The Wake

After a convincing three-game sweep to begin its 2006 home schedule, Minnesota looks like a baseball team that’s finally found some power in its bats…By Minnesota, I mean the Twins. The Gophers? Not so much.

Coming off a sub-par 2005 season, the Twins began its new season with 13 homeruns in its first nine games. The Gophers baseball team, on the other hand, knocked out five homeruns through its first 27 games. This had the beloved campus club ranking second to last in homers among its Big Ten competitors.

Then came the 28th game, an April 12 non-conference game at South Dakota State. Four homers and 16 runs highlighted a Gophers victory that kept the team above the .500 mark.

Could this be the start of a Big Ten surge? Or, might this just have been a mid-week slaughter of a weak, non-conference foe, something they were unable to do in their first eight conference contests.

In his 25th year as head coach of Minnesota baseball, John Anderson led his Gophers program in opening its Big Ten schedule with a four-game set against Penn State. The result was a 2-2 split. The two wins featured strong pitching that was backed up with homeruns by John Arlt and Mike Mee.

In the U’s second conference series, the Gophers welcomed the Michigan Wolverines to the Metrodome. This was a team Minnesota swept last year (outscoring Michigan 23-8) in the same venue. This year, however, Minnesota lost three of four, with its one win coming in extra innings. Also, the one win came on Sat. April 8, courtesy of a Dan Lyons game-winning single in the 8th. The Gophers failed to hit a home run in the series.

Following the Michigan series was the win over SDSU. In the victory, Minnesota received a 4-6, 2 RBI effort from senior Luke MacLean and a three-run homer by Lyons.

While the first-year Gopher, Lyons, has come through with some clutch hitting—as of April 14 he ranked second on the team in RBI (16). However, Lyons also toted a batting average of .232 at this time that had a heavy influence on Minnesota’s .251 team average; second to worst in the conference.

The good news is that Minnesota gets to face Big Ten cellar dwelling Iowa for four games in Iowa City.

The bad news is they’ve also got a four-game series with the 2005 Big Ten regular season champs (Illinois), four games at Ohio State, the ’05 tournament champions, and another four at Northwestern. That said, there’s a possibility the Gophers could do something it hasn’t done in 44 years; finish under .500—Minnesota’s 1962 team won just three Big Ten games, losing its final contest against Iowa to finish 14-16.

In avoiding what would be a very dubious distinction, two things are in the 2006 Gophers favor.

One, if this team is anywhere similar to last year’s they will make a late season run that will propel them toward the Big Ten championship—Minnesota lost the 2005 title to Ohio State after entering the tournament in sixth place. And, two, this year’s Golden Gophers can pitch!

Golden Arms Look to Lead Minnesota Back to Glory

All those baseball fans beginning to feel sad about your 2006 squad…feel sad no more. Why? Four reasons: Bull, Brabender, Gaub and DeVries.

Despite losing its top game-winner from last season (Matt Loberg, 8-5), Minnesota returns its other three starters and has added an extremely dangerous fourth.

Senior Brian Bull, sophomore Dustin Brabender and junior pitchers John Gaub and Cole DeVries compose a starting rotation full of potential.

A lefthander from the college baseball capital of the World (Omaha, Nebraska), Bull would love to lead his 2006 Gophers to his hometown for the College World Series. Though that may be a lofty challenge, one thing is certain—Bull has some seriously good stuff.

In his senior year, the 6-foot-1 southpaw has been stifling the bats of his ’06 opponents in leading the Gophers pitchers. Throughout his eight starts leading into mid-April, Bull’s been the staff stalwart—tossing a team-leading 51.1 innings, notching a team best of 34 strikeouts as well.

The youngest of the Gophers starting core is Brabender. This 20-year-old from Oregon (Wisc.) stands 6-feet-6-inches and possesses a powerful arm with a nice ability to mix in a solid breaker. Brabender demonstrated his pitching prowess particularly well in an April 8 outing vs. Michigan. Making his sixth start of the season, the lanky right-hander demonstrated a smooth delivery and impeccable control in silencing Wolverines bats, striking out five and allowing no walks while tossing a career-high 6.1 innings.

Next on Minnesota’s dangerous rotation of hurlers is Gaub. A stealthy game-saver in 2005, the lefty from St. Paul has mid-90s speed and phenomenal strikeout capability. This made him an ideal closer last season, when he posted 65 strikeouts through 39 innings. This season, Gaub (who sustained off-season surgery) has returned in a starting role, making his first start of the season in the night game of his team’s double-header with Michigan April 8. Gaub, a Minnesota Twins draftee (2004, 25th round), will be fine tuning his skills in hopes of helping his Gophers to its fourth Big Ten title in five seasons.

The final key component in Minnesota’s powerful pitching engine is DeVries, a junior from Eden Prarie, Minn. As Minnesota’s most experienced starter, DeVries has been tremendous in 2006. Early in the season, DeVries threw a six-inning, four-hit gem in a win over Notre Dame.

Since then, DeVries has also gotten off to a great beginning in conference play. The rubber-armed right-hander pitched several innings of great baseball in each of his first two Big Ten starts—throwing 7.2 innings of shutout ball in a win over Penn State, then tossing nine for a complete-game, hard-luck loss (2-0) to Michigan.

As April dwindles down, the competition heats up. Minnesota and its four horsemen rotation look to lead the Gophers to the top of the Big Ten again. After a tremendous effort fell short in last year’s Big Ten Championship game, Minnesota’s dominant foursome of starters will hope to get better contributions from their batsmen in facing the Buckeyes May 12-14 in Columbus.

In the meantime, the Gophers will host a tough Illinois team at the Metrodome this Friday-Sunday with hopes of regaining their traditional, winning form.