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Baylor-Minnesota baseball — NCAA regional
4:37 p.m. — Minnesota wins 15-12, and will advance to play LSU in the championship round in approximately 90 minutes. Booker delivered an RBI single for his fourth hit of the day in his final game as a Bear, but Drew Bias grounded to second for the final out. Baylor wraps up its season at 30-26.
4:34 p.m. — Miller and Dan Evatt both ground out, and Baylor is down to its final out. Ben Booker will bat.
4:29 p.m. — Lubinsky’s day is done, as Shaver Hansen singles for Baylor’s seventh — yes, seventh — consecutive hit of the inning. Luke Rasmussen will come in to pitch for Minnesota to face Aaron Miller with no outs and Hansen on first. The score is 15-11, Minnesota. Miller, by the way, is hitless for the weekend.
4:26 p.m. — Holy moly, the Bears aren’t dead yet. After Dustin Dickerson delivers an RBI single, Kenton Gedwed follows by cranking his 10th pinch hit — and first home run — of the season, a grand slam that brings the score to 15-11, Minnesota. There are still no outs. Lubinsky will remain in the game.
4:21 p.m. — Will if the Bears want to stage a “Miracle on the Mississippi,” they’ve started the right way, opening the ninth with four straight base hits off Handran, finally chasing the Gopher starter from the game. That included a double from Ben Booker, an RBI single from pinch hitter Drew Bias, a single from Brooks Kimmey, and a single from pinch hitter Adam Hornung. Minnesota’s Austin Lubinsky will enter the game, trying to preserve the Gophers’ now 15-6 lead.
4:14 p.m. — Kvasnicka grounds out for Minnesota, but the Gophers add two more when Knudson punches a ground ball to Campbell, and the ball gets by the BU third baseman for a two-run error. Blank finally puts an end to Minnesota’s second straight five-run inning by striking out Nick O’Shea. Baylor will enter the ninth needing a miracle 10-run rally, as the Bears trail, 15-5. The Bears’ season is almost certainly over.
4:04 p.m. — BU’s pitching has petered out here in the latter innings. Speed gives up a pair of infield singles and a walk to load the bases, then walks Petterson with no place to put him to force in a run. McCallum follows with a double to left to plate two more runs and extend the Gopher lead to 13-5. Trent Blank will come on to try to stop the bleeding for Baylor. There is still only one out and runners on second and third, so it could potentially get worse for the Bears. Remember, this was a 5-2 Baylor lead with two outs in the seventh. My, how things have changed.
3:52 p.m. — Handran retires the meat of BU’s batting order — Hansen, Miller and Evatt — with little difficulty in the eighth, including stirkeouts of Hansen and Miller, who are a combined 0-for-6 with a pair of walks today. Minnesota maintains its 10-5 lead going to the top of the ninth.
3:46 p.m. — The Gophers take control with a big five-run eighth inning. Speed gets a ground ball out from Kvasnicka, but then Knudson lofts a two-run single to left to extend the lead to 10-5. Baylor is going to have to swing the bats to get back in it, as they’ve got six outs left.
3:43 p.m. — Minnesota has gone out in front 8-5, as Pinckard will be pulled without recording an out. The first batter Pinckard faced, Nohelty, hit a ground ball to Dan Evatt at first, then made it safely to first on an infield hit when Pinckard was late covering the bag. A.J. Petterson followed with an RBI single to center to untie the game, and then Derek McCallum crushed a deep two-run double over the head of Don Lambert in center field. McCallum could have probably had a triple on the hit, but had to hold up because Petterson had stopped to see if Lambert might catch the ball. Ross Speed is on to try to get Baylor out of the inning, as there is still just one out.
3:35 p.m. — We’ve got further medical issues before the game will resume, as Baylor’s trainers are now working on the legs of BU catcher Gregg Glime, who will limp to the dugout with what appears to be severe cramps. Brooks Kimmey will replace Glime, giving Baylor an all-Brooks battery, as Larry Little just pointed out.
3:31 p.m. — We’ve got a bit of a delay here, as trainers are attending to Minnesota’s Kyle Geason. After issuing a one-out walk to Gominsky, Woytek hit Geason with a face-high fastball that appeared on TV replays to glance off Geason’s nose. After waiting for a while while Geason was getting worked on, Steve Smith eventually opted to go to the bullpen, bringing in Brooks Pinckard with one out and two on.
3:22 p.m. — Raynor Campbell leads off with a well-struck single to left, but Baylor isn’t able to bring him around. Dickerson and Hainsfurther both fly out, and then Campbell is gunned down by Minnesota catcher Kyle Knudson trying to steal second for the third out. The game is still tied at 5 as we enter the eighth.
3:10 p.m. — It’s a shaky start for Woytek, as he hits the first batter he sees on his first pitch. But he gets out of the inning by forcing a grounder from Nick O’Shea. The game is all squared at 5-5 again. (A moment ago, I incorrectly posted 5-4, but I’ve changed that). It’s 5-5 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
3:05 p.m. — Ringenberg’s day has come to a close, as Minnesota has pulled to within 5-5. After recording two outs to open the inning, Petterson singled for Minnesota and then McCallum dropped in a bloop double just inside the left-field line. McCallum moved to third when Ben Booker bobbled the ball into the stands trying to scoop it up. Kvasnicka followed with a soaring two-run home run over the fence in right-center. Reed Woytek is on to pitch for the Bears.
2:54 p.m. — Baylor’s Booker, Lambert and Glime go down quickly to Handran in the sixth. Minnesota will try to cut into Baylor’s lead in the seventh, trailing 5-2.
2:49 p.m. — Ringenberg just keeps rolling along, allowing only a two-out baserunner on a hit-by-pitch before striking out Gominsky for the third time today. Baylor’s starting pitching this weekend has combined for these rock-solid numbers: 16 innings, 13 hits, 3 earned runs, 16 strikeouts, four walks. Baylor continues to hold a 5-2 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth.
2:41 p.m. — Baylor is unable to add to its lead in the fifth, as Dan Evatt strikes out with two down and a runner on first. The Bears hold a 5-2 edge going to the sixth. By the way, the crowd has been announced as 1,639 for this game. Expect about 8,000 more to show up about three hours from now.
2:32 p.m. — Minnesota strands a runner at third, and Baylor maintains its three-run lead. Petterson dropped in a one-out single, then moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout. But Ringenberg delivers again, coming up with a clutch strikeout of Gopher cleanup hitter Michael Kvasnicka to keep the score at 5-2, Baylor, heading to the bottom of the fifth.
2:19 p.m. — And the Bears are out in front for the first time today. After a flyout from Aaron Miller to open the inning, Baylor bangs out four straight hits off of Handran. That included a two-run single from Don Lambert, who was batting just a buck-83 entering the game. Gregg Glime, who’s had clutch hits in each of the three games of the tourney now, followed by tagging a deep double to the gap in right-center to score Lambert. Baylor now leads 5-2 after four innings of play.
2:09 p.m. — Ringenberg is giving Baylor what it needs right now: Innings, and good ones at that. After a leadoff flare single by Nick O’Shea, Ringenberg strikes out the next two batters and then gets a pop fly to the outfield. The five strikeouts Ringenberg has tallied are a career high. It’s 2-2 going into the bottom of the fourth.
2:00 p.m. — Three up, three down for the Bears, as Handran has retired six in a row for the Gophers. Dustin Dickerson and Shaver Hansen both struck out in that inning. It’s still 2-2 after three complete innings.
1:53 p.m. — Ringenberg gets a clean 1-2-3 third, as the Gophers manage three straight ground ball outs. Baylor will head to the bottom of the third, trying to unbreak a 2-2 tie.
1:49 p.m. — The Bears go down in order against Minnesota righty Chauncy Handran in the second, closed out by a nice play from Minnesota shortstop Petterson to close the inning. Petterson went deep into the hole to field a sharp grounder off the bat of Raynor Campbell, then righted himself and made a long throw to first to beat Campbell by two steps. The score remains tied at 2 through two innings.
1:43 p.m. — Ringenberg starts out the second inning in style, striking out Minnesota’s Eric Decker and Justin Gominsky before things get a little dicey. Kyle Geason singles and then Matt Nohelty pops a high fly to shallow left that falls in for a double between BU’s Ben Booker, Shaver Hansen and Don Lambert due to an apparent lack of communication. But Ringenberg escapes by inducing a come-backer to Petterson for the third out. Score: 2-2 heading to the bottom of the second.
1:33 p.m. — Baylor knots the game back up, loading the bases with two outs on a Dustin Dickerson single, a Shaver Hansen walk and a Dan Evatt hit-by-pitch. Then BU senior Ben Booker delivers a clutch bloop single to right to score Dickerson and Hansen, bringing the score to 2-2 after a looooooong first inning.
1:14 p.m. — For the first time this weekend, Baylor has not opened a game with a flourish. The Gophers strike first blood, as A.J. Petterson reaches with one out on an error from Shaver Hansen and then Derek McCallum absolutely crushes a two-run home run over the right-field fence. There was no doubt about it as soon as it left McCallum’s bat. Baylor had another defensive miscue (though not an error) on a sharp liner to right from Michael Kvasnicka, as Aaron Miller charged in and tried to make a diving stop, but the ball bounced under his glove and rolled to the fence for a triple. Fortunately for Baylor, Ringenberg retired the next two batters to get out without further incident. Score: 2-0, Gophers, after a half-inning.
1:03 p.m. — First pitch is moments away. Baylor will be the home team for this game, and is wearing its white uniforms for the first time this weekend after a couple of pretty good games in black. Jon Ringenberg draws his sixth start of the season in a must-win situation for the Bears. Like most of Baylor’s pitchers, Ringenberg has had mixed results, as he has a 2-0 record with a 5.76 ERA in 29.2 innings.
12:57 p.m. — The crowd is as slim as it’s been so far this weekend at Alex Box Stadium, but that’s not really that surprising, given that it’s a Sunday afternoon game and LSU isn’t playing until 6. I would be surprised if the crowd for the late game tonight wasn’t similar to the school-record attendance of 9.124 who packed this place last night.
12:51 p.m. — Bonjour from Baton Rouge once again, baseball backers. We’re about 10 minutes away from Baylor and Minnesota playing for the right to move on and play LSU later today. Despite the terrific game that Baylor and LSU staged last night, most of the buzz in the press box today has been around the epic game that Texas and Boston College played last night, or rather this morning. And none of us were even there. But a 25-inning game? 12-and-a-third of no-hit ball from Austin Wood? Absolutely incredible.
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By Big Ron
May 31, 2009 6:58 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
can’t wait till next year
By Brazosdog
June 1, 2009 11:04 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
….it’s time to sever the head …..