The Wake

As April nears its end and May soon begins, the baseball season is heating up and getting into full swing. Minnesota baseball fans all over campus are excited to see if their hometown team will play well enough to win its fourth consecutive conference championship.

You might think I’m writing about the Minnesota Twins … But wait, this time it’s our Golden Gophers. Yup, that’s right, the Minnesota Gophers baseball program is gunning for its fourth-straight Big Ten championship.

This remarkable goal seemed impossible to reach after the team struggled to a 7-11 start. However, the Gophers opened conference play with a four-game sweep of the then 19th-ranked Michigan Wolverines (April 1-3 at the Metrodome) and suddenly looked like a contender once again.

Led by head coach John Anderson, the 2005 Gophers will look to a trio of seniors — pitcher Matt Loberg, catcher Jake Elder and third baseman Dave Hrncirik — to lead them back to Big Ten supremacy.

To describe the team’s current status, it starts with the team’s biggest early season story, Loberg. As a player whose ERA has regressed over his first three seasons, this former Anoka High athlete has tossed 25 straight scoreless innings as this magazine went to print. Yes, 25. No lie.

Loberg’s latest feat was his complete-game shutout of the Indiana Hoosiers, a 5-0 win that led made Minnesota 5-0 in Big Ten play (12-12 overall). As of April 10th, Loberg had earned five wins and a 1.54 ERA in 46.2 innings pitched.

The last stat is perhaps the most telling. Not only has he pitched the most innings on the team by far (second is sophomore Cole DeVries, 30.2), but this came after Loberg posted a career-low 6.00 ERA in 45 innings all of last season.

Furthermore, Loberg’s performance against Indiana followed the announcement of his second-straight Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award. Considering his five-strikeout, no-walk, complete-game win over the Hoosiers, the Big Ten would be hard pressed not to name Loberg to his third-consecutive conference pitching ace award.

Handling the catching duties for Loberg, and most of the Gophers pitching staff, is Minnesota’s 2004 homerun leader, Jake Elder. The 6-foot-1-inch Canadian-born player has hit .313, hammered 11 homers and driven in 61 runs in his three seasons at Minnesota.

Defensively, Elder will play a key role with his ability to call a game and work with Minnesota’s pitching staff. Offensively, Elder is off to a slow start this season with .230 average, but the veteran backstop does have a team-leading 18 RBI and will be counted on as a big contributor to the team’s success.

Another key offensive weapon for Minnesota is third baseman Dave Hrncirik. While the 6-foot-2-inch Madison, Wis., native will not bust the cover of many baseballs (two homeruns in 348 career at bats as of April10), Hrncirik has provided the Gophers consistent hitting (a team-leading .386 batting average) and impressive speed (14 stolen bases in 16 attempts) this season.

Of course there are several other pieces to Minnesota’s Big Ten baseball puzzle, but the play of Loberg, Elder and Hrncirik will loom large for the team’s success. Can Gopher baseball defend its conference champion status for a fourth consecutive season?

Baseball is a game of streaks and, as mentioned, Minnesota began 2005 Big Ten play season with five straight wins. But with 32 games remaining, plenty of things can happen.

One thing is for sure: The Gophers definitely have a good ball club and appreciate the support from the Minnesota fans. With home series versus Northwestern (four games, April 22 thru 24) and Illinois (five games, May 13 thru 15) in the near future, there are definitely some good opportunities to support Minnesota’s other perennial baseball power.

Jeff Barthel welcomes comments at jbarthel@wakenews.org.