Minnesota Rallies for Split of Two-Game Series

Sunday, March 27

10 am

8-11

Minnesota

8-8

Minnesota

Cal Poly

Minnesota Rallies for Split of Two-Game Series

3/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Minnesota parlayed 16 hits, 15 of them singles, including four by center fielder Justin Gominsky, into a 9-4 victory over Cal Poly in the final game of a rain-shortened non-conference baseball series Sunday morning in Baggett Stadium.

Right fielder Trip Schultz added three singles and drove in four runs as the visiting Gophers evened their record at 8-8 and completed a season-opening 16-game road trip. Cal Poly, despite a 10-hit offensive attack, fell to 8-11.

Cal Poly tallied a run in the first inning on center fielder Bobby Crocker's first home run of the season, a leadoff shot to left field.

Minnesota, however, scored at least once in five consecutive innings -- the third through the seventh -- including three runs in both the sixth and seventh frames, to turn the game around.

Shortstop AJ Pettersen, center fielder Troy Larson and second baseman Matt Puhl each had two hits as the Gophers earned a split of the weekend series. Cal Poly won Friday's game 5-1 while Saturday's contest was rained out. Sunday's game was called after eight innings due to a travel curfew.

Mustang junior right-hander Kyle Anderson (1-5), who gave up the tiebreaking run in the fourth inning, suffered the loss. The win went to Austin Lubinsky (2-3), the second of four Minnesota pitchers used in the game. Lubinsky gave up three runs and four hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Cal Poly starter Mason Radeke, not involved in the decision, gave up a run and five hits in three innings. He was removed from the game due to a pitch count as he will start Friday night when the Mustangs open Big West Conference play at home against UC Riverside.

Crocker, hitting .283 two weeks ago, has 10 hits in his last 20 at-bats to lift his average to .342. On Sunday, he went 3-for-4 with the home run and double, driving in a pair of runs.

Sophomore right fielder Mitch Haniger produced his third two-hit game of the season, including a triple, to lift his average to .246 while senior shortstop J.J. Thompson had his fourth two-hit game in the last eight Cal Poly contests. A .158 hitter seven games into the season, Thompson now is batting at a .298 clip.

Cal Poly trimmed Minnesota's 6-1 lead with a run in the sixth as Haniger tripled with two outs and scored on a single to right by designated hitter DJ Gentile.

After the Gophers extended their lead to 9-2 in the top of the seventh, Cal Poly scored its final two runs in the bottom of the seventh on RBI doubles by left fielder Jimmy Allen and Crocker.

Cal Poly has a rematch with Pepperdine on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Baggett Stadium. The Waves beat the Mustangs 5-3 last Tuesday in Malibu. Pepperdine beat Dayton 8-6 Sunday to win the three-game series, two games to one, and improve to 12-11 on the year.