Michigan State University
Minnesota (DH)
Minnesota Takes Two From Spartan Baseball In Big Ten Opener
3/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS - The Michigan State baseball team dropped its first two Big Ten games of the season to Minnesota, 8-4 and 7-4, Saturday afternoon (March 29) at Siebert Field on the UM campus. MSU falls to 5-15 (0-2 Big Ten) for the season, while Minnesota improves to 12-10 (2-0 BT).
In game one, the Spartans jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring doubles by Travis Gulick (So., East Lansing) and Brady Burrill (Sr., Newhall, Calif.), but the Gophers bounced right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Minnesota added two runs in the second and third and one in the fourth to extend its lead to 8-3 after four innings. The Spartans scored their last run in the seventh on a RBI single by Charlie Braun (Sr., Grosse Pointe). Braun had a season-high three hits in the game.
MSU starter Bryan Gale (Jr., Decatur) pitched five innings in the loss. Gale (2-4) surrendered eight runs, all earned, on 10 hits. Gopher left-hander Glen Perkins struck out 10 batters in six innings of work to improve to 2-1 for the season.
The Spartan bats were hot in the early innings in game two, scoring three runs in the first and one in the second to take a 4-0 advantage. James Moreno (Jr., Holt) brought in one run on a double to left-center and Erik Morris (So., West Bloomfield) drove in two more with a single to center field in the first. Jim Deliz (So., Clinton Twp.) blasted a deep shot to left field for his first homer of the season in the second, putting MSU up four runs.
Sophomore starter Tim Day (West Chester, Ohio) shut down Minnesota in the first, but the Gophers tagged the Spartan for four runs in the second and one in the third to take the lead for good. Minnesota tacked on two runs in the fifth for the 7-4 lead.
The Spartans were limited to two hits in the final five innings of the game. Minnesota left-hander Jay Gagner threw five innings for his third win of the season, allowing four runs on five strikeouts. Day (2-4) went six innings and gave up seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits in the loss.
Michigan State and Minnesota finish the four-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow (Sunday, March 30) beginning at 1 p.m. EST.
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME ONE R H EMSU 300 000 1- 4 8 1MINN 322 100 x- 8 10 1
WP: Perkins-MINN (2-1)LP: Gale-MSU (2-4)
GAME TWO R H EMSU 310 000 0- 4 6 1MINN 041 020 x- 7 10 1
WP: Gagner-MINN (3-2)LP: Day-MSU (2-4)SV: Molldrum-MINN (1)
