The walk-off home run and the walk-off base hit are two of the most exciting ways to end a baseball game. The Minnesota baseball team won by a slightly less exciting walk-off Saturday night. There were still no outs in the bottom of the 10th when Washington reliever Brian Pearl plunked second baseman Derek McCallum with the bases loaded to force in the winning run and the Gophers improved their record to 2-0 in the Dairy Queen Classic with a 6-5 win over the Huskies. For the second straight night, Minnesota got hot and stayed hot long enough to mount a healthy lead. The Gophers broke out in the third and fourth innings to take a 5-0 lead. But when Washington tapped reliever Andrew Kittredge, MinnesotaâÄôs offensive production dried up. He tossed four strong innings, allowing just a handful of hits and no earned runs. Pearl added a scoreless eighth and ninth before crumbling in the 10th. The GophersâÄô bullpen, meanwhile, had less success. Lefty reliever Luke Rasmussen and righty Scott Matyas each gave up two earned runs in the eighth inning and the Huskies leveled the score. In the ninth, however, Matyas was able to work out of a one-out jam with runners on the corners and keep the score knotted at 5-5. In the 10th, right-hander Scott Fern retired the side and got credit for the win. Leading Minnesota at the plate were catcher Kyle Knudson and designated hitter Matt Nohelty, who each went 4-for-5. Knudson was just a triple shy of the cycle.
Walk-off hit by pitch propels Gophers past Washington
Published February 28, 2009
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