University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Northwestern
Sawyer, Offense Shine in 10-1 Win at Northwestern
4/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 10, Northwestern 1 
Dalton Sawyer set a new career-high with 12 strikeouts and No. 25 Minnesota tallied 17 hits in a 10-1 rout of Northwestern on Saturday. The Gophers (24-11, 8-2 Big Ten) notched at least 15 hits in a game for the 10th time in 2016.
Austin Athmann, Dan Motl and Jordan Smith each paced the offense with three hits, while three others recorded multi-hit performances. Alex Boxwell, Matt Fiedler and Athmann did the heavy lifting in run production by contributing two RBI apiece.
Sawyer had arguably his best outing in his four years at Minnesota. He tossed 7.0 innings and allowed just four hits and one unearned run. The southpaw notched 12 strikeouts and recorded double-digit for the second time this season (at Michigan, April 8).
It did not take long for the Gophers to assert their dominance as they scored four runs before Northwestern (10-29, 2-12) even had a chance to bat.
Motl and Connor Schaefbauer hit back-to-back singles through the left side to open the game. Athmann flared an RBI single to center and Toby Hanson drilled a double down the line to bring in another as Minnesota took a 2-0 lead.
Micah Coffey secured the team's third run of the stanza on a ground out to second base. Boxwell capped the inning with a run-scoring double in an identical spot as Hanson's to give the road team a 4-0 advantage.
The Wildcats were sent down in order in their first two at-bats, highlighted by four strikeouts from Sawyer, who established the fastball early and mixed in his off-speed to keep the hitters off-balance.
The Maroon and Gold added a run in both the third and fourth frames to make it a 6-0 ballgame.
In the third, the Gophers loaded the bases and Boxwell drew a four-pitch walk. The next inning, Athmann delivered once again with an RBI single right over second base in the fourth.
Northwestern finally found changed its score in the home half of the fourth when they scored on an error.
That was all the Wildcats were able to achieve as Sawyer ended his afternoon by retiring 10 straight, including five strikeouts, through seven innings.
Minnesota put the game out of reach just before Sawyer exited by scoring three runs on as many hits in the top of the seventh. Motl laid down a bunt single to second base that scored Boxwell. Fiedler then stepped to the dish and smacked a triple in the right-center gap to score two more and make it a 9-1 score line.
In the top of the eighth, Boxwell reached on an error and stole second base with two outs. The next batter, J. Smith, drilled an RBI single to give the Gophers their eighth game of the season scoring 10-plus runs.
Brian Glowicki closed out the series-clinching victory by tossing the final two innings of relief with one strikeout.
Minnesota has won its first four conference series matchups this season and will look to complete the sweep tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Evanston, Ill.
