| April 20, 2002
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BEMIDJI, Minn. - The Bemidji State Beavers continued
their run at a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship
today with a dominating double-header sweep of the Minnesota,
Morris Cougars, 13-1 and 5-0, at the BSU Baseball Field. Bemidji
State’s starting pitching dominated, as Nate Heim and
Alan Ryan threw back-to-back complete games for the Beavers
and allowed just one earned run on eight hits in the double-header.
Heim turned in perhaps BSU’s finest performance by a
starting pitcher this season in Game 1, allowing just four
men to reach base and facing just one batter over the minimum
in BSU’s 13-1 win. He retired the first seven batters
he faced before allowing a single to Cougar eight-hole hitter
Tony Schuster with one out in the third, but then coaxed a
6-4-3 double-play from third baseman Eric Pokornowski in the
ninth slot to get out of the inning. Brent Meissner led off
the top of the fourth reaching on a fielding error by BSU
third baseman Neil Huewe, but he also was erased on a double-play
in the next Cougar at-bat.
Jeff Wold ended the shutout with a home run to left field
- Morris trailed 12-0 at the time - to lead off the sixth.
The only other Cougar baserunner came on a Rory Rohrenbach
pinch-hit single to lead off the seventh - and as had happened
with two of the previous three Cougar runners, he was erased
on a double-play in the next Morris at-bat. The three double-plays
turned by BSU is a season high.
Wold’s home run was just his second hit of the season,
and just the second home run of the year for the Cougars.
Heim got the win and improved to 4-0 on the year. He struck
out a season-high four batters and walked none.
BSU wasted no time getting Heim all the run support he would
need, as the first six BSU batters reached safely with a base
hit and eventually scored in what became an eight-run frame
in the home half of the first. Ben Woodford had a pair of
singles in the inning and scored two runs, extending his hitting
streak to 19 games.
BSU plated three more runs in the fourth, with two runs scoring
from third base on passed balls by Meissner. Meissner had
four passed balls in the contest, and every BSU runner who
advanced a base on a passed ball eventually scored. Shaun
Ross doubled and scored in the fifth and Gunner Geller led
off the home half of the sixth by reaching on a fielding error
by Pokornowski and later came home to round out the BSU scoring
in a 13-1 win.
GAME 2
Perhaps not wanting to be shown up after Heim’s performance
in Game 1, Alan Ryan took the hill in Game 2 and turned in
a similarly stellar performance. Ryan, who had been 0-2 on
the season coming in, pitched a complete-game shutout, scattering
five hits and striking out eight batters while walking only
two. Ryan’s eight strikeouts is a new season high for
a BSU hurler.
BSU didn’t get on the board in Game 2 until the third
inning, but plated four runs in that frame to give Ryan all
the help he’d need. Gunner Geller led off the inning
with a bunt single and later scored on Ben Woodford’s
RBI double. A single from Bryan Beuning and a walk issued
to Shaun Ross loaded the bases for Nate Olson, who plated
Woodford with a sac fly to right. Ross would later score,
unearned, after a fielding error by Brent Meissner allowed
Scott Petrowski to reach base with two out, and BSU left the
third inning up 4-0.
Woodford’s RBI double extended his hitting streak to
20 consecutive games, the longest streak by a BSU player this
season. Beuning’s single in the first extended his hitting
streak to 13 games, the second-longest streak by a BSU hitter
this year behind only Woodford.
The Beavers added an insurance run in the fourth, also unearned,
after Huewe reached on Meissner’s second error in two
chances and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat
of Beuning.
BSU improved to 16-8 with the double-header sweep, 11-3 in
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. Minnesota-Morris
fell to 2-18 on the season, seeing its losing streak reach
14 consecutive games in the process, and dropped to 0-8 in
NSIC play. The two teams wrap up their series with a double-header
tomorrow at the BSU Baseball Field. First pitch is slated
for noon Central time.
GAME NOTES
• BSU has now won each of the last four meetings
with UM-Morris, five in a row in the regular season, and now
leads the all-time series 53-52-1.
• BSU is now 7-1 at BSU Baseball Field, its best record
after eight home games since 1982. The 1982 team also started
7-1 at home en route to an appearance in the NAIA World Series.
Bob Montebello’s 1982 team finished 12-2 in 14 home games. |
