June 1, 2009
Minnesota Eliminates Southern From NCAA Regional, 11-8
BATON ROUGE -- A two-out single in the eighth inning by Minnesota
catcher Kyle Knudson broke an 8-8 tie and four hits by left fielder Justin Gominsky
helped lead the Gophers to a 11-8 victory over Southern to eliminate the Jaguars
in game 3 of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.
Southern (30-17) erased an 8-3 deficit with a five-run seventh
inning, but couldn't silence the Gophers in the eighth and ninth. Minnesota
(38-18) will play the loser of Saturday's LSU-Baylor contest at 1 p.m.
CT on Sunday.
Southern was led by McDavid who was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBI, while Thomas was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Olivar was also 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Armstrong finished 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
Minnesota was led offensively by Gominsky, who went 4-for-4
with a double, a triple and two RBI. He also scored twice. Matt Nohelty and
AJ Pettersen also collected three hits apiece for the Gophers, who erupted with
18 hits.
The Gophers took a 1-0 lead in the first after lead-off hitter
Matt Nohelty reached second after a single and an error by second baseman Ozzie
Lamis. Nohelty scored when shortstop AJ Pettersen singled and reached second
on the throw to the plate.
Pettersen reached third on a Derek McCallum sacrifice fly and
scored on a single by right fielder Michael Kvasnicka to make the score 2-0.
Kvasnicka crossed the plate to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead when
catcher Kyle Knudson singled to left.
Minnesota made the score 4-0 when leftfielder Justin Gominsky
scored from third when Southern catcher Michael Thomas threw the ball into left
field trying to pick off Gominsky.
Southern got on the board in the second when rightfielder Brad
McDavid doubled off the wall and scored on a single by third baseman Gregory
Whitfield to make the score 4-1.
The Jaguars made the score 4-2 when shortstop Jesse Olivar singled home Thomas.
It was Southern's third hit of the inning.
Romey Bracey entered the game at second base in the third for
Southern and was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by left fielder James
Armstrong to cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Gophers extended their lead to 5-3 in the fourth when Nohelty
singled home Gominsky from third.
Minnesota took advantage of a one-out, bases-loaded opportunity
in the seventh when centerfielder Eric Decker grounded out to first to score
McCallum to increase the Gopher lead to 6-3.
The next batter, Gominsky, laced a double to deep right-center
field to score Kvasnicka and Knudson to make the score 8-3. It was Gominsky's
fourth hit of the game.
Gopher starting pitcher Seth Rosin held Southern scoreless
from the fourth until the sixth inning. Rosin left in the seventh after allowing
four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out seven.
Southern responded in the bottom of the frame with a single
by McDavid with the bases loaded that scored Bracey and Franklin to make the
score 8-5. The next batter, Edmond Morton doubled to left to score Armstrong
to cut the Gopher lead to 8-6.
McDavid made the score 8-7 when he scored from third on a wild
pitch by Minnesota reliever Scott Fern.
The Jaguars tied the score at 8-8 when Thomas singled to right,
scoring Morton to cap the five-run seventh inning for Southern.
Minnesota regained the lead in the eighth on a two-out single
by Knudson to take a 9-8 advantage.
The Gophers extended their lead in the ninth to 10-8 with a
two-out single by Nohelty.
Minnesota 11, Southern 8 (May 30, 2009 at Baton Rouge, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Minnesota........... 310 100 312 - 11 18 2 (39-18)
Southern............ 021 000 500 - 8 13 4 (30-17)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Minnesota - Seth Rosin; Luke Rasmussen(7); Scott Fern(7); Scott Matyas(8).
Southern -
Jarrett Maloy; Daniel Garcia(7); James Spear(9).
Win-Scott Fern(3-1) Save-Scott Matyas(15) Loss-Daniel Garcia(4-1) T-3:19 A-9264
Actual Attendance: 2,057
Rasmussen faced 2 batters in the 7th.
POSTGAME QUOTES
SOUTHERN HEAD COACH Roger Cador
Opening statement...
"Today was a hard-fought battle. If we could've eliminated two innings
-- the first and the seventh -- we really would've been in good
shape. With two strikes, we made some mistakes, and they hurt us. They fought,
and fortunately for us, we were able to come back. I'm real proud of the
team that they were able to come back. They didn't give up, and they kept
fighting back. We were in the position going into the eighth inning to win this
ballgame, but unfortunately for us, we didn't have the consistent pitching,
and Minnesota did."
On the miscues today...
"I chalk them up as part of the game, and keep in mind that this game
isn't being played by professionals. They're amateurs, and when
you have amateurs, they make some mistakes that are unappreciative, but as a
coach you have to look beyond that and look forward because that's really
what it is. You want perfection, but you strive to get it, and it's like
reaching for air. You're never going to get it. I take it for what it
is because I understand that once it happens you can't get it back."
On the highlights this season...
"We had a lot of injuries, and they were able to fight through them. A
lot of guys had to bond; it was a bonding process, and they had to accept some
of the lesser things that occurred during the course of the year. We may have
a kid with not as much ability, and they knew now that they had to depend on
him to get through it. It was just something that allowed them to mend together,
and I thought that was the most important thing, but as I look at it, I began
to see the maturity thing takeover and the leadership from Brad McDavid and
Victor Franklin. I pretty much turned over a lot of the responsibility in policing
the team to them because I told them they had more to lose than anyone. If they
didn't win, then it was all over for them. Younger kids had an opportunity
to come back, so I pretty much allowed them to run the show."
On hearing players like Victor Franklin say that he taught them more in life
than just baseball...
"I've played for coaches that didn't do that. They just wanted
to win baseball games, and I felt empty and emptiness inside of me. One day
when I became a coach, I said I would never do what they did -- put the
game ahead of lives. I knew that the kids that I deal with are mostly inner-city
kids in the beginning who needed someone to give them hope, responsibility and
leadership. That's really what I based it on. They gave me the kinds of
things that I needed. I became fulfilled because now I could see development
in young people who need it."
SOUTHERN PLAYER QUOTES
1B Victor Franklin
On Southern's regional tournament performance and its season ...
"This regional was amazing. We had two hard-fought games. We gave it our
all, especially the seniors. We have been a great team all year. We came out
and got the SWACC championship. Coach Cador gave us everything we needed to
win, but we couldn't pull it out today."
On the team's strategy late in the game ...
"We tried to go into the ninth inning 8-8, but that has been our entire
season. We have one miscue and it starts a whole downfall. We were fighting
though and never gave up, even in the last inning. We got on base and tried
as best as we could to make this game competitive."
C Michael Thomas
On fighting at the plate with two strikes ...
"We had to fight the whole year. He told us, with two strikes, we have
to fight. I had to do what I had to do to try to get on base."
On never giving up ...
"We knew that we had it in us to fight and come back. We knew that if
we got a base runner on, we could create base runners and score runs."
MINNESOTA HEAD COACH JOHN ANDERSON
Opening statement...
"We didn't play a great game. We made some mistakes out there today
that haven't been characteristic of our team. It's always important
to overcome yourself sometimes, and I felt like we did that today. I was impressed
with our team when Southern put up five runs and we were able to respond in
how we didn't lose confidence and trust in each other and find a way to
still win the baseball game. A lot of times teams will fall apart at that point.
I was impressed with our team's ability to stay connected to play the
game and not get stuck in the past with what happened in that inning. Obviously
big innings come from mistakes you make: hits, walks, errors. We didn't
do a very good job of throwing strikes and taking care of business. We got ourselves
into trouble, but we won. We're still alive and couldn't be happier
for our team. I thought a lot of our young players were out of sorts. They were
excited because they haven't been in the NCAA tournament before in the
elimination game. I sensed it a little bit in our team that some of our guys
were a little out of sorts and were having a hard time controlling their emotions
and performing at the level we've seen all year. We will learn from that
today and apply it tomorrow to play better baseball."
On having to win three games to advance to Super Regionals...
"It's going to be difficult to come up with enough pitching to win
three games. It's a nice problem to have. We'll worry about the
first game tomorrow first. We have to get through the first game because the
next two aren't going to matter if we don't win that game. I purposely
did not use (Austin) Lubinsky. He's been our first guy out of the bullpen
especially in the sixth or seventh innings. I decided if we're going to
try to stay in this thing I had to go to some other people. You have to gamble
at some points in the NCAA tournament, so I decided to gamble today. Our pitching
coach went home this morning to see his son graduate from high school. It was
my responsibility to make the pitching decisions. I took a chance. He might
have done it differently or convinced me to do it differently. I decided to
save Lubinsky for tomorrow whether we need him in the first game or start him
in the second game. We gambled because we had the 8-3 lead. I give Southern
credit. They can swing the bats."
On using Scott Fern at the end of the game...
"I was trying to get through the ninth inning without using him. We're
trying to save some pitchers here. We used him last night and didn't work
out well, but he came in and got a big strikeout for us... Scott (Fern) has
done it all year for us. He does a tremendous job of staying present and doesn't
get too far ahead of himself. He keeps executing pitches. His body language
is the same all the time. It just seems like nothing bothers him. He's
has a strong mound present out there. I think all of the players have confidence
when he's out there."
On the crucial first inning...
"I said last night that the first inning was going to be critical, and
it was. We did get some momentum in the first inning and scored some runs. We
got the momentum back on this side."
MINNESOTA PLAYER QUOTES
MINNESOTA LF JUSTIN GOMINSKY
On his 4-for-4 performance at the plate...
"I just tried to go out there and not do too much. I went 0-for-3 yesterday
and took the same attitude out there today. I got some good pitches to hit and
was able to make the most out of them."
On getting 18 hits after being shut out Friday night vs. Baylor...
"A lot of credit has to go to Baylor for that. They pitched really well
last night."
MINNESOTA C KYLE KNUDSON
On his hit to take the lead in the eighth inning...
"It was just like any other at-bat, but just happened to be the game-winning
hit. It was a 3-1 pitch. I was given the green light on 3-0, but I didn't
swing because he didn't throw a good pitch to hit."
On coming back and winning today after losing Friday night vs. Baylor...
"We weren't down on ourselves at the end of the game. I actually
thought we played some of our best baseball of the season; we just couldn't
hit."
SEVEN RUN SEVENTH INNING DOOMS JAGS VERSUS LSU TIGERS IN NCAA REGIONAL,
FALLS 10-2
BATON ROUGE -- A seven-run seventh inning and a career-high 10 strikeouts
by LSU starter Austin Ross lifted the Tigers to a 10-2 victory over fourth-seeded
Southern in Game 1 of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional Friday at Alex Box Stadium.
The Tigers (47-16) will face Baylor, a 5-0 winner over Minnesota, at 6 p.m.
CT on Saturday. Southern (30-16) will face the Minnesota-Baylor loser at 1 p.m.
CT Saturday.
Live video of all games is available on CST and at www.LSUsports.net/live.
With the win, LSU is now 19-0 all-time in NCAA Regional opening games at home.
"I knew this was going to be a hard-fought game," LSU head coach
Paul Mainieri said. "Southern played a fantastic seven or eight innings
there and I'll be happy if we never see another lefty (Chase Richard)
like Southern threw today."
Ross had a great outing, allowing two runs on seven hits while walking one
and striking out 10. Ross tied his career high for strikeouts in a game, a mark
he set on March 1 of this season against Central Florida.
The winning pitcher for LSU was Paul Bertuccini (2-0). Bertuccini pitched 1.1
innings and allowed no runs and no hits and struck out two.
Second baseman DJ LeMahieu and left fielder Ryan Schimpf led LSU offensively,
as they each collected three hits.
Southern jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when second baseman Ozzie
Lamis singled up the middle on the opening pitch. The next batter, designated
hitter Victor Franklin blasted Ross' delivery over the wall in right.
Two batters later, right fielder Brad McDavid tripled, but was held at third
when Ross struck out the final two batters of the inning to end the Jaguar threat
in the first.
Richard, the Southern starter, held the Tigers scoreless through the first
five innings until Schimpf doubled to lead off the sixth, stole third base and
scored on a throwing error by catcher Michael Thomas to make the score 2-1.
Ross left the game in the top of the seventh with two outs, giving way to Bertuccini.
Bertuccini struck out Franklin with two Jaguars in scoring position to end the
inning.
After first baseman Sean Ochinko singled to lead off the seventh, Chris McGhee
entered the game as a pinch runner and reached second on a sacrifice bunt by
Tyler Hanover. Two batters later, shortstop Austin Nola singled up the middle
to score McGhee and tie the game at 2-2.
Richard (6-4) left the game after Nola's single, giving way to right-hander
Kyle Wahl.
The Tigers took a 3-2 lead when the next batter, LeMahieu singled home Nola
and reached second on a fielding error by Southern centerfielder Toddrick Stevenson.
Schimpf followed with a single up the middle to score LeMahieu and put LSU ahead
4-2.
Blake Dean then singled to left, advancing Schimpf to third. Dean moved up
to second on the throw to third. The next batter, Micah Gibbs, lined a shot
at first baseman Frazier Hall that was ruled an error. Schimpf and Dean scored
on the play, giving LSU a 6-2 advantage.
Gibbs moved up to second when Mikie Mahtook was hit by a pitch. Both Gibbs
and Mahtook scored on a liner by pinch hitter Derek Helenihi. Helenihi was thrown
out at third on the play to end the Tigers' rally with the score at 8-2.
LSU continued scoring in the eighth when Hanover led off the inning with a
triple off the wall in right-center field and scored on a double by Jared Mitchell,
putting the Tigers ahead 9-2. LeMahieu singled home Mitchell to give the Tigers
a 10-2 lead.
LSU 10, Southern 2 (May 29, 2009 at Baton Rouge, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Southern............ 200 000 000 - 2 7 4 (30-16)
LSU................... 000 001 72X - 10 14 1 (47-16)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Southern - Chase Richard; Kyle Wahl(7); Mitchell Henderson(8); Jared
Cozart(8);
James Spear(8).
LSU - Austin Ross; Paul Bertuccini(7); Buzzy Haydel(9).
Win-Paul Bertuccini(2-0) Loss-Chase Richard(6-4) T-2:42 A-9874
HR SU - Victor Franklin (11).
Game notes:
Actual attendance: 8,641
COZART,J. faced 1 batter in the 8th.
POSTGAME QUOTES
LSU HEAD COACH PAUL MAINIERI
Opening statement...
"I think now that you believe me that it was going to be a hard-fought,
close game. I knew it would be. I'll tell you what. Southern played so
well for six or seven innings there, not just (Chase) Richard pitching but the
plays they made behind him were unbelievable like the center fielder (Toddrick
Stevenson) running the ball down that (DJ) LeMahieu hit and the shortstop (Jesse
Olivar) was making every play. They looked really good. We hit some balls hard,
but he was frustrating us. If we never see another one of those kind of guys
in the rest of our lives, we'll be really happy. He kept us off balance.
We hit some balls hard. They made the plays, but that's why you play nine
innings. When we were down 2-0, and it wasn't looking so great, I was
like, `Thank goodness this is a nine inning game.'
"I felt confident that we would eventually get to them. Fortunately,
Austin Ross kept us in the game. They scored two runs in the first three pitches,
and then he absolutely pitched fantastic the rest of the way, which is not an
easy thing to do for a pitcher when he gives up runs early to regroup and hold
them down. Schimpf gave us the big boost when he hit the double and then stole
third and came home on the errant throw, making something happen there. Then,
Austin Nola had the big hit of the game and the biggest hit of the year, and
we were able to tack on and go on to victory. We're glad we got it behind
us, and now we can look forward."
On energizing the crowd in the seventh inning...
"The crowd got fired up. That was great, but we didn't give the
crowd much to get fired up about. They were searching for something to get excited
about. That was a good inning for us, and we had just reached a point in the
game when I said, `Let's go boys with a little sense of urgency
now. It's time for us to make something happen.' We had some really
good at-bats and wore out the middle of the diamond there. Early in the game
with Richard, I was sitting there, and I thought I was watching Ryan Byrd pitch
against Vanderbilt (SEC Tournament Championship game). The kid was pitching
the game of his life I assume because he did not make a bad pitch in the first
four innings of the game. He was hitting every spot. When he threw his first
pitch as a breaking ball, he was getting it over for strikes. He was doing everything
I'm sure he wanted to do, and it was very frustrating to us. When we did
hit the ball hard, I thought the wind really affected the ball that LeMahieu
hit to deep left center, and I think we hit some balls really hard right at
people, and their kids were making the plays.
"You have to give them credit. My concern was that the team just wouldn't
get frustrated. We knew we had a nine-inning game. We were getting into the
later innings, so there needed to be a little sense of urgency, but I felt that
if we continued to have a good approach at the plate, sooner or later we'd
get some breaks. Next thing you know, we hit a few balls up the middle just
out of the reach of their infielders, and some good things started to happen
for us."
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
P Austin Ross
Opening statement...
"The first three hits scored two runs. The first guy hit the first pitch
as a ground ball to the middle. The next guy hit the ball out the park. After
that I kind of beared down and knew I had to keep them there and give our team
a chance to win. I knew that if I kept us there our lineup would eventually
score some runs and get something going. I told myself don't let them
get anymore and we'll be all right."
On feelings going into the game...
"You always hear that if guys throw a really good bullpen before the game,
then they won't have the best performance in the game and vice versa.
I probably threw the best pregame bullpen that I've thrown all year. I
went out at first and really didn't feel it was all there. I had the breaking
ball, but my fast ball command wasn't the same as it was in the bullpen.
I had to fight that all day, but I was fortunate that my breaking ball was working
well and could use that as an out pitch."
On starting the first game of the regional...
"I treated it like any other start I've had this year. I knew that
Southern was a really aggressive team, and I was going to try to use that to
our advantage."
LF/1B Ryan Schimpf
Opening statement...
"Leading off into the seventh inning I was trying to get something going
for the team and try to get on base somehow to get something started. I got
to second base and was trying to pick up the pitcher's move and felt like
I got a pretty good time on him, and Coach (Javi) Sanchez gave me the sign and
I got a good jump and were fortunate enough to have a ball go to the outfield
and get something going there. We wouldn't have been in the situation
like that if Austin (Ross) hadn't held them. Austin did an awesome job
of holding them at 2 runs and got big hits from Austin (Nola) when we needed
them. "
On Southern's approach to today's game...
"They're a tough team to play. They're a great hitting team.
They swing hard and are very fundamentally sound. They make good plays. You
have to have a lot of respect for them on how they play the game."
On playing with aggression in seventh inning...
"Coach Javi Sanchez always tells me that he wants to see me have a read
on my own this year. I've always been indecisive on that. I just saw Blake
(Dean) got a hit off the end of the bat and that it was pretty in front of him,
so I decided on my own to take the fight to him and force them to make a play."
SS Austin Nola
Opening statement...
"I really wasn't thinking about anything except that I flushed the
first two at- bats, and I knew I needed to get on base. The main thing was I
thinking about was to battle and make the pitcher throw as many pitches as he
could. Everything worked out well."
On difficulty in remaining patient with pitcher...
"Like Coach (Maineri) said, we had to see a lot of pitches and do our
job by trying to get on base for the big guys in the middle of the lineup like
Ryan (Schimpf) and Blake (Dean). He was pitching great and kept the ball down.
He would mix it up with the curve ball and that was about it. He did well."
SOUTHERN HEAD COACH Roger Cador
Opening Statement...
"We played 6 1/3 innings of good baseball and had a multitude of opportunities
to really score some runs with men sitting on third base with one out and we
couldn't make it happen. It goes back to what has been our problem all
year in getting guys in from third with less than two outs. We brought in our
`guy', Kyle Wahl, and he's been there all year for us. But
he never told us he hurt his foot in the bullpen. It was unfortunate that he
went out there and didn't tell us he was injured. If he had told us he
was injured, we could have done something different. It's unfortunate
that we endured that type of situation, but hopefully tomorrow we'll come
back and play a better game."
On the starting pitcher in the Saturday game...
"Jared Maloy will go tomorrow and hopefully he can give us a good outing
and keep the ball down in the zone. The ball flies out of this park pretty good
so you have to pitch down in the zone and keep people off-balance in order to
have a chance to win. Jared throws a lot of ground balls so we ought to be in
pretty good shape."
On the decision to take P Chase Richard out of the game...
"It was difficult. You want to keep a guy in who has thrown well, but
in this heat and with that level of competition you want to try and play a percentage.
(LSU 2B D.J.) LeMahieu was up to bat and he had done well against (Richard)
today and we had P Kyle Wahl in there to get ahead and get a good slider on
him. HE hit the ball up the middle on a pretty good 3-2 pitch and knocked it
in and then the next guy got a hit. At that point, all hell broke loose."
On P Kyle Wahl's foot injury...
"He never told me. I asked him what happened and he said he hurt his foot
in the bullpen and I asked him why didn't he tell me. That's the
kind of thing you have to be conscious of with young people. They think they
can carry the world on their shoulders when it's a team effort. He was
hurt and we had P Daniel Garcia that we could have brought in at that point.
Daniel would have served us well had we known Kyle was injured."
On what P Chase Richard did that was most effective...
"He had been our midweek pitcher all year and had done really well. The
thing that made him effective was that he threw a lot of first-pitch strikes
and he had a good breaking pitch and a decent straight change. He did extremely
well in that regard, and he stayed away in the strike zone. I think he came
in once all game and it was against (LSU SS Austin) Nola and he got him to pop
up. He stayed away all game long and was extremely effective. The umpire was
really consistent with the strike zone and Chase found his comfort zone and
wa able to go back to it whenever he needed to."
On how the team's mentality will change in an elimination game...
"The mentality is always there. You have to go out and hit and score runs,
pitch and defend. We fell apart in the seventh inning. That's what good
teams do -- they put the pressure on. And if you're not ready through
every pitch, those are the kinds of things that happen. You have to give LSU
credit, that's why they're the number-two or number-three team in
the country. They just stayed close and
