University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Northwestern
Anderson-Athmann Duo Guide Gophers to Sweep
4/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 8, Northwestern 0 
Toby Anderson and Austin Athmann put on outstanding performances on Sunday afternoon to send No. 25 Minnesota to an 8-0 win at Northwestern. The victory marked a series sweep for the Gophers (25-11, 9-2 Big Ten) and marked the team's fifth-straight win.
Anderson took the decision on the mound and improved his record to 5-0 after tossing a complete-game shutout. The junior went the distance and allowed just five hits to go along with four strikeouts.
Athmann did all of his damage at the plate. The slugger blasted two two-run homers and totaled four RBI on the afternoon. He extended his on-base streak to a team-high 25 straight games.
Micah Coffey and Dan Motl each contributed two hits, while Matt Fiedler and Coffey chimed in with an RBI.
The opening three innings went by quickly as neither team was able to plate a run.
In the fourth, Minnesota broke the deadlock by scoring three runs on four hits in the stanza. Fiedler flared a single through the right side and Athmann took the next pitch over the wall in left field for his seventh home run of the season.
Later on, Alex Boxwell scorched a double down the line in left and was brought in on a run-scoring single from Coffey to make it a 3-0 game.
The Gophers kept the pressure on in their next chance at the plate. Fiedler produced an RBI on a ground out to first base. Athmann again stepped to the dish and crushed a ball off the pole in left field for his second roundtripper of the afternoon. When all was said and done, the Maroon and Gold held a 6-0 lead.
In the midst of Minnesota's offensive onslaught, Anderson was dealing out blanks to the Wildcats (10-30, 2-13). The right-hander retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced between the third and sixth frames.
After the seventh-inning stretch, Northwestern made a push. The home team tallied a pair of hits and had runners on the corners with two outs. Anderson then buckled down and got the final out of the stanza on a strikeout looking.
The Gophers added to their advantage in the top of the eighth by scoring two runs on Northwestern mishaps. Minnesota got singles from Boxwell, Coffey and Motl, which set up the miscues. The Wildcats tossed a pair of wild pitches that both scored runs for the road team and made it 8-0.
Anderson then trotted back out and shut the door by sending down the game's final six batters in the eighth and ninth innings to give Minnesota its ninth win of the conference season, matching last season's total with 12 league games remaining on the schedule.
Athmann's streak of 25 games reaching base safely is the highest total in five years with Dan Motl's streak of 21 straight games the next closest total in recent history.
The Gophers have now left the campuses of both road series in the Big Ten without a loss and have won their last seven road games overall.
Minnesota returns to the diamond on Tuesday when it travels to North Dakota State for a non-conference matchup. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Fargo, N.D.
