University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
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Kansas
Anderson Wins 1,200th as Gophers Roll
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 19, Kansas 7 
Head coach John Anderson picked up win No. 1,200 in style as Minnesota won a slugfest, 19-7, against Kansas on Tuesday night. The Gophers (28-13) set season-highs in hits (23), runs (19) and home runs (four) to secure the victory at Siebert Field.
Austin Athmann and Riley Smith paced the offense with four hits apiece. Athmann provided the power by launching his 10th home run of the season, while R. Smith netted one double, a triple and a career-high five RBI in the non-conference contest.
Five other players recorded multi-hit performances in the offensive onslaught. Dan Motl and Matt Stemper tallied three-hit outings that included a double each, while Motl added a solo homer. The trio of Micah Coffey, Matt Fiedler and Toby Hanson chimed in with two hits per batter and a combined five RBI.
Alex Boxwell, Connor Schaefbauer and Jordan Smith rounded out the barrage of hits by contributing one hit each.
On the mound, Ty McDevitt improved his record to 3-0 on the season after tossing 4.0 innings of relief that included four strikeouts.
Kansas (19-25) got on the board in the first inning on a solo home run to take a 1-0 margin heading into Minnesota's opening at-bat.
The Gophers used the long ball to take over the lead in their first chance at the plate. After Schaefbauer singled, Fiedler hit a no-doubter that cleared the tree line in left-center to make it 2-0. The very next batter, Athmann crushed a solo homer over the center field wall. Once Coffey and Stemper reached base on back-to-back singles, R. Smith smacked a bases-clearing triple to right field to cap the scoring and give the Maroon and Gold a 5-1 lead.
The Jayhawks clawed back into the game with a run in the second and a three-run third frame with all of the production coming from two home runs to make the score line 5-4.
Minnesota regained its four-run cushion by plating a pair of runs in both the third and fourth stanzas.
In the third, Stemper drilled a double down the line in right and scored on an RBI single from J. Smith. Later on, Motl netted the team's seventh run on a run-scoring single to left field.
Athmann and Stemper led off the fourth with hits that scored the opening run of the frame. R. Smith stepped to the plate with the runners on first and second and again delivered with an RBI single up the middle. After the damage, the Gophers held a 9-5 lead.
The offense was far from done, however. Minnesota's bats scored three, three and four runs in the sixth through eighth frames, respectively, to set a new season-best with 19 runs on the scoreboard.
Coffey launched his fourth home run ââ'¬" a solo shot ââ'¬" in 2016 to open the scoring in the sixth. R. Smith worked his way around the bases after drawing a walk. He swiped second and advanced to third on a throwing error before scoring on a wild pitch. Motl then set liftoff for a ball that cleared the left field wall for a home run to end the scoring in the sixth.
After Kansas secured two runs in the top half of the seventh on an RBI single, Minnesota rattled off three straight singles from the meat of the order ââ'¬" Fiedler, Athmann and Hanson ââ'¬" to begin the home half. R. Smith smacked a double to right field that scored two. The final run of the stanza came on a balk with runners on second and third.
Motl began the eighth with a leadoff double to the left-center gap. After a walk was drawn by Eddie Estrada and the two runners advanced on a wild pitch, Boxwell laced an RBI single to right field. The bases were then cleared from Hanson, who drilled a double to left. The 19th and final run of the offensive outburst came on a run-scoring single off the bat of Stemper.
In the midst of the 10 runs scored by the home team in its final three at-bats, Lucas Gilbreath was electric out of the bullpen as he closed the final 3.0 innings without allowing a run and striking out a career-high seven.
With the win, Anderson becomes the 24th coach to achieve 1,200 wins and is just the ninth to do it all with one program.
Fiedler and Athmann hit back-to-back homers for the second time this campaign. The first time the duo launched consecutive home runs was the series finale against Iowa, April 3.
The Gophers and Jayhawks resume their non-conference series tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Siebert Field.
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