May 25, 2005
CHAMPAIGN, IL – The University of Iowa baseball team fell in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at the hands of Minnesota, 14-7, Wednesday at Illinois Field on the campus of the University of Illinios.
Iowa, the No. 3 seed, led 5-1 before the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers stormed back with 11 runs in the top of the seventh to blow the game wide open and eventually take a seven-run win.
Hawkeye starter Jeff Maitland threw a great game, giving up just one run and five hits over five and 2/3 innings. The Iowa offense staked Maitland a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second, getting RBI singles from Nate Price and Andy Lytle, and a two-run single off the bat of Skyler Moss. Moss was white-hot all day, going 3-of-4 with a pair of RBIs.
After Minnesota snagged a run in the top of the fourth, but Iowa came back and loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, knocking Gopher ace Matt Loberg out of the game.
Iowa took a 5-1 lead in the sixth with a bases loaded sacrifice fly from Nate Yoho, but Minnesota then exploded in the seventh.
Relief pitcher Travis Sweet walked the leadoff hitter Joe Maciej, then gave up an RBI double to Jake Elder, prompting head coach Jack Dahm to bring in lefthander Chris Zinn. Zinn struck out Andy Hunter, but gave up an RBI double to Kevin Carlson and a single to Mike Mee. Aaron Reasland replaced Zinn and got Tony Leseman to fly out. Luke MacLean reached on an error deep in the hole by Lytle, which allowed pinch runner Aaron Larson to score. Pinch hitter Taylor VanderAarde was hit to load the bases, and David Hrncirik laid down a surprise bunt to make the score 5-4.
Maciej then walked to plate the tying run, and Elder hit a grand slam to blow things wide open. After a single by Hunter, Larson blasted a two run home run to make the score 12-5. Kevin Sunderman came in for Reasland to get the final run.
Iowa came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, but Minnesota got them both back in the ninth to make the score 14-7.
The Hawkeyes move into the consolation bracket, where they will face No. 4 Michigan tomorrow at 12:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on AM-800 KXIC.
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