University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Missouri State
Gophers Secure Series Win at No. 23 Missouri State
3/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 12, Missouri State 5 
| Box Score: Minnesota 7, Missouri State 5
The University of Minnesota baseball team secured a road series win at No. 23 Missouri State by capturing both games of the scheduled doubleheader on Saturday.
The Gophers notched 36 hits on the weekend and were paced by eight from Connor Schaefbauer, who went 8-for-14 with two doubles and a triple. Jordan and Riley Smith tallied four RBI, while Micah Coffey was close behind with three.
With the consecutive wins at Missouri State, Minnesota recorded back-to-back wins against ranked opponents for the first time since 2004 when it took down No. 14 Nebraska and No. 22 Florida.
Game No. 1 - Minnesota 12, Missouri State 5
Minnesota used 15 hits to score 12 runs in the second game of the series to take down Missouri State, 12-5, on Saturday afternoon. The Gophers (11-9) were paced at the plate by Terrin Vavra and Connor Schaefbauer, who collected four and three hits, respectively.
However, one at-bat changed the entire complexion of the game. Riley Smith stepped up in a pinch-hitting opportunity with the bases loaded in the seventh innings and drilled a grand slam over the left-field wall to put the game out of reach.
On the mound, Dalton Sawyer went 5.2 solid innings, allowing three runs on four hits and matched a career-high with nine strikeouts. Sawyer worked ahead early in at-bats by tossing first-pitch strikes to 14 of the batters he faced.
The Maroon and Gold opened the scoring in the second stanza to take a 2-0 lead. Micah Coffey led off with a double to the right-center gap and was brought in by a Jordan Smith RBI bloop single to left. Eddie Estrada raced across the plate for the second run on a passed ball.
In the fourth, the Gophers loaded the bases on three straight walks. Dan Motl brought in one on a sacrifice fly that eventually scored another on a throwing error on the relay. In the ensuing at-bat, Vavra flared a single to right that scored the third run of the innings and gave Minnesota a lead it would never relinquish at 5-0.
While the offense has plenty of run support, Sawyer was working a gem into the fourth as he had yet to allow a hit heading into the frame.
The Bears (19-3) used the middle of their lineup to plate two on two hits and make it a 5-2 ballgame.
Missouri State brought the deficit down to two in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly.
The seventh inning was where the game tilted heavily in the Gophers' favor. After Austin Athmann reached on an error, Coffey and Schaefbauer followed with back-to-back singles. J. Smith drew a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded to open the scoring before the biggest hit of the game took place. R. Smith came on to hit and destroyed a pitch across the heart of the plate and placed it over the bullpen in left field for a grand slam.
Leading 10-3 after the homer, Minnesota got two more insurance runs in the eighth by way of a solo shot from Athmann and an RBI single from Matt Stemper to make it 12-3 and match the team's second-highest run output this campaign.
The Bears churned out two more runs in their last at-bat, but it was too late as the Gophers put a stop to Missouri State's 10-game winning streak.
In the midst of the offensive fireworks, Nick Lackney came on for Sawyer and threw 2.1 innings without allowing a hit and struck out one. He has yet to give up a run in four appearances out of the bullpen in 2016.
The Minnesota win knotted the series up at 1-1 and set up a dramatic finale on the back end of a doubleheader Saturday night.
Game No. 2 ââ'¬" Minnesota 7, Missouri State 5
The bats stayed hot in the series finale as the Gophers amassed 12 hits to clinch the series in a 7-5 win against Missouri State on Saturday night at Hammons Field.
Minnesota (12-9) had four players register multiple-hit games, including Micah Coffey, Connor Schaefbauer, Jordan Smith and Matt Stemper. Coffey led the way with three RBI, while J. Smith contributed two in the non-conference contest.
Toby Anderson earned his third win of the 2016 campaign after throwing 5.0 innings, surrendering four runs and striking out five. The bullpen quartet of Jeff Fasching, Brian Glowicki, Jordan Jess and Tyler Hanson combined to throw the final 4.0 innings with just two hits and three strikeouts.
The Gophers tallied two runs in their opening plate appearance. With two outs and runners on first and third base, Coffey drilled a two-RBI double to left field to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.
Missouri State (19-4) nabbed a run back in the home half of the first on an RBI single to left field, also with two outs in the inning.
The Maroon and Gold blew the game open in the top of the third when they notched four runs on five hits, all coming with two retired in the frame. After back-to-back singles by Coffey and Troy Traxler, Schaefbauer delivered a double down the line in left field to score two. Stemper followed that with an RBI single and was brought in by J. Smith who laced a triple to the right-center gap to cap the inning with the Gophers on top, 6-1.
The Bears began to chip away at the deficit by scoring a run in the bottom of the third and two in the home half of the fifth to make the game tighter at 6-4.
Minnesota pushed its lead back up to three when Coffey grounded out with runners on second and third to score Matt Fiedler as the Gophers took a 7-4 lead with three innings left to go.
Hanson came on in relief and pitched masterfully through the first batter of the ninth inning, limiting Missouri State to just one hit through 2.2 innings of work.
After the Bears scratched across a run in their final chance at the plate, the duo of Glowicki and Jess slammed the door to send Minnesota to its third non-conference road series win of the season.
The Gophers return to the diamond next week for four games at Siebert Field. First, Minnesota plays host to Saint Mary's (Minn.) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before welcoming Iowa for a Big Ten home series, April 1-3.
