University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Saint Mary's (Minn.)
Pitching, Timely Hitting Lead Gophers to Win
3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 9, Saint Mary's 1 
Minnesota used a solid display of pitching and hitting with two outs to secure a 9-1 win against in-state foe Saint Mary's on Wednesday at Siebert Field. The Gophers (13-9) tallied 15 total hits and has accomplished that feat nine times this season.
The Maroon and Gold collected six two-out hits that brought in five runs en route to their third straight win.
Austin Athmann paced the offense with a 2-for-4 performance that included a home run and three RBI. Alex Boxwell, Matt Fiedler, Luke Pettersen and Connor Schaefbauer each notched a pair of hits and the quartet combined for three hits of the team's two-out hits.
Jake Stevenson got the nod on the mound and went 3.0 innings with four strikeouts while allowing two hits and one run. The trio of Jeff Fasching, Lucas Gilbreath and Tim Shannon finished the game and scattered just two hits across the final six innings and added seven strikeouts.
Saint Mary's (12-6) got on the board in its first at-bat with one run on a pair of hits and one Minnesota error.
However, that was all the damage that the Cardinals would be able to cause as the Gophers shut them out in the next eight innings of play and limited them to just two hits in that span.
Minnesota took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Boxwell drilled a two-out double on the right-field line that scored Fiedler, who reached on an error. Cole McDevitt then brought in Micah Coffey by beating out an infield single for his first collegiate RBI to give the home team a 2-1 lead.
The Gophers doubled their scoring output in the fifth when they strung together three hits for two runs. Ben Mezzenga drew a leadoff walk, was moved over on a single to center by Schaefbauer and then stole third. He scored on the ensuing at-bat as Fiedler found an open spot in the left side of the infield on an RBI single. Later on, Coffey stepped to the dish with two retired and flared a run-scoring single to right to make it 4-1.
The biggest inning of the game came in the seventh. After Saint Mary's was sent down in order by Gilbreath, the Maroon and Gold netted three runs on one swing to put the game out of reach. Schaefbauer and Fiedler opened with back-to-back singles and were brought in when Athmann crushed a three-run homer to left-center ââ'¬" his fifth of the season ââ'¬" to make the score line 7-1 in favor of the Gophers.
Minnesota continued to score in its final at-bat when an RBI triple from Terrin Vavra plated two and gave the home team a 9-1 cushion.
Shannon got through the final inning with ease to send the Gophers to their third-straight win and start the season 2-0 at Siebert Field.
Minnesota returns to the diamond this weekend for a Big Ten series at home with Iowa, April 1-3.
