University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Seattle
Gophers Held Off by Redhawks
3/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Seattle 4, Minnesota 1 
Minnesota's bats were active, but the ball didn't bounce the Gophers' way in a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Seattle on Monday evening. Minnesota (7-6) was paced at the dish by Connor Schaefbauer, who went 2-for-3 with a double.
Austin Athmann, Micah Coffey, Matt Fiedler and Eddie Estrada all tallied one base knock in the loss.
On the mound, Tyler Hanson earned the start and had his best outing of the season, tossing 6.1 innings with five hits allowed, two earned runs and tied a season-high with four strikeouts.
The first five innings breezed by as neither team was able to put a dent on the scoreboard. In fact, both Minnesota and Seattle (11-4) combined for just five hits in the first half of the ball game.
During that stretch, Hanson retired 13 in a row while keeping his pitch count to a minimum before the sixth stanza.
After the leadoff man was sent down, the Redhawks strung together back-to-back hits, including a two-run home run, to take a 2-0 with two-thirds of the game gone by.
In the top half of the seventh, Coffey hit a laser to the hot corner, but it was brought in by the rangy third baseman to thwart any potential damage.
Seattle added to its lead on a wild pitch with two outs in the same inning. Jordan Jess came on in relief with inherited baserunners and notched a pair of strikeouts to get out of the jam.
Heading to the eighth frame, Estrada opened with a single to left field before a rain delay halted the game. After a pitching change once play resumed, Dan Motl and Terrin Vavra hit a pair of ropes, but the Redhawks made a diving catch in center and a full-extension grab at shortstop to keep the Gophers scoreless.
Seattle extended its lead in the eighth from an error in the field to make it 4-0.
Down to its final at-bat, Minnesota did not go down quietly. Fiedler drilled a single up the middle to begin the inning and was advanced to second on a ground out. Coffey stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI double to right-center to give the Gophers their first run of the day.
The next two batters went down in order and send Minnesota to its first three-game losing streak since last season at Iowa.
The Gophers and Redhawks close out their four-game set with a finale on Wednesday at Bannerwood Park.
