University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Purdue
Gophers Save Best for Last in Rout of Purdue
5/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 14, Purdue 4 
Minnesota plated 12 runs in the final three innings en route to a 14-4 win at Purdue. The Gophers (32-15, 14-5 Big Ten) clinched the series behind a season-best nine runs in the eighth inning on Saturday afternoon.
The Maroon and Gold tallied 14 hits and reached double digits for the 33rd time this season. Dan Motl led the way at the plate after going 3-for-5 with a double and scored a career-high four runs. Austin Athmann and Toby Hanson each chimed in with a pair of knocks and combined for five RBI in the process.
Dalton Sawyer got the start on the mound and went 4.0 innings, while scattering six hits and two earned runs to go along with eight strikeouts. Sawyer became the 10th pitcher in program history to record 200 strikeouts by sending down the opening batter he faced in the bottom of the first frame.
Tyler Hanson came on in relief and earned the win to improve his record to 4-2 on the season. He tossed 5.0 flawless innings out of the bullpen, including four strikeouts.
Minnesota opened the scoring in the top of the first when Motl worked his way around the bases. First, the senior took the first pitch of the contest and drilled it through the left side for a leadoff single. After he stole second, Motl advanced to third base on a wild pitch. With two outs, he crossed the plate on a passed ball to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead.
Sawyer worked his way through the opening two innings with ease and tallied four strikeouts without allowing a run.
The Boilermakers (7-41, 2-21) took the lead in the bottom of the third when they notched an RBI triple and a run-scoring single to gain a 2-1 advantage on the scoreboard.
Minnesota tied things back up at 2-2 in the top of the fourth. Micah Coffey drilled a hard-hit ball to the right-center gap and reached third on the play. In the next at-bat, Coffey was able to score on a wild pitch to knot the ballgame.
Purdue regained the lead in the home half of the stanza on a sacrifice fly and a squeeze bunt to plate two and make the score line 4-2.
Ty. Hanson then was brought and shut the opposing offense down, retiring 12 of the 14 batters he faced from the fifth inning through the eighth frame.
Meanwhile, the offense found life in its final three chances.
Motl led off the seventh with a walk and then swiped second before reaching third on a pop fly to center. With two outs, Athmann delivered a shot to center to cut the deficit in half and make it a 4-3 ballgame.
In the top of the eighth, the Gophers batted around and sent 12 to the dish in a nine-run inning that featured eight hits, including seven singles.
Alex Boxwell drew a leadoff walk and was followed up by a Jordan Smith single to left field. Riley Smith found a hole in the defense with a seeing-eye single that brought in Boxwell and tied the game at 4-4. Later on, with runners on second and third, Motl smacked a two-run base knock to left field and gave Minnesota a 6-4 lead.
After Connor Schaefbauer singled, Athmann poked a single to right-center that allowed Motl to cross the plate. Coffey and Boxwell produced back-to-back RBI singles to left and right field, respectively that brought the score line to 9-4.
To. Hanson then belted a no-doubt, three-run homer to right field on the first pitch he saw to cap the scoring in the inning and make it 12-4 in favor of the Gophers.
The Maroon and Gold were not done there, however. In the top of the ninth, following a walk from R. Smith, Motl peppered a double off the wall to put two runners in scoring position with zero outs. Schaefbauer brought in one on a sacrifice fly and Matt Stemper closed the ledger with an RBI single to left that made it 14-4.
Ty. Hanson then put down Purdue in the bottom of the ninth to send Minnesota to its sixth Big Ten series win of the season.
The Gophers will look to complete their third sweep of the conference slate tomorrow afternoon with a 12 p.m. first pitch in West Lafayette, Ind.
