May 9, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The Hawkeyes used a five-run sixth inning to come from behind and beat Minnesota 8-4 at Siebert Field on Sunday afternoon. Iowa starter Andrew Hansen pitched 8 1/3 innings to pick up his first win of the season and help the Hawkeyes avoid the four-game sweep.
Hansen, a senior right hander, allowed three earned runs and struck out three batters. Hansen allowed Gopher runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but kept the Gophers off the scoreboard the rest of the day.
The Hawkeyes bats fought back to plate five runs to take a 7-4 lead in the sixth. Jeff Gremley reached base on an error on Matt Fornasiere to start the rally. After stealing second base, Jesse Brownell doubled off the left field wall to knock in Gremley and chase Minnesota starter Josh Krogman from the game.
Iowa teed off on reliever Cole DeVries as three of the four Iowa batters he faced collected hits. L.J. Mims hit an RBI double to right field and Andy Lytle followed with an RBI single to knock Devries out of the game after 1/3 inning of work. Brian Bull came in and got Jim Reid to fly out to right field before the Hawkeyes collected two more hits including an RBI single by Kris Welker to put Iowa on top 7-4.
Iowa added an insurance run in the eighth. Lytle collected his fourth hit of the day to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Reid followed with an RBI double into the right centerfield gap to put the Hawkeyes on top 8-4.
Iowa scored in the first inning for the third straight game as they plated a pair of runs. Lytle and Reid walked to start the game, but Lytle was caught stealing for the first out of the inning. Nate Yoho followed with a doubled down the right field line to put runners second and third with one out and Welker drove in a pair of runs with single just under Fornasiere’s glove at short to put Iowa on top 2-0.
Minnesota cut the lead in half in the third inning. Nine-hole hitter Tony Leseman walked to leadoff the inning and scored on a double into the gap by Sam Steidl. Hansen pitched his way out of the jam to keep the Hawkeyes on top. Hansen got Fornasiere to hit into a lazy groundout before striking out Mike Mee looking. The righthander got some help from his defense for the final out as Andy Hunter put a charge into the ball to right centerfield, but Mims made a spectacular catch off his shoelaces to keep the score 2-1.
Minnesota took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. Jake Elder and David Hrncirik led off the inning with back-to-back base knocks. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners up a bag, pinch hitter Luke MacLean hit a hard grounder to short that was booted by Gremley allowing both runners to cross the plate. Iowa got out of the inning on an unorthodox 3-6-2 double play. First baseman Andy Cox made a diving stop to rob Steidl of a base hit and fired to Gremley attempting to get Leseman at second. MacLean, who was on third, broke for home on the throw, but was gunned down at the plate to end the inning.
The Golden Gophers added a run in the fifth. Hunter doubled down the left field line to knock in Mee from first base to stretch the Minnesota lead to 4-2.
Luis Andrulonis and Lytle both went 4-for-4 in the game. Andrulonis tied a school record with four singles, which last happened by teammate Mike Best against Michigan last season. Every Hawkeye in the batting order collected at least one hit.
Iowa will return home next weekend for a four-game series with Purdue at Duane Banks Field.