly outs to get out of the inning unscathed.
Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) led off the bottom half of the inning with a double down the left-field line and then went to third on a fly out by Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North). That was as far as he would get when Golden Gopher starter Dustin Brabender got a lineout and a fly out to strand a run 90-feet away.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Luebke hit Mike Mee to start the inning and then Andy Hunter singled right to advance Mee to third. Dan Lyons popped up to the pitcher and Luebke caught Sean Kommerstad looking at strike three, but MacLean sent the ball just out of reach of Buckeye shortstop Jedidiah Stephen (Sr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) and into left field to plate Mee for the early lead. The inning ended when leftfielder J.B. Shuck (Fr., Galion, Ohio/Galion) threw out Andy Hunter who tried to score on a single by Baran.
Ohio State left another runner at third base in the fourth inning. Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) drew a walk to lead off the inning and went to second on a wild pitch before moving to third on well struck ball by Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) that was caught by centerfielder Matt Nohelty on the warning track. Stephen drew a walk to put runners at the corners but Shuck grounded out to third to end the threat.

The Buckeyes had a runner in the fifth and got the lead-off runner on board in the sixth. Angle led off with a base hit to shallow center field, but was erased on a fielder's choice by Eric Fryer (So., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg). That brought an end to Brabender's day as Minnesota went to Andy Peters, who got a ground out and a popup to end the inning.
Baran launched a one-out, one-run home run to left-center field in the top of the seventh that proved to be the difference. Ohio State turned a lead-off pinch hit single by Michael Arp (Fr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) into its only run of the game in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Adam Schneider (Jr., Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura) singled up the middle to move Arp into scoring position before Miller followed with a base hit deep in the hole at short that scored Arp as the Buckeyes avoided being shut out for the first time this season. Peters struck out the next two batters to end the game and earn his fifth save.
Brabender improved to 4-5 in going 5.1 innings. He limited Ohio State to three hits. Luebke fell to 6-5 on the year in tossing his sixth complete game of the season. He allowed the two runs on seven hits and struck out five with a pair of walks.
Miller had two of the Buckeyes' six hits, while Nohelty, MacLean and Baran each had two hits in the Gophers' seven-hit offense. Neither team committed an error and each team stranded seven runners. Ohio State left four in scoring position.
Ohio State (32-16 overall, 16-10 Big Ten) and Minnesota (25-24, 12-14) will follow this game with the second game of the doubleheader before concluding the series with a single game Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Both games will be broadcast by AM 920 WMNI and on ohiostatebuckeyes.com.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

5/14/06

MINNESOTA 2 OHIO STATE 1

No time to dwell on loss

Buckeyes say they need wins today to stay in Big Ten race

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

ADAM CAIRNS COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio State’s Jason Zoeller starts a double play by forcing Minnesota’s Bryan Jost at second base in the second game of a double-header. The game was suspended by rain in the second inning.


Ohio State baseball players insist they are not peeking at the scoreboard to find out what Michigan and Northwestern are doing in the Big Ten championship race.
If that’s true, it’s not a bad thing in one sense: At least they’re avoiding stomach pain.
In losing 2-1 to Minnesota in the first game of a double-header yesterday in Bill Davis Stadium, the Buckeyes fumbled an opportunity to creep within percentage points of first-place Northwestern and second-place Michigan.
Game 2 was halted by rain in the top of the second inning with Minnesota leading 3-1. Ohio State (32-16, 16-10) will finish the second game beginning at 11:30 this morning. The regularly scheduled series finale will start 20 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2.
Center fielder Matt Angle said the Buckeyes, who have six games remaining, don’t have time to stew over the loss. Michigan split with Penn State and Northwestern opened its series against Michigan State with a victory.
"We can’t look at it like that," Angle said. "What we have to do is look at (today) and win both games. If we want a shot at it next weekend (in the final weekend), we’ll have to come out ready to play."
It was suggested that second place wouldn’t exactly be a booby prize. After all, it would give Ohio State a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament.
"We’re not talking about second," Angle said tersely. "We’re not looking at second."
The Buckeyes are ranked second nationally in batting behind Jackson State, but OSU couldn’t solve Minnesota starter Dustin Brabender and ran out of outs against reliever Andy Peters.
Brabender gave up three hits and two walks in 51/3 innings. He was aided by outstanding running catches by left fielder Mike Mee with two outs and a runner on third in the third inning, and by center fielder Matt Nohelty with one out and a runner on second in the fourth.
"I thought Brabender did a very good job of keeping the ball away from us," Buckeyes coach Bob Todd said. "He was especially effective with his change-up. But our hitters also helped him by swinging at some bad pitches."
Ohio State’s rally in the seventh fell short. Pinch-hitters Michael Arp and Adam Schneider singled, and Justin Miller drove in Arp with a oneout single to left center.
Peters bore down and struck out Jacob Howell and Angle swinging to end the game.
Starter Cory Luebke pitched well enough to win most games but still thought he let the team down. He gave up seven hits and struck out five.
Minnesota (25-24, 12-14) scored a run in the fourth on a two-out, two-strike single by Luke MacLean and on a home run by No. 8 hitter Kyle Baran in the seventh. [email protected]

 

[JCOSU86]

Bucks lose suspended game

Minnesota Beats Ohio State in Suspended Game, 12-3

Golden Gophers clinch rain-shortened series, 2-1

Jacob Howell led the
Buckeyes with two hits
against Minnesota.

May 14, 2006
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The game took parts of two days to play, but when the third game of the weekend between Ohio State and Minnesota finally ended Sunday, it was the Golden Gophers who prevailed, winning an 11-3 contest to win a rain-shortened three-game series at Bill Davis Stadium.
The game began Saturday, but rain suspended the game in the bottom of the second inning with Minnesota leading 3-1.
Minnesota scored two runs in the top of the first inning, getting RBI from Kyle Baran and Tony Leseman for an early 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Ronnie Bourquin (Jr., Canton, Ohio/Canton South) plated Matt Angle (So., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling), who reached on a fielder's choice to make it a one-run game. In the top of the second, Andy Hunter singled to center to score Matt Nohelty, who reached on a two-out infield single.
In the bottom of the second, Jason Zoeller (Jr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) beat the throw on a ground ball to third base. Hunter, the Minnesota first baseman, could not come up with the ball and the ball hit him in the eye to force defensive changes by the Gophers. Heavy rain suspended at that point, just 37 minutes into the contest, with Wes Schirtzinger (Jr., Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) coming to the plate.
Play was scheduled to begin Sunday at 11:30 a.m., but did not resume until 12:38 p.m. after another rain delay. Minnesota starter Brian Bull, who used to be a reliever, returned the mound, but the Buckeyes could not move Zoeller from first when play continued.
Ohio State started Jake Hale (Fr., Albany, Ohio/Alexander) Saturday, but Josh Barrera (Fr., Somerset, Ohio/Sheridan) took the hill Sunday when the Buckeyes took the field in the third.

Minnesota got two runs off Barrera and the Buckeyes in the third to take a 5-1 lead. Bryan Jost singled through the right side with one out and went to second a bunt for base hit by Luke MacLean. With two away, Chris Herbert drove in the first run with a single to right. Nohelty's infield single moved the runners, but when Barrera could not field a toss from first baseman Justin Miller (Fr., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby), MacLean was able to score the second run of the inning.
The Golden Gophers exploded for four runs in the fourth inning. Baran singled with one out and then with two away, Jost singled to right to put runners at first and second. MacLean drove in Baran to make the score 6-1. That brought an end to Barrera's day as OSU coach Bob Todd brought Dan Barker (So., Dayton, Ohio/Northmont). Barker walked Dan Lyons to load the bases and Herbert followed with a hit to right to plate two more runs. Nohelty drove in Lyons with a single through the left side to give Minnesota a 9-1 lead.
Leseman drove Taylor VanderAarde, who led off the fifth with a single up the middle and then a throwing error by Barker on a failed pick off attempt to first, let Baran score from third to put Minnesota on top 11-1.
Minnesota scored two in the first, one in the second, two in the third, four in the fourth and two in the fifth before Rory Meister (So., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield) came in to get the first 1-2-3 inning.
The Buckeyes added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jacob Howell (Jr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) drew a lead off walk and went to second on a base hit by Angle. Bourquin drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Jedidiah Stephen (Sr., Caldwell, Ohio/Shenandoah) got his first hit of the series to score Howell and then Michael Arp (Fr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) followed with a sacrifice fly to make it an eight-run game, 11-3. A sac fly by MacLean scored Baran for Minnesota's final run of the game.
Howell was the only Buckeye with multiple hits and Bourquin, Stephen and Arp drove in the team's three runs. Ohio State (32-17 overall, 16-11 in the Big Ten) committed three errors and left four runners on base, only one in scoring position. Minnesota did not have an error, but left 11 runs on base. Nohelty and Jost each had three hits to lead the Gophers (26-24, 13-14).
Bull allowed three runs on six hits in his six innings of work to improve to 5-4 on the season. Bill Johnson pitched the final inning. Hale took the loss for the Buckeyes to fall to 3-4 on the year. He allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits in two innings.
The chief umpire met with the two head coaches after the game and decided not to play the fourth and final game of the series because of rain and sloppy field conditions. Minnesota's 4:30 p.m. travel curfew also factored into the decision to cancel the game. The game will not be made up.
Ohio State welcomes Pittsburgh to Bill Davis Davis Stadium Wednesday for the final Buck-A-Burger promotion of the year. The final non-conference game of the regular season begins at 6:35 p.m. and will be broadcast on AM 920 WMNI.

 

[rhgbosu]

Our title hopes are all but gone. I just hope we can finish second..that bye is so important.

State Penn next week...the series will be huge for them also, because they are still in position to get the last spot in the tourney.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

5/15/06

OSU BASEBALL

Losses to Gophers costly

Buckeyes’ hopes for regular-season Big Ten title take hit

Monday, May 15, 2006

Mark Znidar
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




Ohio State saw its chances of winning the regular-season Big Ten baseball championship all but evaporate yesterday with 12-3 loss to Minnesota in Bill Davis Stadium.
Uncertain weather conditions and Minnesota’s travel curfew canceled the fourth game of the series. The team had a 6:30 p.m. flight out of Columbus.
The Buckeyes lost two of three to the Golden Gophers and had only six hits in each of the final two games. They made three errors yesterday in the conclusion of Game 3, suspended because of rain Saturday in the bottom of the second inning with the Gophers leding 3-1.
"We just have to keep playing our game," said Buckeyes outfielder Jacob Howell, one of three team captains. "We know we can hit the ball, field the ball and pitch well. We have to leave this behind and get ready to rock this weekend."
Ohio State (32-17, 16-11), which closes the regular season with four games against Penn State at home, would need Northwestern and Michigan to collapse for a chance at its first regular-season title since 2001.
"Obviously, winning a championship is a goal when you set out," OSU coach Bob Todd said. "Mathematically, it’s still within reach, but this might have shut the door on us. But we’re still in third place, and a lot of teams would change places with us. To guarantee getting into the NCAA Tournament you have to win the Big Ten tournament."
The good news for the Buckeyes is they have dominated recent conference tournaments, winning championships in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Winning the regular-season championship probably won’t be as valuable as in the past. In 1999 and 2001, the title allowed Ohio State to play host to an NCAA regional. The same proved true for Minnesota in 2000. Those teams were nationally ranked or outstanding in power ratings.
This season, No Big Ten team is in the top 25 of any poll.
Notre Dame of the Big East is considered the favorite to play host to an NCAA regional that would cover the Midwest on the bracket sheet.
OSU second baseman Jason Zoeller said there’s still a lot to play for, and that includes a nonconference game against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. A win would get Ohio State closer to 40 victories, which has been influential in getting teams on the bubble at-large NCAA .
"We can work for second place to get a first-round bye in the conference tournament," Zoeller said. "That’s a big thing for giving pitchers an extra day of rest. The good thing about this team being young is we’re resilient. We’re very confident and we know we can bounce back. I think we’ll be fine."
[email protected]